Ken Tizzard on Amsterdam Radio tonight…

Tonight! Friday Deceber 18th.
Medium Rare Radio (out of Amsterdam)
Joe Public Live Interview with Ken Tizzard
7:30 pm (EST)
Mac Users: http://209.217.125.132:8052
Others: http://www.mediumrare.com

drop by and have a listen
ken

Free MP3 – sample of new record for 2010

Hey there y’all

For a short time I will be offering “This Town Of Mine” as a free download from www.kentizzard.com.

The download also included artwork for those of you who care about such things.

If you do not have time to download this and would like the track to show up in your e-mail, please just drop me a line at ktizzard@kentizzard.com (FREE MP3 in the subject) and I will be happy to send it out to you.

Have a nice day

ken

End Of Year Merch

As always, at the end of the year I dig through the various boxes of cd’s and t-shirts to see what remains. I have updated my merch page to include the few “Lost In Awe” tour t-shirts and “Live at the Acoustic Grill” cd’s that we have left over. You can drop by www.kentizzard.com for more information…
to be specific www.kentizzard.com/merch.htm

Help spread the word – send your friends along, apparently Canada Post is pretty quick these days…
Lost In Awe (cd) – $15.00
Quiet Storey House (cd) – $12.00
Live at the Acoustic Grill (cd) – $10.00
Lost In Awe tour t-shirt – $22.00
$3.00 shipping for each item…

Six String Nation Guitar

I was invited over to local radio station CKOL to perform “This Town Of Mine” on the Six String Nation guitar that is traveling through Canada. Great sounding instrument… You should really check this out…

http://www.sixstringnation.com/

ABOUT THE GUITAR
The Six String Nation guitar and related projects were conceived in 1995 by Peabody Award winning writer and broadcaster Jowi Taylor, inspired by the looming Quebec Referendum of that year and by the commitment of luthier George Rizsanyi to the value of Canadian woods over the usually preferred exotics. After years of community dialogue, research and fundraising, the guitar made its official debut at the Canada Day celebrations on Parliament Hill in Ottawa in the hands of Stephen Fearing, Colin James, Michel Pagliaro, Stars, Aselin Debison, Kyle Riabko, Jean-Francois Breau and others on July 1st, 2006. Since then, it’s travelled many thousands of kilometers across Canada, been played by hundreds of different musicians and been held by thousands of Canadians – players and non-players alike – at festivals, schools, concerts and community events in a growing number of places around the country. At a ceremony launching the 2008 Festival du Voyageur in Winnipeg-St. Boniface, the guitar received the official nickname Voyageur – a moniker suggested by contest entrant Lt. Col. Susan Beharriel who attended the ceremony.

Voyageur itself is made from 63 pieces of Canadian history and heritage representing many different cultures, communities and characters from all across the country. A further handful of elements adorn the strap and the interior of the guitar-case. These materials were gathered primarily by Taylor over a two year period thanks to the generosity of individuals, corporations and public institutions in every part of the country. All materials were shipped to Nova Scotia and the guitar was crafted by luthier George Rizsanyi near Pinehurst between April and June of 2006 with inlay work and other assistance by Sara Nasr.

The goals of the Six String Nation project are simple: to invite the many voices and perspectives that together define the spectrum of Canadian identity and experience to speak to one another – each in their own voice; to celebrate the people and stories that make each part of Canada distinct; to tell the story of a country from the roots to the trunk rather than the other way around; and to encourage us to tell that story to ourselves and the world through music – the language that Canada speaks just about better than anyone else in the world.

The Selfish Giant

Every few years I enter into a collaboration with Westben Artistic director Brian Finley. We have worked on many projects together and I always find these times extremely rich in music and creation. We have been threatening to work together on another musical for the last year or so and recently decided that we would work on “The Selfish Giant” by Oscar Wilde. This show will be produced for Westben in June and looks like it will feature both an adult and children’s chorus.

Today Brian and I began hammering out storyline concepts and came up with some great ideas. I think this winter will be pretty good for me fro a creative point of view. My new music is coming along, the response to “This Town Of Mine” has been great. Add to this a long winter of writing for The Selfish Giant and I find myself very excited.

What ever happened to cape wearing men???

