Loose Blues News

Blues Movies: The films Crossroads and Deep Blues are part of a blues and jazz weekend on the new Canadian Documentary Channel on September 21-23. TBS VP John Valenteyn joins host Valerie Pringle to comment on the films. The new channels will be available to viewers with digital cable boxes or satellite dishes. If you aren't quite cable ready to this level yet, there will be 12 opportunities to see this pairing over the next two years.

Debuts: Chuck Keeping is the new drummer for Fathead replacing Ed White who is off pursuing new musical avenues. The Newfoundland born, London-based Keeping was playing most recently with the Chris Chown Band. Raoul and The Big Time made their national television debut last month on CTV's Canada AM., while Sue Foley made her European debut in London, the UK, Switzerland, and France.

Recording Live: Big Daddy G, featuring one of Canada's top harmonica players Tortoise Blue, will be recording a live album at the Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival on September 15th with special guests: legendary piano player Richard Bell (The Band, Janis Joplin, Colin James) and harmonica wonderkid Southside Steve from Ottawa. Toronto blues-rock fans can attend a live recording of slideslinger Paul Fenton at Blues on Bellair on Friday & Saturday November 9 & 10. The live album will feature Rick Gunn on lead guitar (Jerry Stiff), Doug Inglis on drums (Goddo, Ronnie Hawkins, Blushing Brides, Powerhouse, Burton Cummings), Gary Kendall on bass (Downchild Blues Band) and Peter Jermyn on Hammond B3 (MRQ, Luke and the Apostles). An early 2002 release date is expected.

Harpdog Brown & The Bloodhounds are making a long awaited visit to Toronto at the Silver Dollar Room on September 15th, September 21st at the Black Swan, and at Chicago's on September 29th, so you have no excuses for missing this powerhouse band. Harpdog (pictured at left) is a West-coast harmonica hero who will have you jumping up and dancing in no time.

Open Jam at Sir Frogs: A new blues jam Sunday nights, 8:30 - 11:30, at Sir Frogs in Oak Ridges, on the east side of Yonge Street, just south of Bloomington Sideroad. The jam features rotating guest hosts, and a house PA with lights and a sound technician, and even a smoke machine.

Ottawa Blues Cruise: Come aboard a riverboat cruise on September 9 on the Ottawa River Queen. A $25 ticket includes the boat ride from 3:00 pm to 7:00 or 8:00 pm, a buffet, door prizes, and music by The Tony D Band, with special guest Trevor Finlay, and opening band Quicksand. Contacts: M&T Glass at 1495 Star Top Road in Gloucester (613-745-7158), Roger (613-742-7937) or Claude (819-459-1711), or www.bluescruise.ca.

Blues in Cambridge: Blues on the East Side in Cambridge will be hosting the Electro-Fi Records' Mojo Ramble on Sunday, November 4 featuring Snooky Pryor and Mel Brown, Morgan Davis, Fathead, Jack de Keyzer and Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne. For more info call (519) 623-3151.

Quebec blues: August featured numerous blues festivals in Quebec including Weekend Blues De Victoriaville (held August 23-26), Weekend En Blues De St-Hyacinthe (August 23-25), Le Festiblues International De Montreal (August 16 - 19), Valleyfield En Blues (August 2 - 5), and Maximum Blues De Carleton (August 2 - 5).

Carlos del Junco (right) celebrates the release of his new CD, Up And At `Em, at Port Credit's Southside Shuffle on September 9 and little later at the "official" launch at the Silver Dollar on October 13.The CD is a tour-de-force for Toronto's "Harmonica Wizard" and is already receiving a lot of radio airplay.

Record Company News: Toronto-based True North Records, Canada's oldest independent record company has entered into a distribution contract with Boston-based Rounder Records. True North's Canadian artists will now have their music available in the U.S. on the True North label through Rounder Records. In Canada, True North continues to be distributed by Universal Music.

Stony Plain has had two albums in the Top 10 on the Living Blues charts at the same time: Maria Muldaur's extraordinary Richland Woman Blues and Boogie and Shuffle, Billy Boy Arnold's first new release in five years. Maria's album has also graced the blues chart on Billboard for two months, another first for Stony Plain, while rave reviews continue to roll in. And a still-to-be-released movie shot in Vancouver, Watchtower, has licensed four tracks from the Stony Plain catalogue, including "Soul of a Man" by Maria Muldaur and Taj Mahal, Rita Chiarelli's "Heartbreak of the Week" (which she recorded with members of Prairie Oyster), "This Time" by South Mountain, and the Downchild Blues Band's "Feeling So Good."

