Tom Waits Tribute / John Mayall / etc.

OK, it's been a busy time. the last couple of weeks I've been to Hugh's Room for A Man Called Wrycraft's Tribute to Tom Waits, seen Harrison Kenedy and John Mayall at Brock, been to Pickering for a high school production of The Music Man and supported my friend who plays in the Dundas Concert Band. Whew! That's a lot of music, most of it good, some of it excellent.



Hugh's Room is a great venue, but I have to say...they need to fix the kitchen. The menu has been the same forever, and while I used to stick with the salmon one overcooked fish helped me decide to experiment a bit. Well, I tried the Sausage Penne this time and the penne was...not quite al dente, but rather hard! No, I didn't send it back because I had already waited an inordinate amount of time, and was hungry! And the show was starting! I don't like to eat during the show, especially when my seats are pressed up against the stage. Now admittedly these are great seats, right next to the action, but nobody wants to watch people eating pasta while they're trying to sing about strippers and junkies! Big Rude Jake opened and having Coco Framboise do a strip tease dance just took the show to great heights. How could anyone top that?

Elizabeth Shepherd took the challenge by just playing and singing beautifully. Then Ariana Gillis and Band (fresh from a major success in NYC) won over the crowd. Al Parrish, Kim Stockwood, Joe Nolan, and the 24th Street Wailers, everybody was ON tonight. It was wonderful. The songs were dandy too, made everyone go back and revisit Mr. Waits' catalogue when they got home. And the closing act? Matt Brubeck and Roberta Harrison, couldn't have been better. It all wrapped up with a rather sloppy, but appropriate "Ol' 55" by everyone, including the audience. Almost made me forget my pasta...well...the beer helped!



A week later it's Harrison Kennedy opening the show for John Mayall. Kennedy is an acquired taste, going for the authentic, untrained blues-singer thing. He only recently came to the guitar, and seems to have taken that lack of skill to new lows by adding banjko and mandola to the instruments he can't really play. He'd do better with a band, since he still possesses a dynamite voice. But when John Mayall came out the night improved. With Rocky Athas on guitar, Greg Rzab on bass, and drummer Jay Davenport Mayall new band is hot. Add the godfather of British Blues on keyboards and harmonicas and you've really got something. My friends who really didn't know what they were in for said, "Wow, I've never heard anything like that...all his songs are really long." That's because everybody gets to solo, and these guys know their instruments! A good night's entertainment (the food at Grill on the Hill was good too) topped off by a signing in the lobby!



My nephew Andrew Wright was the star of the show at Dunbarton High School's The Music Man. Singing Meredith Wilson's classic songs he was Professor Henry Hill in this high school presentation. The cast was enthusiastic, with a couple of standout performances, and the band was excellent. A surprisingly good production!

The Dundas Concert Band needs to cut their concerts by a third. Their annual Christmas Concert found them tiring after an hour. Some horn players somewhere up there were running out of wind. But the night began with energy and good feelings. Marry Christmas to all, and to all...a good night!

Hamilton Music Awards Weekend

The Hamilton Music Awards 2011 had quite the build-up. Maybe I was just more aware of it (the celebration not the award) because I was involved in some of it. Singer-songwriter (and neighbour) Ian Thomas was receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award, and he told them (the organizing committee) that if they wanted any historical items they'd have to contact me since I had them all. Let me clarify that. I don't have them, but I know how to get them! I was involved in the negotiations that brought Ian's archives to McMaster University, and since I dealt with him the most regularly, he knew I could put Jean-Paul and his team in touch with the actual materials. JP even asked if I would be interviewed for a video celebrating Ian's career. Wow, was this to be my big break in show biz? Would I get my own listing on IMDB like my pal Les Harding? (Les has been playing drunks, ne'er-do-wells and priests in a variety of CBC productions filmed in Newfoundland.) More on this later.

The Awards run from Thursday to Sunday, with seminars, press meetings and a star concert before the awards gala on Sunday night. In the past I've seen related shows by people like Garth Hudson and Steve Strongman but this year the Saturday night concert featured Blackie & the Rodeo Kings.

