Raoul and the Big Time celebrate 25 years

Some official blues at Hugh's Room Live tonight with Raoul and the Big Time celebrating 25 years. November 2023

Sympathy for the Devil at Soulpepper Theatre November 2023

Now that MapleBlues is put to bed (watch for some big announcements), I made another iPhone mini-compilation from last week's outings - this from Raha Javanfar's tour-de-force, "Sympathy for the Devil" Check out the accidental "special effect" at the top

Sandra Bouza Redwood Nov 2023

Sandra Bouza lit up the Redwood at her CD Launch on Sat. She even had a hand in decorating the stage with some glitzy drapes. Stellar musicianship and a house packed with adoring fans, friends and family.

Masters of War. Mike Daley and Kevin Breit Castros Toronto Nov 2023

Checked out Mike Daley and Kevin Breit at Castro's and that was a beautiful afternoon...except at one point when I finally got a chance to say hi to Mike Daley and he said "I've been meaning to talk to you - you’ve got the listings wrong in your Newsletter.  Ooops....

The Orange Devils with Colleen Allen

Got out to see the Orange Devils (17-piece band) at Monarch’s Tavern where they play the second Monday of every month. I ran into some old friends, including Colleen Allen and it was so great to see her and she was playing great - and that big band is so tight. There's nothing like sitting in front of a big band when they hit it - you feel the air move! 

Bandleader Martin Loomer pointed out a young lady in the audience called Trombone Charlotte. She was about to appear in the Women's Blues Revue and we had been doing some promotion in the MapleBlues newsletter and so when she came by my table I said, "How are you? You don’t know me, but that I am the editor of MapleBlues and you were my cover girl this month".  She says, "Yeah, why you didn’t you use any of the photos that I sent you?" I asked her if it was an old photo that I used and she said, "I was 19 years old in that picture!" Oh well...She did say later that she appreciated the coverage (and even an old photo is good publicity).

Stringbuster MIDI jam Sept 2023

Brian Blain (@thestringbuster), Gabriel Lavoie (@g.lavo.beats), Patrick Merner (@coolrichiemusicpatmakesmusic) and Joe Brand (JustJoe) jamming it up in the backyard. Joel Blain (aka Coi) at the board & hand puppet

Oliver Klaus - TheTerrace Inn

My old bandmate Maurice Singfield​ just posted this clip from a reunion concert of the band we had back in the 70s. We played a lakeside dance hall called the  Terrace-Inn​ every Thursday, Friday and Saturday all summer long (you don't see steady gigs like that anymore). This is a song I wrote about the Terrace and this morning I'm thinking about the cat who produced it, David Baxter​ who is in hospital and not doing well. Also remembering a couple of other producers, Paul "Eggs" Benedict and Frazier Mohawk​ (aka Barry Friedman) who have both passed on and, like David, exhibited great patience dealing with this old bluesician who was unproduceable, unmanageable and unpredictable.  Blainletter subscribers may have noted there was no October Blainletter - when there's no gigs to promote there's nothing but blather and scuttlebutt.  Watch for some changes in my "fan engagement".

Coco Montoya Toronto October 2023

Coco Montoya played the Revival in Toronto with his crack band. This was the last Hugh’s Room show at an alternate venue. They are now totally settled into their new digs at 296 Broadview. Coco’s organist/second guitarist Jeff Paris was a stand-out. His playing was kinda “out there” at the beginning of the show but then he settled down and dug in and provided some great organ flourishes but when he left the keyboard rig and picked up a guitar I was amazed at his prowess on slide, and all the other guitar stuff he did. He also provided some solid harmony vocals. A real utility guy. 

I first saw Coco when he was with John Mayall and considering the legendary guitarists that have passed through that band, he certainly lived up to the legacy. At the end of Mayall’s set, at the old rotating stage at Ontario Place, Coco was the hero of the night and I remember him walking off the stage tossing handfuls of guitar picks into the fans who had crowded the stage. He made a big impression and lived up to it with numerous appearances in Toronto. 

One of Coco's most amazing routines was when he would make the guitar "talk". He would come to the edge of the stage and using the volume control on the guitar, he was very good at shaping words and he would engage in a whole conversation that was surreal.  I guess he doesn't do that routine anymore. Too bad.

 Some of his earliest Toronto fans were gathered at a hi-top table in the middle of the Revival. The back of the room was not crowded, that room was nowhere near capacity and I was remembering a show he did at the room that became Jeff Healey’s Roadhouse, one of the few shows that Toronto Jazz put on outside of festival time. It wasn’t very well attended and I wondered how Coco would do at this one. He used to pack the Silver Dollar. 

