GBlog

Hi everyone,

I hope you’re having a good Spring. I have been very busy this Spring. I had my first piano students enter and perform well at the Lunenburg and District Music Festival, which was very “Circle of Life” as I used to do the music festival circuit back in the day. I also did a lot of accompanying for vocal students in Lunenburg and Bridgewater, and will be accompanying two talented singers for Music Theatre classes at the Music Festival Provincials (held here in Lunenburg this year on June 4th and 5th, keep an eye out for posters).

The other major musical endeavour I am currently involved in is the musical comedy Nunsense! at Petrie’s Halifax Feast Dinner Theatre. I play piano as Father Amadeus Beethoven (who is on loan from the Presbyterians). We opened last Thursday, and had some great audiences over the weekend. We have a couple more shows this week, then the Feast’s other show, Cod and Order, is on this weekend before we have a string of shows leading into our closing weekend. It’s a great show with a talented cast and band. If you have the chance to check it out, I recommend calling ahead for reservations at 420-1840. The Feast’s website is http://feastdinnertheatre.com/index4.htm This show is also a bit “Circle of Life” for me as I previously played second keyboard for Nunsense! when the Acadia Music Theatre students put it on.

In the midst of these musical endeavours, I also continue tutoring, doing tech support, and playing church organ. My thanks to my clients and my friends for being flexible and understanding with my currently hectic schedule.

Party on, everybody,
Gus
gnote.ca (where you can currently see a picture of me as Father Amadeus Beethoven)

Hey everybody,

I’m writing to let those of you in the Lunenburg area know that I’m playing the first of the Music and Meditations at St. John’s Anglican in Lunenburg this Wednesday. It’s a half-hour concert at noon, good-will offering admission, wherein I get to play organ, grand piano, and sing.

FYI, this will be a little more serious, aka hardcore, than a lot of the programs I arrange. I normally skew comedy, but this series has a bit more of a serious aesthetic. There’ll be a fair bit of classical, with a few appropriate modern tunes thrown in. I’ll even be rockin’ some straight-up killer impressionistic fare with Debussy’s “Clair de lune”. *

Cheers,
Gus
gnote.ca

*Disclaimer: “Clair de lune” – won’t be technically “rocking”, what with the serious aesthetic.

Hi all,

Hope you’re having a good, brand new year.

We are nigh upon the evening of Jim Petrie’s cabaret show, Monday at 7pm at the Halifax Feast. (Event details here.) It will be a great show; Jim is a fantastic singer and is doing a variety of songs including Broadway, Streisand, Jazz, and more. I’ll be accompanying on the piano, and there will be other Feast cast and alumni helping out, including Josh Kogon on drums and guitar, Steven Heisler on drums, and Sarah Richardson in a duet with Jim. Plus, I hear a rumour that there may be snacks involved. I only hope I can grab some at intermission, as I imagine it would be a bit tricky for me to eat at the piano during the show (though not impossible

Party on,
Gus
gnote.ca

Hey Everybody,

I hope you are all having a good holiday season. I’m writing to plug the 2nd Annual Christmas Festival of Music that I’m organizing at St. Andrew’s in Lunenburg. Next Friday should be a fun evening of secular and sacred music, and you even get a chance to sing along to some holiday tunes. Plus, this year it has a bake sale attached! (I hope to buy some form of chocolate confectionery after the show).

Details (or “deetz” as the kids say) for the show follow at the end of this email. Note that if you googlemap the church, it doesn’t show up in the right place. It’s at the corner of King and Townsend, across from the back of the Town Hall. (I will have to get after Google for that. Their billions of dollars and nigh-limitless power don’t scare me… much…)

Merry Christmas and/or other December holiday of your choice,
Gus
gnote.ca

St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Lunenburg, Presents
2nd Annual Christmas Festival of Music

Featuring Sacred and Secular Christmas Music
Solos and Audience Sing-Alongs

With Local Guest Performers and the St. Andrew’s Choir
Emcee/Organist: Gus Webb

Friday, December 18th, 2009, 7pm
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Lunenburg, NS
111 Townsend Street, Lunenburg, NS
Free-Will Offering Accepted

Followed by a Bake Sale in the Church Annex

Hi everybody,

I am writing this time to plug the Lunenburg Sessions’ Songwriters’ Circle. I am one of three composers who will be participating, the others being Nick Jeffrey and Kristen Murray, local artists who I understand concentrate largely in the folk idiom. We’ll be playing original music and sharing some insights about the practice of composing.

I’ll be playing songs of various styles. Two of them were recently world-premiered at the Halifax Feast (during my cabaret with Steve Heisler): my own entry in the folk idiom, “Generic Office Work Folk Song”, and a song about the popular social website twitter.com, entitled “#TwitterSucks”. Of course, there will be some official world premiering happening at this show as well. I’ll also be performing a few numbers by my dad, Chris Webb, who has inspired me in the field of songwriting.

The Songwriters’ Circle will be held this coming Tuesday, the 17th of November, 7:30pm at the Lunenburg Academy (my elementary alma mater). It’s $10 ($8 if you become a member, which is $5/year), though I’m thinking maybe there are also deals for children or families.

For more info, you can check out the local newspapers’ website story or the Lunenburg Sessions’ blog:
http://www.southshorenow.ca/archives/2009/111009/arts/index005.php
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=342086658&blogId=513336498

Excelsior!
Gus
gnote.ca

P.S. As the number of local gigs I plug increases, it occurs to me that some of my far-flung contacts might be feeling a bit neglected. Rest assured that I intend to get some more media on the ol’ website in the not-too-distant future for everyone to enjoy. In the meantime, if you’re not local to South Shore/Halifax area and you’re looking to keep the emails in your inbox down, drop me a line and I can put you in a separate mailing list so you’ll only get my newsletters that include some web or other non-localized content.

