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

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

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy Mothers Day, 2000

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

Sonny Rhodes

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

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

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

A new band for Brian

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

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

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

My First House Concert in Toronto

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

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

JUNO Awards

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

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



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

Canadian Music Week

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

Sugar Ray, Bill & Sue

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

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

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

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



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

The2000 Maple Blues Awards

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

The February Blues Festival, Barrie, Ontario

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



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

The February Blues Festival, Barrie, Ontario

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

The Legendary Horseshoe

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

Welcome 2000

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

Christmas 1999

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

Halloween at Chicago's

Had a great gig on Halloween week-end at this legendary Toronto blues club, right on Queen Street (the artsy beat). I've got a fabulous band with Don Vickery on drums, Suzie Vinnick on bass and Papa John King on guitar. In addition to the weirdos that walked in to the club, the stage overlooks the street and it was quite something to glance back and see the processions of zombies and goths. Actually, Queen Street is one place where you have to be careful about commenting on someone's Halloween costume - it might be their everyday look! I was reminded of the first gig I ever did in a Toronto blues bar. It was in the early 80's at Chicago's. It was the first time I ever tried to get a gig in a Toronto blues bar, I was visiting my mother in Kitchener and I drove into Toronto and auditioned for a guy called Robin Harp who was booking Chicago's. I had my "one-man-blues-band" rig (a Roland TB303 Bassline and a Drumatix drum machine) but I didn't have any promotional material so he said he would get a friend to make up a poster. This was the poster created by the friend who never saw me or my picture:




I kept that poster because it bore an uncanny remblance to...my father (pictured on the right with yours truly a long time ago). Dad had passed away only months before that gig and didn't look anything like me (I was adopted, you see). See for yourself: The nose, the chin, the glasses and later in life my father always wore a hat like the one pictured in the poster... I like to think it was some kind of message of approval from beyond the grave (seeing as my father never approved of my music while he was living)

The Second Annual Maple Blues Awards

Last year I wrangled myself into the all star jam but it was mostly because they needed my amp. This time I wasn't asked to bring my amp, but I brought along the Strat and left it in the car. As it turned out, it was nothing but all-stars on that (supposed-to-be-a) stage, but Colin James playing a tune on a Tele that may have belonged to Steve Hill - who may have had to remind Lily that he came all the way from Montreal with that guitar. Steve is doing a CD release soon at the Silver Dollar - Those Montreal stalwarts, the Stephen Barry Band could probably seriously discourage him from trying to break into the Toronto blues market. They must have played to bleak houses the first three or four trips. And now the band has some major personnel changes, Michael Brown and John McColgan are leaving. Michael has already made a great solo album (very acoustic) and is planning to tour solo. The moment that sticks in my memory is seeing Maureen Brown at the neighbouring table getting up to receive her second MBA and her husband, drum hero Rick Gratton practically collapsing in tears of joy. The usually quite stoic drum god is nothing but a big pussy cat! I said to Maureen at the end of the evening that I looked forward to an opportunity to do a gig together. We played many times together with Blue Willow and she's always encouraged me to get out and do my own thing. Had a few words with Colin James, too.

"Sherbrooke Night" at the Montreal Bistro

Nov 30 - Election day in Quebec so I called the gig "Sherbrooke Night" at the Montreal Bistro in honour of fellow Sherbrooker Jean Charest. Brigit, the hostess with the mostest who loves a "theme night" made the special of the night pea soup and tourtiere in keeping with the event. It was a fine turnout and it was especially gratifying to play for a lot of people who hadn't heard me in years (like 25 years!) and a few including the guys I work for at Downtown Jazz who had never heard me at all (Jim Galloway even shot some footage of my performance on his fancy new digital camcorder). At the back of the room were a group of Montreal expatriates including Rick Whitelaw, Ronney Abramson and Bill Garrett (who had rounded them up). When I saw Chris Rawlings come in I just said "The guitar players are assembled at the back, Chris". I had only seen Ronney once since I've been in Toronto and that was at the funeral for the beloved Montreal musician Ron Dann. Ronney sang back up on the demo and I think the final recording as well for a tune I recorded in '72 called "Don't Paint That Wall" I can't remember if the original vocals were used on the final, I know Sue-Ellen was on it but they brought in these hired guns from Manhattan Transfer, Laurel Masse and Janis Segal. I don't remember those days too clearly (as Ronnie Hawkins says "They tell me I had a real good time"). Some remember well though. Last year I was in the Black Swan and someone said they wanted me to meet Bob Segarini and I said "yes I remember him from Montreal - The Whackers!" When we were introduced he couldn't believe it, fell to his knees in the middle of a crowded Black Swan doing the "we're not worthy" bowing saying "Brian Blain - Don't Forget Your Mother!!!" After the theatrics, he pulled me over to the quiet end of the bar and related how he had been in the studio when we were recording the back up vocals and met Laurel right there in the control room, had a meeting of the eyes and made their way to the private lounge that overlooked the studio (which was in a former church, by the way) and began what became the most passionate and unforgettable love affair of his entire life. And it was consummated to the sounds of me recording the vocal to this quirky novelty song. Another odd twist that came to my attention about ten years ago when I was visting Montreal and a friend called James casually mentioned that the drummer who had played on that session had subsequently killed his own mother and was serving life in an institution for the criminally insane. That was Jim Gordon, drummer for Derek and the Dominoes, co-writer of Layla, and then playing with Frank Zappa's Mothers. Phew.

Anyway, back to the Bistro, the evening was lots of laughs and I think that's what people will remember most about it. The music was tight (we had just played a week-end in Barrie) but there were a few technical problems with the organ Leslie and it cut out a few times. Still it was a deliciously spontaneous evening. So spontaneous that I found myself doing songs I hardly ever performed and making up lyrics like the Muddy variation "I said I just want to be your man, if we could only get together and make love in the....sand" In the sand!!! Where did that come from?

