Super Heroines of Song

 January has been a kinetic cyclone of gale force singers, indicative of a global heart-warming trend. Necessary to Canadian musical survivalists. From the south, Cuba's Brenda Navarrete brought humid turbo-conga waves wafting in slow gusts from her new album Mi Mundo across the cold and grateful ears of the Jazz Bistro crowd with an ensemble of mind - bursting musicos. Alexander Brown O.M Dios!

Barely home from that ear vacation, I was able to take in A Universe, Chloe Watkinson battering her own vocal limits with conviction and melody aforethought. Again, a stalwart band of aiders and abettors brought the evening to a solar climax.

Then, astride a dusty chinook up from Texas, Lee Ann Womack gave everyone's ears a good clean scrub-out at The Horseshoe with the power of unleashed heart hurricanes and the clarion energy of a southern baptist bellwether. She let us sing the last verse of I Hope You Dance too.

Finally, from the upper stratosphere, a cosmic blast of hallucinatory radiance ignited The Baby G with the first of four spektaks by Ronley Teper and The Lipliners, penetrating the future of song with straightup twelve piece jams and mashups of geostorm magnitude.

( And damn I'm still wishing I'd been able to catch Collette Savard and the Savants' CD release at the Tranzac!)

All in all, the universe is harmonically converging as it should.

Rockin Ronley with Luxuriant Lipliners

 Ronley Teper and the Lipliners put out all shades of music Saturday night at The Baby G on Dundas across from the Lula Lounge. 

 Crossing currents, from stomp cabaret to country funk and rebel rock with harmonic unanimity and conspiratorial showmanship the result was a total genius show of ruthlessly good music. It happens again on Saturday the 24th of February when Ronley's new CD THE GAME will be released.

Playlist For Show Of 26 January

Commissioner of Selection: Paul Corby 

(Brought to you by Celebratisements, Advertangos and Inter-telligence) 

Guests: Ronley Teper

This show is dedicated to the spirit of Ursula K. LeGuin  (October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018)

5-7 p.m. Fridays online http://www.radioregent.com/ and at tunein.com .  

Podcast here https://www.mixcloud.com/paul-corby/

Canadians in Asterisk’d RED. 

5:00 Super Blood Moon

Hugh Masekela (4 April 1939 – 23 January 2018) ~ Bajabula Bonke ~ The Lasting Impressions Of Ooga Booga

United Future Organization ~ Friends We'll Be ~ 3rd Perspective (1995 Brownswood)

* MIP Power Trio ~ Northern Lights ~ Half Pint Full Heart NEW DISK

Eminem ~ Watch This ~ Freestyles ~ Tribute To Eminem & Cypress Hill tonight @ Coalition

Maxi Priest ~ Watching The World Go By ~ The Man With The Fun

Bob Marley & The Wailers ~ Three Little Birds ~ Legend Remixed ~ Bob Marley Birthday Celebration @ Lee's Palace Friday and Saturday 8 & 9 February with The Memberz. House Of David gang & and Mob Barley 

5:30 Bite My Tongue And Pretend To Talk

* Poor Angus ~ Something I Can't See ~ Gathering ~ @ Hugh's Room Live tonight

* Dinah Thorpe ~ Mining For Gold ~ Lullabies & Wake-Up Calls @ Handlebar Saturday 

* The Fugitives ~ Music (live) ~ Find Me EP ~ @ Hugh's Room Live Wednesday 31 January

* Collette Savard ~ I'm Counting On You Heart ~ Collette Savard & The Savants ~ @ CD Launch @ The Tranzac tonight

* Language Arts ~ Cough Drop ~ Where Were You in The World ~ @ Adelaide Hall tonight

Van Morrison ~ So Complicated ~ Hymns To The Silence ~ Caravan ~ A Soulful Tribute To Van Morrison @ The Linsmore Tavern  Saturday

5:50 Outcroppings

* Collective Order feat. Jocelyn Barth ~ Outside My Window ~ Vol. 2

* Sue Foley ~ Change Your Mind ~ New Used Car ~ @ The Cadillac Lounge Saturday

6:00 Teper-Wire

* Ronley Teper ~ The Game NEW DISK / Interview / Warm (live) / You Owe Me (live) / Caplits & What-Ifs ~ @ The Baby G Saturday  

6:30 Elevators And Crocodiles

* Isabel & The Uncommons ~ I Don't Want To Know ~ Hearts & Arrows ~ @ Relish Saturday

Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers ~ Purple Shades ~ Featuring Thelonious Monk ~ Art Blakey Tribute @ The Rex Saturday

* Emilyn Stam ~ Blind Adventure / Go To Sleep ~ Holding Time ~ @ Burdock Saturday with Toronto Music Listings

Waylon Jennings ~ Shakin` Off The Blues ~ Goin` Down Rockin`

Zamunda ~ Jah Love Surround Me ~ Scripts & Scrolls

The Luminous Universe of Chloe Watkinson

Lights, actions and charisma were radiating centripetally from local soul rep Chloé Watkinson at Toronto's Opera House on a mild-to-wild January night last weekend

A crucially tight staging with choreography, costume changes and the concentrated energy of a charged-up seven-piece ensemble showcased her spectrum of sinewy and nuanced original tunes. 

