Our annual gig! We played at Sullivan Community Centre (otherwise known as Sullivan Hall) in Surrey BC on April 23, 2016. Other bands on the show were Wailin’ Walker and Jerry Doucette. Photo by Char Davidson.
Archive for the ‘21st Century’ Category
April 21, 2016
Sparkling Apple with Lisa Freakrock at Donegal’s Irish House, April 21, 2016 (Photo by Char Davidson)
Captain Maniac on the drums! (Photo by Jack’s Camera)
Sparkling Apple with Lisa Freakrock
Sparkling Apple at Freakrock Jam
Captain Maniac at the Freakrock Jam (3 above photos by Char Davison)
This time we were the special guests at Sullivan Hall in Surrey BC on April 23, 2016. Headlining the show were Jerry Doucette and Wailin’ Walker.
Some shots taken at the show:
Sparkling Apple with our merch girl, Michele Thibodeault.
Michele selling CDs
Wailing’ Walker, with Lisa Freakrock videotaping and Char Davidson taking photos.
At the Rock For Kids Event, March 29, 2015 at the Giggle Dam Dinner Theatre, Port Coquitlam BC. Art was unable to perform, so we substituted Ray Roper from Stonebolt & Barracuda. A great day! Some photos by Lisa Freakrock, other photos by Jack’s Camera.
Here’s some unauthorized video of Sparkling Apple performing at the Rock For Kids 2014 Reunion! Annette McArthur was adamant that no videos be shot at the event (apparently ten bands specifically asked that video NOT be taken), but we still managed to obtain a bootleg video, shot by the enterprising and discreet Lisa Freakrock, which can be seen here until we are instructed to take it down! No actual professional gear was used for this, so we may have sneaked through a gaping loophole – and in any case, audience members with cell phone cameras were shooting vids/stills/selfies with wild abandon!
Shown on the link is our interpretation of AC/DC’s “Sin City“, by eery coincidence, performed on the anniversary of Bon Scott’s death in 1980.
Colin stands beside the poster created for this event by Captain Maniac Graphics.
Photo by Jack’s Camera
Photo by Jack’s Camera
Photo by Lisa Freakrock.
Sunday, February 18, 2014, marked the return of the Rock For Kids fundraiser after a 20 year absence. As mentioned in a previous post, 15 — count ’em, 15 — bands appeared onstage at the Point Pub in an all-day marathon fundraiser for the Variety Club. To say it was a successful day is an understatement: a pantload of cash was raised to benefit the children. The entire event was put together by the extremely talented (and patient) Annette McArthur of Pitacharoo Media with her tireless staff of all the volunteers who took care of us and treated us like rock stars! The MC for the entire day was the wild and crazy Scott Barratt, and our awesome host at The Point was Jamie Slater, who doubled as sound tech.
Photo by Aniko Mathieson
Photo by Aniko Mathieson
As Sparkling Apple was the first band of the day, I was there from 11:30 AM, and despite the fact that I’m now a legal senior, I lasted until around 7pm, when my tapioca pudding and slippers were beckoning! Yes, the legendary Sparkling Apple — well, we’d had some exposure in the hot-rodded & stripped down version of the band when we played at the Freakrock Jam a few days ago, so we were primed and all set to inflict some collateral damage on the unwary audience. Despite the early hour (the crack of noon), we did actually have an enthusiastic audience in attendance.One of the early birds was our friend Cindy Caverly, who’d seen us at a noon-hour sock hop at New Westminster Secondary some 40 years ago, and now wished to have some closure! Also in the audience was one of our first employers, Paul Bartram, who in the 70s ran Somewhere Else nightclub as well as The Dungeon (now the Giggledam Theatre) in Port Coquitlam — one of our first gigs in front of actual humans! (I told Paul the story of how Heart played at the Dungeon back in those days, and during a break, I went up to Heart’s table and said, “Great flute solo, Anne” — 40 years later, I’m asking myself, “Just WTF was I thinking??”).
Our set was much the same as the Freakrock Jam, mainly because our time slot allowed us only five songs. I played drums on the first two tunes (Get Off the Stove, You’re Too Old to Ride the Range and Shakin’ All Over), and then became front man for Crazy For Your Love, Roadhouse Blues and Sin City. Once again, Kelly Stodola played drums. Art the Fart the Heavy Metal Kid was still out of town on an environmental research project, so lead guitar was handled admirably and dependably by the always amazing Kevin Swain (often known as Kevy Ramone because of his black leather jacket). On bass guitar was the sensational and impeccably tailored Larry Pardue.
Photo by Rob Snopek
Photo by Rob Snopek
Photo by Rob Snopek
Photo by Rob Snopek
Photo by Rob Snopek
Photo by Rob Snopek
Photo by Rob Snopek
Captain Maniac on the drums! Photo by Lisa Freakrock.
Sparkling Apple at Rock For Kids event. Photo by Annette McArthur, black & white tint by Kevin Swain.
THIS is rock and roll! Kevin on guitar, photo by Lisa Freakrock.
Kevin and Colin, with Kelly Stodola on drums. Photo by Lisa Freakrock.
Kevin, Kelly and Colin. Photo by Lisa Freakrock.
