Bulgarian Blues Diary



Day 1 - Sept 11. My birthday (a date no one will ever forget anymore) I won't forget this one either - for one thing it laster 31 hours, with time change and all. We landed in Sofia and after freshening up at the hotel (very old-world hotel) we made our way to a restaurant for a veritable banquet with a lot of the artists who came to Canada and other Bulgarians who worked at this end to help the Bulgarian Cultural Festival in Toronto that the Downtown Jazz office produced in 2000 and 2001 (hence the reason I am here). The guests around the table include world-renowned musicians and singers, a documentary filmaker, diplomats, radio producer, etc. At the end of the meal, the lights went dim and a giant birthday cake came out and they all launched into "Happy Birthday" - then the Bulgarian equivalent. Then most of us made our way to the club I will be playing nex Wednesday, called "The Swinging Place" One of the guests at the banquet was kaval (recorder like instrument) player Theodossi Spassov who joined me to sit in with a pop group that was playing (two of the guys had studied at Berklee). I did a couple of tunes even though I was pretty wiped out by then. I though the crowd was more disco oriented - and the general Bulgarian attitude made me feel that they would prefer disco to blues, but they gave me a great round of applause...and, one again a spontaneous launch into happy birthday as I was about to leave the stage. Theodossi played incredible on tha Kaval - he had a pick-up and went through the PA with an octavider or something and he rocked. I knew he was regarded as a national treasure, but didn't realize how big he was until the next day when we were doing a tour of a reconstructed medieval village in Etura and I was in the little shack where a woman made the kaval the same way they have for centuries, and there on the wall was a poster (1984) of Theodossi. The only thing in the place that was not 200 or more years old. He says he'll be joining me again at the gig on Wednesday and I look forward to doing more with him in a duo setting. Must remember to bring a set of strings to give the guitar player who lent me his strat - sinceI broke a string as I finished up my guest appearance.



Day Two: Forgot my passport at the hotel in Sofia - I won't let it out of my sight again! We visited a reconstructed village from the middle ages (mostly used for outings from Bulgarian school kids and some dedicated tourists (something like Puck's Farm) - it's quite a ways off the beaten path - and off the beaten path in Bulgaria can get pretty rough. On the way the traffic had come to a standstill because of a serious accident but our inventive driver got us around it. The washroom facilities were almost as primitive as the rest of the village but I'm advised that I will be seeing more like that throughout the country. After visiting the tourist re-creation we went to another village which is renown as a "artisan village" and we got to see some great craftsmen at work. In the evening we arrived at an amazing hotel called the Abarnazi Palace. It's a small, exclusive mountaintop hotel that was one of the residences of the former president/dictator of Bulgaria. Pat Taylor was instaled in the President's Suite - very luxurious and official looking. You got the feeling that a lot of very important decisions were made in those rooms (not too many that benefited the country). Did my tai-chi on the huge deck - overlooking the heliport,valley and mountains.

Sept 9 - 11:00 a.m. - Woobine Racetrack (45 minutes outside Toronto). I've driven up with Jerome Godboo and just as we settle in, we see Terry Wilkins come over the horizon lugging his big bull bass. He was looking very sharp and that's good because it was a condition of our contract "Suits and ties - Blues Brothers look" it said, finishing with "Look Sharp" The other band playing (at the other entrance) looked *really* sharp. Black suits and black shirts - it was Sandy Maintyre on fiddle with guitar and hand drum accompanyment.

So we played some instrumental blues for the folks - Jerome jumped in with a vocal on a few songs (and did a lot of jumping, generally - you can't hold Jerome down. He even had some fancy footwork for the gamblers. There's no PA but I told Terry it would be fine because although hundreds of people walk by you, they don't make a sound. When they get to the racetrack, their intent on only one thing ands they don't make small talk with their friends and neighbours.

In the slot machine area (a giant fantasyland arcade) it was quite different. There was a caucophony of sound emanting from thousands of slot machines making spinning (and occasional) wilnning noises. It sounds like sopmething Phillip Glass would create.



After the gig, I went (almost) straight to my sound engineer's house to put together a quickie demo to take on my trip to Bulgaria and Beyond. I've just been listening to the racks and now I'm going to sleep on it.

Sept 8 - The Southside Shuffle, Port Credit. This is the fifth year for this festival - the first year I've performed in it and, as it turns out, this was the year I didn't see anything of the event except my own gig. Isn't that the way it is when you're a busy artist on the festival circuit - ha ha). I heard a little bit of soull music across the street (and Purple rain - was Prince in the house?) and then on a break I took a walk over this picturesque bridge and heard some great guitar playing. In oft-seen guitar fashion, from a distance *all* I could hear was the guitar. Even when he went into a solo, I wondered if he was just playing without any accompanyment - which would have been weird...but then i heard a bit of drums and I knew it was a band. never figured out who they were. The club I played (solo) had a very loud streo system and house music was pumping out, even though nobody in the place was that young - including the owner/DJ who obviously took great pride in his selection of music. You really had to shout over the music. Some people actually left because it was so loud ) then again, I think some people may have left because I wasn't loiud enough). When I asked him to lower it a bit towards the end of the evening (because , in fact, I had used up all my loud, hi-energy numbers and wanted to get a bit more laid back. As it turns out, it got very laid back as a singer songwriter came up a did a couple of tunes with me - that's what festivals are for, right? Besides she said I was the best thing she heard on the whole damn street. Her name is Mary Lynn Wren and she did a dynamite version of Ode to Billie Joe (Last time I played that tune (and the first first time I ever played it) was with Tracy K at one of my Tranzac Thursdays - reminds me, I've got to contact the club about the month of October - I made arrangements for guests while I was away but I didn't make any for when I get back).

I think I better crash now so that I get at least a little sleep before the early call tomorrow - 11am showtime at the North Entrance to the Woodbine Racetrack (by the slots). I'll be playing with Jerome Godboo and Terry Wilkins. We'll have a great time. Terry left me with a musical "tip" so let me pass it along: It's about how jazz has a standard pattern much the same way that blues has the 12-bar form. The atypical jazz form is called "the Rhythm" Change and everybody knows it because it's the changes to the song "I've Got Rhythm". If you can figure out that song, you've tapped into the holy grail of jazz. He says after that, 'Round Midnight will make sense. I'm going to try it!

Started my day picking up the newsletters from the printer and distributing them to jazz clubs around town (this is the jazz newsletter which I do in addition to the blues newsletter). Since we were already in the west end, I called my nail technician to see if he could fit me in and he said come right over. I said I'd be there in five minutes, but when we were in sight of his place, the road was torn up with a detour that didn't take us anywhere near the place I wanted to go. Finally, I walked from where we parked - right in fron of Hugh's Room



A half-hour later we were into the CD launch party of Mose Scarlett. He started with Marg Stowe on guitar, then Tony Quarington, Jeff Healey and producer Ken Whiteley.

Tonight was my "Bon Voyage" party at my house gig at the Tranzac. Every Thursday for a year now I've been doing this solo gig and inviting a different guest each time. I've had the greatest blues players in the country as my guests: Michael Picjkett, Carlos del Junco, Michael Jerome Browne, Morgan Davis and my first (and only repeat guest) Paul Reddick of the Sidemen.



So, tonight my guest was Gary Kendall, long-time bass player for Downchild and we were having fun, no doubt about it. Halfway through the evening I told Gary that this was a gig where people could feel comfortable to try something completely different (and he did! he played a couple of originals on the guitar - I'll be posting a picture of me and Gary with him playing the guitar and *me* playing his bass. This should be worth money.



Before my gig, I dropped in to the Silver Dollar where there was an early show of Michelle Willson (the "evil gal" from Boston) I had just been to the club where she had a long-standing house gig called Glenn's in Newburyport. I told her that when I had a few moments to say hello before she went on. I then had a "foot-in-mouth" lapse when I asked her what happened to her star organist Ken Clarke...Obviously he didn't leave on good terms and she recoilled at the topic of the organ - that it really took up a lot of the sonic space as well as the energy of setting up, etc. Still he was a great part of the show (his piece de resistance was when he did a burning solo with his stockinged feet on the pedals). Michelle's new band was great though and she was in fine vocal form - there's just no one that sings with her confidence and abandon. She asked how late my gig went but I told her we didn't go past midnight so there was no way for here to get there in time to hear (or sing).



Meanwhile, back at my gig, somebody shows up on the break and says he's going down to Jeff Healey's club and that for the last set they will be inviting guests and he could arrange for me to sit in. I've never really met Jeff though we have exchanged words on the phone a few times when he called the jazz festival office, so even if he recognized my name, I don't think he would know me as a player. By the time I'd packed up, I didn't feel like going anywhere (except maybe a restaurant) but as I headed off, a little voice told me to head down to Healey's and boy am I glad I did!



Not only was Jeff in fine form (he wasn't talking about it tonight but heannounced from the stage last week-end that he was geiing engaged - how's that for juicy gossip in the blues diary) but he had a couple a players that I've worked with in the band and I was able to wrangle them into playing with me at the Woodbine Racetrack. I've done the gig before - it's totally acoustic. We stand around the entrance to the slot machines - no PA - no vocals necessary. So i'm going to do it with Jerome Godboo, harp and Terry Wilkins, bass. This is Terry's favourite kind of gig - totally acoustic. It's going to rock!



Meanwhile, since this is the first post, I should mention that I am also the resident desktop publisher and (barely)managing editor of several newsletters and websites for the Toronto Downtown Jazz festival, the Toronto Blues Society (MapleBlues), the Toronto Musicians Association (Crescendo) and others. Tonight on the way to the gig I had to stop by my printer and slip the pages under his door. Earlier in the day, I had the worst possible thing happened. Just after I had photocopied the final master pages of Downtown Jazz, I lost the originals. I looked everywhere and finally gave up in disgust and went and printed the whole thing again. That's what my days are like.



