“Novelty music for the humiliated… laughing gas for music geeks.” — The Nerve

2011-07-30: Creaking Planks back at ArtsWells!

Posted: July 22nd, 2011 | Author: Blackbox Squeezebeard | Filed under: Show announcements and recaps | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

At the time the performance was a bit of a headache — a beautiful historical chapel in a refurbished ghost town, but one mysteriously without electricity to even out our disparate sound levels. (Little did we realise, the entire district was temporarily without power. Worst of all, the ice cream in the coolers was starting to melt and being given away for free!) But we’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of that set, first on the inside cover of last year’s festival program, and now again, thrusting us front and centre on Page A8 of the July 22, 2011 edition of the Vancouver Sun:

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Did You Know: The Creaking Planks are a duo? It’s going to be very awkward breaking the news to the other dozen or so of us… I suppose this is why it is so vital we publish our book, that at least one other print source compete with this bold claim from our newspaper of record. That said, it’s nice to be considered the epitome of what a Vancouver-based folk ensemble looks like. (And it will be nice to Mike Fawcett to get credit for that photograph as well.)

We’ll be playing at the ArtsWells festival this year at 8:30 pm at the Downstairs Hall on Saturday, July 30th. Unlike last year, we’re not playing any other shows up there, but the festival is of course very worthwhile with sets from our friends in Blackberry Wood, Fish & Bird, the Joey Only matrimonial band, Raghu Lokanathan and Jeremy Stewart, Nice Verdes, Namgar, Mind of a Snail, High Society, Linda McRae, T. Nile, Jeff Andrew, John Pippus, and of course Geoff Berner.

Blackbox Squeezebeard (or, after last year’s fundraising depilation, “Airbeard”) will be hosting the Accordions in the Round session noon to 1 on the 31st also at the Downstairs Hall, and the Rev. Lucian Rumblebucket will be teaching a washtub bass workshop at 2 pm in the school.

But first, we’re playing for a private wedding party July 23rd!

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2009-04-29: Planks at Big Screen Barrelhouse at the Rio

Posted: April 21st, 2009 | Author: Blackbox Squeezebeard | Filed under: Show announcements and recaps | Tags: , , , , , , | No Comments »

Running from 8 pm until well past midnight, this culmination of the Rio’s (1660 E. Broadway at Commercial Drive) April series of concerts will be featuring screenings and musical accompaniment by Tarran the Tailor, Blackberry Wood and Maria in the Shower, including special guests the Mind of a Snail puppet troupe (of “the Laughing Disease” fame)… and (of course!) the Creaking Planks, joining forces with Travis to demonstrate a certain magical, musical spirit cabinet. A craft market will be set up and the first few rows of chairs removed to maximalise DANCE PARTY potential! Admission is $15, but these supertoys last all summer long.

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