Friday May 22, 2022 - UPDATE... Almost a year later we did a visit to Kenwick-on-the-Lake Park with 3 of our grandkids during Victoria Day weekend. It is a lovely park that the kids loved playing at. Facing the lake is a large display with pictures of the old dancing pavillioin and it's interesting history. Also has a list of all those who contributed to the new music theme play area - including Cheeky Monkey. All we did was recommend Mike Blackmore when the producers contacting us asking for a musicain. We knew he was an excellent builder too, so he was REALLY put to work. Ironically, Mike posted the episode on Facebook today so I watched it for the first time. Here it is for you to enjoy too. CLICK HERE TO WATCH TVO KIDS program GIVER Friday May 2, 2022 UPDATE... as reported in the lambtonshield.com -... TVO’s “Giver” program ...
MoreWith the increasing reliance on the "cloud", it's nice to know that some people still relish having a "hard copy" of their data (i.e. music & movies). Record Store Day 2015 was proof we are still relevant. Over and over throughout the day, people were telling us they were happy to see the day was so successful - and successful it was. Our best day of business EVER! Having said that, we need to thank some of the people who contributed to the day in very big ways ... ... All the musicians who have played in our store and provided us CD's to sell over the years. Especially Borderlite Trio and Erika & Sara for playing at this years RSD celebration. ... Our amazing friend Maureen Murphy who with all of 5 minutes training from us, stepped in to be an honourary Cheeky Monkey for the day. ... New friend, Pat McGill who was ...
MoreIn honour of upcoming RECORD STORE DAY 2015 on Saturday, April 18, we asked our e-newsletter subscribers and posted on Facebook the question... What does a real record store, like Cheeky Monkey, mean to you?" Below are the answers we have received... A real record store means human contact!! Tara Duff-Cloes The local record store, with it's racks and bins of CDs and records, thousands, even millions of hours of music all carefully categorized, is one of those sweeteners that is sprinkled on our lives. A non-virtual place where sound gets in your head just by touch, or even by sight. A community where dissimilar lives will rub elbows. That's what the local record store means to me. Mike Blackmore It means we get the latest news on everything musically! thank you! xo Patti Grant Only place you can buy REAL music TOM CRAIG A record store like Cheeky Monkey has bins of CDs for me to look through ...
MoreSarnia's First Friday, April 10, 2015: El Camino Live at the Cheeky Monkey and Mike Blackmore Live at Zzas Pizza Bistro Saturday April 11, 2022 by Brian Hay It wasn't hard to see the members of El Camino were an experienced group. Something was little loud on their opening cut. It threw them off the way running into a post a guy doesn't see does but they recovered quickly. A fast adjustment between songs had the group consisting of singer and rhythm guitarist Scott Whyte, lead and rhythm player Marvin Eskritt and percussionist Steve Bird firing like a tight three piece group starting to like the tread on their new walking shoes. They marched through pieces by Elvis Presley, Dire Straits and even a take on the Beatles' classic from the film 'Help', 'You Got To Hide Your Love Away'. For me, that was a huge treat because they did a good job ...
MoreThere’s a new 'barbeque joint' in town – the kind that serves up delicious in-house smoked chicken and ribs. It’s called Saucy Pig and is located at 169 Mitton Street South just off of Wellington near the 5 corners. Roland and I shared an order of 1/2 chicken and ribs along with sides of coleslaw and baked beans. I got all the corn bread since Roland is not keen on it. His loss, it was awesome. The whole meal was great. As soon as we opened the bag, the distinct smokey fragrance came wafting up. The first thing we noticed, after the delectable aroma, was the size of the 1/2 chicken. No sparrow size pieces here like some of the other chicken places use. It was cooked to perfection, tender and juicy, with a nice seasoning on the skin. The ribs were equally meaty with a delicate sauce on them that enhanced ...
MoreEach year in October Jeff Beeler who works at the Sarnia Public Library just down the street from Cheeky Monkey, organizes events for all the walking dead residents of Sarnia. The days activities include the Zombie Walk - a stroll though the downtown stopping into various businesses, like ours. This year was like a Zombie Apocalypse! We have never seen so many out awesome zombies at one time - ever! We have come to realize, they are all mostly harmless. They walk one after the other, with the occassional grunt or growl, but mostly they just keep moving. Maybe looking for someone with more brains then us to eat. For more photos please CLICK HERE -
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Our resident stuffed mascot, Cheeky Charlie, is thrilled to be joined at Cheeky Monkey by a couple of new friends. Banana Head and Mumbles are the two additions to our large collection of monkeys given to us by our generous customers. These two come to us from Erin Behro. (Pictured here with her dad, our occasional sound tech, Ron). Thank you Erin. We promise to take good care of them and make sure they are always is a happy place.
MoreDuring the summer of 2009, Danny Alexander design and painted a mural on the north facing Cromwell Street side wall of Cheeky Monkey. The mural is a depiction of a rock musician in his glory along with song lyrics that have meaning to us. They include Tom Waits, Blue Rodeo, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen along with local musicians like Jim Chevalier, Mike Stevens, and Romney Getty to name a few. The slow process of stenciling the lyrics on the wall fell to Danny's mom, Fran who painted them as high as she could reach on the ladder. Both Fran and Danny did an amazing job that still looks as fresh and interesting as the day if was finished. Over the years, our wall has taken on an identity of it's own. We have noticed many a photographer using our mural as the backdrop to all sorts of pictures including weddings, family ...
MoreThere really is such a thing as "good news/bad news" happening at the same time in a persons life. In our case, the "bad news" came in the form of hearing from friends and long time fellow business owners Neil and Judy Matheson that they were closing up shop. The shop in question was called MUSIC and was located in Sebringville, just west of Stratford. After 41 years of business in high end audio/video equipment and recorded music of Canadian artists only, Neil and Judy decided it was time to retire. The fact that yet another source for recorded music was closing sadden us. YET, it comes with much on the "good news' side. Their retirement is on their terms, not because they were forced out like many other stores have been by the digital world. We have long admired Neil and Judy's technical expertise, business ethics and their dedication ...
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The phrase, "just when you think you've seen it all" came to my mind on Saturday June 21st. In this business, we see & meet a very diverse continuous flow of interest people from all corners of the country and even the world. Have to say though, the over 6 foot tall, very slender man with the big cowboy hat and infectious smile along with his friend sporting pork chop sideburns caught my attention. They were with three other fellas shopping in the vinyl area mostly. Obviously, they were not from Sarnia and obviously they looked like they should be in a band. When they come up to the front counter to make their purchases, the man with the sideburns extended his hand to shake mine and he introduced himself as a close friend of my nephew Jim. Took me a moment to register who he was. Oh yeah, my ...
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