I just got in from hearing Jack De Keyzer and I have to say “It doesn’t get much better than that.” What a crack unit! They were playing at Monarchs Pub in the Eaton Chelsea and we can only hope that venue will continue with their blues nights now that booker Mike Smith has moved on (but check out their new menu – deelicious!) More on my nights out on the blues scene later, but to start I’d like to appeal to any friends and fans in the Guelph area to come out and see me next Thursday.
Thursday, December 4, 7:30-10pm - Brian Blain and Mo’ Kauffey - Magnolia Café 88 Yarmouth St, Guelph (519) 766-4663
This is a new series in a relatively new venue and I’m the first guest at the “Winter Workshops with Mo.” Please come or if you have friends in Guelph let them know. It will be me & Mo’ swapping songs and stories, playing some originals and some standards. Admission is $10.
I have to say there hasn’t been much call for my services lately, and that’s probably how it will remain as long as I’m just sitting around waiting to be invited. Last month I did a little recording with Zoe Chilco and played at a Buddhist event with jazz legend Reg Schwager and his amazing wife Kiki Misumi. Still, I’m enjoying playing guitar as much as ever and I’m never going to stop so maybe when I’m 70 (which is only a couple of years away) I might get “discovered” and included in some kind of tribute to old Canadian blues guys…
Speaking of the guitar (the same one I’ve been playing for the last 50 years) it took another fall and this time it’s going to take more than a glue job. It’s going to cost a lot to fix and I’m reaching out with a crowdfunding campaign to finance the repairs. If you hate to see a guitar go to waste, please make a donation right here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/help-me-put-my-guitar-back-together/wdgt/2502992
Last Friday night I was listening to the blues show on the French CBC www.icimusique.ca and I went to their website to look for a playlist from last week to find who played that phenomenal version of “It’s A Man’s World.” I had already asked a few knowledgeable friends if they knew of a new version of that song with phenomenal guitar solo that went on for 5 or 6 minutes. Nobody had any idea but now I finally find the playlist and imagine my surprise and delight when I see that it was my friend David Gogo. Not just Facebook friend, but one who has helped me out on a couple of occasions (once when I needed a mic cable and another time when I was having one of my campfire jams at the Blues Summit and there were many musicians in the house but nobody wanted to play yet, but good ole David came up and I passed him my dear old Epiphone (the one that’s now in two pieces) and we kicked it off in style.
So then I go to iTunes and buy the track but then I notice that the version on the playlist is different…so I search again and now buy the new version as well (they both sound very similar – must be the same organist). Now I have bought both versions and it occurs to me I probably have a David Gogo CD in my collection. And sure enough, I find “Live at Deer Lake,” the CD with the live version. Would you say I can’t get enough of that song? Well, click below to hear young Emily Burgess tear up a solo on Divine Brown’s version at the Women’s Blues Revue. I’m sure David would approve.
Last month I met Divine when I was the special guest in Raoul Bhaneja’s play, “Life Death and the Blues.” Here’s a clip of me and Raoul doing “Overqualified for the Blues” (at the end you hear me trying to emulate the way Divine can hold a note forever – as seen in that clip of “Man’s World.”
Jian, Jian, Jian: Everybody’s talking about Jian so I can’t resist sharing my thin connection with him. After a JUNO Awards event a few years back, I found myself walking alongside him on Front Street so I mentioned that we had met at Derek Andrews’ birthday party many years ago where we jammed together - he was playing drums and had to repeat his name to me a few times before I got it. So now as we’re walking along I ask if he would like a copy of my new CD and hand one to him. He looks down at it and says “Brian Blain. That’s a good name. I wish I had that name.” I bet he’d be glad to have a new name right about now.
Something to Celebrate: Last week I marked a milestone in my music career – I got my statement from SOCAN (they collect royalties for performances of your compositions) and for the first time in 42 years, it was not a negative balance. That’s right, all this time I’ve been paying back a $1000 advance that I received when I signed with SOCAN (then BMI Canada). Every few pennies I earned since then was deducted from my national debt until today, when I will be allowed to keep those pennies (and I do mean pennies).
Over years of management changes, mergers and many new names and logos, the one thing SOCAN never lost track of was anyone who owed them money. I wish their collections department was as proficient at finding ways to collect for performances (this statement was for performances at this time last year – a full year and this was for performances in Canada. Don’t ask how long it takes when the performances are in another country!) I just wish they could start compensating composers for every single spin. They’ve always maintained it can’t be done but they must know that eventually they will have to do it. There I go again, biting the hand that feeds me…
Out and About: Harry Manx breezed through Ontario after two back-to-back marathon tours of Australia and UK and we made our way down to Hamilton to see his show. It was quite stellar, as always. Steve Marriner played with him and they've done this together so much that it was second nature. I think the last time I was in Guelph was when I opened for Harry Manx (did I mention I'm playing in Guelph on Thursday?).
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| BrianB, Steve Marriner, Alyson MacGregor, Harry M and Lily Sazz |
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| Here I am with WBR’s sexy saxist Carrie Chesnut and blues broadcasters Holger Peterson, and Julie Hill |
Here's something you'll probably never see again - Canada's two pioneering blues bands, Powder Blues and Downchild, on stage together. The occasion was Downchild's 45th Anniversary. I may not have been around for the early days of the Downchild Blues Band but I've had the pleasure of attending several milestone events in their illustrious history, not to mention having their rhythm section playing on one of my CDs and having a surprise appearance by Mr Downchild himself to play harp with me on a couple of tunes at a festival appearance a long time ago.
There were many more great musical moments at that Downchild show. Phillip Sayce cruised into town from LA to make an appearance - he came a long way to play one song but he made a big impression.
Phillip talked about Jeff Healey and Jeff's spirit was omnipresent in that hall last night. Tom Lavin had a great story about when he met Jeff and Jeff told him about hearing Powder Bluesat the old rotating stage at Ontario Place (his mother had taken him). Ten years later he still remembered Lavin playing some high notes that are not reachable on a standard guitar neck and he asked Lavin how he did it. Lavin told him he was bending the string on the metal pickup cover of his Gibson guitar. Jeff told him "I've been wondering for ten years how you did that!" (Jeff played a Stratocaster and it doesn't have metal pick-up covers). Also great to hear Steve Marriner and the Monkey Junk guys - I will see Steve again when he plays with Harry Manx in Hamilton later this week.
Missed a couple of great shows this week (only because I was attending othe great shows). Anthony Gomes was playing Hugh's Room at the same time as Downchild and on the Thursday night, I was a Jordan Officer CD launch and had to pass on the Harpdog Brown CD launch. When it rains, it pours!
And here's a couple more Instagram clips from this week. Jordan Officer and Alex Pangman. Both shows were a real pleasure...
PS:http://www.mapleblues.ca is where you go to vote for the Maple Blues Awards.Only a couple of days left.