Blue Fog Revue at Lee’s Palace, Toronto
14/05/2010
When Rick White asked me to help film the Blue Fog Revue last week, there was no way I could say no. Besides playing in one of my all time favourite bands, Rick is also part of the Blue Fog Recordings family, having released 3 solo albums for the label he helped start close to ten years ago. Some other bands on the label include $100, André Ethier, Castlemusic… basically a bunch of bands I really love. The entire active roster was on the bill last Friday at Lee’s Palace, but if you happened to miss it you can check out selections from the evening on YouTube. I filmed the whole night alongside Rick, and he’s been busy editing the footage all week.
I also bought a digital camera, finally. Maybe I’ll start posting photos?
Daniel, Fred & Julie, and Baby Eagle at The Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto
15/04/2010
Last Thursday I went and saw Daniel, Fred & Julie play at the Horseshoe, the perfect venue to hear them play their gentle folk songs. Last fall when I first caught wind of this project, I immediately knew I’d love the record. It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of the music these three people make, so to have them team up for a record had me pulling out my wallet faster than you can say “Sackville.” Truthfully, it made sense for them to join forces: Julie played in Fred’s old band “Shotgun & Jaybird,” and when that band broke up, ex-member Shotgun Jimmie recruited Daniel’s band Attack in Black to be his backing band. Attack in Black’s album Years featured guest vocals from Julie Doiron, who in turn covered two of Fred’s songs on her last album.
Are you with me still? If so, please enjoy their song “Runner” from their self-titled debut record, out now on You’ve Changed Records.
Opening the show was Baby Eagle. What’s there to say about little ol’ Baby Eagle, other than it’s the project of the Constantines’ Steve Lambke, and that he’s great? I guess the first peep I ever heard from him was the last track on the third Cons album (Tournament of Hearts), a ditty called “Windy Road.” It had Steve singing, but instead of the usual scrappy punk song we got a pleasant acoustic number. It was an album highlight for me, so I was happy when he started playing solo shows later that year. Two quick albums in 2006 and 2007 followed by a split with Attack in Black late last year brings us to today. I’m sure we’ll be hearing more from him soon – his setlist was all new songs, and it looks like he’s going electric.
This is a special video for sure. Jim Guthrie hasn’t been playing much lately (in fact, I think I caught his last solo show way back in 2005), so when it was announced that he would be performing at the El Mocambo a few weeks back I got very excited. Jim has been one of my favourite musicians for a long time after I discovered him through his connections with my other favourite band the Constantines (they both used to share a label, the aptly named Three Gut Records). His last album, 2003’s Now, More Than Ever is a masterpiece – 10 perfect songs. Luckily for those of you who haven’t heard it, it’s being reissued very soon (on vinyl!), so please, do yourself a favour and get it. This song presented here is “So Small” from that same album.
PS: My website is named after Jim’s second album (another great record) Morning Noon Night.
Hello, I’m going to try some early morning blogging here. I’m in a bit of a rush, my ride for Austin leaves in half an hour, yet I’m still sitting here scarfing my face with peanut buttered toast and 2% milk. Yes, that’s right, if all goes well on the way down, I shall be at SXSW again this year. I had a blast last year covering the festival for the National Post, but this time ’round I’m doing it on my lonesome. No fancy media pass (no pass at all yet, though we’ll see if my fortunes change), but unlike like year, I actually feel like I know what the hell is going on as far as cool bands to see (working in a record store has helped tremendously).
So yes, I must be on my way, but I’ll leave you with some fun videos from this past weekend. Didn’t have time to edit them or anything, just dumped the footage on YouTube. First up, it’s PS I Love You featuring Diamond Rings performing “Facelove” at the Silver Dollar on Friday.
And here’s The Magic playing their hit song “Downtown Line” in some weird sort of tomb off of Ossington, at 4 AM, technically Saturday morning.
I made my way over to the Tranzac last Friday to catch my friend Stuart’s monthly “Out of this Spark presents” concert. Stu’s been doing these shows for a while now and I’ve yet to miss one. They’re always nice, laid-back affairs, where you’re sure to see unique sets from both fresh talent and more established acts. The lineup for the night was The Youngest, whose short, wistful set left me truly impressed, VIVIV, the latest project from Ken Reaume, and finally, Casey Mecija of Ohbijou. I’ll be honest, it was pretty late by the time Casey went on and I’d had a few drinks, so I collapsed into a seat right up front and tried filming to the best of my inebriated abilities. So please, watch this video of Casey playing a song that I’d never heard before – her sister Jenny is singing backups and really nails it. Love ‘em.
