Scene and Heard with Will McGuirk

Peter Rowan, Julie Doiron, Tim Veseley in one night

So a super big thank you to the infamous Peter Rowan (Haligonian Kingpin) for Massey Hall Tues. who made the arrangements. In fact I asked Peter for his autograph at the merch table. He seemed shocked. But let me explain. There are those on stage, the stars, the music makers yes. They get asked for autographs.
But behind the scenes there are many more folks who promote, book, write, document, facilitate, manage who don't. Thats the crowd that I belong too. The crowd that doesn't share the spotlight but works to make it turns on when its supposed to. The crowd that works for the money of course but also just for the music itself. Rowan has worked behind the scenes of many of your fave East Coast bands. He is an integral part of what has been built in Canada over the last decade and a half. Cheers Peter. Thank you.
Yes I went, but for opener Julie Doiron and her band of Shwa kats, Fred Squires and the Bairds, Jay and Jesse, not the headliner City And Colour. Oh so good. So quaint and cute and casual and ad lib with Julie introducing the band and noting how far away Fred seemed (they have been playing much smaller venues). It was an opener's set. They used the time to feel out new material and the new record I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day and. One of the songs Julie had only shown the guys that afternoon.  Yet they ran through the number like the true professionals they are.
It was a mad dash after the gig to catch the Champion Heartache, Wayne Petti and The Violet Archers at Johnny Bs. It was a small but attentive crowd and i couldn't help but notice how they streamed out after the CH played leaving the VA (ex-Rheostatics Tim Veseley's new band) playing to an empty room.
Folks, do us a favour and stay for the out-of-towners. And a heads up to the organisers, don't close with an out-of-towner. Vesley is one truely unique voice in CanCon, instantly recognisable, he deserves better.
CH were great with the bass/drum huge in the sound mix and Craig Toutant worked the skins into a frenzy while Brendan Lawless took us on a sonic ride.
Petti and his band opened. Afterwards he filled me in on the plans for Cuff The Duke. They are taking the summer off, fielding inquiries from labels expressing interest in picking the band up. Come September CTD will embark on a CDN/USA tour. Then Petti will tour with his solo work for a while.
Its been a curious couple of days. I felt I was standing at a crossroads watching Julie Doirin and Joel Plaskett who I first saw in concert when they were quite young and just starting out in Erics Trip and Thrush Hermit respectively. I met again Tim Veseley whom I had first met when the Rheostatics came under the stewardship of mgmt Nigel Best. I was around them when they were being courted by Sire Records, recording Whale Music and Melville.
In the now was Wayne Petti and CTD who are an established respected band in Canada and looking forward Champion Heartache slowly starting out hoping for a Saturday night gig at the Horseshoe.
Further into the future was young Jordan Ali (who was at Johnny Bs too) and his band Kardiak Kids who have few gigs under their belts but have been booked to play the Canada Day celebrations at Oshawa's Lakeview Park.
I can say I haven't been fortunate enough to have seen the great international icons of Canada in concert...Young, Mitchell, Cohen, Lightfoot, Cockburn and others but I have borne witness to the birth of Canadian Indie rock and I can honestly say since first hearing the Rheos, 54-40, Blue Rodeo, Erics Trip and others I have not been the same.
This past weekend all those roads seemed to converge.

Gigs This Week

Local Gigs

Fri May 29 The Stables at Chicagos; The Trews at Johnny Bs, PitterPatter Fest at the Atria with the Champion Heartache, The Archipelagos, What Seas What Shores, This Is Picture; Fitz Allsorts with Avery Island at JP Fitzpatricks;
Sat May 30 PitterPatter Fest at Isabellas with the Strumbellas (pictured), Aaron Lozynsky, Drunk Woman, Robert Hedge; Von Drats at The Atria.

