I’ve got to tip my hat to my brother-in-law Andy and new sister-in-law Sue. Most newlyweds are happy to vanish into their room after the reception; they decided to throw an after-party. I like a good post-party party as much as the next free-wheeling accordion-playing bacchanalian bon vivant, but even I retired to the honeymoon suite after my own reception. Kudos for Andy and Sue for choosing not to go quietly into the night!
Even better, they didn’t just make do with their hotel room’s decor. There’s nothing wrong with the colonial charm of the rooms at the Avon Old Farms Hotel; it’s just that it needed a little goosing to get it just right for this sort of party. Luckily Andy and company brought decorations worthy of a Phish-head’s VW van including flashing lights, spinning colored lights like the one shown in the photo below…
…plus a couple of oil wheel projectors aimed at the wall to produce images like this:
There were refreshments aplenty: a couple of coolers packed with beer, a few bottles of liquor, some pop, salty snacks of all sorts and a couple of kielbasa sausages.
As for a sound system, it wasn’t necessary. Most of us at the party had performed earlier that evening at the reception. Among Andy’s many talents are some mad balalaika skills, and his friends from his balalaika group were among us. They — and through a very generous invitation, I — performed a short set of Russian and Jewish tunes after dinner. Other guests at the after-party had also brought guitars and tambourines.
Here’s what the party looked like as it was getting into full swing:
Shut Down
Moments after I took that photo, someone from the hotel knocked at our door.
“We’ve got some complaints from your neighbours about the noise,” he said, sticking his head through the door and looking around. We were about a dozen in total, half of whom had an instrument.
“I know where this is headed,” said Andy to the rest of us.
I started to take my accordion off when the hotel guy said something very, very unexpected.
“You could use the lobby,” he suggested.
I’m sure at least three of us said “Huh?”
“Use the lobby. No rooms near it; the sound won’t carry.”
We asked if we could bring our booze and snacks, and he said as long as we cleaned up after ourselves, it was fine with him.
The group made its way to the lobby as quietly as semi-drunk people with musical instruments who’d stumbled on some unexpected good fortune. I helped in finding a luggage cart and wheeling the booze and food to the lobby.
Lobby Jam Session!
Years of lucky breaks — remember, many lucky breaks are made, not had — have taught me to have a camera ready when they happen. Here are the photos I took:
As you can see, where the hotel room was a bit cramped, the lobby has elbow room to spare.
You can see the front desk in the photo below. The night concierge didn’t seem to mind the jamming, and neither did the very people who passed by on the way to their rooms.
Taking pictures of musicians playing is tricky. Your subjects may be having a good time, but the split-second moment captured by the camera coupled with a musician’s concentration can make it seem as if you’re taking pictures in a depression ward:
That’s Serge on the left, playing the balalaika and Jason on guitar on the right.
I swear, he’s having a great time:
Rick on balalaika.
Really, we’re having fun!
Sascha on balalaika.
Okay, finally a smile:
That’s Judy on the left on balalaika and Andy on the right playing the big honkin’ contrabass balalaika.
Sue was there too, but after an entire day of cameras in her face, I decided to spare her at the after-party. Don’t say I never did nuthin’ for ya, Sue!
Gin and Juice
We bounced between classic balalaika numbers and contemporary pop in our jam sessions. I decided to shoot some video for posterity. Here’s the video I shot — it’s our performance of The Gourds’ countrified rendition of Snoop Dogg’s classic number, Gin and Juice. Enjoy!
Thanks, Avon Old Farms Hotel!
In closing, I’d like to thank the very nice and very understanding people at the Avon Old Farms Hotel for letting us move our party into the lobby so that we could jam and still not disturb anybody. You rock for letting us rock!
Even though I’ve been to a good number of U.S. states, especially those on the east coast, this is the first time I’ve ever set foot in Connecticut. I have some preconceived notions about this place, culled largely from three sources:
Friends from Connecticut, all of whom went to prep schools and good universities
At a certain age, people interpreted it as a “how-to” guide. For a while, my sister and her friends and classmates at Havergal College did just this, treating it as an instruction manual.
Once a little bit older, they then dismiss the book as junk.
