Humble greetings and most sincere felicitations from the Flickershow camp:
Let it be known in the name of Mentos, (ancient, withered, sublime), that we will resume lobbing our musical salvos at 6:30 pm, on Saturday, the twenty sixth of May, 2007. We will leave the Tranzac a smoking crater of peace and tranquility, in which the remaining acts of the evening shall cavort sweetly. Let it also be known that our set shall be a small part of a greater festival, the Sammy Sugar Festival. It shall take place between the hours of 1pm and 1am on the same day, with all proceeds going to support a musical education initiative in Ecuador.
Come thou, and witness the return of Clark, The Many Tentacled, as he whips his thwack-barrels into a rhythmic frenzy not seen since the Liquification of Hedron in 973 B.K. Gape, as Julian keeps asking for more vocal in the monitors after each song, until his voice booms and quavers like some demigod who has lost his contact lens in an undersea cavern. Hallucinate wildly as the thud from Eli’s Fury awakens hitherto dormant urges of an extremely salacious nature from within the hindmost quarters of your limbic system.
Safer to stay at home? Probably. More fun to come out? Definitely!
The Sammy Sugar Day Festival
Main Stage - 6pm
The Tranzac - 292 Brunswick Ave, Toronto
(south of Bloor, between Bathurst and Spadina)
$20 for the whole day (1pm to 1am)
Full schedule
And to whet your appetite, here’s the latest
Track of the Fortnight: a brand new song we call “Know It All”. What do physicists, monks, news anchors and musicians have in common? Find out…
2008
24 April - Free Times Café
11 April - Stunt Busking Festival - with Don Kerr
5 April - Savannah Room - Humane Society Fundraiser
29 March - Earth Hour - with Ellen Carol and Nigel Barnes
20 February - Renaissance Café - Lunar Eclipse show
2007
24 October - C’est What? - with David Hein
22 September - Renaissance Café - Gryffin the Cat Fundraiser
26 July - Brampton, ON: Bleu Lounge - with Nigel Barnes and Some of the Parts
14 July - Newmarket, ON: Sabypalooza
24 June - Kensington Market - Pedestrian Sundays
26 May - The Tranzac - Sammy Sugar Day Festival
2006
27 October - Renaissance Café - A Flickershow Hallowe’en with Spookyhorse and Spielfilm
18 October - Healey’s - David Hein CD Release
22 September - Renaissance Café - with David Hein
25 August - Renaissance Café - with Floxy Blu
29 July - Cobourg, ON: The Human Bean - with Jessica Graham
14 July - Renaissance Café - with Tom Girling and David Hein
12 May - Renaissance Café - with Dave and Rich DeJonge and the David Hein Band
15 April - Scotia Entertainment Acoustic Showcase
17 March - Renaissance Café - with Albert Anyone and Stacey Kityana
8 March - C’est What? - Uncle Seth CD release
2005
8 December - The Cameron House - Archery CD release party
25 November 2005 - Renaissance Café - with Uncle Seth and Jessica Graham
15 October 2005 - Renaissance Café - with Spookyhorse and Adlai Waxman
27 September 2005 - Miguel’s Club 329 - with Some of the Parts
10 September 2005 - Scotia Entertainment Acoustic Showcase
3 and 5 September 2005 - Danforth Music Festival - with Ellen Carol and Some of the Parts
