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Burnaby Blues & Roots Festival 2011

August 11, 2011 by 1 Comment

One of the most fascinating things about the blues is that no one really knows how old it is. It is a mysterious, sexy beast.

This sense of mystery is true of all folk music, handed down from generation to generation, and not by means of historic documentation. No. By its very nature, blues and folk music, and all of the popular music that they inspire, is kept alive by listening to it, playing it, adapting it, and sharing it with a live audience. It illuminates our lives when we see it and hear it on stage.

So, with all of that in mind, I am pleased as punch that our Emme Rogers has asked me to be her correspondent at the Burnaby Blues & Roots Festival, 2011. The festival this year inspires audiences on several levels, as usual. And with the promise of what awaits me on Saturday, August 13 in Deer Lake Park, Burnaby this year,  I am reminded of how far-reaching the music really is.

For instance, a HUGE BLUES LEGEND John Mayall (!!!) will grace us with over 50 years worth of live and recorded blues behind him. A ’60s British blues-boom hero, this is the guy who apprenticed Eric Clapton, Peter Green, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Jack Bruce, Mick Taylor, and a bunch of other guys who went on to blues, blues-rock, and rock/pop greatness themselves. I mean, you wanna talk about reach, and influence? And really that’s only one strain of vital music Burnaby Blues & Roots Festival audiences will soak up along with the sun this Saturday.

Blues Legend John Mayall (Photo: Per Ole Hagen)

Speaking of Eric Clapton, Irish singer Imelda May has shared a stage with him, too, not to mention David Gilmour, Shane MacGowan, and fellow countryman Van Morrison. Her music is an amalgam of rockabilly and ’60s surf rock styles that I’m really looking forward to hearing live.

For that earthy, early ’70s Cosmic American Music, Ben Rogers and the Black Oats brings the goods, with not just a little bit of Steve Earle in there for good measure. They will be playing tunes off of their new EP, Brigands.

Hailing from the Deep South, the cradle of American popular music, come the Secret Sisters.  This is a duo of actual sisters, Laura and Lydia Rogers, singing close-harmony country music that hearkens back to an earlier age.

Matt Anderson ties together various strains of roots music, including hard-hitting blues-rock that is meant for open air festival crowds. Originally from New Brunswick, Matt’s word-of-mouth following has led him all over the country and beyond. For soulful vocals, and guitar hero showmanship, Matt’s on-stage experience opening for the likes of blues legends Buddy Guy, David “Honeyboy” Edwards, and Bo Diddley is ripe for the Burnaby Blues & Roots Festival.

Victorians Current Swell demonstrate that the creation of roots music is not just an exercise in celebrating the past. Theirs is a vital sonic avenue into the future, allowing them to share stages with acts ranging from Bedouin Soundclash to the Beach Boys. Find out where they fit in between that spectrum, kids!

Musical journeymen Luke Doucet and The White Falcon joins this year’s Burnaby Blues & Roots Festival, with a classic-era anthemic roots-rock sound that has earned them a 2011 Polaris Prize nomination alongside Ron Sexsmith, the Dears, and Black Mountain, among others.  A charismatic frontman, and seasoned guitarist, Doucet and his band create a sound that supports tunes that you swear have been around forever.

And who is the headliner this year?

k.d lang

k.d lang (Photo: jbach)

What about k.d lang?

A giant among Canadian artists, sure. But, also deemed “the best singer of her generation” by Tony Bennett, a guy who knows a thing or two about singing, folks. An uncannily gifted interpreter of music that ranges from Roy Orbison’s “Crying”, to Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You”, to her celebrated version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” as performed at the 2010 Olympic Games, k.d lang is a national musical treasure.

Her roots as a cowpunk and alt-country pioneer is matched only by her work as a revivalist torch song stylist. And of course, she writes her own songs, too, like the radio hit “Constant Craving”, her signature tune. Country, pop, tin pan alley; she’s mastered them all, and all of those styles feed into all manner of pop music as we know it today. That’s why they call it roots, after all. And who better to deliver it than k.d lang?

Music is best when it’s enjoyed live, and (in my humble opinion) in the open air. With a scenic setting like Deer Lake Park, I’m looking forward to falling in with a jubilant festival crowd at the Burnaby Blues & Roots Festival for the third year in a row for me.

This is becoming a habit, and one that’s becoming an indespensible part of summertime in the Lower Mainland.

The Burnaby Blues & Roots Festival takes place this Saturday, August 13 at Deer Lake Park. Gates open at 1:00PM, and the show starts at 2:00PM.