The Hugh’s Room demographic was quite apparent as you looked about the room – an older exclusively white crowd that were mostly well-heeled (a $60 ticket would scare away a lot of Coco followers, though he doesn’t get to town very often). I think it got a little loud for some of those folks, too, and I saw a few slipping out. When Coco started the set he jumped right into the second tune with hardly a breath and that’s how I like it. But for the rest of the show he reverted to the usual blues stagecraft with little talk except to confer with the band members to decide the next song. So much for the “machine gun delivery.”

Michael Jerome Browne and Teilhard Frost at Tranzac

 

 I was glad to get back to the Tranzac to see my old friend Michael Jerome Browne.  The Tranzac is a pretty unique venue that's been going for a long time, and Michael reminded me that he had come to play with me there back in the 90s.  I realize the Tranzac was the first place I ever hosted a "jam."  There were no jams in Quebec – at least not the parts where I lived. But when I got to Toronto somehow I ended up with this residency at the Tranzac – every Thursday was blues night with Brian + a guest – and I invited all the blues guys (and gals) that I was meeting in my role as editor of the MapleBlues mag. So it was a who's who. We would just swap songs and play with each other – jamming! – and I think both me and my guest got $50.

 

Back to MJB, I often describe him as the person who "saved" my second CD, "Overqualified."  That CD was "in the can" (as they say). Producer David Baxter had signed off but I was not sure about two or three of the songs. The label, Northern Blues, was able to get 8k out of Factor (I was never able to get a penny when I applied on my own) and I decided I wanted to get MJB to help me lay down a couple more songs. We went into Montreal's Fast Forward studio with the dearly departed Rob Heaney at the board and cut 5 tracks that filled out the album quite nicely, I thought. Thanks MJB

 

....and what a great night of music.  I thought it might be more old-time than blues and I said as much to Michael before the show but at the end I was thinking that was plenty blues. But when I first walked in and saw three gourd banjos on stage, I was expecting less blues. I had just googled his opener, Teilhard Frost, half of Sheesham and Lotus (not sure what half), and what a great musician and showman. That last tune, "Fixin to die" in my little compilation video brought back memories of sitting under a big ol' oak tree on Toronto Island and jamming with Bukka White.  I was with Allan Fraser and we can't agree if we joined him or he joined us but had a little jam and storytime under this tree – and I just realized that "Fixin to Die" is what we played – or something very much like it.  Then again, a lot of Bukka's songs sound like that…"

 

https://www.facebook.com/brianblain.home/videos/642770231314334

O&A Polaris Prize - Galloway Wee Big Band - Victoria Street

Out and About: This clip starts with Debby Friday taking a bow, even before she was announced as winner of the 2023 Polaris Music Prize. I got there just as she was ending her set. Then played Dan Mangan, Begonian, Aysanabee, snd Snotty Nose Rez Kids. Massey Hall is just a short walk from the Arts & Letters Club where The Jim Galloway Wee Big Band played a night of blues "a-la-ellington." I'm thinking they were original Ellington charts but can't say for sure. On the way I passed the Jazz Bistro there was a cookin' little combo.

 

Eric Clapton Toronto 2023

What amazed me about this show is that I got to see it – and pretty damn close up (as you can see). I had friends who bought tickets months ago like this was gonna be the second coming.  I applied for a media ticket though my media credentials would not get very noticed in the behemoth that is Live Nation but I’m thinking they have a certain allocation of media tickets and if some of the big boys like the Star and the Globe do not use them then they might trickle down to this little Blues newsletter.  Except the Star and Globe were there – and I was sitting next to the Star.  At one point I tried to make some media small talk with Nick Krewen, the Star scribe and I asked what he thought about the latest news that Drake had just posted an old video of his dad playing at Danny Marks Stormy Monday jam at Albert’s Hall.  He said “I wrote it!” Ooops. I have since looked it up and also read his terrific review of the Clapton concert….except he didn’t say anything about Jimmie Vaughan except that he joined EC for the encore.  Maybe Jimmie’s set was not the kind of “wow factor” that you expect in an arena show but for guitar aficionados, he delivered and I expected I would enjoy his set more than Eric, but EC did a full tilt blues show, interspersed with a couple of his hits, it he’s got the “wow factor.”  And, as I noted in a comment to a Facebook post, he has that immediately identifiable tone and touch that every guitar player strives for. Jimmie had it too and played some great solos.  Twice I noticed he started playing with his guitar volume down but he quickly adjusted.  He hardly said a mumbling word, but when he dropped in a line about Toronto “I guess I’ll have to move here” I was thinking “I don’t think so” because the last time I saw him live was at Harbourfront in the 90s where he started his set with a tirade about how much trouble he had crossing the border and saying he was never coming to this country again. 