Finally, they appreciate the book for what it is: a tongue-in-cheek “it’s funny because it’s mostly true” self-deprecating lampoon of the life of people who wore uniforms in high school, took tennis lessons and had alligators on a fair number of their clothes (I’m guilty of all three).
I should go see if the ol’ Preppy Handbook is still kickin’ around Mom’s place.
What am I Doing Here?
I’m here as a guest, groomsman and accordion player at the wedding of my brother-in-law Andy Ramoniac and his fiancee Sue. I get to do double accordion duty at this wedding, joining Andy’s balalaika group to do some Russian and Jewish tunes as well as his Ramones tribute band, The Ramoniacs. It’s going to be a party, and rest assured I’ll post pictures.
The “Give Me Liberty” after-work party takes place on the second Thursday in June and is a chance for people who live and work in Liberty Village — an area of Accordion City full of factories converted into lofts, offices and television and radio stations — to gather for a street party featuring a beer tent, food from local restaurants and live and DJ’d music.
YouTube took its own sweet time processing them, but the two (short) videos from Julie’s and Amanda’s wedding are finally up and I’ve included them in the blog entry. If you want to jump directly to those videos’ YouTube pages, here are the links:
(For reference, here are photos of Harry Kim — played by actor Garrett Wang — and Yours Truly, side by side..)
Perhaps he’d been hitting the ‘Strene too hard, I thought. Then again, a perfectly sober guy in San Mateo recently told me that I was the spitting image of David Suzuki.
“Thanks for the money, Mistah Harry Kim. And know this…”
Oh yeah, I thought, heavily into the ‘Strene. Who, outside of comic books, badly written sci-fi and maybe a couple of rap records says “And know this” followed by a dramatic pause?
“…you gonna do someone else a favour reeeeeal soon, and it’ll be mad good karma fo’ yo’ ass. I see mad karma in your fyoo-chah! MAD KARMA!”
And then he bolted across the street and into Burger King.
I shook my head and went back to the office.
An Unusual Ad
Wednesday evening, our living room
“Hey,” said the Ginger Ninja, who was sitting on the couch, sifting through Craigslist Toronto for yard sales. “Get a look at this.”
She pointed at her laptop’s screen, which displayed this ad:
We are two young women who are coming from America to get married, have it scheduled for this Friday and are looking for two volunteers to serve as witnesses at the ceremony at 6pm. It should be very brief.
We’ve been together for a while, are completely in love, but our families are very religious and do not support same-sex unions, and we are just looking for two individuals to help us make it “official.”
If you are available to be at Toronto City Hall this Friday (June 8th) at 5:30pm, we would greatly appreciate it. And hey, the more the merrier…if you want to bring friends – we have absolutely no objection.
“Hmm,” I said. “Sounds interesting. I could stand to do a good deed. Did you want to go?”
“Yeah,” she said. “It sounds like it would be a good thing to do.”
“Okay, let’s go. There’ll still be plenty of time to catch the movie [we were planning to see Knocked Up] and dinner afterwards.”
A Whim
Friday morning, home
Maybe I’m becoming an old fuddy-duddy, but I just can’t bring myself to wear sneakers except for hitting the gym. Doc Martens are as casual as I go footwear-wise.
I was about to put on my regular “dragon shoes”…
…when I decided “Hey, City Hall or not, it’s a wedding”, and opted to put on a dressier, if not as flashy, pair.
As I put on my shoes, I saw the accordion, which I’d left in the living room.
Hey, now there’s an idea, I thought.
I grabbed it and headed out the door.
Prelude
Third Floor, East Tower, New City Hall, 5:00 p.m.
Wendy must be rubbing off on me, because I arrived early.
I was in the waiting area outside the marriage centre. On one side of the room were three bureaucratic-waiting-room-issue chairs; on the other side was a table with a dispenser full of little blue pamphlets. I took one, half-expecting it to say something like “So you’ve ruined your life…”, but it turned out to be an advertisement for wedding services: quick, cheap and ready to fill whatever cultural, spiritual and socio-politico-complexo-migraino criteria you had.
I took a seat and cracked open my laptop to kill some time. As I sat, a group of people — presumably a bride, groom and a couple of witnesses emerged from the marriage centre. The groom noticed the accordion at my feet.
