31 December 2007
It's the last day of 2007! The past three months have been fun filled...

I saw Al Webster play with Amanda Marshall at Casino Rama. I worked with Raine Maida and his wife Chantal Kreviazuk, ex-Teen sensations Hanson, Canadian Idols Brian Melo and Kalan Porter AND the legendary Aretha Franklin!

I recorded with Tyler Gifford, Latte D. Kyd, Jungle L., and Runs With Scissors and perfomed live with Gerry Alvarez and Derrick Paul Miller. The photo at right was taken during a Gerry Alvarez concert at Lee's Palace. You can't see my face, but I love my set-up in this picture!

2008 is already shaping up to be an interesting year. It starts with an 11-day session in a cottage north of Barrie with the new Elusive Project X. The lineup is comprised of New York soprano Julieanne Klein, guitarist Jungle L. from Montreal. Vancouver guitarist Brent Calkin, Toronto bassist Roger Williams and yours truly on drums! We'll be there recording a new CD entitled "11 Days" due out in the earlier part of the year.

I would like to wish everyone all the best in the year ahead! Flavio

23 July 2007
Well, so much for an update a month! Here's what I've been up to:

It's done and it's out and you can buy it online! Derrick Paul Miller's debut CD "Page One" is finished. It features 10 tracks and is pumping the airwaves in the Maritimes where Derrick is presently showcasing his talents in a series of concerts that started with the Halifax Tattoo. Be sure to click on the image at left and have a listen!

I'm still working on Tyler's CD. It's coming along famously and we hope for an early fall release. We've finished the music and begin vocals next week. He's also been testing the waters with tracks at some of his local shows. The reaction has been more that great!

The rest of the last two months consisted of some time on the road stage managing for Dennis De Young - formerly of Styx. We did 3 weeks in Quebec including shows in Quebec City with what Dennis called "The Slap Shot Orchestra". It was great to meet all of you and best wishes to Dennis, Suzanne, Matt, Dave, Paul, Frank, Tommy, John, Hank, Kyle. If you ever need my help again - give a call, my bags are packed!

I also did a week with Loverboy. It's always a treat to work with them. Not only are the band members good guys to hang out with, but the crew is made up of some of my oldest friends! All the best to Mike, Paul, Matt, Spider, Doug, Bob, Roger and Jerry! At left is a picture of Mike with an egg sandwich. All I can say is there must be a story in there somewhere!

I've also recently started working with Eva Avila starting with a failed show due to illness in Sioux Lookout, Ontario. We arrived on Saturday and started the set-up. At 5.30pm the doctors told Eva she would not be able to sing the show due to laryngitis. We had a fun time regardless. It culminated with a massive bond fire on the beach hosted by our new friends Barb and Craig. At right is a picture of Eva's guitarist Dane Hartsell riding the baggage carousel in Sioux Lookout airport. He's a fantastic player and songwriter and you should check him out! I'll be doing a number of dates with Eva over the next few months including stops in Vancouver, Montreal, Gatineau, and Toronto. Look for updates very soon! Flav

09 April 2007
There's loads to tell and many pictures to share! What an incredibly busy and fun month this has been!

Let's start with Derrick Paul Miller's CD. On Tuesday March 20th we entered AbbyMax Studios in Newmarket to begin recording Derrick's first CD. Derrick sang, Jeff Salem played drums, Roger Williams played bass, Paul Noonan played piano, Isaac Eydlin assisted and I engineered and produced.

On the first day we recorded all the main music parts for ten songs in a session that started at 9.30 am and ended at midnight. For the next three days Derrick and I worked on his vocal parts and we got all of it done, including harmonies before being visited on the last night by Devrim Eldilekli who played classical and acoustic guitar on some of the songs.

A few days later we had the chance to record with Canadian Soprano Measha Brueggergosman. Derrick and Measha have been friends since high school and she is a very important person in his life. They are singing a duet on his CD. You'll need to check this one out!

Thank you to George Lockhart at AbbyMax for the use of his wonderful space, Roger, Paul, Jeff and Devrim for their amazing contributions to this CD and to Isaac for being the best assistant anyone could hope for (read he puts up with my crap!).

The next weeks will see us in editing and recording strings and French horn to finish the songs. Mix and mastering will be undertaken by Anthony Goodine and I and we hope to be finished by the end of April. The CD will be available starting in July at the Halifax Tattoo and online - stay tuned!