13 August 2005 - Renaissance Café - with Escalate and Amy Campbell
30 June 2005 - Pour House - with Some of the Parts
24 June 2005 - Renaissance Café - "Invincible" Video Launch with Jessica Graham, Archery
12 June 2005 - Charles W. Stockey Centre, Parry Sound - Taping for TVO Studio 2 - Ontario Song Contest
28 May 2005 - C’est What? - with the Shoeflies
25 Feb 2005 - Renaissance Café - with Some of the Parts
16 Feb 2005 - Rancho Relaxo - Acoustic show with Signe Miranda, Jeff Stone, Jerry Leger & The Situations, Tony & Ferg.
8 Jan 2005 - Renaissance Café - Introducing Clark Allore on drums! wiith Snoovy, the David Hein Band
2004
24 Oct 2004 - Holy Joe’s - with Nigel Barnes, This Crooked Mile
22 Oct 2004 - Renaissance Café - with Saveface, Susmita De
17 Sep 2004 - Renaissance Café - with the Kindly Ones
20 Jul 2004 - Free Times Café
28 May 2004 - Renaissance Café - with Saveface, David Hein
6 Apr 2004 - Free Times Café - with Saveface
19 Feb 2004 - Cameron House - with the David Hein Band, the Peyote Kings
9 Jan 2004 - Free Times Café - with David Hein
2003
19 Oct 2003 - Clinton’s Tavern - Pirate Video Cabaret (musical guests)
10 Oct 2003 - Free Times Café - Stars For Searchlights CD Release with David Hein
“Music where melody is king, but words rule from behind the throne.”
A flickershow is a movie, and Flickershow’s music has a touch of the cinematic in its clever lyrics… Plenty of romance, of course. Glories and falls along the way. A hilarious comedic turn. Offbeat characters who fascinate and amuse. And the cinematography is mighty fine too.
The music? Clever, hooky, eclectic pop, with a dash of Belle & Sebastian and Elvis Costello, or perhaps Ron Sexsmith or Camper Van Beethoven.
Singers Julian Sark and Eli McIlveen have been playing music together since high school. Years later, they reunited in Toronto and snagged the name Flickershow from a bit of old-timey slang in The Green Mile.
With the release of their 2003 debut EP Stars For Searchlights, and the addition of drummer Clark Allore, Flickershow began to expand from their folky acoustic sound into a more eclectic mix of highfalutin pop and groovy rock. 2005 brought Flickershow to the screen, first with a performance on TVOntario’s Studio 2, selected as finalists in the Ontario Song Contest, then with the independently produced video for “Invincible”.
A new recording is on the way in 2007.
“...a harmonious sound that seems to wash over the audience like a rolling wave.” — coffeehouse.ca
“It’s like a Simon-and-Garfunkel-hopped-up-on-Ani-DiFranco-with-a-happy-ending thing. You know what I mean.” — Spookyhorse
“Your music totally makes me want to kiss my girlfriend.” — an anonymous fan
Cast of characters
Julian Sark: vocals and guitar
Julian likes setting words to music. He also has a sideline setting music to words. He’s been doing both ever since he picked up the guitar in high school. He’s often been told he has the heart of a poet. Which poet is the currently the subject of a major police investigation.
He sings about love, hope, Belgian businessmen, liars, wonder, street people, despair, girls, satellites, spare change, and spies.
Julian’s Favourite Musicians: Trashcan Sinatras, Elvis Costello, Harry Nilsson, Belle & Sebastian, Spoon, and Sarah Slean.
Eli McIlveen: bass, vocals and guitar
During their high school-era jam sessions, Eli was usually the one playing sound effects records backwards and sabotaging toy keyboards, while Julian played guitar and improvised lyrics. Not long after rejoining Julian to form Flickershow, he stumbled on a defretted Fury LS-4 in a second-hand music shop, and switched to bass on the spot.
Eli will listen to just about anything.
Favorites: the New Pornographers, Talking Heads, Camper Van Beethoven, The Pixies, Stereolab, the Golden Dogs, Amon Tobin, the Fembots, Brian Eno…
Eli does electronic music and remixes under the name Geometer, and also plays with Toronto folk-pop band Some Of The Parts. He also keeps a blog at forgeryleague.com.
Clark Allore: drums
Clark Allore met Julian while they were attending York University. Longtime drummer for rock ‘n’ roll wiseacres The Shoeflies, he became the newest member of the Flickershow cast in 2004, introducing the band to a whole new world of groove.
After taking a few months’ parental leave from the band, new dad Clark has returned to provide the rock once more!
