It's been so long since my last Blainletter, I don't hardly
know where to start.
Oh yeah…gigs!
Well as usual I'm giving you kinda short notice, I'll be doing a short set tomorrow,
Saturday Afternoon August 6
at 2pm at the "Words & Music Salon" at
Vino Rosso, 995 Bay St. And if you're
not ready for an afternoon of music and poetry, run don't walk to the Kitchener
Blues Festival where Harry Manx is doing a set at 3pm.
Then unless something comes up, it's over to October for me
when I'll be making an appearance or two in my old stomping grounds, the Eastern
Townships then back for a return engagement at the Home Smith Bar in the Old
Mill on Saturday, October 29. Since we
never had an official "launch" for New Folk Blues 2.0, this will be
it. I will be bringing together some of the players who helped with the
"upgrade" – Alison Young , Michelle Josef and of course the
illustrious George Koller who recorded the original tracks with me. We're calling this a "re-boot" and
my friend Gary Kendall is putting on his publicist hat and helping me get version
2.0 out to the world.
A Flurry of Festivals
The first video you see if you go deeper into the
Blainletter is what was just going on at the foot of my street a couple of
weeks ago. Sort of a hybrid South Asian
bangra rock. As I walked down my street I could make out real musical
instruments being played by real musicians – this is not the typical fare at
the Festival of South Asia where the main attraction is the wedding fashion
show. Anyway, as I got close up I could
see that the musicians were kind-of add-ons to the recorded track. They were playing allright, but if they
stopped playing you wouldn't even notice.
This follows a fabulous Afrofest last week-end which was a
little further down the street but still just a walk away from my place. Lots of great food and music, everybody
dressed in their tribal colours. I was
sitting next to one woman who had given the cold shoulder to a handsome
gentleman only to chase after a guy who just walked by. She could tell by the
clothes he was wearing that he was from her country.
Both these festivals are genuine "community"
events, unlike the festivals I attend or work for. And it just occurred to me that I didn't see
a single black person at the South Asian festival and I didn't see a single
South Asian at Afrofest. We love the
multicultural diverse thang, but left to their own devices, most cultures tend
to stick with their own …except for a
lot of white people like myself who want to take it all in.
A few nights later I got a taste of afro-blues in a free
concert at Roy Thomson Hall in their beautiful "poolside patio." A great setting and some great
programming. They had a blues week-end
and this was afrobeat just the way I
like it with an amazing kora/guitar player.
The video is here.
The Day before that Afro-Blues at RTH, I was at a music industry gathering
of folk who made millions in the music business, collectively and even
individually. Some who lived in lavish homes and others who didn't have a pot
to piss in. But there's a brotherhood there
– I'm not really part of it but I do get invited to it and always run into a
few folks I know or whom I've heard of.
This time I met Nicolas Jennings, a great chronicler of the Canadian
music scene. And here was Peter Moore, a master mastering engineer – and an
expert at restoring old tapes (which I
did not realize until I was sharing my story of restoring the Fraser &
DeBolt tapes until he finally blurts out "That's what I do – that's my
wheelhouse!") I didn't know he did tape restoration, I just knew him as
the best mastering guy in town – although it's a funny thing about mastering
guys. They might be praised to the sky
by one client and dismissed by the next person you talk to. But now Peter's got a Grammy for the Bob
Dylan Basement Tapes (and he brought it to the party) so that will shut up any
critics. I wanted to get my picture holding the Grammy but I was told that
would be bad luck – meaning I would never get one of my own, I guess.
Personally I've never used Peter for mastering but I would not hesitate and now
that I know he's the miracle man of tape restoration I passed on his info to
the label that put out the Fraser & DeBolt because I think they sometimes
have to do some audio "rescues." One guy at the party made my day when
he responded to our introduction with "Brian Blain? Are you the guy that
did that song about a girl and a car?"
I said "Saab Story?" then he went on and on about how he heard
it many times on Jazz FM and how the song posed so many questions…
Then there is the wonderful Toronto Jazz Festival where I am
semi-retired, part-time Managing Editor, though it was pretty damn full time
for those ten days. Double-time! But I ain't complaining. Got to hear some
great music close-up and all I had to was to get lots of great pictures on the
website and make sure that everybody's internet was working. No big fires to put out this year though
there was much more security even though half of them were tiny young women
five feet tall. When it comes to
stopping a fence jumper (and we had a couple) they were quite ineffectual. They were good for checking people's bags
(first time we ever had to do that), but that's not security.
