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p14 weekender may 7 1994 st arts entertainment v music keep an eye on liquid sky kate gilderdale correspondent getting your own band together is one thing win ning out over eight rival outfits at torontos legendary el mocambo club is quite another earlier this year liquid sky a local group whose founding members met at stouffville district sec- ondary school walked away from the clubs battle of the bands with top honors and 20 hours of recording time under their belts and that was a heady experience for chris gagnon mike van ryn mike logvinoff shane stapley and megan butcher you had to have at least 15 tickets sold for the show to get a spot explained lead gui tarist van ryn we showed up with 49 tickets sold and found out that we had brought in the biggest audience the band was given a 35minute spot to do whatever we wanted and play anything we liked contestants were judged on originality crowd partic ipation and entertainment which gave the band a golden opportunity to perform its own repertoire we chose to do all originals except for one cover van ryn noted taking the top spot was no mean feat for a band which had been formed just two years earlier it start ed off in 1992 with me and drummer mike logvinoff when we decided we wanted to put together our own band explained keyboardistchris gagnon i thought we could ask mike van ryn because hes a guitarist and he ended up bringing shane in to play bass initially stapley had set his sites on rhythm guitar and was reluctant to switch to bass said gagnon but he has since adapted beautifully to his role megan butcher turned out to be a natural choice for lead singer i heard she had a good voice and asked if she would like to try out gagnon recalled the lineup completed the bands next task was to select a name many options were considered and rejected and the final choice was culled from a cult movie that none of the band had actually seen said van ryn once the name was agreed upon the band was eager to get out and perform our first show was the concert in the park with dirtweed organized by local teens and their parents the immensely successful concert took place at memorial park in stoufrville and gained liquid sky an enthusi astic local following photobruce stapley liquid sky members chris gagnon megan butcher mike logvinoff shane stapley and mike van ryn after that our shows were pretty sparse it was more just practising and working on songs trying to get our stuff together gagnon observed we had a show in the goodwood lions club and a lunch hour show at the high school and we played a couple of songs at one assembly liquid sky recently performed at the shamrock in toronto and its next performance is scheduled for may 13 wed headliners for the strawberry festival and we still have to pick other bands to support us said gagnon adding that the bands style encompasses an eclectic mix which doesnt fit into one specific genre we mix a lot of different things alternative pop goth industrial funk acid jazz soul and some harder stuff with our own little thing added to it liquid sky has released a compact disc which has received airplay oh a number of radio stations includ ing cfny and q107 its available at stouffville sound and also at hmv and sams downtown gagnon said with another recording session this month the band looks set for an exciting and challenging future get your dancin boots on for line danee fest two local dance instructors have joined forced to present an excit ing dance event in markham angela tucker director of the york region school of dance and bunny burton are presenting the first ever line dance country fes tival at the markham fairgrounds on saturday may 28 participants will attend dance workshops during the day on square dancing folk dancing clog ging line dancing and country line dancing featuring some of the finest teacherdancerchoreogra phers in country and line dancing today including diane horner most wellknown from her popular line dance instructional video tape series horner will be flying in from minnesota for the event there are also numerous vendors waiting to show you the latest greatest new fashions and acces sories for country and line danc ing today in the evening our experts will entertain you with demonstra tions of their own unique dance discipline while you enjoy a down- home barbecue feast prepared by occasions catering then you will have your chance to get onto the dance floor and dance the night away to music provided by footloose niteclub tickets for the full day per 45 per person or if you wish to attend the fundraiser dance only tickets are 25 per person proceeds from the dance will be donated to the whitchurchstouffville mobility transit service for more information about this event or to obtain tickets please call 6406567 and ask for either angela tucker or bunny burton close encounter photosjoerdwttteveeh asha hendrickson accepts a blender as a gift from the martians who landed at orchard park public school for maze days this week