Blainletter #50, March 2012 - Spring has Sprung

How fast did Spring happen this year, you ask? Well, I didn’t even get to take my new deluxe ice-scraper out of its wrapping. CD and cassette cases were what I used for the first part of winter and now that I’ve got a proper scraper, it’s over. Well, you won’t get any complaints from me.

This is Blainletter # 50 and it falls just about at the 50th anniversary of my starting to play guitar. I was one of those guys that joined the band before I could play. So I hard to learn fast and it's been that way ever since. If I don't figure it out right away, I never will

I'm playing a show with Zoe Chilco on April 14, 7-11pm at Kelly's Korner at McCowan and Kingston Road. Maybe she'll let mne sing a couple of tunes. This night is also the CD launch for Chris Rawlings at Lazy Daisy Cafe (Gerrard & Coxwell). Wish I could be at both

Friday, April 20 Alton Mill, Alton I'll be playing with Larry Kurtz, Douglas Watson and Dave Menard (we will rock the house…er, mill)

Saturday, April 21, 5pm – Gate 403, 403 Roncesvales – I'm guesting with Robert Davis and Malcolm Gould PWYC

Saturday May 5, 11AM-2PM Woodbine Racetrack, 555 Rexdale Boulevard (416) 675-7223
Brian and the Bluesgrass Boys celebrating the 138th running of the Kentucky Derby. Always a big day at he track. Funny how I've been playing at the track once or twice every year and I've never met a soul I know (except for musicians in one of the other bands).

Wednesday, May 9, 9-11pm Thymeless, 355 College St W The ambient-electro-dub sounds of BLAINblain (me on the MIDI-guitar and Bass plugged into a laptop and my son the DJ making beats and loops on the fly)

Click below to hear the 1973 recording of my cult classic "Don't Forget Your Mother" You'll find stories about the recording if you search the blog.

Sunday, May 13 1-4pm Reba’s Café, 3289 Dundas Street West, 1-4pm Brian’s Motherless Day Blues Concert PWYC

Thursday, May 31, 9pm Fionn McCool’s, Orangeville – Brian Blain opening night of the Orangeville Blues and Jazz Festival

Shows I played last month:

The Winterfolk Festival was a real pleasure. They moved it all under one roof (the largest roof in town – ie, the largest hotel in town) and lots of great music was played. I did a Blues Campfire and then I was seconded to play bass with Jack de Keyzer and that was, dare I say, an honour…Jack is blues royalty in this town and I guess I was a little hesitant about covering it because I’m not much of a “jobber” who knows every song in the book, and when you’re playing bass, you can’t fake it like you can on guitar. I guess I expressed my lack of confidence one time too many because at the beginning of the show Jack was starting to wonder about me but all’s well that ends well and I think everybody had a good time.
Last month I found myself on stage (twice) at the Trane, a predominantly jazz venue that has launched a blues series every second Monday with the Son Roberts Band. Son is one very organized bluesman – I had the most elegant set list I’ve ever seen. I had a great time playing with the boys – I thought we raised the roof over there…and what a great meal I had. A couple of days later I came back and sat in at Noah Zacharin’s new LibertyWednesday Open Stage thang and he had a great lineup of talent.

Shows I saw and liked:

The Louisiana Snowblowers have re-appeared on the scene and I caught a set at a pub on the Danforth and I sure like what they’re putting down. The TBS Guitar Workshop was at Dominion on Queen this year – a great venue in a historic building (even though they have a rather under-powered and overworked PA). Danny Marks hosted and did a bang-up job as he always does. I was called upon to do a presentation to our long-standing office volunteer, Rick Battiston, and I guess maybe I did ramble on a bit but when it looked like I was starting to launch into an intro for guitarist Kevin Breit I got a bit of a look from Danny – I guess I was stepping on his job. Kevin was amazing to watch close up and he answered questions about his unique style and his legendary Fender amp which looks like it’s been through a couple of world wars. He related how he tried to modify a more current amp to the exact specs of his “baby” but no matter what he did, he couldn’t get it to sound the same. When asked if he had perfect pitch, Kevin said he had “relative pitch” – that is, he had “a brother with perfect pitch.”

