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TCA Programs 1
General Monthly
Meetings
1
TCA Executive
Committee Members
2
Prez says 3
Vice Prez says -
Building Your
Website
4
Education News 5
The 12 Days of
Christmas
6
Monthly Giggles 7
Big Suprise 8
November Birthday
Celebrations
9
Face Painting Tips 10
Balloon Twisting
Tips
10
TCA Library News 11
TCA Membership
and Insurance notice
11
The Sunshine
Report
12
The Last Page…. 12
Inside this issue:
GENERAL MONTHLY MEETING NEXT MEETING - November 26, 2013
Time: Meeting starts at 7:30pm - 10:00pm
Location: Herbert Carnegie Centennial Centre,
580 Finch Avenue West
(West of Bathurst on North Side)
... downstairs in the Skaters Lounge
TCA Programs by David Lew
Volume 3, Issue 3
November 2013
Newsletter
November’s Meeting
This month we will be doing balloons. Members can
demonstrate fast balloons for line work. If they have
Holiday related balloons they wish to share, all the
better.
TCA Holiday Dinner
Soon December will be upon us and we can look
forward to the TCA Holiday Dinner. TBA
January’s Meeting
Scheduled for Jan. is Nazaneen Azmoon. As
entertainers, the most important thing to take care of is
our bodies. Aches and pains are not our friends.
Nazaneen is a personal trainer and will be taking
questions and offering advice.
Page 2 November 2013
20132013--20142014 TORONTO CLOWN ALLEYTORONTO CLOWN ALLEY
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEEEXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
PRESIDENT Colleen “Pockets” Smith
VICE PRESIDENT Ron "Schmendrake" Guttman
SECRETARY Linde "Poppy" Weedman
TREASURER Bob "Rusty" Patterson
MEMBERSHIP DIRECTOR Linde "Poppy" Weedman
PROGRAM DIRECTOR David "D Jay" Lew
NEWSLETTER EDITOR Pat "Patty Kakes" Davos
JAM COORDINATOR Rose “Winky” Winkworth
SNACK COORDINATOR Teanna Vedder
SUNSHINE COORDINATOR Shirley "Jolly" Snell
INSURANCE COORDINATOR Robert "Dinty" Power
SOCIAL DIRECTOR Rose “Winky” Winkworth
Please wear your name tag
at every General Meeting!
Page 3 Volume 3, Issue 3
Greetings fellow entertainers. Now that the Halloween gore designs are finally behind us, we
can concentrate on our pretty Christmas designs. Have you thought about how to incorporate
Christmas into your face painting and/or balloon designs? How about your magic tricks?
Here are a few simple ideas that I like to use to make my magic tricks feel like Christmas:
Professor's nightmare. Take a red marker to the ropes and make them look like candy
canes. Same trick...different story!
Magic colouring book. Cover an old 3 way colouring book with a Santa pictured
colouring book from the dollar store.
There are also various change bag routines producing a Santa (David Ginn has a great
routine). Take a look at what you presently use... and think outside of the box.
If you would like to do a bit of exploring, Winky has been hosting some fabulous jams. If
you haven't been yet, you should go. Lots of great ideas from everybody!
The winter weather will be upon us very soon and I hope that all entertainers are prepared
for emergencies that may come up. Pockets tip: Allow for extra travel time when booking
multiple shows as you just never know what the weather may hold. I hope that everyone
travels safely and "keeps it between the ditches"
Happy Clowning
Colleen Smith
President of Toronto Clown Alley
Colleen Smith
Prez Says
Page 4 November 2013
Vice Prez Says…
Ron "Schmendrake" Guttman
Ron Guttman Building Your Website
If you are going to build your own website, you will need some kind of software to build and lay out the pages of your site.
There are three approaches and I’ll cover each of them briefly.
Free web-based programs
Several companies offer free web-based design suites. If you have limited technical expertise, this is an excellent way to get started.