“I wish I’d seen you earlier!” he said. “We could’ve used you.”
He and his group disappeared into the elevator.
A couple of women emerged from the marriage center a minute later and also went straight to the elevator. I assumed that they were part of the group.
Meeting the Gang
A few minutes later, a guy in a white suit, pink shirt and tie and white shoes emerged from the elevator.
I wonder who’d have killed me faster if I showed up at my wedding in that getup, I thought. My mother, or my mother-in-law?
Wendy then arrived, followed by the two women whom I’d seen earlier.
“Are you Julie?” asked Wendy.
“Yes,” replied the black-haired one, and introductions were made.
They were Julie and Amanda. They live in Philadelphia, from where’d they’d left at 11:30 p.m. on Thursday. They’d driven all night and crashed at a hotel in Burlington, where they managed to get a couple of hours’ sleep.
I sort of had an idea of how they probably felt. I probably had less than the optimal amount of sleep the night before my wedding, having consumed a lot of beer with Rannie, Jay and Eldon at John Harvard’s the night before.
As far as they were concerned, this was just the “paperwork” part of their getting married. What they actually consider to be the real wedding ceremony will take place next month in Philly and be officiated by a minister of the United Church and attended by their family and friends.
We hit it off with them immediately, and there was none of that “okay on the internet, icky in real life” vibe that sometimes happens, so we decided to stay and follow through.
“We didn’t know if anyone would reply to the ad,” Julie said, “so we’re glad that you and a couple of other people answered.”
“And then with the rain,” said Amanda, pointing to the downpour outside the window, “we were worried if anyone would show up.”
In fact, two more people did show up — Allison, a student from California, followed by M., who worked at a law firm. Our group was now two-thirds American citizens.
“I brought a camera,” I said, “and I also brought this, I said, as I picked up my accordion to show it to Julie and Amanda.
They seemed like the sort of people cool enough to appreciate this sort of thing. The look on their faces was of pleasant surprise and not of abject horror, so it became pretty clear that I was going to do the music.
“I have zero polka skills,” I continued, “I’m more of a rock and pop guy. I’m thinking we should just forget the traditional wedding march…how d’you feel about Praise You by Fatboy Slim?”
“That would be amazing!” they said.
At that point, Amanda said “I just wish that there was someone here to blog all this,” completely unaware of the background of the accordion player at her wedding.
“This is your lucky day,” said Wendy, with a chuckle, after which she explained.
The wedding of the guy in the white suit and pink tie ended minutes later, and after his group of about two dozen disappeared into the elevators, the officiant, whose name escapes me, told us to come inside.
Only two witnesses were needed to sign the paperwork, so Wendy and Allison were the official witnesses.
“I see we won’t need to use the CD player for this one,” the officiant said, spotting the accordion. “This will certainly be different.”
The Ceremony
I could go on about how nice the ceremony was, but I think I’ll let the photos do the talking…
They saved their vows and rings for the real wedding, but the boilerplate vows in the generic template that the officiant used in this ceremony were pretty nice; much nicer than I expected.
I managed to get some video of Amanda’s vows:
We four guests snapped as many pictures as we could.
After the “you may now kiss” part, I fired up the squeezebox and broke into Praise You, which got the girls dancing:
Wendy managed to get some video of the tail end of Praise You, which I continued to play as Julie and Amanda signed their wedding license. During the license-signing part, I went instrumental, but there’s a little bit of singing in the refrain:
Unfortunately, there’s no video of me shifting into Rockafeller Skank, with the lyrics changed to:
Right about now
The funk soul sisters!
Check it out now
The funk soul sisters!
What’s Bloggable?
After the officiant wrapped up (I wish I could remember her name; she was very nice, and a big fan of the accordion to boot), I asked Amanda and Julie a question.
“So, guys, of all this — what’s bloggable?”
“What do you mean?” asked Amanda in reply.
“Can I write about this, use your real names, post pictures, post video and so on?”
After thinking about it for a moment, they replied “everything”. We agreed that I’d use just their first names, but aside from that, the whole thing was fair game for blogging.
The “Reception”
With the ceremony wrapped up, we left City Hall. It had stopped raining, so we walked across Nathan Philips Square.
