Corby's Orbit

Corby's Orbit
Listening in All the High Places illustration by John Kricfalusi

Friday, March 27, 2020

Corbys Orbit Gets a Nod from the Roots Music Canada's List of Radio Remedies


Stuck at home with nothing to do?  Feeling like you need some company but scared to actually invite somebody over?  Disappointed because even some of your local community radio station have sent their programmers home and started running repeats?  Thank goodness for podcasts! The shows below are some of the most iconic and long-running in their respective genres.  It isn’t an exhaustive list, but if you’re looking for a friendly voice to keep you company and play you some music, they’re a great place to start. Click on the show titles below to go to their pages.

Corby’s Orbit

If you read Roots Music Canada, you already know Paul Corby because he writes here on a regular basis. But did you know that he also hosts a radio show on Radio Regent in Toronto? Corby interviews a range of acts, including lots of folk, world and reggae artists – he plays in a reggae band himself, as a matter of fact – and he plays a lot of great stuff.

Beer for Breakfast

Beer for Breakfast isn’t strictly a roots music show.  If it was, Broose Tulloch might’ve given it a different name. But Broose is a die hard supporter of roots and world music and a contributor to Roots Music Canada. He’s a fantastic writer who has told us some great stories from the Winnipeg Folk Fest and beyond. He’s also an engaging host and interviewer. 

Folk Roots Radio

Host Jan Hall won last year’s Folk Music Ontario Estelle Klein lifetime achievement award, and for good reason. Folk Roots Radio is more than a syndicated folk radio program. The web site features show archives, extended interviews and a link to the Sun Parlour Coffee House Sessions, a series of video sessions that Jan also hosts.  She is a one-woman folk music media empire.

The Saturday Edge

It’s hard to know what Vancouver folkies would do without Steve Edge. He runs their folk club, the Rogue Folk Club, and he hosts this flagship folk and world music show on CiTR.  And I have to say that listening to him read the UK soccer scores in that English accent of his truly is a soothing thing (although I guess no soccer right now). Steve is still producing new shows each Saturday morning and sending them in from home, but he also has an extensive back catalogue to work through.

Worldbeats Radio and Celt in a Twist

Cal Koat is something of a world music celebrity in Vancouver, and he deserves credit for having managed to get world music programs onto commercial radio several times over, sometimes for years at a time – and he also hosted a pretty great world music TV show for a while on OMNI. But regardless of whether or not you can find him on the radio, you can always count on his two podcasts for great new world and Celtic music.

John Valentyn’s Blues

John is a truly seminal figure in the Canadian blues scene. He was a co-founder of the Toronto Blues Society, and he regularly reviews records for MapleBlues, the TBS newsletter. And then he hosts THIS show each week on CIUT.

Canadian Spaces  (Click on the episode you want to hear, then click “listen”)

Broadcast live on CKCU FM in Ottawa every Saturday morning from 10 until noon, Canadian Spaces was founded by the late local legend Chopper McKinnon and has been carried on in his absence by a team of volunteers coordinated by artist and general folk music community-builder Chris White. One of those volunteers is veteran folk music journalist Mike Regenstreif. The live version of Canadian Spaces is off the air during the pandemic but Chris has been experimenting with streaming a version of the show from his living room on Facebook Live on the Canadian Spaces Facebook page.

Folk Directions

Thursday mornings at 9 a.m. ET, Montreal folk fans start their day with the voice of Gerry Goodfriend – who continues a long tradition of Thursday morning folk on CKUT. Gerry took over from Mike Regenstreif’s Folk Roots Folk Branches when Mike moved to Ottawa

Global Rhythms

Ken Stowar hosts this flagship world music show each week from CIUT in Toronto.

Radio Wrycraft and From Cover to Cover

Celebrity album designer Michael Wrycraft hosts these two programs on Folk Roots Radio online. One of them features music from albums he’s designed the covers for. The other one is … whatever he wants it to be.
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Sunday, March 22, 2020

Corby's Orbit Playlist and Podcast for 20 March 2020 ~ Memories of Joe Hall ~The Musical Celebration at Tranzac, 17 May 2019

Podcasts here ~

Thanks to Tony Quarrington for all of the resources and encouragement that he provided during the preparation of this broadcast.