Fitzies opening

This was a first. I pull up to the club where I'm supposed to be playing in an hour and all I see is a busy work site. There's a guy loading equipment into a pick-up right out front and the windows are covered with Brown construction paper. Can you believe that an hour and a half later the last mirror is glued to the wall behind the stage, the guy steps down off my amp and we start to play. Oh yes, and the place instantly fills with people. By the third night we're ready to hit the ground running but the minute we start, Rod's amp caks out. After fumbling around for twenty minutes we figure out that it happened when the owner lowered the dimmer at the bar, and the AC plug was affected. Great time playing with drummer Don Vickery

I've been meaning to send this along for over a week, but things got pretty hectic culminating with my gig last night. I think I've reached another milestone in my slow climb up the slipery slope of the Toronto blues scene. Following that Thursday night at the Silver Dollar, my duo gig with Scott Cushnie at the Montreal Bistro and a solo acoustic gig at the Free Times, I was now invited to be the "special guest" (ie, you get $70) at Gary Kendall's 'Blues Tuesday' at Whistler's. So I had been practising a few old blues standards that I haven't played for years (if ever), and managed to pull them off. I had the unpleasant experience of hearing the band start up while I was seated in the washroom - I seem to recall this happening before somewhere...perhaps in my early days with Blue Willow. Anyway, I climbed onto my stool halfway through the tune and it worked out fine, then I proceeded to pull out all the most predictable tunes I knew since the bass player (Gary) had never heard them. In the end, I could have thrown a lot more at him. The only time there was a problem was when I tried to simplify on the fly and the other guys (who knew the tune) played it the old which left Gary in the lurch. Mostly, I could tell the whole band was having a good time...I felt it really lifted off - we were flying! I was sitting on top of the world as I stepped down off that stool and then I see that my fly was open. Back to earth, Brian! I seem to have this built-in curse that the moment I get too big for my briches a bird shits in my eye, or something like that.

I remarked to Rod, who was playing piano instead of his usual organ - and playing it great - that at least the people at the front table will not have been bothered by my 'deshabille' because they were both blind. They were the greatest listeners, really. They stayed til the end and chatted for awhile. The guy's name was David and he must be a collector because whenever I did a song he recognized, he would shout some acknowledgement, and he knew some of the more obscure ones. After this, I don't have a single gig lined up. And I haven't even started looking. What I need is one place where I can play every Thursday, or every Tuesday...

Just did a duo gig with Professor Piano and I didn't sing a single song. In the past I've called the tunes, but this time I called some, but I never called one of my own. Waiting to see if Scott would, I guess. He just kept pulling out these great old tunes and I was glad to play them. But to go from that to fronting this gig at Whistlers...well I guess that's what a lot of musicians do in this town. One night you're the star, next night you're the sideman

Wine de Vine

Played with Prof at the "Taste of the Kingsway" event, this time I just sat back and let Prof fly and he pulled out at least a dozen songs we'd never played - many of them "swing" tunes that I'm anxious to learn. At the risk of being accused of jumping on the swing bandwagon, I'd like to pursue some gigs with Scott that offer an evening of Swing. That'll be a lot more new chords for me to learn, but I love that chunky-chunk rhythm guitar. Tonight we were fooling around with a tune for "Swing, Stalker, Swing" which might be close to the truth as we find out more about a certain swing dance instructor (SWSRN) who can't take no for an answer from his female students.

Lily's Rehearsal Room

Allan Fraser dropped in yesterday to spend a couple of days in Toronto - meeting with some record exec about how he might "ressucitate" (his word) his career. We had a happy dinner with Al and his buddy Joel Axler, who I met for the first time. Joel is managing a jazz singer called Terry Cade and played her tape. Then we jammed a little in my basement studio and Joel played rollicking piano while Allan played guitar. His acoustic was being troublesome and hard to tune, but when I got a close-up look, I could see the bridge had raised a quarter of an inch on one side and was held by strands of hardened glue. Allan and I drove to Hamilton to jam and were joined at Lily's by Kim Deschamps. Kim played some haunting dobro on an impromptu version of "Who Paid You (To Give Me The Blues)?" and then in my spaced out enthusiasm I said I wanted to hear what he could do on "Last Time I Saw Lenny" a song I had never sung for anyone before (except Daisy) and probably never will again. Who else would write a tune about a dead musician he had known briefly, and then kept adding verses everytime another musical aquaintance/colleague passes away. There's something sick about this.

Daisy's loft

I drop in with Allan on our way to Hamilton. Daisy wanted to discuss with Allan about promoting a Fraser & DeBolt re-issue. When we got there, we didn't discuss it very much past trying to find Bob DeVere's phone number. But then Daisy's son Jake arrived and it was something to behold him connecting with Allan. The last time he saw Allan, he was three years old. Then Jake picked up Daisy's guitar and while she sang, he accompanied her on "Matchstick Man", a very personal song Allan had written long ago about his deceased father. And here was young Jake - the same age as Allan & Daisy when Fraser & De Bolt were shaking up the folk scene.

Free Times Cafe

I get a call at the end of August from my friend Sootara saying that she's geetiing back to gigging and that she had called Judy at the Free Times requesting a Saturday night. Judy didn't hesitate and offered her Sept 5. When she realized how soon it was, and how much preparation she would have to do, she asked me to split the Bill and I said impulsively that I would. Then the first two people I mention it to ask me if I realized it was Labour Day Week-End...No wonder it was easy for Sootara to get *that* Saturday night. Most venues consider that week-end as a write-off. Anyway, we got a few people out and it was a most appreciative crowd - lots of laughs - and they kept calling me back until someone who shall remain nameless (SWSRN) requested "Don't Paint That Wall" - the B-Side of my only solo recording, and I botched the lyrics. That was the end of the encores - but I qualify it as a successful gig and I intend to pursue more solo gigs in folk venues.

