Friday, January 20, 2017
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Blainletter #87b | Happy New Year | Return of the Blues Campfire | New songs in the works
|
|
|
Sunday, November 27, 2016
Saturday, November 26, 2016
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends though I dare say most are not feeling very thankful these days. Is it any consolation that it probably won't be as bad as we expect. A special greeting to my biggest fan in the states, Alice Brock, who will probably be the subject of more interviews and articles this week because she's been the poster-gal for Thanksgiving ever since Arlo put out "Alice's Restaurant."
There are no gigs coming up in December but I had to get out this Blainletter because there's so much else to write about starting with all the great musicians who passed away this month - Leonard, Leon, Mose Allison and now Sharon Jones.
Meanwhile, a local favourite, Brian Cober, is having a serious health crisis and a tribute concert was held last Friday at Grossman's, where he's had an 11-year run of his weekly jam. Most of the Grossman's regulars were joined by some top notch players including Daniel Lanois who rode in on a motorcycle did a couple of tunes on Mike Daley's Telecaster, playing it so hard that someone said there was blood on the floor. I wasn't there but I watched it on Facebook Live. It was not as smooth as watching something on TV but it was quite manageable. It was amazing watching Lanois getting all these out-of-this-world sounds from a borrowed guitar and no fancy pedals and gadgetry. It's all in the fingers, like they say.
My fingers were practically bleeding the last couple of times I played (I did a couple of Mondays at Wolf Like Me but alas, they've decided to get some big screen TVs and turn it into a sports bar. Another one bites the dust - everybody that played there loved it! Just down the road on College, it seems Fat City Blues is back on their feet. It's a terrific room - I may have been a bit premature when I announced their demise in the MapleBlues, but its was just a "hiatus". Get out there and encourage them (and any other live music venues that are still standing).
Nowadays everybody's quite curious about Toronto's glory days as a music city, and it still is a great music city - just not the kind of music I'm playing. But I am still having fun making music on the old laptop and we're going to get that out one of these days. I have a new collaborator that I got together with while Joel is in the States and I can hardly wait to see what kind of sounds we can put out when it's the three of us. Stand by for Stringbuster.
Speaking of the glory days, I'm sitting on a big box of ten-inch reels of recordings from the early days of Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks. And I think some the Hawks without Ronnie. It was Paul Benedict who gave them to me - he was on the road with Ronnie for ten years. He passed away this year and we had a nice musical celebration of his life out in Stratford a few months back.
Here's a little treasure that was restored from the community television (cable) station where I did a weekly show for a while. They put up one show with me interviewing this old couple and here's one of me playing with my "one-man-band" rig featuring the sought-after Roland TB-303 Bassline.
I've told you all about the Fraser & DeBolt double album that Roaratorio Records just put out but I never told you the story of how one song got left off (and ironically was left off the album it was originally recorded for, Fraser & DeBolt With Pleasure). I was the producer and we had to leave it off and there was simply no room - you had 22 min per side and any more than that, you would be risking skips in the record. James at Roaratorio loved the tune and considered it a real centerpiece of the album but at the last minute, after the album was mastered, the author declined permission to use it and we had to find a couple of tunes to replace it. Then, wouldn't ya know, he changed his mind and granted permission and, because he thought this was such an important part of the F & DeB dicography, James decided to put it out as an EP. You can buy/hear it here:
There are no gigs coming up in December but I had to get out this Blainletter because there's so much else to write about starting with all the great musicians who passed away this month - Leonard, Leon, Mose Allison and now Sharon Jones.
Meanwhile, a local favourite, Brian Cober, is having a serious health crisis and a tribute concert was held last Friday at Grossman's, where he's had an 11-year run of his weekly jam. Most of the Grossman's regulars were joined by some top notch players including Daniel Lanois who rode in on a motorcycle did a couple of tunes on Mike Daley's Telecaster, playing it so hard that someone said there was blood on the floor. I wasn't there but I watched it on Facebook Live. It was not as smooth as watching something on TV but it was quite manageable. It was amazing watching Lanois getting all these out-of-this-world sounds from a borrowed guitar and no fancy pedals and gadgetry. It's all in the fingers, like they say.
My fingers were practically bleeding the last couple of times I played (I did a couple of Mondays at Wolf Like Me but alas, they've decided to get some big screen TVs and turn it into a sports bar. Another one bites the dust - everybody that played there loved it! Just down the road on College, it seems Fat City Blues is back on their feet. It's a terrific room - I may have been a bit premature when I announced their demise in the MapleBlues, but its was just a "hiatus". Get out there and encourage them (and any other live music venues that are still standing).
Nowadays everybody's quite curious about Toronto's glory days as a music city, and it still is a great music city - just not the kind of music I'm playing. But I am still having fun making music on the old laptop and we're going to get that out one of these days. I have a new collaborator that I got together with while Joel is in the States and I can hardly wait to see what kind of sounds we can put out when it's the three of us. Stand by for Stringbuster.
Speaking of the glory days, I'm sitting on a big box of ten-inch reels of recordings from the early days of Ronnie Hawkins and the Hawks. And I think some the Hawks without Ronnie. It was Paul Benedict who gave them to me - he was on the road with Ronnie for ten years. He passed away this year and we had a nice musical celebration of his life out in Stratford a few months back.
Here's a little treasure that was restored from the community television (cable) station where I did a weekly show for a while. They put up one show with me interviewing this old couple and here's one of me playing with my "one-man-band" rig featuring the sought-after Roland TB-303 Bassline.