“So what are you doing now?” I asked the newlyweds.
They replied that they were going to look around for a bit.
“At least let us buy you a drink,” said Wendy. “That was the first thing I needed after our ceremony was over.”
“I know just the place,” I said.
I led the gang to Smokeless Joe, a place with a lot of character and some personal history to boot, being the starting point for a couple of accordion-fueledadventures and the first place I ever took Wendy to when she first came to Toronto.
We sat down at the bar and placed our order. Julie, Amanda and I had some of County Durham Brewing’s Black Katt, one of my favourites. I can’t recall what Wendy ordered and Allison had an exotically red beer.
We talked about all sorts of things. We found out that Julie and Amanda met through their LiveJournals (LiveJournal — it’s not just for writing about cutting yourself or hiring people to off your mom anymore!), that Amanda has lived in many places and that their age difference is similar to the one between me and Wendy. We spent our time trading stories and email addresses.
“We’re not holding you up from anything, are we?” asked Amanda. “I overhead that you two were going go for dinner and a movie tonight.”
“The movie will be there tomorrow,” I replied, “and it’ll eventually end up on DVD. This,” I said, gesturing all around us with my pint glass, “won’t ever happen again.”
They’re a cute couple, and from what I can see, they’re very much in love. They’re also very nice people, and it’s a crying shame that they live so far away. I’m very glad that Wendy stumbled across their ad on Craigslist and that we took a chance and decided to show up at City Hall.
Julie and Amanda, thanks for letting us participate and for letting me provide the music! Wendy and I would like to wish you all the best in your future life together. May you live well, laugh often and love unconditionally. I salute the both of you with an accordion and a filet mignon on a flaming sword!
I’m a producer at MTV Canada and we’re looking for someone with your skills and talent to help us celebrate Accordion Awareness Month – which, as I’m sure you know, is June.
We’re heading out on the street with one of our hosts to talk with passersby about accordions and would love to have someone there to play us through.
Would you be willing and able to film for about half an hour either tomorrow or Wednesday in the Yonge and Bloor area? Our timing is somewhat flexible so we hope you can make it.
One of the traits that I have inherited from my American ancestry is that I am always ready to appear on television on short notice. Of course I accepted the invitation!
As a result, I spent my lunch hour Wednesday in the vicinity of this building:
The old Masonic Temple at the lucky address of 888 Yonge Street (at Davenport) in beautiful Accordion City is the current home of MTV Canada’s studios. Prior to that, it was the “CTV Temple of Television”. Before that, it was a concert venue simply known as “The Concert Hall”, and before that, it was the Rockpile club. I’ve been to a number of concerts there, my first one being Nina Hagen back in the 80s, my last one being Tool in the 90s.
I didn’t have to wait too long in their green room, shown below…
…and there’s lots of stuff in there to keep guests fed, hydrated and entertained. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time to indulge in a coupel of rounds of the XBox 360 version of Guitar Hero II (I’ve got the PS2 version at home):
I was pleased to find out that I’d be doing the segment Daryn Jones, who hosted my last appearance on MTV Live. I’ve always liked Daryn’s work on the Rick Mercer Report and was a big fan of his old Comedy Network show, Buzz, which he co-hosted with “Mistah Mo”. Funny stuff, that.
The plan was simple — we’d make our way along the short distance between the MTV Canada studios and Accordion City’s main intersection, the corner of Bloor and Yonge streets and get reaction shots from passers-by, improvving all the way. We got shots not only on the street, but inside a pizza parlour and a hairstylist’s as well, and the highlight of the shoot had to be an improvised throwdown putting me against a digeridoo player busking at the corner of Bloor and Yonge.
I’ll hold off on more details about the shoot until after it airs, but I can say that I had a great time doing the shoot, and working with Daryn is always a blast. I even saved a little money: when I went to get my car from the nearby parking lot, the attendant gave me a discount. He told me that he saw me do the shoot from his booth and said: “I always give good rates to celebrities.” Rock!
I have no idea when the segment will air, but it’ll air on Daryn’s show, MTV Live, sometime soon. I’ll post details as soon as I find out.
I was pleased to find out that I’d be doing the segment 