Well, tonite I went to see the movie "The Big Hit" with Joel. Seventeen bucks for two tickets, then another seven for a couple a specialty coffes that Joel enjoys (when I started to walk into the Starbucks - he stopped me and gave me a whole speech about how Starbucks are taking over the worls and that we should support the smaller (and more Canadian) player, Second Cup. He said "Even if there's a Starbucks right in front of me, I'll walk a couple of blocks to the Second Cup. It sort of speaks to the proliferation of these places in Toronto. Oh yeah, then I found a $20 ticket on the car. Expensive outing, but father & son and all that...

This is the movie that Jonathan Savan was "location managing" or whatever he was doing - but he rented some of my music equipment (a Revox, a keyboard, cassette machine, road case and my little Yamaha FB01 synthesizer. I rented 8 pieces and when he brought back my stuff, there were eight pieces but two of them weren't mine. Anyway there I was watching my stuff on the big screen and trying to figure out if I should send one last message to the president of Sony or something. "Your movie sucks. In the unlikely eventuality that it makes any money, might I request that that the FB01 synthesizer you rented from me and never returned be replaced or compensated...."

I'm listening to "Celebration Starsong," the new age radio show. - they're talking numerology - if you have a K in your name it means you have a spiritual mission in this life (among other things). Think I better get back to the website now. Joel has done what he was going to do all along - he's dropped out of the science and society course, though he says he will still write the ISU (for practice). So the only two courses left for this semester are art and drama. what a joke. The teacher did not tell me that it was a forgone conclusion that he would fail...he could have tried to pull this one out, but he didn't budge. Now I told him, that I didn't care if he just sat in the library but that I wanted him at school by 9:00 am and of course that has not worked either. As you have said, we should be glad that he is at least alive and in school. But I hope we can convince him to get back into a real school next year...

I just spoke to Beverly Glenn Copeland today (hadn't spoken to hear since Christmas) - She said lots had been going on in her life since then. she says "One morning my wife woke up and decided she was heterosexual"....hmmmm.

Now Joel is off to another rave tonight after having done a big cleanup in the house (not including his room, of course) He stands there next to me looking into this disaster area and says with a straight face "that's clean."

Canadian Music Week

After a couple of days of conferences, panel discussions and showcase, I've had a chance to sit and listen to Sir George Martin in conversation (the celebrity interview) and he talked as he must have many times about starting out with a wire recorder, or whartever. My first studio experience was in the Montreal Studios of RCA Victor. It was 1963 and there were three tracks. Two of them contained pre-recorded band-tracks from europe and I was there with my trio to put on a vocal. (three part harmony).
Following Sir George's appearance, I found myself in the big room at Manta Sound. I hadn't beenm in that room since 1970 when I produced Fraser & DeBolt With Pleasure - we were the first paying customers in that place. Jack Ricghardson had tested out the room with a band called Hope. Now I'm at Manta Sound for the taping of a Blue Rodeo radio special for the Sound Source network - which I presume is owned by Gary Slaight. It was the second time in a week that I crashed one of his parties. The week before, Lily Sazz invited me to a Ray Materick showcase at the Phoenix and it turned out to be a priovate showcase of several Gary Slaight favourites that he wanted to present to his friends.

Who Paid You To Give Me The Blues?

Tomorrow I go to the tape duplicator to get a bunch more cassettes of “Who Paid You to Give Me the Blues?”. I gave a copy (plus a video) to exactly one promoter and I’ve got three festival dates out of it. I knew I was in the big time when we played the Dollar last February and it cost me money. I had to dip in to the tape sales just to pay the musicians. And even at that, it was less than what I promised them.

Here I am listening to Muddy Waters sing “I’m ready” and writing out the words. I think in the blues circles of Toronto any 50-year old bluesman would be expected to know the words to every single Willie Dixon song. But I guess that’s why I haven’t had a chance to play around on the blues circuit. I just don’t have that repertoire of blues standards that everybody knows.

I’m going to publish these updates on my website (since I don’t have a lot else to put up there). This is my first letter in a long time so I’ll use it to chronicle my recent adventures in Toronto. Colorblind’s Toronto Blues Diary. There’s been so much going on that I forget to write, but here’s a good place to start.

Installment #2 of Colorblind Brian's Toronto Blues Diary

Thanks to the great response to my first post last week, I am following up with a second report from the front lines. What a week it's been for the blues! Tonight is my gig at the Silver Dollar (to get *that* out of the way) but ever since the Maple Blues Awards last Monday we've had a flurry of blues activity, some focused on the Folk Alliance Conference in Memphis and lots in town too. Even a little controversy, but I won't get into that.

For this gig I will be joined by Rod Phillips and Mike Fitzpatrick, two very soulful musicians - both of whom were featured on the cassette of seven original tunes that I will be offering for sale at the Dollar (if I get them from the duplicator on time). If this message is addressed to you tell them you're on my e-mail guest list.

(There's a rumor that it's all a carefully orchestrated media hijack by Derek Andrews and Eddy B and so far they've gained more ink for the blues from mainstream media than even the wildly successful Maple Blues Awards could generate.) And that's all I'm going to say about that. What I want to know is: "Eddy, I guess it would be out of the question to get those prints of me..." Seriously, I don't think Eddy could bring himself to say anything less than friendly about me. He gave me my first solo gig in Toronto when he was booking Rowers. And he had me on his show playing live for an entire hour

The lighhearted commentary expressed here is not necessarily shared by the more serious people at the Toronto Blues Society, du Maurier Downtown Jazz or anybody else that I work for. If you would like your e-mail address removed from this list reply accordingly

The Silver Dollar Room

Well now I know I've made it to the blues big time. I'm playing a Thursday night in the same room where I've watched my guitar heroes like Luther "Guitar Jr." Johnson and Duke Robillard.

