Brian's Blues Campfire kicks off second year residency

The Campfire Jam found a new home in 2017 and it has been a big hit with the jazz crowd at the Old Mill.  We're happy to announce that we'll be back in 2018, still on the "Second Saturdays" of the month.  This Saturday (Jan 13) I will be jamming with a couple of folks I've never played with: Adam Solomon (actually I did jam with Adam a few years back in the livingroom of a CBC producer – I had just discovered Ali Farka Touré and was very anxious to pick up some Afro-Blues licks on the guitar and Adam was so generous in showing me (they don't call him "The Professor" for nothing). His "African Guitar Summit" CD won a JUNO in 2005 and he has been a mainstay of the African music scene in Toronto and Canada.  Raha Javanfar is better known in blues circles as the leader of "Bad Luck Woman and Her Misfortunes" who are nominated for Best New Artist at this year's Maple Blues Awards – and will be hosting the Nominee Jam after-party to close out the big gala at Koerner Hall on Monday night at Koerner Hall (I think there's still tickets available). Check out the new campfire webpage at www.brianblain.com/campfire.  Coming in Feb. it will be a bit of a 24^th St Wailers reunion with Jesse Whiteley, Emily Burgess and Jon Wong then in March, I will be joined by the Blackburn Brothers

These Campfire Jams at the Old Mill have been a real highlight of the last year – and my only steady gig, actually. Thanks to all the amazing blues artists who joined me 'round the Campfire last year: Julian Fauth, Sean Pinchin, Kim Doolittle, Raoul Bhaneja, Manitoba Hal, Bill King, Mike Daley, Geoff Daye, Mark "Bird" Stafford, Jesse O'Brien, Rick Taylor, Roberta Hunt, Carrie Chesnutt, Alison Young, Ken Whiteley, Paul Reddick, Sugar Brown, Jenie Thai, Chris Whiteley, Diana Braithwaite, Don Vickery, Michael Fonfara, George Koller, Michelle Josef and Steve Marriner.

I cannot believe how Trump took up so much of my attention in 2017 – it was the most engrossing (emphasis on "gross") reality TV show ever. Everyday I was turning on the news to see what he's done now. I've become a CNN junkie which brings me to the little video clip below.

…the jam went on longer with some great guitar interplay between Sean Pinchin and I but I've cut it short mostly because I screwed up the last verse trying to re-write it on the fly.

This tune was written after one too many reports on refugees who were displaced, starving and dying of thirst.  The song is called "Donner Moi De L'Eau" (Give Me Some Water).  When I get around to recording it I want to do it with a kora player (are you out there, Mansa Sissoko?). Let's call that my New Year's Resolution! I had just written it that afternoon and played it for the first time at the Campfire Jam. Steve Marriner, who had been playing mostly piano that night, grabbed my bass and dug right in with a solid bass line (and, in the Campfire spirit, he later pulled out a tune he had just written a couple a days before). 

Blainletter #97

Welcome to the December Blainletter.  And a special welcome to my two new subscribers. That's right, all of two new subscribers this month.  So I'm launching a social media campaign and if you're reading this for the first time on Facebook or Google+ or otherwise, please swing over to www.brianblain.com and sign up to receive it every month in your email (apologies if you got multiple copies - this is a one-time blast). 

And if it's not too early, let me wish you a great holiday season to celebrate whatever you celebrate.  I'm celebrating that we actually made it to the end of the year without the sky falling.  Then again, the year is not over.

Anyway, the next time you hear from me it will probably be the new year (unless I get a last-minute gig…). And speaking of gigs, I'm excited to have Kim Doolittle, Steve Marriner and Sean Pinchin joining me for the Campfire Jam at the Old Mill on THIS SATURDAY (7:30-10:30)

I'm always being encouraged to have more women at the Campfire and Kim Doolittle will bring some powerful female energy to our jam with her down home sound steeped in roots blues, folk, and a hint of alternative country. Steve will be holding down the piano bench for this one, but he is the consummate multi-instrumentalist and he'll be also be playing whatever. Steve’s band, MonkeyJunk, is a multiple Maple Blues and Juno Award winner and Steve has won numerous awards and accolades on his own and in collaborations with Colin James, Harry Manx, Paul Reddick and many others. Sean Pinchin plays a gritty, authentic blues and I've been looking forward to playing with him ever since I first heard him. His recent album, Monkey Brain, was nominated for a Juno Award. Monkey Brain meets MonkeyJunk at the Campfire Jam.