I've told you all about the Fraser & DeBolt double album that Roaratorio Records just put out but I never told you the story of how one song got left off (and ironically was left off the album it was originally recorded for, Fraser & DeBolt With Pleasure). I was the producer and we had to leave it off and there was simply no room - you had 22 min per side and any more than that, you would be risking skips in the record. James at Roaratorio loved the tune and considered it a real centerpiece of the album but at the last minute, after the album was mastered, the author declined permission to use it and we had to find a couple of tunes to replace it. Then, wouldn't ya know, he changed his mind and granted permission and, because he thought this was such an important part of the F & DeB dicography, James decided to put it out as an EP. You can buy/hear it here:
Sunday, November 13, 2016
What a week, cont'd
Two amazing musicians died this week. Leon Russel blew my mind when I picked up his debut album. I was not a record collector. I did not own a lot of records and I don't know how I came to own that album but I remember that blue cover like yesterday and I played the shit out of it. I loved his playing and his attack on the piano and I think it was a big influence on my guitar playing.
Then there's Leonard Cohen. The opposite of the slickness and drive that Leon put out and he was not really my cup of tea. Though I saw a couple of his shows and I was even in the same room as him a couple of times I never really met him. But I dare say that I was a bit of an influence on him. Let me tell you the story.
In 72-73 I was performing with 3 female back up singers. Just me and the girls (the original Blainettes, sue Lothrop, Joanne Smith and Estelle St-Croix) This is when I had just signed with Good Noise Records and they were giving us the big push. We had some choice gigs opening for Lou Reed and Seals & Crofts and were first on in a huge benefit concert in Montreal for the displaced natives of James Bay. Joni Mitchell, Loudon Wainwright and many big Quebec stars were on the bill.
Anyway, one day I get a call while I was back in Sherbrooke at my parents' place from Lewis Furey who I had played with briefly and who was always hanging around the Good Noise offices - he was quite smitten with our receptionist but also expecting that sooner or later Andre Perry would recognize his talent and sign him up too. I seem to remember him saying to my face " How come he won't sign me and he signed YOU??" He was a pretty straightforward guy, and a bit "entitled" but he certainly proved that he was a big (multi)talent and had a great career in Quebec and France, even though he was just too precious to make it in the states.
But back to that phone call, it was Lewis calling to say he hoped I didn't mind but he had just hired 2 of my 3 back-up singers to work with him. Well there wasn't much to say but I felt a little put off by that and didn't really have a lot of work at that point. But then it was only a few months later that I heard Leonard Cohen had scooped 2 of the three singers from Lewis (who was a friend and collaborator of Cohen's - they wrote a musical together. So that's my rather distant "influence" on Leonard Cohen. He had never used backup singers till then and they became an essential part of his sound forevermore.
As I sidebar to this story, I just learned this week as I was reading about Cohen's passing that his most famous song, "Hallelujah" was produced and arranged by John Lissauer, who was the arranger on my sessions in Montreal. In fact, these may have been the first sessions he worked on when he was brought up from New York by Frazier Mohawk, who was producing. John went on to produce a couple of albums for Lewis and that classic album for Leonard, which I just learned was initially rejected by Cohen's label, and ended up being released on a small independent label. Walter Yetnikoff, the head of Columbia did not like the synthesizers (never before used on a Cohen album) and thought it wasn't commercial enough. Columbia later bought back the master when they released all Cohen's work on CD. But since the record had been rejected, no contract was ever signed by Lissauer and he never saw a penny from that recording. He's quite stoic about the whole thing, even though it became one of the most covered songs in history...and though he would never claim any authorship, some of those chords were a bit beyond what Leonard was used to strumming on that old classical guitar of his. Lissauer never pursued it and never worked with Cohen again. He even stated that he felt a little guilty that his production had derailed Cohen's career. And if even a classic like "Hallelujah" could be rejected by the biggest label of the day, maybe some of my songwriter friends reading this can have a little hope that their dismissed masterpiece might one day be a classic, too.
Then there's Leonard Cohen. The opposite of the slickness and drive that Leon put out and he was not really my cup of tea. Though I saw a couple of his shows and I was even in the same room as him a couple of times I never really met him. But I dare say that I was a bit of an influence on him. Let me tell you the story.
In 72-73 I was performing with 3 female back up singers. Just me and the girls (the original Blainettes, sue Lothrop, Joanne Smith and Estelle St-Croix) This is when I had just signed with Good Noise Records and they were giving us the big push. We had some choice gigs opening for Lou Reed and Seals & Crofts and were first on in a huge benefit concert in Montreal for the displaced natives of James Bay. Joni Mitchell, Loudon Wainwright and many big Quebec stars were on the bill.
Anyway, one day I get a call while I was back in Sherbrooke at my parents' place from Lewis Furey who I had played with briefly and who was always hanging around the Good Noise offices - he was quite smitten with our receptionist but also expecting that sooner or later Andre Perry would recognize his talent and sign him up too. I seem to remember him saying to my face " How come he won't sign me and he signed YOU??" He was a pretty straightforward guy, and a bit "entitled" but he certainly proved that he was a big (multi)talent and had a great career in Quebec and France, even though he was just too precious to make it in the states.
But back to that phone call, it was Lewis calling to say he hoped I didn't mind but he had just hired 2 of my 3 back-up singers to work with him. Well there wasn't much to say but I felt a little put off by that and didn't really have a lot of work at that point. But then it was only a few months later that I heard Leonard Cohen had scooped 2 of the three singers from Lewis (who was a friend and collaborator of Cohen's - they wrote a musical together. So that's my rather distant "influence" on Leonard Cohen. He had never used backup singers till then and they became an essential part of his sound forevermore.