But understand this. Although they are free, they do come with an intangible price attached. There is a learning curve. Support may
be limited. And there are limitations to what you can do, although I have seen some pretty good designs rendered with these
programs.
Two of the better known offerings are by wix.com and GoDaddy.com.
Perhaps the best choice, especially if you are of limited technical expertise, is the software best known for its use in the blogoshere
and offered by wordpress.com. It is an open-source project and there are thousands of developers offering add-on plugins and
themes.
There are literally thousands of themes available allowing you to find a look for your website that matches, or at least comes very
close to matching your vision. Using the add-on plug-ins, you can do just about anything you can imagine, including setting up an
e-commerce site.
There are also commercial themes, theme generators, frameworks and plug-ins that you can purchase to go even further.
As an example of what is possible, take a look at the website run by The Hat and Rabbit Club; it was developed with WordPress.
See http://www.ibmring17.com.
Just a note, though. You will need some technical expertise to install the software, themes and plug-ins on your web server. It’s not
difficult but you do need to know your way around these things. If you need help, there are online forums, and perhaps one of your
friends will have some experience in this area.
Free desktop software
Instead of building your site inside a web browser, you can do this on your home computer. These programs give you more
flexibility in your designs and do not require a full time web connection. If you have a laptop, you can work on your website
anywhere!
Again, because they are free, there are limitations to what you can do!
Consider one of the following products if you are interested in a stand-alone package: Serif.com has WebPlus, SourceForge has the
download for Bluefish, reputably a very good stand-alone editor, and Amaya from w3.org. Both Bluefish and Amaya are available in
a Mac version.
Commercial paid software
The granddaddy of commercial web design suites is Adobe’s Dreamweaver. This is an excellent product but comes with a heavy
price. The cost of acquisition is very high, over $400 and there is very steep learning curve. Truly a professional’s choice.
Other commercial packages worthy of consideration: Microsoft Expression Studio (about $200), NetObjects Fusion (about $130)
and Serif.com WebPlus ($100). All prices are approximate in Canadian dollars.
My personal recommendations, because I use them myself:
WordPress
The paid version of WebPlus.
Page 5 Volume 3, Issue 3
Continue your education to be the best
entertainer you can be!
Here's a list of what is coming to a city near us!
East Coast Face Painting Convention, Jan 15-20, 2014
Windsor Locks, Connecticut. (7 hour drive) $135.00 Hotel $55.00 a night.
KEY NOTE INSTRUCTORS:
Jay Batista, Mark Reid, Christina Davison, Kerry Ann, Gary Cole, Laura Oliver, Donna Nowak, Ezia Leach,
Roberta Mandella, Daniel Lasris, Michelle Heffner, PLUS more
Kapitol Kidvention, Feb 7-9, 2014
Washington D.C. $225. Hotel $79.00 a night.
Balloonists, magicians & face painters& Marketing!
KEY NOTE INSTRUCTORS:
Barry Mitchell, Ken Scott, Oscar Munoz, Dave Hill, Devin Knight, Eric Henning, Alan Kazam, Mike
Norden, Mike Finney, Rebecca Kanar, Ryan Lavallee, Shonna Flannigan, Dustin Queery, Corrine
Smith, Perry Yan, Diane Spadola, Heather Green, Tal Thompson, Corey Morgan, Tina Fillah-Caroll,
Brad Ross, Lori Hurley.
Twist and Shout, Feb 5-9, 2014
Rochester NY. $325.00 plus $109 for hotel. Super Early bird registration: $260.00, or $290.
Top notch balloonist within driving distance!
KEY NOTE INSTRUCTORS:
Tom "Bibo" Sayes, Peiter VanEngen, Guido Verhoef, Philias Flash, Marie Dadow, & Robbie Furman.
Colleen “Pockets” Smith President
Page 6 November 2013 Newsletter The 12 Days of Christmas
Do you have a corporate party to attend? Need a great idea? Ask 12
children to come up on the stage. Hand each child a card that says one
of the days of the song. You can put pictures and words and laminate
them.