I'm taking the time to set up this blog because I've been highly enetertained by an ongong diary of a "big-time recording engineer" in a real life, real-time recording situation. It's hilarious - check it out at http://www.prosoundweb.com/recording/mm/

Looking back at 2001

December 31, 2001: Time for some profound thoughts, revelations and determinations. Hmmmm. Firstly, best wishes to the few hearty souls who occasionally drop in to this site - I know you're out there. But I'm always surprised when someone comes up to me at a gig or otherwise to say they were "checking up" on me. Mostlty, I hear from regular visitors inquiring when I will dump the "little drummer boy". Well, the good news is that I will be moving and re-vamping my site this year. I'm going to do away with the frames and try to have a search function to make it easier for people to see if I'm taking about them...
The big determination for the new year is to get a new album recorded and even though I've been focused on this for many months, the more mundane aspects of my work life have been interrupting the process (while keeping a roof over my head). Last month we were looking at a May release, next month...who knows?
We resume the Acoustic Blues Thursdays at the Tranzac on January 3rd with my very special guest, bassist extraordinaire, Victor Bateman. I can hardly wait to see what he will pull out of his hat for his feature set. (see the complete lineup on the left). Victor was a nominee for a Maple Blues Award a couple of years back and, in fact, all my guests in January are Maple Blues Award nominees and winners. I am humbled that musicians of such stature are willing to come and play with me in this casual, intimate setting. I continue to invite people I've never played with before and it's been a great experience for all concerned - the guest, the audience and myself.
There's a new addition to our Thursdays, we now start off with a "blues and gospel picking session" from 8:30-930. Everybody sits around in the proverbial "song circle" and each participants gets the chance to do a tune or two, or simply play/sing along. It's open to all musicians and singers and moderated by my friends Jeremy and Josee.
November 22, 2001 - The Tranzac:When I sent out the last-minute announcement about my guest for tonite's show, Eric Thom wrote back: "Julian Fauth plays like AJ Casson paints (okay...painted). He is a treat to behold and a more than worthy soul-mate to Brian's warm blues stylings." Then there were even a few more messages back and forth about whether AJ Casson referred to *Jim* Casson, former drummer for Downchild and a very talented person in his own right - I don't know about his painting but he can build a mean website.
Julian did a feature set of original material and made a great impression on a certain record executive in the audience ;-)
We finished off the night with surprise guest appearances from Zoe Chilco and Brian Neller of Blue Room. The Tip Box was better than last week but not as good as the week before. Here's hoping the club hangs in. Where else can you find a house gig where there's a real piano, a PA with someone to set up and run it, an easy load-in, a place to park and an easy-going attitude about when you start and when you stop.
Today Northern Blues mastered their next sampler and I must say that I felt a small victory in convincing Fred Litwin and Bill Garrett (who mastered it) to use a song of my choice - though it's still an old recording. You can tell it's dated from the lyric: "That girl's got a giga, she's got forty meg of RAM". Remember when forty meg of RAM was a big deal? When I tried to claim "creative control" I was told I have creative control over my own CD, not the Sampler!
I must sound like a big whiner - any blues artist in the country would be happy to be in my place, making a CD for release on Northern Blues. It reminds of a harp-player friend who ran into Colin James just after he had his big hit "Why You Lied" and Colin was complaining that he was feeling a certain pressure. It's hard to sympathize too much when you're struggling from one gig to the next. (We could all use a little of that pressure)
November 16, 2001 - The Siver Dollar: It was the CD release for Montreal artist Dawn Tyler Watson - one of the hardest working blueswomen in the country. She gets on that stage and takes charge. Downstairs in the Comfort Zone there was a very large, very young band doing funk music with very contemporary vibe.
November 12, 2001 - The Siver Dollar: Following a great session of drumming (my first attempt at playing a djembe and I did fine - my fingers haven't fallen off), I dropped in to the Silver Dollar because I heard that James Brown's Band, and possibly James himself were going to be using the club for a dress reheasal for a Jackie Chan movie they were filming in town. This conflicted with Danny Marks Stormy Monday Jam and Danny was a little out of joint - he doesn't hide it when he's steamed.
The JB band played a powerhouse 45 minute set - during which Danny was at home awaiting the go-ahead from his drummer Ed White. When he finally did make it to the stage, he said he spent that time listening to James Brown records!). Regarding the JB band, they were great, but it was interesting to hear how much better they got as the set unfolded. This is the most worked-out show I've ever seen with horn shots all over the place, modulations, etc.
Different sidemen (at first I thought they were roadies) took the front and covered the vocals so the band could run through their (very complex) arrangements. I bet anything those charts were the work of the young-looking unassuming rhythm guitarist, who was doing a lot of cuing of the others. It was probably a good thing that they ran through the set before playing it with "the man". They were only supposed to play 45 minutes, but they took a break and came back for a second set - most of which I missed because I went out for something to eat.
The place was overflowing but Danny took his time getting the jam going. He even commented from the stage about how the owner was trying to get him up right away to "hold the crowd". Tip of the Day: There's no way to "hold" the crowd when they've just experienced the James Brown Band.
Danny was obviously miffed - kept referring to "what a great opening band we had for you tonight" and then he launched into a hillarious parody of James Brown classics. "I Feel Good" a la Johnny Cash, "Poppa 's Got A Brand New Bag" in reggae and a Dylanesque "Please, Please, Please". Danny was in a dark mood and even referred to this morning's plane crash with his version of "Gimme A Ticket For an Airplane", whooshing jet sound effects and all.
But it's supposed to be a jam and the one time I finally get it together to bring my guitar to a Stormy Monday Jam, I never get to play (the story of my life). Maybe I should have waited for the bitter end, that's been my slot more than once. Worse yet, I don't think Diana Braithwaite got to play, either. I haven't seen Diana for a long time - she was looking fabulous and had a new air of confidence. Not that she needed it, she's the most natural blues singer you'll ever find. She wasn't going to stay for the end either and I think if I'd asked Danny if I could play he would have said something "Why don't you just take the whole gig - *you* come back here next Monday!"




