Monday, October 2nd, 2006

Hello again everyone. It's almost time to once again step up on the stage at Failte and join you for three nights of drinking and dancing. We'll be back at our usual haunt in a couple of weeks on October 12th, 13th, and 14th. This weekend will mark the 8th anniversary of Toronto's favorite Irish pub, having opened their doors in the fall of 1998. However, it is not the only anniversary being celebrated. Although the exact date has escaped me (I believe it was Saturday, October 12th, or was it Friday the 11th?), these three shows also mark the 10th anniversary of the very first Kitchen Party performance ever! And what a glorious start it was. We opened for "Snapper", whose members included none other than our very own soundman Kevin Woodburn, at Sidelines in Streetsville. Most of you probably don't know that we had a drummer when we first started, Marc Collins, who I believe is living somewhere in the Kitchener/Waterloo area these days (an appropriate place to live for an alumni of this band). Our bass player Mike had joined 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 played 10 songs that evening, and only sang on three of them; Travis certainly was a workhorse back then, carrying the load until our vocal chords rounded into shape. He was rewarded later that night by getting puked on by a rather drunk customer, who actually thought he could deny it and get away with the act! We had no name at the time, and were listed on the bars posters as "Surprise Celtic Act". How does that old saying go? From humble beginnings... It wasn't long before we found ourselves at Failte in February of 1999 where we have been ever since. We hope you can make it out to see us! In case you want to see what you're in for, you can take a look back at last years Anniversary shows here.

For those of you that have signed up and are part of the MySpace phenomenon, you'll be happy to know that The Kitchen Party has entered the fray. The site is still under construction, but you can check us out at http://www.myspace.com/thekitchenparty. Send us a friend request, we need to get some on there, being a brand new site and all. Speaking of new websites, I noticed that Failte have opened up a website for themselves at http://www.failteirishpub.ca. It looks great! For those that have never seen the place, check out the intro - lots of pics of this fine establishment. I can't wait until they get the "download a beer" button working...

Until next time... Cheers! We hope to see everyone at Failte to celebrate 10 years of drunken debauchery... here's to many more!