DevO

::

i've got yer glasses though...

phew! i was worried there for a second cuz I'd forgotten what we'd done with your 'specs' howler and I haven't seen them in a while. all's well that ends well! have a fun show, i can't make it out alas.

Hey Can'O, do you know what Breit is up to this summer? (Touring with Norah Jones again?) What I really want to know is how much longer will I have the chance to see him around Toronto before he takes off again. His low profile kills me!

Have you heard the new John & THe Sisters cd? I've given it a few listens and I am enjoying it.. I'm more surprised by the John guys voice than anything, great blues belter.

Yes that's right, Leo Kottke will be playing at The Tralf in Buffalo this Thursday, April 15th.

18+

8pm

$22 (US) at the door

Innovative acoustic guitar virtuoso Leo Kottke settled in the Twin Cities area and becoming a fixture on the city's folk club circuit, he issued his 1969 debut LP Twelve String Blues, recorded live at Minneapolis' Scholar Coffee House, on the tiny Oblivion label. After sending 1970's Circle 'Round the Sun to guitarist John Fahey, Kottke was signed by Fahey's manager Denny Bruce, who soon secured a deal with Capitol. Kottke's 1971 major-label debut Mudlark positioned him somewhat uneasily in the singer/songwriter vein, despite his own wishes to remain an instrumental performer; in the liner notes to 1972's 6- and 12-String Guitar, issued on Fahey's Takoma label, he even described his own voice as "geese farts on a foggy day." Still, despite battles with label heads as well as with Bruce, Kottke flourished during his tenure on Capitol, as records like 1972's Greenhouse and 1973's live My Feet Are Smiling and Ice Water found him branching out with guest musicians and unusual song covers drawing on folk, rock, jazz and bluegrass, all the while honing his propulsive finger-picking mastery. With 1975's Chewing Pine, Kottke reached the U.S. Top 50 for the first time; he also gained an international cult following thanks to his performances at folk festivals the world over. With his 1976 self-titled release, he moved to the Chrysalis label, although sales diminished for LPs including 1978's Burnt Lips, 1979's Balance and 1980's Live in Europe. After 1983's T-Bone Burnett-produced Time Step, Kottke's contract with Chrysalis ended, and he moved over to the independent Private Music label. Kottke's powerful technique, combined with his prolific output and extensive touring schedule, resulted in a lingering pain in his hands which began to hamper his playing in the middle of the 1980s. Consequently, the beginning of his tenure on Private Music coincided with the beginnings of a shift in technique closer to classical guitar performance; he also slowed his productivity, and after 1986's reflective A Shout Towards Noon he did not re-enter the studio before recording Regards From Chuck Pink in 1988. Simultaneously, Kottke cut back dramatically on his live schedule, settling comfortably into his role as a cult figure. He released an album annually from 1989 to 1991, following My Father's Face with That's What and finally Great Big Boy, which featured a guest appearance from Lyle Lovett. Two years later, Kottke returned with Peculiaroso, which featured production by Rickie Lee Jones. One Guitar No Vocals followed in 1999, but it was his collaboration with Phish bassist Mike Gordon, Clone, that caught audiences' attention in 2002.

I sent it over a month ago... Had a letter to you in it and 2 or 3 cd's. I put the package in a mail bin at Trent and the mail in that bin gets sorted (Canada Post, inter-library mail system, and trent mail) so I'm worried that someone fucked it up before it got really mailed.

not sure steve.. i tried to find it a few months ago and i couldn't. ::

ps - did you receive a package in the mail from me, about a month ago??

Phish and Trey Anastasio Band Offer Apt Collaboration With "Higher Ground"

As the countdown to the closing of Vermont's Higher Ground continues, a number of area performers convened at the club for the Vermont Easter Jam. Following regularly-scheduled performances by numerous artists including Jamie Masefield & Paul Asbell (interpreting the music of Django Reinhardt as Masefield has done of late with Marc Ribot) and the Unknown Blues Band, a slightly attenuated version of the Trey Anastasio Band took the stage. The guitarist was joined by those who live proximate to the club, many of whom had appeared earlier in the evening: Dave Grippo, Jennifer Hartswick, Russ Lawton, Tony Markelis, Andy Moroz and Ray Paczkowski. Then, following versions of "Push on till The Day" and "Drifting," members of Phish joined in one at time over the three subsequent songs, with Page McConnell appearing for "Small Axe" Jon Fishman adding snare to "Last Tube" and Mike Gordon playing on bass on "Sand." During "Sand," Anastasio's TAB bandmates departed, leaving the four members of Phish on stage to conclude the tune and then offer a take on "Chalkdust Torture." Fishman, Gordon and McConnell then temporally stepped away, as members of the Trey Anastasio Band returned for "Flock of Words" and "Plasma" before re-emerging to join in for a fitting cover of Steve Wonder's "Higher Ground." The evening served as a benefit for the Winooski Parks & Rec. Department along with Women's Rape Crisis Center and the Child Life Department at Fletcher Allen Hospital

Yeah I would go with a flight instead.. For less than $100 extra you can get there in 5 hours instead of 4 days! I've heard horror stories about taking the bus across Canada.. SO many stops.

if i knew how bit torrent worked i'd be ALL OVER this one! ::

The Busboyeez - A Million Busboys Strong

yeah!!