As I sidebar to this story, I just learned this week as I was reading about Cohen's passing that his most famous song, "Hallelujah" was produced and arranged by John Lissauer, who was the arranger on my sessions in Montreal. In fact, these may have been the first sessions he worked on when he was brought up from New York by Frazier Mohawk, who was producing. John went on to produce a couple of albums for Lewis and that classic album for Leonard, which I just learned was initially rejected by Cohen's label, and ended up being released on a small independent label. Walter Yetnikoff, the head of Columbia did not like the synthesizers (never before used on a Cohen album) and thought it wasn't commercial enough. Columbia later bought back the master when they released all Cohen's work on CD. But since the record had been rejected, no contract was ever signed by Lissauer and he never saw a penny from that recording. He's quite stoic about the whole thing, even though it became one of the most covered songs in history...and though he would never claim any authorship, some of those chords were a bit beyond what Leonard was used to strumming on that old classical guitar of his. Lissauer never pursued it and never worked with Cohen again. He even stated that he felt a little guilty that his production had derailed Cohen's career. And if even a classic like "Hallelujah" could be rejected by the biggest label of the day, maybe some of my songwriter friends reading this can have a little hope that their dismissed masterpiece might one day be a classic, too.
Friday, November 11, 2016
What a Week
It's Remembrance Day and I just took a break from my croissant and coffee at 11 for a moment of silence for the veterans. I don't have a lot of early childhood memories but I do remember being taken to the ceremonies at the Cenotaph in Sherbrooke standing by my dad in his full military regalia. Then there would be some socializing at the Armoury of the Sherbrooke Regiment. PTSD is not a term that existed in those days but surely my father suffered from it. My mother said many times that when he came back from the war he was not the same man. And I dare say that I was also a victim of his PTSD. There were lots of good things in my childhood - I had it quite easy, but no matter how much love or attention I surely received from him, it was always overlaid with a sense of fear that never went away. I guess I could have tried harder to gain his approval, or had the courage to stand up to him, but I just kept my head low and got out of there as soon as I could and never looked back.
As I try to be a better Buddhist I had an interesting experience a couple of days ago at the Tim Hortons. I had ordered my breakfast sandwich and set my coffee down at a table that was free. As I waited at the counter, I watched as an elderly, rather scruffy, Chinese gentleman shuffled over to my table, sat down and removed the top off my coffee. I stopped him before he could get his first swig, saying that was my coffee, and he just stood up and left. I then sat eating my breakfast thinking "I should have just bought the old boy a coffee." And then I had a moment of self-satisfaction thinking "well, at least I realized that I should have had a little compassion" so maybe that was a small step towards being a Boddhisattva. Intention is everything, right? Then as I was finishing my sandwich, lo and behold, he walks back in right past me and sits at a table behind me reading the Chinese newspaper and trying to look like he belongs. And I'm thinking, "that's Buddha who just walked in and I have a second chance to do the right thing." (he did look a lot like an old Buddhist monk). There was still lots of coffee left in my cardboard cup so as I left, I set it down on his table. He said "Thank You, Thank You very much." And now I'm just left with the thought, "I should have bought him his own coffee...and maybe a donut...he was probably hungry..." but, hey, we do what we can and hope for the best.
Speaking of hoping for the best, I had trouble getting to sleep on election night...and I never have trouble getting to sleep! What have they wrought upon themselves, those poor Americans. I remember a quote from Adlai Stevenson when he was running for President. After one of his stump speeches, a supporter told him "Every thinking American will vote for your" and Stevenson replied, "yes, but I need a majority!" Some people are calling it a "white-lash" and maybe a Trump presidency will sustain the last vestiges of white supremacy for another generation by making anyone who isn't white and Christian feel less welcome at the table. Why is it that human nature makes people feel better about themselves by feeling that they're better than someone else? Religion just reinforces that tendency, even when it is cloaked in love and compassion. "God loves you sinners, too." Though there are probably as many God-fearing Christians who think the unfaithful will burn in hell. That's still not as bad as the fundamentalist Muslims who think infidels should be killed and are willing to die trying. Yikes! So glad I found a spiritual practice that has no God, no priests and no judgement but still provides a way to elevate our life condition and remind us that there is more to our life than the mundane day-to-day existence, no matter how comfortable.
As I try to be a better Buddhist I had an interesting experience a couple of days ago at the Tim Hortons. I had ordered my breakfast sandwich and set my coffee down at a table that was free. As I waited at the counter, I watched as an elderly, rather scruffy, Chinese gentleman shuffled over to my table, sat down and removed the top off my coffee. I stopped him before he could get his first swig, saying that was my coffee, and he just stood up and left. I then sat eating my breakfast thinking "I should have just bought the old boy a coffee." And then I had a moment of self-satisfaction thinking "well, at least I realized that I should have had a little compassion" so maybe that was a small step towards being a Boddhisattva. Intention is everything, right? Then as I was finishing my sandwich, lo and behold, he walks back in right past me and sits at a table behind me reading the Chinese newspaper and trying to look like he belongs. And I'm thinking, "that's Buddha who just walked in and I have a second chance to do the right thing." (he did look a lot like an old Buddhist monk). There was still lots of coffee left in my cardboard cup so as I left, I set it down on his table. He said "Thank You, Thank You very much." And now I'm just left with the thought, "I should have bought him his own coffee...and maybe a donut...he was probably hungry..." but, hey, we do what we can and hope for the best.
