One year ago, almost to the day, I posted the blog ‘Happy Subway Musicians’. Today, not so much. I just went down to get the mail and found our letter from the TTC had arrived. Another big dip on that rollercoaster ride…we went from #7 this past year to not getting a regular licence at all this year. Thankfully, because of the Auxiliary Licence program offered to previously licenced musicians in good standing, we can continue playing in the subway. We just won’t be on the official rotation schedule and can be bumped by musicians with full licences.

I know the judging is subjective but that doesn’t really lessen the sting of not scoring well at the audition. I had a feeling at this audition that we weren’t well received by the judges. I’ve mentioned that to a few friends over the past month and I love how they have become indignant on our behalf, unequivocally sure the judges weren’t qualified to make a decision not in our favour. Of course they are, the judges all have impressive music backgrounds, but I still love it when friends rally.  

I often think I don’t have a tough enough skin for this business but hey, I just realized I may be toughening up a bit…so far, no tears (although the day is still young). I think that’s a good sign!

Inspired! That’s how I came away from seeing Sylvia Tyson perform on Thursday night. I wasn’t sure what to expect and even waffled til the last day on whether to reserve tickets or not. If I had known how wonderful it would be, I would have booked ages in advance to get one of those primo front row seats at Hugh’s. Of course my sitting right up front with that goofy smile I had plastered on my face during the whole show might have been a tad distracting for her! I couldn’t help it though. I was totally blown away. She was beautiful, has a fabulously rich voice, and had the audience hanging on every word.

I loved that, with a couple of exceptions, the show wasn’t a trip down memory lane of the Ian and Sylvia days. The concert featured the music that Sylvia has written and co-written with a variety of other artists. It’s always nice to hear old familiar hit songs but I think what I found most inspiring was that they weren’t even necessary. I mean, the show was strong enough without them. Her career continues to move forward and her writing reflects the journey, gaining new fans like me along the way.
 
So, here’s the only downer of the evening. When the show ended and I left the club I noticed Dwight wasn’t right behind me as I thought he was. A few seconds later he came out and said “Hey, did you see Sylvia was sitting by the bar?” He had stopped to talk to her. How did I miss that? I would loved to have told her how great she was and I missed my chance. Dwight tried to persuade me to go back in but then I felt too shy, so instead I’ve been just kicking myself for not doing it ever since. Sigh.

We just finished a four day stretch of scheduled afternoons at Bloor Station. Even at off-peak hours it’s still one of the busiest stations to play at. And one of the most popular stations among TTC buskers. There so much going on there, I thought just for fun I’d share some observations…

- It’s surprising how many people risk life and limb (their own and those of innocent bystanders) running full-speed to catch a train, even though the next one will be along in just a few minutes. Not only does it look goofy but it is so dangerous. I can’t count the number of near collisions I witnessed.

- On Sunday afternoon, one older gent walking by stopped for a second to listen to us, made a face like he’d smelled the worst stink of his life and then walked away. Nice.

- There are more than a couple of men who look like Elvis walking around.

- Bloor is such a noisy station…when trains are arriving simultaneously in different directions, we can’t even hear our own guitars.

- The lottery business is booming in the kiosk across from the busking stop. Same goes for the photo booth.

- I always think it’s so interesting (nice) when people toss money into our guitar case and THEY say “Thank You”. That happened several times over the past four days.

- Today, a woman with a small baby strapped to her front stopped and the two of them bounced along to the music. Then an older woman, who they didn’t know, stopped and danced along with them. It was really very sweet.

- There is so much going on at Bloor station…people coming and going from all directions…that it’s easy to get distracted (i.e. forget lyrics and chords)!

- Lots of Ian and Sylvia fans pass through Bloor station..we’ve been playing the songs we’ll be performing at The Riverboat Revival at Hugh’s Room on June 27th.

- This isn’t exclusive to Bloor station, but it’s surprising how many people stop right near the busking spot and start digging earnestly in their purses, wallets, or pockets. The whole time you’re thinking…”Wow, they must really like us to go to all that trouble.” And, then they walk right past without putting anything in the case. Ha ha ha!

- There seemed to be an inordinate number of people carrying instruments (many guitars, violins, a cello, an accordian) passing through the station over the past four days.

- And why were so many people with luggage (multiple large suitcases) passing through the station this afternoon?

- I’m never really up on the latest fashion trends, but Middle East style scarves seem to be a really hot item…especially with a black and white print.

- This afternoon a young woman with a white cane was asked by at least a dozen people if she needed assistance as she stood waiting for a friend not far from the busking spot. Nice to see caring people.