Recorded by George Dobo at the Tranzac, Toronto, 17 May 2019

Tony Quarrington ~ More Cold Drinks

Tony Quarrington & Zoe Adams (Q&A) ~ Dollarton Blues

Judith Lander ~ Bittersweet

 Harvey Glatt ~ Remarks

Trevor Davis ~ Sweet Gypsy Nose / More Like A Sausage

Scott B ~ Some Other Planet

Chandra Corriveau ~ Avril Lavigne's Head Above Water

Mike Burke ~ Remarks

Jaymz Bee ~ Say It Isn't So

Bill MacMullan / Pete Hudson ~ Remarks

J.P. Hovercraft ~ Roadkill BBQ / We Are Drugs

Fred McCluskey ~ Remarks

~ Intermission ~

Zoey Adams ~ Balloon Man And Pin Lady

Eldon Garnet ~ Remarks

Sebastian Agnello ~ Full Moon And Welfare Checks / Middle Aged Guys With Guitars

Paul Corby ~ Remarks

Morgan Hall-Boenke ~ What's Hip / All The Mutants

Jay Swinnerton ~ Winner's Complaint

M.C. Boyer ~ Poem

Rebecca Campbell ~ Pressure Drop

Martin Worthy ~ Preparing To Begin

Nick Jennings ~ Remarks

Jaymz Bee & Zoe Adams ~ Nos Hablos Telephonos

Ensemble ~ You Could Be The River



















Thursday, March 19, 2020

Joe Hall in Orbit - Memorial Celebration Broadcast

Set the Zambonis on STUN. 
This Friday, in honour of the one-year anniversary of his physical abdication, Corby's Orbit will present two hours of mind-grilling, hair-chilling, drink-spilling tales of, and tributes to, Canadian singer-songwriter Joe Hall (born Hans Joachim Boenke, May 15, 1947 – March 22, 2019), recorded live on 17 May 2019, by George Dobo, two days before what would have been his 72nd birthday.
Thanks, endlessly, to The Tranzac Club.
You will hear:

Harvey Glatt - Booking Agent and Mentor 
Stuart Laughton & Wally Brooker 
 Jaymz Bee

 Scott B.
Tony Quarrington
Joe`s Daughter Chandra Corriveau

 Sebastian Agnello

Joe`s Son Morgan Hall-Boenke

Rebecca Campbell


Wednesday, March 18, 2020

King Alpha's Song ~ A Reggae Book Launch and Concert for Black History Month

The King Alpha Band. L to R: Perry Joseph, Adriian Miller, Jason Wilson, Sam Weller, Rupert Harvey, Vince Reel, Sunray Grennan, Michael Williams, Michael Shapinko, Carl Harvey, Mike Smith, David Kennedy, Marcus Ali. 

In the heart of the winter at Todmorden Mills, huddled in the snow-filled valley of the Don River, on the refurbished site of Ontario’s first paper mill, the concentrated forces of Canadian reggae music defrosted some history of their own. VJ Michael Williams, who attained his cultural influence in the golden days when Much Music micromanaged Canadian music, sat on a cozy stage in front of a 12-piece band, reading selections aloud from the chapters of King Alpha’s Song in a Strange Land: The 
Roots and Routes of Canadian Reggae. Its title is derived from the classic spiritual chant “Rivers Of Babylon.” Written by the evening’s ringmaster, keyboardist Jason Wilson, the new book details the social and racial confluences that shaped the character of that most magnetic of tropical and topical musics, as it adapted to a new life in the land of snow.
Many of the book’s subjects were there to perform and to listen to performances exemplifying the high-intensity commitment to Rasta music that enlivened urban centers and suburbs during the late 70s and 80s across Canada. Members of Messenjah, The Sattalites, Tabarruk and Twentieth Century Rebels were present to illustrate lively chapters from the big paperback, which was released by UBC Press on February 14.
From the subversion of colonial quadrilles that developed into the frisky acoustic dance rhythms of mento, through to ska and rock steady, which came north on 45s with the initial influx of Jamaican musicians 60 years ago, the pageant of Caribbean songcraft that eventually burst into full-blooded reggae was authentically recreated by the King Alpha Band, an aggregation of A-list Torontonian players, including three horns, three guitars, two percussionists, master drummer Sunray Grennan, Michael Shapinko on bass, studio manager Sam Weller on keyboards, MC Julion (right) and Toots & The Maytals guitarist Carl Harvey (left) playing lead on his trademark Rastacaster.

Igniting the proceedings, Adrian “Sherriff” Miller (above) set the room in motion with his vocal prowess, audacious enthusiasm and his animated classic dance moves, energizing both the band and the fans. Wilson provided homage to his mentor, Jamaica’s piano scion Jackie Mittoo, who moved to Toronto after setting the theoretical foundations of reggae at Studio One in Kingston, presenting two of his compositions, “Drum Song” and “Ram Jam.”
The Sattalites’ hit, Wild” was revived by Fergus Hambleton (left). He spent the rest of the evening contributing harmony vocals and acoustic guitar, adding extra-special effect to Tabarruk guitarist (right)  Perry Joseph’s rendition of Canada’s first international reggae hit “Wondering Where the Lions Are,” sung by Bruce Cockburn and backed by Toronto’s Ishan Band. Sherriff brought Black Slate’s “Reggae Every Time” to life and Messenjah’s Rupert “Ojiji” Harvey rocked out on their pointed anthem of overcoming “Can’t Root Up This Tree.”