Little Miss Moffatt and Mark Bragg & The Wedding Band are playing tonight at The 360.. They were in Peterborough 2 nights ago playing with BA Johnston but I didn't get to go.. Roomies went though and said Moffatt has a really sweet voice. YOu can check soundclips on those sites.. They're both on tour from out east. I think Mark Bragg has recorded with The Guthries and like Joel Plaskett and others from NS.

Jenny Whiteley is doing her cd release tonight at Hugh's Room too. I think she's in Crazy Strings. Anyway her family is full of Canadian bluegrass/country legends.

Did you know that Vancouver has the cheapest CD prices in North America? (It might even be in the world.) I remember coming back here for a visit once when I was living out there and I stopped to buy some CDs since I wasn't in town much. I walked out with 14 CDs and my total price was just over $140. Amazing.

CannedBeats is gonna crap his pants!

I'm gonna have to go with Stereolab (in Toronto) this time around.. ALthough this show would be a lot of fun.

I can't go. ::

Gotta write an essay.. :: ::

So, though I know it will be hard, party on without me!!

actually i don't know anymore... here's what vice magazine had to say about vancuover in that article that ahess just sent a link to:

VANCOUVER—HIPPIE

Vancouver is on the very, very left-hand side. If you read about it online it sounds cool because pot and prostitution are basically legal. You'll even hear the board of tourism call it Vansterdam. However, if you ever end up going there, you'll see it's just a pile of junkies and potheads. The worst part is, the bars are only allowed to be open for 12 hours a day and, since all the drunk natives insist they get to start at 11:00 a.m., there's nowhere to go after 11:00 p.m. That means you can either wander around dark streets like Hastings and look at dead heroin addicts (one dies every day in Vancouver) or you can go home, smoke pot, and watch TV. The problem with the latter is, you're sitting around with 15 people sneering at how gay America's Funniest Home Videos is, like it's supposed to be good or something. It's for old people and kids, you fucking assholes.

I guess it also depends on what you want to do out there.. "my goals" as bouche was saying, meaning YOUR goals and not actually my goals, which is beside the point. What are your my goals?

do you just want to move out there for a few months for a quick change of pace? do you want to move there and start some kind of career? do you have money to start off with? ahh yes theese are the questions.

Theres an article on them in the new Exclaim! mag.

clicky here

SO MANY awesome shows between Brodie's shows and Pepper Jack's! It must be getting pretty hard to pick & choose for you Hamilton folks.

Did anyone catch The Quartertones at the Casbah the other night? I'm curious to see them live. I tried to book 'em to play at my house but they were a little unsure about the house show scene.

Any other dates for The Unintended? I had a look around on the net but I couldn't find much.

The band can be easily reduced by two if not three players, and it would improve the overall sound of the band by removing some uneccessary layers in their arrangements. The grooves, albeit very tight, were neverchanging and long. There were no rises or falls, just a steady rhythm that the horn section would occasionally try to drown out.

Hey Roller!

I don't claim to be an afrobeat expert or anything, but i gather that antibalas' large numbers is in keeping with the roots of afrobeat, whereas for example Fela Kuti's band the Africa 70 (!!) included singers, dancers, horns and percussion of all kinds. I know what you mean but its easy to see why they have such a huge line-up.

JEOMK!

Thanks for the review Steve.

By the way, did you get that package in the mail a few weeks back?

Your brother is Mr T?

COOOOL

Who is the guy on the right of him?

there are two guys to the right of him.. which one do you mean?

that's my brother on the left! this is at grey cup a few years ago.

Yo! There is very little to do on Mondays.. There is an open mic at the Red Dog which might be decent. Stop by the Only (on Hunter St, across from Night Kitchen pizza) for a pint and a taste of Peterborough flavour. As for Tuesday, you are in luck! There is what should be a good show going on at Hot Belly Mama's (right downtown on George St.).. The line-up is:

BA Johnston

Little Miss Moffatt

Mark Bragg (& The Black Wedding Band)

Hope to see ya there.. I'd join you tonight but I've got a date with MS Word and postcolonial theory.

Max Roach

Have fun tonight!

Yesterday at Trent University here in Peterborough, they had the annual end-of-classes outdoor beer garden / concert thing, called Dionysis.. The bands (minus Anouk & Big Ian) were almost as lousy as the weather but it was a good time nonetheless. Anyways, between bands the sound guys were blasting "Orange Shag Carpet" which I got a kick out of. Too bad it wasn't the real thing though!