Adventures in Streaming:

I felt bad about not getting to the Folk Alliance Conference in Memphis this year but I was (virtually) there because each day I tuned in to one of the live streaming channels and heard some great music. Saw my old pal Ray Bonneville playing and being interviewed on a streaming channel called ditty.tv. I guess they broadcast year-round from Memphis but during the Folk Alliance they featured a lot of the showcasing artists. Saw a great set by a stripped-down Blackie and the Rodeo Kings and watched a couple of rough-and-ready streaming sessions from some of the private showcase rooms. One featured a group called The Sweetness which I streamed last year when they played before me at a private showcase in the Memphis Marriott. At Music Week I ran into Chloe Charles who was a member of that group and tells me that they had just formed that week-end in Memphis. The Sweetness has a big tour itinerary and Chloe is also launching a solo career. Also playing that guerilla showcase in Memphis last year was a singer songwriter called Melanie Brule who showed up at a CMW party on Richard Flohil’s arm. (Update-Melanie's working for Flo!) If I recall correctly, the streaming was screwing up a bit for her set, but the technology has come a long way in a year and by next year’s Folk Alliance (in Toronto, btw) I bet everybody will be streaming from their hotel rooms.

I also did a couple of streaming sessions from the Toronto Jazz Festival office. If you’re an artist looking for information on touring in the US or grant-getting, this is pretty current information. Go to http://www.ustream.tv/channel/live-from-toronto-jazz. The Toronto Blues Society also sponsored some info sessions at Lula Lounge – lots on social media, etc. They’re at http://www.livestream.com/torontobluessociety.

Weather, Politics, Movie watching

Incredible to see folks walking around in shorts and t-shirts at the beginning of March. Nobody’s saying much about global warming, it seems, just digging the short winter and resigned to more. Maybe we won’t last long enough for the global warming effect. I’ve been on a movie-watching marathon now that I’m (semi)retired and I’ve hot this new HDTV. Lots of spy flics and doomsday movies and the last couple were set in 2012. I think it’s the Mayans that set the expiry date for our planet.

Meanwhile, my neighbourhood was ground zero for the big by-election and the NDP was not taking any chances. The phone was ringing off the hook and I even had our NDP candidate at my door, sans handlers, nothing but his backpack. We talked a bit about co-op housing. The phone was also ringing non-stop with robot pollsters. I must have done a dozen, and there were more that called at the wrong time. Now that it’s all automated, anyone can run a poll and tabulate the results…and probably make an accurate prediction.

Steve Jobs gets his final wish

Google and Motorola Mobility have been ordered by a Chicago judge to hand over Android development data to Apple as part of a patent lawsuit, reports Bloomberg.
This would be a banner day for Steve Jobs, who maintained that Android was "grand theft" of iOS and said, "I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong."

Lots more to talk about but I’ve got to send this out now because the next gig is less than 24 hours away (ooops…again!). I’ve got some great tips from Canadian Music Week sessions on using social media but I’ll have to post that later on my blog. Oh yeah, visit my newly revamped blog at www.brianblain.ca . I’m still populating it with more photos & music but it’s come a long way thanks to some help from Margaret Stowe who can make blogs jump through hoops. She has several informative blogs out there but you can start at http://www.margaretstowe.com/

Thanks for reading and for your ongoing support,
BrianB, aka Colorblind Blain, the Stringbuster

www.brianblain.ca
PS: If you're on Facebook and “like” what I’m doing, go to www.facebook.com/brianblain.musician and make it official.
If you would like to receive the Blainletter directly to your inbox, long before it ever gets posted here, send a note to brian@brianblain.ca

My Canadian Music Week

As usual I was probably the oldest person walking around with a CMW badge and I was actually heckled by a group of drunk young people on Queen Street shouting "Hey, man with beard!". Then, as I'm leaving one club, the doorman says "You sir, have a rockin' beard."  Twice in one night they're talking about my beard...what's with that?  I think the Rockin' Beard Award will have to go to Halifax troubadour Ben Caplan.  Every year there's a buzz artist who is everywhere abd this year it was Ben Caplan. I was going to try and catch his set at the East Coast Party - where I remember a couple of years back at the Rivoli, a big cauldron of delicious fish chowder, oysters in many varieties and lots of other delicious seafood.  Anyway, I guess everybody heard about it because the last couple of years it's been "Invite Only" and I guess I'm not on that list. I wanted to hear Ben and he had many plays during Music Week but the only time I heard him was when he was tinkling the ivories on the grand piano in the hotel mezzanine.