November 1, 2001 - The Tranzac: I've resumed my Thursday residency at The Tranzac. My first guest was Rick Zolkower (pictured with me above) and this week I played with Daisy DeBolt and Marg Stowe. It's been great so far and for upcoming guests see the list of performances to the left of this page.
Guess what, Diary, I've bought a new guitar! A Johnson resophonic - $350 from the Twelfth Fret (I didn't think they sold guitars that cheap). Made in Korea or Taiwan or someplace like that, it plays great, stays in tune...and if I ever lose it or get it stolen, I know I can get another one just like it. For the un-initiated, a resophonic guitar has a metal cone in it to make it louder, and the rest of it is just plywood because you don't need expensive, good sounding woods since the resonator is making all the sound.I've been using it at the Tranzac and some recording sessions.
Also did a little recording at Puck's Farm, helping them test out their new digital recording facility. In the past we've had "exchange of services" when I've done some PR stuff for them and I casually mentioned the other day that the ad they were running on Danny Marks' Bluz.FM show would not have much appeal to people making blues records when all they talked about was the "crystal clear" sound. Next thing I know, Danny's calling me, asking *me* to write a script! Lesson of the Day: Keep Your Opinions To Yourself. In fact, even when people ask for your opinion, half of them don't want to know, really.
Also seen in my brief sweep through the Folkmeet: A preview showcase at Hugh's room I saw Katherine Wheatley perform a great set - I had never seen her this solo (she had some guests, including Suzie Vinnick). Katherine turned me on to the miracle of a good nail technician (a block away from Hugh's Room, too) - and my guitar playing has never been the same again. Tip of the Day: Try getting the nails on your picking hand coated with acrylic (it's a many-step process involving a whole chemical reaction right there on your nails) but it will make them virtually indestructible - in fact, be sure to take home one of the special emery boards they use because a standard nail file can barely file them. Ask for Lee or Amy 416-588-7270.
Hugh's Room has been presenting some great shows, though they couldn't support the regular weekly evenings (with Rick Fielding and Chris Whiteley). People only come out to see specific shows, it would seem. But it won't be long before people start frequenting it as a "hang-out" - the food is great, for sure.
November 8th, 2001: My guest at the Tranzac was Daisy DeBolt - a long-time musical friend. I have hardly ever played with Daisy except for a short stint when she was part of Fraser & DeBolt. I played the very first Winnipeg Folk Festival with them (and I think the first Sudbury festival as well). Daisy doesn't remember me playing with them at all but she did remember the time in Winnipeg when she asked Bruce Cockburn to sit in on the finale, but he didn't have his guitar so Daisy tried to convince me to let him use my guitar rather than hers (because mine had a pick-up). Anyway, I played my own guitar and Bruce played Daisy's and it all sounded great, I'm sure. I must be the only person on the planet who wouldn't let BC play his guitar! Daisy has a new album due soon - a masterpiece, for sure. Allan Fraser, now living in Montreal, is getting out once in a while with his guitar, usually performing with his wife, Donna. He's mostly been sitting back and enjoying the musical development of their kids.
November 4th, 2001: Montreal Night! with a double CD launch from Michael Jerome Brown and Penny Lang. Penny's CD is a collection of tracks she's recorded all the way back to 1963 - which is when I first hear her on CKTS Radio in Sherbrooke Quebec. It was a live recording of her and Roma Baran on second guitar and I even remember the song: There But For Fortune...or maybe it was some Phil Ochs' song. Anyway it was great to see Penny in action and she had the audience in the palm of her hand, as always. Michael Jerome Brown is a great player - he opened with a set of his own then accompanied Penny. What a great evening. They did it again in Montreal and Ottawa, too.
November 2, 2001: Saw some great guitarists at the Dollar this month! Junior Watson was a must-see. And Duke Robillard was back in town on Nov 2nd - the night of some important Canada Council Jazz ID showcases at the Jazz Convention. My old musical buddy and now CC music section head Russ Kelley was the master of ceremonies for the event but as soon as it was over we headed up to the Dollar to hear Duke. He was in fine form, and by the third song, I had turned to Russ to say that the last solo had done it for me so perfectly that I didn't really need to hear any more. Meanwhile, I wish I'd made a greater effort to stay on the music side instead of getting drawn into a discussion with Russ and Richard Flohil about the demise of Sam the Record Man, border crossing and other stuff.
October 26, 2001: I had a busy week-end at the end of October and it was very nice travelling light. The Friday night I was opening for Brian Gladstone at the Silver Dollar and the Saturday Night I opened the Toronto Blues Society Halloween Party, did a few songs myself then played with the band - the Voodoo Kings and the Blues Butcher. Dylan Wickens was on the bill too, though I didn't get to stick around and see him or Kieron Lafferty.
October 21: Here I am again, that last-minute man, plugging my gig tomorrow night (Mon, Oct 22) at the Montreal Bistro. I'll be performing a batch of new songs which we are recording for the upcoming CD (due for release Feb 2002). I'll be playing with Julian Fauth on piano and Paul Reddick on harmonica.
I will also be doing an opening set at the Toronto Blues Society Halloween Party at the Black Swan on Saturday, October 27. The Voodoo Kings is the band and other special guests are Dylan Wickens and Kieran Lafferty.
October 13 - Silver Dollar: Junior Watson is the "guitarist's guitarist" and when you see him you'll understand why. He knows a million licks and often uses "quotes" in the middle of a solo (ie, in the middle of a searing solo, he'll play 'Mary Had a Little Lamb") I Talked with him a bit on the break - he should have had a full house after the buzz he created a couple of months back, but it was not a full house. He was resigned to this and said many of the venues he had been playing since September 11 were down at least one-third in attendance.
October 10 - Ted's Wrecking Yard: Dan Kershaw's band, Brothers Cosmoline was having their CD launch in the midst of the "FolkMeet" conference and they had a great crowd and played some kick-ass bluegrass.
October 9 - Borealis/NorthernBlues HQ: It was a housewarming and going-away party for office manager Eve Goldberg as well as a "Welcome Aboard" party for new office manager Linda Turu. mmmm... great little fancy sandwiches. I met Harry Manx for the second time and many of us made our way to the Dollar to see his set - opening for Alvin Youngblood Hart. Harry is a phenomenal player - on a variety of instruments including the 20-string Mohan Veena which sounds like a Sitar sometimes. Even when he plays the standard lap slide guitar, you can hear the Indian influence. He studied and toured with V. M. Bhatt for nine years in India. The folowing evening I heard Harry doing a showcase set at a conference called "FolkMeet" and happened to be sitting behind Fred Litwin (pres of NorthernBlues) and Ken Whiteley. I leaned over to Fred and said "wouldn't it be great to have Harry guest on my CD" and he agreed wholeheartedly and said Harry would be around the following Monday. I asked Ken if his studio was available and he said it could be arranged. Harry was ammenable and voila! we had a session happening. You can hear one of the tunes "The Ghost of Clinton's Tavern" at http://www.northernblues.com/ghost.mp3.
October 6 - Silver Dollar: It was another fundraiser for the Eddy B Legal Fund (the 17th, I think) and the one time my media-mooch status does not provide free entry. Nevertheless, I wanted to see Eddie Baltimore (who played at the beginning so I missed him) but I did get to enjoy Kenny Brown, who I see more often doing the sound at the Dollar, but who has been a well-repected player on the scene for many years. As Eddy began to rant about another (third) party that he wanted to bring to court I told him I was going to write a tune with the line "I'm just another battle in Eddy's War"
October 5 - Hugh's Room: Cindy Church is performing with Joe Sealy and George Koller in a tribute to Hoagy Carmichael. Gorgeous music and Cindy has a voice that worked perfectly with it. Joe and George also sang and there was a bass tour-de-force that showed Koller as "the man" on bass in this town. He does it all!
So I had a pretty quiet September - that's what happens when you tell everybody you're going to be gone for a couple of weeks!
Sept 18 - The Rex: I've come to see my bass-playing buddy Victor Bateman's revival of his historic group from the 80's called Vektor. It's supposed to be the official launch of a retrospective CD called "The Story of Vektor" - according to the blurb I wrote in the Downtown Jazz newsletter. Except I had it wrong, the actual date was *October* 18. This is not the first time I have been steered wrong by my own misinformation - some kind of karmic retribution, I guess.
September 29 - Revival: The Toronto Blues Society has a big event called "The Blues Gospel Shout Out" and there's a great turn-out. I listen to the high-spirited Danny Brooks, Alana Bridgewater (who has matured considerably since I first saw her in the Women's Blues Revue a few years back) and Ken Whiteley before slipping out to the Silver Dollar to catch a few tunes from Michelle Willson from Boston. Her organist, Ken Clarke is a phenomenal musican and a real showman and she is teriffic. There wasn't a huge crowd at the Dollar this time. I headed back to revival hoping to catch the finale with Jackie Richardson and was lucky enough to see her entire set - she started pretty late. Jackie is simply incomparable. What she brings to the stage far transcends her singing - which was pretty amazing, as always. She is in a whole other league from other blues divas and you could tell something special was going to happen just watch the expressions of joy and anticipation on the faces of the backup singers. Then as she completed her last song, you couldn't help but notice the first personin the audience to leap to her feet was Alana Bridgewater. You couldn's miss her because Alana Bridgewater is at least a foot taller than anyone else in the audience. Jackie said something great between songs, that we should "get closer to our spirituality and thus closer to each other."
September 30 - Siver Dollar: Guitarist Shawn Kellerman was having a CD release and he played up a storm. I invited Sandra Tooze to come along with me and after hearing Shawn (who is now the official guitarist with the Sidemen) , we headed down to the Montreal Bistro where Jim Galloway was playing with clarinet master Allan Vache. They played some great trad blues sounds to close off the evening - after annoucing that a bluesman was "in the house."
September 11, 2001: A day of infamy - and it also happens top be my birthday. And it's the day I was to get on a plane to Europe but alas it was not to be, and I didn't fret at all about missing the trip though I was relieved to finally receive my ticket refund.




In the weeks preceeding September 11, I was working on a song called "Peace in The World". Paul Reddick (shown at far left in the photo above- that's me in the middle and Carrie Chesnutt at the other end of the stage. If you look real hard, you may see a part of Lily Sazz in that pic too - it was taken at the Markham Jazz festival)
Anyway, Paul played me an old field recording of some work song and suggested I give the lyric a more general approach, rather than specifically about the Irish troubles as I had it. We cut it with Harry Manx on lap slide guitar and Julian Fauth on piano. My life was altered a bit that day, insignificant compared to lots of other people. But did you notice in my last entry I slipped in a little "last will and testament"??? It's because I had a deep sense of foreboding about that trip. Perhaps my premonition was not about me, but about thousands of other souls. Freaky!

If you'd like a little preview of the song, you can download an mp3 - it's about 3 meg. http://www.northernblues.com/peace.mp3.
As a special Halloween treat, I've also posted a new song called "The Ghost of Clinton's Tavern" http://www.northernblues.com/ghost.mp3.
Clinton's Tavern is a long standing live music venue in Toronto and I guess has a history long before that. I'm not pre-occupied with the supernatural by any stretch but I did get a "weird feeling" at that place one time and when I inquired, I was told a vague story of a gambler who had been shot dead in the place back in the 30s. I made a note on a scrap of paper and I came upon it recently and was inspired (channelled?) to write this song.
The sessions were at Ken Whiteley's studio - he played some bass, too. It was a bit of a spontaneous session, I was sitting behind Ken and Fred Litwin, president of NorthernBlues, listening to Harry at the FolkMeet showcase. I leaned over to Fred and said "wouldn't it be great if we could get Harry to play on my new CD" and he said "Well, he's around for a couple of days" then I leaned over to Ken and asked if the studio was available, he said it was and next day we were recording! Voila.

Talent Search 2001

June is here and it's been pretty active so far. Last night I was at the Toronto Blues Society Talent Search Finals at the Silver Dollar Room. Barry Mack from Halifax, Big Mark and the Blues Express from Montreal and all the way from Saskatoon, a power blues trio of seventeen year-olds led by Jordan Cook.I stood watching Jordan with some of the Montreal contingent and as they watched young Jordan put on the show of his life, I'm sure they figured he was a shoo-in. But it was not to be. Despite their great playing, it was not as blues as Big Mark. There's an element of swing though not as pronounced as the young Toronto bands calling themselves swing. We won't even get into what the original "swing" players call swing...
I had a gig so could not attend the finals on the previous night (another great night of blues, I'm told, with Jimmy Helverson, the Soul Kings (with Josh Miller) and Toronto harp hero Jerome Godboo, who I have no doubt gave a phenomenal performance. I have played with Jerome and he is a consummate musician and as a front man he has no peer. But young Jordan Cook was certainly taking it in that direction with a lot jumping about and even some Guitar Shorty dance-floor antics. He played great, even laying on his back but it was probably too rock for a blues contest - that's the sort of thing that would have been said about Jerome in the past - and he was a runner-up in the same contest last year.

Things to work on:
Start a tune with a big flourish.
Do a funky tune (with drummer banging bell of cymbal).
Start a tune with drums (second line).
A zydeco groove?
Get them dancing.

