DevO

James McKenty posted this on The Spades' forum: Hey Everyone, Short notice, however tonight there is a concert at The Market Hall for Willie P Bennett. The line up includes Fred Eaglesmith, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, among others. Tickets are around $55 at Moondance. After the show (10:30pm) there is an after party at The Montreal House which includes performances by more friends of Willie, The County Boys (including the great Diamond Dave!) Pat Temple (Stellar songwriter), Jude Waldman (member of-Cactus Slim) among many more. The objective of the party is a celebration that is open to those who might not be able to afford the Market Hall show but could leave a donation at the MoHo door for Willie , and also a place for the 300 plus people at The Market Hall to be invited afterwards for drinks. This will be a very special night and if you want to get into the Moho I suggest being there early!!! No cover, just donation. You never know who might make it there after 11 so don't miss it!!! Willie P Bennett played on my first solo cd "Restless Soul" and is a Juno winner for his fine songwriting. He recently suffered a heart attack and is recovering well. Go out and support him!! TONIGHT! James

that's what i was thinkin too.

Daaaaamn! Just goes to reaffirm my belief that Hillside is the best festival in Canada.

Bill Frisell played at that Jazz East festival in Halifax on July 13th.. ANyone go? Any reviews? I likeee Frissy.

Should I have any concern about this festival selling out of tickets? I hope to go but I'm holding off on getting tix til later in case I can't make it.

Gov't Mule are playing here in Seoul for the first time tomorrow, at a mediocre festival called the Pentaport Rock Festival.. Unfortunately I can't make it though, as their 1 hour set is 2-3pm on a Friday afternoon!

happy b-day luke, glad to hear things are looking up. see you in the big smoke pretty soon!

You mean, a metaphorical download fest or an actual festival?

yeah i'll be home for it! looks like i'm probably gonna go. i'm in some ways live music deprived over here so i'm looking forward to it!

I don't know why you folks are hesitating on Friday night's official line-up anyway. The Hootenanny lineup is killer. What'samattawityou! AD, NW, you fockers know better than that!

I've been asked to say a few words at a friend's wedding in a few weeks. A poem or song lyrics or something, about love and committment or whatever I want really. And I have NO IDEA what to say! Anyone got any suggestions for me?

http://wolfeislandmusicfest.com/ Is happening August 10/11 weekend. Is anyone checking it out? I think I might. Friday August 10th – 8:30pm Hootenanny Review featuring Jenny Whitely- www.jennywhiteley.com Luther Wright- www.lutherwrightandthewrongs.com/ Julie Fader - www.myspace.com/juliefader Jim Bryson- www.myspace.com/jimbryson Saturday, August 11th – gates –12pm Wolf Parade - www.myspace.com/wolfparade Holy F*ck - www.myspace.com/holyfuck Apostle of Hustle - www.myspace.com/apostleofhustle Weeping Tile - www.sarahharmer.com Born Ruffians - www.myspace.com/bornruffians Spiral Beach- www.myspace.com/spiralbeach Basia Bulat - www.myspace.com/basiamyspace The Ride Theory www.myspace.com/theridetheory Nich Worby www.myspace.com/nichworby For those who have been before, whats this festival like? Good set-up? Good camping?

Great to see some pics and hear your updates! Keep 'em coming. Senegal has some good surf opportunities from what I understand..

If you're getting that from the Pitchfork news piece, I took it as a joke, along with the other jokes in the dates: 09-21 Montreal, British Columbia - Jacques Cartier Pier 09-24 New York, NY - Madison Square Cargden

Did anyone catch Montreal singer-songwriter Jade McNelis?

Arts & Crafts did a curious and progressive thing in releasing the new Stars album.. I'm very interested in watching how the music industry tries to redefine itself at present.

cooli-oooli-oolio!!! i'll be there! edit to add: feels good that i'm now at the point wehre i can look at upcoming shows posted here and say "i'm in".. looking forward to coming home soon!

WHen is this? EVer been before new-ride?? What'd the 411?

FK5 are coming to Seoul before I leave.. Never heard of em til now but I'm thinking I'll check em out.

That guy's got a crazy outtie belly button.

Just makin' sure. I'm moving to Toronto soon.. Let's hit up some disc golf on the island!

Did he change his name on here or take off or what? I miss youuuuuuuuuuuuuu.