On The Home Front

As I write this, I'm watching the Neil Young webcast on my computer. Live from a little Ontario town I never heard of (his birthplace, I think). I was never a huge Neil Young fan but I'm a big fan of this new technology. There's a democratization happening in the media – You don't have to be Neil Young to go live on Facebook.  We might not have all the production values of this Neil Young event, but if it's all about the music like they say, then you just have to make sure the sound is not distorted and that you've got enough light (wow, the NY stream just ended and I'm watching all the credits roll by and there must be a hundred people involved in this production). I will be curious to hear how many people tuned in.

Some things happen faster than expected in this wonderful world of technology, and then others just take time.  I've been watching the development of webcasting from the beginning, (I was right there at the beginning when we tried it at the Toronto Jazz Festival in 96 or so).  Lately I've tuned in to webcasts of the East Coast Music Awards, the Canadian Folk Awards and next month I suppose the Grammys will stream the "day before" award presentations – and those are the ones I'm most interested in.  Check out the National Blues Museum Facebook Page for live streaming of local St. Louis bands every Sunday Night.

The streaming audience numbers grow every year and kudos to those who didn't abandon the idea because they only had 20 or 30 viewers the first time.  I think growing an online audience will be about as hard as growing a walk-up audience. It's pretty slow (until it blows up!) This is the future. Home phones have been replaced by cell phones, terrestrial TV was replaced by cable and now cable is being crushed by Netflix and other online outlets. Broadcasting will be replaced by "narrowcasting" where your device will only offer content that is of interest and spare you scrolling through the rest. And now, artificial intelligence to suggest "If you liked that, you're going to LOVE this!"

Interesting that when I went to NeilYoung.com to see if there was any social media integration, you couldn't enter his website without registering your email. Hmmmm. I remember when David Bowie's manager spoke at a music conference a long, long time ago and said that a mailing list was "gold" and every artist should be trying to capture their fans' email addresses – this was way before social media.

What a revolution.  I was in the ad business in the 60s (in fact I was hired as a junior copywriter at an ad agency when I was 19 because someone told them they needed to get in touch with the "youth market".  Well they got more than they bargained for when the guy in the mail room figured if I had a beard he could grow one too. Then he turned on half the creative department at the Christmas party and all hell broke loose. Ah that was the summer of love, 1968. Wait a minute, I'm starting to ramble….

Out and About

The Big Event for November was the Women's Blues Revue and it lived up to its reputation.  A great evening in a great hall with a great band.  I will say the highlight for me was the intense guitar duel between Sue Foley and Emily Burgess (pictured below with me and the Mississippi Queen).  Emily just put out a solo CD and you can read John Valenteyn's review here

I captured a video clip of that guitar duel - maybe I'll post it later, but I think there's one floating around the interweb already. For a terrific slide show of the entire Women's Blues Revue evening, check out James Dean's Flickr album in the post below.

Let me finish by saying I've got some new tunes in the works – and I might even get into the studio in the new year.  There's not a lot of gigs coming up but I'm amusing myself with all my electronic music gadgetry (actually one of them is called "Gadget") and somehow not getting discouraged by the one-step-forward-two-steps-back process taming this beast.

Thanks for reading this far.  Feel free to forward this to any friend you think might enjoy my occasional ramblings (and maybe my music, too).  If it's been forwarded to you or if you're reading this on Facebook, you can sign up to the Blainletter at www.brianblain.com

Holiday Hugs from BrianB, aka Butch, Nappy, Shaker, Two-Lane Blain, Colorblind Brian, Stringbuster, Buddha of the Blues

Quote of the Day (overheard at the Old Mill):

"The difference between blues and jazz? Jazz is playing a thousand chords in front of three people while Blues is playing three chords in front of a thousand people" (in my case, blues is has often been three chords for three people, but anyway…)

2017 Women's Blues Revue

Check out James Dean's photos from the Women's Blues Revue.  It's just like being there!