On Friday, June 27th we will be part of the Toronto City Roots Festival opener at Hugh’s Room. The show celebrates the famed Yorkville coffee house called The Riverboat, which was a Mecca for musicians on the folk scene in the 1960’s and 70’s. On this special night performers who are scheduled to play at the Toronto City Roots Festival in the Distillery District that weekend, have been invited to cover songs of icons who played at The Riverboat during its heyday. We are going to cover the music of Ian and Sylvia!

Not long ago, after more than a few people had asked us if we could play one of their songs, we pulled together the words and chords for ‘Someday Soon’ and ‘Four Strong Winds’ and have been playing them in the subway ever since. We had also started working on ‘You Were On My Mind’. When the call came for the Riverboat Revival we thought, this is great, we already know their songs so it should be an easy prep.

After listening to an Ian and Sylvia Greatest Hits CD, I realized that we were doing a version of other versions of those songs. Their music has been covered by so many artists over the years, that our memories of the songs were a composite of all those interpretations. Not only had phrasings and tempo changed with recordings by various artists, but in some cases the words had changed quite significantly.     

We decided to go back to the original and work from there. We are not trying to do an imitation but we figured we will perform our version of Ian and Sylvia songs, not our version of Judy Collins, We Five, or Neil Young doing their versions of Ian and Sylvia songs. I have always liked them but over the past few weeks I think I’ve become a real fan of Ian and Sylvia. I hadn’t realized what a huge impact they have had on music in Canada.

Hope you can make it out to the Riverboat Revival on the 27th. There is a whole roster of great performers covering the music of folks like Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Steve Goodman, and Phil Ochs. I think it will be a great night. Here’s a link to the details www.torontocityroots.com

We are back home in Toronto after our first official tour of the Prairies. I want to tell you all about it, but where to start? I’ll try to keep it brief. Here goes…

After hearing horror stories of what can happen to instruments on a plane trip, we decided to rent guitars and a keyboard for the tour from Long & McQuade in Winnipeg. They are pretty great there…really helpful in making sure we had everything we needed. Though we had a bit of a scare when we first looked at the guitars available for rent. It was pretty slim pickings…there weren’t two suitable ones with pick-ups. But they sure came through for us. They brought me up a brand new guitar almost identical to my own and set Dwight up with a pretty sweet Gibson. Piano carrying cases were in short supply that day too and we ended up with one that was way bigger than the keyboard we rented. It became fondly known as The Behemoth. I was sure people thought we were sneaking in another person when we (Dwight) carried it into the hotels!    

Our first show of the tour was in the Prairie Ink Restaurant at the new McNally Robinson’s Polo Park location in Winnipeg. The place was packed…some friends who came out were told there would be up to an hour wait for a table! The McNally Robinson stores are such great supporters of live music.

We were totally excited to be interviewed on air by Leanne Doty on 880 CKLQ in Brandon the day before our show at Lady Of The Lake Shop, Cafe and Pub. It’s a beautiful place to play, has a great sound system, the food is awesome, and people who go there seem to really appreciate live music. The stage is at the east end of the room facing a wall of windows to the west. During our second set, the sun started going down and there we were singing in the glow of a beautiful Manitoba sunset. Aaaaah!

Because we had an early afternoon show the next day in Moose Jaw we had decided to book accommodations along the route so we could get a few hours of driving under our belt and lessen the rush the next day. We figured Moosomin would be a good destination so phoned ahead and booked a room in one of the little roadside motels. Unfortunately the only rooms left were smoking rooms but we were assured the smoke smell wasn’t strong in the one we booked. Hmmm, well I guess that’s all relative. And, the room was so tiny, by the time we unloaded all our equipment and bags into the room there was little space to move around! On the plus side, we forgot that we would gain an hour crossing the Man/Sask border so that was good, it ended up being an early night thanks to the time change.

On the drive to Moose Jaw we were mesmerized by the hugeness of the prairie sky. It was a bright sunny day and the sky was so clear and seemed to go on forever. If you haven’t driven on the Prairies, you don’t know what you are missing…it’s really incredible. Add it to your list of To Do’s. We even saw a little coyote wandering around by the highway.

In Moose Jaw we played a matinee at The Java Express, a cozy little coffee shop on the main street in town. We were really happy to learn there was an article about us in the Moose Jaw Times-Herald a few days earlier! Some old friends from Winnipeg, who now live in Regina, surprised us by coming out to our show. That was a lovely reunion. Over the course of the afternoon while we were playing, large groups of people would come into the coffee shop, descend the stairs behind us never to be seen again. At first we assumed there was more seating upstairs but soon realized those who went up, never came down! Moose Jaw has underground tunnels, rumoured to have been used by gangsters (including Al Capone) during the prohibition years of the 1920’s and it turns out the tour begins up there. Moose Jaw is such a beautiful town we stuck around part of the next day so we could enjoy it more. 

