A couple shots by Kevin Lamb of last night’s tribute to The Stomper.
Top – with the most excellent host and future Front Page Challenge regular panelist, Dave Bidini.
Bottom – with the Most Valuable Player of the show, Paul Linklater
A couple of shots by Saxe of the recent show at Hugh’s Room.
Top – left to right: Carvin Winans, me, Coco Love Alcorn, George Koller, and Kevin Fox.
Bottom – me and Paul Reddick.
Thanks to Michael Wrycraft for hosting.
As a huge fan of Carole King, I’m looking forward to playing a couple of her great songs at this tribute cabaret at Hugh’s Room in Toronto. I’ll be performing No Easy Way Down and It’s Too Late. Advance tickets are recommended as this show will likely sell out. Friday, March 15, 8:30 SHARP. Poster by A Man Called Wrycraft.
Pleasure to be in the house band and front a couple of my favourite Joni Mitchell songs at the annual Songs Are Like Tattoos tribute cabaret at Hugh’s Room in Toronto. This is year it was sold out, once again. Poster by the one and only Martin Tielli.
Tour of Ontario and Quebec – November 2012
The Songs Of Nick Drake gives audiences in Ontario and Quebec a rare chance to experience Nick Drake’s music played by a host of Canada’s finest musicians, with a string quintet playing the original arrangements that were written for Nick’s albums by his friend Robert Kirby. To add to the intimacy and warmth of the music, almost all these concerts will take place in old churches.
The tour features Toronto’s alt-country darling Oh Susanna, Kevin Kane of The Grapes Of Wrath, and the tour’s organizer, British-born Luke Jackson along with a distinguished backing band featuring guitarist Kurt Swinghammer, drummer Don Kerr (Rheostatics, Ron Sexsmith), and double-bassist Jason Mercer (Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, Ani DiFranco). The string section includes Sahra Featherstone, Alex Cheung, Johan Lotter and Wendy Solomon. Special guests will be added in every town, making each concert a truly unique experience.
The Songs of Nick Drake was first produced by Luke Jackson at Toronto’s Trinity St. Paul’s United Church in November 2010. It was a tribute both to Nick Drake and Robert Kirby, with whom Jackson had collaborated on his last album. Kirby had planned to fly to Toronto to conduct the string section at a similar concert a year earlier, but passed away unexpectedly a week before the show was to be announced. The 2010 concert was a huge success, receiving unanimous praise, and was recorded and broadcast by the CBC.
To coincide with the tour, Kurt Swinghammer is releasing Two Portraits: a limited edition 12″ single of his version of Nick Drake’s “River Man” through Toronto indie label Heading North Music. It is backed with a version of Donovan’s “Sunny Goodge Street.” The sleeve features Swinghammer’s portraits of both singer/songwriters.
Tickets are $35 in advance, $40 at the door.
Show details:
Saturday November 3rd:
Stratford Knox Church
Special guests: Emm Gryner, Ron Sexsmith
Sunday November 4th:
London Aeolian Hall
Special guests: Emm Gryner, Eric Howden (Raised By Swans)
Wednesday November 7th:
Kingston Chalmers United Church
Special guests: Jeremy Fisher, Jim Bryson
Thursday November 8th:
Montreal Ukrainian National Federation
Special guests: Caracol, Marie-Jo Thério, Louis-Jean Cormier (Karkwa), Kim Bingham
Friday November 9th:
Ottawa First Baptist Church
Special guests: Jim Bryson, Marie-Jo Thério, Marc Robert Nelson
Saturday November 10th:
Sherbrooke Centennial Theatre, Bishop’s University
Special guests: Marie-Jo Thério, Charles-Antoine Gosselin (Harvest Breed)
Sunday November 11th:
Quebec City Chalmers – Wesley United Church
Special guests: Louis-Jean Cormier (Karkwa), Marie-Jo Thério, Kim Bingham
Friday November 16th:
Guelph Dublin St. United Church
Special guests: Rich Burnett, Matt Masotti, Amy McCann
Saturday November 17th:
Hamilton James Street Baptist Church
Special guests: Jacob Moon, Kirk Starkey, Andrew Aldridge, David Celia
Sunday November 18th:
Toronto Randolph Theatre AKA Bathurst St. Theatre
Special guests: Mike Evin, Brent Jackson (The Junction) David Celia, Dave Matheson
Looking forward to doing my first solo show in Kitchener in quite a while. The Loft is a nice intimate venue, and I’ll be able to display some paintings as well. Sunday, Sept 30.
This Saturday night, August 4 at 8pm, I’m honored to play a solo gig at Camp Naivelt in Brampton, Ontario. Started in 1925, it has a fascinating history of lefty Jewish culture, with prominent musicians such as Zal Yanofsky, Phil Ochs, and Pete Seeger performing there. I’ll throw in a couple of tunes by my fave Jewish lefty composer, Burt Bacharach.
I’m honored to perform a couple of tunes during an interview with celebrated producer Joe Boyd (Nick Drake, Sandy Denny, Fairport Convention, the Pink Floyd, etc.) as part of Luminato’s Illumination series. Wed, June 13, 12 to 1:30, 55 John St, Toronto. Richard Flohill asks the questions, Oh Susana will also be performing, and I’ll be doing songs by Drake and Richard Thompson. Boyd’s auto-bio White Bicycles is a fantastic account of his amazing career and well worth checking out.
In 2005 producers Jim and Andy Creegan asked me to track guitars on a CD for Montreal songsmith Mike Evin. “I’ll Bring The Stereo” was a terrific album full of memorable pop tunes with tons of craft, chops, creativity and humour. I ended up doing a portrait of Mike for the cover art. This Wednesday I’m joining Mike, Jim, drummer Max Senitt and folk legend Brent Titcomb to revisit the material for a one-off gig at Musideum – the most unique music store in the country. 401 Richmond Building at 8pm.
I will be recording a new body of work at the National Music Centre for one week, and then perform Turpentine Wind with Maury Lafoy, David Matheson, and Mark Mariash with Michael Phillip Wojewoda on sound and Justin Stephenson on video projections. The NMC is home to an incredible collection of over 400 historically important instruments including all the significant synthesizers and early electronic pieces. The new material has been composed specifically with this palette in mind and will be released later this year.