Author and bandleader Jason Wilson, Sam Weller, Rupert “Ojiji” Harvey and Sunray Grennan. 
Timeless supporters of the Canadian reggae community were speckled through Thursday’s gathering. Besides Mike Williams and Bamboo manager Patti Habib (right, with restaurateur Naomi Dominique Lowen), journalist Nicholas Jennings, CBC’s Erroll Nazareth, sound curator Jeff Holdip, promoter Sebastian Cook and MC Julion King were all there to warm themselves with the heat of the music. The show as presented will no doubt see the light of day again beyond its African History Month debut, and attention to Dr. Wilson’s book should also make some progress in establishing another foothold for the underappreciated originators of such a gregarious and vital style of homegrown music, overcoming the virtual media blackout that has kept their story largely untold.
And they won’t be half as frightening as they were before.
(Originally Published at Roots Music Canada

Friday, March 13, 2020

Playlist For Corby's Orbit Show Of 13 March with Nathan Smith


Commissioner of Selection: Paul Corby 

( Brought to you by Wobbly Knob Anomalies, Cumulative Musical Miscues & Extracelestial Exceptionalities )

Guest: Nathan Smith


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

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

Click On Pictures To Enlarge 

Canadians in Asterisk’d RED. 

5:00 Infinitely Definitive Benefits 



* Dennis Kwok Jazz Orchestra ~ The Calling ~ Windward Bound NEW DISK

Eileen Ivers ~ Shine ~ Scatter The Light NEW DISK

* Jacek Kochan & musiConspiracy feat. Elizabeth Shepherd ~ Soliloquoy ~ Occupational Hazard NEW DISK

Limmy Paul ~ Contemplate ~ Reggae Hits 2001

Kiki Sheard ~ Let Go ~ WOW Gospel 2006

5:20 Art Galaxies


McCoy Tyner (December 11, 1938 – March 6, 2020) feat. Bobby Hutcherson ~ African Village ~ Time for Tyner (Bluenote 1968)

* Rae Spoon ~ Armour ~ Armour ~ @ Burdock 

Mainz Chamber Orchestra ~ Bach: Concerto In C Major - Adagio ~ Celebrating J.S. Bach's Birthday @ Hugh's Room Live Sunday

5:40 Firmamental Differences

Tim Love Lee ~ First Bass Bossa / Jabeat ~ Mr. Dark / Lemon Jelly ~ Soft ~ Barcelona Paris 2nd Flight 

Jackie DeShannon ~ Carl Wilson's Trader ~ You Know Me 

6:00 Fiddelicious Fidelity

* Nathan Smith ~ Market Day / Interview / River Bend Brandy (live) / The Black Hole /  Set Sail (live) / Dinosaurs ~ Let It Rest Let It Rise NEW DISK

6:20 Celebrarians

Thundercat ~ Captain Stupido ~ Drunk ~ @ Queen Elizabeth Theatre ~ Wednesday 18 March  

* DVSN ~ Run Away ~ Morning After 

Otis Redding ~ The Glory Of Love ~ Dock Of The Bay

* Maya Rae ~ The Sun Will Come Out Again ~ Can You See Me? NEW DISK

* Deborah Holland ~ The Sun Is Out ~ Fine Thank You NEW DISK


Maire O'Sullivan ~ An Cailin Aerach (The Light-Hearted Girl) / Seamus Ennis ~ The Banks Of The Roses ~ World Library Of Folk & Primitive Music: Ireland ~ St. Patrick's Day Tuesday

* Don Messer ~ Mother's Reel ~ The Best of Don Messer

6:45 An Unobscured Few

Amos Lee ~ Kid ~ Last Days At The Lodge ~ @ Scotiabank Arena Sunday

* Gia & The Unpredictable Update ~ Joy ~ @ The Jazz Bistro Tuesday 17 March

* James Keelahan ~ Gathering Storm ~ History: The First 25 Years ~ @ St. Paul's United Church for Acoustic Harvest













Wednesday, March 11, 2020

Radio Orbiting Charts Record Highs


In February 2020 Google anal-ytics tracked my blog's third highest record # of unique hits at 3513 views.

I have been touring the known blogo-spherical muso-verse since January 4th, 2010 when my weekly show's dedicated online journal  lifted off into perpetual notions about all things orbital.

My first post was a Top Ten of the best records of 2009:
1 The Wheat Pool Hauntario
2 Rose Cousins The Send Off
3 Louwop the Dirty General The Great Escape
4 Terry Clarke It’s About Time
5 Neko Case Middle Cyclone
6 Warsaw Village Band Infinity
7 Skindred Shark Bites and Dogfights
8 Jay Aymar Halfway Home
9 KC Roberts and the Live Revolution Parkdale Funk vol. 1
10 Parlour Steps The Hidden Names


I still enjoy all of this music. Note that it is 70% Canadian (80% if you honour Neko Case with Wannabee Status) and this has remained my truly preferred radio ratio.


Cause for celebration and party on all you crazy Russian Bots.