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Greetings Earthlings! Despite my lack of any initiatives, some gigs are happening and I'm glad to report we'll be having one of my (mostly) annual Mother's Day events. It's a long standing tradition for me to do something on Mother's Day – it started with my tune "Don't Forget Your Mother", which we recorded in 1973 (with some of Zappa's Mothers as I probably bragged to you before).
Last year's event was an interesting online adventure, jamming remotely with organist Mark Ferguson in Ottawa and violinist Drew Jurecka on the other side of town. It worked, but it's quite a technological challenge and the folks who were doing it, syncspace.live, are on hiatus – probably waiting for the technology to catch up. You can bet I'll be the first in line to jam online.
This Mother's Day we'll see you IN PERSON, at the Redwood Theatre with my special guests Rick Taylor and Ken Whiteley. It will be a Campfire-style presentation with lots of songs your mother will love.
Ken is a local legend and a perennial favourite at folk festivals. He was playing my Campfire on March 16, 2020 at the Old Mill. It was the last live music that was played in that place - the next day it was shut down by Covid.
Rick Taylor is based in London and doesn't get to town very often so I grabbed the chance to play with him again. The times we played together in the past we really got "lift-off" (as I call it) and I could not resist taking another opportunity to jam with him again.
The brunch will be offered by the neighbouring neo-bistro, now known as "Le Conci" featuring the best quiche this side of the tracks. They provide a large variety of Traditional French baked goodies (sweet or savoury), breads and a good selection of living wines. The Chef focuses on seasonal, fresh products and tries to work as much as he can with local businesses and the Sommelier focuses on a selection of wine mostly natural, organic, low intervention or small exquisite vineyards.
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Watch the 4/20 Special Blaincast TODAY (at 4:20)
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Meanwhile, TODAY, at 4:20pm my ambient alter-ego Stringbuster will be jamming with my son the DJ (aka Dr. Density) live on YouTube. www.YouTube.com/thestringbuster (click on "LIVE")
I will put up a replay on Facebook later.
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Congratulations to Angelique Francis who won the Blues Juno Award. My friends Digging Roots also took home a JUNO and gave a moving acceptance speech. And how nice that the Sadies won a JUNO, having just lost their lead singer Dallas Good. It was a touching moment - and there were a few more. I guess you could count as "touching" the tit-slap that Avril Lavigne gave to the topless streaker who jumped on stage to protest logging old growth forests and developing the Green Belt.
I watched the Oscars too and they did it right I thought. But the only nominated film I saw was the one that won all the awards, "Everything, Everywhere…" and I'm going to have to go ahead and say I don't get it. If this turns out to be a "trend-setter" then get ready for an era of incomprehensible movies. I guess you could call them "art" movies…
Also, Loreena McKennitt has announced a major tour and was inducted into the Canadian Songwriter’s Hall of Fame last month. It seemed like a good time to pull out the tune I wrote about Loreena many years ago when I heard she was going to give up music after she lost her beloved fiancée in a drowning accident. I played it at the Winterfolk Campfire I hosted last month, you can check it out here.
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The next day I played a set at the Taco Taco in Kensington Market and we got a great capture. You can watch all 45 minutes, unedited, right here. I think I'll put some individual tunes up on FaceBook, but I'll leave the full set just in case there's someone out there who might want to see what they could expect at a Brian Blain house concert (hint, hint…)
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My old buddy (I'm talking since we were teenagers) Allan Fraser was in town during Winterfolk so I lassoed him into the Campfire and he sang one of his classics from the "With Pleasure" album that I produced for Fraser & DeBolt back in the 70s. You might even hear me singing along in spots.
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Harry Manx Coming to Town
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For many of my friends, HM has been a big part of their soundtrack ever since they first heard his music – it has that effect on people. If you haven't been immersed in what they call the "Harry Zone" you must try to see him in person on April 13 at the Paradise Theatre in Toronto. If you're out of town, he's playing Uxbridge (15), Peterborough (14) and London (16). And for my friends in the Eastern Townships, he's coming to Knowlton on April 27.
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"Reality is merely an illusion albeit a very persistent one".
- Albert Einstein
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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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