We didn’t have a show booked in Calgary but decided to go there on our way to Edmonton and check out a club that we’d heard is a good place to play…for future tours. There happened to be an Open Stage that night so we got up and did a couple of songs. We stayed with a good friend from Winnipeg there.

We played at a wonderful restaurant/club in Edmonton called Hulbert’s. A real gem, nestled in a residential area by the University of Alberta. The owners are huge supporters of live music and have a great business going for them. Some old high school friends of Dwight’s from Winnipeg, who are now living in Edmonton came out to the show, which was a wonderful surprise. As I write this I’m thinking…wow, there are Winnipeggers almost everywhere we go! While in Edmonton we stayed with some good friends from Toronto and slept soundly in a room with a real Juno award, belonging to our friend Pat formerly of The Leslie Spit Treeo, perched on the windowsill above the bed…sweet dreams!

The night before we left Edmonton for Saskatoon, we heard on the news that a “massive snow storm” was headed for Alberta and Saskatchewan. As it turned out, the storm was “massive” but we dodged it completely. For the rest of the tour it was always a bit to the west, south, or north of us, but never right where we were!

En route to Saskatoon, along the highway at Elk Island Reserve just outside of Edmonton, we saw bison…how cool is that? Oh, and of course we saw the giant pysanka in Vegreville. If we’d had more time it would have been fun to visit all the other “big things” that dot the Prairies…like the giant oil can in Rocanville, SK or the giant perogy on a fork in Glendon, AB.  

It was really exciting to be back in Saskatoon. We moved away from there 18 years ago and hadn’t been back for a visit since 1997. We had a great time catching up with old friends. Wow, it has really grown. They have traffic jams now! We had two shows booked at the Prairie Ink Restaurant at McNally Robinson’s. We knew in advance that their in-house PA system wasn’t designed for two vocals, two plug in guitars, and a keyboard, so we had arranged to rent one from a local music store. The restaurant was packed when we arrived at the designated time to set-up. All was going well until we realized that the power chord for the rented PA was missing. An old friend of ours who has always been into music and radio and stuff happened to be there that night and somehow I felt it would be good to tell him of our dilemma. Good call on my part! Like Superman, Neil sprung into action…identified that the power chord connection was the same as for a PC, sped home to get one and was back to save the day within ten minutes. Thank you Neil! After that, things went very smoothly and we had two great shows.

With the threat of that “massive” snowstorm nipping at our heels, our friend Steve offered to drive us to our show at Turk’s Coffee House in Prince Albert (PA) in his SUV. It’s about an hour and a half north of Saskatoon. Being somewhat (very) road weary by this point, we were happy to take him up on his generous offer. Fortunately the bad weather didn’t materialize but we had a really nice visit on the ride there and back. Oh, and we had another near equipment disaster in PA. Although we had microphones with us…guess who didn’t have stands for them. Oh oh, kinda tough to play guitar and hold a microphone to your mouth at the same time. As it turned out, by some fluke, a band who’d played there before had left one mic stand behind so that was great. And, crisis was averted when, with McGyver-like ingenuity, Dwight and Steve fashioned another from my music stand, a little duct tape and a metal ruler I ran and got a nearby dollar store. We started right on time and the “McGyver Mic” held out beautifully! Turk’s is a really nice little coffee shop in Prince Albert and the owner, Rick, is great. Again we were pleased when we picked up a copy of the Prince Albert Herald and saw a really nice article about us complete with a picture!

The last official show on our tour was a Monday night at The Club in Regina. It’s a great little place but unfortunately the turnout for our show was literally just a couple of people. Several years ago we went to see one of our favourite singer songwriters, Bob Snider, when he was doing a Saturday matinee at a club on College Street. I arrived before Dwight and was the only person there at the posted time for the show to begin, which was very unusual for a Bob Snider show, but I guess every performer has those days now and again. Anyway, Bob grabbed his guitar and sat down behind the mic and said something like “Since you took the trouble to come down and hear me play, I’m going to play for you.” And he played like the room was full. If he was disappointed in the turnout, and I’m sure he was, he never let if show for a minute. I was blown away! The experience of that day really stuck with me and when we started performing ourselves, we were very conscious of that important lesson.  Anyway, back to The Club…even though there were just a few people, they listened intently and we really enjoyed playing for them.

When we arrived back in Winnipeg the next day, we checked out an Open Stage at the Mona Lisa restaurant on Corydon Ave. It’s held every Tuesday night and is hosted by 92 CITI FM radio personality Howard Mandshein. It was great, there was a real nice mix of performers, attentive audience members, and an awesome soundman. And unlike many Open Stages with a 2 song limit, we had half an hour to play. What a nice surprise that evening was!

