Spirit of Rasputin's

What goes on behind the curtain

by Bob Gernon

In this instalment of the story, let’s take a look at more of the many volunteers who work behind the scenes to make Spirit of Rasputin’s a success.

The Kitchen Crew

Can you imagine being responsible for providing great coffee, tea, an assortment of scrumptious cookies (I like the oatmeal ones best) and treats for 100 music lovers at each of our Westboro Masonic Hall concerts? Well Deb deBruijn and Margot Montgomery have stepped up and, at each concert, they make it look easy, though we know it’s not. So here’s a big ‘Thank You’ to our Kitchen Crew, Deb and Margot, for setting up our little coffee shop in the corner, for all the prep work, for preparing the snacks, for laying out the cups and glasses and for all the clean up afterwards. A job well done, ladies.

The Sound Techs

This is an area where Spirit of Rasputin’s has excelled. We’ve found willing volunteers who are detail oriented and have great ears, sonically speaking. We’ve provided initial training and have helped them develop their skills to produce great sound using state-of-the-art equipment in venues that have excellent acoustics and supportive audiences. We operate in club and concert-sized venues and we love to share with others the joy of making beautiful sound. Our volunteer sound technicians are Heather Evenchick and Andy Bounsall with Alan Sandeman providing back-up. You’ll normally find Heather or Andy working on alternate Monday evenings at our weekly Open Stage. Whichever one is on the board, you can bet they are in control and ensuring our performers sound their very best.

The Ticket Team

It takes an organized team to take care of all the ticket sales, both on-line and at-the-door. We’re fortunate to have Heather Evenchick as Rasputin’s Ticket Manager. Not only is Heather responsible for all ticket sales, she’s also the smiling face who greets everyone at the door and checks them in to each concert. Heather works closely with Andy Bounsall who looks after our on-line ticket sales. Thank you both for all that you do.

So what about us? Yes! Yes! Don’t worry guys. Bringing up the rear is…

The Communication Team

Last but certainly not least, we give a grateful shout out to our Communications Team. Andy Bounsall maintains our website and does skillful jobs at both copy editing and graphics production. He is joined by Sunny Chris in handling Spirit of Rasputin’s social media presence on both Facebook and Instagram. Sunny also prepares and distributes our newsletters. Together, Sunny and Andy work on all things visual. A well deserved bravo goes out to John Bond for being our CKCU connection. John organizes our on-air performer interviews and also writes concert reviews and copy for our press releases. We can’t forget Frank Schulz. Frank handles the preparation and distribution of our press releases. Rounding out the group is Bob Gernon who co-ordinates the team, conducts artist interviews and writes the copy for our concert promotions. Thank you guys for your tremendous work. What a team!