Rock For Kids version of Sparkling Apple — photo by Cindy Caverly.
Sparkling Apple jam was an unqualified success!
Posted: February 10, 2014 in 21st Century, Rock n Roll
Captain Maniac in rock star mode! What a shot — thanks, Lisa!
We haven’t yet posted a play-by-play and post mortem review of our recent Sparkling Apple jam at the Point Pub in Port Moody BC — so finally, here it is in all its inimitable glory! (All photos, every one of them including the video, by Lisa Freakrock.)
The incriminating video: http://youtu.be/o0FB76bHN48
Yes, as we threatened in our last blog post, we were the “host band” on February 5, 2014 at the weekly Freakrock Jam . And truth be told, it went extremely well, considering we had to make do without our guitarist, Art the Fart the Heavy Metal Kid. Art, as we mentioned previously, was out of the country on a “rest and relaxation” seminar, so we performed the show with substitute players. As Rosie mentioned, we had to replace him with two people, but the stand-ins we chose were of high quality and impeccable calibre. Kevin stepped up to the plate and played lead guitar, Johnny Ramone-style (complete with ripped jeans and black leather jacket), and in HIS place, the bass guitar duties were handled by the incomparable Larry Pardue, a rock n roll veteran if there ever was one. As seen in the above photo, I sang lead vocals out front on a few tunes, so drummer extraordinaire Kelly Stodola was hand-picked to be guest percussionist.
Kevin channels Johnny Ramone!
First out of the gate was the Sparkling Apple classic, “Get Off the Stove, You’re Too Old To Ride the Range”, played in the style of The Who (Kevin admitted that he had a brown Les Paul just like Pete Townshend, so he was comfortable in this role). Larry had only just heard this song on the Hard Core Apple CD, and Kevin had never played this tune on lead guitar before, but we were pleasantly delighted by the final outcome — it rocked beyond belief! Next, the old chestnut “Shakin All Over” segued into the familiar “feelthy” version of “Gloria”, followed by the Rolling Stones/Chris Farlowe song “Out of Time” (Lisa’s favourite song), with the unparalleled Larry Pardue on lead vocals.
On bass, the incomparable Larry Pardue (ex-Idle Eyes)
The jam then commenced, and several amazing players entertained us, including three actual bands (The Nerve being the highlight of the evening, in my not-so-humble opinion). At about 9PM, Sparkling Apple returned to the stage as “host band”, this time with Kelly Stodola on drums and Captain Maniac fronting. Three songs were performed featuring the peerless vocal styling of Captain Maniac on “the only song I know”, “Roadhouse Blues”, AC/DC’s “Sin City”, and our latest single, “Crazy For Your Love”. For the enjoyment of all concerned, no rap music was performed, and at no time were any animals harmed.
It’s back! A rock ‘n roll fundraiser for Variety the Children’s Charity and the Variety Club Telethon! Sparkling Apple has been chosen to kick off the 2014 Reunion of the popular Rock For Kids event, held this year at the Point Pub (2524 St Johns St, Port Moody, BC). Joining Sparkling Apple is a star-studded roster of local rock bands in a 12-hour marathon of talent, including bands which played at Rock For Kids twenty years ago. Admission is only $10 for a full day of fun, and of course all proceeds will benefit Variety the Children’s Charity. We’d love you all to be there and help make this day Party of the Century, while at the same time helping a great cause.
Kevin Stuart Swain with Sparkling Apple at the 1992 edition of Rock For Kids!
Time for an update! Thanks to the wonders of Photoshop, we are hereby updating our old RadioActive Records logo, first designed in 1978. The new 2014 logo features a glowing lime green radioactivity symbol as well as the “Dirty Ego” font from dafont.com. Use it in good health!
Sparkling Apple shirts a-plenty! Left to right: Scott Young, Michelle Yu, Captain Maniac itself, Rick Mearns and Lisa Freakrock. Also wearing a Sparkling Apple shirt was Kevin Stuart Swain; he’s not shown in this photo because he was onstage playing when Jack’s Camera snapped the picture!
Just in case you mistakenly thought that we were finally out of steam and out of commission, here’s proof that the band brand lives on. Last Sunday, September 9th at The Point Pub in Port Moody, BC, the jam formerly known as Kevin & Lisa’s Freakrock Jam was temporarily renamed for one night only as Captain Maniac’s Birthday Jam. Participants were encouraged to wear their Sparkling Apple t-shirts, and as seen in the photo above, several friends complied with this request. An enthusiastic and well-received jam session was the highlight of the day, featuring the usual suspects. Captain Maniac played drums on three songs with the house band, The Freakrockers, and later proceeded to do the Jimbo routine once again on a rousing & Philips Blue Buck-fuelled version of the only song I know all the way through, Roadhouse Blues.
Later the following evening, Captain Maniac made a live appearance on the radio show, Lisa Freakrock Live, broadcast on the Internet on www.radioamplifire.com. A grab bag of headbanging hits (Captain Maniac’s personal choice of favourite tunes) was presented, as well as humorous anecdotes about the songs being played.
And yes, we caught the typo in the dialogue balloon, “Beter care of myself” – but YOU didn’t, did you? Har har!