Three clues that I've arrived at the "big-time":

- When I spill coke on my hand, I get handed a towel by Rocky the sound gal and a wet nap from Roy who's does the video.

- A drunk female patron climbs up on the stage and starts dancing

- The drunk female patron has to be removed from the stage by the bartender when she starts rubbing her breast against my hand in the middle of a guitar solo.

Big Time, here I come!

The first Maple Blues Awards

The Maple Blues Awards presentation - This was a great day for the blues in Toronto and had repercussions across the nation as a lot of talented people were recognized for decades and even lifetimes of dedication to the blues. My enjoyment was hampered by some kind of stomach flu so I was unable to partake of the delicious buffet that I had a part in arranging on behalf of the Blues Society (I kept needling Bistro owner Lothar Lang that some of these burly blues types would need something a little more substantial than the finger-foods usually presented for the jazzy set - I had a back door into the Bistro, literally, because I work for Downtown Jazz whose offices are directly upstairs).

Now that I'm back from my sick bed, I'm glad to share some of my happy (if slightly foggy) recollections. I hope this will be the start of some kind of semi-regular postings to the Maple-Blue list. I'll be gathering these ramblings on my website (as soon as I build one!) - think I'll call it "Colorblind Brian's Toronto Blues Diary" I expect to be performing more in '98 (hell if it's one gig a month it'll be more than last year).and may I mention my next gig:
**The Silver Dollar Room this Thursday, February 12 with Rod Phillips and Mike Fitzpatrick (mark your calendars).**

As I looked over the photos of the evening I was sorry that I didn't have the energy to circulate a bit more - I don't think there's ever been such an assemblage of Canadian blues celebrities under one roof (if someone had dropped the proverbial bomb on that place, etc, etc).

The ceremonies went smooth as silk with host John Dickie (my favourite line was "There's hundreds of dollars to be made playing this music."). I think Gary Kendall's acceptance speech was more talking than a year's worth of his stage patter and it was fascinating to follow his life journey from Thunder Bay to Toronto to the world (or at least to Florida). Maureen Brown also received a true hometown-hero ovation as did the ever-modest Chris Whiteley.

I had stepped out of the Bistro after the ceremonies and when I was walking back in, I was struck by an amazing voice. I asked Al Lerman if he knew who that was and he didn't know, but as I turned the corner I saw that it was John Ellison with Vann "Piano Man" Walls and several other winners & nominees who had kicked off the jam session. Tyler Yarema invited me to sit in on guitar (I did, after all, provide my trusty Vibrolux for the occasion) and I found myself launching into a blues shuffle with a stellar group including Al, Gary Kendall, Pat Carey, Chris Murphy and when I looked down at the drummer I saw more bare thigh than I've ever seen in my life in the person of the 6-foot Michele (formerly Bohdan) Hluszko in a severly slit evening dress. This was a first for me and for the entire blues world, I expect. John Dickie was singing and he knocked me out! Being a relative newcomer to the Toronto scene I had never heard Mondo Combo or any of his legendary groups and although I heard him singing on his radio show a few times, I never got the full blast effect - and here I was playing along (and he must have been wondering who the hell I was and how I got there). As the City-tv camera-guy swung into the room, Teddy Leonard of Fathead was invited up to play and I handed off the guitar to him and worked my way back into the crowd to start saying my goodbyes. What a night!

The Blue Goose

Rod Phillips, who plays organ with me whenever I can get him, has been running a regular Sunday afternoon matinee at this club and last week his group, The Pie Guys were backing up Chicago bluesman Little Mack Simmons at the Silver Dollar. Also on board was Kevin Higgins on guitar - he had played with Little Mack, knew his repertoire, and on stage Kevin was acting as bandleader and go-between with the band. As I was hanging out in the dressing room on the break, Rod said "we need a guitar player to play with Mack at tomorrow's matinee". At first I declined because this was the sunday when I was supposed to finish off laying out the MapleBlues newsletter but I caught myself and came right back and said "Never mind, I'll do it - what time should I be there?" I never thought to ask what about Kevin, but for whatever reason he wasn't going top be there so I paid special attention to the second show and on Sunday I couldn't decide what to bring, since I knew it was a pretty big room, so I decided to bring my Strat and Fender amp...then I listened to Little Mack's album and found it quite acoustic so then I found myself loading in the flat top and cube amp as well. I get there at four with two amps and two guitars (I only had one of each at my own gig the previous Friday!) Then as I pull up at the club, who do I see unloading his Fender amp but Kevin Higgins. For whatever reason, he was able to come and play. Oh well, I spent the afternoon watching Kevin do the identical show I had seen the night before and then at the end of the second show when Mack had to leave early to catch his bus to Chicago (?) Rod had me up to play a couple of songs and I did receive some genuine admiration from Kevin, who is a great player. I was watching him take his instructions from Little Mack, who sometimes changed his mind after the band had started an intro and waved them to a halt, looked like he might be a stern taskmaster and I was starting to feel a bit relieved that I didn't end up there with him - especially when he called "Rainy Night in Georgia"...not exactly a 12-bar blues.

Trying to remember "The Story of the Magic Pick"

The Islington Golf Club. Did an afternoon private party with Professor Piano (Scott Cushnie). I realized my repertoire is wanting beyond the 50 or so originals (that I barely know anyway). (ACTION ITEM*** I need to learn some blues standards.***) Now I’m back home and I’m trying to run over a few folky tunes (don’t know why) and I can’t even remember the first line of "The Story of the Magic Pick", the B-side of the only record I ever made under my own name. I have to dig out the disc and check the lyrics which were printed on the back of the sleeve. And this man wants to make a career in music?

