The Beatles Tribute at Hugh's Room...

It's a long drive from stately Rylander Manor to the Big Smoke, especially on a Friday evening, of a long weekend. Nonetheless my wife and I made the trek, and considering everything...it was a fairly simple journey. A Man Called Wrycraft had invited us to attend TWIST & SHOUT the second annual tribute to the Beatles. The poster is fantastic, using imagery from HELP! to advertise this homegrown show.

Walked into the room and there was Michael, who waved us over and in his booming voice said, "David...didn't you have a hat on the last time we met? Meet Gurf Morlix!" Two minutes in and I'd been introduced to Gurf Morlix...not bad. After a brief chat (and an autograph) we took our place at the next table and ordered dinner. Pasta and sausage for me, beef stroganoff for Milady. The food at Hugh's Room is not bad, but I think their menus could use an update.

The show started at 8:30 with the sound of the pipes from the bar. That's right...THE PIPES! Bagpipes, played by Grier Coppins, leading the Highland Brothers in a spirited version of George Harrison's sitar masterpiece, "Within You, Without You". Pipes, drum and sax marched to the stage, the tune melding into "Rain". Then the pipes and drum were laid down and replaced by guitars for "Hey Bulldog" and more. Then more pipes as the trio retreated to the bar. Michael introduced Aaron Jensen and the Omnium Gatherum who sang "In My Life" and "Got to Get You Into My Life" in guitar accompanied vocalese. Lovely. They were followed by a bluesy "Yesterday" and "Yer Blues" from Alfie Smith and Nicole Christian. Interesting, if a bit awkward. "Yesterday" doesn't really lend itself to blues scales. Next up, Toronto producer/guitarist Ray Montford who did weird things to "Girl" and almost redeemed himself with an instrumental "Come Together".

After a brief intermission the music began again with David Celia bravely tackling "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" and "A Day In The Life"! Awesome really! The Indo-African trio Sharbat was up next with long renditions of "Let It Be" and "Eleanor Rigby". World Music rules. Gurf Morlix, who had been watching and enjoying the show with the rest of us, then took the stage. He played "From Me To You" and Ringo's "Don't Pass Me By" as if they were Townes Van Zandt songs! I would've loved to hear a whole set by him...maybe next time.

That left Saidah Baba Talibah and Donna Gratis to finish the night. Saidah's voice and Donna's guitar were magical, adding soul to two tunes from Abbey Road. "You Never Give Me Your Money" and "I Want You/She's So Heavy" both sounded great. Then Michael called the whole cast back to the stage for a singalong on "Don't Let Me Down". It was fun! The whole audience got involved. In fact the audience was just dying to get involved and would have happy sung along at any point during the night.

Then it ended. We wandered into the night. Drove home and dreamed of John, Paul, Ringo and George. A great evening. Thanks Man Called Wrycraft, thanks a lot!

Reviews are in for Ry's show in SanFran...

I've heard a lot of friends complain that living in San Francisco comes with a steep cover charge. While that is true, many notable artists have a particular affinity for the Bay Area's unique venues and personalities. With that high cost of living comes the opportunity to experience art and culture that can be found nowhere else in the world.

Such is the case with Ry Cooder's current stint at the Great American Music Hall. The shows are primarily intended to announce the release of his latest album, "Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down," but more than that he wanted to bring his San Francisco audience, who he applauds for their appreciation of the new and unexpected, something that in his words "they don't get to see every damn day." There will be no tour to follow this two-night run and on Wednesday fans came from as far away as Florida and Wisconsin.

The band brings together Cooder's past and present, featuring a rare appearance by accordionist Flaco Jimenez as well as singers Terry Evans and Arnold McCuller, all veterans of Cooder's touring bands from the '70s and '80s. The rhythm section represents the younger generation with son Joachim Cooder on drums and Los Angeles based-singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Robert Francis on bass. The core configuration is augmented by a ten-piece horn section including tuba and bass-saxophone, many of whom are positioned in the balconies on either side of the stage.