Sat night I'm listening to Holger Peterson's Saturday Night Blues - a great tune from Gate who won the Handy Award for Blues Instrumentalist of the Year and he would be my pick too. Holger had a little interview clip with him and the quote I remember was "Music is medicine. I can be feeling real badly but when I get up on the bandstand I forget about what's wrong and I try to cure others."
Gate wasn't looking very altruistic when I met him a few years ago. He had just stepped off his tour bus, arriving very late for him appearance at the Toronto Downtown Jazz festival. No one from the festival volunteer crew was around so I went up to greet him and boy did he look stern, holding an elaborate carved pipe. It wasn't until the break when I was sitting with a couple of his roadies that they told me the story of how they felt they had just escaped with their lives from riot-torn Quebec City. In fact, there had been a few cars turned over and fires started on St-Jean Baptite Day in a suburb of Quebec, and the police had cordoned off the block where the band had parked their tour bus at a small motel. They knew they were going to be late for their gig in Toronto if they didn't get on their way right away so even though the police wouldn't let them through the roadblock, a young fan showed them a back way in and they quickly gathered their belongings and made their way out of what they thought was a near-death experience in a strange foreign country. But no batter how badly Gate might have felt, he played incredibly that night. He became my main man and to this day I try to find some of his recording that have the guitar sound that he produced right before my very eyes. I'll always remember him sitting on his upholstered stool with a fender amp on either side tilted up facing him.

I just heard that when I came up from my studio where I was frantically trying to lay down an idea for a new (or rather old) song called End of September. Holger was just playing a track from Rhythm & Truth Brass Band with Paul Reddick singing and playing harp. I've been doing some duo gigs with Paul Reddick and I here I was shaping this song to work with Paul - maybe even get him to sing it.
I did a gig last week with Paul - a house-concert in Orangeville in a loft above a music store called Acoustic Traditions. The store is owned by an ex-Toronto policeman called Wayne King and he was a great host. I was quite surprised by one of the audience members who told me he reads these inane ramblings in my Blues Diary. Well, maybe I'll keep it going but I've got to get rid of that "little drummer boy". I'm supposed to be getting together my "official" home page on the Northern Blues website, but I still haven't written a bio I like. The ones I do like tend to be self-deprecating and not good marketing tools

Overheard from the publicist hired to promote a northern artist showcase in Toronto: "I can't understand why anyone would want to live in that god-forsaken place"

Song ideas I'm working on:
"All I want is a statement" ( a song about record distributors)
"A Personal Private Showcase
A Command performance
"Waiting for a man called Wrycraft"

A busy November

Left to Right: Carrie Chesnutt, Michelle Josef, Lily Sazz and Brian Blain. Photographed at Mezzrows, October 20

I can't remember how November started but it ended with a dash to the FACTOR office to submit a grant application to make a demo. I didn't have the distribution, so I couldn't apply for the whole enchilada but it'll be interesting to see if I even get enough to cut a few more tunes. The FACTOR office was buzzing with activity, there wasn't any flat surface that wasn't occupied by someone frantically filling out forms. A couple of guys were holding their forms up against the wall and filling them in. As I drove up to front I saw drummer/entrepreneur Graeme Kirkland waved as he drove off. Inside, I was greeted by Kim, who recognized me and said "Hey, five minutes to spare!"

We'll see how that works out. I feel like I've already won because for the first time, I actually filled out the form and delivered it. Yes, of all the grant applications I have begun, this is they only one I ever delivered. I always maintained that these funding agencies deliberately set up a gauntlet of obstacles to eliminate those who are not "serious enough" about their career. Well, I've never been accused of being "serious enough" - that's for sure!

What else can I share for the few curious souls who are following my trials and tribulations (yes, people do tell me that they visited the site and enjoyed my ramblings): I got a little advance press for my gig at the Montreal Bistro - I was a "pick" in the Toronto Star and I know of at least one person who came to the show because he saw it there - and that was my dentist!
It was tough getting people out on election night - next time I play the Bistro, it'll be in September! The gig i played opening for the phenomenal Michael Jerome Browne at the Now Lounge was also very low attendance - and he is one of the leading lights in Canadian roots music right now, with a successful album, management, etc. But still, it's tough getting people out - when I sent out a gig notice I was starting to write something like let's give him a big "Toronto Welcome" - then I realized that's a bit of an oxymoron.

I was the opening act (in Quebec they used to call this the "vedette Americaine" because every big Quebec star would bring in an american artist to open and give the show some extra pizzaz). I hope I didn't get too silly at that gig, but there were just a few people and I had this new blues riff that I had just learned - "Lookin Good" by Magic Sam - and I think I played it between just about every song I did and even broke into it in the middle of another song...yikes.

But I was soooo excited to be able to play this groove. I had recorded this tune off the radio 20 or 30 years ago, never knew who the artist was, never heard it again, but listened to it over and over again over the years. When I finally saw Rockin' Johnny from Chicago playing it close up, I saw how it is played (I always thought it was two guitarists on the record). You can read more about the Magic Sam connection below.

There was a great discussion about blues jams lately, and I followed it with great interest. In fact I had some great support and advice (all very different) from some very experienced jam hosts, Danny Marks, Jim Krueger, John Dickie and Steven C. I needen't have bothered because the first thing the club owner said to me was "Whatever you do, don't let anybody on this stage unless you know them or somebody vouches for them - we've had to literally drag people off this stage and out the door." Well, that settles that! I guess we'll be thinking of my jam as kind of an "invitational" and I don't apologize for making it a bit of a showcase for myself, since it's the only regular gig I have.

We had a some great guests last time including Zoe Chilco, the proud mom of a new CD, Mbodeo, hot off the press - and even though it wasn't a big audience, she had the opportunity to make an impression on some music industry taste-makers including Dave "the Man from Socan" Betts and at least one record producer/label owner.

This week I've been following the recent "surreal gig" discussion on the "maplepost" list, just last week I had a gig that bassmeister Terry Wilkins claimed was quite surreal. We were playing (with Carrie Chesnutt on sax) at the Bay on Yonge Street, Toronto - to celebrate the kick-off of their extended shopping hours for the holidays. Several bands were playing throughout the store, a big band on the main floor with a stage and PA. We were on the third floor, set up by an escalator in the "Jeunesse" department. All of a sudden, a marching band in baby blue uniforms with fuzzy hats comes down the aisle and Terry starts playing along with them and attracts them to our "station" and prettty soon we're all jamming on "Here Comes Santa Claus" or something like that.

If that wasn't surreal enough, there was an elderly gentleman standing off to the side listening intently and Terry leaned over to me and said "that's Roland Mitchener!" I said "I think Roland Mitchener is dead," but a minute later when the gent said something, Terry asked if he was Roland Mitchener. He replied "I'm Mitchell Sharp." Terry said "well at least I got the "mitch" part, and they had a good laugh and we chatted about music (he plays piano every day) and he was in the official party that travelled to Europe and Israel with the National Arts Centre orchestra.

Tonight I intended to stay home to work on the December MapleBlues and send out this email notification - maybe make a few phone calls to get people out on Monday, but I got a call from Lily Sazz, my piano player, asking me to bring a couple of mike cables up to the Black Swan where she's playing with Blue Room. Paul Sanderson, the leader, never ceases to amaze me with all the duties that he fulfills in that band. Paul, if you didn't know, is Canada's foremost music attorney and has a thriving practice and it would be easy for him to play it safe but practically every song had a worked out guitar intro and was propelled by his solild rhythm. Lily fit right in with the piano.

From the Swan, I made my way to the Montreal Bistro to deliver some promo for my gig Monday and heard the last set of Bill Mays with Neil Swainson and Terry Clarke. I don't think the jazz piano trio could get any better than these three world-class players. The music was phenomenal and it was confirmed that there were many jazz pianists in the house watching in rapt attention and when Mays stuck his left arm in the piano to mute the strings, three youn men all got up from their seats to get a closer view of how he was doing it. It sounded very much like a guitar player who mutes his strings with the ball of his hand. Then he played a ballad called "The Peacocks" by Jimmy Rowles, whom he said "holds the world's record for 'hanging out' the longest at Bradley's in New York City. They played the gig from 9:45 to 3:00am, carried on until 5pm the next day, went home an showered - possbly - then came back and played the first set at 9:45 the next day. Day in and day out."

Then, since I was out and about, I swung by the Silver Dollar to catch the last of Eddie Shaw and the Wolf Gang. To come from a couple of Neil Swainson bass solos to hear a pretty primitive bass solo by Eddie's long time bass player, Shorty, who is quite short and plays his Fender bass sitting on the edge of a straight back chair with the bass hanging practically to his knees. Eddie's son Vaan was being interviewed for a video documentary in the dressing room and had some very perceptive observations about guitar players, and in particular young white blues guitar players. He said Stevie Ray Vaughan and Kim Wilson were the blackest white men he'd ever met - that they had totally absorbed the culture. And while he decried that the musicians who planted the seeds never got to benefit very much financially, he certainly gave the white blues players their due. Roy Buchannan is one person that could really play the blues. When the interviewer asked for a seminal blues song or album, Vaan said "I'll do better than that. I'll give you the name - Magic Sam. He had it all, and the greatest thing is ...he didn't know it. He was a simple man with no formal education.
Interesting that he should mention Magic Sam. In the last few days I've heard two guitarists playing at the Silver Dollar, Tony D from Ottawa and Rockin' Johnny from Chicago and both of them pulled out the classic Magic Sam instrumental, "Lookin' Good" as a "barn-burner" guitar showcase. It's one of my favourite blues instrumentals and for years I had a recording off the radio but I never learned till recently the it was Magic Sam and it wasn't until I saw Rockin' Johnny playing it close up - til then I thought there were two guitars making that incredible rhythm.