There was a bit less of the backstage party atmosphere than
previous years but it's what happens on stage that counts and as always I had
my mind blown a few times. One thing, there were no guitar stars at all! Hell, we had some festivals where it was
"the Year of the Guitar!" Not this time. And I didn't get to hear any blues on the
Square until the last day – my buddy Raoul and his Bigger Time band kickin ass.
But I didn't say there was no soul at the festival. Sharon Jones gave a performance that will go
down in Toronto music lore. Unbeknownst
to the audience she had come directly from St Mike's Hospital where she had
some treatment for the cancer which has returned into her life. But you wouldn't have known it from the show
she gave. Everybody knew she was not
well and I had overheard backstage that the band & singers would be doing 5
tunes before she came on but after a couple, she pounced onto that stage and
sang like it was the last performance of her life, but it was not to be because
she had to play Ottawa Jazz the night after and Montreal Jazz 2 days after
that. At the end she announced to the crowd that she was quite exhausted and
would not be doing an encore…but she just bounced back on stage and did a
rousing finale.
There were lots of great shows in the Big Tent, starting off
with a free concert with…wait for it, KC and the Sunshine Gang. Seven costume changes! It's the first time we had to set up a
"Quick Change" room right behind the stage. Allen Stone was the
festival favourite of a couple of my friends, but I never even heard they
guy. He had a great voice and sang his
heart out. Every fan that stuck around
got a hug and a selfie. But the other
half of that bill was Lee Fields and the Expressions, whom I never really heard
of until I was getting their info for the website, and that was a phenomenal
performance – unforgettable, like the time I saw James Brown or Ray Charles.
My "Decouverte de L'Annee" is Kandace Springs, who
was opening for Gregory Porter. She has
it all, plus a very easygoing personality.
She ended up sitting in the media trailer with me for a while – she said
she didn't want to impose upon Gregory Porter's dressing room. I showed her the video clip of Lee Field's
performance which I had just Instagrammed and she was suitably impressed though
she had not heard of him. Joel dropped
in to the trailer and neither of us knew she was the opening act until she told
us – then I told her that there was a trailer with her name on it on the other
side but by then they were announcing her from the stage so off she went to a
brilliant performance with perfect relaxed vocal sound and piano chops that
were quite impressive. She did two instrumentals and they were killer. She's the next Norah Jones/Diana Krall. I
won't go on and on but this girl is going places.
Well here I am posting about the jazz festival to my Toronto
blues diary and really there was no blues this year, and hardly any guitar.
You'll see from the clips below that I caught a couple of great local
guitarists at the Rex, Eric St Laurent was playing with Alison Young and another
great guitarist playing with Rebecca Hennessey's band , FOB. And I
shouldn't neglect to mention the phenom Sean Pinchin who is a big part of Dione
Taylor's new sound. Sean has that effortless Derek Trucks thang, like he was
born with a slide on his finger. There's only a few slide players that I
abide, Derek Trucks, Harry Manx, Bonnie Raitt…maybe a couple of others. I've even had occasion to invite a sideman to
put down the slide and even made my campfire jam a slide-free zone.
Got my fill of tubas/sousaphones this year – one band, from
Romania, had four! Before that was the Robert Glasper Experiment and I know
that he's making chords that are beyond most pianists/keyboardist (even legendary Lou Pomanti was impressed).
Last time I saw Glasper he was playing standards in a standard trio setup. Now
he had an amazing "frontman" and a high-energy band. The singer and
used a vocoder ALL the time. Hard to sustain that all night long but he had a
powerful presence.
Molly Johnson played with the phenomenal Andrew Craig, and,
the wonderfully talented Colleen Allen - also a long-time member of Molly's
band.
I got coaxed over to the late night hang at the Rex by my
friend Glenn who said there was an interesting band from L.A. At the door I am
confronted by the hardest-ass doorman in the city, John, and despite having a special pass for the late night jam (it hadn't started yet) and manager Tom waving me in, this guy still managed to get ten bucks out of. I don't mind, as he has reminded me many times, "it's all for the musicians". Still, that's got to be the only club in town where the doorman can over-rule the manager. Anyway, the Rex was transformed into a throbbing mosh pit with people all bouncing in
unison. You could sure feel that floor flex. The enters Gregory Porter, the
most shy and sedate jazzman on the scene today. I didn't stick around for the jam and I don't think Gregory played.
