Inspired Pre-Equinox Paint and Scissor Work on View in Toronto

Listening To Lynn Miles, With Paul C., at Winterfolk

First Published at  http://www.rootsmusic.ca/

Hopeless pair that we are, it's the day after St. Valentine's, and my old college buddy, Paul C., and I are stagging it once again.  We have been bailed upon by our wives, both of whom refuse to sit in a pub with us and Lynn Miles.

Paul's affliction/addiction is considerably worse than mine, to the point that his grown children refer to Lynn as "The future Mrs. C*****". His wife, a fan of Miss Celine Dion, sees no future in pretending to condone the melancholy rapture that overtakes her husband for a week prior to, and a week after Miles' local appearances. My own Kim, a great music fan who concedes that Lynn "sounds like a very special person," has an alternating "I'm too tired / it's too cold" reaction all day that culminates in a last-minute "I'm sure you'll enjoy it more without me," which provides just the right balance of guilt and condescension for a clean getaway for both of us.

I had already spent a week drenching the house in the aural perfume of Downpour, Lynn's most recent album, along with Unravel, Slightly Haunted  and Fall For Beauty, as I prepped for her appearance on Corby's Orbit. The interview and live performance, with Canada's chief curator of unsatisfactory love relationships, would be taking place not only on a full moon, but on Valentine's Day. I was strapping myself to the mast of the music.

And every morning, I simply didn't call Paul. I told myself it was for his own good.

The show went well, we got along. Couple tunes. Couple laughs. She played her epic free spirit anthem, 'My Road'." I said "It's sort of my road too." Afterwards, we talked about how difficult it is to sell actual records. I had been trying to find a hard copy of Downpour at Christmas to give to a recently divorced friend. Lynn smiled, "It's a good divorce record." I felt we had connected.

I didn't hear from Paul.

Winterfolk weekend was smashing, as always. Saw good old friends and heard the songs that matter so much. I was reaching over a crowd to take a picture of the stage at Terri-O's when a voice behind me said, "Need a boost?"

"What did you have in mind?" I replied. Paul. I didn't even have to look.

"I'm sorry I won't be home tonight to listen to your interview with Lynn," he said.

"That's good. I did it yesterday."

"What?" He was blinking slowly, stunned.

"My show. It's on Fridays." Paul is a Sherlock for details. After trying to convince me for awhile that my show was, indeed, on Saturdays, we finally agreed to meet up later for the concert.

At 7:30, as the sun sets on the Danforth, young Christians are out on the sidewalk, trying to save musicians. On the main floor, a short, sepia bookie is attempting to collect on a bet. "Is this not your signature?" he deadpans to his client. Paul and I link, and are ushered up the stairs to the new soft-chair version of The Black Swan's annual Winterfolk celebration. David Bradstreet opens the night with a finely-tuned set that takes the audience from childhood to Antarctica and back again. Paul goes out for a quick smoke and I order a red wine. I ask Paul how many times he's seen her. "This one puts it to two figures," he admits.

We're both psyched when Lynn comes down the aisle with her guitar and a sheaf of papers.
She begins with a new piece, part of a current songwriting project that she hopes will be "the darkest Christmas music ever recorded." It's about how cold and sad everything is. Delicious. The vamp after the chorus goes on and on as she investigates the ceiling. "I was looking pretty pro for awhile there wasn't I?" she quips, stopping to look for the second verse in her paperwork. "I actually can't remember anything I've written since 2012. I've got seven hundred songs; I'm working on it." The room warms up.

Then she plays a few songs from the Downpour material. "Paul Corby. Corby's Orbit. You here?" she asks, tilting her head back. I make a startled, yelping sort of sound. "This one's for you," and she launches into 'My Road'. Tingles. Then there is a touch on my knee. "I hope you know. You're a dead man."

Without any more memory lapses, she continues through her catalogue of tears and triumphs. Tremors of empathetic vulnerability are cresting in waves as she announces the midpoint of the set as "a bright spot, designed to lift us all up. It's called 'How To Be Alone'". How cold will it get? Well, she IS from Ottawa. Another new song about teenage hookers, called, perhaps, 'High Heels In The Snow' (dedicated to our disinterested Prime Minister), takes us right to the brink of inconsolability. Lynn's husky verses break through into hearty crystal clear choruses full of resolute lamentation. Over and over, deeper and deeper.