Even though practicing is an alien concept to me I have been playing that guitar part over and over for the last 3 or 4 days. I haven't been this focused since I spent a week-end with a Danny Gatton video, probably the only time I put any real effort into learning a guitar riff. I can't say I've made any great effort to learn other people's styles ever since my introduction to the blues from an instructional record called "The Art of the Folk Blues Guitar." That was 35 years ago and I'm still playing some of those songs, and the same seven or eight licks...on the same guitar!
Come out Monday Night to hear the full band in a great setting. And if you can't make that gig, I hope to see you on Thursday Nov 30 at the Now Lounge (where I open for Michael Jerome Bowne) or to an intimate house concert (with Lily on piano) at Downtown Jazz, 82 Bleecker Street on the following Thursday, December 7

Tip of the day: A couple of musicians have suggested lately that the simplest and maybe cheapest upgrade a musician can make to his gear is to get all new cables - premium (broadcast) quality. I'm told the improvement is immediately apparent - more frequency response, presence and probably other difficult-to-measure factors. Hmmm, and I've always bought the cheapest cables I could find and used them for decades!

Nov 13, 2000: I've been following with great interest the discussion about blues jams and the role of a jam host because tomorrow night I will be hosting my first blues jam at the Tennesse on Queen St. West (and thereafter every second Tuesday of the month - if I can make a go of it!).

....anyway, back to jams... at first I had a mind to bring my bass and spend the night backing up others. Then I ran into Danny Marks on Saturday night and couldn't resist asking his advice. Danny is a true jam pioneer in Toronto - maybe the originator... And anyone who has taken part in Danny Marks' Stormy Monday jam over the years will know that he runs a tight ship - well, that's putting it mildly! I've invited Danny to jump in to mapleblue-l with his guidelines for a successful jam (what hath I wrought!)
I'm calling the jam "Colorblind Brian's 12-Bar Blues Jam" and I'm hoping it will nurture the laid-back country-blues style that I like, but to get it started, I'll be happy for any jammers that show up. This jam has not been publicised at all so I hope some of you Maplebluezers will pack up your axe and bring it to the Tennessee tomorrow (Tues) night. I look forward to jamming with you and perhaps getting a few tips...my limited experience with blues jams in Toronto has been a lot of waiting and very little playing, if at all. Maybe that will make me a more compassionate jam host.

Other stuff I've been doing: On Nov 7, I was at a CD launch for the Rob McConnell Tentet, a collection of the best horn players on the planet and recognized globally with Grammy Awards and such. They played a few tunes that demonstrated a real comfort zone that each player had achieved. They were flying! And then we went up to the Silver Dollar to hear Walter "Wolfman" Washington. Every tune was so worked out. Horn shots and lots of little arrangement things. After the show I was talking to him - said that a lot of the musicians in the house were impressed and they must rehearse a lot. Walter said "Well, we've been together 18 years..." (nuff said). There were not one but two tour buses parked outside the Dollar but alas neither of them was for the comfort of the Wolfman. The downstairs club, the Comfort Zone, was featuring a couple of English "jam bands", the Ozric Tentacles and the Star People (I never heard of them either!) I heard a bit of both bands, but it was back upstairs to hear Wolfman. They don't make em' like that anymore!

October happenings

Looking back at October it's been a busy and enjoyable time. The month ended with a great weekend in Barrie at the Ontario Council of Folk Festivals Conference and Showcase. I was invited to participate in a seminar on the internet - kind of a free ride - so I brought my guitar and sure enough, I had the opportunity to jam with some great musicians like the legendary Stephen Barry, Jordan Officer, the young Montreal guitar phenom and an indisputible future star, Tannis Slimmon.

At about 3am, I walked through one area where a musician whom I had not seen at the conference was sitting at the head of a group of players. Someone said "you do one, Wendell" and I knew I was seeing for the first time the locally-revered Wendell Ferguson and when he launched into an original tune with hilarious lyrics and very fast picking, he lived up to his reputation. In fact, I guess I was a little intimidated because I just kept on moving down the hallway where I sat in with Dan and Jenny Whiteley and the festival director from Home County Festival leading the session on mandolin. I just started playing along and got a suspicious glance when I threw in a bent note. I didn't get a solo. This was the first time that I brought out my guitar at one of these music conferences - though I've attended many in my editor capacity.

There's a few tips I would note:
1) Always have a tune or three that you can pull out - something everyone will know or can learn right away - preferably with a vocal chorus that will get everybody singing. This is also not the moment to pull out a tune you've just written.

I also wondered aout the etiquette of doing a second song - but there was a long silence after I did one tune so I said "Can I sing a ballad?" I did "The Big Fire" and someone standing in the doorway asked "who wrote that song?" and I said me. He was sure he had heard it someplace and I said "Bill Garrett and Sue Lothrop?" and he said yes that must be it. I figured out later that he was the owner of a club in Ottawa where they had just done two nights. (Note to myself: Get a booking at Rasputin's)

The internet workshop went great but I have to chuckle when I think that the first thing I saw when I walked into the room I noticed that Gene Wilburn, my collaborator, had written my email address on the white board and it was wrong? I pointed that out and he said "I just took it out of the newsletter". Well, I made the newsletter! ...Just call me the (barely)managing editor.

I did a couple of "special guest" appearances last month - trying to "get a profile." I guess my career is still at the "early stages," though I made my first recording with a folk group called the BAK trio back in 64-65 (on an ampex 3-track, I recall). I did my third guest shot with Dylan Wickens at the Black Swan. That's always a rockin time. The drummer this time was someone who has a lot of big-time credentials but who was a very down-to-earth guy - John Bouvette

A few days later, I was a "tweener". This is someone who plays between the opening act and the main attraction. I asked Richard Flohil, the promoter, for a slot and he graciously provided one - between Nancy White and Susan Werner. He wanted me to do something "special" - and I said I would sing my rarely-performed song "The Story of the Magic Pick", which I recorded in 1973. I wouldn't usually take the time to ramble on about behind the scenes stories of how this or that came about, but I think a web page is a perfect place for rambling - you can stop, scroll forward, or quit - you've got all the basic information at this point. But to ramble on...I was in the studio recording a song called "Don't Forget Your Mother" back in 1973. It was one of the first songs I ever wrote and it caught the attention of a famous producer in Montreal, Andre Perry - the man who recorded "Give Peace a Chance" with John & Yoko.

The producer of the sessions was Frazier Mohawk who brought in an all-star cast of American sidemen including Tom Malone (Blues Brothers, Letterman), John Lissauer (Leonard Cohen) and the legendary drummer Jim Gordon (Derek and the Dominoes) who was arrested and convicted of murdering his mother not long after recording "Don't Forget Your Mother." The back-up vocals were provided by Laurel Masse and Janice Siegal from the (then) up and coming group Manhattan Transfer.

As an up-and-coming new artist signed to a major label, I was expected to make some appearances, and I put together a back-up vocal group and called them "The Blainettes" We only did a few gigs together, opening for Lou Reed was the highlight. It was the peak of his popularity but the people enjoyed our set - one audience member said he liked our performance better than Lou's.

My first impression of Lou was not so friendly, we arrived at the theatre and were shown to some dressing rooms - One was full of people, the Lou reed Band, and the other had just one small bag on the counter. We moved in to the only available room, but within a few moments, Lou was standing in the door way. I said something like "Er, is this *your* dressing room and he said "Yes." End of conversation. We found another place to get changed.

Back to last week, I decided to perform this old chesnut for a very attentive and influential group of folk afficionados and, wouldn't you know, I forgot the words. One song to do and I forget the words! It's not the first time - when my drummer/friend Mike Fitzpatrick encouraged me to get the song out of mothballs, I found myself having to re-learn the lyrics from the original 45-rpm jacket where they were printed.

I should have had them prominently displayed when I performed the song at my "tweener". I jumbled up some words so bad that the only saving grace was to find that nothing unruly had happened in the audience and people applauded. (tip of the day: An amateur practises until he can do it right. A professional practices until he can't do it wrong)

Another big "up" for my local profile, at least, was being invited to perform on Steve Gash's fundraising show. The two other guests were Paul Reddick of the Sidemen and Michael Pickett. Reddick was late and arrived about the same time as me. Then Pickett walked in, took his guitar out of the case (something he's doing a lot more of) and started pacing. I knew that I was going to be delayed for a newsletter meeting and sure enough, I didn't go on until after Pickett - but Paul Reddick, who was not feeling very well, stuck around long enough to play a tune with me (Computer Club Queen). What a treat, and what a gentleman he was to stick around.

On the 26th, I went to David Wilcox CD launch - he's an Ontario legend, but coming up in Quebec, I hadn't heard of him at all. It turns out Michelle played drums on his first album, though uncredited. He is a great guitar player and was accompanied by Richard Bell on piano for a media preview. I saw that after that short set, Colin Linden arrived and as I left the club I saw him setting up - I wanted to try coming back but ended up at the Cash Brothers CD launch at Ted's Wrecking Yard. My neighbour Andrew and his brother have a very special blend and they create a real "mood" in the room. They got three encores and there couldn't have been a better time to get 3 encores than when all the US record company brass has come to see you for the first time. Downstairs in BarCode, Michelle was hosting an impromptu ambient jam, since the usual Hey Stella lineup was unavailable.

I think I owe myself an apology for not including my Oct. 15 Mezzrow's gig in the MapleBlues listings. I don't suppose it's any consolation to any other artists' whose listings I have screwed up in my capacity as (barely) managing editor, but it shows that it can happen to anyone...

A special welcome to Jan, John, Glenn, Helen, Duncan, Jay and several others who have signed up on my personal mailing list. You will receive a message like this once or twice a month and for those who may not yet have received the CD they paid for, sorry for delay - the mail order system is being upgraded (we have to buy some stamps). And for that list member who finds my group messages too impersonal, I want you to know that you *are* special!