The Wednesday set spanned Cooder's career highlighted by a spirited version of Woody Guthrie's "Do Re Mi" featuring Jimenez's deft accordion work, a romping boogie-woogie rendition of Sam the Sham's "Wooly Bully," and a whole lot of down home blues and Mexican-tinged traditional songs.

Cooder's new material from "Pull Up Some Dust" was well received by the left-leaning San Francisco audience who seemed to particularly enjoy "El Corrido de Jesse James," a modern-day fable told as a conversation between the outlaw and God. Jesse James asks for his gun back so that he can return to Earth to shoot up Wall Street and "set things straight," naive to the reality that America's problems can no longer be solved with grit and bullets. "No Banker Left Behind" began a two-song encore again using satire to illustrate Cooder's concerns about American political and economic policy.

Time has been kind to Cooder's voice. His vocals have matured over the course of his career and he has learned how to use his singing to convey the spirit of his more recent work which is more lyrics-driven.

Joachim Cooder was solid with good feel and held down the rhythm effectively. The bond between father and son was evident and could be felt in the music, although at times Jim Keltner's wider breadth of expression and rhythmic mastery was missed. Francis' bass playing was enthusiastic and functional although there were moments when he seemed to be just hanging on and unsure where certain songs were going.

The horns were sonically magnificent and added a new dimension to the material but at times overpowered the band and were overwhelming, bordering on painfully loud, which Cooder seemed to enjoy tremendously.

Even with so much sound and so much to look at, the most transcendent moments were when slide hit steel. Cooder is a true master of the guitar and every time he took the lead the music was elevated to a higher level. Though firmly rooted in slide blues, his playing defies genre classification and can only be compared to a handful of other living masters who share his dedication to the eclectic. Guitarists Bill Frisell, Pat Metheny and Mark Ribot jump to mind.

San Pablo's Los Cenzontles (The Mockingbirds) opened the evening with a richly authentic and spirited set of traditional Mexican-influenced dance songs to the delight of the crowd.

Both shows are sold out, but a number of fans were looking for tickets at the door on Wednesday night and most seemed to find their way in. For the dedicated, it might be worth a trip downtown to see if you can get lucky on Thursday. You won't get many, if any, more chances to see this ensemble. Only in San Francisco.
(from SF Gate)

New interview with Ry Cooder...

This appeared on CANOE today!

It feels like old times to Ry Cooder. And that's the problem.

Economic malaise, unfettered greed, spiralling unemployment, self-serving politicians, impotent media: Life in America hasn't been this depressing since ... well, the Great Depression, the veteran singer-guitarist and musicologist believes.

"It's only perfectly obvious," grumbles the ornery 64-year-old Cooder from his Santa Monica home. "I read history books. I know what this is all about. I'm not stupid. What we have now is a replica of those conditions. Politicians in general and corporations have manipulated and wrecked the country. As a nation, we've come full circle entirely."

Fittingly, so has he. Cooder's latest album Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down harkens back to his '70s heyday, when he specialized in unearthing and revamping Depression-era fare like "How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?" and "The Very Thing That Makes You Rich (Makes Me Poor)". This time around, however, Cooder's timeless tracks -- a musical melting pot of folk, blues, country, Tex-Mex, gospel, soul and more -- are topped with his own topical lyrics about everyone from bankers and brokers to illegal aliens and John Lee Hooker. It may be the most personal and potent album of his career; no small feat for a guy whose resumé includes more than a dozen acclaimed solo albums, a slew of magnificent Hollywood soundtracks and collaborations with everyone from The Rolling Stones and Captain Beefheart to Buena Vista Social Club.

With Pull Up Some Dust now in stores, Cooder made some time to talk about creeping up on Woody, the kids and their texting, and how he soothes his jangled nerves.

Most artists go from angry young man to aging gracefully. You're getting feistier.

