One of those days

So I haven't been playing much lately and today I decide I'm going to go do a set at this popular Open Mic called Lazy Cat Cafe.  It's at the Bain Co-op in a beautiful all purpose community space (I'm hoping our co-op can one day have a large, comfortable space like this, but I digress)

I decided to take the old Epiphone (I bought it new in 1964) and put it in a soft bag.  That's my first two mistakes.  Then I left the guitar leaning agains a wall and...it fell over.  I had been warned that one good knock would pop that headstock again - each time you glue it, it's less secure.  This was the third time it was glued.  Now I will have to have some kind of post put in there...this is gonna be way more than a cheap (sometimes free) glue job.

I'm inclined to have a crowdfunding campaign to repair my baby. It could go viral -  I never got so many Facebook comments as the last time it broke.

This is what it looked like when I opened the case

Needless to say, I was not in much of a mood to play after that and then I sat down next to Allan McKinley who informed me that the list was full - so I wouldn't have got to play anyway!

I don't have the heart to stick around so I head home with my broken guitar but decide to stop for some take-out.  I go along Danforth, park without paying, and run in to get a souvlaki.  Then, horror of horrors, I look out the window of Mr. Greek only to see a parking officer standing next to my car. But here was a little bit of good fortune on a bad day...  He didn't ticket me. He must have misread the old parking stub that was in my windshield.  Could we call this my lucky day...I don't think so.

Oh, and did I mention that one of my clients had a break in this week and four laptops were stolen and I will be spending the next week trying to restore data from inadequate back-ups.  Argh.

And lastly I'm bummed, because on the way home I turned on Jazz FMI and they were playing a fabulous documentary on John Hammond (the dad) .  I listen for a bit in the car, but when I get in the house I forget to turn on the rest.  Now I've gone and set my Audio Hijack to record it every Sunday - but I'll never be able to get those first three episodes.  Unless I know somebody out there who has this doc archived......

On Living, Dying and Second Chances

Now back from a nice getaway in Cape Cod.  That little white spec in the sand on the left is Linda walking down the dunes at Long Nook (no sharks today). I got back to TO in time to celebrate my 68th birthday with a few friends including my oldest musical buddy, Allan Fraser, and we jammed a little but not into the night the way we used to.  In the big clean-up, I found all kinds of family pictures and ephemera and I decided it was time to get that stuff out of the boxes they've been in and put them up on the wall so I spent the night before my birthday drilling holes and hanging pictures. I also managed to lose the iPad - those things are so thin they could melt into a stack of papers and that is exactly what happened.  It was missing for a week and I was starting to think that it got thrown out along with the stacks of magazines & files that I dumped - but I didn't stop looking and this morning I looked in a box full of envelopes and bags and behold...thar she blows! What a relief - not that I use it a whole lot but I'm planning to load up one of those fake books so the next time I'm asked to go play bass for someone, I can have a chart for every song in every key right at my fingertips.

Last week was one to remember. Thursday morning I had two emails informing me that two friends had died.  One I had just met the week before, at my birthday party actually, and he was quite an eccentric looking character. His name was Nik Beat and the day after the party I googled him and sent him a Facebook friend request.  He friended me right away and then I learnt a bit more about him, he had a long-running show on CIUT was a musician (though he didn't join in our jam session). and a couple of days later he was dead. Then as I'm wrapping up the Crescendo newsletter, we get word that Jim Biros, the Executive Director of the Toronto Musician's Association and a friend to all musicians, union or not, had passed away. Stop the presses! And just a week ortwo before, another one-of-a-kind broadcaster, Reiner Schwartz had passed away. What's going on?