October started with a birthday party at the Silver Dollar on Monday, October 2. It was Michele's birthday - she's that tall. blonde, animated waitress who floats around the Dollar. Since it was happening at the same time as Danny Marks Stormy Monday jam session I thought I might be able to sing a tune for Michele but there was no way Danny was going to let me use his guitar (TIP: if you're planning to jam, bring your axe). I thought of a fun song I could do with Danny accompanying me so I shouted it out to him, and he said "Oh yeah, I know that song" and that he had just performed it on his CBC show - and then proceeded to sing half the tune!!! Steal my thunder, will ya? Anyway, I slipped out after listening to a couple more jammers but I'm told that Danny was calling for me long after I was gone. I'm sure I haven't heard the last of this.

On the 3rd, Prime Minister Chretien annouced there would be no federal election until at least November 27th. I'm playing the Montreal Bistro on the 27th and if the election is called for that night, it will be the third time I've played the Bistro on an election night at the end of November. Last time, we promoted the gig as "Sherbrooke Night at the Montreal Bistro" in honour of then-opposition leader Jean Charest who hails from my home town, Sherbrooke, Quebec.

On the 4th, I went to Colin Linden's tribute to Rick Danko at the Horseshoe. There were a lot of musicians I didn't know playing Rick Danko songs including a Woodstock group led by Professor Louie - who produced the last two band albums. Got to chat with reknowned musicologist Rob Bowman for a while - he's been writing the voluminous liner notes for the the newly released Band box sets and mentions there are lots of great unreleased tracks on them. Colin was playing great, as ever, and did a long set with Blackie and the Rodeo Kings. Bonus.

On the 6th, I had the pleasure of hanging out with Japan's leading jazz star - Sadao Watanabe, who my client Downtown Jazz presented at the Winter Garden Theatre. What an amazing venue - now I know why they call it that! The decor dates back to the turn of the century when it was a vaudeville house. The ceiling is covered with phony leaves and you feel like you're sitting in a forrest. Surreal! After the show and an after-show reception with Japanese dignitaries we retreated to a Chinese restaurant where I heard hilarious stories of touring with Dizzy Gillespie and Sadao's hobby - collecting old golf clubs.
Konichi, the guitarist, asked me if I knew of any blues bars in the area and I told him there were two within a block, so we slipped out and visted Grossman's. When we walked in, guitarist Ermest Lee was playing a burning solo, standing on a chair in the middle of the room - Buddy Guy-style. Konichi needed to use the washroom and I reluctantly directed him to the downstairs men's washroom which is pretty raunchy and I looked at him apologetically when he came back but he shrugged like "I've seen worse than this". I'm sure he has, he's played all over the world, though this was his first time in Toronto. I wanted him to see the Silver Dollar as well, but by the time we got there, the music had just ended. We looked at Eddy B's photo exhibit. I had paid the admission because it turned out there was no media comps for that evening since it was a fundraiser for Eddy's litigation with CIUT and the University of Toronto. Eddy took great relish in taking seven dollars from me - who he considers in the "enemy" camp. Well , despite his ornery, cantankerous nature, he is a great photographer and his show will be on display through November in the back room at the Silver Dollar

The following evening, back at the Dollar, the legendary Sonny Rhodes (with trademark turban and lap steel) stretched the limits of how long a back-up band should play before bringing on the star. An interminable twenty-minute instrumental version of "The Thrill is Gone" opened the second show but it ended fine when Sonny was joined on stage by Michael Pickett and Johnny V. Sonny seemed to be moving pretty slow, getting on in years but sounding great.

A festival gig and a good review for "Who Paid You To Give Me The Blues"

Here's a picture of Michelle, Suzie after our gig at the legendary Silver Dollar Room:

Just back from my rehearsal for the Oakville Jazz festival, Friday Night, 7pm (opening for Mississippi Heat). For this gig, we have the luxury of a fifth player and that player is the phenomenal Carrie Chestnut on tenor sax. She joins Michelle Josef, Lily Sazz and Suzie Vinnick to provide a kick-ass back-up band (with background vocals, even).
The concert is at The Oakville Entertainment Centrum, located at the northwest corner of the QEW and Winston Churchill Boulevard, off Upper Middle Road East. From westbound or eastbound QEW, take the Winston Churchill Boulevard exit off the QEW. Proceed north on Winston Churchill Boulevard to the traffic lights at Upper Middle Road East. Proceed west on Upper Middle Road East, turn left and proceed east to the Oakville Entertainment Centrum.


These "proceedings" culminate in an evening of highly entertaining blues from ourselves and the wonderful Mississippi Heat. We'll also be doing a late show (11pm - 1am) at the Nearby Alice Fazouli's. Take a run down to Oakville on Friday night and support the blues at Oakville Jazz.
Other Gigs & News: If you're heading to the track on Saturday (Woodbine, that is) I'll be strollin' & strummin' the blues with Suzie and Victor Bateman from 5:30 to 8:30.
Next Friday, September 1, we're at the Tenessee Tavern, 1554 Queen St. W.

In other news, we got our first national magazine review for "Who Paid You To Give Me The Blues". Here's what they said in SCENE Roots and Blues Magazine: "Blain, a veteran bassist and guitarist, has finally got around to recording his own project, a whimsical blend of driving bar blues and more esoteric material that echoes his past as a sideman for Lewis Furey and Fraser & Debolt. The title track track sports a Dr. John-style vocal, a relentless groove and nice bursts of Blain's guitar playing, while a track like "Worry, Worry" has a more R&B flavour. Blain clearly has a sense of humour, as evidenced by the country-tinged "Entrepreneurial Blues" and the swinging "Girlfriend Blues." The Latter probably boasts the best vocal performance on what is largely a guitarist's record. Also worth checking out are "The Big Fire" which showcases the subtler side of Blain's musicianship, and "Y2K Blues" with it's mock apocalyptic narrative."

Other Good News: I got a check from SOCAN for performance royalties. What a nice surprise, even though it was a rather small cheque for the publisher's share - the writer's share was used to pay down my national debt from a fat advance I got from BMI many years ago (back when they gave advances for signing). The best news is that I now seem to qualify for a free subscription to "The Music Scene." Now I only owe them $917. In case you're wondering how that happened, a long long time ago, back when there was competition between SOCAN (then called BMI) and CAPAC, they used to give cash advances and I'll probably be paying mine back for decades to come.

The other career milestone was being invited as a "special guest" at Dylan Wickens house gig at the Black Swan. It doesn't matter that for most of the evening there were more people on stage than in the audience, I actually got paid $50 just to sit in. I never met these guys or heard them play except for one cut on the radio - but that's the great thing about the blues, there's a standard repertoire and even when you do original tunes, they have a bluesy, predictable arrangement.

On May 22, 2000, Rick Zolkower launched his CD of old-style blues at the Silver Dollar. Music Rating: Three Notes for being so real. Food Rating: 2 Shrimp ( good dip and I happened to be standing by the food table when some hot pizza arrived)

Saw Jenny Whiteley playing the we dropped down to Grossmans where they have had some kind of 25th anniversary celebration. They were featuring Michael Pickett Band with spoecial guest Michael Jerome Brown

Happy Mothers Day, 2000

Yes, that's my dear departed mom posing with me in a promo shot for the never-released single "Don't Forget Your Mother". I've tried to do an annual Mother's Day show since I've been in Toronto, but I've gotten a little sidetracked from the music and the closest that I have to a Mother's Day appearance this year is the Black Swan on the Tuesday following Mother's Day, May 16, when I will be guesting with the Dylan Wickens Band.

Sonny Rhodes

2:30am my time and I'm pretty cooked. Just did my partial rounds and the first stop was the jazz festival office where the Director of Operations computer had crashed this afternoon. After a couple of hours I got her computer going OK but the database is corrupted and there hasn't been a back up in quite a while. The entire festival, every bit of correspondence, contracts, everything is in that database. If it can't be recovered, you'll be the first to know the jazz festival has been cancelled *again* (if you hadn't heard about the first drama...) Then I caught the last set of Sonny Rhodes at the Silver Dollar. This is your pretty raw blues - nothing like Roomful of Blues who played just a couple of nights before. Tonight, the tuning never sounded quite right, yet nobody ever adjusted between songs. It was like "I tuned it before the show, it's fine" It got a little stranger when Sonny invited Toronto guitarist Larry Goodhand to the stage "I taught him everything I know" and then he unplugged his lap steel and gave the cord to Larry even though there were two other guitarists on stage. I guess neither of them volunteered to sit out a song or two. Larry played great, and did sound a bit like Sonny. He played a characteristic little lick of Sonnny's (and many others I suppose), but he sounded best on the solos where it felt like he was bending every note he played somewhat to adapt to tghe less-than-perfect tuning. He did a shuffle then a couple of slow tunes which sonny sang as he stepped off the stage and started to walk out towards the audience. The mic cable wasn't really long enough for that sort of thing, and some guy from the front table took it upon himself to guide the cable and ultimately stood there arms stretched out like some kind of high tension tower. At the end this guy was sitting on the edge of the stage with his ear practically in Sonny's amp. The the best was when Michelle, the drop-dead gorgeous waitress lifted a bar table over her head to get it across a railing. Right across from this action was another very attractive woman who was really into the music and looked very interesting but I watched her watching Michelle and it was an unmistakeable look of worshipful lust - I guess Michelle lifting that table was the embodiment of her "dream gal". Oh well.

This was Sonny's make-good engagement after a near-death road-fire that destroyed everything the band had with them - equipment, clothes, etc. I limped my way over in a rust-bucket that idles so fast and knocks so loud that it's starting to draw attention. The only way to keep the engine from racing uncontrolably is to shift it in to Drive

I was sitting across from publicist Richard Flohil, legendary vegetable hater, at the Jazz Report Awards last Sunday and he actually turned away the dinner because the chicken breast was leaning on something green!