It was another great Women's Blues Revue - the last one at Massey Hall for a couple of years while MH undergoes a massive restoration.

Taivi!

It seemed like the best-kept secret but the cat is out of the bag and Taivi has launched her new CD in style with a packed Heliconian Hall and The Claire Lynch Band backing her up.  They're all over the record, too, and Taivi acknowledged from the stage that it wouldn't have happened without Claire.

Ken Whiteley sitting in with Guy Davis @hughsroomlive

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Blues at the Folk Music conference

Here I am arriving at the Folk Music Ontario conference and showcase.  I brought Huma Uster, the new office manager at the Toronto Blues Society and the first person I ran into was Stevie Connor from bluesandrootsradio.com (that little sock puppet Huma is holding is their mascot). Stevie introduced me to Mike Biggar, who was in town checking out the scene - he just won Blues Artist of the Year at the Music New Brunswick awards and I've just been digging his CD, Go All In, on Busted Flat Records.  Looking forward to hearing him play live.

Arrived at the 2017 Folk Music Ontario conference & Showcase feeling like there will not be very much blues content this year - there's no blues showcase and just a handful of blues artists on the delegate list - but what do you know, the first folks I run into, at the hotel entrance, are blues folks. Stevie Connor from bluesandrootsradio.com and Mike Biggar who just won Blues Artist of the Year and The Music New Brunswick Awards.  Then I ran into Michael Schatte, who just moved to the country (Coburg) and of course there were the usual suspects, Suzie Vinnick and Ken Whiteley and not too many more blues folks.  Then in the course of the showcases, there were a couple with a bluesy bent but all around I would have to say "The Blues is Hurting" in the folk world.  I joked that I was going to make a sandwich board that says/shouts "BLUES IS FOLK MUSIC" because from what I see folk festivals are presenting less blues, and even blues festivals are presenting less blues. What are you gonna do...

Saturday afternoon @rexhoteltoronto. Paul Reddick warming up for his European tour and the Sinners Choir warming up the crowd.

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@RoxannePotvin @paintedlady singing #memphisminnie

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My Day at FMO2017 (in 6 minutes)

Folk Music Ontario - Day 2

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Blainletter #95 - Campfire Jam Sat Night at Old Mill - Shuffle Souvenirs - Swing Daddy's B-Day

Greetings Blainreaders - and welcome to my new subscribers, James and George.  It's only by serendipity that I collect a few names every month. I never think to ask - even when someone just bought a 3-pack of my CDs. I always appreciate when someone comes up to me at the gig and says "I got your Blainletter yesterday and here I am." Once again it's the day before the gig and here I am trying to remind everyone plus the obligatory whine from this seventy-something struggling emerging artist and a few tips & clips of some of the great music I've heard in Toronto last month.  

But first things first: The "Second Saturday" Campfire Jam is back at the Old Mill Home Smith Bar on Oct 14. Bass guru George Koller played with me last year at the Old Mill and figures prominently on "New Folk Blues". I've jammed with Rick Taylor a couple of times, once at a Winterfolk Campfire and a hotel room jam or two and I've always been a big admirer of his guitar style on that big ole Gretch White Falcon. I never played with Jesse O'Brien but every time I've seen him play I was knocked out - then I heard him sing a tune at Hugh's Room and I knew I had to get him out to the Campfire. So lucky to catch him between tours & recording with Colin James, Harrison Kennedy, Steve Strongman and many more. He's everybody's favourite pianoman these days and it will be a treat swapping songs and jamming with this crew!

Colorblind Brian's Toronto Blues Diary has been selected as one of Toronto's Top 50 Music Blogs!  I guess maybe I better start posting more often...