Walk of Fame: Congratulations to Delbert McClinton who was inducted into the Buddy Holly Walk of Fame in his his hometown of Lubbock, Texas on August 10.

Argentinian Blues: Ricardo Munoz advises of "Blues Special Records", the first exclusively blues-oriented label in Argentina. "It started its activities in the year 1995 with the edition of Hubert Sumlin's Made In Argentina CD. It goes back to producing in 2000 with three more titles: Little Mac Simmons Last Sessions (cut three months before his death), Phil Guy Another Guy, and Carlos Johnson My Name is Carlos Johnson (debut CD from Billy Branch's left-handed guitarist). Contact Ricardo at (Tel/fax) 54-11-4854-2338 or Email: solamenteblues@hotmail.com. They are offering a special price for blues society members.

The (New) Blues Show

Danny Marks launches a new 4-hour blues show on JAZZ.FM (formerly CJRT, and hence to be known partially as BLUZ.FM) The show is called The Blues Show and will be broadcast Saturday nights from 8pm to midnight at 91.1 on your FM dial starting September 8. Photo by Barrie Wentzell

Danny Marks is making a leap into (semi) commercial radio with a four-hour blues programme on JAZZ-FM (formerly CJRT) starting September 8th. TBS prez Derek Andrews asked Danny to give our readers some background and a little preview of what we can expect on "The Blues Show".

Danny: Thanks Derek, everywhere I go, people are telling me how much they dig JazzFM. I really feel like I've landed in the right place at the right time. The station is proud that so many of its broadcasters are real live musicians.

Derek: All those years ago in Edward Bear days, did you ever think you'd be blasting out the blues off the top of the CN tower to all good Ontario citizens?

Danny: Ha! I don't think there was a CN tower back then. But we sure played a lot of blues all over this town, and across the countryside as well in the Edward Bear days. And don't forget, that all through the eighties and into the nineties, the Stormy Monday TV Show brought the music into people's homes across the nation on cable TV every Saturday night.

I could make a list.... you'd be hard pressed to find anyone who didn't get on that programme, cause everyone came out. Remember the old Albert's Hall..... I know you do. Every Monday night, that house was jammed. And you know, Derek, strange as it seems, that little TV programme was many people's introduction to the blues. It's surprising to hear how many aspiring young guitarists got their start jamming along with the Jammers.

So today, in 2001, I'm living out my earliest entertainment ambitions. You see, my first childhood fantasy about having my own show has finally paid off. I mean, when I was little, I'd lock myself in my brother's room with the Seebreeze and a stack of 45's, Louisiana Red, Jimmy Reed, Rufus Thomas, Carla Thomas, Ike and Tina, The Contours, John Lee Hooker, and all. My theme song was "Hot Pastrami" by the Dartells. And there I was, hosting my own radio show, and I was like ten years old, so you see, this goes back.

The idea of being on the radio has been with me since the beginning. I've been with the CBC for many years now, and it's a childhood dream come true really. People love to imagine the faces that go with the voices, and always have. Comparing TV and radio is like comparing a book to a movie.

Radio allows the listener to use their own imagination, it's a very generous medium in that way. Radio is truly the theatre of the mind.

Danny: Firsts? When I was a kid, 8 or 9 years old, I treated everyone who'd listen to my Louis Armstrong, later, I learned how to play "Peepin' and Hidin'", and Ray Charles "What'd Say" on the guitar. I went electric when I turned twelve, and got my first Gibson. My first taste of the club scene was at the Club Jamaica, I think I was maybe thirteen. I became a member of the Toronto Musician's Association at seventeen. By age eighteen I got my first standing O, opening for Paul Butterfield at the Rock Pile.

That was a big reaction from a hip hard core blues crowd. It was for singing CJ Feeney's arrangement of Everyday I Got the Blues. That became my theme song. That, and Freddie King's Hideway. We sold a few copies of that for Capitol Records.

Derek: You've always had some blues in your repetoire, what is driving you now to host a blues radio show, and what direction are you getting from the station?

