News

Flickershow in the dark

2008-03-20T21:16:00Z

It’s been a funny old season. Last time we played the Renaissance Café, the moon went out.

This time it’s Flickershow that’ll be in the dark.

Saturday, March 29th is Earth Hour, part of a worldwide awareness campaign to promote energy conservation in the fight against climate change. From 8 to 9pm, everyone in Toronto (and dozens of other cities) is urged to turn off lights and any non-essential electrical appliances. Fittingly, we’ll be marking the occasion with an all-acoustic song-writer circle with Ellen Carol, Nigel Barnes and other guests.

And later in the evening we’ll tap into the ol’ grid again, for just enough electricity to bring you another set of songs in full-band glory. And once again, we’ll be joined by the esteemed brilliantfish and Richie Weisdorf on drums and keys respectively.

See you there!

Surrealism and Slidin’

2007-12-05T20:20:00Z

Our good friends The Kindly Ones are hosting a monthly open jam at the Renaissance, and this coming Saturday we’ll be playing a feature set. The theme of the evening is “A Celebration of the Surreal”, so we’ll be dusting off a couple of our most out-there tunes. And there will be plenty of jamming and cross-fertilization of the musical sort. Please to come and listen!

As well, next week sees the release of Ellen Carol’s new CD, Slidin’. Eli played bass on the recording (undertaken at Don Kerr’s Rooster Studio) and will be playing with Ellen on Thursday. You can preview a few tracks at her MySpace page.

Thursday 13 December 2007
The Cadillac Lounge - 1296 Queen St West, Toronto [map]

C’est What - Oct 24th

2007-10-17T04:21:00Z

The artists formerly known as F**kershow, (only very briefly, that time they were unfortunately mis-billed as such by the Cameron House, who apologized, but couldn’t find the pen for the whiteboard outside, so the boys had to fix it up with a finger and some spit), are appearing for one night only at C’est What, Wednesday October 24th. Featuring a cozy bar, lovely microbrew on tap and in bottles, and great music from supporting acts David Hein and Adlai Waxman, it’s bound to be a hoot!

Milestone: All four members of Flickershow will be appearing on stage at the same time! The resulting distortion of the space-time continuum could kill us all! Or leave us pleasantly relaxed and in need of a cigarette. It could go either way.

See yoooooou theeeerrrrrrrrre!

(And if you can’t be there, but you’re online at the right hour, C’est What has a live-off-the-floor webcast at whatsnext.ca.)

Track of the Fortnight: “The Ballad of Pine Creek”

2007-09-25T19:13:00Z

Summer’s been busy, so we’ve been taking a break from our fortnightly schedule - but now that it’s fall, here’s the first of a new crop, recorded just the other night at the Renaissance. “The Ballad of Pine Creek” is a gritty tale of cowboys and guns on a desert night, featuring Richie Weisdorf on keys.

The Ballad of Pine Creek (6:55)

Gryffin Fundraiser - thank you!

2007-09-25T18:53:00Z

A big thank you to everyone who came out to the Renaissance for the fundraiser. At last count we’d raised $745, enough to make a very big dent in our pal Marisa’s Gryffin-related vet bills.

Thanks also to David Hein for rockin’ out with a whole bunch of tunes new and old, and to Sean Howard for organizing the whole thing!

Gryffin Fundraiser, and Coffeehouse too!

2007-09-12T19:57:00Z

On Saturday the 22nd, we’ll be returning to the Renaissance Café on the Danforth, along with our pal David Hein!

The tunes are for a cause this time: our friend Marisa, tireless friend and advocate for all creatures, recently ran up a vast vet bill trying to help a cat she’d found poisoned, and your donation will go to help her pay it off. David’s put together a lovely poster which you can view and print (PDF format).

If you can’t make it, you can donate online at the Gryffin page.

And a few days before that, on Tuesday September 18th, we’ll be hosting the open stage at the Renaissance, held every week by the fine folks at Coffeehouse.ca, and one of our favorite such events in the city.

The evening’s featured artists will be The Kindly Ones (it’s also bassist Sarah’s birthday!)

Musicians, spoken-word and other performers: you can sign up on the night, but slots go quickly, especially the ones earlier on in the evening. If you’re a Coffeehouse member, you can sign up online ahead of time.

Westward bound

2007-07-24T18:27:01Z

Ah, Brampton! The “young oasis” of Peel Region, the Star called it. The city beside the city above Toronto. And the next destination for the Flickershow road show!

We’ll be playing there this very Thursday at the Bleu Lounge - right downtown on Queen St West, opening for our good friends Nigel Barnes, Gloria Hall and band (including Eli on bass). Plenty of great tunes and fun to be had… we hope to see you there.

Track of the Fortnight: “Linger”

2007-07-07T19:18:01Z

This one’s a bit late, but appropriately enough, it’s a song about the pleasures of taking your time. An important thing indeed, especially when it comes to sweet, sweet lovin’.

(Did you miss a Track of the Fortnight? They’re all collected on our Music page.)

Linger (3:19)

Street Party!

2007-06-21T18:32:00Z

“When we eat, dance, and play in the streets together we’re sowing the seeds of community.”

For one day every month, from May to October, Kensington Market’s main thoroughfares close to car traffic to make room for people. It’s a great party, and this Sunday, Flickershow will be there!

We’ll be sharing the stage with The Kindly Ones, Aaron Bentley, and Simon Loban, and it’s all happening from 1pm to 7, at St Andrew and Kensington (near the Moonbean Coffee Co.) Flickershow will be on later in the afternoon. And though parental duty prevents Clark from drumming with us this weekend, Richie Weisdorf (also of Some of the Parts) will be joining us on keyboards - he’s also been working with us on the long-rumoured Next Flickershow CD.

Read more about Pedestrian Sundays at: http://www.pskensington.ca/

Track of the Fortnight: “To The Nines”

2007-06-21T18:30:00Z

Another one from our set at C’est What, from March of last year.

To The Nines (6:39)

Track of the Fortnight: “Catch-22”

2007-06-03T22:36:00Z

Got a live one for you this time: recorded at C’est What on March 7th last year, here’s “Catch-22”. (We’re working on an alternate version now, with more of a Latin groove to it.)

Catch-22 (3:24)

Sammy Sugar Festival

2007-05-22T17:52:00Z

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, packed with dozens of excellent musicians on three stages. 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

Track of the Fortnight: “Know It All”

2007-05-22T15:00:00Z

We’ll have plenty of new tunes for you at the Sammy Sugar Festival… 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!

Know It All (2:23)

Track of the Fortnight: “Vanilla and Vermouth”

2007-05-03T07:03:00Z

From one of our newest tunes to one of our oldest. This one goes back a long way indeed, to the fabled Pre-Flickershow Era.

In 2000 Julian ventured over to Eli’s Bathurst Street apartment to record a four-song demo called Ink. Among the tracks was this number, inspired by a couple Julian spotted on the street one day. Dig the Alesis bassline and horn section.

Vanilla and Vermouth (2:43)

Track of the Fortnight: “Hold Up Donny”

2007-04-14T03:28:00Z

We’re proud to announce a new feature on the Flickershow site: the Track of the Fortnight!

Every two weeks we’ll be posting a different unreleased track - things like live shows and demos of brand new songs. If you’re one of the “pod people”, you can even subscribe using iTunes or other podcast-grabbing software, and have the songs delivered automatically to your computer.

Now, without further ado, the first Track of the Fortnight, a demo version of one of our newest songs: “Hold Up Donny”. And if you like it, just you wait - we’ve got a tricked out trip-hoppy version coming on our CD.

Enjoy!

Hold Up Donny (3:37)