This is the last date booked with Prof. I’ve got to get some trio gigs with Mike & Victor. But before that i need to (ACTION ITEM***learn some blues standards.***)

My first CD

Toronto. Had a few friends over and we listened to the tracks I recorded at the Studio at Puck's Farm with Victor Bateman on bass and Mike Fitzpatrick on drums. Scott Cushnie (aka Professor Piano) played piano on 4 of the cuts. We recorded at Puck's Farm, a studio/theme park owned by my producer from the 70s, Frazier Mohawk. Fraz gave me some studio time and the musicians all did it for no charge, probably because they knew if they didn't nudge me it would probably never get done.

It started when Victor Bateman heard some of my original tunes at my 50th birthday party/jam session. I hardly knew him but he mentioned that he knew someone with a DAT machine and some good mics and we should go over and record some of my originals. The DAT machine belonged to a guitar player/radio guy...Bill Grove..and we spent an afternoon recording some of my new tunes. Next thing you know, we're in the big studio at Puck's Farm with the renowned engineer Phil Sheridan. Phil was a bit of a curmudgeon ("I don't like mixing other people's shit and I don't like other people mixing my shit"). The first session I started to rattle off the full names of the songs as he was writing a track sheet and he said "make it one word - I'm going to be writing this many times."

I lassoed Scott Cushnie at the Silver Dollar at the Toronto Blues Society's Birthday Party and when I mentioned that I was going to be driving up to the studio the following Monday, he asked me for a lift because he needed to have a meeting with Frazier Mohawk. I happened to have a rehearsal tape in my pocket so I gave it to him and asked him to listen to the tunes and see if there was anything he'd like to try putting a piano track on. He overdubbed some great piano tracks. Later Gene Hardy put some horns on a couple of tunes (actually, Gene was the only one who didn't do it for free - he asked for fifty bucks for gas). For the cover art I used a drawing (a self portrait, I guess) that is one of my rare attempts at producing a piece of visual art. At least I made the most of it.

After listening to a great set by Morgan Davis (who has a new drummer, Paul...) I went over to Grossman's to give Mike Fitzpatrick a rehearsal tape - he was playing with Michael Picket. Pickett was playing great, but in his inimitable style, refused to do an encore and even teased the audience by walking back up to the stage not once, but twice, to gather his gear.

Wade Hemsworth

It's a couple of days after Mother's Day, the day I had hoped to make a tradition by having the second "annual" Mother's Day Blues Bash with Colorblind Brian and friends. Is that asking too much? One gig a year!!!

Well, it was not to be. There was a nice consolation, though. I travelled through time to the Yellow Door in 1972. Or was it Rose's Cantina. It must have been Rose's, because there at the door of The Tranzac stood Penny Rose herself. Giving out little printed nametags to the stream of Montreal folkies that came through that door. When I walked in, Bill (that Cajun guy) was on stage. He was having a nice exchange with the audience, I found out later that he had forgotten the words to one of the Wade Hemsworth songs he was performing to the old fella himself.

Did I mention this event was a CD launch for Wade - The recording was made by Penny Rose who went up to Wade's house with a DAT machine on three or four occasions. But the event was star-studded, in a Montreal folkie kinda way. Next on stage was Ronney Abramson and Bill Garrett, she singing a very old song of hers that I'm sure I remember from back then. She had such a distinctive sound. Ronney is one of the not-too-many (I hope) women whom I have let down in this life. I wonder if she remembers? It's nothing romantic, at all. Ronny was moving to Toronto, or at least driving to Toronto and a trio of us guys were going the same way in a nice reliable Mercedes owned by Gary Howsam. Ronny was driving an old Peter Falk Peugeot and was reassured to know that we would hang together on the 401… Except we didn't. We turned off at Ottawa so Gary could drop in on a girlfriend or something like that. Anyway, I can remember watching Ronney riding off into the sunset, without the benefit of these three musketeers. That's pretty low isn't it?

Next on stage was Anne Lederman - who was one of Wade's Toronto connections - she has an organization called Worlds of Music and puts on concerts and workshops. And she sure can play that fiddle. We shared an office at the blues society. She worked with a South African lady - Lizzie. I had only seen Lizzie one time since that office-sharing period. It was the green room at the Bamboo. I was hanging out with Loraine Klassen's back up band and Lizzie was there too. I noticed as she was introduced to Lorraine and they chatted a little. Next thing you know, Lorraine's is into the second set and invites Lizzie to come up on the stage and do a tune with her. They do this complicated call-and-answer (trad) song - dance steps and all, and they've never even met! I guess it was a well known "duet" among South-African musicians. She managed to get real animated, but would reel herself in when she came too close to stealing the show. Anyway they had great harmonies.

After that, the stage was filled by Kate & Anna McGarrigle & crew with Danny Greenspoon on guitar and Wade himself. He wasn't playing guitar and the first tune he attempted was a bit challenging. Then they did the "Black Fly" song and the entire room was resonating with singing-along folkies. I guess Wade could have died and gone to heaven. He was conducting the endings, and getting right into it.

This was my week for old-timers. Two previous nights I poked in to the Montreal Bistro to see Jim Galloway (my boss at the Jazz Festival) playing with 91 year-old Doc Cheatham. Well, Doc is something else. His last set was very little trumpet playing and lots of romantic ballads. "I'll just pick up my papers and go..." He was wonderful

New owners at the Silver Dollar

The Dollar is back in circulation. That's the slogan on the poster. Yuri and Gary are having another go. All the previous connections are severed and Gary said it in a way that made you realize that this is the way to have a fresh start. Of course, when it's a new owner and a new bartender, then it's an even playing field and everybody is getting to know each other at the same time. Hangers on and friends-of-the-boss don't tend to make it through the transition. Luther Guitar Junior Johnson is playing and I must look like an idiot because I'm noting the pacing of his set - writing down the way he mixes ballads, shuffles and funk. He has a formula that I want to emulate in a show, mostly for it's machine-gun delivery. The applause has not died down before he's into the next song. He starts all the songs, and the band jus has to jump in as fast as they can. That's the way I'd like to do it.

