An Evening with Patrick Chan

Whenever I watch Team Canada Hockey...Olympics...Worlds...I don't have enough finger nails to chew on.  My heart races, I'm on the edge of my seat and can barely watch.  If Canada scores I jump off my seat so fast that my cat hits the ceiling nails dug in upside down.  Kids cry from being so startled and my wife yells at me...

Then there is figure skating.  Months of practice...pressures at an all time high resting on the shoulders of one individual who has to spin multiple times in the air and land on a blade 4mm wide...oh and by the way lets combo that with another insane aerial acrobat...and heaven forbid you don't land smoothly let alone fall! I can barely watch...in fact most of the times choose not to.  Can't handle it!

This past Friday night I had the pleasure of providing audio for an "Evening with Patrick Chan" a fundraiser to help support the current 2011 World Figure Skating Champion. Not only did the Ottawa born figure skater win the world championship in Moscow he did it by smashing three world records in the process!

The event was held in Richmond Hill at the Premier Banquet Center.  Roughly 500 guests showed up at the $130 per plate event in support of Patrick, including coach, Christine Krall, mayor of Richmond Hill, Dave Barrow and Donald Jackson 1962 World Champion (first to land a triple lutz in competition).  PJ Kwong and Scott Russel both commentators for the CBC were there MCing the event. The night included a silent and live auction which had an autographed Wayne Gretzky Edmonton Jersey (that sold for $1700), latin dance performances and what seemed to be a never ending multiple course meal of Chinese dishes.

Premier Banquet Hall In Richmond Hill

My gear along side Bernard of WPI Events

I worked along side Bernard of WPI events who ran two video screens used to show videos of Patrick's past performances and a training video blog put together by Patrick's best friend.  Coupled with my normal set-up a whole bunch of other equipment was added to fill the cavern that was the Premier Banquet Hall.  Here is what I used:

• 2x Yorkville NX75P - 750watt mains on the dance floor.
• 2x Yorkville NX55P - 550watt mains mid room.
• 2x Yorkville NX25P - 250watt mains at back of room to cancel out echo.
• 2x Yorkville NX720P - Subwoofers on the dance floor.
• 2x Line 6 XV-70 Wireless Mics.
• Shure SM 58 Hard Mic.
• Mackie DFX-6 Mixer (for Mics and DJ mixer input).
• 2x Denons DNS3500 CDTT with Ecler Nuo 4 Mixer.
• Laptop with Traktor Scratch Pro and Traktor Kontrol X1 midi controller.

Meeting Patrick was a treat.  He is very small in stature...almost seems fragile....that's what I was thinking anyway when we shook hands.  But the power needed to do what he does on a pair of skates tells you what he really is...a super athlete.  He may be small but he probably has the biggest smile ever.  He must have posed for litterally 500 pictures that night and in every one his smile got larger.  During his speech he talked about his performance in the Vancouver Winter Games and the lessons learned.  He claimed his perspective had changed since and he was enjoying the skating a lot more leading up to Moscow.  If that directly coorelates to the size of his smile I am sure it helped win the judges over...that and landing a few quads in the meantime.  He was super humble and showed his appreciation for everything that went on that evening and from what I can tell it was a great success!

Patrick asked for a picture...I said sure! :)

CBC's Scott Russel & PJ Kwong along side Patrick Chan

With all the nights festivities going late - there wasn't much time for me to get the dance floor going.  It was all about Patrick.  For those that were left what was more important was some last minute autographs, pictures and some personal time speaking to him.

At the end of the night I joked with him as we talked about online gaming I found out to be one of his passions.  He is a young man after all.  He mentioned "Left for Dead".  I haven't played that game personally.  I then spoke to him about the wonderful World of Warcraft, a highly addictive, super time wasting game he has yet to try.  I urged him not to....but if he does and his career takes a sudden down turn in the near future it's not my fault!

Ohhh...and I also spoke briefly to the mayor's wife.  Unfortunately she couldn't do much to help reduce the amount of traffic in Richmond Hill on my way to work.  She said she couldn't help me cause I lived on the "other side of Bathurst"...aka Maple... :)

In case you missed it here is his long program performance!

A special thanks goes out to Carmen James of the Richmond Training Center for recommending me for this gig.  I met some wonderfull people that night!

Ginos, Ginas, Freestyle and the Z28

The other day I came accross this reference on Wikipedia for Freestyle Music in Canada...

