Blainletter #99

I'm here writing up my February Blainletter and how nice it is to turn on the radio and hear John Valenteyn promoting my Campfire Jam on Saturday – He just played a track by Emily Burgess, who will be guesting. Thanks JV (and everybody should listen to John Valenteyn's Blues on CIUT 89.5 Thursdays at 4pm).

It's been cold and miserable and I haven't been getting out as much, not to see other bands or even for gigs of my own, but my old stand-by, The Campfire Jam at the Old Mill is still going strong.

My guests THIS SATURDAY EVENING are three young players who made a big first impression right out of the gate (ie, Humber) with the 24^th Street Wailers. Jon Wong and Jesse Whiteley paid their dues with the Wailers and are now back home in T.O. where they can be seen around town in various combos. Guitarist Emily Burgess is part of another "buzz band", the Weber Brothers out of Peterborough.  Emily also plays guitar in the Women's Blues Revue band and seems to be doing a lot of work with Sue Foley these days.  There's a great profile on her in Peterborough's  Electric City magazine http://www.electriccitymagazine.ca/2018/02/emily-burgess/

Come join this old boy and some of the hottest young players you'll ever hear on Saturday, February 10 from 7:30-10:30

More Ancestry

Ever since I sent in my DNA I've had cousins coming out of the woodwork, and this has been particularly interesting to me because I was adopted and at this late stage of my life I was getting a little curious about my "provenance."  The Ancestry thang was pretty confusing to me but thanks to my friend & genealogist Marg Stowe, we have whittled it down to confirming one set of great-grandparents:

Magloire Depatie (1864-1915) and Josephine Charron (1857-1912) .  If you are acquainted/related to either of these folks, let me know. As opposed to most ancestry-freaks who are digging back in time, I'm looking forward from the great-grandparents to the grandparents then the parent who would be my birth parent. Fascinating.

Domain Changes

Today I moved brianblain.ca to a new domain host and it's been a while since I did one of these migrations but I seem to recall there was usually some screw-up with the email.  If you're sending me mail and it's bouncing back from brianblain.ca, try brian@brianblain.com

Still getting the new .com website presentable – the A/B audio player is finally working but I have to get it installed on all the tracks.  It's kinda cool to be able to switch back and forth between the original solo live recording and the "sweetened" version.  I also created a "Campfire" page with pics & vids from the campfire jams over the years and a little history. Check out www.brianblain.com/campfire and next I'm going to make a page with some of my explorations in electronica (aka, The Stringbuster). After getting away from it for a while, I just had another round and I believe I will rassle this beast ultimately.  I just might need a little more processing power. Had a nice little jam with my son the DJ and nothing blew up (or locked up).  That bodes well for future collaboration.

Out and About

Here's a few highlights of the Maple Blues Awards gala

The Maple Blues Awards was a big night – great to see Colin James jamming it up on stage with Steve Marriner. Colin took home awards for Electric Act of the Year, Recording/Producer of the Year and Guitarist of the Year. Harrison Kennedy won Songwriter of the Year and  I got to meet Victoria’s hot new guitarslinger Jason Buie who won New Artist of the Year. I might not have met him had it not been for an internet scam that spoofed a few people into signing up for a webcast (there was no webcast) of the awards and giving out their credit card info (and then having to cancel the cards).  It was some friends and relatives of Jason who got burned so we were trying to get to the bottom of it.  Unfortunately there was not much to be done – but stay away from an outfit called "musiclivestream" The complete list of winners is available here.



During the day there were some interesting panel discussions and Q & A sessions with publicists, grant givers, and booking agents.  Here's my take-away:
Booking a Festival: Don't send attachments (MP3s or otherwise). Offer links to 2 or 3 recent video clips with decent sound - preferably in asetting similar to the one you're pitching. They love it when the video shows a great crowd reaction.  The single best way to get a gig is to be recommended by another festival director or "influencer."

Getting a Grant:  FACTOR has a 2k grant that seems quite approachable and a quarter of the applicants receive it.  I might try for it but the deadline is only a week away! And grant expert Barbara Isherwood advises that you to give yourself plenty of lead time. Well, maybe not this time. It seems to be important to have a "team".  Oh well, that leaves me out. For their purposes, an album is at least 6 songs or 20 minuts.  And what do you know...FACTOR doesn't require a budget anymore.  That was the part that always confounded me.  Though I'm sure they're still sticky about receipts.

Social Media: Facebook is changing their algorithms so that you will mostly see posts from your family and friends.  It is worth it to spend a few bucks to "boost" your post but space it out over a period of time - don't spend it all at once. When you have an opportunity to put some keywords, put the names of artists whose crowd you would like to appeal to.

And remember the most essential thing is to have your website with your home page (which should include samples of your music, a bio, photos and upcoming shows)

I've got some other notes from similar conferences.  I should dig them up and flesh out these tips.  Everything is changing anyway.  I asked about Next Big Sound - which had been touted as an essential online "chart" of your social media activity - which in some musical genres can be a very influential factor.  Anyway, that Eric Alper seems to think it's not relevant any more - or maybe just not at our level. Never Mind...


And back to webcasts, I watched the "pre-broadcast" of the Grammys on my laptop and it was fine resolution and no disruption.  The production values were comparable to the big show on Sunday – Paul Schaffer had put together a killer band. There was even a live performance by Taj Mahal and Keb 'Mo'– a nice contrast with all the slick production numbers.  You might even say it had a "meandering" quality :-) Taj and Keb' Mo' got the Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Album. Good on 'em!

But I was rooting for "Migration Blues" by Eric Bibb (which was nominated for a Grammy this year). Michael Jerome Browne figures prominently on that album and he even got Eric Bibb up to his favourite studio…in my hometown, Sherbrooke, Quebec. Somebody told me Michael wouldn't be going down for the Grammy gala because he knew they didn't have a chance against the Rolling Stones – and, sure enough the Stones did win the award…and didn't even send someone to pick it up.  Besides, the tickets were a fortune and even nominee tickets were prohibitive.  I see MJB has a nice tour of UK coming up with Eric – two of my favourite musicians!

And the JUNO Nominations were announced on Tuesday (this is the first year that they didn't invite me to the nominee announcement – it's usually a nice spread with little mini-quiches and yogurt parfaits).  I guess I have fallen off their radar – or maybe someone from their office read my JUNO rip-off rant last year (I won't perpetuate it here).  Anyway I'm glad to spread the word (even if they don't send me a press release!) Congrats to the Blues JUNO Nominees – Just announced:

Better the Devil You Know

Big Dave McLean

Something I’ve Done

Downchild

Time to Roll

MonkeyJunk

No Time Like Now

Steve Strongman

Big City, Back Country Blues

Williams, Wayne and Isaak

A nice batch of Canadian Blues!

Quote(s) of the Day

(From Quincy Jones interview)

There were several controversial comments from Q in this interview but these are the ones I like

"I have never in my life made music for money or fame. Not even Thriller. No way. God walks out of the room when you’re thinking about money."

"The greatest singer in the world cannot save a bad song. I learned that 50 years ago, and it’s the single greatest lesson I ever learned as a producer. If you don’t have a great song, it doesn’t matter what else you put around it."

And on the repetitiveness of rap: " The ear has to have the melody groomed for it; you have to keep the ear candy going because the mind turns off when the music doesn’t change. Music is strange that way. You’ve got to keep the ear busy."

For the whole interview, go to vulture.com


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





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

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.

via Instagram @brianblain

@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