Rock 'n' Roll

So I popped into the Dakota Tavern on Tuesday for the last Weber Brothers show they'll be doing there for awhile. It rocked as usual and they did a nice little tribute to the great Levon Helm.

Wooden Sky- my oh my

Yes YES! A thousand times YES!
This is what I was saying to myself last night at The Wooden Sky show. I am going to explain my reaction in list form for the sake of brevity:
- Opera House is a killer venue
- all the people standing in front of me were shorter than me = great view! (seriously, this never happens)
- solid folk- rock
- delectable vocals from Gavin Gardiner
- tight vocal harmonies
- tasty guitar riffs
- killed it on the fiddle (also- buddy looked like a hobo who used to panhandle near my high school. nice.)
- egg shakers and a wood block
- a little tribute to Levon on the drum kit <3
- a song called "Angelina"

OK- y'all need to go check out The Wooden Sky now because ages ago Will and Courtney told me I'd love Wooden Sky and for some reason I waited months to look them up. Remember, everyday you wait to check out Wooden Sky is a day you could be listening to Wooden Sky. Don't waste your life not listening to Wooden Sky. WOODEN SKY WOODEN SKY WOODEN SKY.

Here's a little video I took:

Wooden Sky

Got my ticket to Wooden Sky @ the Opera House in Toronto. I am reallllly excited to see these guys live because Gavin Gardiner has a voice like warm caramel! If you like solid folk rock and delectable vocals, check these boys out.

well HOT DAMN!

Weber Brothers at the Dakota last Tuesday- pic from their Facebook page

I am not even exaggerating when I say that the Weber Brothers are one of the best live bands I have EVER seen. For real. A couple weeks ago Claire and I popped into the Dakota Tavern looking to have a beer or two or three, and hopefully hear some good tunes. Well, we were completely blown away by this rip-roaring rock 'n' roll band. We came back the next week with more friends. We hit the dance floor and we danced excessively. I had a calf cramp the next day.

It's no wonder these guys have such a tight live show though, because they trained with the infamous Ronnie Hawkins, the Grandfather of rock'n'roll. From their band bio- 

"2001: On a whim, Ryan emails rock-a-billy legend Ronnie Hawkins. Hawkins responds and they send him a demo tape. They are eventually invited to his home in Ontario to audition for his acclaimed band 'The Hawks'. After traveling on their own to Chicago, Nashville, and Amsterdam in the following months, they get the call from Hawkins to come back to Canada, saying he had jobs for them. Ryan and Sam leave everything behind the next morning and head north to Hawkins' farm to begin his infamous 90 Day Boot Camp. To earn their keep, they do farm work during the day, and, under Hawkins' watchful eye, play music in their free time. They go through the same process many ex-Hawks had gone through years before: farm hand, roadie, driver, merchandise handler, before eventually joining the band and becoming official members of 'The Hawks'. Touring begins."

If you don't know who Ronnie Hawkins is, what you need to know is that he he invented the moonwalk before Michael Jackson, he is responsible for putting together The Band (yes THE Band), and that he miraculously beat a fatal diagnoses of pancreatic cancer by drinking whiskey and smoking pot. This hilarious interview with George Strombo is a great example of why Ronnie is awesome.

The Weber Brother play at the Dakota this Tuesday, it's only $7 for three hours of epic awesomeness. Just look at that photo, have you ever seen a guitarist play a killer solo, standing on top of a double bass?? HAVE YOU EVER SEEN THAT??

This is just a little vid I took during their show last week, sadly I didn't catch the name of the guest stars, but they were great.

Man choir

I didn't watch the Grammy's. I definitely can not sit through the several hours of ego parading, self- congratulating, and god- thanking "musician" acceptance speeches. But I did watch clips afterwards, so YAY to Adele, in my opinion the one of the only true artists at that level of fame. Also yay to Bon Iver and haha to all the ignorant masses who didn't know who he is and called him "Bonny Bear," really?! There were actually some good performances, although wtf to Niki Minaj, that girl is terrifying, what was that shit show? How can you call something a song when there is no melody?

Seeing the Beach Boys perform was super endearing. Brian Wilson looked confused about being on stage again but also really excited. The overall lead up to their performance with Maroon 5 and Foster the People was pretty cool. Mike Foster definitely didn't do his best vocal performance ever, which is too bad because he has a great falsetto, but I think he was affected by stage- fright because he had somewhat of a terrified expression on his face.