That doorman who liked my beard was at Sneaky Dee's where I went to see an artist who was listed as a combination of blues and electronic, which is what I've been experimenting with.  I got there early because the band playing before them listed their genre as "experimental" and I wanted to see what they were all about.  Little did I know that they were (are) the biggest thing in Ireland and as one (Irish) patron pointed out to me, the whole front of the room was packed with Irish - and I soon realized that they knew all the words and were singing along.  I jokingly asked my new Irish friend if there had been a fight yet, and he said no they were waiting for the end of the set.  And sure enough when it was over they remained at the front shouting "one more" (probably not aware of the showcase protocol).  One very drunk guy almost knocked me over, but to their credit, they finally accepted that their heroes were not coming back. Anyway, The Rubberbandits, as they were called,  were 2 rappers who jumped up and down and a third guy - all in masks - who was maybe manipulating synths or other controllers. I think the masks was the experimental part

There was a time when no self-respecting musician would ever play with pre-recorded backing tracks, but nowadays nobody was making a big deal of it.  In fact Indie Awards headliner Rich Aucoin had recently abandoned his Ableton Live for pre-recorded tracks on an ipod. Of course, he's doing a lot in "real time" but just the thought of playing with backing tracks leaves me cold.

There was a phenomenal electronic musician from BC called Longwalk Shortdock who took it to another level - I don't think he was using Ableton but he was controlling stuff with the computer though apparently the visuals were prepared in advance (by a video artist called RIM) so once again I was hoping we would see visuals that were being triggered and filtered by the music. Maybe there was a bit of that going on, but whatever he was doing, it was spectacular:

The Blues fared pretty well at Canadian Music Week this year.  It's always been a "poor cousin" in this annual crush of pretty mainstream rock and pop.  The "official" blues showcase was not very well attended at the start and though I had to leave halfway through, I bet it was packed by the time Shakura hit the stage. A big congratulatory hug to Suzie Vinnick for tearing it up solo in this pretty large room which usually hosts metal music.  I told her she had the energy of a full-tilt rock band - just her voice and that little guitar (with a pretty big sound). Then tonight, Suzie wins the Indie Award for best blues act (and let's not forget that she is nominated for a JUNO award - to be presented next week in Ottawa)

I might have blown off the "Celebrity Interview" but I was showing a friend around the conference so we went together to watch the interview with Paul Rogers - a bona fide rock star (who has just moved to BC). I never thought of him as part of English blues history but it turns out that he was around for all of that stuff with Alexis Koerner and the fathers of British Blues.  He even related how his friend Robert Plant had told him about the offer to join Jimmy Page in Led Zeppelin and that the band had offered him "either thirty quid a week or a percentage."  Paul had suggested he take the percentage and that's what he did.  Paul was also asked to sing with many other famous groups...even the Doors, after Morrison had died.  Well if anybody could do it, he could.

Now as I'm meeting Paul Rogers, I confess that I didn't know much about him especially his blues roots. What I didn't tell him was that I sort of had him confused with Roger Hodgson of Supertramp (who also had some kind of Canadian connection).  Anyway, I realize I probably sounded stupid, but he was not one of those people who calls you on it when you say something stupid.  He was very nice, and he has a new fan in Brian Blain - especially after seeing his performance with multi-Indie winners the Sheepdogs.

Don't Forget Your Mother

Every year on Mother’s Day week-end, or close to it, I like to have a special show for folks who no longer have their mother, like myself or orphans who never knew their biological mother (also like myself). Some of you may be acquainted with my tune “Enfant Choisi” which is about my adoption by the dear lady you see pictured with me in a 70s promo shot.

It’s also the only show of the year where you’ll hear me sing my “cult classic,” “Don’t Forget Your Mother”. After I was "discovered" by Andre Perry in the early 70s, we recorded three sides and two were released on Good Noise Records, but “Don’t Forget Your Mother” was never released (for a variety of reasons).

But it was a bit of an underground favourite in Montreal in the early 70s. Everybody remembered that tune and just a few years back I ran into one of the guys who played on the session, Tom “Bones” Malone, who was in Toronto filming a Blues Brothers movie. I was just starting to ask him if he remembered that session and he began singing the chorus. Wow! After all those years. The drummer for the session was Jim Gordon, a first-call studio drummer in Los Angeles who had just finished touring and recording with Derek and The Dominoes. He wrote (and played) the piano part in “Layla”. He was later institutionalized for killing his mother in a schitzophrenic episode but that’s another (hopefully unrelated) story.

This year the show is Mother's Day and it's at one in the afternoon and a very nice little cafe so it might be a chance to bring your mother, if you're lucky enough to have one who's still living. Tell her it's not that loud, repetitive rock blues but more like story-telling folk blues. I will be joined ne a few musical friends but I don't know who can make it because their mother might want to do something else.

