The Toy Trains

Amy Wang from the Oregonian reviewed our Mississippi Pizza show on Saturday, January 30th. http://blog.oregonlive.com/themombeat/2010/02/event_review_kid-friendly_musi.html

The Toy Trains are happy to announce their return to the Mississippi Pizza Pub for two dates! No tickets will be sold for the show. So please, get to the venue early and enjoy their excellent pizza. Please note the early start time for these shows.

• Saturday, January 30th from 4 – 5:30PM
• Saturday, February 20th from 4 – 5:30PM

Once again – our annual concert at McMenamins’ Kennedy School Gym!!!

• Thursday, March 11th from 5:30 – 6:45PM. Our friends “Factory Girl” will be playing after us from 7PM – 9PM. This is a FREE SHOW!!! Please come and join us for our biggest show of the year at this awesome venue.

Hope to see you at a show! If you have a child interested in playing a song with the band, please email me: vinceschreck@yahoo.com

Hi Friends,

Next show is at the Airplay Cafe on Saturday, November 21st from 5:30 – 6:30.  Please use this link: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/89848 to purchase tickets in advance!  Plenty of people have been turned away without tickets at the last few shows.  We don’t like seeing kids being turned away, so please purchase your tickets now!

Thanks!  Hope to see you at the show.

Special surprise gig!!! This Saturday, August 22nd from 3:30 – 4:30 at Spielwerk Toy Store (North Portland Location). Please join us and bring the family to support this awesome toystore and these incredible ladies.

Dear Fans,

Just a friendly reminder that we have a concert this Saturday (August 1st) at a new family friendly location in the Alberta Arts area  called Mama Zen. You can find more out about them at www.mamazenpdx.com.  We are very excited about this new venue – we’ve been tossing around this idea of a family concert/picnic for a long time.  I’m sure you will love:

Location:  “The Little Church”, 5138 NE 23rd Ave
one block north of Alberta on the corner of 23rd and Sumner
contact:  Jeannette @ 503-999-9644 if you have questions.

5pm: the fun begins!
Show up early and  check out the Mama Zen home and it’s amenities one of which is air-conditioning! To make things even sweeter,  Mama Zen will also have cold beverages for children and parents (beer) for sale, as well as sandwiches, cookies and snacks…..no item priced over $6, beverages as low as $1.
Mama Zen will also be providing diaper changing stations, and a comfortable nursing room downstairs for moms and babies.

6pm-ish- concert begins
weather permitting , there will be water-fun  outside to keep kids and adventurous adults cool.   Set-up a spot and dance, or sit back and relax.

7:00pm-  Raffle time!
Mama Zen will also be hosting a free raffle for yoga classes, child care, and massage.

Doors open at 5pm for the event, so BEAT the HEAT and come early to check out the Mama Zen location, relax, and enjoy a fun and comfortable Saturday evening concert with friends and family! Tickets will be sold at the door; however, PLEASE buy them online at the link below to guarantee entry!

New show added to summer lineup!  Please come and see The Toy Trains! (www.toytrainsband.com)

Saturday, August 1st (4-8pm) bring the family to see the Toy Trains at:  The Little Church 5138 NE 23rd Ave.  The event is hosted by “Mama Zen” (www.mamazenpdx.com).  This is a VERY cool little venue that has air conditioning.  Bring a blanket, chairs, and a picnic.  Music starts around 5pm, but come early.  Buy tickets here NOW!  It’s likely we’ll have a sell out.  http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/72197

Tricia Rojas playing violin for The Toy Trains

What’s up with The Toy Trains?  The band has taken a breather after 3 successful shows at the Airplay Cafe and the Kennedy School.  This summer, we’ll be performing a series of Multnomah County Library shows.  Please come and check us out!

• Wednesday, July 29th at the Hollywood Library (4040 NE Tillamook St., (503) 988-5391, Meeting Room). Two shows! 10:15AM and 11:30.
• Saturday, August 8th at the Holgate Library at 3:30PM on their back lawn. 7905 S.E. Holgate Blvd., (503) 988-5389. We’ll have the whole band for this show.
• Tuesday, August 11th at the Midland Library (805 SE 122nd Ave, (503) 988-5392, Meeting Room) at 2PM.

These shows are free and open to the public.  The Hollywood and Midland shows will be low-key and more acoustic.

Hello Friends,

On 3/28/2009, we had our second, sell-out performance at the Airplay.  Thank you to all of our fans who bought tickets in advance.  We’re so happy that all of you could make it to the gig.  If you did not get tickets in advance, you may have been turned away at the door, and we are sorry.  We plan on moving the next show to a bigger venue.

Here is our idea…we are thinking about renting out the Mississippi Ballroom (north of the Mississippi Pizza Pub) for a HUGE, indoor picnic with your family.  This will be similar to an outdoor concert at Kruger’s Farm in the summer, except we’ll all be indoors.

Your family will pay an affordable cover charge, come into the giant space of the Ballroom and setup a blanket.  Each family will be encouraged to bring a cooler with food and drinks.  This is going to be a big, indoor, family-oriented party!!!  This is true Portland-style!

Although we’re all about making music, I believe these events are just as important to building strong communities and getting parents to interact and be social with each other.  The Toy Trains are more than happy to be the catalyst that makes it all happen.

We’ll be posting more information on this future show soon.  We’re thinking it will be some time in late April.  Hope to see you then!

Hi Folks,

Our next show is Saturday, March 28th at the Airplay Cafe.  We’ll play from 5:30 to 6:30 and the cost is $5 for individuals and $10 for the whole family.  The last show we played there was a sellout and many families were turned away at the door.  I can’t believe I’m saying this (and it’s a good thing!), but if you want to see this show, we STRONGLY  suggest buying tickets in advance via Brown Paper Tickets (https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/57351).  This company charges a very small service fee, and your tickets can be held at will-call at the Airplay.  This is just one way to ease the stress level of getting out with the kids.

Hope to see you there!  Here is a short clip from the Kennedy School on Thursday, February 5th – it was a HUGE success!  Thanks to everyone for coming out to support the band.

Huge crowd for a Toy Trains' show at the Kennedy School gym.

Click here to hear some live tracks from the show!

I have been playing music live (off and on) for 22 years.  On 2/5/2009, the Toy Trains played a jam-packed Kennedy School Gym, and it was probably my favorite performance of all time.  Yes, it was my 40th birthday and that was cause for celebration, but it had much more to do with our supportive fans…mainly the kids.  It was an incredible night for the Toy Trains!

We had the perfect combination with some families just hanging-out watching, while other families danced all over the place.  Some kids sat on the floor, some ran in circles, some got to sing with the band at the end of the night, etc.  It was one of those nights you always hope for when your get up on stage.

We were fortunate to have a 7-piece lineup that night, which included former (official) member Sarah Roy on accordion.  Taking over for Sarah on violin was Patricia Rojas.  “Tricia” has played off and on with our bass player Paul Prato – specifically in two outstanding bands:  Rustica and Tin Silver.

I’m sure many of you (just like us in the band) enjoyed hearing Tricia sing, and believe me, you will hear much more of that in the future.  Listening to the live recording of the show, it was pretty obvious that we have now developed a rich, layered vocal sound that we’ll continue to highlight at the shows.

If you missed this show, we hope to see you next time at the Airplay Cafe on Saturday, March 28th.  Please stay tuned, because it looks like we’ll have to sell tickets to avoid having to turn people away (the last show was sold out!).  Finally, check back on the site in a few days – I’m planning on posting the Kennedy School live tracks soon!