One local writer that was very upset that I changed her story (doubly upset that I regarded it as a "trivial matter") but I'm still friendly and she came up to me all out-of-joint that she didn't get an invitation to the Jazz festival media launch.

Trying to get somebody to write a story about Morgan Davis for the Blues Newsletter. I'm directed to Michael Picket and although he doesn't have time, he mentions that he had previously written a story about Morgan. I was ready to use it when Al Lerman came through - then I find out that Morgan was livid about the story - particularly the part where he makes fun of Jeff Healy's blindness.

Met a guy who was in Sweet Blindness today. Ed White is playing with Al Lerman in Fathead.

Kim Wilson

The Silver Dollar Room. Kim Wilson is in town and I’m wondering if I’m going to be able to schmooze my way into this big ticket show. Reggie the doorman has been waving me in the last few times (and I was on a lot of guest lists before that). Now I even made a failed attempt at salvaging a newsletter file for him and he did say he’s buying me a drink (I don’t know if this means permanent free access to his venue. . .) I wait until after 11 thinking I’ll get there after the first show – even though I would have loved to hear the whole show. As it turns out, Morgan Davis played an opening set and Kim played on long show till almost one. I guess I got to hear most of it – Kim is the best (I had Peter Sidgwick come to check it out and he brought Jim Galloway). Gene Taylor was playing his ass off. I spoke to him afterwards and he asked after Lorraine. I particularly wanted to hear Kim do “Tigerman” and still don’t know if he did. I walk up to the front of the club and there’s no sign of life except for a tiny satellite dish next to a CBC minivan. As I walk in they’re live on the air following the 11 o’clock news and Kim is watching himself on TV. They cut to the entertainment reporter and after he says his piece they go back to the studio. But they cut back to the club to fill out the end of the show and Kim looks up at the TV screen and sees that he was still on the air…so he just stretched out his harp solo …maybe trying a little too hard for the cameras and even going a bit off pitch – the minute the camera was off, he backed off a tiny bit and he was right in the pocket again.

Making an album with Blue Willow

Getting ready to lay down some bed tracks with David James and Omar Tunnoch.

Street Brothers Rehearsal Studio. Blue Willow is about to begin recording a full blown CD. The girls have invited me to play on the CD but another guitar player is being brought in to do some other stuff. Lorraine is quite intent on having my sound as part of the Blue Willow sound (Dawn too, I guess) so I’m going into this playing my little heart out. I shouldn’t expect to get any second chances, so I want to be cautious but I don’t expect to play the song the same way each time.

Drummer Dave James had arrived from Halifax the night before, and had obviously been on such a bender that he couldn’t play – he literally fell of the drum stool and all he could say was “I feel so sad”, “I’m hurting”. When he was sent off in a cab, he stood in the doorway saying “You know what?. . . (long pause) I feel so sad”.

Day 2: Rehearsal with horns: Dave shows up bright, alert and apologetic. He hands out apples to everyone – apples that he picked himself in Nova Scotia. Except for a scab on his face from some kind of scrap – he was not playing his best, and his playing was so aggressive the cymbal stands were always teetering and sometimes crashing down on the floor. The horn players have joined us but we only run over the songs that they’ll be playing on – which turn out to be the songs we had run over the previous day. And I’m very surprised to hear that the studio is too small to allow sufficient separation between the drums and the piano, so the piano tracks will all have to be done over.

Day 3 – 5: The sessions start and Linda arrives in town – (I don’t see her till the Wednesday night). We recorded the beds with a guide vocal (and what turned out to be a guide piano). The guitar bass and drums are the only thing recorded live – the rest is overdubs. Bed tracks go down great, everything sounds good – no wasted time with this engineer, Ed Stone. Michael sets himself up with his fixins and every night when we’re out getting food, he’s on another search.

Day 6: Piano and Guitar overdubs. I went into the bed tracks assuming I’d by living with whatever I did so I took my solos then and there and when I could see time was pressing I just said we might as well just keep them. I did two overdubs, one solo and one chinky chink on a tune that isn’t going to be used. The solo guitar sound good (I think because I had the amp in the same room as me – whereas it was isolated during the recording of the bed tracks). Maybe I should have pushed for more time to do solos (first mistake). Carlos Del Junco comes to play on some tracks but he arrives late and has to leave early – he plays great and as usual if he plays it through one time without a boo-boo, they grab it. That evening Joe Mavety is scheduled to come and do some guitar parts, but I don’t hang around for that.

Day 6: earmarked for horns and vocals. The horns came in very well prepared, I gather. They probably stayed for 3 – 4 hours – then they were supposed to do some vocals.

Day 7: Boyfriends Night. Clint and Robbie are in the studio when I get there – a little subdued. And when it came time for them to sing they tried to do some interesting things but nothing worked out. In the end, to get some “hops” that were in tune they had to sample a good one and then Michael knelt on the floor tapping it in at all the other spots.

