Tuesday, May 1st, 2001

Wow.

What else can you say when you think back to over five years ago, when a bunch of kids from Nova Scotia living in Toronto got together and started playing music under the name...

Rock Lobster???

Travis and Kevin circa 1995... and no, that is not a wig

Kevin, James, and Travis in early '96... now close the frickin door, would ya?

That's right kids, believe it or not, "The Kitchen Party" as we know it today, started out in a different form, more than 5 years ago under that name. Although we never played a show, we got to know each other rather well through those early practices, and the nucleus of what you now see on stage most weeks stayed together after the end of "Rock Lobster", and slowly worked on their identity, until they finally hit the big time... opening for "Snapper" at Sidelines in Streetsville in the fall of '96. How about a little Kitchen Party Trivia? Did you know that we had a drummer when we started? (What's up Marc?) That we played 10 songs that night, and we only sang on three of them? That our bass player when we started, Mike MacDonald, joined the band only days before, had two practices with the other members (excluding Marc), and actually met Marc on stage that night, only after introducing himself? (We're so bad at introductions) That Travis got puked on later that night by a customer, only to have the culprit try to deny it? That we had no name at the time, and were listed on the bars posters as "Surprise Celtic Act"? (Hey, don't laugh, we actually thought of keeping the name!) These are the things running through my head as I sit here typing out the promised major announcement from two weeks ago. 

Well folks, no use messing around, the rumors have been flying for a while now, and it's time to set the record straight. But in order to answer the questions, I must actually start by first denying the biggest rumor, and that is that The Kitchen Party is breaking up. We are not. How could we? We didn't become a band by answering classified ads in the newspaper. We were friends first. We cut our teeth together, not just in this band, but in the big city of Toronto. We went to Ashley MacIssac concerts together. We got kicked out of hotels together. We drank together. We moved in together. We learned how to play together. We played hockey together. We broke up with our girlfriends together. We met new girlfriends together. We took vacations to Nova Scotia together. We played in horseshoe tournaments together. We recorded a CD together. Everything that we have accomplished over these 4 years, we did together. Bands may break up, but friends last forever.  Enough said.

For those of you who don't know, this is Kevin. I write the majority of the stuff on the site here, and it is with a heavy heart that I sit here and tell you guys out there that I will be moving to Phoenix, Arizona in June of this year. Why, you may ask? Well, I will be getting married in July to the love of my life, Beth, and we will be starting our new life together there. A lot of people have asked me why Beth doesn't move here to Canada, and I'm sure that to those people it seems as easy as saying it. But unfortunately, as with many things in this world, it is more complicated than that. Beth and I have never had it easy, she is originally from Rochester, NY, and we have dated long distance from the start. We knew it wouldn't be easy, but we didn't let that stop us. About 2 years ago, we started taking steps to have Beth move here, and she was more than willing to do it. But we ran into some roadblocks that we didn't think could be overcome. God bless the Canadian government. So, to make a long story short, the future of our relationship was basically up to me. I agonized for months about what to do, but in July of last year, I finally made up my mind, went down to Phoenix, and put the ring on her finger. I have never had second thoughts since, even though I knew that it meant the day would eventually come when I would have to leave Toronto, my band mates, and my friends behind.  That day is coming up faster than I would like. In fact, it is less than 2 months away.

So where does this leave the band? It is not the end of The Kitchen Party, but obviously, it is the end of an era. If you check the appearances section of the website, you'll see that there are only 6 more shows from this day forward, and now you know why. I have promised the other guys that I will come back to Toronto at least twice a year to do shows, as long as they want me to. I refuse to think that May 26th is the last show ever. But it is until further notice. I'm not too sure what the others fellows plan to do, but whatever it is, they have my full support. It is my choice to leave, and I wish them nothing but the best in whatever they choose to do.

With that being said, I now ask that everyone please make no plans for the 26th of May. It is going to be a very special night at Failte, and I hope that as many of you as possible will be able to come see us play what could be our last show for a long while. If you're busy on that Saturday, try to make it out to Failte on Thursday or Friday of that week, or even come out to Fionn McCool's on Wednesday. Although a lot of you probably don't realize it, we remember most of the faces (if not the names) of the people who have been at our performances on a regular basis over these 5 years, and would love to see you one more time before we go on this "Extended hiatus", for lack of a better term. But Saturday is definitely going to be a show that you don't want to miss. 

I'm sure that you can now understand why I'm feeling a little sentimental and nostalgic today as I write this. I've been digging through old pictures, newspaper articles, even old flyers, and cannot believe the memories that have come flooding back. For example, take a look at these two photos.