Then the opening chords of 'Black Flowers' spill out a warning. Paul mutters "oh shit". Lynn Miles casts her final spell, then polishes off the night with a virtuosic 'Let The Sun Have Its Day' from Fall For Beauty, swings her silvery haystack of hair back and takes her final bow. I reach in my pocket and pull out a folded clean tissue and pass it back to Paul without looking."Every damn time" he murmurs.



~  Corby

p.s. John A***** asks " Have you created a doppelganger Paul C to conceal your own emotional responses?" Very good question John. How Borges is that?

After-February Forecast : Earthsome And Awe-Shaking

The Gold Goes To This Montage> Pink > "Try" by the CBC

Playlist For Show of 21 February

                                                         photo by One Eyeland 
Host: Paul Corby

( brought to you by The Bronze-O Dog Doo-Dah Band, The Bob Silverini Band and Big Brother & The Golding Company) 

5-7 p.m. online http://www.radioregent.com/ and at tunein.com .  Canadians in Asterisk’d RED.

Guest: Sebastian Cook & Matt Fullbrook of K.C. Roberts & The Live Revolution 

Videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/CorbysOrbit?feature=mhee

5:00 Implication Forms 

Dionne Warwick ~ Let The Green Grass Grow ~ The Music of Burt Bacharach (& Hal David) @ Hugh's Room Saturday

*Tanya Philipovitch ~Holy Tomato ~ Secret Fiction Romance @ The Tranzac Saturday 3:00-5:00

*Joe Hall and the Screaming Vegetables ~ The Big Bang Theory ~Fresh Outta Rehab ~@The Tranzac Saturday 6:30 

5:15 Rhythm & Western

*Tim Hus ~ The Church Of Country Music ~ Western Star  (Stony Plain) juno nominee

*Ron Hynes ~ Get Back Change ~Get Back Change @ Hugh's Room Sunday

*Eamon McGrath ~ Enduring Love ~ Exile Part I  (Aporia)~ @ Saving Gigi tonight NEW DISK

Joe Louis Walker ~ Hornet's Nest ~ Hornet's Nest (Alligator) NEW DISK

*24th Street Wailers ~ Solid Ground ~ Wicked NEW DISK

5:30 Cross Country

*Alejandra Ribera ` Satellite ~ La Boca NEW DISK  @ The Royal Theatre 11 April
King's Messengers Quartet ~ There's Room Enough ~ South African Gospel Re: Soweto Gospel Choir @ The Sony Center tonight

Gregory Porter ~ No Love Dying ~ Liquid Spirit (Jazz Vocal Grammy 2014)                                   photo by Alessandro Pucinelli

  Kronos Quartet ~ The Beatitudes ~ Music Of Vladimir Martinov
 DEDICATED TO THE UKRANIAN PEOPLE'S STRUGGLE

5:50 Prismic Panoply                                                                 

*Hunting ~ Everything Will Be Okay ~ Hunting (Nevado) NEW DISK

*Fevers ~ Look Alive~ No Room For Light 

6:00 Lettuce Bouquet (Selections by Sebastian Cook)

Lettuce ~ Blast Off ~ @ The Phoenix Saturday

*K.C. Roberts & The Live Revolution feat, D-Sisive ~Hanging From A Jet Plane Wheel @ The Phoenix Saturday

Interview with Matt Fullbrook of K.C. Roberts & The Live Revolution

*Afterfunk ~ Tequils ~ @ The Phoenix Saturday

*Rebellum ~ Juliette & Romeo

*Heavyweights ~ Sundown ~ Brasstronomical NEW DISK CD release @ Lula Lounge Thursday, 6 March

6:45  Toronto Music Listings, Declensions and Conjugations 

Background Music > Michael Kaeshammer ~ Snow At Lake Simcoe / Vito Rezza ~ Manhattan Bounce 

6:50 Strumming Attractions

*Clela Errington ~ Little Sparrow ~ More Love And Happiness NEW DISK~CD release at Revival Saturday,  1 March

       and on Corby's Orbit LIVE next Friday, 28 February

*Lara MacMillan ~ Pushin' Me ~ Lara MacMillan NEW DISK ~ @ The Cameon House Sunday, 23 February, 6:00 p.m.

A Festive February ~ Winterfolk Luminaries Break The Ice

Clue In here to begin>>> http://www.winterfolk.com/wfxii-schedule/

 Volunteer Pamela Tena will welcome you at The Black Swan's folk central wheelhouse.