Ha! Not really. But I see what you mean. When you're surrounded by all these criminal acts and this terrible devolution of political life and social structure here in America -- I don't how it must seem up there, but down here, at my age, you can certainly trace this arc of collapse and chaos -- what are you going to do? It was either die of frustration and bitterness or make something out of it, you see. It's bad mental health to let that overtake you.

But you came up in the '70s during Watergate and Vietnam, and didn't write about them. What's different?

It took me a long time to get to where I had a handle on songwriting. You know, the old populist music of the '30s, which was invented and written by working-class people, was used to describe their lives and what they were going through, whether you were on strike at the cotton mill or westward-bound on the road. But since I didn't migrate west with the Dust Bowl guys like Woody Guthrie or see this first hand, I had to creep up on it more. It took time to absorb that kind of songwriting. It's taken me ... well, a lifetime.

Does it rankle you that protest music seems dead?

Well, here's the thing: In the '70s, you had one huge difference, and that was the record business. You had the three Rs: Radio, records and retail. You had a quick-response system. You could write a song and could go into a studio -- in those days, you still did that too -- and the record company could put it out as a single pretty quickly.

You could do that today on the Internet.

Oh, I don't think it's the same. The Internet is so vast and so diffuse. You can't compare that to the record business and the way it worked. And digital cyberspace doesn't provide a shared experience. I used to go see Pete Seeger, and within minutes he'd have an entire audience singing. When people sing together, they feel the same thing, they feel kinship. And by the end of the song, they've learned something and they can be moved forward. It's hard to have this kind of experience now; that feeling of solidarity.

Speaking of performing, you haven't done much lately. Why not?

It's hard. I'm a homebody. Travelling was not my favourite thing. And it's very difficult to do music out in the world. It's the most random, odd feeling. But I'm starting to think people are ready for this message. I don't know about the youth with their texting; they're hypnotized by their little screens. But they don't come see me anyway unless their grandparents bring 'em. But I think older people will respond to this. So if that means I go and play for 150 people -- which I think is an ideal audience -- to get this message across and give them the feeling I want them to have, I'm happy to do it. We're going to try a couple of shows this month. We'll see if I can pull it off. If it's motivating, maybe I'll find a friendly billionaire who will underwrite the whole thing.

I find it reassuring that your music has retained its own sound. You've never chased a trend.

Heaven forbid. I wouldn't even know a trend to chase.

What kind of music do you listen to?

Classical. It's very spacious and undemanding, especially the French guys. I like Ravel and all those cats. It's very soothing to my jangled nerves.

darryl.sterdan@sunmedia.ca

So, what have I been up to?

I took a couple of weeks holiday. Played my guitar[s], read some books, watched a bit of TV. It was relaxing.
I read Jeffery Deaver's up-date on James Bond, Carte Blanche, and found it to be a satisfying, exciting story. Good settings, interesting characters, and a villain who was...disturbed to say the least. Better than some of the post- Ian Fleming Bonds. Then I read Joe Gores' Spade and Archer the prequel to Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon. Gores had also written Hammett which saw the writer drawn in to a detective story not unlike his own work. Gores is a strong writer, and so his take on Sam Spade is respectful of the original and builds him into the detective that Hammett introduced. Of course, most people recognize Spade as Humphrey Bogart, and those folks won't be disappointed either. Another fun read.
Also got a look at Julian Dawson's biography of rock's sessionman extraordinaire. And on piano...Nicky Hopkins gets my full attention on Sleeping Hedgehog, but let me tell you, it's a dynamite tale.
I went to see Richard III at Stratford which featured Seana McKenna in the title role. It's been a tad controversial but I have to say she totally convinced me that she was a miaserable crippled king!
We also visited Toronto's Sound Academy to see Leon Russell. Paul James opened the show for some rocking blues and then Leon and his band really rocked the place with a career overview. See my full review on the Critics at Large blog!
New music? Blackie & the Rodeo Kings Kings & Queens, Gillian Welch's new one, and a bunch of Jack White produced 45s from Third Man Records. Vinyl? Yes, vinyl. I've been buying vinyl because, I can read the liner notes! See also Van Dyke Parks' new website, Bananastan, for subscription information. The music is beautiful, as is the presentation. Great artwork.
Friday night we celebrated Dr. Disc's 20th Anniversary by attending one of their free rooftop concerts. The Steve Strongman Band gave us forty-five minutes of blues in the Hammer. It was a gorgeous night...

