For
TP Entertainment or any live acts, this time of year can be good or bad for those in the entertainment industry. On one hand the
hospitality industry typically does well through New Years thus they can afford performers when they may not normally whether that be a DJ or band or even a comedy or dinner show, but if you didn't get lucky yet and are not working New Years Eve many of you could be S.O.L. for a spell as January-March are the slowest times in their yearly calendar statistically.
What I've done over the years is to try and find niches to supplement my income. My
first paid job as a performer I was actually
hired by my mom who was Promotions Coordinator for the Aurora Shopping Centre at the time who hired me as
Santa Claus only to
fire me the next day! Apparently the owner of the Metropolitan department store didn't think I was hohohoing enough. Ha. At any rate, a friend of mine who had actually hit puberty by then did the job instead. Recently, in the past several years, I've been putting myself out (tramp!) as the
Grinch! Which is way cooler than Santa any day! Ha! And allows for more diversity of choices for marketing - as even an adult party wanting to stand out can use a Grinch - who has a change of heart of course and dishes out good cheer and presents if available! Bring along a partner/dog
Max too, and act / sing
the book out for full effect (and an excuse to have someone helping)! Play to the audience and pick out a "Cindy Loo Who" to pat on the head. Of course, get too big and Dr Seuss may want a cut..but so long as you are not charging a cover for such events or showing the movie for a charge there should be little worries of that.
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| Myers Costumes On Main St Newmarket has all the fixings for Celeb Makeovers like the Don Cherry apparel above! |
Once I created an interactive show called
"Wackyoke" which incorporated humour into karaoke basically by introducing props, impersonating singers, acting wacky, some stand-up, and allowed people to come up and sing their choice of karoke song. Should they be bad singers was my thinking, I'd ham it up a bit and do background vocals, air guitar, whatever it took to get a laugh. Hey it worked pretty well except one time way up north in Ontario, near Orillia, where they take their Elvis seriously. Serious Elvii fans don't take too much to mocking him, but luckily
I can croon Elvis passably so they let me live. Ha.
The idea for
Wackyoke actually came to me from having seen a group of 2 guys called
Krazy Karaoke several years prior at a
Fox and Fiddle in Mississauga and later in Richmond Hill, which I'd thought was brilliantly innovative at the time, and the fact that the local Karaoke guy was like a bump on a log as a host. I figured anyone putting any
effort at all could compete with that and I was right. I got quite a few compliments and laughs with that show and actually started a promotion for
Easter Seals called '
Sing a Tune for a Twoney" wherein by paying a twoney every time you got up to sing you'd be judged and get a chance to make the finals whilst raising funds for the cause. I incorporated several bars into the mix and tied it in with the
Great York Region Restaurant Race (raised $100,000) at the time.
TP Entertainment had prizes like cash, recording time, and a
Flare Modelling School scholarship.This was in 1994. I wide-eyed envisioned it working Canada-wide, but at that time didn't have the wear-with-all. Some Years later
Canadian Idol came out....Just saying! Also a guy that rents karaoke and games for stags etc in Toronto whom I gave the Sing-a-tune- for- a- twoney idea to while attending a friends
Jack & Jill, still uses it in his rental package today as a way to raise funds for the groom etc at stag and J&J parties..Thank-you!! Thank-you very much!
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| TP Entertainment handled Good Times Grand Opening having packed the place, provided the 1st band(s) and was 1st to bring karaoke , Elvis, and live entertainment nights. Live nights and karaoke remain their bread and butter in 2012.We also advised them to drop the donuts...they did. Thank -you, Thank-you very much |
Elvis- o- grams or fave performer-a-grams can work too...I once did a job where i went in and sang two Elvis songs to a lady at a table - all getupped up of course - and walked out with $300. Took all of 15 minutes.Thank-you..Thank-you Vera much!