Danny: The folks at JazzFM are really, really good at what they do. They instantly liked my ideas, because I told them I want to make this music come alive, and not keep it for the select few. My shows have always had a populist feel, and that's natural `cause I'm no snob about music. Whatever moves you. And I'm going to take the high road here, and I hope everyone will get involved. Management have directed me to be inclusive, and that's great. And to take the high road! It's going to be a lot of work to do this right, and that's the only way to do it, Derek, I appreciate this opportunity you've given me here, to welcome all my fellow members of the TBS, and beyond. I want them to feel they have a new place to hang on the radio dial. A lot of our friends will be on the program.

Derek: I know you're a supporter of the local scene and Canadian music generally, are you planning any particular approach to blues folks on this side of the border?

Danny: There are so many folks around town who know and love the blues, remember David Clayton Thomas' Born With the Blues? Now That! Was a great recording, a home brewed blues, that has never been matched in ferocity. My guitar hero Freddie Keeler and the late Gord Fleming. Oh yeah! Well my station manager at JazzFM knew of that record, and that impressed the hell out of me. These guys are real great radio people. They've been around and they're doing great things with that station. I know so many blues people in Toronto, and already people are volunteering to come down to be on BluzFM with me, and talk, not about something they're promoting, but about why they LOVE this stuff and then we're gonna PLAY the stuff. Hey I plan to make my first song "Let's Have a Party" Amos Milburn. That's the vibe.

Derek: With four hours, will you be able to profile touring artists with phoners or interviews?

Danny: Yep all that and more... I'll have room. I hope to have plenty of company.

Derek: Do you have any sense of what the JAZZFM listener is looking for in a blues show? What will their expectations be? Has the station lost it's old blues audience?

Danny: JazzFM has a surprising number of woman listeners. That is a very good sign that they are doing things right. And listeners from all walks of life. I know, `cause I hear the station on in shops and cabs, and restaurants, and all over! My feeling is this: Judging from shows in town, and audiences I see at the clubs, blues has somehow become too male oriented. A guy thing! It didn't start that way. It was sexy vital stuff! That is a fact. A lot of programming is so dry..... My producers at CBC have given me guidance from experience, and I believe them. They told me, in order to have good radio, you have to make the listener comfortable. You must talk to them, and not over their heads. Pretend they are in your living room, and you're playing them your favourite records. That's how my mentor at the CBC, David J. Malahoff, taught me, and I paid attention. Just be friendly. Inclusive. "Hi folks... come on in".

Derek: As a broad ranging musician, with a deep well of experience, how wide do you feel you are going to go with the broadcast? Are there side trips in the blues that you are interested in exploring?

Derek: How will your radio gig affect your live playing schedule and will you still do the Hum Line at CBC?

Danny: The Hum Line will be back monthly on CBC radio this year, and I hope to stay with the network. In the coming months, I'll be at the Silver Dollar every Monday, of course. That's my night to work it. It's a vibrant scene we have, in downtown Toronto Monday nights, with Kevin Breit around the corner at the Orbit, and Laura Hubert down the road at Grossman's.

Yeah, there will still be lots of the usual stuff, club dates, hopefully a few jingles, and recordings, Shadowmania Guitar Meet is coming up this month and I'll be at the Cabbagetown Festival and Ontario Place September 8th. As for road trips, travel can be good! Upcoming, there's a trip to Texas with my US band buddies, and a one nighter in Saskatchewan, haven't been there in years. In the new year I've been invited to play in Bermuda and thanks to our friend Matti Temisiva, Lapland in February!

Rob Piltch and I have kicked around a few ideas. Guitarchaeology still does well for me internationally. I really dig the guitar.

Derek: Good luck with the broadcast, we sure hope bring the blues back to 91.1 and make some waves for all the folks who love the music.

Danny invites blues artists to send in their recordings to The Blues Show, JAZZ.FM91, 150 Mutual St. Toronto Ontario M5B 2M1. Danny will be featuring six new releases every week and will have guests in the studio as well.

The BluesBook is Going On-Line!

We are planning an updated web-based version of the BluesBook Directory. Performing artists (solo or bands), managers, agents, venues, festivals, producers, publications, radio stations, specialty retailers, teachers, schools, audio technicians, photographers, should send their contact info to info@torontobluessociety.com.

Please include name, full mailing address, telephone, fax, web site and e-mail. Performers can include a brief description of their music, and if CDS or videos are available (titles are not necessary) Type "BLUESBOOK LISTING" in the subject line.