Monday, March 29, 2010

Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame Gala



The value of a song is the residue that it leaves inside you.
-Geddy Lee

Dumas & Mara Tremblay & Rush & Jacob Moon


I was the fan-man down front at the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame Gala last night in a 2/3 full George Weston Recital Hall crowd of luminaries and shmoozinaries, rockin my hat to an enormous avalanche of Canadian tunes and squinting at a few speeches of box-set length.
Presiding president Sylvia Tyson (stately and sexy in silver lace and stripper heels) arranged a banquet of delicious singers to interpret the songs being inducted: Lily Frost in petticoats and pink embroidery played the theremin and sang Come Josephine in my Flying Machine with Sean Cullen, with sound effects added by wizard Kevin Breit ( who then vanished for the night ). Le Vent du Nord brought the noise with a plywood board, hurdy-gurdy, fiddle and accordion to illumine Des Mitaines pas de Pouces, a red mitten dance. The sincere affirmation and touching ingenuousness of Dala singing There's A Bluebird on Your Windowsill was almost capsized by a hackneyed arrangement from Lou Pomanti's house band, including a snoozeable Jake Langley solo. (Kevin? Come back!).
Then attendees Charlebois and Pagliaro were given their due respect, the latter by DJ Champion, a line of Fenders chugging to a digital engine on J'entends Frapper, and the insouciant and still fluffy Robert Charlebois, inducted as a songwriter, and as the nominal proprietor of Lindberg, Les Ailes d'un Ange, and Ordinaire.
His acknowledgement of the authorship of his music by a community and, indeed, a generation was not only humble, but insightful into the experimental freedom of the 60's and 70's, especially in Rene Levesque's Quebec.
Performances of his star pieces by Dumas & Catherine Durand on Lindberg, Mara Tremblay (HOT on guitar and otherwise!) & Pierre Flyn on Fu Manchu, and the man himself on Ordinaire showed a universal commitment, bouyed by two searing Fenders, and reawakened us to the enormous potential and validity of his work. An introduction Marcel Sabourin all ceremony protocol by condemning himself to hell for listening to Charlebois, predicting his own demise from the flu that was plaguing his nose, and reminding us that "there are hundreds ...of thousands ...of millions ... of galaxies".
Suburban deities Rush were honoured last, to belly-whoops and ovations that defied the evening's ceremonious attempts at decorum. Spokes-drummer Neil Peart gave a very erudite and passionate discourse on the band's history, as flanking Gibson guy Alex Lifeson and mezzo soprano Geddy Lee grinned and grimaced like the comrades in arms that they have always been.
During a reading about Rush by Dave Bidini, and over the course of three thrilling presentations, in ascending order, of The Spirit of Radio by Les Claypool, Subdivisions by viral star Jacob Moon, and a volcanic Tom Sawyer by Alexisonfire, the three men beamed in delight at the power and precision of the exploding bombast of material so energetic that it is seldom covered by mere mortals. If only the host, gregarious Gregory Charles had sung Closer to the Heart at the end of the evening. "We are the songs" he stated, simply, at the end of an amazing voyage through the musical summits of the Canadian heartland. Proud time.



The Last Video of all Time

A Live Nation Concert

The Low Anthem Tickets

  • All Ages
  • Saturday
  • 04/10/10
  • at 8:00 PM

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Jam-Packed

The Wheat pool playing Lefty live on CorbzOrb.
The Wheat Pool

This week's show was a pod buster for realsies...Wendell Ferguson, heroically rising early in the morning after his DVD, Menage a Moi was released to an unsuspecting public at Hugh's Room, was on at 11:30. Opening act The Crooked Brothers of Winnipeg and I looked on in amazement at Wendell's stroboscopic fingerwork on a gorgeous Martin.
Then prairie mood-shifters The Wheat Pool, wafted through on the advent of their Ontario semi-tour in support of Hauntario, my crazy fave disk of 2009, and, so far, of 2010 as well. (as moving a song collection on one disk as I've ever heard. I get two sleeves full of goose bumps every time I listen). A live studio jam of This Is It ensued, along with much talking about the Junos, Edmonton culture, albums vs. records and drumming with restraint ( the word of the day it seems, as the full moon approaches and evaporates all restraint )..
At last, to bring it on back to the galley, The Sure Things, a rousing, mayhem- inducing force of nature warped out the end of the show, and previewed their new disk of dirtbag country hoots, Two Dollar Bottles. At the Dakota Tavern next Tuesday they wave farewell to Toronto on the eve of a western tour. Then, The Governor-General, selector deluxe, offered some of his crown jewels of Caribbean music, to promote his long-standing Saturday night tenure at the Embassy in Kensington. All rose to the maximum trajectory of the occasion in the rites of string

