2010 Leo Awards

Leo Awards Ceremony held at the Westin Bayshore Hotel in Vancouver

I had gotten a call from internationally renowned and good friend Fred Stride to play in the "pit" orchestra a the 2010 Leo Awards.  Naturally I jumped at the offer, as all of Fred Stride's gigs are a blast!  For instance, we will be playing one of Duke Ellington's Sacred Music Suites this November, which I'll blog about later.

Fred Stride

The Leo Awards are an annual set of awards which honor the best in British Columbian television and film production.  You might have recognized some actors from TV series and films such as Stargate, Sanctuary, Stargate: Universe, Smallville, The Last 10 Pounds, and others.


The "pit", in this case, was not in a pit at all; as you can see in the photo at the top, we were instead right there on stage, staring at the audience, and the backsides of the award recipients and hosts (not always a bad thing!).  No picking your nose!

It only took us about an hour and a half to clear all the material, as we only ran each one once (and only sometimes twice).  That's one of the differences between an amateur band and a pro band; the guys around me were reading all of this material on the spot, and it sounded like they've been playing it for years!  A pro band will just get the shit done, period, and it was from these guys did I learn this lesson!

Chad Makela, bari sax; super-nice guy, but don't mess with him! :)

Left to right: André LaChance (bass), Mike Braverman (tenor), Steve Kaldestad (tenor)

In my previous posts I mentioned that you always gotta be on the spot, always gotta keep your eyes open; I cannot think of a more relevant example than this.

During the night (wearing tuxes, of course), the band played charts while the winners came up to get the prize, and also when new award presenters came to the stage.  As our eyes were trained on the presenter and Fred to cue us in, we had to be ready to play at the drop of a hat, and as soon as the presenter said "and the winner is......" wait for it....."......" and we're off at the drop of Fred's cue!

As it only takes about thirty seconds for the recipients to walk to the stage, that's pretty much how long each chart took!  So again, as our eyes were trained on the winner walking up to the stage, Fred, and this time reading the music, as well.  And as the winner was passed the trophy and stepped up to the mic, again, we had to be ready to stop at Fred's cue, right in the middle of our passage.  No time to wipe, no time to pull up your pants, just get out!  You really have to be on the ball for these kinds of gigs.

The night went off without a hitch, and I tell you, there's nothing like just sitting down and playing a bunch of easy-to-read but great charts for a night!