Day 12: We finished the album last night. I had dropped in a couple of times for the mixing and last night was the final sequencing – the tunes had been mixed down to DAT and they used Sound Tools to record all the songs onto the hard-drive (totaling 630 meg. As I listen to the final mixes, I start to think I should have been around for the mixing – asking for the guitar to be turned up. Then again. . . harp made an entrance and didn’t appear again for a long time but Michael pointed out that the harp was there after his entrance doing low stuff – but I still can’t hear it. Then I realized they were giving prominence to the harp but they weren’t just losing the guitar, they still had it wailing in the background, and it really wasn’t working with the harp. And there was the guitar pick-up just before the harp came in and it just made you expect a guitar solo – instead you get an even greater harp solo – but that’s the problem with Michael's theory of getting everybody to do a solo and picking the best one! So I lost out on a couple of solos, but we made a pretty good record and we did it with a tighter budget than most:

Rehearsal Studio 12 Hrs @ 17.00
Recording Studio Booked Time: 10 days @ 10 hrs (noon – 10 pm)
Recording Studio Additional Time: 2hrs/day
Organ Rental: $225
Two Rolls of @” tape @ $280.

And it occurs to me that I should have insisted on more than just the one overdub. But it took me six takes, I think. More than you’re allowed in the studio. In fact, if you’re stepping into the studio you better be ready to play something perfectly great on the first take – and that’s what most of these folks did. Carlos played harp and did great.

Two weeks later, Lorraine gave me a cassette of the final mixes, though not in the final order, and I was able to sit back and listen at home. The standout track for me was “It Would Be Easy” – the only tune where I overdubbed my guitar and the only take where I get close to the “tone” that I’m able to get on stage. And I figured out why: That overdub was the only time the amp was in the same room with me. The unique sound is created by the loop between the speaker and the pick-up and when they are isolated from each other, it’s just not the same.

A week after that I get a call from Fazier Mohawk praising my solo in “that ballad”. He said it was the most soulful thing on the album, but not in those words. Michael Fonfara had dropped by and played him the tape. That night I was at the Montreal Bistro listening to a singer from Montreal, Ranee Lee. She was a great performer and her husband/guitarist Richard Ring was incredible. He’s playing things I would never attempt and which I could never even figure out. Nothing like a little perspective. . . but when I sat down with Fay Olson and Don Vickery, I told Don about the experience and he reminded me that we can only do what we do and give what we have – and that’s what people (some people) will like about you.

King Sunny

Saw a film on King Sunny Ade on the previous Saturday and now had a chance to see him in person. It was a delight and when I saw all the gaily-dressed Nigerian women climbing up to the stage and sticking money to his sweaty brow I knew that was the African tradition of “Spraying” because I had seen it explained in the film “In Africa”, if you spray a musician enough times he will put your name in a song and then you will be highly thought of in your community.

Bobby "Blue" Bland

Drove way up North to see Bobby Blue Band and a new 1200 seat venue, the Jerk Pit North. Bobby was great – an exquisite show, but he does this weird “horking” sound all the time – I wonder if he did it once a long time ago and somebody said they liked it and he just kept doing it. Not a well attended show and he didn’t come on till midnight – I would have had time to see John MacLaughlan and Joey DeFranesco if I’d planned it better.

Mel Brown and Margie Evans

Margie Evans is playing the tent after a great set by Monteal’s Ranee Lee. I’m at the front and I see Mel Brown and a lady friend speaking to the ticket-taker and being directed to the back stage area. I saw my friend Alyson, who was the box-office manager, right there so I called out to Mel, and told Alyson to stamp him. She did, but later that night when I met up with her she was asking "what the hell??" and who was that guy I let in. As we watched, right after Margie’s second tune, she made a big deal about Mel being in the audience and had him up to do a couple of tunes with her. I guess they had worked a lot together in the past. In fact, he covered a lot of time for her and it may have been deliberate on her part because she did sound like she was having a little trouble with her voice. Meanwhile, I hope I have occasion to refresh Mel’s memory of me someday and tell him that when I got him into the show I didn’t expect he was going to take over the show.

DuMaurier Downtown Jazz

The du Maurier Ltd. Downtown Jazz Festival started today and the Blues Society All Stars played again. They did a great set in a huge tent that cost a lot more than anybody thought. Gatemouth Brown’s tour bus arrives at 8:00 p.m. with barely enough time for a sound check. I was standing close as he walked over to the food area from backstage and I tried to get his attention with a nice “Welcome to Toronto” smile but he did not look like he was in a good mood. I found out later from his driver that they had been caught in the middle of the only real violent activity in Quebec City’s slightly out of control Fete Nationale celebrations. A police car had been overturned in front of their motel and they were not allowed to return to their rooms until the police did their investigation – they finally got some townie to show them a back way into the motel. They were really freaked because, as it turned out, they had been trapped similarly during the LA riots and this seemed even more dangerous because it was a foreign country and all.

The Chicago Blues Festival

Here I am at the "mother" of all blues festivals, The Chicago Blues Festival (thanks to the generous encouragement of a wonderful lady called Rosemary). First night we signed up for the bus tour of South Side clubs which was sponsored by the Theresa Needham Foundation – she had been a great support to all the early bluesmen who arrived in Chicago in the fifties and now they wanted to convert her old club into some kind of social centre. Anyway, it was a great opportunity to see three clubs in one night (four, if you count Buddy Guy’s Legends where the tour started). The first club was called the Cuddle Inn and it will always occupy a special place in my heart because the style of guitar playing I heard there just made me realize that without even trying, I have developed a style which is closer to what I heard in those South Side clubs than what I hear from Toronto’s most accomplished blues guitarists. Interesting, considering my style evolved with hardly any influences – no blues record collection, no blues bands coming through town, and only one blues radio show on the French CBC. The singer at the Cuddle Inn was Johnny Laws which I would never have remembered if it hadn’t been painted on his old Cadillac convertible parked right in front of the club. Back in Toronto, I was trying to tell someone about the singer and couldn’t remember his name but the person I was talking to said right away “Was it Johnny Laws?” because he’s been playing that room for years. He was terrific – the way he worked the crowd – but as I saw over the next few days, that’s standard issue for a blues act. You say “how about the band!!! Give it up for the band. . .” then the band says “Let’s hear it for . . . whoever” and pretty soon they have the audience applauding themselves. The Cuddle Inn was really a hole in the wall and yet very big on premiums and merchandise – they hade these special foam holders for beer cans with their logo on it. Everybody got a bumper sticker. We got back on this old schoolbus with quite a cross section of blues devotees (including an entire Italian blues band); and went off to a couple of other rooms, the Celebrity Lounge and the Checkerboard, both similar establishments with similar shows. Each club synchronized their show with the bus arrivals and departures so that the minute we all got seated it was Showtime and they brought out all their special guests and put on a great show for us. We traveled to clubs on the North Side and the West Side as well.