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: All the Gossip, BC, Buds, Canada, Events, Jammin', Music Scene, Rob Jones, Travel, Vancouver Events Tagged With: , , ,

I’m a Late Bloomer … Ron Sexsmith Day in Canada

June 29, 2011 by 1 Comment

Its been a few months now since I first discovered Ron Sexsmith thanks to Rob Jones and Love Shines (yes, I’m a late bloomer), and the more I learn about him the more he endears himself to me and the more I can relate to him. This is a man that speaks to me on so many levels.  This interview with Jian Ghomeshi on QTV says it all:

 

 

I love how honest Ron is and so much of what he says and sings rings so true to how I feel about both my writing and my life.  In so many ways I too am a late bloomer.  I love how Ron can be so honest about feeling depressed.  I’d arguably say this is something we all go through at times, but most of us are too afraid to admit to.  There’s nothing to be embarrassed about folks, it happens to all of us.  I myself spent too much time working this past winter, which tends to be a precursor of mine to depression.  All work and no play makes me a down girl.

 

 

And people!!!  Honestly!!!  Do you not understand why an artist, especially an older artist would want to be fiscally successful with their work???  They need to eat too, they need to worry about retirement too.  If it’s not paying the bills, there comes a point that you wonder if it’s time to close that book and move on.  It is the fact that folks enjoy your art and tell you that drives you to keep going with it, but there is nothing sexy about living the life of the starving artist or a poverty ridden retirement.

Thanks to the Shore 104.3 fm, I recently got to enjoy Ron in concert (an awesome experience) and got to meet Ron after the show.  Here was a man that had been on the road singing for weeks, had to be absolutely exhausted, yet he still took the time to genuinely talk to his fans at the end of a long night.  And many of them he knew and remembered from previous shows and from their online commentary.  A little bit of awesome!!!  He remembered things about them, listened to them, chatted music with them and shared his stories with them.  He genuinely cared about connecting.  Too cool!  Thanks Ron!

 

Hanging with Ron Sexsmith & Rob Jones - two of my music legends.

 

I write this now for slightly melancholy reasons.  You see, based on HBO Canada’s Love Shines schedule, it looks like the schedule of airings is coming to an end tomorrow (Thursday June 30th, 2011) with two last screenings at 9:30 am & 3:55 pm EST/MST. So I’d like to declare Thursday June 30th, Ron Sexsmith Day in Canada & highly encourage you all to take it off and spend the day with Ron on the couch.

Filed Under: All the Gossip, Buds, Jammin', Music Scene, Rob Jones, The Tube Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Ron Sexsmith Love Shines Movie Shown in the UK

March 7, 2011 by 2 Comments

On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (March 4-6) the Douglas Arrowsmith film about singer-songwriter Ron Sexsmith Love Shines was broadcast on BBC4. The broadcast reached the big audience that Sexsmith has built up over years of releasing records and touring there. But, it also reached a new audience in those quarters, too, in part because of word-of-mouth efforts by many of the fans who already know and love his music.

Ron Sexsmith image courtesy of the2scoops

Reaching new eyes and new ears where Sexsmith’s music is concerned is perhaps the main aim of Love Shines director Douglas Arrowsmith. The documentary was shot during the time Sexsmith was working up material for the Long Player Late Bloomer album, Sexsmith’s latest record, produced by Bob Rock.

The core of the drama in the film is that of unique songwriting and performing talent Ron Sexsmith, celebrated by a cult audience, striving to get his music heard by more people. During the course of the film, he confronts his own identity as an artist, and is challenged to determine his own definition of what success actually looks like. All the while, the idea of fans championing his cause is pretty central to the soul of the movie.

Some high profile artists count themselves as Sexsmith admirers. Rod Stewart, Michael Buble, k.d lang, and Coldplay’s Chris Martin have all recorded Sexsmith’s material. Feist is another, and she also appears in the film. Elvis Costello, an early Ron Sexsmith champion, continues to sing his praises in an interview section in Love Shines. Steve Earle, who appears in the film as well, was the producer of the excellent 2001 Blue Boy album, and remarks on Sexsmith’s deep musical well. The list goes on.

Where many are familiar with those famous names mentioned, Sexsmith is not exactly a household name himself. Regardless, he’s something of a veteran anyway, with a twenty-year, twelve album recording career behind him, and with dues paid before that time as a struggling musician by night, holding down a courier job by day. Long player, late bloomer, indeed. But, partially thanks to Twitter, Facebook, the Ron Sexsmith online forum community, and a new album and documentary for them all to talk about, the perception that Sexsmith is an untested newcomer is changing.

For instance, the broadcast of Love Shines on BBC4 trended on Twitter in the UK during each airing, and internationally too, indicating great viewer numbers and a significant achievement for fans, who were instrumental in spreading the word.  Significantly, this helped to sell records, too. The Amazon charts went from 6-2 in the rankings immediately after Friday’s broadcast and the parallel chat on social platforms, with a number of Sexsmith’s albums showing in the top twenty.