Blainletter #49 February 16, 2012

In This Issue

• Upcoming Shows
• Awards Season
• CBC 4???
• What else have I been doing?
• Quote of the Day


Hello friends – this is the first Blainletter of 2012 – hmmm, mid-February - I guess it’s a bit of a late entry. And then it was meant as a Valentine’s Day greeting but missed that deadline too… So now I sit here writing a little last-minute self-promotion for my appearances at the Winterfolk festival rather than attending the Winterfolk launch party. Well the upside of staying home is listening to Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings on CBC’s Canada Live as I write this (more on CBC later). I still remember their show at the jazz festival…talk about the “real deal.” Old school.


Upcoming Shows (Toronto):


Saturday, February 18 – Delta Chelsea, Monarchs Pub, 33 Gerrard St W. 1-3pm Brian's Blues Campfire/Song Circle/Jam. All Musicians welcome. Part of Winterfolk X

Saturday, February 18 – Delta Chelsea, Deck 27 (27th floor) 33 Gerrard St W. 8pm Blues Songwriting Workshop with Gary Kendall and …you (if you’re interested in being part of a blues songwriting session) This session immediately follows a Blues Guitar workshop that should be of interest to many $10 cover for both. Part of Winterfolk X

Sunday, February 19 – Delta Chelsea, Monarchs Pub, 33 Gerrard St W. 2pm it’s jamming with guitar meister Jack de Keyzer. I’ll be playing bass. Part of Winterfolk X

(The Winterfolk fun starts tomorrow night (Fri) with an all-star blues band led by Jack in Monarchs Pub. Lots of great music under one roof all week-end. Full schedule at http://www.abetterworld.ca)

Monday, February 27 8pm – The Trane, 964 Bathurst Street – guesting with the Son Roberts Band. $5 cover

Sunday, March 11 – Reba’s Café, 3289 Dundas Street West, 1-4pm PWYC

Saturday, April 21 – Gate 403, 403 Roncesvales – guesting with Robert Davis PWYC


Awards Season

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the Grammy Awards on my new HDTV, especially the guitar extravaganza at the end with McCartney, even though I didn’t get to attend in person. That’ll be the day. I don’t expect to get to the JUNO Awards either this year but I was invited to the media launch and that was a fine occasion with trays of delicacies being passed around. Most of the blues nominees were friends of mine and I was delighted to see them honoured. A few glaring omissions, mind you, like Harry Manx who was just passing through town last week and the larger-than-life Matt Andersen who I had the pleasure of jamming with at my Blues Campfire last month.

The Maple Blues Awards were held last month in the newest and fanciest concert hall in Toronto, Koerner Hall. A far cry from the first MBA soiree which was held at the beloved Montreal Bistro fifteen years ago. Some great music this year and a few emotional moments but the highlight of the show for me was "Funky Louise", alter-ego of host Shakura S'Aida. She had me in stitches - search for Funky Louise on YouTube and you'll see this hilarious promo for the awards also featuring co-host Treasa Levasseur.

There were many great performances but my favourite musical moment was Bill Johnson and what a great guitar sound he had. I had to ask, what was that amp? ...and he told me it's a hand-made amp made in his hometown, Victoria. They're called Toneliner. And they have the tone alright, though the fingers of Bill Johnson had a lot to do with it. I met Bill five or six years ago when he came to the Blues Summit and backed up Layla Zoe at the Blues Campfire. I can't remember if he sang himself at that time but I do remember that he got me a gig in Victoria and I am eternally grateful to him for that. I've been playing his album a lot and so have a lot of other people, apparently, because it was nominated for Blues Album of the Year even though he's hardly ever played in this part of the country. I'd love to see him do a whole evening.

After the awards a few of us made our way to the hotel and had an impromptu jam session in Rick Taylor's room where I had the pleasure of sitting across from Joe Murphy and hearing him for the first time (he did a tune at the Awards but he is best appreciated up close and personal). I never heard of Joe Murphy until last month though he has been a fixture on the East Coast blues scene for decades and I can now attest that he is definitely the proverbial "real deal". Great meeting you, Joe, and great to say hello to many other visiting artists who I only run into once or twice a year. It was a delight to look across the lobby and see the chrerub-face of Tim Vaughn smiling at me. Tim had introduced himself to me at a Blues Summit five or six years ago - he was just a teenager then, surely the youngest delegate ever at the Blues Summit, and now here he was attending as a nominee in the "new artist" category. Good on you, Tim.