A new band for Brian

Hear ye, hear ye! I'm playing at the Silver Dollar Saturday night, April 8, 2000. It's a brand new band - we've just had a couple of rehearsals and I'm thrilled with the musicians who'll be joining me: Lily Sazz (piano), Michele Josef (drums) and Terry Wilkins (bass) ...the Swing Daddy himself. That's what we called him in a recent cover story in Maple Blues. I'm delighted to have Terry on board. I must have been one of the first people he met when he first arrived in Canada in 1971 but I've never had the opportunity to play with him until now.

While we're linking to the TBS (Toronto Blues Society), I should highlight Lily Sazz who will be playing keyboards and is also TBS webmistress (see her page). I'll be playing for the first time with Michelle Josef, who also has a fascinating website, lilithitsnotfair.com

I'm also performing at the Tenessee, Saturday April 29th (yes the same night John Lee Hooker is in town). Stand by for another solo acoustic house concert. The last one was a gas and I'm going to be doing more of that.
This was an auspicious April Fool's day. First I discover a little bunch of chives growing in my garden. I had some in an omelette this morning. And this afternoon I had the first vocal lesson of my life - and what a revelation that was. Vocal tips of the day: Don't try to be loud. Don't just hit a note at full volume - ease into it. It's all about vowels - when you're holding a note keep re-shaping the vowel in your mind. All of this stuff was very helpful. The teacher is Morgonn Ewen and after one session I can't imagine someone transmitting so much valuable information and re-inforcement in a half hour. Phew!

My First House Concert in Toronto

House Concerts are something you will more likely find happening in outlying rural areas or small towns where they don't have a club scene but I decided to do one at the jazz office in downtown Toronto. Publicist Richard Flohil was kind enough to drop in and my dear friend Jacquie who was collecting at the door didn't know who he was and charged him ten bucks and and he kindly paid it. I don't think he pays for too many shows...Thursday, March 16, 2000 was Colorblind Brian's Acoustic Blues House Concert at the offices of Downtown Jazz The promo blurb said "Hear the elusive Colorblind Brian in a rare solo performance, "intimate and interactive" (as they say). We'll be throwing a log in the fireplace, pushing back the old boardroom table and sitting back for a set or two of unique, offbeat, some say "kinda quirky" original blues. At Brian's last performance at the Montreal Bistro, Bill Garrett of Borealis Records said "I had a smile pasted on my face all night long". Even old school jazz guys were seen enjoying a twelve-bar blues. Brian will be performing tunes from his recent CD, "Who Paid You to Give Me The Blues?" as well a some experimental new material. Come early as there is very limited seating."

The house concert was a blast. This was my first solo gig since one festival date last summer and I'm going to do more of this because I had a great time and so did the audience. It turned into a bit of a media frenzy because there was a big CD launch happening down the road at the Montreal Bistro and a lot of the photographers came directly to my gig. For a while it seemed there were more photgraphers than audience!
A couple of days later, I attended my first house-concert as an audience member yesterday - it was a sunday afternoon at a big rambling house in the country. Almost 50 folk fans came out to see my friends Bill Garrett, Sue Lothrop and Curly Boy Stubbs. I was presented from the stage when they introduced a song of mine that they perform, The Big Fire, and I thought I might be getting my foot in the door but alas when I thought I might get a chance to play them a couple of songs in the after-concert song circle, I wasn't really agressive enough and didn't get my shot. Tip of the Day: If you want to make an impression, don't be shy.
Blues News: Saw Dutch Mason on Saturday night at the Dollar. He was performing seated and moving quite slowly but the place was packed for the "Prime Minister of the Blues." Still had his trademark scotch in one hand and cigarette in the other.

JUNO Awards

It's been a very hectic week culminating with the JUNO awards. Congratulatioms to Ray Bonneville for Blues Album of the Year and to other blues-friendly winners, Madagascar Slim (World Music) and Michael Wrycraft (graphics). Slim was very modest about his win, "This Juno belongs to all the people who played on the album, but if you don't mind, I'll hold onto it."

Here I am pictured with Ray and a couple of other Blues nominees (l to r, Rene Moisan, Tom Bona, Steve Hill, Ray himself, yours truly and Michael Jerome Browne:



R.I.P Tony Flaim: Ran into Serge Sloimovits in the JUNO media room. He was shocked to hear of the death of Tony Flaim, doubly so because he had spoken to Tony following a news report on CityTv that reported on the death of former Downchild singer Hock Walsh but mistakenly aired footage of Tony with Downchild. Tony, who was very superstitious, though that was some kind of omen of impending doom - and he was right.
Welcome back Kyle: Looks like Kyle Ferguson is back with the Sidemen again. The boys will be sticking a little closer to home for a while, playing the local blues circuit. I missed their set during Canadian Music Week, but I sure do look forward to hearing them again.
Canadian Music Week: Musical highlight: Martha Wainright. She was singing with another young woman who turns out to be the daughter of Anna McGarrigle (Martha is the daughter of Kate McGarrigle and Loudon Wainright...and sister of Rufus Wainright - looks like some kind of dynasty taking shape). Other great music from Darlin, Danko Jones. I did a crub crawl down Queen Street and hear little bits of lots of bands - one group at the Bovine Sex Club must have found it hard to stay focused with TV screens all around showing 50's sci-fi soft porn flicks.
I attended part of a guitar workshop by Leslie West but once I took my seat I was sure this was some other guitar player (because he didn't weigh 300 lbs - he didn't hardly look 100 lbs). But it was Leslie West alright, transformed by a stretch in rehab and obviously a healthier lifestyle. The licks and the tone were unmistakeable, even though he's not playing a Les Paul Jr. anymore.
Words of Wisdom from ICE-T: I didn't know anything about Ice until his keynote address at Canadian Music Week. He had some great comments: "The Rock Star is the top of the food chain - you could could be the richest man - Bill Gates - but if a rock star walks into the restaurant, your bitch is climbing over you to get to him!" "When the President of the United States says your name in anger, lots of shit happens - I had the FBI, CIA, Secret Service watching me - I had an ice-cream truck parked outside my house in February." And Ice provides the Tip of the Day: "If you want to be in the music "bizniss", you have to entertain people. If you just want to entertain yourself, then play in your room or take your guitar to the park and play for all the people who walk by."
Link of the Day: www.beatnik.com. This is Thomas Dolby's new project for putting music on the web. The beatnik player allows the user to re-mix selected tunes from their favourite artist. Dolby demon strated on a tune from Moby and was able to do a remix by clicking on numerous buttons that triggers vocal parts, horn shots, strings, all the elements of the tune. Very cool.

Canadian Music Week

The big news is that Reggie Boivard is back as doorman at the Horseshoe after fourteen years!
I remember one of these music conferences when I went club-crawling for three nights and didn't see any music that I would call memorable. This year, however, I'm off to a good start and even if I don't hear anything else that grabs me, at least I saw Martha Wainright. After her set I dropped in downstairs at the Bar Code and heard Hey Stella for the first time. Michele Josef on drums and Victor Bateman was playing bass. For their encore the whole band did a little "walk-through" the audience getting the whole place to sing along some Bob Dylan song.
At a conference panel of big time managers, agents and promoters who kept talking about long-term career development, I asked if they would ever consider being part of the "talent development" of an artist who was their age - ie: would they reject out of hand an over-fifty "new face". Donald Tarlton (who I always remember as Donald K. Donald, the legendary Montreal promoter) was the moderator and he and a couple of others would not admit it but they examples they used of over-50 talent they were working with were John McDermott (an irish tenor) and the new Journey. They were not very encouraging for this 50-plus blues guy but I am not deterred.
Spoke with Donald afterwards and reminded him that he had once put me out on tour opening for April Wine. He also got me some other choice gigs, opening for Seals & Crofts and then Lou Reed (right at the time of "Walk on the Wild Side") I forgot to mention that I had played bass with one of his favourite home-grown bands, Oliver Klaus.
One club that was perfect for the music industry schmooze-fests is the new Rancho Relaxo. The entrance is next to the stage and it's lit up like a stage, so everyone entering the club has their moment "in the spotlight". Saw Darlin with Lisa LeBotniere (sp?) and Holly Go Lightly, two bands fronted by talented young women with something to say.
Dropped in at the Free Times but all my media accreditation could not get me in to see Joe Hall. He was playing with Tony Quarrington and Daisy DeBolt. Joe reminded me a lot of Allan Fraser (who partnered with Daisy to make Fraser & DeBolt back in the 60's-70's).
Got to the East Coast Showcase (Lobsterpalooza) right at the end and heard a couple of tunes by Johnny Favourite (it's not "swing orchestra" anymore - sounded more like Blood, Sweat & Tears. Michele was playing drums, Marg Stowe was burning on guitar and the horns under the direction of Rich Underhill were fabulous.

