Month: April 2019

As I am in the heat of the Hots Docs film festival, normal blog scheduling is disrupted. In today’s case, intentionally as I wanted to write about the doc seen last night, Mystify: Michael Hutchence , a film by Richard Lowenstein, that covers the life and tragic death of INXS charismatic frontman Michael Hutchence.

I’ve always felt a connection to this band due probably tenuously by the fact Tim Farris and I both use Tokai Talbo guitars, which I discussed a long time ago.

Beyond that, I was also guiltily fascinated by the 2005 posthumous reality tv series (a form of entertainment I don’t care much for usually) where the remaining members sought a replacement for Hutchence.

The film is revealing (at least for me) in how Michael Hutchence was so profoundly affected by a brain injury that was kept secret until his death and which seems to have clearly led to his suicide in 1997.

If you are interested, the film will be presented three more times during the festival. Just click on the link in the first paragraph above for show times.

Be safe and be well!

There is a link from last week’s blog to this one, and his name is Howard Rabkin. Originally from Montréal, Howard has been a solidly recurring presence at the best shows I’ve attended, providing bass for a number of creative and original artists. Last time, it was in the context of playing with Tyler Ellis, who by the way is performing in Markham on April 27 at The Living Room “A House Concert With A Difference”. The Living Room is a premium space to catch a show. More about the space here.

 

This past Friday, he was part of David Storey‘s band, the Side Road Scholars, at the Tranzac Club, a great show that morphed into a birthday celebration for Lawrie Ingles, who guested a few times at my old ABC Songcircle, and took it over along with Henry Lees last year. David performed new material from his latest album “Made in Canada” (officially released at Winterfolk this past February) and many audience favourites.

By special request from Lawrie, I played Bowling For Dolores at the aftershow/birthday party with a fantastic backup group. Thanks guys!

Howard also works with Evelynne Ross in the acoustic duo Evolution. It’s worth taking a minute to read the bio below for both of these fine artists.

 

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This Weekend Is It

This coming show at the Black Swan (Saturday April 20), will be our last for a while. With so much having happened and other things to come (albeit positively disruptive), I will need to focus on one thing to get the EP done, and the project is lagging behind.

So again, here are the posters for the event. The Cats are frisky to play and even more so with Monkey Fightin’ Snakes as our special guests! Those honouring 420 can attend suitably affected.

 

Last Friday, I had the pleasure of attending the EP launch party for one of my favourite singer/songwriters, Tyler Ellis. I have seen and heard Tyler many times, always with the same delight at his lyrics and the honesty of his music. Solidly backed by the Eddy Line (Howard Rabkin on bass, Gary Edwards on drums and John McLean on guitar), Tyler played to a full house at Dora Keogh to introduce his new EP Spring. You can click on the link to hear and buy the EP on iTunes.

Here is his bio from the ABC Songwriters’ Circle I used to host.

Tyler Ellis writes the most wonderfully understated, insightful, wry, disarming, and uniquely Canadian songs you are ever likely to hear. He has shared a bill with the likes of Willie P. Bennett, Ron Hynes, James Keelaghan, Julian Taylor, Steven Page, and Mr. Dressup. He has had a video on Much Music, performed live on Global and City TV, received local and national radio exposure; and has garnered national critical acclaim while happily spending most of his time writing, recording, performing locally, coaching (hockey, of course), teaching (music, of course) and spending time with his family.

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Salabamarama

I’m happy to report that the initial mixing of Sal Indigo aka Salabama’s latest four songs is done and so far the reaction from those involved has been very positive. I’m also very grateful to those guys for letting me fiddle with their creativity…learning a lot and having fun in the process. More to come with a few tunes still to track later in the spring. Now, back to recording Félix & the Cats.

Speaking of which, just a quick reminder to add to your calendar our 420 show at the Black Swan Tavern, on April 20th, obvs, with very special guests Monkey Fightin’ Snakes.

Be well!