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Tea Party Community

This article is about the Canadian rock band. For other uses, see Tea Party.

The Tea Party is a Canadian rock band with blues, progressive rock, Indian and Middle Eastern influences, dubbed "Moroccan roll" by the media. Active throughout the 1990s and up until 2005, the band re-formed in 2011. The Tea Party released eight albums on EMI Music Canada, selling over 2 million records worldwide, including 4 doubleplatinum awards, 1 platinum and 4 gold albums in Canada,[1] and achieving a No.1 Canadian single "Heaven Coming Down" in 1999.

The Tea Party

The Tea Party toured Canada on twenty-one occasions and Australia on twelve. In November 2002, the band toured Canada with symphony orchestras reinterpreting a decade's worth of shared songwriting. Breaking up in 2005 due to creative differences, band members nevertheless re-united in 2011 to play several Canadian tour dates during the summer. The band decided to continue after the tour and has now re-formed. The band has since released a double live album, recorded on their 2012 tour of Australia. Video shot during this tour was released as a Live DVD/Blu-ray, "The Tea Party: Live From Australia" in 2013. The Tea Party has also been writing and recording new original material since Fall 2012, and their latest album, The Ocean at the End, was released in September 2014.

The Tea Party was formed in 1990 by Jeff Martin, Stuart Chatwood and Jeff Burrows after a marathon jam session at the Cherry Beach Rehearsal Studios in Toronto. Each member had previously played together during their teenage years in a number of different bands in Windsor, Ontario, where they were originally from. They had decided to name their new group The Tea Party after the infamous hash sessions of famous Beat generation poets Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs.[2]

The Tea Party released their eponymous debut album in 1991, distributing it through their own label Eternal Discs. The album drew influences from psychedelic rock and blues, and was produced by Martin; album production was something Martin would continue with for all of The Tea Party's albums, as a way of giving the band complete artistic control. In 1993 The Tea Party signed to EMI Music Canada and released their first major label recording, Splendor Solis. The band employed open tunings and goblet drums (Dumbek) to create Indian-style sounds, something they continued to employ throughout their career, while continuing in a blues influenced style. In 1994 the album released in Australia, with the single "Save Me" launching the band's career in the country. The band gained the support of national radio station Triple J, enabling the band's first tour, with "Save Me" becoming a staple of their setlists.[3]

Further developing The Tea Party's sound in 1995, The Edges of Twilight was recorded with an array of Indian and Middle-eastern instrumentation. "Sister Awake", the third single from the album, defines what the band set out to do, combining three-piece rock compositions with music from the world. "Sister Awake" is an acoustically based arrangement on 12-string guitar, sitar, sarod, harmonium and goblet drums.[3] The Edges of Twilight is The Tea Party's most commercially successful album; with sales exceeding 270,000 units, the album is certified double platinum in Canada and platinum in Australia.

Upon returning from successful tours in Canada, Europe and Australia in 1996, The Tea Party recorded Alhambra, an enhanced CD which features acoustic re-recordings of songs from The Edges of Twilight, and followed its release with a brief tour of Canada called "Alhambra Acoustic and Eclectic". English folk musician Roy Harper appeared on The Edges of Twilight reciting a poem and on Alhambra providing vocals for the song "Time".

Transmission released in 1997 saw The Tea Party's first foray into electronica with a sampled world music foundation and thrust. Transmission is a collection of aggressive songs influenced by upheavals around the band; the firing of their management and the feeling of a lack of support from their record company. Epitomising the feelings were the first single "Temptation" and the album's title song.[3]

Triptych followed in 1999, the first single "Heaven Coming Down" rose to No.1 on Canadian radio. The Tea Party's music took on a more orchestral sound, maturing from the blues base. Live at the Enmore Theatre, the band's first live album was released through Australian radio station Triple J during the band's tour for Triptych. In the fall The Tea Party toured in western Canada with Edwin.[4]

The band released a singles compilation called Tangents: The Tea Party Collection in 2000; that year the band was nominated for a Juno award for best musical group.[5] They released a DVD compilation of music videos (which Martin remixed in surround sound) called Illuminations in 2001. It was recorded at Metalworks Studios in Mississauga, Ontario. The Tea Party released The Interzone Mantras later in 2001, and in November 2002 joined symphony orchestras across Canada in adapting their live show. The Interzone Mantras was recorded at Metalworks Studios in Mississauga, Ontario.