Southside Shuffle was a Gas: This was the first time I played the Shuffle under my own name and I'm so thankful to Chuck Jackson for bringing me in. I invited Mark "Bird" Stafford to play with me. Harp + drums...works for me (and I didn't have to pay him double!).  You can tell that festival is run by a musician. Everything was about the musician, great hospitality, top notch production, lots of little things (if you can call a towel on the stage a little thing).  Hmmm, I wonder if it's bad form to keep the towel...I've got some iPhone footage but it's not edited yet.  There was a magic moment when I just finished my song about Kathi McDonald when a butterfly took over the stage, darting about - I'm going to have to go ahead and say that was a nod from Kathi from beyond the grave.  It didn't seem like a big crowd there at my 1PM set, but throughout the day I ran into folks who complimented me - one guy even bought a couple of CDs. And the big highlight was Al Lerman telling me I had a "killer guitar sound."  I told him I realized at the end of the set that my overdrive pedal was on all the time because I couldn't see the light in the bright sun. And then, my new looper with the red and green lights very hard to discern by ole Colorblind.  Many thanks to Bird for doing the gig with me and then inviting me to sit in with him and Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne - that was a real highlight for me.

Steve Hill gave a great set - solo as always - but he puts out a lot of sound.  I had to laugh when he yelled "How Ya doin' Toronto!" and a park full of Missassaugans thinking "we wouldn't know..."  I like that Ben Racine (probably because he reminds me so much of one of my faves, James Hunter).  And at the end of the video is a long slow blues which he dedicated to Sab, a real champion of a lot of artists including yours truly not to mention a master of self-promotion.  They named the stage after him...The Sab Memorial Stage.  And Jack plays the most heartfelt blues. Check it out

Blues For the Red Door

This will be a great event. I played it the year before last and looking forward to doing it again. And look at the line-up they're bringing in this year.  This is a very good cause and always a great show

Terry Wilkins celebrated his 70th Birthday at the Cameron last Tuesday and it was a great evening. I told his daughter Gabriella and also a woman I had never met that of all the people in that room, I might have been just about the first one he met when he landed here in Toronto with the Flying Circus. I was supposed to be A&Ring them while my buddy Frazier Mohawk was crafting together the Blackstone Rangers.  It didn't last very long and I headed back to Quebec where Frazier soon caught up with me and ended up producing some tracks for me. Anyway, Terry's band, the Sinners' Choir, was soooooo tight - and yet improvising all the time.  3-part harmonies throughout.  They've got something special.  Here's a great montage from the party by Pamela Kohly:

Here I am with two lovely ladies who were helping Terry celebrate - Lori Yates and Kim Doolittle.  Lori and her band Hey Stella| played the early set at the Cameron and I was so glad to hear them - it's been a while.  Kim is going to be jamming around the Campfire with me at the Old Mill on December 9

Best Wishes to Terry and to all who read this far.  See you out there.  If you see me, please say hi and let me know you're a "blainreader."  And if you like what I'm doing, please "like" it on my Facebook page.  This will all help with my "klout" and, believe it or not, these statistics are what it takes to be "verified" as an artist on Spotify.  It gets crazy

Southside Shuffle 2017

Blainletter #94 - See You in September

Where has the summer gone?

Well lookie here, summer's almost gone and I bet you didn't even notice there hasn't been a Blainletter since July.  Seems I'm not too motivated to get one out when there's no gigs to promote and August was a quiet month – very quiet.  And I didn't even get down to Cape Cod this summer…or even to my sister's pool in KW. But things are picking up and I'm happy to say that my residency at the Home Smith Bar at the Old Mill will resume on Saturday, September 16 where I'll be playing with maestro Michael Fonfara, who has fallen in love with that grand piano and drummer Don Vickery who I played with in the 90s and promised myself that I would get him again sometime and the opportunity presented itself for this kick-off at the venue where he has his own residency with the Canadian Jazz Quartet.  Don't let his jazz reputation fool you – he loves to play the blues and has accompanied some of the greats  including Jimmy Witherspoon, Joe Williams and decades as Jay McShann's go-to stickman. Downchild pianist Michael Fonfara, winner of numerous JUNO and MapleBlues awards, who started out with Toronto's Jon and Lee & The Checkmates in 1963 and went on play and record with international superstars like Rhinoceros and Lou Reed I will also be playing with Michael THIS FRIDAY NIGHT (Sept 1) at the Thornhill Pub. It's an early set 7pm start.  If it's nice we'll be playing on the patio.  And on Saturday, September 9 (nice or not) I'll be playing on Stage #1 at the Southside Shuffle in Port Credit with Mark "Bird" Stafford doubling on drums and harmonica as only he can do.  Get there early because we're the first ones up on that stage at 1PM, immediately followed by the Street Shuffle with blues bands up and down Lakeshore Blvd. Then I've got a mini-tour of Quebec at the beginning of October (at least I've got an "anchor" gig) and I'll tell you more about that in the next Blainletter On the business front, things have been hectic in Bluesland (aka The Toronto Blues Society) where in addition to getting the newsletter out (it's in the mail tonight, fyi), I was tasked with shepherding the launch of not one, but two new websites for TBS (coming very soon) a brand-new mobile-friendly website and a separate voting site for The MapleBlues Awards.  Even though I was the instigator in the original TBS website (back when websites didn't even have graphics) I had not been very involved in recent years but had to jump in because of staff changes at the TBS (we miss you, Alice!)