woodhands

electric avenue

seven year itch

paper bag

11:03

tommy castro

trimmin fat

hard believer

alligator

11:07

Makida -Rae

Free

single

Kornerstone

11:11

jim mccarty

hidden nature

sitting on the top of time

easy action

11:16

the crooked brothers

live performance

in studio

orbo

11:22

wendell ferguson

merle jam / live performance and interview

menage a moi

ferguson

11:35

paulo borges

viras

othos pretos

pb

11:54

caetano veloso

fina estampa

fina estampa

philips

11:56

the wheat pool

lefty /interview /this is it live performance / too far apart

hauntario

shameless

12:05

james murdoch

picture it all

in transit

indica

12:30

colleen brown

fantastic feelings

foot in heart

ddr

12:45

jenny whiteley

day without words

forgive or forget

black hen

12:50

david crosby

song without words

if i could only rememeber my name

atlantic

12:55

the sure things

old camp road / dear deer / interview / live performance

two dollar bottles

sure things

1:00

the governor general

selector extraordinaire

caribbean jam

guava mango

1:15

bobby mcferrin

round midnight

round midnight sdtrk

warner

1:55

Monday, March 22, 2010

Magic Moment on Spectacle. I do truly love Neko.





JESSE WINCHESTER
@ Hugh’s Room
Friday April 9 & Saturday April 10
$28 advance/$30 door
For reservations call 416.531.6604 http://hughsroom.com

Friday, March 19, 2010

Kings of Spring



Although it is barely spring, there is a sense of summer to what we are about today and
the wind could never blow it out. Only scatter the seeds.
It is the growing that comes after all the rain and music and
the bruising that the new moon and new seasons always cause
on our apple hearts. Seeds don't bruise.
What have I been listening to?
Woodpeckers, playgrounds, kazoo solo by Hellsongs' lead singer, in spandex, sequins and white runners,
for instance.
Today the King is coming into the Orbit:

achilla orru

Achilla OrruWhen Achilla Orru was born among the Karimojong people in Northeastern Uganda, the birth of the apaa-idomo (the multi-coloured bull) was an auspicious event to be celebrated. With his international debut album in 1996, Achilla Orru lived up to the title APAA-IDOMO, for like the multi-coloured bull, he is a musician to behold and listen to.

During his formative years at the Madera special school for the blind in Soroti Teso his extraordinary musical talent was recognized and developed. In 1975, the lokembe earned a special place in Orru's heart. This was the year he won the Junior Award for the Thumb-Piano at the Uganda National Music Festival in Kampala. In 1976 he stunned the audiences of the National Theatre of Uganda when he broke with tradition and presented a troupe of twelve young women playing lokembe. Under his direction, these students from Berkley High Girls School in Iganga earned first place in the folk instruments category.

As the undisputed master of the lokembe, sometimes referred to as the akogo, sanza, akadongo, and kalimba (thumb-piano), Orru's colourfuly crafted music demands the rapt attention from everyone. In Orru's hands, the lokembe is transformed into the very embodiment of spiritual reawakening of his traditional culture. "When I sing with it, when I hear it, there is a part of me that becomes one with the world around me", he says.

The Last Playlist of Winter:


hellsongs

seasons in the abyss

hymns in the key of 666

aporia

11:03

SALLY SHAPIRO

dying in africa

the seven year itch

paper bag

11:08

orleans

fresh wind

let there be music

asylum

11:11

chin

don't shake it down

Dtach

chinschuners

11:16

the new koto ensemble of koto

andante from mozart's symphony #40 in G minor

koto mozart

emi

11:21

habib koite & bamada

fimani

afriki

cumbancha

11:26

desi arnaz

the peanut vendor

mambo

bmg

11:32

tom waits & kronos quartet

way down in the hole

healing the divide

anti-

11:37

israel and the new breed

new season

new season

zomba

11:42

will.i.am

it's a new day

Black I'd

Peas

11:46

catl

church on time

with the lord for cowards you will find no place

11:50

THE BANGLES

september gurls

live

youtube

11:54

heather mcready

take my hand

acoustic rainbow`

roots radio

11:57

colleen brown

ain't got no man to have problems with

foot in heart

outside

12:02

norah jones

tell yer mama

the fall

bluenote

12:06

tanya philipovich

inuit chicken sculpture

secret fiction romance

tanyarock

12:10

the dojo workhorse

the universe

weapons grade romantic

load

12;14

DON CHERRY AND THE JAZZ COMPOSERS' ORCHESTRA

the queen of tung-ting lake

relativity suite

jcoa

12:18

glen ricketts

everyone falls in love

rise up

thunderdome

12:22

souljah fyah

eight days of summer

summer single

love empire

12:26

dennis brown

say what you're saying

the best of...part 2

joe gibbs

12:30

jimmy cliff

let your yeah be yeah

rhythm n reggae

k-tel

12:35

thee silver mount zion orchestra

piphany rambler

kollaps tradixionelles

tsmzo

12;45

HANK JONES & CIEF TIDIANE SECK

HANK MIRI

SARALA

GITANES

12:55

KING ACHILLA ORRU

dongo lobo / interview / chan-lim

sacred gift

king

12:59

ross neilsen

jelly bean

what you need vol. 1

bootsoup

1:30

shawn jackson / roy kenner / wayne st. john

live at the bluenote

1:45

orleans

waking and dreaming

waking And dreaming

asylum

1:50

ginger st. james & the grinders

devil dance

preview

hamilton sounds

1:55