Lethbridge Portrait & Wedding Photography & Design by Tanya Plonka

One last blog for the evening!

New Years was really special this year because our good friend Andrew Scott was down for a few weeks from Japan. Since he’s been teaching English there, we barely get to see him anymore, and we (or at least I) really miss his crass sense of humor. I am huuugely looking forward to shooting his wedding with Julie this July, but it seems so far away! (I can’t imagine what it’s like for Julie being apart for so long!)

On New Years Eve, he got the boys from the Turncoats back together for an awesome gig at the Slice that sold out several days prior (that hardly ever happens here). Everyone was up front, singing along, like the past year and an ocean hadn’t kept all us fans away from the band.

Opening were the Smokin’ Pistols

Then the lovely Shaela Miller

And the Turncoats!

Paul singing “Roxanne” (Police)… and Paul never sings. It was fantastic!

(You can view more of these at my other site)

Andrew had a really busy week recording, playing, and spending time with family (and Julie), and sadly I am always very busy too, so only caught one of his solo shows in that time… However, I am grateful for that extra time with him, because not everyone was so lucky! (Poor Dino was out of town on a gig and only really saw Andrew the one day). This solo show was at Mocha Cabana, a small coffee house / cafe I love going to downtown. It was a really quiet show and had a nice vibe. Andrew was there more as “background music” but a few of us came specifically to hear him play, and helped him out with “If I Had A Million Dollars,” which he hadn’t really played before but took by request.

1. I couldn’t be with the Johnpaul Smith Band this weekend in Banff due to photoshoots and my day job, and
2. I have a moment of free time to catch up on the last of my personal photos from 2008 (sorry Kelsey, yours are soon!), so…

Here are photos of the Johnpaul Smith Band back on January 30th at Slice!

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I had a great time taking pictures of Texas Flood, not only because Dino is in the band now… and not only because Paul brought some extra lights to spruce up Slice’s otherwise drab lighting… but mostly because they are such a fun band to watch, and Paul makes the best “guitar faces.” (okay, the lights and Dino help out a lot :P ) Shawna and Karen were a delightful addition on the few songs they sang for too!

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One of my favorite bands to see live, Big John Bates and the Voodoo Dollz, were back in town this Thursday to rock our socks off. I can never understand why so many guys there would rather mosh (ie, slam their bodies into other men) when there are women burlesque dancing right in front of them they could be watching instead. What's the deal with that??

I also got some props after :)
From their blog:

Our Lethbridge show last night was a hoot, so they’re keeping the bar pretty consistent for us. We had a rockabilly-feeling band open the show with a fun swinging set, I saw the tallest man in town, Johnny Smalls (that’s his really-real name… no lie) and didn’t see if the talented photographer Tanya was there. Hopefully she was, and I just missed saying hello to her and her camera.”

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I’m terribly sorry if you also watch Andrew’s blog and the LJ Lethbridge community, in which case this will be your third time seeing this!

Andrew will be back from Japan for a bit, and the guys are getting together for what will be an awesome show! It was really fun to combine the western and Japanese together for this :)

Credit for the Kanji goes to my friend Emiko Shibano, who went through the trouble of writing all the characters out by hand and then mailing them to me! It translates to Long Time No See (Hisashiburi desu ne), if you are wondering.

And also a bit of credit to a certain director… do you know who?

When I picked up Disney’s weekend schedule my first weekend there, I literally shrieked when I read who would be playing in Tomorrowland, because after all these years I am still a huge fan girl, no matter how much I tried to deny it…

I first saw Suburban Legends in 2002, and again in 2003, so it’s been a loooong five years for me (they never tour in Canada). As soon as I saw them they became one of my favorite bands. Since then the lineup has gone through HUGE changes. First trombone player Dallas was killed in a hit and run, then old band members flocked out. Vince returned as their singer (he was formerly one of their trumpet players), and when I checked them out on MySpace I was disappointed; the ska was gone, and now they were silly funk. I understood ska is just not a big thing right now, but oh it broke my heart. I wasn’t happy with the new music I was hearing on MySpace.

After seeing them live, I have totally changed my mind, and they are still one of my favorite bands. They are the most energetic, entertaining live band I have ever seen. Their music has gotten so much tighter since I last saw them, and every new band member is a huge asset (there are only 4/8 of the members from when I saw them). And they still have dance choreography! They get the crowd involved through the entire thing (singing and dancing competitions) and when the crowd’s energy starts to wane at the end of the night, they work their butts off to bring it back up (which most bands don’t bother with).

I couldn’t pull myself away from their engaging show and went all three nights to all five sets, phew! (Even enduring a lady who thinks Canada is communist?! -She thinks we are a terrifying socialist country, but by socialist really meant communist, and no we aren’t even socialist, haha!)

They played nearly every song they have ever written. This meant they still do all the ska songs! I was wondering what it would be like with Tim no longer on vocals, but Vince totally nailed it and then some. Sadly there were only several of us there skanking, but my heart was content.

I want mooooooore. They are touring with the Aquabats (!!!) but not here. We DO like ska here, guys :(

Check them out on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/suburbanlegends

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