KOBO TOWN

This weekend I had the pleasure of going to Kingston, ON where I was the production co-ordinator for a documentary we're making about the band "KoboTown" for Leda Serene's new series for Bravo!, on Canadian-Caribbean Musicians and Composers.

We spent two days in Kingston. The first location that we shot at was the Octave Theatre, a beautiful space, and a great room for a band like Kobo town. The acoustics were very clean, the stage was huge, with enough room to dolly back and forth to get the appropriate shots we needed, as we shot the band doing their soundcheck.

After that we moved over to the next location at Al Rankin's Bed and Breakfast. This was an amazing 18th century farm house located in Invery, about a 20 minute drive from the Octave. Al was also the promoter of the concert, and founder of the concert series "Livewire." This location was also amazing, and so quiet. A couple of the band members did an interview, and we were off again to the Octave.

The actual Performance: I had never seen Kobo Town live and was really excited to see what they were all about. Every seat in the theatre was filled and Kobo Town were taking the stage. Drew Gonsalves (band leader) was very interesting and fun to watch, often talking about his Trinidadian roots and giving some insight to what the songs were all about. The music has an oldschool Calypso sort of feel, very fun!! But most of Drew's lyrics also seemed socially, and politically conscious. This didn't take away from the fun vibe of the band at all, just made the music more alluring. The performance was excellent and the whole place was up on their feet dancing by the end of the set.

Back to the B&B, to shoot a few more interviews. They played a few tracks around the table, and talked over drinks while we continued recording. By the time we wrapped it was around 2am so we headed to our hotel to get some shut eye.

The following day we shot more interview footage, and some random stuff with Drew. We said good by and packed up and headed for Toronto. I was extremely happy with the way the weekend went. Being a music lover this shoot was great, I recommend everybody check out Kobo Town, I could go on and on, but don't want to ruin the Doc for you. All the people that put this production together were fantastic and very helpful, we couldn't have asked to work with better people. I would like to thank the Guys in Kobo town, Everybody at the Octave, Al Rankin, Safiya Randera (the director), Catherine Emmanuel (PA), Alberto Suarez (DP), and Brad MacIntyre (sound recordist) for making this experience possible.

For more info about Kobo Town check out, myspace.com/kobotown

(PHOTOS) 1st Photo: Kobotown sitting conversing around table at B&B, 2nd Photo: Drew Gonsalves rocking at the Octave