Speaking of hoping for the best, I had trouble getting to sleep on election night...and I never have trouble getting to sleep! What have they wrought upon themselves, those poor Americans. I remember a quote from Adlai Stevenson when he was running for President. After one of his stump speeches, a supporter told him "Every thinking American will vote for your" and Stevenson replied, "yes, but I need a majority!" Some people are calling it a "white-lash" and maybe a Trump presidency will sustain the last vestiges of white supremacy for another generation by making anyone who isn't white and Christian feel less welcome at the table. Why is it that human nature makes people feel better about themselves by feeling that they're better than someone else? Religion just reinforces that tendency, even when it is cloaked in love and compassion. "God loves you sinners, too." Though there are probably as many God-fearing Christians who think the unfaithful will burn in hell. That's still not as bad as the fundamentalist Muslims who think infidels should be killed and are willing to die trying. Yikes! So glad I found a spiritual practice that has no God, no priests and no judgement but still provides a way to elevate our life condition and remind us that there is more to our life than the mundane day-to-day existence, no matter how comfortable.
Sunday, November 6, 2016
Friday, November 4, 2016
Sunday, October 30, 2016
Friday, October 28, 2016
Folkin Around in Ottawa
The Folk Music Ontario Conference is the annual love-in of folk and roots musicians and those who support this genre, with radio shows on community and campus radio, booking and managing folk artists, publishing folk-friendly magazines like Penguin Eggs and MapleBlues and a (very) few folk record labels. It was my role as (barely)managing editor of Maple Blues that brought me to the conference but I was happy to be invited to perform in of one of the private showcase rooms called Harlan's Porch. In previous years, I brought my campfire and hosted the late night jam but this year I told her I didn't have it in me to stay up till 5am (but I let them use my campfire anyway). Apparently they went till 6:30! It was hosted by publicist Beverly Kreller and Howard Druckman, who is editor of SOCAN Words & Music - now digital only. I forgot to ask him how that was going, but I'm sure SOCAN has saved a lot of money since they stopped printing that glossy mag. I miss it. There's no substitute for a hard copy, as they say, and I have to admit I haven't spent much time checking out their online edition.
My showcases were sparsely attended but as I looked around I realized that all those earnest young folksingers down the hall would have given their eye teeth to have the folks who came out to see me - record labels, studio owners, festival founders...but it's not because they came to sign me or hire me, it's because they're friends who wanted to support me. And the brutal truth is that the real "stakeholders" in the folk music industry already know what showcases they're going to see and it's going to be firstly the artists that they are already working with and then perhaps one or two acts that they are considering and they just want to see them playing live.
I referred to the "Corridor of Broken Dreams" when I saw the photo of the hallway of the 4th floor of the Delta Hotel where all the showcases took place. The walls had been entirely plastered with posters and I guess conference staff/volunteers had been ordered to take them all down on Sunday morning (but not necessarily remove them), so they were left on the floor, making for a rather slippery walk as I made my way to Folk Roots Radio's temporary studio for my Sunday morning interview with Jan Hall, who was M.C. for the "official" showcases and how that woman managed to remember so many details about the bands she was introducing, I'll never know. No clipboard, no crib notes, just a great memory, I guess. And what a great interview we had. I talked about my early days in Sherbrooke, my adventures with computers and my new ventures into electronica with my son Joel (aka Coi). I did a couple of tunes live and playing the blues at 9:30 in the morning is no mean feat. If you want to hear me blabbing about myself for 37 minutes, check it out here. If you want a more succinct summary of what I've been up to, I just did a much shorter interview with John Valenteyn on CIUT-FM yesterday and it will be on their website till next Thurs. Hurry Hurry :-)
I didn't stay up any longer than I had to (ie: my own showcases) so I missed out on discovering dozens of up-and-comers but I heard plenty of great music, starting with a strong Blues showcase on the Friday afternoon with Dione Taylor (who was my buddy Russ Kelley's discovery of the week-end), Suzie Vinnick, Jesse Greene and young Angelique Francis. The Indiginous Showcase was also real powerful with performances by Nick Sherman, Leonard Sumner and the most amazing Quantum Angle. Below is an 8-minute compilation from Saturday and they are the duo with a heavy looped sound and some real theatrics.
That compilation starts with a bit of Ian Tamblyn, a most revered folkie in the community, who regaled us with stories of his adventures in Canada's arctic where he often performs and whips around in a Zodiac inflatable boat. A couple of hours later, I was trapped with him in a crowded, stuck elevator for half an hour so I got to hear some follow up on the stories he told at the showcase - one about a friend who was was at the water's edge skipping stones in the water when one of the stones she picked up was not a stone at all but a small ivory carving of a polar bear that turns out to be 2500 years old. Ian sent me a picture of it:
I guess the elevator episode could be called a highlight of the week-end. Ian not only told us stories but even demonstrated some impressive sleight-of hand and we had Tannis Slimmon there leading us in some gospel tunes. After a while, it was starting to get a little hot in there and our link with the outside world was a disembodied voice with a far-away accent who just kept repeating "a technician has been dispatched to your location" and it wasn't until one lady started shouting "I can't breathe, call 911!" that some hotel staff appeared on the other side of the door and pried it open. They're probably under orders to wait for the elevator technician, but they could have done that right at the beginning. I was already exhausted before I got in the damn elevator so I thought maybe this was an opportunity to lie down and regain my strength (now that I'm 70 years old, I think I'm allowed!). Anyway the young night manager told me that was impossible, all the rooms were booked, and offered me a chair and a bottle of water. In my experience with Delta hotels, they always bend over backwards to make up for any inconvenience to their patrons but this young lady was downright confrontational. I guess she'd had it up to here with the folkies...
My showcases were sparsely attended but as I looked around I realized that all those earnest young folksingers down the hall would have given their eye teeth to have the folks who came out to see me - record labels, studio owners, festival founders...but it's not because they came to sign me or hire me, it's because they're friends who wanted to support me. And the brutal truth is that the real "stakeholders" in the folk music industry already know what showcases they're going to see and it's going to be firstly the artists that they are already working with and then perhaps one or two acts that they are considering and they just want to see them playing live.