The idea came to me when I got
bored after being single a number of years. Who'd want me?!Ha.. and noticing the limited options for entertainment or nightclubs for patrons over 30 in the York Region area let alone singles, except the local
Aurora's Greystones has anything close to catering to an older crowd in the area, but they are only open Saturday nights, usually for dancing only, and after awhile it becomes a little like the movie, "
Groundhog Day' - although I must admit some pretty nice ladies can be found there on occasion dancing up a storm and there is/was a particular bartender I'm sweet on.
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| D.J. Hungarian Pepper sets up before bringing the house down with her latest dance mixes! |
But to me, I like a little more
variety..for
entertainment that is! Get your mind out of the gutter! Perhaps a
step back into memory lane via
old TV show intros etc on the screens instead of always sports and with a table of munchies as well like wings and finger foods with some 60's,70's, 80's tunes going at a level you can talk...then have it morph into a 45 minute set of
live entertainment (duo / trio musical / standup / dinner theatre) which all spans 7-9 PM and finally a
DJ/dance at 9:30 with the latest and some classic rock and pop tunes mixed in to try to appease the masses..Well that's exactly what I did, and it was fun for a time as I put them on once a month for a year with a regular group of about 120 people attending. The biggest problem was location / dates followed by it was hard to make any money - which in all fairness I never expected to get rich - but I did come close to losing a few nights in the beginning and you always feel like you need to add
prizes and such. I actually had a live
The Dating Game show complete with theme music and chose 3 bachelors and a lucky bachelorette to play and I'd do my worst
Gary Newbanks impersonation!! Prizes like 2 steaks, salad fixin's, and a bottle of wine or dinners out for two etc were given out and people loved it, but was always a slight gamble and a lot of work for little return and you still had
the whiners to deal with. However I did get to have some awesome entertainment and really made it an atmosphere I liked and enjoyed - and hoped the majority would too. Which they did.
I stopped doing them after some
owners left a sour taste in my mouth such as ironically a
Fox location who's upstairs hall room we rented who tried to continue the event like it was theirs when I packed it up and took it to another location, when he began to get too greedy, to the
Upstairs at the White Rabbit on Main St. where another guy promised me the upstairs
to do with whatever I wished only to renege and try to also continue it without me essentially.He still owes me $800.
Both places are closed down in 2011. That's what happens when you fuck people my friends..eventually you pay the price and fucking over a guy like me (and others I'm sure) who can bring you lots of business, isn't wise.
Ha! That was the sound of someone getting the last laugh.
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| People start arriving and enjoying refreshments, music, and nostalgic videos onscreen at a TPE 30Plus singles night |
Anyhow, I raise this last point because recently someone who I gave their start into paid DJ gighood, a
lady DJ called
Hungarian Pepper, who doubles as a special effects make-up artist, and knows all the latest dance tunes but is old enough to know the classics too, has been asking me if I'd thought about doing parties again..And then I remembered my buddy
Johnny Cutrone at
Deli House Catering in Newmarket, for whom I've done many a "gig" going back some years now, has a new banquet hall facility in a location which
years ago was
the local nightclub called
Club Spotlight was
- and before that even
used to house live bands in then 50's and 60's - so it has some
cool history and is the perfect size and set up for one of
TP events - with one side great for entertainment and a 3/4 wall separating another area with smaller tables good to talk in or eat at away from the action. Next I met another buddy of a mutual acquaintance,
Gary Cocking, who has played the
El Mocambo recently in Toronto and is an awesome guitar player, lives locally, and might be available to be our house musician for in between times, so, hey! Maybe I'll get one going again! I
am getting bored after all and
30PLUS Night aged patrons will go out in these cold months if we give them a reason too! Hell, couples would too if its done well enough! And besides...Johnny likes the idea! He also likes the idea of an party for single parents / kids next year
xmas eve..a Sunday..and throw in the place to help out! What a guy!
Until Next Time!
Happy New Year from
TP!
Tom Pearson
President, TPE & Productions
www.tpeproductions.com
With 2015-16 coming up, Stellar Hall in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada is starting to form its own New Year's Eve Traditions. 