Not bad for a”cult” artist.

Ron Sexsmith image courtesy of spaceameoba

It is a compelling idea that Sexsmith is something of a throwback singer-songwriter that would have been very welcome on ’70s AM radio, had he been born twenty years earlier. His work certainly would have fit in with that of artists like Harry Nilsson, Carole King, Elton John (yet another documented Sexsmith fan), Jackson Browne, Bill Withers, Joni Mitchell, and Todd Rundgren.

Yet, in other ways, Sexsmith being championed by so many voices all at once online can’t be easily dismissed. It has been these online communities championing Arrowsmith’s film, and Sexsmith’s music by association, that has really pushed Sexsmith’s exposure to that wider audience so far. It’s important to note that Love Shines director Douglas Arrowsmith is a fan himself, with the same goal shared with the very active community of fans on social platforms: to get Ron Sexsmith’s story told, and to get his material heard, bought, and celebrated. This concerted effort between artist, filmmaker, and fans is a very 21st Century phenomenon.

This is another layer to be found at the heart of the film; that the artist’s struggle to be heard by more people is actually also the very welcome and joyous struggle of those who already appreciate his work. This core of the drama goes beyond the interest of TV broadcast numbers, licensing, and international boundaries. It becomes something that great art was always intended to be; a shared and transformative experience.

Read more about the upcoming premier of Love Shines at SXSW in Austin on March 15, 2011 at 6:15 PM, where an even larger potential audience will be reached.

Also, be sure to become a fan of the Love Shines Facebook page for frequent news and updates that pertain to the film.

And thanks to Emme for allowing me to publish this piece on her site!

Filed Under: All the Gossip, Buds, Music Scene, Rob Jones Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

A Van Sexy Date Pick: The Lieutenant of Inishmore

February 22, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Seeing as I know there are several of you just dying to ask me on a date, but feeling a little intimidated as to where, I thought I’d help you out.  You can take me to The Lieutenant of Inishmore. Thanks to Fighting Chance Productions, it is playing at the Culture Lab at 1895 Venables off the Drive, until Saturday February 26th, 2011.

Really gentlemen this has everything you could ask for for a perfect date:

  • a witty plot on historic events, to test out her intellect and to showcase yours to her;
  • just the right amount of violence and gore to have her jumping in your arms;
  • a healthy dose of funny to combat any blood spatter (and if she or he doesn’t laugh, wake up call, ditch ‘em);
  • and you don’t have to dress up, as Tom Stevens will provide all the eye candy she needs.

Just don’t laugh at any dead cats, if you know what’s good for you.

Now, I’ve seen it once, but I’d happily go again, it was that good.  There is just something about how Fighting Chance Productions does dark comedy.  Terrifyingly funny!  Especially when your date says minutes before the curtain goes up, having no idea of what your in store, “At least there will be no dismemberment.” Your adorable Rob!

Bravo to the cast – Tom Stevens (as Padriac), John David Papp (as Davey), Emma Rae Cawood (as Mairead) and Hamish Cameron (as Donny). A fine production! Especially love how jovial Padraic is as he tortures his victims.  What more could a gal ask for!?!

Kisses,

Emme xoxo

Filed Under: All the Gossip, Buds, Events, Perfect Dates, relationships, Rob Jones, Theatre, Vancouver Events Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

“My Love Shines” ~ Ron Sexsmith

February 9, 2011 by 3 Comments

It’s amazing how a good story and really fantastic music can carry you out of yourself!  And thank goodness!  I started out my evening with a head that felt ready to explode, an erupting nose (yep, I’m talking snot), and a burning throat. All that vanished as I stuck a sneak peek of Felt Film and Paperny Films’ Documentary on Ron Sexsmith, Love Shines.  Wow!  Why hadn’t I found this amazing Canadian talent sooner.  As my music expert and very dear friend, Rob Jones says, “He’s not made a bad record after a twenty-year recording career. Not too many artists like that.”

Just wished I’d caught the film on the big screen.  If you happen to be in Whitehorse this Friday you can, as Director Douglas Arrowsmith will be there airing of the Film at the Available Light Film Festival at 7:45 pm.  It is also going to be a part of 24 Beats per Second at South by South West in March, but I have no idea of that schedule yet.  Have heard a rumour though that Ron will be there.

Okay off to bed as my head is back to feeling explosive.

Nightie night,

Emme xoxo

Filed Under: All the Gossip, Buds, Canada, Jammin', Music Scene, Rob Jones, Television / Film Festivals, The Tube, Travel, Yukon
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