I wanted to go to B.L.U.E.S. to see Jimmy Johnson because I had been playing a song of his for years. As we drove up, John Valenteyn said there he is – and he was standing outside the club on his break. We spoke to him and I asked if I could make a request. He said sure and I asked for “Strange How I Miss You”. This is a song I performed for years without knowing who wrote and/or sang it. But Jimmy doesn’t even remember right away. Then he turns to the drummer and says “. . . when I haven’t even lost you yet”. Jimmy says "naw, we don't do that anymore" but during his set he played a tune with exactly the same chord changes…only different lyrics and melody.

Then we got in a cab to come back to the hotel and the cab driver asked if we were in town for the bluesfest and told us not to miss Vernon Garett who was on the next day.

The last night we went to a club that was very different that the others and we saw Aaron Burton, Albert Collins’ old bass player backing up a guitarist called Jack Johnson. He had a very powerful style of guitar.

Associate Editor!

I have raised my profile in music Desktop publishing. I am now the Associate Editor of the TBS Newsletter and Barb McCullough made sure to put my name in the jazz festival program. These things do get noticed as I am becoming more aware.

We're going to make a records

Chicago’s: Our new record producer Fred Xavier came by and was to bring Andy Hermant but it was the long week-end and Andy went away – there hasn’t been any further discussion about him co-producing. Blue Willow getting some play and now they are talking about doing a full CD in August (contingent on a Factor Grant) – When I saw the song list, I mentioned that “Dump That Lump” should be considered (I knew that I would not be doing any vocals. . .) but Dawn said “That’ll be on the next album”.

Don't Forget Your Mother

Mother’s Day came and went and I still never got a chance to perform “Don’t Forget Your Mother”. My last thought was to go sing it in the People’s Corner both at City-TV.

On the road with Blue Willow

First attempt at a road trip – we went to Port Coburn. Club loved us and it’s amazing how much better you are treated the minute you go out of town. We followed the Sidemen.

Media Launch

Media launch for the Jazz Festival – missed the whole deal but got there in time to have some salmon and meet some of the guys from Eye.

meeting Brian Cober

The Grover Exchange with Blue Willow. Had a great night – Brian Cober of the Nationals sat in with his unique double-slide style. Colin. . . introduced himself and invited me to come by his regular Sunday Jam at Grossman’s

Canadian Music Week

Canadian Music Week. It came and went and I wasn’t there. No great loss, these things do come around again – I was at a TBS board meeting with Richard Flohil (when I called him Dick on the phone he was quick to retort “I’m Richard – I haven’t been Dick for years” – I guess I dated myself). Anyway I mentioned that I thought I might be entitled to some media accreditation but he said “It’s a bit late for that!” In fact, it was the last day or so. Next year. Every time I see Neill Dixon, the pres of Canadian Music Week I can only remember him as a coffee-house owner, a sweet guy who seems to have become a little hardened (shellacked?) by the music industry. The Juno’s took place without me. I couldn’t even attend the special showcase for the blues nominees – it’s the first time blues has been a category, and I designed the print ad and poster that was part of the advertising campaign that announced “Canada’s Got The Blues”. Met Kathleen Miller at the Record offices and mentioned that I knew her boyfriend Cash. The first thing she says to me is “Yes, we live together. I went out with him when he was in Downchild and he dumped me. Now I make him suffer – You ask him! Just ask him!”

Southern Comfort New Talent Search: Unbeknownst to me, Steve Jones sent in the tape we made in my living room – it was pretty rough and I'm sure the judges were under whelmed.

At Southern Comfort, I didn’t get to the media party after the Etta James show (neither did Etta) but Peter Donato came up to me afterwards saying “Where were you – I had an invitation for you. . .”

Canadian Music Week. It came and went and I wasn’t there. No great loss, these things do come around again – I was at a TBS board meeting with Richard Flohil (when I called him Dick on the phone he was quick to retort “I’m Richard – I haven’t been Dick for years” – I guess I dated myself). Anyway I mentioned that I thought I might be entitled to some media accreditation but he said “It’s a bit late for that!” In fact, it was the last day or so. Next year. Every time I see Neill Dixon, the pres of Canadian Music Week I can only remember him as a coffee-house owner, a sweet guy who seems to have become a little hardened (shellacked?) by the music industry. The Juno’s took place without me. I couldn’t even attend the special showcase for the blues nominees – it’s the first time blues has been a category, and I designed the print ad and poster that was part of the advertising campaign that announced “Canada’s Got The Blues”. Met Kathleen Miller at the Record offices and mentioned that I knew her boyfriend Cash. The first thing she says to me is “Yes, we live together. I went out with him when he was in Downchild and he dumped me. Now I make him suffer – You ask him! Just ask him!”

Unbeknownst to me, Steve Jones sent in the tape we made in my living room as a submission to the Southern Comfort New Talent Search – it was pretty rough and I'm sure the judges were under whelmed.
Never made it to the media party after the Etta James show (neither did Etta, apparently) but Peter Donato came up to me afterwards saying “Where were you – I had an invitation for you. . .”