I've seen BARK a few times before, and they're always an entertaining night out, filled with great music and a few laughs. The laughs come from wondering how early Tom Wilson will start swearing. This night he was pretty much under control, prowling around the right hand side of the stage like a wolf, with his low slung Gibson guitar. The one with all the autographs on it, Ralph Stanley, John Fogerty and Johnny Cash among them. It's interesting to note that of all the guitars on stage, this is the one that comes on and leaves with its owner. No stage stand for this baby. Colin Linden is on the left of the stage (stage right to you theater people) wearing his ever-present fedora, and clearly enjoying himself. He bounces up and down as if on a pogo stick contrasting Tom's hozizontal movements across the stage. In the middle is Stephen Fearing who basically stays put. The three Kings are backed by John Dymond on bass and this evening Tom Hambridge on drums. I have to put in a special word for Tom (award-winning producer of Buddy Guy), who did a tremendous job filling in for the usual drummer Gary Craig.

The band played a fine cross section of songs from their whole career. What started as a tribute band playing the songs of the late lamented songwriter Willie P. Bennett, has became one of the world's top roots bands. They have seven albums under the BARK name and each of the partners has his own body of work, where do they find the time?

From "Water or Gasoline" through "Stoned" and "49 Tons" with a brief look back to Willie's "White Line" and a generous sampling of the new (and critically acclaimed Kings and Queens they simply rocked the place. The stories included tales of how the songs were written, life growing up in Hamilton (Tom's a local boy) and dreams of Lucinda Williams recording their song. (BTW Lucinda Williams DID record the song!) Tom proclaimed "Hey Hamilton, you don't have to pay to see me, I LIVE HERE! In fact Monday morning at 11 o'clock I'll be at Fortino's doin' my grocery shopping!" I wonder who met him there to drive him home. There was probably a convoy.

Blackie and the Rodeo Kings? A fantastic night out. They were scrambling to find songs they all knew to keep the night going. Then after the show they came out to the lobby to sign and schmooze.

Sunday night Tom Wilson was the co-host (with Shelley Marshall) for the Awards. What do you wear to an Awards show? Well, there's no red carpet at the Hammies. It was jeans and hoodies for the most part, at least for the nominees who seemed to be all in the 19-25 range. Even younger if you include Brandon Pacheco 14 year old boy soprano. Look out Beibs!

The show got off to a slow start, and then almost fizzled out altogether. The awards (any awards) are meant for the families of the winners. Anyone who says "it's a privilege just to be nominated" must be on something. As Tom made clear...most of the people in the room are "losers". He lost a couple himself, winning Roots Recording for Kings and Queens but, well, let's not rub it in.
If you Google Hamilton Music Awards you can see all the names, but if you're not from The Hammer you might not recognize many of them. That's okay, I'm from here, and I'm quite involved in music around town and there were lots of unfamiliar names. The Riddim Riders played some reggae, Jeremy Fisher, the Dinner Belles, Monster Trucks and James Hoffman all made an impression. The show simply went on too long. After BARK played a song ("Another Free Woman Gets To Walk Away") with Johnny but without Tom, we left the theatre. Teenage Head's Gordie Lewis was roaming around the lobby with Mickie DeSadist in wackie regalia. Murray McLauchlan and Rik Emmett were around to support their old buddy Ian Thomas who performed his first big hit "Painted Ladies" and the Boomers' classic "Rise Above It". My interview portion was left on the cutting room floor, although the pictures Kevin Andrews and I took of some old Ian Thomas paraphernalia were obvious in the clip.

So I guess IMDB will have to wait. Les doesn't have his own music blog, after all. And who watches The Republic of Doyle anyway?

Next week it's off to Hugh's Room again for A Man Called Wrycraft's Tribute to Tom Waits, and then John Mayall! I'll let you know how that all turns out!

Bill Bourne at The Pearl Company

It was a Saturday night, and I was home alone. The car accident I had been in the night before had left me a bit shaken. I only broke a fingernail, but I was having trouble settling. I thought about skipping out on the plans I had made to go to the Pearl Company to see Bill Bourne. It was starting to rain. Ah what the heck, I decided to go. A couple hours of live music could only help me feel better.
I made the right decision.
The Pearl Company is, just as it sounds, a gem in the middle of Hamilton. It's like a pearl, it doesn't sparkle diamondlike in the sun, but when the sun goes down the Pearl has an inner glow that warms the heart. Too bad more people don't take advantage of it.
While there are seats for almost 150 only a third of those were filled when Alberta's Bill Bourne took the stage Saturday night. He played an old blues on his battered Gibson. Then he called for the band, the Free Radio Band, to join him. Switching between the Gibson and a Martin (tuned to an open chord) he led the band through a career stretching journey. Moses and Brian on bass and drums comprised the solid rhythm section and Pa Joe (from Ghana by way of Toronto) played smooth jazzy guitar fills on his Stratocaster.