Out Of Town Gigs

The Montreal House in Peterborough
Fri May 29 The Muddy Hack, Great Bloomers, Guest Bedroom; Sat May 30 Evening Hymns at 5pm, Grand Tune, Parlovr, CRaft Economy, Black Hat Brigade at 10pm; Sun May 31 Justin Rutledge, Emma Lee, Melissa Payne

The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern
Thu May 28 Romi Mayes, David Baxter, The Cavaliers; Fri May 29 Slim Twig (pictured), Wyrd Visions; Sat May 30 The Strangeboys, Gratefully Dedicated Soundsystem, Foggy Hogtown Boys; Mon Jun 1Park Lane, Breathe, Seven Levels; Tue Jun 2 If Looks Could Kill, Mambolo, Mt St Helens Vietnam Band, Beth In Battle Mode.

Plaskett, Playhouse, and walking boots

OK boys and gals git on yer boots and start working. We have a lot to do.
Ya see I was in Cobourg and Uxbridge on the weekend. I don't get out much. Usually car train house club repeat... Hogtown - Oshawa. Its a small linear world I inhabit.
But I left it at the behest of Joel Plaskett. He played Cobourg, 18000 folks and he commented many times on the Dungeon and paying Lasertag there and playing a gig there. The Dungeon had a rep. A bad rep but a rep.
But this Uxbridge Port Perry and Cobourg....
Cobourg... I walked on a beach and watched volleyballers and then strolled through a park and then met friends at a bar and then went to see the concert. The lake can be seen from the front of the Park Playhouse... how @#$%ing cool is that.
Becky Choquette is booking it and its a dream venue. Plaskett's dad Bill did the same thing...barefoot on the beach and a stroll through the dandelions to brush away the dirt. Lovely just lovely. Clean, traffic calmers, stores shops, art, art art ART...
But heres the rub... Plaskett drew a crowd that was one third Durham residents. Aha...Cobourg has the venue but Durham has the folks...
Uxbridge and Port Perry were hopping in a mellow May 24 sort of way. Great day of sunshine...bookstores and bars and cafes and strolling...and driving past farms and golf courses and small rivers and ponds.... birdsong.
Twas so nice and I looked at Cobourg and was in awe of what they had built. And I went into the Playhouse and was in awe of what they had built. And Joel Plaskett (who as Wayne Petti says is this generation's Lightfoot), came out and enchanted us with his songs and stories. Its a real coupe to have him there. He had played a sold-out Massey Hall the night before the night before.
And then like a smack to the head slash body blow... back to the SHWA.
!@#$!
Oh I love Oshawa but anyone (and I include myself in this) who thinks La Lady Shwa has a chance in a creative economy either best start rolling up their sleeves or sign in to the House of Delusions. We are so far far behind in this town even compared to such small places as Port Perry or Port Hope we don't have a hope in Hades of catching up. This weekend has been a wakeup for me.
We have relied for far to long on the good fortunes of GM and now as they wane we wane too. We won't become a ghost town (although have you driven along Ritson lately; it looks like no Govt agenecy has been there is some time). The roads are terrible and there are closed up stores and those open are trussed up with gating.
I want Oshawa to be the hub of Durham. I want to enjoy it. It has wonderful attributes but I fear we have been targeted by higher authorities as a bit of a dumping ground.
Progress is being steered north of us. Growth is away from the lake, the plants, the rails. All that factory infrastructure down southend way will be targeted for something else. We will not benefit from the surge towards a creative economy. We will benefit from our past associations which are manufacturing and social services and all that that will bring to us.
Fingers crossed the stooges at City Hall can get their shit together and bring the student housing downtown. That will be something. However keep in mind that many other towns have student ghettos that cause more problems than they fix. Is this maybe a way of reducing the student stigma around the new developments in the North End?
The hand we have been dealt with includes the sick (cancer centre), the uneducated (student housing) the criminal (courthouse) and the needy (social services). Fine so we are a caring community. Bully for us.
But if there are any in our community who think this creative thing is just going to happen forget about it. We are going to have to be creative ourselves. We will need to become the change itself.
So its funny how we in Oshawa have the talent but no home and elsewhere in Durham and across the border in Northumberland there are places galore but the numbers fall short.
If our councillors wanted our creative energetic types to stay they would book them and hire them. They would demand KI$$ have local openers. They would fill every nook and cranny with our artists and musicians. They would promote the Hades out of them. But they don't. No they spend X amount of $$ on Gene Simmons. I hope they get his autograph in exchange for being royally screwed over. What do we do then aside from complain?
Well folks lets put it this way. People is easier to move than buildings. The word is...Go where you are wanted. Go to these houses other places have built. Play to folks who have an open ear and an open heart and an open mind and an open door. They want you.
And if you ask me the Park Playhouse is one great location and the gal in charge is one of its best assets. So best of luck Becky with that gig. If you can bring in more Plaskett calibre acts you have a believer in me.
But more and more I think its time to get on yer boots and either start working or start walking.