Like I said, I went more for Jimmie than Eric and I went with the intention of buying some merch (I was going to get myself a birthday present (77 yesterday!) but wouldn’t you know there was no Jimmie Vaughan merch.  Nothing. And there wasn’t a lot of variety of Clapton merch, a selection of 60 dollar t-shirts and that was about it.  

And EC didn’t have a word to say, either.  He didn’t even say anything about the recent passing of his friend Robbie Robertson but rather spoke through his guitar and started the show with two Band songs. Maybe some folks were relieved that he didn’t talk to the audience lest he starting going on about vaccines and mask mandates.  He became a bit of a poster boy for anti-vax but that did not surface and just as well.  Some have surmised that some fans might have skipped the show but it was pretty well sold out.

For more about the music I would direct you to Nick's review in the Monday Star

Blainletter #160 | Stringbuster & Friends MIDI Jam Sunday 3pm on twitch.tv | Music Docs | Will the Blues Survive? | Out and About

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August 2023 View this email in your browser When a friend mentioned he hadn't seen a Blainletter in a while, I was sure I had put out something in August but now I see it was the July Blainletter - sent on the July 31. So here I go again – let's just call it the "end-of-month" wrap-up, though this month I do have something to promote. Yeah! I have invited some very talented electronic musicians and producers, Gab Lavoie, Joe Brand and my boy, Coi to join me for a different kind of jam – a MIDI jam. In addition to these humans, I will be sending MIDI notes to a "virtual" jammer, an intelligent looper. Instead of just spitting back what I send it, it uses AI plug-ins to generate a unique musical response (This is what happens when you're stuck alone in your basement studio for 3 years). It will be an afternoon of non-stop instrumental blues-infused down-tempo ambient sounds.  Not everybody's cup of tea, but check it out if you're curious. Just go to www.twitch.tv/thestringbuster and there we will be, live from the back yard at 3pm on Sunday.   Music Docs Wayne Shorter is music royalty, even beyond the jazz sphere. Prime Video has released a 3-part documentary on his life and I was lucky enough to be offered a "screener" last month. It is beautifully done (financed by Brad Pitt and Carlos Santana).  He was/is an inspiration to musicians – and you don't have to be a jazz musician. And he would be the first one to say that what was more important than his life as a musician was his life as a human being.  Lots of words of wisdom as well as some great musical moments.  A lot of his wisdom flows from his Buddhist philosophy and both he and his long-time musical partner Herbie Hancock have been chanting "Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo" most of their lives.  When you see all the ups and downs he went through, you can see how his strong faith was essential in keeping his life on an even keel. You can view the trailer here < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q97e1gBwNPg> or go directly to Prime and have a good binge. I was happy to hear from Andrea Reid that the documentary she was developing on our beloved Professor Piano, Scott Cushnie, is back on track, since she got sidelined by the birth of two kids in quick succession followed by a breast cancer diagnosis.  Happily she has responded well to the treatment and is getting back into the project. She started by putting up a couple of podcasts at https://www.youtube.com/@lessonsinblues She talks about her relationship with The Prof and includes a few teaser clips of interviews with Scott – including his story about how he convinced Ronnie Hawkins to hire Robbie Robertson and how he got Robbie to be a bass player to get his foot in the door.  I was interested to hear the story because I wrote a song about Prof – specifically to perform it at his "Celebration of Life" that was held at the Great Hall.  Now hearing the story direct from the "horse's mouth," I see that I got some details wrong including confusing Pete Traynor with another bass player named Peter – but I don't think I'm going to start re-writing that song.  Call it poetic license.  You'll hear Scott performing "Bourbon Street" on episode 2 of the podcast and you can hear the iphone recording of "Me and Prof on Bourbon Street" that I made the night before the "celebration" with my words and Scott's melody of "Bourbon Street". That's another kind of license, I guess. It's a little rough, but if you're curious it's here.  Andrea did a beautiful thing at that event – she put out a display of Scott's collection of records & books and other stuff so that everyone who came to that memorial could take home a little piece of The Prof.   Then we lost Michael Fonfara. There was a beautiful tribute night for him and thanks to the efforts of Gary Kendall and John Finley we can finally see the whole show from start to finish.  