I didn't stay up any longer than I had to (ie: my own showcases) so I missed out on discovering dozens of up-and-comers but I heard plenty of great music, starting with a strong Blues showcase on the Friday afternoon with Dione Taylor (who was my buddy Russ Kelley's discovery of the week-end), Suzie Vinnick, Jesse Greene and young Angelique Francis. The Indiginous Showcase was also real powerful with performances by Nick Sherman, Leonard Sumner and the most amazing Quantum Angle. Below is an 8-minute compilation from Saturday and they are the duo with a heavy looped sound and some real theatrics.
That compilation starts with a bit of Ian Tamblyn, a most revered folkie in the community, who regaled us with stories of his adventures in Canada's arctic where he often performs and whips around in a Zodiac inflatable boat. A couple of hours later, I was trapped with him in a crowded, stuck elevator for half an hour so I got to hear some follow up on the stories he told at the showcase - one about a friend who was was at the water's edge skipping stones in the water when one of the stones she picked up was not a stone at all but a small ivory carving of a polar bear that turns out to be 2500 years old. Ian sent me a picture of it:
I guess the elevator episode could be called a highlight of the week-end. Ian not only told us stories but even demonstrated some impressive sleight-of hand and we had Tannis Slimmon there leading us in some gospel tunes. After a while, it was starting to get a little hot in there and our link with the outside world was a disembodied voice with a far-away accent who just kept repeating "a technician has been dispatched to your location" and it wasn't until one lady started shouting "I can't breathe, call 911!" that some hotel staff appeared on the other side of the door and pried it open. They're probably under orders to wait for the elevator technician, but they could have done that right at the beginning. I was already exhausted before I got in the damn elevator so I thought maybe this was an opportunity to lie down and regain my strength (now that I'm 70 years old, I think I'm allowed!). Anyway the young night manager told me that was impossible, all the rooms were booked, and offered me a chair and a bottle of water. In my experience with Delta hotels, they always bend over backwards to make up for any inconvenience to their patrons but this young lady was downright confrontational. I guess she'd had it up to here with the folkies...
Friday, October 21, 2016
Thursday, October 20, 2016
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Out and About
Colin James sailed through town to promote his upcoming CD Release (featuring all the old blues classics that introduced him to the blues). The band was top notch - not sure if this will be the touring unit. He said this was their first time playing together in 2 weeks. Steve Marriner (Monkey Junk and just announced M.C of the Maple Blues Awards), Jesse O'Brien, Chris Caddell on second guitar, John Dymond on bass and I don't know who on drums, but I saw Gary Craig in the house - who is usually joined at the hip with Dymond. Would have liked to see Al Baby Webster on drums but nothing is forever. Last time I saw Colin it was a big stage/special event somewhere, and he had 5 or 6 amps all on wheels and tied together so the roadie just pulled the train onto the stage. Now CJ seemed comfortable with a single Matchless amp (which is a Rolls Royce of an amp). This was a rare occasion to see him close up and personal and as you can see from the video, I was pretty damn close. This was filmed on my iPhone SE and edited with the iMovie app on the iPhone. That's a first for me. Enjoy
Speaking of the video, I wish I could have shared a clip of Ramblin Jack Elliot who played Hugh's Room on Sunday Night but there were big signs posted "No Video Recording or photos" in addition to a personal appeal from MC/promoter Richard Flohil for "no recording" as he introduced him. I guess they were thinking that at 85 he might not always have a good night but this would count as one. I was so glad to meet him, and as they always say when you get up to that age, you never know if you'll get the chance to see him again. And I was able to get him my CD with my song about our mutual friend, Alice Brock. In fact, he joked about the first time anyone ever shouted "shut up and sing" it was Ray Brock at the venue that I think later became one of Alice's Restaurants. He sang plenty of songs and didn't "ramble on" too much. He had some great stories and ended by telling us he was about to get on a plane (more like 3 planes) to go to Arizona where Kris Kristofferson was to be honoured with some kind of Lifetime Achievement Award. They asked Jack to sing three of Kris' songs but he says "I only know one, Me and Bobby McGhee, so I guess I'll just sing it three times."
Saturday, October 15, 2016
Roger Kellaway at Jazz Bistro
Back in the early 70s I met a couple of great musicians who had just moved to Toronto, Chuck Aarons and Jim Ackley, known as Aarons and Ackley. I was crashing at a hippie commune at 127 Hazleton and they lived at 119 Hazleton. They were signed to Capitol Records and were on the fast track to the big time. I remember Jim Ackley talking about a piano player in his hometown, LA, that he was totally hooked on. He had a couple of his albums and played them for anyone that came to 119. That piano player was Roger Kellaway, who had an impressive resume even back then and has worked with everyone from Ellington to Elvis, Dizzy Gillespie to Yo-Yo Ma and Joni Mitchell to Mancini.
Well when my friend Peter invited me to the Bistro tonight I recognized the name right away and sure enough was not disappointed. He is no doubt a jazz giant, even though in his long career he has ventured far beyond straight-ahead jazz but here he is playing with a couple of local "jazz giants," Neil Swainson and Terry Clarke. As they say, it doesn't get any better.