Out and About

Once Toronto Jazz was over, I was able to enjoy a few of the festivals that happen in and around Toronto, some like Beaches Jazz and Afrofest are just a walk away and one, the Festival of South Asia, was actually at the foot of my street.  The last week-end of Beaches Jazz finished off with MonkeyJunk and Paul Reddick (together) and they did not disappoint.  I caught a few other shows over the course of 3 week-ends – they might be stretching their festival a little thin by taking up the entire month of July but I'm not complaining – I could just walk down the street and hear what I wanted.  Beaches Jazz had some great moments and you can check out my compilation video of the Streetfest.

A Taste of Beaches Streetfest

I went to the Steetfest on the Thursday night because Friday & Saturday are such a crush of people. I used my new app to track how much I walked - 13k! The success of Streetfest might account for the not-so-great attendance at the main stage.  After seeing Afrofest completely fill that huge park, the jazzfest looked kinda lame, but provided some great music nonetheless.  Afrofest was a great thing to experience but, like the Festival of South Asia, they are community events and the provide the entertainment that their community wants – not necessarily world renown sitar players or kora players.  More like wedding fashion shows, little kids dancing to pre-recorded tracks and young handsome singer/dancers doing afro-hip-hop.  Ironic that to hear the great masters of those music cultures you have to go to a Small World event at the other end of town where the audience is predominantly white baby boomers. I always enjoyed the Markham Jazz Festival and even played it a few times back when Hal Hill was booking it. It's a beautiful setting for this tiny perfect festival.  I was only there for one night and missed most of the blues but it was great to hear Carol Welsman after all these years.  If I'd had a chance to say hello I would have reminded her of the time I came by the jazz festival office late one night (back when it was over the Montreal Bistro) and there in the boardroom were Barb McCullough (the lady who hired me) and Carol herself licking stamps and stuffing envelopes and if I ever had any illusions about what it's like after you've "made it" this helped me realize that the folks who make it are the ones who are not afraid to get their hands dirty. And I've stuffed a few promo packages myself since then…

Here's a clip of Markham Jazz headliner David Clayton Thomas trading licks with everybody's favourite sax player, Colleen Allen

A couple of weeks before, I took in a bit of the Harabi African week-end at Harbourfront Centre and heard the best kora playing I've heard in a while. Noumoucounda Cissoko is my new favourite kora player.  I still love Mansa Sissoko but haven't seen him in several years - still hoping for the day we might get a chance to record something together.  Interesting that the Sissoko of Mali is spelt different from the Cissoko of Senegal. [video] I didn't think I'd get to the Kitchener Bluesfest this year - there were some great African guitarists at Harbourfront so I was all set to go back to Harbourfront on the Saturday - but thanks to my friend Laila's prompting, I decided we would make the trek to KW and I'm glad I did.  I found out after that the Friday night got mostly rained out.  Lachey Doley (yes, Clayton's brother) had to end his set after only a couple of songs and Paul Reddick and Lucky Peterson didn't get to play. Here's a little montage of some of my favourite moments:

Rick Estrin playing hands-free harp (ie it's in his mouth) and other highlights from Kitchener Bluesfest