While the music was extraordinary, I really want to use this time to comment on the Pearl Company itself. As I walked up to the door Gary Santucci was on the street with a flashlight helping to park cars. Once inside Barbara Milne greeted me with, "Hi, David, it's been a long time!" How many venues provide this kind of personal service?
The merch table is right in front of you, with Bill Bourne sitting alongside playing his guitar warming up. A coffee pot brews on another table, which features tasty treats. Try the butter tarts! The walls are filled with art and photography. The performance area is behind a curtain. The seats are a collection of different chairs, a couple of couches, two banquettes...choose the most comfortable, the sightlines are all good, the sound is exquisite.
Barbara and Gary use the building for a variety of purposes. The first floor can be an art gallery, although Saturday night it looked like it was setup for a theatrical performance. The second floor is the concert hall. They live above that in a huge open space. It's called the Pearl Company because it used to be a factory where they made pearls. You can still see them ground into the wooden floors! But it will be the Pearl Company...the essential gem in Hamilton's treasure chest of entertainment. These people are committed to the arts, and to the city. If only the city was committed to them!
On Saturday night John Mellencamp was playing at Hamilton Place, Selena Gomez was at Copps Coliseum, Malawi singer guitarist Tony Bird was at Artword ArtBar, and the Pearl had Bill Bourne. Hamilton has a place in the cultural fabric of Southern Ontario, and The Pearl Company offers a gorgeous intimate venue that we should all use more often!
Here's the schedule for November!
November 4: Jazz w Andy Middleton Group
November 4: Art Bus
November 8: Jazz w Ernesto Cervini Quartet featuring Joel Frahm-
November 9: Emm Gryner & Colleen Brown
November 10: Rakish Angles
November 11: Art Bus
November 12: Kaleidoscope Brown: Brownman w Latin Jazz
November 17: Cam Penner
November 19: Ben Caplan w Charlotte Cornfield
November 22: Jenn Grant w Amelia Curran
November 24: Matthew Barber w Louise Burns
November 25: Jazz Connection Big Band w Paul Hoffert on Keyboards
November 26: Jon Brooks
November 27: Design Hope CD Launch