The event which included performances by Allan Gerber, Johnny Wright & Hotline, The Brotherhood of The Lincoln`s Alumni, Robin Banks, The Hogtown Allstars, The Checkmates/Rhinoceros Reunion, Michael's wife Avril and Downchild was captured by videographer Keith Holding of LiveToTheWorld and he originally created a loving documentary to his longtime friend and you can see that here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozGAuxl5m44&t=8s. But if you want to see the whole concert from beginning to end with enhanced audio and video you can find it on Gary Kendall's YouTube channel  https://www.youtube.com/@Garmalken   Will the Blues Survive? Those of us who have been living in a blues world have watched how this genre of music goes through cycles of mainstream popularity (witness the "Blues Brothers") and then what seems like a steep decline. Then it comes back again and you hear blues music on commercials and movie soundtracks. But any music genre that doesn't attract at least a few fans from the younger generation is destined to wither on the vine.  And that's what it's looking like for blues music, except it's even more complicated because what is missing is a young, black audience.  It's non-existent. At least not in the live scene.  It's left to old white people to get out to blues festivals and join blues societies.   In the last Blainletter I wrote about the Tedeschi Trucks show and meant to mention that I did not see a single black person in that audience. Since the TTB concert, I noticed at the Buddy Guy show there were more black folks on stage than in the entire Massey Hall.  But this is Canada, I said to myself.  But I watch a lot of live streaming from events in the states… so there I was watching another big blues star, Shemekia Copeland rocking the stage at a big blues festival…the camera does a slow pan across the audience and I think I saw one black person – and that's in the States! (albeit a Northern State).  So there's three of the biggest blues acts on the planet and they are playing to an exclusively white audience.   From the performer's point of view, an audience is an audience, and we're glad to have people who enjoy what we're doing, but some of us are starting to wonder what we're doing when we run into the "cultural appropriation" argument that there's something wrong with white people singing black music.  It comes up in an article by Lynn Boucher in the current MapleBlues mag which will be in your mailbox shortly if you're a member of the Toronto Blues Society. Miss Emily wrote about it in a previous issue. And without getting specific about anything, there have been a couple of recent reminders that we are treading on some very delicate ground taking any kind of ownership of blues music even though most black folks seem to have abandoned it.  And the real irony is that it's white folks who are speaking out against this appropriation, stepping up to defend perceived disrespect. Nobody is being disrespected but there will always be somebody out there anxious to demonstrate a bit of outrage – and they are usually the loudest, so people pay attention.  I just heard that Florida's new restrictions about books in schools was the response to complaints from exactly two citizens. But they had loud voices and they were very convincing. Jodie Drake was a revered Toronto blues singer who certainly lived the whole black experience but she never equated one's ability to sing or enjoy the blues with the colour of one's skin. She said  "The Blues…they have to really be felt, and if you don't feel them inside, well,  (shakes her head)…if it's there, inside, it's there." And it would appear that most black folks these days are not feelin' it.  No blame. No shame. People who feel it will go out to hear it, but as it turns out, that's mostly white people. And as a  (1)old (2)white (3)man who's been playing and feeling the blues forever, I'm feeling like I've got 3 strikes against me.   Out and About I have to say I was "out and about" way more this month than in a long, long time.  It started with an invitation to the official opening of the new Hugh's Room Live at 296 Broadview and even though I was at a little dinner party earlier that evening I was able to get there in time to say congratulations and capture a bit of the "finale" with a great band that included HRL board members Quisha Wint and Michael Occhipinti. (click below to get your first look at this fabulous new music venue).  HRL has been putting on shows in various venues in the interim and I was happy to check out Lance Anderson's tribute to Sly and the Family Stone at my neighbourhood theatre, The Redwood.  Next on this clip are a couple of fine guitar pickers, Steve Payne from the UK and Noah Zacharin.  I've had occasion to jam with both these fellows and I decided I was going to get myself out the door to say hello after all these years. The following Monday was the last of the Toronto Blues Society's "Blues Mondays" at Union Station so I really wanted to check out the set up (first-class all the way) and hear my old bandmate Suzie Vinnick.  She was sounding great and had a batch of new songs since I last saw her. I did a FaceBook live and you can see it here That was at 6pm so when 8pm rolled around I still had a little steam left so I decided to head up to the Danforth to drop in on my old buddy Julian Fauth who was playing at a relatively new jazz venue called Hirut.  