Friday, October 14, 2016
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Sunday, October 2, 2016
Saturday, October 1, 2016
Tuesday, September 20, 2016
Sunday, September 18, 2016
Brian's Birthday Blainletter
Still basking in all the love that came my way for my 70th birthday. There's still a few streamers hanging from the ceiling and some birthday balloons. Almost lost my balloons when they were alI sucked into my ceiling fan. I must have got 200 Facebook birthday greetings and if that didn't have me feeling acknowledged enough, it was very nice to get a shout out from Kerry Doole in the FYI news and Holger Peterson on Saturday Night Blues. And the day before my birthday, New Folk Blues 2.0 got a nice review in the Saturday Vancouver Sun. They call me "understated" and I would have to agree. Definitely not pushy enough J
As I have written here more than once, now that I'm retired, I just don't have it in me to chase gigs and when I do get in front of an audience, they're not always ready for my quiet folky blues. Solution: I continue to develop my new musical project that is designed for audiences that prefer more "ambient" sounds and I am generating them with my new "hyper-looper" which takes looping to a whole new level. It's still taking shape but I took it out to a meeting of the Toronto Ableton Users Group and Joel & I kicked off their first "Link Jam," where about ten guys (yes, they were all guys) were all jamming on their Macbooks or iPads and everybody perfectly in sync (thanks to Link). The great thing about the "hyper-looper" is that it loops MIDI data, not audio, and those notes can be sliced and diced and also shared with others – ie, the Link Jam. Brian's Campfire Jams will never be the same again. Instead of bringing guitars, they'll be bringing iPads!
On The Cape: Had a very relaxing time for the last couple of weeks. Sitting in the quiet back yard of my best ex where there is no cell service and only a pathetic dial-up internet connection. I spent the best part of an hour watching a woodpecker work on every branch of a small tree. When I'm there I try to make sure I have lobster (in one form or another) at least once a day. I didn't quite achieve that but if there weren't lobsters, there were clams or oysters. A visit to the Cape would not be complete without a visit to my friend Alice (yes, THAT Alice) in Provincetown. She has moved and doesn't have a storefront gallery any more but you can still order her painted beach stones online at ww.alicebrock.com. There was one big show in the tent they set up at Payomet – it was Beausoleil, zydeco music from Louisiana, but we ended up spending the afternoon walking around Wellfleet where every store and gallery (and a few private homes) had musicians playing on their porch (or lawn). Ran into Ken & Donna Irwin –Ken is the Rounder Founder and still seems to be quite involved with the label even though it's been sold to Concord. Donna's launching a new concert series in the park at Newburyport and celebrating a big birthday right about now. Wish I was there!
I drove back from the Cape with Linda and she will be hanging out in TO for a while. We did a stopover in the Townships and visited friends including my collaborator on my French soon-to-be-a-hit anthem, Ramene Moi Demain. We settled on an English translation so now I am going to create a new video for the tune and this one will have English subtitles. Just bought some video editing software and as soon as I install it, that will be my first project. I remember joking with a bunch of musicians in the green room at Healey's Roadhouse that pretty soon, every musician would have to be able to edit video as well as play guitar if he wanted to sustain a career and ain't it true!
But back to the birthday, we celebrated in the best possible way – with a bunch of musicians jamming in my back yard. It was a splendid gathering of talented players and I had a great time but sorry that I hardly got to visit with some friends, and especially sorry that I didn't really manage the jam so that everybody got a chance to sing. I don't think Noah Zacharin got to sing a single tune (or Laura). Can't wait to hear his new CD – being released next Sunday at Grafitti's in Kensington Market.
Speaking of Kensington Market, I didn't get to take in any of the inaugural Kensington Market Jazz Festival but planning to drop in on George Koller's jazzelectronica gig at the Handelbar tomorrow at 5pm. And I just got back from a rather soggy afternoon at the Toronto Urban Roots Festival festival. But the sun came out halfway through the Sheepdogs set. Jimmy Bowskill brings a lot to the table, listen to him ripping it up on the pedal steel.
via Instagram @brianblain
via Instagram @brianblain
The Sadies are staples at this festival and if you like the Sadies you'll probably like most of the music at TURF. Here's their take on an old gospel tune:
via Instagram @brianblain
via Instagram @brianblain
Saturday, September 17, 2016
Tuesday, August 23, 2016
Sunday, August 21, 2016
Friday, August 12, 2016
Saturday, August 6, 2016
Blainletter 83 – Hot Summer Night Edition | Flurry of Festivals | CD Launch Oct 29 at the Old Mill
It's been so long since my last Blainletter, I don't hardly
know where to start. Oh yeah…gigs! Well as usual I'm giving you kinda short notice, I'll be doing a short set tomorrow, Saturday Afternoon August 6
at 2pm at the "Words & Music Salon" at
Vino Rosso, 995 Bay St. And if you're
not ready for an afternoon of music and poetry, run don't walk to the Kitchener
Blues Festival where Harry Manx is doing a set at 3pm.
Then unless something comes up, it's over to October for me
when I'll be making an appearance or two in my old stomping grounds, the Eastern
Townships then back for a return engagement at the Home Smith Bar in the Old
Mill on Saturday, October 29. Since we
never had an official "launch" for New Folk Blues 2.0, this will be
it. I will be bringing together some of the players who helped with the
"upgrade" – Alison Young , Michelle Josef and of course the
illustrious George Koller who recorded the original tracks with me. We're calling this a "re-boot" and
my friend Gary Kendall is putting on his publicist hat and helping me get version
2.0 out to the world.
A Flurry of Festivals
The first video you see if you go deeper into the
Blainletter is what was just going on at the foot of my street a couple of
weeks ago. Sort of a hybrid South Asian
bangra rock. As I walked down my street I could make out real musical
instruments being played by real musicians – this is not the typical fare at
the Festival of South Asia where the main attraction is the wedding fashion
show. Anyway, as I got close up I could
see that the musicians were kind-of add-ons to the recorded track. They were playing allright, but if they
stopped playing you wouldn't even notice.
