This week’s Sunday night Stir It Up at Relish was a momentous occasion for a lot of reasons. I have written a post specifically about Relish Bar and Grill before, but good things are worth repeating.

Last night was the 7th anniversary of SIUS. Originally hosted by Paul Brennan (Félix and the Cats’ fave drummer), and Phil Jacobs for two years, the latter replaced by Danger Bees composer and front man David Macmichael, Stir It Up Sundays is Toronto’s best original music open mic, both in terms of quality and broad musical styles. It is definitely one of my happy places. The success of Stir It Up is due to these guys’ guidance, encouragement towards artists still discovering themselves, and a subtle but effective curation of the talent that performs there every Sunday. Of course, none of this would even be possible without the vision and support of Relish’s owner and chef Joanne Clayton. Thanks, Joanne!

Beyond the milestone celebration, the evening was special in other ways too. First, my good friend Sal (Salamander) Borg and SIUS regular introduced his new Trump song, which you can view a segment of below.

Another Robert (Hyde this time) had his first taste of performing at SIUS after years of prodding on my part and did a great job. I hope he will make it back soon.

Regulars Michael Cuddy (soon to be recording at Tim Bovaconti‘s studio with the above mentioned Paul and David), Jace, Ryan, Steve and more performed, and I had a set in there somewhere.

The biggest surprise though came for seeing a new (for me) band called Mauve Grove perform. As the band started into their first song, I kept staring at the guitar player (Babs) thinking he looked awfully familiar. I suddenly realized this was a kid I had taught when he was in my grade 5 class. Even back then as an 11 year-old, he was showing promise on guitar, all part of a class project we had going on. I cannot seem to locate that recording at this time, but Babs may choose to share it, as he told me he still has a copy. If I find it, I will update this post. In the meantime, here is something much more current from Mauve Grove.

Until next week, be well!