A few tunes into Shawn Kellernan's afternoon set, he invited a 13 year old called Avalon Fraser to sing a tune and get a taste for the big stage.  Right after, Lucky Peterson hit the stage with him and basically took over the show.  Shawn was glad to oblige - never being known as a powerful singer.  I missed most of David Wilcox set but caught this little moment when he acknowledged a young gal's birthday. Then over to the tent to hear Tarbox Ramblers (this was a band I had wanted to see for years but had a totally different idea of what their music).  It's rough and ready hill country tuning-optional blues a la R. L. Burnside.  Then Ann Vriend - a fabulous singer - with Rooster Davis. And finally the main attraction for me - Rick Estrin and the Nightcats.  I was excited just to hear Rick - a real eccentric bluesman - but before the set, my friend Larry told me Kid Andersen was playing guitar.  I had never heard of Kid Andersen until Rockin' Johnny Burgin told me about him. I played bass for Johnny when he was in town and he gave me his recent CD - produced by, who else, Kid Andersen. He plays on it too and after seeing him live, I think he's my new favourite blues guitarist.

For the true guitar aficionados, here's the entire clip of Kid Andersen's version of Lonnie Mack's classic guitar instrumental, "Wham"

As always, lots of great music in and around this town, and I hope I can continue providing some of it.  August was bereft of gigs for me but lots coming up in September so I hope to see you at one of my gigs sometime. Now Southern Texas, the birthplace of so much of the blues music we love, has come under another assault from Mother Nature and it is heartbreaking to watch all the hardship those folks are going through. The Jazz Foundation brought over 1000 musicians & their families back after Katrina, by rehousing, donating top shelf instruments and creating paying gigs for hundreds and they have started connecting with dozens of jazz, blues, and roots musicians in Harvey's wake, to help them rebuild, repairing homes, replacing belongings and treasured instruments and even replacing work.  If you want to help, go to jazzfoundation.org/donate. Closer to home, the entire music community has been sending good vibes to A Man Called Wrycraft who designed practically everybody's CD cover (including mine) and is now undergoing some pretty radical life-altering surgery.  Somehow he's still posting humourous and encouraging messages on Facebook so no doubt he'll be back in action before we know it.  And just today we got the news that Canadian music pioneer, Lighthouse co-founder Skip Prokop, has passed away.  Another one bites the dust. Hope you appreciate our bountiful life here in Canada like I do. Every day. See you out there, BrianB, aka Butch, Nappy, Shaker, Two-Lane Blain, Colorblind Brian, Stringbuster, Buddha of the Blues

My Day at Kitchener Blues 2017

I didn't think I'd get to the Kitchener Bluesfest this year - there were some great African guitarists at Harbourfront so I would not be deprived of great music  - but thanks to my friend Laila's prompting, I decided we would make the trek and I'm glad I did.  I found out after that the Friday night got mostly rained out.  Lachey Doley (yes, Clayton's brother) had to end his set after only a couple of songs and Paul Reddick and Lucky Peterson didn't get to play.

A few tunes into Shawn Kellernan's afternoon set he invited a 13 year old called Avalon Fraser to sing a tune and get a taste for the big stage.  Right after, Lucky Peterson hit the stage and basically took over the show.  Shawn was glad to oblige - never being known as a powerful singer.  I missed most of David Wilcox set but caught this little moment when he acknowledged a young gal's birthday. Then over to the tent to hear Tarbox Ramblers (this was a band I had wanted to see for years but had a totally different idea of what their music).  It's rough and ready hill country tuning-optional blues a la R. L. Burnside.  Then Ann Vriend - a fabulous singer - with Rooster Davis. and finally the main attraction for me - Rick Estrin and the Nightcats.  I was excited just to hear Rick - a real eccentric bluesman - but before the set, my friend Larry said Kid Anderson was playing guitar.  I had never heard of Kid Andersen until Rockin' Johnny Burgin told me about him. I played bass for Johnny when he was in town and he gave me his recent CD - produced by, who else, Kid Andersen. He plays on it too and after seeing him live, I think he's my new favourite blues guitarist.

Noumoucounda Cissoko Toronto 2017

Friday night I took in a bit of the Harabi African week-end at Harbourfront Centre and heard the best kora playing I've heard in a while. Noumoucounda Cissoko is my new favourite kora player.  I still love Mansa Sissoko but haven't seen him in several years - still hoping for the day we might get a chance to record something together.  Interesting that the Sissoko of Mali is spelt different from the Cissoko of Senegal.