This follows a fabulous Afrofest last week-end which was a
little further down the street but still just a walk away from my place. Lots of great food and music, everybody
dressed in their tribal colours. I was
sitting next to one woman who had given the cold shoulder to a handsome
gentleman only to chase after a guy who just walked by. She could tell by the
clothes he was wearing that he was from her country.
Both these festivals are genuine "community"
events, unlike the festivals I attend or work for. And it just occurred to me that I didn't see
a single black person at the South Asian festival and I didn't see a single
South Asian at Afrofest. We love the
multicultural diverse thang, but left to their own devices, most cultures tend
to stick with their own …except for a
lot of white people like myself who want to take it all in.
A few nights later I got a taste of afro-blues in a free
concert at Roy Thomson Hall in their beautiful "poolside patio." A great setting and some great
programming. They had a blues week-end
and this was afrobeat just the way I
like it with an amazing kora/guitar player.
The video is here.
The Day before that Afro-Blues at RTH, I was at a music industry gathering
of folk who made millions in the music business, collectively and even
individually. Some who lived in lavish homes and others who didn't have a pot
to piss in. But there's a brotherhood there
– I'm not really part of it but I do get invited to it and always run into a
few folks I know or whom I've heard of.
This time I met Nicolas Jennings, a great chronicler of the Canadian
music scene. And here was Peter Moore, a master mastering engineer – and an
expert at restoring old tapes (which I
did not realize until I was sharing my story of restoring the Fraser &
DeBolt tapes until he finally blurts out "That's what I do – that's my
wheelhouse!") I didn't know he did tape restoration, I just knew him as
the best mastering guy in town – although it's a funny thing about mastering
guys. They might be praised to the sky
by one client and dismissed by the next person you talk to. But now Peter's got a Grammy for the Bob
Dylan Basement Tapes (and he brought it to the party) so that will shut up any
critics. I wanted to get my picture holding the Grammy but I was told that
would be bad luck – meaning I would never get one of my own, I guess.
Personally I've never used Peter for mastering but I would not hesitate and now
that I know he's the miracle man of tape restoration I passed on his info to
the label that put out the Fraser & DeBolt because I think they sometimes
have to do some audio "rescues." One guy at the party made my day when
he responded to our introduction with "Brian Blain? Are you the guy that
did that song about a girl and a car?"
I said "Saab Story?" then he went on and on about how he heard
it many times on Jazz FM and how the song posed so many questions…
Then there is the wonderful Toronto Jazz Festival where I am
semi-retired, part-time Managing Editor, though it was pretty damn full time
for those ten days. Double-time! But I ain't complaining. Got to hear some
great music close-up and all I had to was to get lots of great pictures on the
website and make sure that everybody's internet was working. No big fires to put out this year though
there was much more security even though half of them were tiny young women
five feet tall. When it comes to
stopping a fence jumper (and we had a couple) they were quite ineffectual. They were good for checking people's bags
(first time we ever had to do that), but that's not security.
There was a bit less of the backstage party atmosphere than
previous years but it's what happens on stage that counts and as always I had
my mind blown a few times. One thing, there were no guitar stars at all! Hell, we had some festivals where it was
"the Year of the Guitar!" Not this time. And I didn't get to hear any blues on the
Square until the last day – my buddy Raoul and his Bigger Time band kickin ass.
But I didn't say there was no soul at the festival. Sharon Jones gave a performance that will go
down in Toronto music lore. Unbeknownst
to the audience she had come directly from St Mike's Hospital where she had
some treatment for the cancer which has returned into her life. But you wouldn't have known it from the show
she gave. Everybody knew she was not
well and I had overheard backstage that the band & singers would be doing 5
tunes before she came on but after a couple, she pounced onto that stage and
sang like it was the last performance of her life, but it was not to be because
she had to play Ottawa Jazz the night after and Montreal Jazz 2 days after
that. At the end she announced to the crowd that she was quite exhausted and
would not be doing an encore…but she just bounced back on stage and did a
rousing finale.
There were lots of great shows in the Big Tent, starting off
with a free concert with…wait for it, KC and the Sunshine Gang. Seven costume changes! It's the first time we had to set up a
"Quick Change" room right behind the stage. Allen Stone was the
festival favourite of a couple of my friends, but I never even heard they
guy. He had a great voice and sang his
heart out. Every fan that stuck around
got a hug and a selfie. But the other
half of that bill was Lee Fields and the Expressions, whom I never really heard
of until I was getting their info for the website, and that was a phenomenal
performance – unforgettable, like the time I saw James Brown or Ray Charles.
My "Decouverte de L'Annee" is Kandace Springs, who
was opening for Gregory Porter. She has
it all, plus a very easygoing personality.
She ended up sitting in the media trailer with me for a while – she said
she didn't want to impose upon Gregory Porter's dressing room. I showed her the video clip of Lee Field's
performance which I had just Instagrammed and she was suitably impressed though
she had not heard of him. Joel dropped
in to the trailer and neither of us knew she was the opening act until she told
us – then I told her that there was a trailer with her name on it on the other
side but by then they were announcing her from the stage so off she went to a
brilliant performance with perfect relaxed vocal sound and piano chops that
were quite impressive. She did two instrumentals and they were killer. She's the next Norah Jones/Diana Krall. I
won't go on and on but this girl is going places.
Well here I am posting about the jazz festival to my Toronto
blues diary and really there was no blues this year, and hardly any guitar.
You'll see from the clips below that I caught a couple of great local
guitarists at the Rex, Eric St Laurent was playing with Alison Young and another
great guitarist playing with Rebecca Hennessey's band , FOB. And I
shouldn't neglect to mention the phenom Sean Pinchin who is a big part of Dione
Taylor's new sound. Sean has that effortless Derek Trucks thang, like he was
born with a slide on his finger. There's only a few slide players that I
abide, Derek Trucks, Harry Manx, Bonnie Raitt…maybe a couple of others. I've even had occasion to invite a sideman to
put down the slide and even made my campfire jam a slide-free zone.