CBC Radio 4???

The new CBC service has been launched and features music and profiles on thousands of Canadian artists so of course the first thing I did was to check if I was there. Alas, there were three Blain(e)s but not a Brian. I never had much traction with the CBC – the only play I ever got was from Jurgen Goth who had a show on Radio Two long before I ever got in the habit of tuning in Radio 2. Now there’s another one, which I guess is sort of a spin-off of radio 3. It looks like a good initiative – worth checking out. www.cbcmusic.ca

What else have I been doing

Speaking of radio, I’ve just had my first taste of the Galaxie Music thang now that I got “the fibe.” Imagine living with 7 or 8 years with no TV, then a year or two with a hand-me-down TV and a coat hanger for an antennae and now a 40” screen and 1000+ channels, most of which I am not remotely interested in watching. Well now I’m set for my (semi)retirement.

In addition to watching more TV, my retirement project includes trying to improve my eating habits (tonite it was kale, sweet potato and salmon and it was pretty good – they say kale is great for you. I even bought the organic variety). And now my music time is dedicated to working on my Ableton Live “hyper-instrument” in the hope of future collaborations with electronic musicians. I’m searching for a producer/programmer who can make beats and knows Max (the MIDI programming language). I just created a ten-minute video blog (vlog?) to show what I’m doing. If you’re curious, go to http://www.ustream.tv/channel/thestringbuster

I’ll be doing a bit of a electronica mash-up of one of the tunes on my new album, The Ghost of Clinton’s Tavern and we’ve also updated my reggae tune with some real percussion from Wayne Stoute (via Terry Gillespie). I still want to do a bluegrass treatment of my tune about Alice Brock and there’s more so the “living” album project is still alive - thanks to the donors who have kept it going – you know who you are (and your name is on the CD))

So I haven’t turned away from my beloved blues & roots (though I haven’t written a tune in quite a while) but after plugging away for 20 years in this town I’m thinking that what I do has a pretty limited appeal. I should have got the message when I did a gig at the Free Times a couple of years back and realized that I knew every single person in the audience. But, as Bob Lefsetz said in his latest post, it’s not about making average music for average people anymore. Here’s another good quote from Lefsetz, via Seth Godin:

“Your only hope is to create work so great we'll hear about it from someone else.”

If you don’t know who Seth Godin is, here’s a revealing interview”:
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2012/02/the-weird-interview.html

Here’s to a productive rest of the winter (we got off easy so far!)

Thanks for reading and for your ongoing support,
BrianB, aka Colorblind Blain, the Stringbuster

The Maple Blues Awards

Monday night was the annual gathering of Canadian blues musicians, promoters  and uber-fans. It's held in the newest and fanciest concert hall in Toronto, Koerner Hall.  Pretty ritzy.  I had intended to buy a new suit for the occasion, well, mostly for the Folk Awards event that I hosted last month but in the end it was black jeans for both. A lot of good lookin' bluesers in the hall. The highlight of the show was "Funky Louise", alter-ego of host Shakura S'Aida.  She had me in stitches - search for Funky Louise on YouTube and you'll see this hilarious promo for the awards also featuring co-host Treasa Levasseur. 

There were many great performances but my favourite musical moment was Bill Johnson and what a great guitar sound he had.  I had to ask, what was that amp? ...and he told me it's a hand-made amp made in his hometown, Victoria.  They're called Toneliner.  And they have the tone alright, though the fingers of Bill Johnson had a lot to do with it. I met Bill five or six years ago when he came to the Blues Summit and backed up Layla Zoe at the Blues Campfire.  I can't remember if he sang himself at that time but I do remember that he got me a gig in Victoria and I am eternally grateful to him for that. I've been playing his album a lot and so have a lot of other people, apparently, because it was nominated for Blues Album of the Year even though he's hardly ever played in this part of the country. I'd love to see him do a whole evening.

Speaking of sound I've got to say when you're in a hall like that, you're supposed to be able to close your eyes and it should sound like you're in a big living room listening to a very big, very expensive stereo. I'm always a bit taken aback when I'm in a premier concert hall and it still sounds like you're just in a big hall.  I don't want to hear the room, I don't want to hear the speakers working - I just want to hear the music.  Come to any show at the jazz festival and you'll see what I'm talking about - and that's in a bloody tent!