New music, books, etc...

I finally obtained a copy of Elvis Costello's Spectacle (Season 2). Bought it on Blu-ray since we were there at the taping of the episode where Mary Louise Parker interviewed Elvis himself. You can spot us sitting in the second row off to the right side of the stage. No closeups though! So I hurried home and popped the first disc into my Samsung Blu-ray player, which has been a fine machine, and it began to load. "Loading" it said on the screen. 5 minutes later, it was still loading. It would still be loading today if I hadn't decided to try another disc. Popped in True Grit and it began right away. So, it was something to do with Spectacle. I tried the other disc..."loading". David Byrne's new live disc played beautifully, as did the Neil Young Music-cares disc. I bought a DVD copy of Spectacle to watch, and it played with no trouble. Aha! There must be one of those firmware updates I remember reading about last Christmas when my son gave me the Blu-ray player. With a little help from my technical guru (the same son who provided the machine) I was able to download the upgrade to a USB drive and jam that into the port on the back of the player. The rest was simple, the player discovered the file on the USB and loaded it. Now Elvis and I are available in High-Def! Oh, and the shows themselves? Excellent. Jesse Winchester, Ron Sexsmith, Lyle Lovett, the Boss, Bono and the Edge, and Elvis himself...all great.
The David Byrne? Odd, geeky dancing and a hot band playing David's hits. Curiously engaging! The Neil Young? A fine tribute concert to someone who deserves it, and who has a vast catalogue so that the tribute songs don't have to sound like his greatest hits. True Grit? Well worth another viewing. I read the Charles Portis book after seeing this new version, and for all the fuss people made about how faithful the Coens were to the source material, I have to say...the John Wayne version wasn't that far off. Both films are pretty true to the original, and have chunks of dialogue lifted off the page. It seems to me, that Barry Pepper's Lucky Ned is really based on Robert Duval's interpretation of the outlaw in the first film.
J.D.Souther has a new CD. Called Natural History it is a collection of old songs (and new) redone in stripped down versions. Produced by Fred Mollin (who did a similar thing with Jimmy Webb on Ten Easy Pieces) it highlights Souther's songs and his warm voice. A bit sleepy perhaps, but just right for a quiet night at home. Eliza Gilkyson is one of my favourite songwriters and performers but I was disappointed with her new disc. The band is fine, and Eliza sings beautifully but I felt the material was a tad samey, and grew bored with the album. I'll give it another chance but I'm not hopeful.
Blackie & the Rodeo Kings' Kings & Queens finally found its way out of the starting gate. I ordered the limited edition signed version from the website, and it arrived on the last day before a postal strike stopped the mail from moving. The autographs look more like scribbles on the front cover, fortunately I have another set of signatures to compare them to, and can identify whose scribble is whose! The music though is tremendous. Each song is a duet featuring one of the Rodeo Kings with a Queen of choice. Lucinda Williams, Patti Scialfa, Rosanne Cash, Emmylou Harris, Cassandra Wilson, the list goes on. A rootsy and gorgeous hour of song.
Paul McCartney re-issued his two solo albums in regular, deluxe and super deluxe packages. McCartney is one of my favourites, coming in 1970 and recorded during the breakup of his other band, it was light and fun and showed a man who wasn't afraid to take chances. McCartney II came after the drug bust in Japan and I found it hokey (although the songs were more complex) and sloppy. I've never understood the attraction Sir Paul has for "Coming Up". Maybe it's the kazoo solos! Anyway, my opinion of these albums hasn't changed. The remastered versions sound dandy, and the bonus tracks are...a bonus. But I'm not paying $70 each for a hardcover book and a DVD I'll only watch once!
My wife took me to see ex-Beach Boy Al Jardine for Father's Day. He was playing with his son Matt's band the Surf City All Stars, and it was a fun night of surf music and rock'n'roll. Just right for listening, singing along and a bit of dancing. We didn't stick around but I understand Al and the band did a meet and greet.
Apart from reading Tana French's Faithful Place (***) and starting to dig in to John Sayles' Moment in the Sun I've just been perusing magazines. I did pickup the new James Bond book though, and am taking a break from Sayles' 900 pages for a quick action tale. Carte Blanche updates (reboots?) 007 to today, and might just work...I'll let you know.

