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When a friend mentioned he hadn't seen a Blainletter in a while, I was sure I had put out something in August but now I see it was the July Blainletter - sent on the July 31. So here I go again – let's just call it the "end-of-month" wrap-up, though this month I do have something to promote. Yeah! I have invited some very talented electronic musicians and producers, Gab Lavoie, Joe Brand and my boy, Coi to join me for a different kind of jam – a MIDI jam. In addition to these humans, I will be sending MIDI notes to a "virtual" jammer, an intelligent looper. Instead of just spitting back what I send it, it uses AI plug-ins to generate a unique musical response (This is what happens when you're stuck alone in your basement studio for 3 years). It will be an afternoon of non-stop instrumental blues-infused down-tempo ambient sounds. Not everybody's cup of tea, but check it out if you're curious. Just go to www.twitch.tv/thestringbuster and there we will be, live from the back yard at 3pm on Sunday.
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Wayne Shorter is music royalty, even beyond the jazz sphere. Prime Video has released a 3-part documentary on his life and I was lucky enough to be offered a "screener" last month. It is beautifully done (financed by Brad Pitt and Carlos Santana). He was/is an inspiration to musicians – and you don't have to be a jazz musician. And he would be the first one to say that what was more important than his life as a musician was his life as a human being. Lots of words of wisdom as well as some great musical moments. A lot of his wisdom flows from his Buddhist philosophy and both he and his long-time musical partner Herbie Hancock have been chanting "Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo" most of their lives. When you see all the ups and downs he went through, you can see how his strong faith was essential in keeping his life on an even keel. You can view the trailer here < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q97e1gBwNPg> or go directly to Prime and have a good binge.
I was happy to hear from Andrea Reid that the documentary she was developing on our beloved Professor Piano, Scott Cushnie, is back on track, since she got sidelined by the birth of two kids in quick succession followed by a breast cancer diagnosis. Happily she has responded well to the treatment and is getting back into the project. She started by putting up a couple of podcasts at https://www.youtube.com/@lessonsinblues
She talks about her relationship with The Prof and includes a few teaser clips of interviews with Scott – including his story about how he convinced Ronnie Hawkins to hire Robbie Robertson and how he got Robbie to be a bass player to get his foot in the door. I was interested to hear the story because I wrote a song about Prof – specifically to perform it at his "Celebration of Life" that was held at the Great Hall. Now hearing the story direct from the "horse's mouth," I see that I got some details wrong including confusing Pete Traynor with another bass player named Peter – but I don't think I'm going to start re-writing that song. Call it poetic license. You'll hear Scott performing "Bourbon Street" on episode 2 of the podcast and you can hear the iphone recording of "Me and Prof on Bourbon Street" that I made the night before the "celebration" with my words and Scott's melody of "Bourbon Street". That's another kind of license, I guess. It's a little rough, but if you're curious it's here. Andrea did a beautiful thing at that event – she put out a display of Scott's collection of records & books and other stuff so that everyone who came to that memorial could take home a little piece of The Prof.
Then we lost Michael Fonfara. There was a beautiful tribute night for him and thanks to the efforts of Gary Kendall and John Finley we can finally see the whole show from start to finish. The event which included performances by Allan Gerber, Johnny Wright & Hotline, The Brotherhood of The Lincoln`s Alumni, Robin Banks, The Hogtown Allstars, The Checkmates/Rhinoceros Reunion, Michael's wife Avril and Downchild was captured by videographer Keith Holding of LiveToTheWorld and he originally created a loving documentary to his longtime friend and you can see that here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozGAuxl5m44&t=8s. But if you want to see the whole concert from beginning to end with enhanced audio and video you can find it on Gary Kendall's YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@Garmalken
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Those of us who have been living in a blues world have watched how this genre of music goes through cycles of mainstream popularity (witness the "Blues Brothers") and then what seems like a steep decline. Then it comes back again and you hear blues music on commercials and movie soundtracks. But any music genre that doesn't attract at least a few fans from the younger generation is destined to wither on the vine. And that's what it's looking like for blues music, except it's even more complicated because what is missing is a young, black audience. It's non-existent. At least not in the live scene. It's left to old white people to get out to blues festivals and join blues societies.
In the last Blainletter I wrote about the Tedeschi Trucks show and meant to mention that I did not see a single black person in that audience. Since the TTB concert, I noticed at the Buddy Guy show there were more black folks on stage than in the entire Massey Hall. But this is Canada, I said to myself. But I watch a lot of live streaming from events in the states… so there I was watching another big blues star, Shemekia Copeland rocking the stage at a big blues festival…the camera does a slow pan across the audience and I think I saw one black person – and that's in the States! (albeit a Northern State). So there's three of the biggest blues acts on the planet and they are playing to an exclusively white audience.