Got my fill of tubas/sousaphones this year – one band, from
Romania, had four! Before that was the Robert Glasper Experiment and I know
that he's making chords that are beyond most pianists/keyboardist (even legendary Lou Pomanti was impressed).
Last time I saw Glasper he was playing standards in a standard trio setup. Now
he had an amazing "frontman" and a high-energy band. The singer and
used a vocoder ALL the time. Hard to sustain that all night long but he had a
powerful presence.
Molly Johnson played with the phenomenal Andrew Craig, and,
the wonderfully talented Colleen Allen - also a long-time member of Molly's
band.
I got coaxed over to the late night hang at the Rex by my
friend Glenn who said there was an interesting band from L.A. At the door I am
confronted by the hardest-ass doorman in the city, John, and despite having a special pass for the late night jam (it hadn't started yet) and manager Tom waving me in, this guy still managed to get ten bucks out of. I don't mind, as he has reminded me many times, "it's all for the musicians". Still, that's got to be the only club in town where the doorman can over-rule the manager. Anyway, the Rex was transformed into a throbbing mosh pit with people all bouncing in
unison. You could sure feel that floor flex. The enters Gregory Porter, the
most shy and sedate jazzman on the scene today. I didn't stick around for the jam and I don't think Gregory played.
NXNE for me started with a speech at their new interactive
component. A great speech from Nolan Bushnell but a disappointing first
experience with virtual reality. I had a very nice taste of VR in a geodesic dome
at CMW but this headgear was uncomfortable and seemed a little out of
focus. Not ready for prime time though my friend Jordan insists there are
some amazing products
Musically I didn't see anything till Thurs and I was having
a hard time getting out of the house. I really wanted to see King Khan - I
remember lots of people raved about him in previous years and it was quite fabulous. A big
band with lots of horns and guitars and lots of energy. The Horseshoe was
packed solid. If I had made my way to the front before they started I never
would have got there. On my way to King Khan, I got a taste of a group that my
friend Barbara always loved (and I don't think it's just because of the name - they're
called "Run with the kittens"
Also dropped in to Nocturn a couple of times, where I've
caught some great electronica sounds but both times I poked in, all I heard was
a succession of solo electro-crooners, singing along with tracks they produced and
adding lots of elaborate hand gestures…
And right at the start of June was the fabulous Orangeville
Blues and Jazz Festival, where I got 4 plays in two days and thank God I had
Joel to help me schlepping around my Fender amp and being a big help, though I
won't go so far as to call him a roadie.
A few folks came up and were glad to see me back in Orangeville. The last play was a club and they wanted me
to play for four hours and Joel was ready to get heavy with the club owner but
I calmed him down and I played 4 hours and it didn't kill me. Dropped in on Allan Fraser and Maryanne where they
live close enough to the mainstage that they don't even have to leave their apartment
– though they are leaving at the end of the month and heading for Italy. Exciting!
… and equally exciting is the Fraser & DeBolt vinyl
release which looks fabulous – it's a rare thing nowadays to crack open a big
gatefold LP. It sounds great too, as far
as I can tell – I still haven't listened to the vinyl – I don't have a
turntable. Anyway, I've talked about
this already but now there is some news: I addition to the double album,
Roaratorio is putting out an EP which contains the track I produced at Manta
Sound in 1973, "Flight of the Light Air Force". The flip side has 2
tracks, live versions of "Dance Hall Girls" and "You Can't Always Get What You
Want."
New Folk Blues 2.0 gets a re-boot
Well just when I was feeling retired (or at least,
semi-retired) there's a new spurt of energy and we are going to give New Folk
Blues 2.0 a proper send-off with a media blitz and mailing to radio stations
and reviewers across the country. I can thank Gary Kendall for lighting a
fire under me and believing in the music to put some of his time and energy
into promoting it.
And to end this long, rambling Blainletter (probably the
longest ever), I'm sad to report how many "celebrations of life" I've
attended in the last couple of months.
We had a musical gathering for our sound engineer Paul "Eggs"
Benedict in Stratford. Paul spent many
years on the road with Ronnie Hawkins and came up with many of the guys who
went on to play with the Hawk and Dylan.
As we were singing "The Weight" I had the sudden realization
that many of these guys in the crowd had started out playing with Garth Hudson,
the Danko's and John Till. Later there
was a beautiful gathering for Kirstin McCullough, the daughter of Barb
McCullough who hired me at the jazz festival so long ago and was a pioneer
music publicist. And just a few days
ago, it would have been Jim Galloway's 80th birthday and some
friends gathered for an event (at an upscale LCBO) where he was toasted
repeatedly with 3 kinds of champagne and (of course) some very expensive scotch.
A few days ago, we heard of the passing of Penny Lang, the
"grande dame" of the Montreal folk scene. I was asked by the FYI Music News to comment on her passing and
this is what I wrote: "No one passed through Montreal's 60s folk revival
without being touched, inspired and encouraged by Penny Lang. She was a fixture
on the folk scene with her beat-up Martin guitar and usually accompanied by
Roma Baran (who went on to become Laurie Anderson's sidekick/producer) or her
brother Scot (r.i.p.) who was a brilliant musician and the legacy continues
with her son Jason, an equally brilliant musician who has backed up many of
Quebec's biggest stars. "
Godspeed, Penny, and thanks to all who read this far. The next one will be a lot shorter, I promise
(but I can't say when I'll get it out :-)