Freestyle had a large following in the late 80's and early 90's throughout the Greater Toronto Area catering originally to the Italian and Greek population, although ultimately accepted by large from the city's vast multi-cultural base. Freestyle was prominent in all ages venues and various Toronto nightclubs that would also showcase House Music. Canadians also invented their own term for the music called 'gino beats'. The fans of this music in Toronto were often referred to as 'ginos' (males) and 'ginas' (females). They often grew up in the 905 region. The term was not used in a derogatory sense such as 'guido' in America, but more a description of a Toronto male or female with a certain style (interest in fashion) and taste in music (Freestyle & House), and the behavior of blasting House music or Freestyle music while driving with the windows down, to try and attract the attention of females. By the mid nineties this market had moved almost completely to House music as their club music of choice. Lil Suzy released several 12" singles at the time, that became immensely popular amongst the youth population in Toronto. She ultimately performed live on Electric Circus, a popular Canadian live dance music television program.

I love it!  I'll be the first to admit it.  I am a Gino.  I loved freestyle back in the day and wish I still had my 12" copies of Stevie B, Trinere, Debbie Deb & Shannon.   All I wore in highschool was tracksuits (I still have my prized Kappa tracksuit folded in my closet).  I play soccer.  I played "gits" in school...and love house music....I think I still have an accent lol.

They need to be more specific though in this article.  By "905" they mean Woodbridge...and they need to add "while driving their Z28 with the windows down and seat reclined 75 degrees." Woodbridge is a special place.  Not to long ago I visited a LCBO and saw a convertible Ferrari parked on a "45" in a handicap spot.  I saw to "Ginos" come out and get in there car.  Both didn't look handicapped but they were definitely special...

Well unfortunately I was still too young to drive around with the windows down when Stevie B released his first album.  Fortunately though he was still popular by the time I was able to drive around in my parents Caprice Classic and head up to Wasaga beach a very popular destination for the "905"

Stevie B - Spring Love

Anyhow.  Here is my top 10 selection of must have "Gino beats..."

1. Spring Love - Stevie B
2. When I Hear Music - Debbie Deb
3. Diamond Girl - Nice and Wild
4. Lookout Weekend - Debbie Deb
5. Take Me In Your Arms - Lil' Suzy
6. I'm Hooked On You - Sweet Sensation
7. Let The Music Play - Shannon
8. I'll Be All You'll even Need - Trinere
9. Party Your Body - Stevie B
10. Summertime Summertime - Nocera

Well ok...one more:

11. Silent Morning - Noel

I am gonna go and see if I can find some old footage from Electric Circus...that show was the best!

Wiik Wiik Whaaaa!

I am not a scratch DJ by any means. Was never my thing. Back in the day I was the guy playing house and dance tracks with long smooth mixes and my DJ partner Marlon would play all the hip hop. So naturally he was the guy doing all the scratching...and quite good at it too! You can find him on facebook. Just look for Marlon Magictricks Tanner.  You can also here him regularily with The Drill Squad on 89.5.

For those that don't know the World DMC DJ championships is coming to an end. Finals for Canada are in Hamilton in the next week. Check here for the event listing. This is an interesting year for the DMC championships since it is the first time they will allow DVS (digital vinyl system) in the finals albeit without additional controllers. It is also the first year of the DMC online DJ competition in which voters vote online! They are now down to the online top 10 finalists with the winner being invited to the DMC championships wich are being held in London England in October.

For those not in the know here is an explanation of what DVS is from wikipedia...

Vinyl Emulation software allows the user to physically manipulate the playback of digital audio files on a computer using the turntables as an interface, thus preserving the hands-on 'feel' of deejaying with vinyl while allowing playback of audio recordings not available in

phonograph form. This allows DJs to scratch, beatmatch, and perform other turntablism that would be impossible with a conventional keyboard-and-mouse computer interface. The technology is also referred to as DVS for either Digital Vinyl System or Digital Vinyl Software.

It's basically a specially made record that sends a signal to the software that the software then applies to a digital media file playing. Quite cool really. Traktor (what I use) and Serato are the more popular systems...

Now why is it interesting? Well what these guys can do with a 2 turntables and a mixer is unbelievable! However the shift to DVS and external controllers opens up a whole new avenue of creativity...mind boggling actually. For example check out these two videos of DJ Craze (5 time DMC champion) and DJ Dummy performing on Traktor software...

Seriously how awesome is that?

Gonna be interesting to see how DMC changes in the coming years and to see the shift from the traditional to the digital. Pureists will probably resist the change. It was not to long ago that Technic 1200 turntables and a mixer were the norm. But with technolgy moving ever so fast there is no arguing that change is coming. It just allows for so much more creativity which at the end of the day is what is all about and the traditional set-up is just limiting. But at the end of the day...software does not scratch for you...well not well yet anyways.

I guess I should go dig up "Le Freak" by Chic and start practicing...

Wiik wiik whaaa...wiik wiik...Wahhhhhhhh.....freak out!