The Regent's loss is Cobourg Playhouse's gain.

So yes another day and another no show at a gig.... this time it was Kat Rocket's reunion which rocked from what I hear... but here's what happened...I went for a drive up north with the three discs of Joel Plaskett's Three. Yes a triple album and it needs time to be enjoyed, a lot of time. So a drive to Uxbridge seemed in order.
Day was sunny, drive was perfect. Sounds were just right.
The disc is arranged along a three act play..one disc is leaving, one disc is being gone and the last is returning. I went on my own journey with it.
There is a weird Beatles thing going on in the record. George Harrison kept coming to my mind  as the tunes played out. The production is definitely another player in his sound but its subtle. I can't say as if there is a "single" song on the album, maybe Wishful Thinking but as a long player its worth the drive.
So after that blast of freshness and a tour through the wide open vistas of our Region I reckoned I was good to stay. So no Sneaky Dee's gig.
As its been mentioned many times before Plaskett is at the Cobourg Playhouse tonight. Its the type of show that should have been in the Regent in Oshawa. But its not.
So I'll take my money to the next county because this is one I'm not missing.
Tomorrow night its a bit of a rusher...Julie Doiron opening for City & Colour at Massey Hall and then Violet Archers at Johnny Bs. Wish me luck.

Fridays At Foster on Sunday

Well LOL I'm not doing very well with this blogging tour at all. I did go out last night but only briefly. Caution Inc, Tennfold, Maximum RnR played the Atria as a birthday celebration for Shwarock superfan Vulgar.
I dropped by early. People were beginning to arrive and set up. It loked like it was going to be a good night.
But I have to be honest. Its been a long long winter and I really didn't want to spend another night inside, in a dark bar. I wanted to be outside.
Kat Rocket is playing tonight at Sneaky Dee's, another dark bar. I may go but I doubt it. There will be a lot of great folks there as the Electric Shoes and Grasshopper are playing. They will gather but perhaps they will have spent sometime already around Trinity Bellwoods or on a Queen St patio enjoying the evening before wandering into the club.
No such luck here in Shwaland. Yesterday it would have been a treat to have sat in the park with some music at the Bandshell, then a stroll up to the Thirsty Monk's hidden patio and then to have completed the evening at the Atria.
But getting music into that Bandshell has become a nightmare. Someday it will happen, its inevitable. But I think only after the crowd of stooges blocking City Hall move on.
I'm looking forward to that day.
In the meantime I am going to take advantage of the weather and drive up to Uxbridge. There is a fantastic venue up there called the Foster Memorial. The folks at Foster already organise something they call Foster On Fridays where small ensembles and singer/songwriters perform. The acoustics are spectacular so I'm off to check it out today. I'm going to work on getting some of our Southern D-Rock artists in there. Hopefully.
I think our kids deserve to be heard in more than just another dank bar.

The Idlers and You And Me and me.