Seven Circles was released in 2004. Both The Interzone Mantras and Seven Circles saw the band return to their earlier sound with maturity.

In October 2005 The Tea Party disbanded due to creative differences, with Martin abruptly announcing he was beginning a solo career. Afterward Chatwood stated on the band's forum "that Jeff Burrows and myself are sincerely sorry for the way this was handled. As far as Jeff Burrows and myself were concerned, the band was taking an extended break."[6]

In 2006 Chatwood continued to compose the Prince of Persia video game soundtracks for Ubisoft Montreal.

Burrows joined Rush's Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson, and other Canadian musicians as drummer in the one-off project the Big Dirty Band as well as presenting the midday shift on The Rock, a radio station in Windsor. In 2008 Burrows announced that he, Edwin, Mike Turner and Amir Epstein would form the band Crash Karma, recording their debut album in early 2009.[7][8]

Martin moved to Ireland and recorded his debut solo album Exile and the Kingdom, which was released in Canada and Australia in 2006.[9] He has toured parts of Europe, Canada and Australia, and released two live albums, Live in Brisbane 2006 and Live in Dublin, in November 2006 and May 2007, respectively. In August 2008, Martin announced the formation of his new band, The Armada. In 2010, The Armada broke up. Jeff Martin founded a new band called Jeff Martin 777 with Jay Cortez on bass and Malcolm Clark on drums. Their debut album The Ground Cries Out was released on March 1 in Canada and made it to No.51 in the Canadian Albums Chart.

On 12 April 2011, an official Facebook page was launched with a biography section that closed with "The band is scheduled to play a select number of dates in 2011. No other info was available at this time." The following day, the local radio station K106.3 announced the Sarnia Bayfest lineup including The Tea Party, which was later confirmed by drummer Jeff Burrows on his radio show on 13 April. Burrows further stated that a Canadian summer tour was in the works.[10] The band played several shows in Canada over that summer.

On 6 August 2011, during a show in Lvis, the band had implied that they were going to be back together permanently. Martin said "We are the Tea Party and we're here to stay. And we're never going away again." In December of that year, during a show at the Mtropolis in Montreal, the band announced that they would hopefully record a new album in 2012 and that there would be no more break up; Martin confirmed earlier implications by stating that "The Tea Party is back for good".

On 22 February 2013 The Tea Party announced on its website that "The band have convened in Australia to write and record the next chapter in the Tea Party saga. Stay tuned for more updates." On 19 March 2014 The Tea Party announced via its Facebook page that the title of their forthcoming album will be The Ocean at the End. It was officially released in Canada on 8 September 2014.

In October 2016, the band announced they would be going on a 30 date anniversary tour for their 4th studio album Transmission that was released 20 years ago. The tour began February 3. They performed the album in its entirety along with some of their greatest hits.[11]

The Tea Party released their new single Black River November 9th, 2018.

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The Tea Party - Wikipedia

Contents

The Boston Tea Party was a political protest that occurred on December 16, 1773, at Griffins Wharf in Boston, Massachusetts. American colonists, frustrated and angry at Britain for imposing taxation without representation, dumped 342 chests of British tea into the harbor. The event was the first major act of defiance to British rule over the colonists. It showed Great Britain that Americans wouldnt take taxation and tyranny sitting down, and rallied American patriots across the 13 colonies to fight for independence.

In the 1760s, Britain was deep in debt, so British Parliament imposed a series of taxes on American colonists to help pay those debts.

The Stamp Act of 1765 taxed colonists on virtually every piece of printed paper they used, from playing cards and business licenses to newspapers and legal documents. The Townshend Acts of 1767 went a step further, taxing essentials such as paint, paper, glass, lead and tea.

Britain felt the taxes were fair since much of its debt was earned fighting wars on the colonists behalf. The colonists, however, disagreed. They were furious at being taxed without having any representation in Parliament, and felt it was wrong for Britain to impose taxes on them to gain revenue.

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On March 5, 1770, a street brawl happened in Boston between American colonists and British soldiers.

Later known as the Boston Massacre, the fight began after an unruly group of colonists frustrated with the presence of British soldiers in their streets flung snowballs at a British sentinel guarding the Boston Customs House.

Reinforcements arrived and opened fire on the mob, killing five colonists and wounding six. The Boston Massacre and its fallout further incited the colonists rage towards Britain.

Britain eventually repealed the taxes it had imposed on the colonists except the tea tax. It wasnt about to give up tax revenue on the nearly 1.2 million pounds of tea the colonists drank each year.