From the performer's point of view, an audience is an audience, and we're glad to have people who enjoy what we're doing, but some of us are starting to wonder what we're doing when we run into the "cultural appropriation" argument that there's something wrong with white people singing black music. It comes up in an article by Lynn Boucher in the current MapleBlues mag which will be in your mailbox shortly if you're a member of the Toronto Blues Society. Miss Emily wrote about it in a previous issue. And without getting specific about anything, there have been a couple of recent reminders that we are treading on some very delicate ground taking any kind of ownership of blues music even though most black folks seem to have abandoned it.
And the real irony is that it's white folks who are speaking out against this appropriation, stepping up to defend perceived disrespect. Nobody is being disrespected but there will always be somebody out there anxious to demonstrate a bit of outrage – and they are usually the loudest, so people pay attention. I just heard that Florida's new restrictions about books in schools was the response to complaints from exactly two citizens. But they had loud voices and they were very convincing.
Jodie Drake was a revered Toronto blues singer who certainly lived the whole black experience but she never equated one's ability to sing or enjoy the blues with the colour of one's skin. She said "The Blues…they have to really be felt, and if you don't feel them inside, well, (shakes her head)…if it's there, inside, it's there."
And it would appear that most black folks these days are not feelin' it. No blame. No shame. People who feel it will go out to hear it, but as it turns out, that's mostly white people. And as a (1)old (2)white (3)man who's been playing and feeling the blues forever, I'm feeling like I've got 3 strikes against me.
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I have to say I was "out and about" way more this month than in a long, long time. It started with an invitation to the official opening of the new Hugh's Room Live at 296 Broadview and even though I was at a little dinner party earlier that evening I was able to get there in time to say congratulations and capture a bit of the "finale" with a great band that included HRL board members Quisha Wint and Michael Occhipinti. (click below to get your first look at this fabulous new music venue). HRL has been putting on shows in various venues in the interim and I was happy to check out Lance Anderson's tribute to Sly and the Family Stone at my neighbourhood theatre, The Redwood.
Next on this clip are a couple of fine guitar pickers, Steve Payne from the UK and Noah Zacharin. I've had occasion to jam with both these fellows and I decided I was going to get myself out the door to say hello after all these years.
The following Monday was the last of the Toronto Blues Society's "Blues Mondays" at Union Station so I really wanted to check out the set up (first-class all the way) and hear my old bandmate Suzie Vinnick. She was sounding great and had a batch of new songs since I last saw her. I did a FaceBook live and you can see it here
That was at 6pm so when 8pm rolled around I still had a little steam left so I decided to head up to the Danforth to drop in on my old buddy Julian Fauth who was playing at a relatively new jazz venue called Hirut. Gary Kendall had just played there and suggested it might be a good venue for me but alas I think they're sticking to a strictly jazz policy.
But hearing Julian and Ken Yoshioka (with drummer Bob Vespaziani) was a delight and then on the break, they invited me to sit in so I played half the night with them. I wish I had the camera rolling while I was playing with them but alas I was preoccupied trying to remember how to play guitar. And Ken's Telecaster was not easy to play – the strings felt like they've never been changed and the first string was slipping out of the nut – very blues – but I got into it and had a great time. Thanks for getting me up, guys.
So now I'm feeling real adventurous and a few days later I make it up to Sauce where Steve Marriner has a weekly residency, when he isn't touring festivals across the continent. He had Alec Fraser playing bass – great to see him too (he recorded my first CD) and a terrific drummer whose name I did not get. Then Paul Reddick shows up and sits in for a few tunes – the highlight of which was Steve singing one of Paul's signature tunes check it out here.
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MOATM (Music On At The Moment)
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I'm catching up on some new releases – two "premieres" courtesy of the Toronto Blues Society, Blackburn Brothers and Jim Casson's Davis Hall and the Green Lanterns. Jim created a "podcast" of the album with his comments between the tracks. I don't know if that will be available after this "premiere" but it was fun to listen that way. I was asked to write a CD review the other day and had to say that I don't have a CD player anymore and I can't remember the last time I listened to a CD from start to finish – I guess it was probably when we were putting out my last CD and I had to listen to it more times than I can remember.
…and speaking of that CD, if you don't have your copy of "I'm Not Fifty Anymore" today is Bandcamp Friday – which means they forgo their commissions and all the proceeds go to the artist. Just sayin…. www.brianblain.bandcamp.com
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Thanks for reading this far. I see that the Blainletter gets opened by hundreds of people but not sure how many read through it. But I always seem to hear from someone or other that they enjoyed it and that's what keeps me going.
If you are not subscribed to the Blainletter, go to my website, brianblain.com and click in the top right corner. Feel free to forward this to any friend you think might enjoy my occasional ramblings (and maybe my music, too). These bits and more are always available on my blog, www.torontobluesdiary.com.
See you out there (eventually)
BrianB, aka Butch, Nappy, Shaker, Two-Lane Blain, Colorblind Brian, Stringbuster, Buddha of the Blues
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