Blaincast #19 a couple of new acoustic tunes and a bit of bluesy electro...

Here's a replay of yesterday's Blaincast - the electronica segment screwed up but I did another round last night and tacked it on here if you want a taste of my "guilty pleasure." As part of the "electronica' theme. the Campfire Cameo goes back to 2016, when I had moved the Campfire Jam to the venerable Old Mill in Toronto. They wanted to bring a little blues into the Home Smith Bar, which was strictly legit jazz until then. I called upon some blues friends and we were packing the place and the jazz regulars were loving it. I decided to push the envelope and got Joel to bring his electronica rig and I had my MIDI guitar and we pulled out all this stuff for the last set. It took our regular guests, Alison Young, George Koller and Michelle Josef a bit by surprise and nobody knew what to expect (including me). I've been scratching the surface artificial intelligence technology and machine learning to create a "hyper-looper" and my computer just doesn't have the power to do these things. I have dumbed it down so that it doesn't crap out if I tell it what key I'm in and only use one MIDI channel at a time (I started out with a different channel for each of 6 strings).

Campfire Cameo Nov 4, 2016 Joel George Koller, Alison Young, Michelle J...

Were going back in time to 2016, when I had moved the Campfire Jam to the venerable Old Mill in Toronto. They wanted to bring a little blues into the Home Smith Bar, which was strictly legit jazz until then. I called upon some blues friends and we were packing the place and the jazz regulars were loving it. I decided to push the envelope and got Joel to bring his electronica rig and I had my MIDI guitar and we pulled out all this stuff for the last set. It took our regular guests, Alison Young, George Koller and Michelle Josef a bit by surprise and nobody knew what to expect (including me). The electronica adventures has been my "guilty pleasure" for almost as long as I've been playing country blues but I didn't take it out very often and had gotten a little discouraged in the last year or so as I was even touching on some elements of artificial intelligence and machine learing to create a "hyper-looper" and my computer just doesn't have the power to do these things. I have dumbed it down so that it doesn't crap out if I tell it what key I'm in and only use one MIDI channel at a time (I started out with a different channel for each of 6 strings). All this to say I fired it up last night and Joel and I had a (distanced) jam and I'm going to noodle away on after the Campfire Cameo for anyone who wants to stick around.

Blaincast #18

Here's the replay - the intro got chopped but you'll see a couple of videos celebrating the birthdays of Allan Fraser and Daisy DeBolt and some stories about those halcyon days as well as a "Campfire Cameo" from 2018 at the Old Mill featuring Chris Caddell singing an old Robert Johnson classic and myself doing a tune that I just discovered as I was going through the archives. First time I included one of my tunes in the Campfire Cameos (you hear enough of me already) but this is a tune I had just written and promptly forgot, probably because I felt a little uneasy about it (if criticizing theocracy, patriarchy, fanaticism, and misogyny is politically incorrect). I didn't want a fatwa issued on me :-) It's called "We've Done That Too". And since I was stirring the pot, I pulled out another recent ditty that could get me in trouble, "Arrested for Stealing a Kiss". Listen before you flame me

Campfire Cameo May 12 2018

From Brian Blain's Campfire Jam at the Old Mill, Toronto May 12, 2018. Chris Caddell sings the Robert Johnson Classic and Brian sings a tune he had just written (soon to be forgotten) called "We've Done That Too". Jesse O'Brien on piano and Michelle Josef on drums.

Blaincast #17 July 12, 2020

Blaincast #15

 

Here's a replay of Sunday's Blaincast without the long pauses and glitches. For those who bailed, you missed my CD Release announcement (it will be August 28), a couple of acoustic versions of some tunes on the album, the premiere of a brand new tune about Loreena McKennitt (I love to write songs about musicians) and a Campfire Cameo from 2018 at the Old Mill with

Ken Whiteley

,

AleC FraSer Jr.

and

Casey Van