Michael Jerome Browne and Teilhard Frost at Tranzac

 

 I was glad to get back to the Tranzac to see my old friend Michael Jerome Browne.  The Tranzac is a pretty unique venue that's been going for a long time, and Michael reminded me that he had come to play with me there back in the 90s.  I realize the Tranzac was the first place I ever hosted a "jam."  There were no jams in Quebec – at least not the parts where I lived. But when I got to Toronto somehow I ended up with this residency at the Tranzac – every Thursday was blues night with Brian + a guest – and I invited all the blues guys (and gals) that I was meeting in my role as editor of the MapleBlues mag. So it was a who's who. We would just swap songs and play with each other – jamming! – and I think both me and my guest got $50.

 

Back to MJB, I often describe him as the person who "saved" my second CD, "Overqualified."  That CD was "in the can" (as they say). Producer David Baxter had signed off but I was not sure about two or three of the songs. The label, Northern Blues, was able to get 8k out of Factor (I was never able to get a penny when I applied on my own) and I decided I wanted to get MJB to help me lay down a couple more songs. We went into Montreal's Fast Forward studio with the dearly departed Rob Heaney at the board and cut 5 tracks that filled out the album quite nicely, I thought. Thanks MJB

 

....and what a great night of music.  I thought it might be more old-time than blues and I said as much to Michael before the show but at the end I was thinking that was plenty blues. But when I first walked in and saw three gourd banjos on stage, I was expecting less blues. I had just googled his opener, Teilhard Frost, half of Sheesham and Lotus (not sure what half), and what a great musician and showman. That last tune, "Fixin to die" in my little compilation video brought back memories of sitting under a big ol' oak tree on Toronto Island and jamming with Bukka White.  I was with Allan Fraser and we can't agree if we joined him or he joined us but had a little jam and storytime under this tree – and I just realized that "Fixin to Die" is what we played – or something very much like it.  Then again, a lot of Bukka's songs sound like that…"

 

https://www.facebook.com/brianblain.home/videos/642770231314334

O&A Polaris Prize - Galloway Wee Big Band - Victoria Street

Out and About: This clip starts with Debby Friday taking a bow, even before she was announced as winner of the 2023 Polaris Music Prize. I got there just as she was ending her set. Then played Dan Mangan, Begonian, Aysanabee, snd Snotty Nose Rez Kids. Massey Hall is just a short walk from the Arts & Letters Club where The Jim Galloway Wee Big Band played a night of blues "a-la-ellington." I'm thinking they were original Ellington charts but can't say for sure. On the way I passed the Jazz Bistro there was a cookin' little combo.

 

Eric Clapton Toronto 2023

What amazed me about this show is that I got to see it – and pretty damn close up (as you can see). I had friends who bought tickets months ago like this was gonna be the second coming.  I applied for a media ticket though my media credentials would not get very noticed in the behemoth that is Live Nation but I’m thinking they have a certain allocation of media tickets and if some of the big boys like the Star and the Globe do not use them then they might trickle down to this little Blues newsletter.  Except the Star and Globe were there – and I was sitting next to the Star.  At one point I tried to make some media small talk with Nick Krewen, the Star scribe and I asked what he thought about the latest news that Drake had just posted an old video of his dad playing at Danny Marks Stormy Monday jam at Albert’s Hall.  He said “I wrote it!” Ooops. I have since looked it up and also read his terrific review of the Clapton concert….except he didn’t say anything about Jimmie Vaughan except that he joined EC for the encore.  Maybe Jimmie’s set was not the kind of “wow factor” that you expect in an arena show but for guitar aficionados, he delivered and I expected I would enjoy his set more than Eric, but EC did a full tilt blues show, interspersed with a couple of his hits, it he’s got the “wow factor.”  And, as I noted in a comment to a Facebook post, he has that immediately identifiable tone and touch that every guitar player strives for. Jimmie had it too and played some great solos.  Twice I noticed he started playing with his guitar volume down but he quickly adjusted.  He hardly said a mumbling word, but when he dropped in a line about Toronto “I guess I’ll have to move here” I was thinking “I don’t think so” because the last time I saw him live was at Harbourfront in the 90s where he started his set with a tirade about how much trouble he had crossing the border and saying he was never coming to this country again. 

Like I said, I went more for Jimmie than Eric and I went with the intention of buying some merch (I was going to get myself a birthday present (77 yesterday!) but wouldn’t you know there was no Jimmie Vaughan merch.  Nothing. And there wasn’t a lot of variety of Clapton merch, a selection of 60 dollar t-shirts and that was about it.  

And EC didn’t have a word to say, either.  He didn’t even say anything about the recent passing of his friend Robbie Robertson but rather spoke through his guitar and started the show with two Band songs. Maybe some folks were relieved that he didn’t talk to the audience lest he starting going on about vaccines and mask mandates.  He became a bit of a poster boy for anti-vax but that did not surface and just as well.  Some have surmised that some fans might have skipped the show but it was pretty well sold out.

For more about the music I would direct you to Nick's review in the Monday Star