Sugar Ray, Bill & Sue

The Silver Dollar - Sugar Ray Norcia wowed Toronto again with a performance that featured his great harp playing and a very natural vocal style. Last summer's appearance at the Dollar resulted in an on-the-spot booking at the Beaches Jazz festival. I saw both performances and was knocked out by his machine-gun delivery of one song after another, usually starting the next song with a harp intro before the applause had died down. This approach didn't work as well with this new band, as the bass player scrambled to switch between string bass and electric or when guitar player Kid Bangham was caught leaning off to the side of the stage to have his king-size cigarette lit by his number one fan, Mary Schultis.
Before the set at the Dollar, I was around the corner at the Free Times Cafe listening to Bill Garrett and Sue-Ellen Lothrop with the legendary Curly Boy Stubbs. I got to hear one of my tunes, The Big Fire, performed by Sue and what a treat it was to see her performing again. She has a unique timbre to her voice and it hasn't changed in thirty years. We grew up on the same street in Sherbrooke, Quebec. Her brother married my sister. And she teamed up with Allan Fraser (pre-Fraser & DeBolt) in the 60's in a folk duo called "Breakfast" and I was their manager. We used to do some recording after-hours in the pioneer Hallmark Studios (at the time they had the first and only 1-inch 8-track recorder in Canada). Here's an old promo pic of Breakfast from 1968 or 69:

An open letter to Jeri Goldstein, author of "Be Your Own Booking Agent and Save Thousands of Dollars"

Dear Jeri, your book has been a real eye-opener and has inspired me to start tracking my own progress in the music business. Maybe it will help me deal with the obstacles and opportunities that present themselves. In the past, I've often confronted the obstacles and bypassed the opportunities instead of doing it the other way round! I am forwarding copies of Downtown Jazz and Maple Blues with reviews of your new book Thanks very much for all that information - the "hot tips" are especially relevant. I plan to offer a few tips of my own (for what they're worth).
I've been advised (by this mysterious tall guy) that I should de-lurk and get some "profile" so I'm starting now by posting this message and maybe I'm over-reacting but from now on, I'll be chronicling all my performing-career foibles and triumphs on this website. My life is an open book - "Colorblind Brian's Toronto Blues Diary" and it will feature my (mis)adventures on the music scene along with some occasional useful information.

Here's my occasional useful information on promo photos, the topic of the last few days:
How many times will a photo be used in the same publication? Usually, once. (keep fresh photos coming or consider two 5x7 poses on the same 8x10)
What's the difference between a good photo and a great photo? A good photo gets printed in the magazine. A great photo gets the cover. (a dark, moody art photo gets diddly)
Is there an easy way to provide a reproducible photo on my website? One quick and dirty way is to create an oversize version of it (ex: 10 inches wide at 72 dpi) on a separate page and create a link with some instruction like "click here to view/save a larger version." Once downloaded, the photo can be reduced in size which will increase the resolution proportionally (5 inches would be 144 dpi, 2.5 inches would be 288 dpi, etc.) and it may be suitable for some (but not all) publications.
Is there any acceptable substitute for a traditional glossy? Not really. Laserprinted photos and pseudo-glossies (photos printed on photo paper but with a fine screen of tiny dots) do not scan well. The newer high-quality ink-jet photo prints are pretty damn close to the real deal but I'm a little gun-shy ever since I used one of those, only to have it looking awful because the ink I thought was black was actually blue - and blue doesn't register when the printer is making his plates (they don't call me 'colorblind' for nothing!)



Now that I'm de-lurked, let me tell you a bit more about myself: Besides my publishing life, I am also a songwriter/performer working mostly on the blues scene, though I just got this fabulous little Guild acoustic and have been doing more folky/solo/duo gigs. My roots are actually in folk music and I made my first recording in 1963 with a folk trio that included Allan Fraser (of Fraser & DeBolt - whom I later played with and produced). I also played bass and toured with two early Canadian folksters, Dave Nicol and Tom Kelly, in the 70s (anybody know whatever happened to those guys?)

The2000 Maple Blues Awards

It was a gala event for the Canadian Blues community, produced by the Toronto Blues Society and there I was - not on the stage or on the podium - but behind the scenes, as usual. I've gotten to know many of the leading blues musicians in town, and was thrilled to see them receive their "props". Many of them knew me only as the editor of the MapleBlues magazine and didn't even realize I played until I released a CD last May. I guess I do need to work on my profile but when it comes to music I barely have time to get the guitar out of the case, let alone hustle gigs. Last Saturday was my first and (so far) last gig of the decade. But I'm not discouraged because I have my trusty copy of "Be Your Own Booking Agent and Save Thousands of Dollars." I'm reminded of an old blues axiom "There's hundreds of dollars to be made in this business."
Back to the awards evening, there were some great moments and the host Mike Bullard, had fun with the sponsor, Bell ActiMedia. "You guys can change your name all you want - we still know you're a monopoly" and "Your call display has ruined my Saturday Nights." I just found out he worked for Bell for many years. One of the highlights of my evening was having a dance with Louise Pickett, even though I was bouncing around on a broken toe...but that's another story. Her husband, Michael Pickett was honoured with the Blues with a Feeling award as well as Harmonica Player of the year. Pickett is the personification of "cool" (blues style). Last month I was playing the Winchester and just as we were starting the second show, I look down and see him standing just off to the side of the stage. I don't know if that might have made me little nervous but once we had launched into the first tune, I realized I had blanked out on the first verse. I played a guitar solo then it came around and I played another solo (and these were not very "focused" solos because I was just trying to remember the damn first line). Still stuck, I signalled Papa John King at the other end of the stage to play a solo and he looked at me like "Haven't there been enough guitar solos alrteady???" but he played one or two choruses until I finally started singing, and it wasn't even the right verse! As we started into the second tune, I saw him making his way out the side door. I hope he's not one of those harp players who hate too many guitar solos.
There were lots of other deserving recepients of Maple Blues Awards. Imagine that someone of the stature of Jack DeKeyzer had never received an award until now (he got Recording of the Year)! Morgan Davis, Michael Pickett, Alec Fraser, Gary Kendall all pillars of the blues community got their props.
For the first time, the awards were webcast around the world and they are archived at www.primeticket.net. This was a first rate production with two cameras - if you want to see the state-of-the-art in webcasting, check it out, but you'll need a fast computer, RealAudio G2 and (ideally) a high-speed internet connection.

The February Blues Festival, Barrie, Ontario

Just did my first gig of the millenium, kind of low key, an afternoon concert in a little cafe in the picturesque village of Cookstown. This is the beginning of my new solo/acoustic initiative - I even brought along a gorgeous little mahogany acoustic Guild that my friend Peter Toles lent me. It doesn't have a pickup or even a strap but I pulled it out in the middle of the show to do "The Story of the Magic Pick" a spoken word thing I recorded in the early seventies. I screwed up the words again - I'm going to have to play this one more often. The last time I practised this tune I had to pull out the 45 and confirm the lyrics that were printed on the jacket.



I didn't think the little guitar was cutting through that well and switched back to the Epiphone (with pick-up) but in the last set I broke a string and had to finish on the little Guild and I was inspired to do a little walkabout as Robin kept up a bass riff. I walked to the very back, all the way into some little ante-room where I plopped down in a big armchair. Lessons - 1)I needed more tunes, and 2) There were some extra tunes on the set list that I never brought out. Ended with a death-defying ride back to the city in a snowstorm. Several other fabulous performers participated in the festival, Carlos del Junco and a new blues guitarist who's making a buzz, Mike Branton.

The February Blues Festival, Barrie, Ontario

Just did my first gig of the millenium, kind of low key, an afternoon concert in a little cafe in the picturesque village of Cookstown. This is the beginning of my new solo/acoustic initiative - I even brought along a gorgeous little mahogany acoustic Guild that my friend Peter Toles lent me. It doesn't have a pickup or even a strap but I pulled it out in the middle of the show to do "The Story of the Magic Pick" a spoken word thing I recorded in the early seventies. I screwed up the words again - I'm going to have to play this one more often. The last time I practised this tune I had to pull out the 45 and confirm the lyrics that were printed on the jacket. I didn't think the little guitar was cutting through that well and switched back to the Epiphone (with pick-up) but in the last set I broke a string and had to finish on the little Guild and I was inspired to do a little walkabout as Robin kept up a bass riff. I walked to the very back, all the way into some little ante-room where I plopped down in a big armchair. Lessons - 1)I needed more tunes, and 2) There were some extra tunes on the set list that I never brought out. Ended with a death-defying ride back to the city in a snowstorm. Several other fabulous performers participated in the festival, Carlos del Junco and a new blues guitarist who's making a buzz, Mike Branton.

The Legendary Horseshoe

Dropped by the Shoe to hear some youth-oriented crossover blues from 20 miles, the side project of Judah Bauer, guitarist in the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion (which is far less bluesy despite the name). Tip of the Day: We can expect John Lee Hooker in our fair city in April!

Welcome 2000

I'm making a resolution to get out and play guitar at every opportunity - I even brought a guitar to a party without being asked. Then a couple of days later I was at a party with a group of old-timey and country players and there it was a more organized "song circle" so that everyone got a turn. When it came to my turn, I thought I'd pull out one of the few country songs I knew - Hank Snow's "I'm Moving On" so I started into in but no-one joined in, a couple of guys even put down their guitars and headed back to the kitchen. I finished it unceremoniously and one of the veterans of this groups leaned over and said "No one knew the rhythm you were using" and played it the way Hank did ...and I guess I had bluesed it up over the years. But I recovered with a version of Midnight Special that was closer to the trad arrangement - though it too had strayed over the years. There was a point where I looked out at that group of players and realized that I was using a barre chord that few if any of the other players knew. Quite the opposite of the Tony Quarrington experience. (Lesson Learned: There will be times when you're the least knowledgeable in the group and there will be times that you're the most knowledgeable in the group. Accept it and have fun)

Christmas 1999

There was a party at Daisy DeBolt's and there I found myself face to face (guitar to guitar) with Tony Quarington. I played a couple of simple tunes - mostly tunes I hadn't played in quite a while when maybe I should have stuck to tunes that I know. Tony turned to me at one point and said "play one of your own tunes" and do you think I could come up with something appropriate??? Of course, driving home I start to think of all the tunes I could have pulled out (Tip of the Day: Always have a couple of easy-to-follow originals to pull out at the least provocation). Then it was Tony's turn and he launched into a jazz tune that was so full of chords that looked so alien to me it might as well have been a different instrument. I felt like putting away my guitar for good!