Gary Kendall had just played there and suggested it might be a good venue for me but alas I think they're sticking to a strictly jazz policy.  But hearing Julian and Ken Yoshioka (with drummer Bob Vespaziani) was a delight and then on the break, they invited me to sit in so I played half the night with them. I wish I had the camera rolling while I was playing with them but alas I was preoccupied trying to remember how to play guitar.  And Ken's Telecaster was not easy to play – the strings felt like they've never been changed and the first string was slipping out of the nut – very blues – but I got into it and had a great time.  Thanks for getting me up, guys.    So now I'm feeling real adventurous and a few days later I make it up to Sauce where Steve Marriner has a weekly residency, when he isn't touring festivals across the continent.  He had Alec Fraser playing bass – great to see him too (he recorded my first CD) and a terrific drummer whose name I did not get.  Then Paul Reddick shows up and sits in for a few tunes – the highlight of which was Steve singing one of Paul's signature tunes check it out here. MOATM (Music On At The Moment) I'm catching up on some new releases – two "premieres" courtesy of the Toronto Blues Society, Blackburn Brothers and Jim Casson's Davis Hall and the Green Lanterns. Jim created a "podcast" of the album with his comments between the tracks.  I don't know if that will be available after this "premiere" but it was fun to listen that way.  I was asked to write a CD review the other day and had to say that I don't have a CD player anymore and I can't remember the last time I listened to a CD from start to finish – I guess it was probably when we were putting out my last CD and I had to listen to it more times than I can remember.   …and speaking of that CD, if you don't have your copy of "I'm Not Fifty Anymore" today is Bandcamp Friday – which means they forgo their commissions and all the proceeds go to the artist. Just sayin….  www.brianblain.bandcamp.com   And I'm Out of Here Thanks for reading this far. I see that the Blainletter gets opened by hundreds of people but not sure how many read through it. But I always seem to hear from someone or other that they enjoyed it and that's what keeps me going. If you are not subscribed to the Blainletter, go to my website, brianblain.com and click in the top right corner. Feel free to forward this to any friend you think might enjoy my occasional ramblings (and maybe my music, too). These bits and more are always available on my blog, www.torontobluesdiary.com. See you out there (eventually) BrianB, aka Butch, Nappy, Shaker, Two-Lane Blain, Colorblind Brian, Stringbuster, Buddha of the Blues For this album, I wanted to bring attention to the water crisis that is affecting 3 billion people on the planet. "Water Song" is a pretty dark "ear movie" with a global vibe provided by Sadio Sissokho (kora) and Harry Manx (mohan veena). The haunting vocals are provided by Ruth Mathiang. "I'm Not Fifty Anymore" kicks off the album with a little tongue-in-cheek  humour and some fine harp playing from Steve Marriner.  “The Not Worried Blues (An American Dream)” and “You Are Also His Son” were recorded with Julian Fauth and Gary Kendall, Mike Fitzpatrick and Pat Carey from Downchild.  “Blues Des Cantons (Goodbye Sherbrooke)” is a leaving-home barrelhouse boogie “en francais” with David Vest pounding the 88s. Patrick Merner added some bass & synth, and Clayton Doley overdubbed some organ from his studio in Melbourne, Australia. Ken Whiteley played some lap steel on "You Are Also His Son", Jesse O'Brien added some piano and organ to "The Mother I Never Knew" and drummer Michelle Josef provides a solid backbeat throughout.  Some songs end with extended jams (because I loves to jam) and the last track is a ten-minute acoustic soundscape with Michael Jerome Browne from the last day of recording my “Overqualified For The Blues” album years ago in Montreal. I call it “Tai Chi Ten,” …because it’s just the right pace and length for my Tai Chi set, but it makes for a fine meditation even if you aren’t moving.     Track Listing     1. I’m Not Fifty Anymore  3:07   feat. Steve Marriner 2. You Are Also His Son  4:52   feat. Ken Whiteley 3. Blues des Cantons (Goodbye Sherbrooke)  4:22  feat. David Vest & Clayton Doley 4. The Mother I Never Knew  3:55  feat. Jesse O’Brien 5. Not Worried Blues (An American Dream)  3:37  feat. Julian Fauth & Gary Kendall, Mike Fitzpatrick and Pat Carey from Downchild 6. Water Song  5:26  feat. Harry Manx & Sadio Sissokho 7. Tai Chi Ten  (A Meditation)  9:54  feat. Michael Jerome Browne mixed by Margaret Stowe at Ozworld Toronto mastered by Harris Newman at Grey Market Mastering, Montreal art direction Linda Turu photography Margaret Mulligan design Keijo Tapanainen   Copyright © *|CURRENT_YEAR|* *|LIST:COMPANY|*, All rights reserved. *|IFNOT:ARCHIVE_PAGE|* *|LIST:DESCRIPTION|* Our mailing address is: *|HTML:LIST_ADDRESS_HTML|* *|END:IF|* Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list *|IF:REWARDS|* *|HTML:REWARDS|* *|END:IF|* Share Tweet Forward