In protest, the colonists boycotted tea sold by British East India Company and smuggled in Dutch tea, leaving British East India Company with millions of pounds of surplus tea and facing bankruptcy.

In May 1773, British Parliament passed the Tea Act which allowed British East India Company to sell tea to the colonies duty-free and much cheaper than other tea companies but still tax the tea when it reached colonial ports.

Tea smuggling in the colonies increased, although the cost of the smuggled tea soon surpassed that of tea from British East India Company with the added tea tax.

Still, with the help of prominent tea smugglers such as John Hancock and Samuel Adams who protested taxation without representation but also wanted to protect their tea smuggling operations colonists continued to rail against the tea tax and Britains control over their interests.

The Sons of Liberty were a group of colonial merchants and tradesmen founded to protest the Stamp Act and other forms of taxation. The group of revolutionists included prominent patriots such as Benedict Arnold, Patrick Henry and Paul Revere, as well as Adams and Hancock.

Led by Adams, the Sons of Liberty held meetings rallying against British Parliament and protested the Griffins Wharf arrival of Dartmouth, a British East India Company ship carrying tea. By December 16, 1765, Dartmouth had been joined by her sister ships, Beaver and Eleanor; all three ships loaded with tea from China.

That morning, as thousands of colonists convened at the wharf and its surrounding streets, a meeting was held at the Old South Meeting House where a large group of colonists voted to refuse to pay taxes on the tea or allow the tea to be unloaded, stored, sold or used. (Ironically, the ships were built in America and owned by Americans.)

Governor Thomas Hutchison refused to allow the ships to return to Britain and ordered the tea tariff be paid and the tea unloaded. The colonists refused, and Hutchison never offered a satisfactory compromise.

That night, a large group of men many reportedly members of the Sons of Liberty disguised themselves in Native American garb, boarded the docked ships and threw 342 chests of tea into the water.

Said participant James Hawkes, We then were ordered by our commander to open the hatches and take out all the chests of tea and throw them overboard, and we immediately proceeded to execute his orders, first cutting and splitting the chests with our tomahawks, so as thoroughly to expose them to the effects of the water.

According to participant George Hews, We were surrounded by British armed ships, but no attempt was made to resist us.

Did you know? It took nearly three hours for more than 100 colonists to empty the tea into Boston Harbor. The chests held more than 90,000 lbs. (45 tons) of tea, which would cost nearly $1,000,000 dollars today.

While some important colonist leaders such as John Adams were thrilled to learn Boston Harbor was covered in tea leaves, others were not.

George Washington claimed Bostonians were mad, and loathed the destruction of property. Benjamin Franklin insisted the British East India Company be reimbursed for the lost tea and even offered to pay for it himself.

No one was hurt, and no property was damaged (other than the tea and a padlock) or looted during the Boston Tea Party. The participants reportedly swept the ships decks clean before they left.

Thanks to their Native American costumes, only one of the tea party culprits, Francis Akeley, was arrested and imprisoned.

But despite the lack of violence, the Boston Tea Party didnt go unanswered by King George III and British Parliament.

In retribution, they passed the Coercive Acts (later known as the Intolerable Acts) which:

Britain hoped the Coercive Acts would squelch rebellion in New England and keep the remaining colonies from uniting, but the opposite happened: All the colonies viewed the punitive laws as further evidence of Britains tyranny and rallied to Massachusetts aid, sending supplies and plotting further resistance.

A second Boston Tea Party took place in March 1774, when around 60 Bostonians boarded the ship Fortune and dumped nearly 30 chests of tea into the harbor.

The event didnt earn nearly as much notoriety as the first Boston Tea Party, but it did encourage other tea-dumping demonstrations in Maryland, New York and South Carolina.

Many colonists felt Britains Coercive Acts went too far. On September 5, 1774, elected delegates from all 13 colonies except Georgia met in Carpenters Hall in Philadelphia for the First Continental Congress to figure out how to resist British oppression.

The delegates were divided on how to move forward but the Boston Tea Party had united them in their fervor to gain independence. By the time they adjourned in October 1774, theyd written The Declaration and Resolves which:

Britain didnt capitulate and within months, the shot heard round the world, rang out in Concord, Massachusetts, sparking the start of the American Revolutionary War.