The DSC Christmas party, December 8th, 1996

Georgetown Highland Games, June 14th, 1997

The top picture was taken from what I believe to be our second public performance ever. If there was another show between the infamous "Sidelines" show and this one, I can't remember it. This was the DSC Christmas party, DSC being the company Travis and James worked for. I remember the day well. We had gotten hotel rooms across the street from the convention center where the event was held, and since I had no car at the time, I decided to stay there after we had done sound check in the afternoon. Unfortunately, it was not until after everyone else had left that I turned on the TV and discovered that the hotel had no cable, and entertained myself for 5 hours by watching figure skating on the CBC. If you look closely at the picture, you can see Marc on the drums behind us. Also note Travis walking across the floor towards the rest of the band. Back then, Travis liked to rent wireless units, so he could leave the rest of us on stage and wander through the crowd. Well, he took it one step further on this night, hiding in a closet before the start of the show while the rest of us stood on stage. He then broke into "Scotland the Brave", while the crowds eyes scanned the room trying to locate the source of the music. Opening the door, he slowly walked across the dance floor towards us, much to the crowds delight. If you haven't already guessed, I will forever remember this performance as the night Travis "came out of the closet", so to speak.

 Or how about the second picture? Our first Georgetown Highland Games Festival, and also our first time being the only entertainers at an event. Mike, James, Travis, and myself had moved in together on the first of May that year, and spent almost every night in the month and a half leading up to the games learning about 20 new songs, and refining the ten existing ones. I have to admit, there were a couple of tense moments, but we really became a band them, gelling together and developing our own sound. That had to be the most intense month and a half in the bands history. I'll never forget the feeling of walking off the stage after we were done, and realizing that we were now ready to start booking shows at bars and pubs all over Toronto. I was sure that the phone calls would come pouring in the next day, and that we were on the road to fame and fortune. Well, there weren't as many calls the next day as I would have expected, actually there were none, but about a month later, we did book some shows with people who had seen us in Georgetown (remember Benissimo's?) and began the slow climb to where we are today.

And how could we forget Jonny?

Ever so serious, as usual...

There are too many funny stories here. How about making him drink the juice from a bottle of clams for his initiation? Or the night we had to send Chris "Tortilini" Tulino to his house to wake him up while we started the show at Failte, and played 5 songs before he finally got there? Jonny came in in July of 1999 as the last member to join the band.

The funny thing I realize now is that it is not the music that means the most to me when I look back, or even the performances themselves. What means the most to me is all the people, family and friends, that came out to support us, and all the funny things that happened before, during and after our shows. I can look at the picture of Georgetown above and name almost half of the people standing there watching us play. The little stories that I have shared with you above are just a small sample of the memories that I will take with me to Phoenix, and that I will cherish forever. It is with this in mind that I now ask anyone out there that has any pictures, videos, or even a funny story or memory of one of our shows to drop us a line at thekitchenparty@cox.net, as I would definitely like to make arrangements to get my hands on copies of them. If you don't have a scanner of your own, you could mail the pictures to me, and I would be more than happy to send them back to you once I've scanned them myself. Same applies to videos. I cannot express how much your efforts would be appreciated. I plan on posting the pictures and stories you send me here on the website in this section, so that everyone can look back and enjoy them. Just to let you know, the website will not be shutting down, I plan to keep it running indefinitely. But I may have to shut it down temporarily at the end of May, while I move, and then get it up and running again once I'm settled in down in Arizona. For this reason, I would like to ask all of you to send an e-mail to us with "Mailing List" typed in the subject line, and include the address you would like added. This will enable me to let all of you know when the website is operational again, and also to inform you of any major announcements in the months and years to come, like when the day finally comes that we will be playing a show together again. The e-mail address will not be shutting down, so keep them coming. Regarding the mailing list, I have been noticing lately that a lot of the addresses I currently have are coming back undeliverable when I send out e-mails, as people change jobs or internet service providers, and forget to update us with their new address. For this reason, I am wiping the slate clean and starting the e-mail data base from scratch. This means that even if you received the e-mail that I sent today, please take a second to send us a quick note with "Mailing List" typed in the subject line, and the addresses you want included. Otherwise you won't be on the new list. To do it right now, click on this link thekitchenparty@cox.net. 

I apologize for the length of this post, but it was necessary considering the magnitude of the update. I'll try to keep future updates a little shorter. I'll leave you with a quote from Paul Simon:

"Time it was and what a time it was it was
A time of innocence, a time of confidences.
Long ago it must be, I have a photograph
Preserve your memories, they're all that's left you"
Taken from the title track of Simon & Garfunkel's "Bookends" album, 1968

See you all on May 26th.