Ooops, am I getting negative? Well I feel I'm entitled to my opinion, especially considering I actually bought a ticket for the first time in 15 years.  Yes, this old media mooch actually laid down a few bucks because the Blues Society seems to have taken a page from the Folk Awards and the JUNOs where EVERYBODY buys their ticket. Though I'm sure a few VVIPs slipped through...

After the awards a few of us made our way to the hotel and had an impromptu jam session in Rick Taylor's room where I had the pleasure of sitting across from Joe Murphy and hearing him for the first time (he did a tune at the Awards but he is best appreciated up close and personal). I never heard of Joe Murphy until last month though he has been a fixture on the East Coast blues scene for decades and I can now attest that he is definitely the proverbial "real deal".  Great meeting you, Joe, and great to say hello to many other visiting artists who I only run into once or twice a year. It was a delight to look across the lobby and see the chrerub-face of Tim Vaughn smiling at me.  Tim had introduced himself to me at a Blues Summit five or six years ago - he was just a teenager then, surely the youngest delegate ever at the Blues Summit, and now here he was attending as a nominee in the "new artist" category.  Good on you, Tim.

The Delta Blues Campfire

The Delta Blues Campfire on Sunday afternoon was the perfect way to get in a blues mood for tonight's Maple Blues Awards. Pictured above (photo by Stilleto Rose) is the rhythm section, yours truly on bass and Malcolm Gould on drums along with Nanaimo's David Gogo, nominee for Guitar Player of the Year and Electric Act of the Year.  Later were joined by Steve Marriner of Monkey Junk (7 nominations) and the larger-than-life Matt Andersen (who has three nominations, I think). Andrew Burton is a local guitarist whom I've never me and he played some sweet sounds even though he had a less-than-deal setup plugged directly into the board.  

Speaking of the board, we had the formidable Rob Boyd mixing the sound and keeping everything humming along (OK, maybe that's a bad choice of words). Who knew that Rob was a bass player in a previous incarnation. He sat in for a couple of tunes and he rocked! Ken and Peggy from Belleville Loyalist Blues Brotherhood joined in (blues version of a Crystal Gayle song? Only at the Campfire). Host of Monarch's regular open mic Brian Gladstone was the first player to show up with guitar in hand and he kicked off the session with some fine fingerpicking. And a big thank you to Mojo Willie (aka Bill Rymer) who played a few tunes while I took a bit of a break - there's no breaks at a campfire. I'm thinking I forgot somebody...anyway it was great to have these luminaries joining in at the campfire and a real thrill for the local players, including myself, to play with them.  I was thinking I should have got some autographs on my guitar after these great players played it.  Jamming around the campfire is not exactly a career development strategy but these guys are all about the music. They just want to play.

I was especially thrilled to meet and play with the legendary Joe Mavety.  He is of course mostly remembered for his collaboration with Marianne Faithful but nowadays he's living in Port Credit and playing around the west end.  I always had a little bee in my bonnet about this guy because back in the early 90s, the first band I played with in Toronto was Blue Willow and when it was time to make a record Joe Mavety was the "ringer" that they brought in.  That always stuck in my craw a little bit. I figured I could play those solos as well as he did :-(  Now that I recall those sessions, I remember producer Michael Fonfara bringing in Carlos de Junco and maybe somebody else so he would have two or three solos to choose from and a couple of my solos got bumped. That was brutal. Oh well, "Welcome to Toronto!"    

Come to the Delta Blues Campfire

Sunday, January 15 3pm

Monarch's Pub - Delta Chelsea Hotel

33 Gerrard St W.

A nice warm-up to the Maple Blues Awards gala on Monday Night

The First Delta Blues Campfire was held in January 2007 as part of the Blues Summit. Pictured above (l to r.) Ken Whiteley, Mark "Bird" Stafford, Mr. Rick, Rick Fines, Danny Marks and host Brian Blain.

The Maple Blues Awards week-end always attracts a large number of blues artists from all over the country and The Blues Campfire is their chance to meet and jam with local players and other blues artists from outside Ontario. The Campfire has provide many artists with the first opportunity to jam with someone who's work they've admired with some of these connections have led to collaborations on recordings and tours.

The Blues Campfire is hosted by well-known blues editor/writer/guitar picker/bass player Brian Blain and has been a highlight of previous Blues Summits, OCFF and Folk Alliance conferences as well as festivals like Winterfolk and Harvest Jazz and Blues.

This year's campfire welcomes Maple Blues Awards nominees, presenters and guests to meet and jam in a casual setting.

This event is open to the public free of charge.