Q. and A.: Ry Cooder on Woody Guthrie, Politics and a New Album

Ry Cooder’s been called a lot of things: A “musician’s musician” and a “musical archeologist;” a virtuoso of rock and blues guitar; and an explorer of international styles. But no one has ever labeled Mr. Cooder, 64, a folksinger. No one has accused him of singing protest songs and serving up social commentaries in the tradition of Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Phil Ochs or Bob Dylan. Mr. Cooder’s most recent album, Pull Up Some Dust And Sit Down (Nonesuch), may change that perception.
It is an overtly political work rooted in his anger over the country’s financial collapse, the bailout of America’s big banks and what Mr. Cooder feels are senseless wars. Employing everything from Mexican country music to rock licks, he has written a series of scathing protest songs aimed at Wall Street bankers, Republican politicians, former President George W. Bush, anti-immigrant vigilantes and war profiteers.
The first track, “No Banker Left Behind” — a stomping old-time, jug-band tune — paints an image of bankers fleeing the country after “they robbed the nation blind.” Then Mr. Cooder sings a Mexican waltz-time ballad about Jesse James, in which the Missouri outlaw asks God for his gun back so he return to earth from heaven and take revenge on the bankers. “You lined your pockets well but I’ll see you all in hell,” Jesse James says before opening fire. Other tracks are political satire: in one growling blues tune, the devil is working as a political consultant for the Republican Party.
Mr. Cooder spoke by telephone recently from his home in Santa Monica, Calif., about his new album and how it came about. Here are edited excerpts of the conversation:
Q.
Why do you think more musicians aren’t writing protest songs these days?
A.
I myself am not in touch with anybody, you know. I’m a hermit. I stay in my home pretty much you know and I sit in my chair and I do this because it’s what I like to do. There are a lot of people out there, playing instruments, more than ever before for sure, and they’ve got to be saying something. They must be. We may not get to hear them.
Q.
Is it risky for artists to take on such material?
A.
I don’t know what risk it would be honestly. Risk of what? They can’t keep you off the radio because you’re not on the radio. You’re not going to be on the radio.
Q.
This album plays with some themes you developed in Chavez Ravine and My Name Is Buddy. But those were concept albums about times past, and this one is about current events.
Q.
What changed?
A.
If you look at the Buddy record, the Buddy record could be about now. It was in the style of then, a more archaic style I suppose. Modest because it’s a cat speaking. We all know how cats think.
Q.
That album recalled the labor songs of the 1930s. Do you see parallels between the 1930s and today?
A.
Well, sure. It’s only obvious, isn’t it? You can’t find solidarity in this country anymore and that was the saddest thing. It was what I had in that mind when I made that record. Especially with this voting business, about how they want to restrict voting and go back to Jim Crow time. That’s the most appalling thing of all. What else can you do but respond to this? Otherwise they paint you in the corner, you get angry and it’s very bad for your mental health.
Q.
There has been a nod to social justice in your work, going back to your 1970 debut album, when you covered Guthrie’s “Do Re Mi.” Does this sort of music hold a special place in your heart?
A.
I always loved those songs. Woody Guthrie – I probably first heard him when I was 5. And those records and those photographs – the Farm Security Administration photographs – they made a big impact. I was intrigued by his voice. Of course, the guitar interested me. I was trying to learn them when I was a little kid. Somebody gave me a guitar. Gave me the Woody Guthrie records too. It was quite a package.
Q.
What do you hope people will take away from this album?
A.
I’ve always said I’m just a guitar player from Santa Monica. I really believe that’s true. But I think that music has a contribution to make and if you ever saw Pete Seeger take a whole room and transform it into a collective mind, you know, where he could produce solidarity by making people sing with him, in four minutes, and it was a tremendous thing to witness. If you want to say do I think this is going to make an impact? I have no idea. I just do this because I like to do it.

By JAMES C. MCKINLEY JR. (originally published in Arts Beat, The New York Times)

Ry Cooder, Los Angeles Stories (City Lights Noir, 2011)

Ry Cooder has written a book! Everybody’s go-to guy for bottleneck guitar has decided to write stories. He spent the first 20 years of his career navigating the history of American music. Then he worked for the movies. After that he helped the world rediscover Cuban music, he introduced us to the Okinawa sound, to the guitars of Timbuktu. More recently he wrote and performed a trilogy of albums about California. Chavez Ravine told the tragic tale of a community of Mexican-Americans, who were moved out of their neighbourhood to make room for Dodger Stadium. Then My Name Is Buddy presented us with a fable of a cat named Buddy in a Guthrie-esque odyssey through the Depression. This was followed by I, Flathead, which came packaged in a hardbound book which featured the lyrics to the songs, along with a novella to flesh out the stories. On a rare tour of Europe with son Joachim on drums and Nick Lowe on bass and vocals, the ‘merch counter’ offered t-shirts, posters and a hard cover book called Los Angeles Stories. The book came signed or unsigned. My copy was bought for me in Barcelona and mailed at great cost (the stamps covered the front of the envelope as well as the postage). Now two years later the book has been published in a popular trade paperback edition, by San Francisco’s City Lights Books.



There was certainly a sense of place and time in the tale of a door to door salesman who gets involved in a mystery by circumstance. It was a bit like a Raymond Chandler story. Maybe not as cleverly plotted, but rich in language, character and the essence of 1950's LA. Each tale has a title and a date, and early to mid-50s seems to be Cooder's oeuvre. Some of the stories echo each other as characters (or at least names) reappear. The links are tenuous except that they all take place in the City of Angels and all involve people involved in shadowy activities -- musicians, gun shop owners, pornographers, thieves, and all sorts of women.

Although it’s based on the kind of hard-boiled style of Chandler and the like, Cooder has his own voice, and if he had started writing sooner, might have made a bigger splash in the literary world. It might be too late for that. Bravo to City Lights for taking him on, and introducing him to a broader audience.
Who’s in that audience? Well, obviously, Ry Cooder fanatics will have to get a copy. Fans of hard-boiled fiction might want to give it a try, and anyone interested in the city itself, will find much to savour. The limited edition hardcover is all gone but the paperback edition is available anywhere books are sold.

This review has been updated from a review of the hardcover edition which appeared in Green Man Review.

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)