There are a lot of great gigs on at the moment in and around the D-Rock so I'm going to try and blog them.... not doing so well with the first though. Nor the second.
The plan is Idlers, Catl, Maximum RnR, Kat Rocket, Joel Plasket and Julie Doiron. One gig a night.
Last night I dropped by the Atria to see the Idlers and the Stables. I figured the Stables would close but they didn't. I was tired so I actually left before the Idlers played LOL. I did pick up the CD though. The Stables are heading out on an East Coast tour this weekend.
Howling from Chicago's was there and I spent sometime with him discussing a project involving some of our more elderly musicians in the D-Rock. A history lesson of sorts in fact. Fingers crossed it happens. It was a disappointing turnout for the Newfie ska band at the Atria though. The Idlers are wicked live and have played this town a few times before. Still with about 9 or 10 band members they are their own crowd.
Mayor Al was there too. He's involved with promoting the Zoobombs gig at Johhny Bs June 24. Matt Holtby is presenting it. Its been announced that the Mark Inside will open.

Tonight I was planning Catl and Bradley Boy at the Dakota in TO but I really wanted to get out of the city. Instead I stayed at Isabella's for Montreal's You And Me. Shawn and Sandra Donnelly play quiet harmonious coffeehouse folk. Perfect for Isabellas. There was a small crowd but it was sufficient. Artemis who heads up SASS came in and after our chat we have agreed to work on a series of events for Isabellas. Maybe a monthly thing.
Git 'er done eh!
Awesome Austin and his Dad Ken were there. Austin and my son hung outside enjoying a real life episode of COPS. Inside it was a pleasant valley friday night unwind. Awesome has a fan in The Oprah Show it seems and his videos on YouTube are up in the tens of thousands of views.
You & Me are playing the Spill in Peterborough as part of the Pitter Patter Fest.

Metric muse is sick on Fantasies

Its something really when we have to wait until the beginning of the 21st century before Canada produces an unabashedly sexy singer. One who sings about relationships from the point of view of one who clearly enjoys the power struggles within and the make-up sex afterwards.
Emily Haines is that siren and as much as Lester Bangs can get off over Anne Murray and Alanis can go down in a theatre there isn't anyone who stands quite like Haines.
Her stance is both a dare and a warning. She is a tomboy in a summer dress. She can compete in the bedroom and the boardroom. She has brains to match her breasts. Strip away the clubby rhythms around the tracks on Metric's albums and Haines emerges as a female Leonard Cohen. Her thoughts are hot, her ideas are sexy, she's a bam bam RAM glam geek.
This fourth record Fantasies seals the deal for Metric and there is not much that is too different from previous records and little to compare to Dead Disco or The Police & the Private. Sick Muse is the most compelling track here and its title may explain the record itself.
I do think the rock band format is too confining for these musicians and I can see them take a whole different approach with their artistry in the near future.

You and Me, coffee or tea at Isabellas

Hillside announce the 2009 line up

Hillside Music Fest 2009 which takes place July 24 thru to 26 in Guelph has announced its full lineup. Lot of great acts as per usual. Attack In Black, Tokyo Police Club, Final Fantasy, Buffy St. Marie, Patrick Watson, Skydiggers, WOMEN among them.
Of interest to us here in Durham; Timber Timbre, Julie Doiron (interviewed by Colin Medley above) and USS.
See the website for full details and ticket sales

Architect of RMG dies age 84

In one of those weird twists of life I was speaking to a chap on Sunday, an architect. We talked about starchitects such as Frank Gehry and he expresssed his dislike of them. He said Arthur Erickson was his inspiration. I told him about the Robert McLaughlin Gallery in Oshawa which was designed by Erickson and how one time when I was wandering Vancouver I strolled by his offices and stood in awe staring thru the glass windows hoping for a peek at the West Coast giant. I've always been an admirer of his work, its suppleness and its subtlety.
This chap was someone introduced by a mutual friend. I didn't get his full name and may not speak with him again. I haven't spoken of Erickson or thought of him in quite sometime.
Now its been announced that Arthur Erikson has died. R.I.P.

On May 22 at Johnny Bs a band from Britain by the name of Architects plays. Seriously. Rody Walker of Protest The Hero picked them as his best of 08 in our year end list.