Paul Simon on TOUR!

When I heard about Paul Simon's new tour I immediately e-mailed my wife. "Wanna go see Paul Simon?" "YES!" was her response, so I ordered the tickets. They were for the 2nd balcony, but dead centre at Massey Hall, and we all know there are no bad seats at Massey Hall. Well okay, there are a few obstructed view spots but generally everything is good. Well, I had an obstructed view, not because of the construction of the building but due instead to the giant bobblehead on the guy in front of me. I don't think I've ever seen anyone move his head quite so much as this guy, and what a head it was! And his girlfriend never stopped talking to him, or to her friend seated next to Bighead. Very distracting.
But to the music...it was exquisite. Simon led an 8-piece band in a career spanning two and one half hour show. It never stopped!
"Crazy Love, vol.2" started things off followed by "Dazzling Blue" (from the new album), then "50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" and the title track "So Beautiful or So What". And if you were looking for surprises, well how about Jimmy Cliff's "Vietnam" which was the inspiration for "Mother & Child Reunion" or a medley of "Mystery Train" and Chet Atkins' "Wheels" before the new tune "Rewrite". Virtually no part of his career was left untouched (well, to be fair he didn't do Tom & Jerry's "Hey Schoolgirl") as Simon included "The Only Living Boy In New York" and "The Sound of Silence" from the Garfunkel days.
He has a strangely gentle (almost girlish) presence on stage. His hands, when not wrapped around a guitar, flow hither and yon lending a Piaf-like air to his performance. His voice was a bit ragged, he's been suffering from a cold, but apart from marking a few high notes, he hit everything he aimed at! As J-Lo told the wannabes on American Idol "You're a professional, you don't have to hit those notes! You have a 2 hour show to give." And Paul Simon is a consumate professional.
The band was terrific, many of the players doubling on instruments, they reproduced the crystalline sound of his CDs beautifully.
A stunning night, that ended, after two encores, with a long ovation for a true American legend.

Ron Sexsmith at The Studio Theatre...

Wednesday night Rich and I had front row seats for the best show in town. Sure, The Pixies were playing next door, but Ron Sexsmith was at the Studio Theatre, and what could be better than that?
The show started on time with an opening set from Ash Koley. They were better than expected, and apart from way too much "Gee golly, it's so cool to be on tour with such a wonderful guy as Ron Sexsmith..." they provided an entertaining opening. I mean, even if it's true (and it is) that Ron is a sweetheart, enough is enough.
Ron took the stage, in front of his touring band, wearing a new stage jacket with embroidered flowers. He looked every inch the professional. He has an open easy-going style, friendly and chatty with a touch of humour and cynicism. The band really cooked this time, Bover shone on lead guitar, and the addition of Dave Matthewson on piano was a good idea.
Ron did tunes from the new album interspersed with classics like "Strawberry Blonde," "Brandy Alexander" and "Hard Bargain". Working with Bob Rock helped. The new songs and the old came off as punchier, and more solid than in the past. They've never sounded bad, but this band owned them.
The merch counter had T-shirts, CDs, signed lithos and the new album on vinyl, but I'd pretty much gathered all that stuff up over the past month, so after an encore of "Michael and His Dad" and "Every time I Follow" we headed home, our heads full of Ron's beautiful music.