http://www.guitarplayer.com/story.asp?sectioncode=4&storycode=18821 Harry Manx and Kevin Breit By Michael Ross | July 2007 The match of Harry Manx and Kevin Breit was made in guitar heaven. Both are based in Canada, each is comfortable playing virtually anything with strings, they each possess a personal approach to slide guitar, and though unmistakably roots-based players, they are equally at home ranging far from country and blues. They also share the rare attribute of being virtuosos with distinctive instrumental voices, but small enough egos to blend beautifully into a cohesive sound. The duo’s new record, In Good We Trust [stony Plain], incorporates elements of blues, country, bluegrass, jazz, electronic, and Indian music, into a soulful stew that manages to be simultaneously laid-back and intense. Born on the Isle of Man (it’s near Ireland), Harry Manx came to Canada as a child. Since then, his travels have led him from Europe to Japan to Australia. His travel companion is a 1972 Martin D35 that he employs as a lap-slide. He prefers this to a Dobro or National because, as he puts it, “I like the bass end more than on a resonator guitar. It’s fitted with a Sunrise pickup and run through a Presonus Eureka preamp, and a Midas 16 channel mixer that I have on stage beside me.†Hearing an Indian lap guitar called the Mohan Veena on a recording by Ry Cooder and Vishwa Mohan Bhatt (who created the 20-stringed instrument) led to a 12-year stay in India, where he met Bhatt, and became a student of his son, Salil Bhatt. Manx’s Mohan Veena is equipped with a B Band system. He also plays a six-string Gold Tone banjo that “has a DiMarzio pickup rammed in tight under the bridge,†and a Johnny Lowe cigar-box guitar with an active humbucker. All his instruments are strung with Elixir strings, gauged .016 to .056. “I play exclusively in open D,†says Manx. “It’s D, A, D, F#, A, D from the bass end. This tuning allows me to accompany myself with chords while plucking at the melody on the higher strings. Sometimes, I’ll drop the F# down to F to get a Dm tuning. I tune all my six string instruments this way. The Mohan Veena is tuned to everything. All the notes of the western scale are found there—plus a few that we don’t have!†Kevin Breit has released more than a dozen records—some under his own name—with entire records devoted to just the mandolin or banjo families. Other albums feature his instrumental quartet, The Sisters Euclid, burning its way through Booker T meets Danny Gatton-style instrumentals. Breit has also toured the world—mostly lending his tasteful, yet inventive accompaniment talents to singers such as Nora Jones, k.d. lang, and Cassandra Wilson. A natural who grew up in the Canadian wilds with a guitarist father, Breit navigates between the opposite tunings of guitar and mandolin and open tunings for slide with remarkable facility. “Going from fifths to fourths or open tunings at first played with my mind,†he admits. “But all those instruments have different physical feels, weights, and sounds, so my brain makes the transition fairly easily. I prefer to play slide in open tunings because it sounds better, and my instruments resonate more.†However, Breit manages to avoid any of the usual open tuning clichés, composing solos that are melodic and linear rather than based on the typical tuning boxes. The two guitarists met at a Folk Alliance conference in 2000. The festival schedulers placed Manx and Breit’s band, Folk Alarm, in the same workshop tent. “I recall not being blown away by anything I was seeing—until I walked into a small room where Kevin was playing behind a singer,†says Manx. “I didn’t even notice the singer, because I kept watching his hands and thinking, ‘Now I’m finally blown away!’ This guy would challenge me musically if I was to play with him.†This initial introduction led to their first collaboration—2003’s Jubilee [Northern Blues]. Manx supplied J.J. Cale-style vocals and Indian drones that make their instrumental version of “Taking It To The Streets†sound like the Doobie Brothers in Bombay. Breit contributed the modern reharmonization chords behind the traditional “Diving Duck Blues,†and a manic soloing style that keeps the proceedings from getting too sleepy. While Jubilee occasionally sounded like a Manx record with Breit accompaniment, In Good We Trust is more consistently a full partnership. “Going into this recording knowing what we do about each other made a huge difference,†says Manx. “Kevin wrote one song with my singing in mind, and I always considered his playing as I was creating my own songs.†“In Good We Trust is more about our own compositions,†adds Breit. True enough. Aside from a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m On Fire,†and an adaptation of the traditional “Death Have Mercy,†the remainder of the tunes are all originals, and on the four instrumentals both men get to show their stuff as players. Live and in the studio, Manx and Breit create an amazingly full sound with no additional musicians. “I think we’re both interested in how much juice we can squeeze out of this setup of just the two of us,†Manx relates. “On stage, I play a kick drum and snare with my feet, and I use a lot of bass on my guitar, so I’m pretty much the rhythm section behind Kevin.†“We didn’t feel we needed a rhythm section on either record because we both wanted the sound to be intimate,†says Breit. It also helps that both players have rhythm chops as strong as their lead prowess. As to the division of string labor, they agree that, at this stage in their musical development, it is largely intuitive. “We never discuss much,†says Manx. “It all happens spontaneously in the studio.†“We try and fill out the orchestra,†Breit elaborates. “If Harry plays a low banjo part, I’ll play a high mandolin part.†Breit’s list of instruments for In Good We Trust reads like the inventory list of a small, really cool music store: a 1964 Telecaster, a Strat cobbled together from various parts, a Harmony Stratotone, a Gibson LG2, a National Style-O steel guitar, a Flatiron mandolin, a Gibson mandocello, a Gibson mandola, a National mandolin, a National tenor guitar, and a 1962 Fender Vibrolux amp. He uses cut steel pipe for slide, and D’Addario strings The convergence of these two talents has created a hybrid that often sounds like Ravi Shankar meets Mississippi John Hurt—with a little jazz and rock tossed in for good measure. “Indian musicians and blues musicians—well, musicians of any genre for that matter—play and practice all their lives,†says Breit. “It’s all heart and soul.†“There are ragas that sound bluesy, and there are ways to bend strings while playing blues that sound Indian,†adds Manx. “I may be forcing the relationship between the two musical cultures, but I keep thinking they were made for each other. That idea leads me to more and more experimentation, and the journey has been great so far.â€

GOOD BOOK ALERT! I just finished this great novel. Its from 1976. ANyone out there read it before? Sorry I don't have the energy now for much of a review.. Here's what its about though. HIghly recommended by yours truly! Publisher Comments: Bringing to life the fabulous, colorful panorama of New Orleans in the first flush of the jazz era, this book tells the story of Buddy Bolden, the first of the great trumpet players--some say the originator of jazz--who was, in any case, the genius, the guiding spirit, and the king of that time and place. In this fictionalized meditation, Bolden, an unrecorded father of Jazz, remains throughout a tantalizingly ungraspable phantom, the central mysteries of his life, his art, and his madness remaining felt but never quite pinned down. Ondaatje's prose is at times startlingly lyrical, and as he chases Bolden through documents and scenes, the novel partakes of the very best sort of modern detective novel--one where the enigma is never resolved, but allowed to manifest in its fullness. Though more 'experimental' in form than either The English Patient or In the Skin of a Lion, it is a fitting addition to the renowned Ondaatje oeuvre.