A Universe was the event's concept, based on the title of her most recent single release. Her mission statement for the night: 

I want to fill this room with people, colour, contrast, and most of all emotion. I want to reach through the audience, and see who you are, by showing you who I am. All the late nights in Toronto bars, when I gave so much that I could hardly get myself home afterwards. They were a glimpse into a universe. 



Having built a following across the GTA over the past ten years with her commitment to powerful and consistent songcraft, she now has enough popular backing to fill a medium-sized venue with friends, fans and extended family. Black t-shirts reading Chloe Loves Me were evident throughout the night on audience members, singers and prominently at the merch table, which seemed to be doing great business. The packed house was embedded with musicians, bookers and such uber-vocal next-of-kin as Laura Hubert, Denielle Bassels, Tia Brazda, and Lily Frost. 

After a crunchy opening set by pop-rock avatars Mip Power Trio, (above) Chloe, in sparkles, came on backlit and a capella with the Roberts Sisters.

The band amped up smoothly throughout the next hour with Giordan Posterino's far-flung guitar solo, a song from her dad Terry and a ferocious and medal-worthy performance by broken-ankled drummer Lowell Whitty, until a three-song power acceleration on the straightaway roared through everyone's winterware into a primal rock climax and a two-song encore....

Wholesale slaughter prevailed throughout the evening, and left everyone wanting more. Rumours of an upcoming Montreal date for this all-dressed and overproof show persist. If a homecoming night materializes afterwards, don't miss out next time. 

It IS an expanding Universe. And the future is orange.

Playlist For Show Of 19 January

Commissioner of Selection: Paul Corby 

(Brought to you by Firm Mentations, Disk Elations & Astroholics) 

Guests: Collette Savard & Mr. Rick

5-7 p.m. Fridays online http://www.radioregent.com/ and at tunein.com .  

Podcast here https://www.mixcloud.com/paul-corby/

Canadians in Asterisk’d RED. 

5:00 Underground Overload

Foster The People ~ Are You What You Want To Be? ~ Supermodel

* A Tribe Called Red with Indian City ~ Northern Voice ~ @ Danforth Music Hall all weekend

* The Belle Game ~ Bring Me ~ Fear / Nothing ~ @ The Drake Hotel tonight

Little Feat ~ Cold Cold Cold ~ Sailing Shoes

Bad Wolves (Dolores O'Riordan  6 September 1971 – 15 January 2018) ~ The Cranberries' Zombie ~ Rolling Stone Magazine Streaming

5:20 Kicks In The Astral Plane

* The Fugitives ~ Bigger Than Luck ~ Everything Will Happen ~ @ Hugh's Room Live Tuesday 31 January

* Jon Brooks ~ Mercy ~ Delicate Cages ~ @ The Cameron House for Sad Mondays 6-8 p.m. 23 & 30 January

Lee Ann Womack ~ Why They Call It Falling ~ I Hope You Dance ~ @ The Horseshoe Wednesday 24 January

* Destroyer ~ Blue Eyes ~ Kaputt ~ @ The Phoenix Monday 22 January 

* Elizabeth Shepherd ~ Let Me Be ~ Parkdale (2008) ~ @ The Rex Saturday with Michael Occhipinti Quartet and @ The Jazz Bistro Sunday with Yvette Tollar


* Chloe Watkinson ~ A Universe ~ NEW SINGLE ~ @ The Opera House Saturday

5:50 Brazil Dazzle

* Bruno Capinan ~ Outra Onda ~ Tudo Esta Dito ~ @ Small World Music Centre tonight

Os Mutantes ~ A Minha Menina ~ The Best Of Os Mutantes





6:00 Collette What You Want

* Collette Savard ~ My Last Cigarette / Top of The Trees / Interview / Cecil Street (live) / The Hardest Part ~ Collette Savard & The Savants NEW DISK ~ CD launch @ The Tranzac next Friday 26 January

6:20 Son Of A Biscuit


* Mr. Rick ~ Two Little Fishes / Interview / Please Don't Talk About Me When I'm Gone (live) / Stump (live) ~ Mr. Rick Sings About God & Booze ~ @ Hugh's Room Live for Winterfolk XVI Blues & Roots Festival Preview Sunday