That was the day I was invited to a special event at the Ontario Science Centre called the Science of Rock and this night feature all kinds of activities including a panel of experts dissecting a hit song (by the Who), a make-your-own-cigar-box-guitar (sorry I missed that one) and an amazing display of Rock & Roll artifacts curated by Alan Cross.  The evening ended with a concert/lecture by guitar god Steve Cropper. Remeber "Green Onions" and here he told us how he wrote it and other hits like "Soul Man" and other Stax hits.  I saw an old friend Rob Bowman in the crowd and chatted with him a bit and he told me it was the one-year anniversary of his double lung transplant.  Talk about a new lease on life! As we spoke, the concert ended and he made his way to the stage - I figured to say hi to Steve who he has written about a lot in his book about Stax and liner notes for a CD box set.  But I was surprised to see him take the stage with Steve and there followed a "celebrity interview" with Steve that went into some great stories about the early days of Rock & Roll.

I also got invited to be part of my friend Raoul Bhaneja's theatre/music production called "Life Death and the Blues" The show runs from September 25 to October 19th and each night features a special guest to sing a couple of tunes with the band at the end of the show.  I'm on October 15th and here's where you can buy tix: http://passemuraille.ca/archives/current-season/life-death-and-the-blues

And in the "Second Chances" department, I had a meeting with an old friend who is now responsible for a new online live music calendar which just launched at http://ontariolivemusic.ca/. I encourage all my musician friends to post their gigs, so that the government will know it's being used.  It'll be a while before they build an audience but it will be easier if they have some content.  Folks who know me will remember that an comprehensive online music event calendar has been my pet project for twenty years.  In fact, as I was cleaning up for the birthday party I came upon correspondence from 1994 about just that.  I had long given up on trying to do it myself but I was sure that by now someone else would have done it and I could just buy one at Staples.  But alas, it was not to be.  Just a long succession of false starts...but maybe this time it will be different.

Stolen from Bob Lefsetz

In case you've never heard of Lefsetz, he's the blogger who is always saying "If nobody is buying your CDs and nobody is coming to your gigs, it's probably because you suck"  I would add "...or, you haven't found your audience yet."  I still believe there's an audience for everyone, but if it's down to a few friends and family, then you have to forget about making a living in music.  I'm now retired so I feel like I'm off the hook, but still leap at every opportunity to play.  Anyway, here's Lefsetz' rant of the day:

YOU WANT A HIT

It anchors your career. There are hitmakers and everybody else. A hit just means something ubiquitous that everybody listens to, chart numbers are unnecessary. Hits can come in a flash via inspiration, but oftentimes they require a huge amount of effort and craft. Are you repeating the verses? Is the chorus singable, is there a bridge? Strive for excellence in your own chosen genre, reaching the brass ring is what it's all about.

DON'T LISTEN TO YOUR PEERS

They don't want you to be successful, that would mean they are losers. They want to keep you down in the hole they're in. Follow your dream, which is individual to you.

AMBITION

Without it, you're toast. Today's society is all about being a member of the group. Winners in art are singular. They stand alone, they endure the bows and arrows as well as reap the adulation. If you're not dreaming big in today's world, you're not dreaming at all.

PUT OLDSTER ADVICE IN PERSPECTIVE

Wisdom comes with age and experience. But don't forget the pre and post Internet eras are as different as the pre and post telephone eras. Not everything remains the same.

CREATE CONSTANTLY

There's no such thing as a cycle in today's world. Art is like life. Keep making, errors are tolerated as long as you follow them up with more work of quality. Today the key is to be remembered, because almost everything is forgotten. Don't overthink and overlabor your efforts. Raw and honest works today, and it forges a connection between you and your audience.

DON'T GET LOST MAKING A LIVING

Don't sacrifice your art to get paid, whether it be a day job or going on the road to fulfill your financial desires. Art is about sacrifice. You live on a subsistence level until you break through or you give up.

DON'T SCORN HITMAKERS, LEARN FROM THEM

Even if you don't want to cut a Katy Perry-type tune, your career would be enriched by an hour with Dr. Luke or Max Martin. They understand the game, they understand a hit.

WORK WITH THOSE WHO'VE HAD SUCCESS

Cred in a producer is secondary to track record. Work with someone who's been to the mountaintop and continues to journey there. They can give you a perspective no one else can.

COWRITE

Do it to learn, not to write a hit song. Those Nashville cats are the best in the business. Their songs might be saccharine or predictable, but they know the system. Once again, it's all about learning.