A Tea Party Timeline: 1773-1775. Old South Meeting House.The Boston Tea Party. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.The Boston Tea Party. Massachusetts Historical Society.The Boston Tea Party, 1773. EyewitnesstoHistory.com.The Intolerable Acts. U.S.History.org.

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Boston Tea Party - HISTORY

Our popular Teddy Bear tea party is back! Dress up in your finest tea wear, bring along a stuffed friend or doll, and join us at the Teahouse for our annual tea party! This fun, community event is for kids accompanied by a parent. Tea will include community seating, and one adult may bring up to 7 children.

Treats will be served, including tea sandwiches, scones, fresh fruit, and sweets. Activities include crafts, simple games, and a Do-it-Yourself dress up and photo area. Parties are expected to last approximately one hour. Due to the popularity of this event, tickets are NON REFUNDABLE. Parties fill very quickly so register early.

**Party is for adults with children and is a communal event. One adult may bring up to 7 kids. Tables are set for 8, parties smaller than 8 share with others. All children must be accompanied by an adult. All food isnut free. Special dietary needs can be met with a two week advance notice. Tickets are non-refundable. Event is Rain or Shine.

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Children's Tea Party | Rocky Mountain Tea Festival

Planning a tea party menu for an afternoon tea (also called high tea or low tea) may seem daunting at first, but it's fairly simple.

Depending on the occasion, your afternoon tea menu can be as sparse as tea and cream scones (a type of afternoon tea menu known as "cream tea") or elaborate enough that it includes multiple types of teas, scones, finger sandwiches and other treats. Either way, these tips for planning your tea party menu are sure to help you find the perfect combination of food and drink for your next afternoon tea.

With so much of a focus on the foods in afternoon tea, it can be easy to overlook the tea. However, the tea or teas you serve are just as important as the foods, if not more so. I highly recommend selecting from this list of top teas for afternoon tea, as most of them pair very well with a range of foods found on afternoon tea menus. Try to select bold teas for rich or strongly flavored foods or more delicate teas for more subtle foods. Consider including at least one caffeine-free tisane ("herbal tea") or a decaf option, in case some guests are sensitive to caffeine.

Milk, sugar, and lemon are optional ingredients that your guests can add to their own tea. Depending on the type or types of tea on your tea party menu, you might want to offer milk, sugar, and lemon or only one or two additives. (Although some Americans like to add cream to their tea, this is not traditional in England. Also, adding milk to Earl Grey is not common in England, as the dairy tends to clash with the bergmot flavor in the tea.)

Scones are one of the most popular foods for tea party menus. They can be sweet or savory, and complex or plain. From basic buttermilkscones, savory cheddar mustard scones, sweet cinnamon scones;there are scone recipes for any style of tea party. If you're planning a tea party menu for girls, consider serving raspberry scones, which are naturally pink when you mash the raspberries a bit as you stir and knead the dough.

Be sure to pair your scones with appropriate scones toppings or spreads, such asDevonshire cream, clotted cream or lemon curd.

Finger sandwiches (also known as "tea sandwiches") are often served at full tea, a heavier style of afternoon tea menu. Classic afternoon tea finger sandwiches include egg salad tea sandwiches, cucumber tea sandwiches, smoked salmon finger sandwiches, roast beef finger sandwiches, ham finger sandwiches and chicken salad finger sandwiches. (These types of simple recipes tend to work well for kids' tea parties.)

However, you can venture beyond these more traditional tea sandwiches with other tea sandwich recipes, like watercress tea sandwiches or buttered radish finger sandwiches. Just be sure to keep the intensity of the flavors in your finger sandwiches comparable to the level of flavor in your tea and sweets.

Other sweets (besides sweet scones) are often served with full tea or light tea. Common types of sweets found on tea party menus include various types of sponge cakes, Madeleines, cupcakes (which are ideal for kids' tea parties) and trifles. Be careful not to have too much overlap in the types of sweets you serve. Ideally, your sweets menu will include a variety of flavors, such as seasonal fruit (or, in the cooler months, preserves), cream, vanilla or chocolate.

In addition to finger sandwiches, some tea party menus include other savories, such as savory scones, soups, quiches or lighter savory snacks, like seasoned nuts or cheese and crackers. If you are throwing a themed tea party, careful selection of other savories can help add to your theme.

For kids' tea party menus, consider serving iced tea, juice or punch. For adult tea parties, you might consider offering champagne or a tea cocktail.

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Tea Party Menu Planning Tips and Ideas - thespruceeats.com