New song to check out…

The Variety Show Players recently did some recording out near Ottawa with producer Ken Friesen.  The whole experience was great and I will chat more about this later.  For now, I wanted to share an MP3 of one of the new tunes.  Drop by our Myspace and have a listen to “This Town Of Mine” when you have a chance.  More to come…

Visit MySpace

more of the same

It looks like there is not a break to the insane schedule which has become my life. I am not complaining at all, just a little tired from time to time. Looking forward to the Red Dog show tomorrow. This date was a sort of goal with the new Variety Players to have all the old material down as well as a whole bunch of new tunes. The addition of Mr.Grant (Ken as well) has really helped to fill out the sound and these upcoming shows will really be a great opportunity to showcase the new songs.
After the Red Dog I have a few days writing before heading out with Thornley for a date in Waterloo followed by a week in the studio with the Variety Show recording 4 new songs.
The Watchmen tracks are getting radio play in certain areas. If you are interested in hearing these songs you can check them out on www.the-watchmen.com or call your local radio station and request either of the new tunes. Response to these songs has been good and I am sure there will be more shows in the future.

Stay well
Ken

Correct me if I am wrong…

I love it when I make mistakes, mostly for the comments I receive.
Regarding my show at Mavericks in December I forgot to mention that it was on December 11th.
The response…

“Friday, December in Ottawa @ Mavericks – Ottawa”

pssst – there’s a NUMBER of Fridays in Ottawa

Thanks Mike…

Watchmen weekend and new Macfie guitar…

What a crazy and amazing weekend. The two sold out Watchmen shows at the Horseshoe were both incredible and strangely different. Friday night’s set was a little more laid back than Saturday’s rock show. With obscure songs like Falling, He’s Gone, Top Of The World and others it was a perfect set for a theatre evening. Saturday stepped things up with the addition of a few more rock tunes including Holiday, Wiser and I think Mister as well. Both evenings were packed with fantastic musical moments and all in all the band had a great time.



On Friday, I picked up my buddy Matt Macfie from Newfoundland, now living out west. He had been working on a custom acoustic guitar for me for the last year or so and flew in to come to the Watchmen shows and drop me off the finished product. I cannot begin to explain how cool this guitar is. I had a chance to try it out in last night’s Variety Show rehearsal and it played and sounded great. I am looking forward to using it live this Friday at the Acoustic Grill in Picton for our “Live at the Acoustic Grill” cd release party.

As well on Friday, I dropped by the Traynor factory to pick up a new bass amp. I decided to experiment with using a 4 x 10 and a 1 x 15 cab instead of the usual 8 x 10. I used this combination for the shows with the Watchmen this past weekend and it was incredible. Just adding that 1×15 gave me that extra warmth that I had been looking for. As well, Jeremy set me up with the new Traynor YGM-3 guitar amp which I will be using with the Variety Show Players. I have not had a chance to try it out yet with the band, but on its own it sounds amazing.

I am looking forward to the upcoming shows and hope to see you all on the road.

Cheers
ken

New Watchmen Tunes and Variety Show news…

Hey there everybody

I hope all is well in everyone’s world. All is good here these days. The Watchmen have a few new tracks recorded, The Variety Show Players are performing and going into the studio in October and I am heading out with Thornley for another show in a few weeks. Busy as always, here is the extended version…

The Watchmen:

New Songs available for download

In the spring we decided to go into Joey’s studio and lay some beds for a few tracks just to see how things would unfold. We were pleasantly reminded of how much we enjoyed creating new music and in the end came up with two new tracks that are now available for download at www.the-watchmen.com

Don’t forget the Horseshoe shows this weekend. They are just a few tickets away from sell out on both nights, so if you are planning on getting tickets at the door you may be out of luck. Visit ticketmaser and grab your tix…

The Variety Show Players:

Live CD – Live from the Acoustic Grill

Last January we played a show at the Acoustic Grill in Picton. Steve and the gang down there have started a live concert cd series and have decided to include the Variety Show Players and our performance from that evening. We are very excited to be having a cd release for this at the beginning of October.

We have been working hard at the new material and things are really coming together. We head in to the studio in October to begin tracking the new tunes. More to come on these songs later. In the meanwhile, we are doing some shows around Ontario.

Friday October 2nd – The Acoustic Grill – Picton (reservation only)
Thursday October 8th – The Red Dog – Peterborough
Friday, October 30th – The Masonic Hall – Campbellford (Elite Guitars Halloween Bash)
Friday November 6th – Maxwell’s Music House – Waterloo
Saturday November 7th – The Corktown – Hamilton
Thursday November 19th – TBA Montreal
Friday, December 11th – Mavericks – Ottawa

As always, stay well and I look forward to seeing you on the road…

Ken
www.kentizzard.com
www.myspace.com/thevarietyshowplayers