DON'T CATEGORIZE YOURSELF

They rap in country songs. Avicii put country in EDM. Feel free to incorporate your fandom into your work.

THE WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY IS SMALL

You can only be the critics' darling for a brief period. People will only check you out once or twice, then they're done. Strike when the iron is hot.

CHANCES

People will listen to two new substandard works and then abandon you.

BODY OF WORK

It exists on Spotify. If you connect with a track, people will go deeper.

ALBUMS

Forget them. Unless you're making a concept one, a statement. They don't fit with today's world. You drop one every other year when nothing in the news lasts longer than a week, in most cases barely a day? If you have a stiff album, it'll take years to recover. Better to keep in the public eye by continuing to produce. You want to create a body of work, but it doesn't have to be in album form, after all, the term "album" initially denoted a cardboard container for 78s.

YOU'RE ONLY YOUNG ONCE

You get worn down with age, you know too much. Test the limits. Follow your exuberance. Live and create to the limit.

SCREW THE SYSTEM

Unless you're creating Top Forty hits, feel free to stand up to the powers that be. Too many businessmen, label people, agents and managers, are stuck in the old system. You can be dragged down by them, or stand up to them. This doesn't mean you've got license to be a jerk, but standing your artistic ground is an asset. But it's got to feel right to you, don't be afraid to change or take input because you abhor criticism and believe everything you do is phenomenal, no one's got that great a track record.

My Birthday wish is that I still have enough steam after 68 years to keep getting out and playing music

Photo by Kimberly Mallett

Southside Shufflin'

Having made no arrangements for a media pass, I arrived at the main gate prepared to pay my ten bucks (and glad to contribute and I noticed that all the people in the line were being searched and any bottles confiscated. They even made a little girl empty her water container. And here I had a nearly full coffee from Tim Hortons! I stood by the side and started to gulp it down when the security lady said "It's OK. You can come in if it's Tim Horton's." Man, Tim Horton's owns their ass! I guess that's why the festival is so fussy about making sure that "Tim Horton" appears every time they say "Southside Shuffle."

The first band I saw was The Burgess Brothers - Tyler Burgess is a great singer and plays drums with the laid back feel of Levon Helm and I always liked Chris Burgess' guitar playing even though he's as lackadaisical about his career as I am (I think he mostly likes working on cars). Still he's got a signature sound on that Strat - the same one he's been playing for 30 years I was told by Jerome Godboo, who was standing next to me.

Had a nice chat with Jerome and it was mostly about the role of the bass player - Jerome has been working without a bass lately and finds that his harp-playing is coming through better. He also complimented me on my style of bass playing - which is downright simple but in the groove. I guess if he's gonna have a bass player, it should be one who plays less.

I only made it to the last day of the Southside Shuffle because Friday night was rained out and I had a bass-playing gig at a block party downtown on Saturday. But I'm thinking they might have saved the best for last, though I sure wish I'd been there to see Janiva Magness. Here's a video that Randall shot of Janiva singing "I Won't Cry"

I've seen Janiva Magness at the Beaches Jazz and even talked with her a bit but now reading her bio in the programme book about how both her parents committed suicide when she was a teenager and she was on the streets at 17 (and pregnant). Yikes. She's got a right to sing the blues.

But notwithstanding that, and all the other fine female vocalists that played the shuffle this week-end (and there were many great ones), I can't imagine any of them equalling the performance I saw by Angel Forrest. There were some jaw-dropping moments, even from one of the aforementioned female vocalists who was sitting off to the side of the stage and started out looking unimpressed until she could just not hold that stoic look and started swaying with the music. So my fellow Townshipper showed them how it's done. And all without any bass and drums, just her voice and two acoustic guitars. It didn't hurt that one of them was Paul Delauriers who is moving up fast in the ranks of Canadian guitar royalty. There's something special about reaching the energy level of a rock-band in full flight with only acoustic instruments. I love it when that happens, and I think I have achieved that myself a few times.