Isaac is presently attending Ryerson University and has been my assistant for the past few months as part of his co-op program. Recently he was the executive producer for a video production assignment and he chose Fake Reality to be the band in the shoot. We re-recorded an acoustic version on Negative Associations and the crew at Ryerson did a fantastic job of creating a night time desert setting. The video is one of three the band is currently finishing for the beginning of their marketing blitz. In other Fake Reality news, the boys have recently found a new drummer to replace Nick Fani who left the band to pursue family business interests. The new kid on the block is Luke van den Kroonenberg. We did a weekend of rehearsals with Luke and he's coming along famously! You can expect to see lots of him and the rest of Fake Reality very soon!

Last Wednesday was the bi-annual SABIAN artist's dinner. This time it was held at Coco Lezzone on College Street and was attended by some of me favourite people! I had the great honor of meeting Dale Anne Brendon from London, Ontario. She signed on with SABIAN a little over a year ago and is doing very well with clinics and live and recording dates. I also had the chance to catch up with Chris McNeil (Glass Tiger), Creighton Doane, Charlie Cooley, Rick Gratton and Maureen Brown, Paul De Long, and Grant Taylor. Special thanks to the folks at SABIAN for putting this dinner on. We're all drummers so we never get to work together - What a great hang! Here's a picture of me with Neal Burstyn and Kevin Hulme (Kevin can't remember me being there!) Thanks to Dale Anne for taking the photo - there are others, but you'll need to ask nicely if you want to see them!!

AND FINALLY...
The best place to celebrate St-Patrick's Day is inside an Irish pub filled with crazy partiers all enjoying green beer (who decided this was a cool idea?) I played the Unicorn on Eglinton for St-Patrick's Day with Anthony and Martin. It was a last minute affair, but we had a blast! Here I am rockin' the tie!

Coming up - Tyler Gifford's CD is in the works. We're done bass and we're moving into the warehouse to do drums this week. Best to you! Flav

15 March 2007
Wow - Been a little while. I promised myself I'd attempt to have an entry a month in 2007. As with many resolutions, I made it until FEBRUARY! It's not my fault, I've been really busy!

So here's the news:
I am in the studio working with Tyler Gifford, a young singer / songwriter with loads of great tunes. We're in the process of finishing bass guitar, then we're off to do drums.

At right is a picture of Jeff Straker and I at Trubble Cleff Studios. I played drums, mixed and co--produced some demos for him and one of the songs called "Flatlines" was selected to be part of the JUNO compilation that will be handed out to all the delegates at the awards on April 1st! Talk about a great break! Apparently they liked the feel of the tune. It's only piano, drums and vocals. Have a listen by visiting Jeff's web site.

Next week I'll be in the studio with Derrick Paul Miller at AbbyMax Studios. We're there for four days and hope to get loads done in that timeframe. Jeff actually wrote two of the songs on Derrick's CD including the title track - "Page 1". I'll keep you posted. - Flavio

06 January 2007 - Happy New Year!
I had the chance to visit my friends in the cast of Blue Man Group on December 27th. The show here in Toronto is closing and they will all be scattered to shows around the world. Scott Speiser is the only Blue Man from the nine people who auditioned with me in 2005. He is moving to Las Vegas. Greg Vyrostko, who has written and played on a number of CDs I have produced, is moving with Adrian Pasarelli (he played drums in Sonic before I joined!) and Scott Bishop (who I've known since I lived in Vancouver) to the new show in Oberhausen, Germany. And Roger Psutka (sound engineer extraordinaire), Rob Kurzreiter and Colin Robinson are all going to Orlando. At left is a photograph taken after their performance with Scott Bishop (right) and Scott Speiser. I would like to wish you all good luck and warn you that at some point I intend to sleep on your couches!


On the 4th I played a show with Gerry Alvarez at Ciao Edie where I used my new Yamaha drums and Sabian cymbals. Thank you once again to Sean Browne of Yamaha Canada Music for the fantastic new kit and Terry Ryan, Robert Mason and Peter Stairs at Sabian for the amazing cymbals.

Derek Yaple-Schobert's CD is doing great and is in its second pressing and Fake Reality are doing very well with their new CD. It has received great reviews and we're gearing up for a video shoot this coming Sunday. We are also working on new sites for both Derek and Fake Reality and they should launch in the next few weeks.

I am hard at work on Latte's new CD. It promises to be a great collection of new songs. We're working on a number of compositions together and she has also enlisted the creative talents of a few other artists. Look for a 2008 release from her.

More soon! Flavio