Creating a visible magnetic field are John Switzer (hosting The Black Swan's Seneca Independent Music Program at 1:00 Saturday) and Marianne Girard (Songwriting Participation Workshop at Terri-O's 1:00 Saturday, Norm's Living Room @ 5:00  Saturday and showcase @ Terri-O's 10:00 Sunday)

 Whiskey Epiphany living up to their name @ The Globe Bistro Saturday 7:00

 Dinah Thorpe, folktronicist, at The Black Swan, Saturday 5:00 p.m and Sunday at Terri-O's 6:00 pm.

 Ginger St. James.  Ya missed it! She Yodeled!

 Sue & Dwight wielding Pete Seeger's hammer and other classics at The Black Swan 9:00 Saturday

 Random Order rammed the hall and brought on virtual table dances at The Black Swan Friday night

Playlist For Show of February 14

( brought to you by Cardiac Kayaks, Corazón Canoes & Pulmonary Lifeboats )

5-7 p.m. online http://www.radioregent.com/ and at tunein.ca .  Canadians in Asterisk’d RED.

Guest: Lynn Miles

Videos at http://www.youtube.com/user/CorbysOrbit?feature=mhee

5:00 Amourtizations

*The Ault Sisters ~ When I Fall In Love ~ Timeless NEW DISK

*Jean Paul de Roover ~ We Will Be ~ @ Rancho Relaxo tonight

The Kinks ~ Destroyer ~ 50 Years of The Kinks @ The Silver Dollar Saturday

*Random Order ~ Subway Girl ~ Black Lipstick Kiss @ The Black Swan tonight (Winterfolk) NEW DISK

5:20 The Beautiful Sadness Of It All

*Lynn Miles ~Moth / Sad / Interview / How To Be Alone (Live) / Love Is Red (Live) / My Road (Live) @ The Black Swan Saturday (Winterfolk) 

*Ron Hynes ~ Cryers Paradise ~@ The Black Swan Saturday  (Winterfolk)

Megan Bonnell ~ Coming Home ~ Hunt And Chase @ The Drake Underground Saturday NEW DISK

6:00 Folk-O Loco

*Soozimusic ~ Old Queens Hotel ~ Soozimusic @ The Globe Bistro Saturday 10 p.m.(Winterfolk) NEW DISK

*Dinah Thorpe ~ Milk The State (revisited) ~ Lullabies And Wakeup Calls NEW DISK @ The Black Swan Saturday 5 .m. / @ Terri-O's Sunday 6 p.m. ( Winterfolk)

*Poor Angus ~ Never Come Back ~ Gathering ~ CD Launch @ Hugh's Room Saturday NEW DISK

*Whiskey Epiphany ~ It Will Shine For One ~ Old Story ~ @ The Globe Bistro Saturday 7 p.m.  ( Winterfolk) NEW DISK

6:20 An Africa Of The Mind

Habib Koite & Bamada ~ Fimani ~ Afriki ~ @ The Mod Club tonight

Okaidja Afroso & Mike Stevens ~ Where's The One? ~ Canadaffrica NEW DISK ~ Mike Stevens at The Dominion on Queen Saturday 1-5 p.m. for TBS Harmonica Workshop

*Colin Stetson ~ And In Truth ~ New History Warfare Vol. III ~ @ The Polish Combatants Hall Saturday for Wavelength Festival 
http://www.wavelengthtoronto.com/wavelog/2013/12/wavelength-music-festival-fourteen

6:40 Icebreakers

*Kalle Mattson ~ Eyes Speak ~ Someday The Moon Will Be Gold ~ @ The Dakota Tuesday NEW DISK

*Old Man Luedecke ~ Sorry I Let You Down ~ I Never Sang Before I Met You NEW DISK @ Hugh's Room Tuesday

*Tony Quarrington ~ Lonnie Johnson's Home Of The Blues ~ Gathering Place ~ @ The Black Swan Sunday 7 p.m. for Honouring Our Own: Tony Quarrington  ( Winterfolk)

 *Shawn Nykwist ~ Stars Fell On Alabama / I Want To Be Happy / @ The Local GST Sunday 4:30 p.m. / Toronto Music Orientations and Occidentations Narrated In Overlay

The Kinks ~ Don't Forget To Dance ~ Years of The Kinks @ The Silver Dollar Saturday