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No American Bands Coming Our Way Anymore...


shainhouse

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Well, now that the cozone has taken a break from booking international acts, I'm noticing quite the decline in international talent making its way up to Toronto and other cities. Since I'm in school full time and I've had to put my booking duties on hiatus, I know nothing of any bands in talks or any rumours.

Anyone know anything about this or have any thoughts/feelings about the issue?

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Hopefully it's just a seasonal thing. Blues legend Bobby " Blue " Bland is playing the Silver Dollar on January 16th. His version of " Lovelight " is the one that inspired the Dead to record and perform it - and thus standardizing it for the jam scene. Blues and jazz artists always tour Canada regularly, but you have to look harder to know when they'll be in your town.

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Forget the American bands. I'm kicking myself ( and will regret not going to this gig for many years ) for skipping last month's The Soundtrack Of Our Lives ( from Sweden ) show at the Opera House - with the smoking Norwegian garage-rock band The Cato Salsa Experience, opening. Swede's got it going on rock-wise. TSOOL is one of the best new-ish rock bands out there today.

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Let's get ekoostik hookah up here!

This is ACE's (swifty's) question on a hookah discussion forum. hookah's bassist (Cliff) responded:

hookah boys please respond!!!

Author: Swifty (---.home.cgocable.net)

Date: 12-08-02 23:07

when are you going to make the trek back to the great white north?(Ontario that is) no one ever answers this question! what gives guys????

Reply To This Message

Re: hookah boys please respond!!!

Author: Cliff (---.210.225.226.Dial1.Cincinnati1.Level3.net)

Date: 12-16-02 05:41

I'm sure we'd love to, as soon as someone finds us a gig. Got any venue ideas? I'll tell our booking agent.

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as far as garage rock and roll goes ontario has great bands such as torontos the exploders and the deadly snakes, the sadies and the tijuana bibles all great bands. the press seems to have globbed onto some rock bands and made it their duty to make them the next saviours of rock and roll which is crap, how about the constantines talk about jaw dropping.

it would be nice to see more american bands but as it costs i think at least 400 bucks just to cross it seems like many bands would lose money or just break even playing up here.

i do have philedelphia(?spelling) emcee oaxerai and dj skipmode doing a small ontario tour in late jan early feb shows in peterborough,lindsay,hamilton and toronto. he performs politically minded hiphop which is smart not to preachy and stuff you can get down to, i first saw him open for the awesome granola funk express a couple of years ago.

www.oaxerai.com

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re: hookah.

I'll get the contact info for their booking agent. Perhaps Esau or Show-Whore or whoever else is involved in booking shows at spots around can put it together.

Maybe nero could open for them when they come up here. They (nero) said they'd be down with that.

I was speaking with Ed (guitar, vocals) of ekoostik hookah on Friday night and he even said that an appearance at Frontier Town might be feasible!

A couple questions:

a) Who would like to see hookah?

B) what are some venues they could play?

Also, there are a slew of other bands form teh MI, OH area that would come up here: Metaphusical Jones (MI), The SHantee (OH), Giant, ... ummm, Nomad if you read this, maybe you could think of some more bands that would come up here.

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as i said before- Hookah coming up this way would be incredible! A Frontiertown gig would be a definite must. As for other venues, it would not really matter. Anywhere in the T.O. or Hamilton area would be cool. I would even make the trip to Ottawa. Obviously, a Fri or Sat nite gig would be ideal for those of us that have to travel any distances, but I am sure they could still draw a worthwhile crowd for a week night show.

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I was in contact w/Hookah for a Comfort Zone date just for literally a day and it never materialized. I'm guessing they have been talked too by other agents like Karen (maybe you could verify this for me Karen) in the past.

They played one Canadian show just across the border from Buffalo in 97 or 98 I believe, but it was a quiet show. Maybe Fronteir Town would be a good call. It's just we lost the leader in the zone and no one seems to be picking up the pace in Toronto while smaller markets like Hamilton and Brantford simply can't afford American talent most of the time.

I wish I was out of school and booking, but ah well...

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Hookah played at GoodForest in Chippewa in July or August of 2000. There was about 24-31 people in the crowd and I know 4-6 of them came from Ohio. This show was really poorly advertised though.

The winter months are always kinda slow for shows but I'm sure southern Ontario will see moe, galactic and string cheese returning in 2003.

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quote:

Originally posted by Canned Beats:

generally, there are a lot of canadian bands that play around. why do we have to get american bands up?? phil and friends this summer in toronto was so empty. we should have a more supportive scene before we start complaining about cross border traffic.

Because a lot of American bands are good! You're right, there are a lot of Canadian bands that play around, but not *that* many, and you don't always want to be seeing the same bands all of the time. Variety is the spice of life.

As for the Phil Lesh show, I think that it was probably not a smart move on the part of whoever did the booking for the show (or, an attempt by the band to cater to Canadian fans). Since they were playing at Darien Lake two days later, there weren't going to be any Americans crossing the border, and there just isn't enough interest up here to fill the Molson Amphitheater. Phil is Phil, but he isn't the Grateful Dead. From what I heard, FurtherFest didn't do very well the year that it came to Toronto either (it did come, didn't it? or am I just imagining things? I mean, I know I wasn't there, but I could have sworn that the festival hit Molson...).

And just to rile everyone up a bit right before New Years, I have to admit that I thought the Phil & Friends show was pretty bad. Other than a couple of times, I was bored throughout most of the show. I understand that the next night in Darien was much better, although I haven't heard it...

Happy New Year!! (I get to go party in three hours...!!!) [big Grin][big Grin]

Brian.

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quote:

Originally posted by Canned Beats:

okay...you've got to find out how much they want to make per show. if the band doesn'tmind making a few hundred bucks a show, a tour can be set up with the right planning. if they want 4 or more digits, then that'd be hard to do and would require bigger venues.

bands like to be paid.

Actually, bands always make what they ask for, or at least the amount they agree to with the promoter. It's the promoter who has to do the work to bring in the crowd, since they are the ones that lose money if no one shows up. Of course, a band can charge more money if they have a good track record of bringing in larger audiences...

Brian.

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As for the Phil Lesh show, I think that it was probably not a smart move on the part of whoever did the booking for the show (or, an attempt by the band to cater to Canadian fans). Since they were playing at Darien Lake two days later, there weren't going to be any Americans crossing the border, and there just isn't enough interest up here to fill the Molson Amphitheater.

actually i was out front of that show all afternoon waiting for this girl to get up from NY,, she never made it,, damn border,, but i was talking with heaps of yankees from ohio, ny, CT, even NH and michigan that came for the show,, but that show was very empty compared to what that place holds. Tons of extras too,, i got handed 2 out front of wilcal when moe went on,, i had problems giving them away , everyone already had one. But i did manage to give em awy to kind folks waiting to buy tickets, figure ill save em some dough

decent show,, not the best but good

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quote:

And just to rile everyone up a bit right before New Years, I have to admit that I thought the Phil & Friends show was pretty bad. Other than a couple of times, I was bored throughout most of the show.

I don't think you'll rile anyone up, i think that was the general concensus (sp) of the show.

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The show wasnt the best Phil has done, but not the worst either. It seemed to go from one extreme to the other-one minute it was fantastic, and the next you were kind of wondering where they goin. The next night at Darien was definitely more consistent. But I think that is a chance you take when paying to see bands that will explore new territories and jam out a bit-sometimes they blow your mind drastically, other times they just blow. The Dead did that as well.

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