6:45 Forever Report

James Brown (Feel It Mix) ~ Papa's Got A Brand New Bag ~ Godfather Of Soul

* CBC Vancouver Orchestra ~ Mozart's Molto Allegro ~ Jupiter Symphony ~ Mozart@262 Festival @ Roy Thompson Hall & Toronto Centre For The Arts this weekend

* Ernesto Cervini Quartet ~ Jimmy Rey ~ Little Black Bird ~ @ Lula Lounge tonight / Toronto music listings

The New Radicals ~ You Get What You Give (1998)

We Are The Hyber Nation: Laid Back Orbitations With Cozy Collette Savard and Relax-tastic Mr. Rick

1. Toronto's 
2. Collette Savard 
3. has created ten brand new songs, smoothly textured and tightly fitted by her band, 
4. The Savants 
5. to soul / pop ameri-boogie arrangements on a new album, to be released on the 26th of January at her home dojo, the Tranzac. She will be curling into Corby's Orbit at 6:00 with some previews of the tunes. 

Mr. Rick, with or without his band, the Biscuits has been bringing the acoustic thrills to Toronto for many years, and he furthers the fabric of his musical map with an appearance at the second-best winter holiday of the year, WINTERFOLK, which enters its 16th year at the intersection of Danforth and Broadview in the middle of February. 

He will be will be flashing advance glimpses of the excitement of this snug seasonal event  in the Orbit at 6:30 and at Hugh's Room Live this weekend, on the evening of Sunday, January 21st.

Playlist For Show Of 12 January

Commissioner of Selection: Paul Corby 

(Brought to you by  Burst Certificates, Inner Continents and Intelligenitalia ) 

Guests: Progress Reggae and Harley Card

5-7 p.m. Fridays online http://www.radioregent.com/ and at tunein.com .  

Podcast here https://www.mixcloud.com/paul-corby/

Canadians in Asterisk’d RED. 

5:00 Reggae In Progress

 Chronixx ~ Likes ~ Chronology GRAMMY NOM

* Progress Reggae ~ Give Thanks / Release Me / Mama Teaching / Interview / Officer And A Gentleman ~ @ Yauca Lounge tonight for Movements

Mali Music ~ My Life ~ The Transition Of Mali GRAMMY NOM

5:20 Folk Flow

* Moscow Apartment ~ The Things You Do ~ Moscow Apartment EP ~ @ Exclaim's Class of 2018  At The Horseshoe Friday 26 January and @ Winterfolk xvi

* Murder Murder ~ Goodnight Irene ~ Wicked Lines And Veins ~ @ The Horseshoe tonight

Mark Olson's Original Harmony Ridge Creekdippers ~ Cactus Wren ~ All The Real Girls Sdtrk.

* Lotus Wight ~ Skillet ~ Ode To The Banjo ~ @ The Local Sunday 9 p.m.

5:40 Blues Happens!

Maple Blues Awards At Koerner Hall Monday

Rick Estrin & The Nightcats ~ Dissed Again ~ Groovin' In Greaseland ~ MAPLE BLUES NOM

Curtis Salgado & Alan Hager ~ Too Young To Die ~ Rough Cut ~ NEW DISK

* Earle & Coffin ~ Help Me ~ Wood Wire Blood & Bone ~ MAPLE BLUES NOM

* The Harpoonist & The Axe Murderer ~ Fragile ~ Apocalipstick ~ MAPLE BLUES NOM

6:00 Louder Than Air

* Sarah Harmer & Danny Michel & Luke Doucette ~ David Bowie's Let's Dance ~ Live at The Dakota Tavern ( David Bowie (8 January 1947 – 10 January 2016))

Randy Newman ~ Putin ~ Dark Matter GRAMMY NOM

* The Darcys ~ Steely Dan's Deacon Blues ~ Aja Interpreted ~ Steely Dan @ Budweiser Stage 2 July 2018

6:20 Card Tricks

* Harley Card ~ Sanctuary / Canoe Lake / Interview ~ The Greatest Invention NEW DISK ~ @ The Tranzac tonight 10:30 p.m.& @ Lula Lounge 1st of March

6:40 The Meaning Of Beautiful  

* The Confabulation ~ Permanent Trees ~ Tunnels And Visions   NEW DISK 

Brenda Navarrete ~ Baba Eleggua / Namaste ~ Mi Mundo NEW DISK ~ CD Launch @ Jazz Bistro Tuesday 16 January

Toronto Music Listings 

Della Reese (July 6, 1931 – November 19, 2017) ~ And That Reminds Me 

Keely Smith  (March 9, 1928 – December 16, 2017) ~ It's All In The Game 

January Whereabouts Of Fine Musical Performers.