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Greetings Blainreaders! I'm happy to announce the "Surprise Guest" at tomorrow's Campfire Jam at the Old Mill will be Casey Van GorKom. Casey was a regular at Hwy 61 BBQ on Bayview when we were doing the Campfire up there, and he has since gone on to build a great band – Turbo Street Funk – who started out busking on the streets of Toronto and can now fill big halls. They bring a real party vibe (how could you not, when you have a tuba in the band?) He will be joined by veterans Alec Fraser and Ken Whiteley who, between them, have probably produced and played on a thousand records.
There will also be an "All-Star" Campfire Jam on November 17 at the Jeanne Gordon Theatre in Wallaceburg. Yes, we're taking the Campfire on the road! If you have friends out that way, let them know there will be a very special show in Wallaceburg. And look who will be jamming: Paul Reddick, Julian Fauth, Ken Whiteley …and moi, plunking on the bass and playing some of my new tunes.
And the new tunes just keep on coming. I have to put on the brakes because it's going to be hard to decide which tunes to include on the new CD. Yes, the recording process has begun and it's coming along. The Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign brought in another $1500 which will help cover the costs of production and musicians. I have learned that you can't skimp on the mixing (though I may have to skimp on the mastering) but we'll see how much recording we can get done in my own basement studio where the overhead is low – literally, if you're a six-footer you will be bumping your head. I can't wait for you to hear the new tunes – you already have, if you've been watching my Facebook Live appeals. Of course, these were early versions of the songs and I'm still polishing and tweaking.
I think we'll be doing a regular Facebook Live Blaincast every Friday (as long as there's a few folks out there to watch it).
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As I was driving along tonight, I got to thinking about my old buddy Scott Cushnie (aka Professor Piano) who I've gigged with many times and was just over at his place jamming with him in the last few months. You probably heard on the news how he took a fatal fall on the Danforth in the aftermath of that huge storm we had in August and was buried under another man's name in a bizarre case of mistaken identity. Now that they've figured out what happened, there will be a great "Celebration of Life" for Scott – details to be announced later. There's a great story on Scott in this month's Maple Blues. Last month, there was a beautiful Celebration of the life of Kiki Misumi (Mrs Reg Schwager), who was the most beloved spirit in the Nichiren Buddhist community as well as on the local jazz scene. I was imagining that as Scott wandered into the afterlife that he would encounter Kiki's spirit and she would guide him through this new adventure. Another passing was Paul Trotter who was the Technical Director at the jazz festival when I joined them in the 90s and in more recent years, he and his wife Arlene ran Reba's Café where I did my live recording, New Folk Blues, with George Koller. They had a great party for him at The Cadillac Lounge and I did a couple of tunes (thanks to Dennis Pendrith passing me his bass).
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October kicked off with the Toronto Blues Society's "Road to Memphis" competition at the Dakota Tavern (now under new ownership – Anthony Greene of Castro's Lounge). I was asked to be the emcee and had a great time. It was a shoot-out with the veteran Jack de Keyzer Band going head-to-head with newcomers Bywater Blues (who won the TBS Talent Search last summer). Jack took it, but Bywater put on a great show. I love this band but when I tried to complement them by saying they were like Tedeschi-Trucks, Meghan said something like "we're trying to get away from that…." Ooops. Anyway, they're terrific whatever direction they want to go.
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It was great to hear Robert Davis and Fraser Melvin doing a set at the Intersteer (he has a new CD coming out – recorded in Cuba).
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Robin Banks was ripping it up with Teddy Leonard and the "Big Groove" rhythm section of Gary Kendall and Mike Fitzpatrick. She also brought along a guitarist who was new to me, Maurice Gordon, and he added a lot of flavours. As it turned out, this was the last Sunday at the Goose as the club has been sold and will be re-invented as a micro-brewery.
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I also checked out the 120 Diner on Church Street which has had many incarnations as a music venue (Rockit!) where I was intrigued by a facebook post that advertised "Peter Hill will be singing" This I wanted to check out, and having maestro Reg Schwager on guitar was even further reason to make the trek.
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I was looking forward to hearing the legendary Ramblin Jack Elliot at Hugh's Room but just before I was to head out I got a notification of a Facebook Live event from Moog Audio in Toronto. I watched a bit of Clara Venice playing the theremin and giving a little history lesson. I decided to make a detour and hoped I would get there in time to see the remarkable Moldover doing a demonstration of some of his latest musical gadgets – he is the maestro of "controllerism".
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If you've never seen a balafon, check out Fatoumata Kouyaté who was playing at Lula Lounge. The balafon is sacred Guinea tradition and traditionally only played by men. The first was made by the King of Susu (former African empire in the 11th century) and was given to the griot Balafaseke Kouyaté. The Kouyatés have been an important family of storytellers through the generations. Fatoumata is a direct descendant and one of the first African women to play the balafon, breaking an age-old taboo of the Manding Empire.
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Finally, tonight I was invited to an old school jazz concert at the big room in the Old Mill and we enjoyed champagne, chicken & salmon, sweet desert and old-school jazz from some legends like Ken Peplowski, Harry Allen, Guido Basso, Warren Vaché and some local stars including the aformentioned Reg Schwager. On the way home, I swung by Hugh's Room to catch the last set of Montreal guitarist Jordan Officer who put on a great show including how to do one-arm push-ups while drinking a gin – it's one of the lines in his tune so he just wanted to demonstrate that it can be done. Watch the vid:
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Thanks for reading this far and a really big thank-you to all the folks who pre-ordered a CD or contributed above and beyond. You'll be hearing from me personally and you can look forward to a highly entertaining CD in your mailbox in February. And, of course, if you are a blainfan and never got a chance to contribute to the Indiegogo campaign, it's never too late to add to the pot by contacting me directly. I will be eternally grateful. See you out there, BrianB
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