NXNE for me started with a speech at their new interactive
component. A great speech from Nolan Bushnell but a disappointing first
experience with virtual reality. I had a very nice taste of VR in a geodesic dome
at CMW but this headgear was uncomfortable and seemed a little out of
focus. Not ready for prime time though my friend Jordan insists there are
some amazing products
Musically I didn't see anything till Thurs and I was having
a hard time getting out of the house. I really wanted to see King Khan - I
remember lots of people raved about him in previous years and it was quite fabulous. A big
band with lots of horns and guitars and lots of energy. The Horseshoe was
packed solid. If I had made my way to the front before they started I never
would have got there. On my way to King Khan, I got a taste of a group that my
friend Barbara always loved (and I don't think it's just because of the name - they're
called "Run with the kittens"
Also dropped in to Nocturn a couple of times, where I've
caught some great electronica sounds but both times I poked in, all I heard was
a succession of solo electro-crooners, singing along with tracks they produced and
adding lots of elaborate hand gestures…
And right at the start of June was the fabulous Orangeville
Blues and Jazz Festival, where I got 4 plays in two days and thank God I had
Joel to help me schlepping around my Fender amp and being a big help, though I
won't go so far as to call him a roadie.
A few folks came up and were glad to see me back in Orangeville. The last play was a club and they wanted me
to play for four hours and Joel was ready to get heavy with the club owner but
I calmed him down and I played 4 hours and it didn't kill me. Dropped in on Allan Fraser and Maryanne where they
live close enough to the mainstage that they don't even have to leave their apartment
– though they are leaving at the end of the month and heading for Italy. Exciting!
… and equally exciting is the Fraser & DeBolt vinyl
release which looks fabulous – it's a rare thing nowadays to crack open a big
gatefold LP. It sounds great too, as far
as I can tell – I still haven't listened to the vinyl – I don't have a
turntable. Anyway, I've talked about
this already but now there is some news: I addition to the double album,
Roaratorio is putting out an EP which contains the track I produced at Manta
Sound in 1973, "Flight of the Light Air Force". The flip side has 2
tracks, live versions of "Dance Hall Girls" and "You Can't Always Get What You
Want."
New Folk Blues 2.0 gets a re-boot
Well just when I was feeling retired (or at least,
semi-retired) there's a new spurt of energy and we are going to give New Folk
Blues 2.0 a proper send-off with a media blitz and mailing to radio stations
and reviewers across the country. I can thank Gary Kendall for lighting a
fire under me and believing in the music to put some of his time and energy
into promoting it.
And to end this long, rambling Blainletter (probably the
longest ever), I'm sad to report how many "celebrations of life" I've
attended in the last couple of months.
We had a musical gathering for our sound engineer Paul "Eggs"
Benedict in Stratford. Paul spent many
years on the road with Ronnie Hawkins and came up with many of the guys who
went on to play with the Hawk and Dylan.
As we were singing "The Weight" I had the sudden realization
that many of these guys in the crowd had started out playing with Garth Hudson,
the Danko's and John Till. Later there
was a beautiful gathering for Kirstin McCullough, the daughter of Barb
McCullough who hired me at the jazz festival so long ago and was a pioneer
music publicist. And just a few days
ago, it would have been Jim Galloway's 80th birthday and some
friends gathered for an event (at an upscale LCBO) where he was toasted
repeatedly with 3 kinds of champagne and (of course) some very expensive scotch.
A few days ago, we heard of the passing of Penny Lang, the
"grande dame" of the Montreal folk scene. I was asked by the FYI Music News to comment on her passing and
this is what I wrote: "No one passed through Montreal's 60s folk revival
without being touched, inspired and encouraged by Penny Lang. She was a fixture
on the folk scene with her beat-up Martin guitar and usually accompanied by
Roma Baran (who went on to become Laurie Anderson's sidekick/producer) or her
brother Scot (r.i.p.) who was a brilliant musician and the legacy continues
with her son Jason, an equally brilliant musician who has backed up many of
Quebec's biggest stars. "
Godspeed, Penny, and thanks to all who read this far. The next one will be a lot shorter, I promise
(but I can't say when I'll get it out :-)