It's a great audience participation song. Make sure you have a long
enough stage! Be prepared to run behind the child and tap them on the
head when it's their turn to say what's on the card.
12 Drummers Drumming
11 Pipers Piping
10 Lords-a-Leaping
9 Ladies Dancing
8 Maids-a-Milking
7 Swans-a-Swimming
6 Geese-a-Laying
5 Gold Rings
4 Calling Birds
3 French Hens
2 Turtle Doves
And a Partridge in a Pear Tree
Submitted by Colleen “Pockets” Smith
Volume 3, Issue 3 Page 7
It's important to entertain while you are making balloons. Here's a few easy to remember jokes you can use while you are twisting. What do you get when you cross a snowman with a vampire? Frostbite. Why was Santa's little helper depressed? Because he had low elf esteem. What do you call people who are afraid of Santa Claus? Claustrophobic What do you get if you cross Santa Claus with a duck?A Christmas quacker Where does a snowman keep his money?In a snowbank What is invisible and smells like milk and cookies? Santa burps What did the Gingerbread Man put on his bed? A cookie sheet
Until next month..... keep smiling :)
Submitted by Colleen “Pockets” Smith
Volume 3, Issue 3 Page 8
Next issue:
Page 9 November 2013
Nov. 22nd Jim
Kilgour
Nov. 5th
Richard
Thompson
Next …months birthday’s.
Jennifer Gonsalves - Dec. 2nd
Mike Harding - Dec. 13th
Volume 3, Issue 3 Page 10
Face Painting Tips by Pat Davos
Are your sponges really stained and want to throw them out? Tired of replacing them. Tired of thinking the parents will comment on the stained sponges, well….. you can dye them black or just buy the new black sponges that are now offered for sale and you don’t have to worry anymore.
Balloon Twisting Tips Submitted by Colleen Smith
How to make a…..
New Library rules are in effect. You may now borrow items by credit card. It is hoped that this will increase the number of items being borrowed from the library. Once borrowed you have a maximum of two meetings to keep them. If you have not returned the item by the second meeting following the borrowing date, the item now
belongs to you and your card will be charged. The replacement prices for each item are high as to encourage returning what has been borrowed. I'll be bringing a selection of items to each meeting. If anyone is interested in receiving an excel file containing everything that is available from the library, please contact me at [email protected].
TCA Library News by David Lew
Page 11 November 2013
Toronto Clown Alley Membership
2013-2014
Toronto Clown Alley Insurance
Please note: Toronto Clown Alley Membership Fees are OVERDUE
- anyone attending meetings without a valid 2013-2014 registration should be paying
a $10 visitors fee!
TCA Insurance Coverage for 2012-2013 Expired on September 30, 2013
- anyone working without a valid TCA 2013-2014 Membership & Renewed TCA
Insurance you are working without benefit of valid coverage!
Information: TorontoClownAlley.com
* forms can be obtained from our website - TorontoClownAlley.com
Meetings are held on the
4th Tuesday each month
(except July and August)
Herbert Carnegie
Centennial Centre
Skaters Lounge 580 Finch Avenue West
(West of Bathurst on North Side)
www.torontoclownalley.com
Please wear your
name tag
at every General
Meeting!
The last page…. by Pat Davos
Every month I will be posting a picture in this area. TCA
members can show their stuff here. Face painting picture
or Balloon sculpture, a picture of you performing magic,
juggling, whatever you do for entertainment. Since no
one is sending in pictures, I will pick them every month
from the TCA library. It will be a surprise.
This is Lisa painted by Uncle Al
Hi all you clowns out there, as I have not heard from
anyone, I presume you & your families are well &
happy. As for me, as you know I could not have my
ablation after waiting all day because 2 people had
emergencies and I sure hope they will have long &
healthy lives. Well, this Friday, the 15th if all goes well
I will be having this procedure done. I will email Rose
& Patty so they can pass on my news to all of you,
maybe even in time for the Newsletter.
Wish me good luck.
Thanks all, Shirley Jolly, Sunshine Secretary