Hey everyone,

Well, my cabaret with Steven Heisler went really well and was very fun.  Many, many thanks to Sarah Richardson, Josh Kogon, and Peter Ferguson for helping myself and Steve with the show. Also, thanks to Jim Petrie for putting us in the Petrie’s Halifax Feast Cabaret Series.

So, I’m involved in a few more upcoming events which I shall plug in this email:

- Hansel and Gretel is being performed by Maritime Concert Opera.  I was the rehearsal accompanist for the children’s chorus.  They performed in Liverpool the other day, and will be at St. Andrew’s United in Halifax on Friday evening and at the Pearl Theatre in Lunenburg on Saturday evening.  More details here: http://maritimeconcertopera.com/wordpress/

- I’ll be playing a number (“In Dreams” from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring) in Phantoms of the Pipes XII at Fort Massey United Church in Halifax on Friday, October 30th.  More details at the end of this email.

- I’ll be accompanying Jim Petrie in his cabaret at the Halifax Feast on November 3rd.  Jim is the owner/operator/artistic director of the Halifax Feast and will be drawing on other talented Feast cast and alumni for duets and musical backup; it is sure to be a great show. Details here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=152026623652

- Finally, November 17th I will be performing original material of my own and my dad’s at the Lunenburg Sessions’ Songwriters’ Circle. (More on this to follow in a November email.)

Hope your Fall is going well.  Happy Halloween!

Cheers,
Gus
gnote.ca

PHANTOMS OF THE PIPES XII – The RCCO is presenting an evening of wild and wonderful organ music for the season interspersed with vocal and instrumental pieces and amusing skits that are sure to entertain. Proceeds go to the Scholarship Fund encouraging young piano students to study the organ. Come in costume if you like. Guests include the St. Margaret’s Bay Boys Choir. MC: Dr. Walter H. Kemp. Friday, October 30, 2009 – 7:30 p.m. Fort Massey United Church, corner Queen and Tobin in downtown Halifax.  Admission: $5 & $2

Hey all,

I’m back from an awesome rehearsal with Steve, and we’ve got the band back together!  So, I just wanted to send a quick reminder that our show is on 7pm tonight (Tuesday!) at the Halifax Feast, corner of Barrington & Salter (in the Maritime Center attached to the giant Aliant building), only $10!  Be there or be square! (The kids still say that, right?)

Excelsior,
Gus
gnote.ca

Gus & Steve! Photo by Peter Ferguson

Hey everybody,

I hope everyone had a good summer, and is having a good start to the fall.  My entrepreneurial pursuits in technology and music are going well, and of course with fall and the start of school comes the start of piano lessons, for which I am fortunate in having a number of bright piano students to teach.

So, last email I wrote about the show I was doing in May at the Halifax Feast, Menopositive: The Musical.  It had a great run, and now
I am heavily involved with accompanying (and even headlining in one case!) in the Halifax Feast Cabaret Series.  Starting tomorrow, for the next five Tuesdays at 7pm there will be a one-night-only cabaret show.  Unlike the normal dinner theatre, these are cabaret style, so there will not be food but the bar will still be open.

The series starts tomorrow, October 6th, with “Celebrating Kim”, a memorial and fundraiser featuring a variety of talent, some of whom I’ll be accompanying in addition to performing a number myself.  The proceeds go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. “Kim Jenkins was my musical director and a well-loved performer at The Feast” notes Feast owner Jim Petrie. “It was her cabaret ‘Out Here on My Own’ back in 1994 that started the cabaret series”.

October 13th brings Sarah Richardson’s “Soul and Sass”.  It’s going to be a great show, and as the piano accompanist, I should know. The rest of the pit band includes Josh Kogon on guitar/bass and Steven Heisler on drums.  The show also features guest performer Cadance Macmichael (Miss C of Pink Velvet Burlesque).  ”There’s something for everyone! A little brassiness, a little brashiness, a little broadway, and even a little burlesque!”

October 20th “The Adventure Continues” with myself and my friend Steve Heisler.  We have a lot of fun numbers planned.  I can’t speak for others, but there’s numbers we’ll be performing that I haven’t seen anyone try to do live before.  I’ll also be world premiering a couple of original songs! “When last we saw our intrepid performers, they were battling doldrums at a rural Nova Scotian university. Now, they have hit the city, ready to bring their own brand of music, comedy, and justice* to the streets**. Fun and adventure for all ages!”
*The show may not include justice.
**The show will be in a building.

October 27th is tenor Derrick Paul Miller’s show. I’m not involved in this one, but I’ll be in the audience so I can get my perfect attendance record.

Finally, November 3rd is “The Winner Takes It All” with Feast owner/operator/artistic director Jim Petrie himself.  Once again I am the piano accompanist, and Jim has a fantastic program planned with which to finish the series.

So, that is what I’m up to these days.  Hope you’re all well, and hope to see you at some shows if you can make it out.  Facebook event links follow.  You can reserve tickets by calling the Feast at 420-1840.

Cheers,
Gus
gnote.ca

Facebook Event pages for the shows:

Kim’s Cabaret
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=137840873110

Soul & Sass
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=125536728891

The Adventure Continues (Mine!)
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=139492433829

Derrick Paul Miller
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=140818748292

The Winner Takes It All
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=152026623652