The Beach Boys in their hay day were a magnificent group and Brian Wilson is one of the greatest songwriters in pop music ever. Their harmonies are unreal, and have influenced our music to a degree, particularly in our song "I'm too young to have your baby, baby." I love love love female pop harmonies, but I reallllllyyy love man- harmonies. It is my not so secret dream to one day have a all-man backing choir, bearded and dressed in PLAID. yessssss! So in that spirit I thought I'd share a selection of my favourite Man- choirs (for lack of a better term).

Bon Iver manages to consistently create new and wonderful ways of performing this beautiful song. This example is so simple yet wonderful. When we went to Claire's parents oceanside cottage and recorded "Ballads from the Boudoir," after a long day of hard work, we would relax in the evenings listening to "For Emma, forever ago" light the fire, and sit in the rocking chairs reading. Just thinking about it now makes me feel sooo relaxed and cozy, siiigghh.

Speaking of a cabin on the sea, I love this video of Stan Rogers. Stan Rogers is one of the greatest Canadian songwriters and his rich baritone is swoon-worthy. Stan tragically died in a plane crash in 1983 at the age of 33. I love this video, because these guys look like they're just getting drunk and having a time! Sea shanty's are the freaking best! This maritime tradition inspired our song "Sailor," which also has probably my most favourite fiddle part that Claire has ever written.

Ahh The Band, my greatest love of all time. Levon Helm is an incredible songwriter who is still going strong. His album "Ramble at the Ryman" just won at the grammy's. His voice is just delectable, and personally I think he was quite the babe in his day. Here is a clip of "The night they drove old dixie down" from the masterpiece film "The Last Waltz" directed by Martin Scorsese.

And for good measure, here are the Beach Boys in their prime. Just listen to all those vocal layers, bom bom bom, oooo, help me Rhonda etc.

I'm Back!

Hey all! I'm returning to the blogosphere after an unintentional hiatus due to the unfortunate accidental death of my macbook, who abruptly left this earth for the open arms of angel-Steve Jobs. That, and school has been kicking my ass. I'm finishing off my federal funding application and right now I just need to write something else that isn't self promoting, "please give me 17 000 dollars because I am a genius and sooo awesome, kay?"

Yesterday, turned into an unexpectedly awesome day. I had intended to spend way more time hitting the books but, for better or worse, my first love of music was calling to me and I just couldn't ignore it.

Since Cory was visiting from Halifax this week, him and Claire and I have been jamming a little bit and working on some covers for fun and we decided to go play the Saturday afternoon open mic at a pub called McKenzie's by High Park station. Cute little pub, nice owners and quite busy. The guy running the open mic ( I didn't catch his name) was really friendly, and quite a good performer as well. They run the open mic from 2-6 and they're pretty excited to see new performers. We only played three songs but you could definitely get away with 6 or more. As far as sound goes, they only had one mic set up, but since it was only Claire and I singing, that was fine and Claire's fiddle is loud enough that we didn't need to mic it.

We played three covers, The Ransom- Madison Violet, Landslide- Stevie Nicks and Wagon Wheel- Old Crow Medicine Show

It was the first time we've ever played Wagon Wheel live and it totally kicked ass! I can't get enough of that song, I've listened to it a hundred times and I'm still not sick of it. Its a total boot-stomping sing-a-long. My favourite version of it is by Matt Andersen, who is easily one of the best guitarists in Canada and has the most delicious deep bluesy voice.

I've watched a ton of his videos online and every time he blows my mind. He also inspired me to learn to play Bruce Springsteen's "I'm on fire" so thats the next thing we'll be performing I hope.

Anyways, its always a pleasure to play music with Cory, especially since he's such a great guitar player that nobody notices me fudging my way along on the acoustic. I'm so excited for Courtney's visit and we'll definitely organize some sort of TMB performance for our friends in Toronto. I'm incredibly happy that we've started making music again. I didn't have the heart to work on anything all summer cause I missed my bandmates too much and this fall has been so hectic we've barely been able to find the time.

After our performance we were all so riled up, that we decided to head to the Dakota Tavern.  The Dakota is a country bar, down at Ossington and Dundas. I've been wanting to check it out for the last four years and now that I finally live near to it, I can.

Dakota stage- Not my photo

We didn't even know who was playing, we just hoped we'd see/hear a good performance. Well we totally lucked out! The opener called Harlan Pepper, was a baby-faced band (they just turned 19) but they play country/rock/bluegrass like they are seasoned veterans of the road. Their live performance was the kind rip-roaring old time music that makes you start to dance whether you want to or not.

I seriously just want to pinch their cheeks pat them on the head and tell them to give me a call when they're old enough to grow beards.

Alright, back to my academic endeavours,
Cheers!
Ange