Learnings and Observations…

• Get a laptop…it would have been fun to blog along the route
• Check rented equipment before leaving the store to make sure all required parts are there!!
• It’s great to have friends who invite you to stay with them when you are in their town! Thank you!
• It’s beautiful driving through the Prairies…you get a real appreciation for how much space we have in this amazing country
• It’s more difficult to find steamed broccoli on the road than it is to find french fries
• Tim Horton’s has really taken hold out West…Robin’s, which used to be the big coffee chain, is disappearing
• I am not a car person…”Are we there yet?”
• Gas is sure expensive!
• The weather on the Prairies in April is unpredictable…+28C one day and -3C a few days later!
• Remember to ask for receipts for all music related expenses
• The old grain elevators are a beautiful site
• We love playing our music

Yikes, this turned out to be a longer blog than I anticipated. Thanks for sticking it out. Here are a few Prairie pics…

I just recently finished my first collaboration on a song with a friend. A few months ago, singer-songwriter Kim Cole sent an email asking if I’d like to co-write a song with her. She had just read an article by Craig and Marc Kielburger in the Toronto Star about the effects of global warming on Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and was so moved, she felt she had to write a song about it. Kim knew I would be very interested in the subject.

However, having never co-written with anyone before and being new to the whole songwriting scene, I was a bit hesitant at first. I worried she might regret the invitation if my inexperience with the process became an issue. We talked about it a bit and I sensed that she was a patient person, so we started working together.

It was great. Over the course of a month or so we met on Tuesday afternoons for a few hours over snacks and sometimes wine…just enough wine to fuel the creativity but not so much that we ever wondered “What the heck were we thinking?” when reviewing the lyrics the next day!

Long story short…I think we have great song! It’s called ‘Mercury Rising’. We are so proud of it that we recorded a demo and entered it in a songwriting contest this week. Fingers crossed the judges will like it too!

I’m sure we will each be adding it to our set lists when we play live so you will get a chance to hear it soon.

This afternoon we were busking at the Queen subway station. It was pretty cold…especially in the latter part of the 80 minutes we were there. At that busking spot, a cold wind seems to whip through every now and again. And there doesn’t appear to be any one event that’s an obvious trigger. Like, if the doors to the Eaton Centre and the doors to The Bay are opened at the same time, or when a train arrives on the platform below.

Lots of people were rushing through the tunnel on their way to lunch or on their way back to work. Everyone seemed to be in a hurry, many barely noticing we were there. Then, a man who looked a bit down on his luck stopped briefly to listen. He opened up a small brown envelope and took out five dollars. “Get yourselves a nice hot coffee.” he said as he pressed the bill into Dwight’s hand. We told him that was too much but he insisted. We didn’t want to insult his generosity so didn’t protest further but offered him one of our CDs. He said he’d like it but doesn’t have a CD player. He smiled and waved as he walked away, reminding us again to be sure to get a coffee. Although the actual temperature or winds didn’t relent, for a moment it was just a little warmer in that tunnel.

So often it seems to be those, who don’t appear to have financial wealth, who share it so willingly. I suppose that may be why they don’t have lots of money but that kind of generosity of spirit must have a different reward. Anyway, before I get all philosophical here, it was a kind and lovely gesture and we will “pay it forward” by including it in our next donation to Dixon Hall. It’s a charitable organization, with programs targeted to the disadvantaged in downtown Toronto.

If the fellow who gave us the five dollar bill doesn’t have a CD player, it’s unlikely he has a computer so will probably never see this blog and know how much his generosity was appreciated. But he sure made our day!

Who needs a theme park when you can get all the thrills and chills you can handle just by embarking on a music career. No question mark, cause it is a rhetorical question. Sometimes I feel like we’re on a huge rollercoaster that goes something like this…

There is a good crowd out to see you play who seem to love everything you do. You float home from the show on a cloud of optimism, order a celebratory pizza and bask in the glow of the day. You can’t wait to play your next show and do it all again.

Except at the next show there’s barely anyone there to love everything you do. One of those days when you couldn’t even bribe your mom to come out if it meant missing ‘Deal or No Deal’. It’s what we refer to as a “Character Building Gig” because it takes some strength of character not to let your disappointment show. Character is a good thing but no one wants to build too much of it!

Then the next show comes along with another appreciative assembly of individuals who listen to every word you sing, buy CDs, and even take the time to tell you how a specific song touched them. Then we are floating home again, picking up celebratory Rotis on the way! And so it goes…up, down, up.

There’s a sign hanging behind the bar at The Cameron House that says ‘This Is Paradise’. I don’t know what the story is behind the sign…who put it there and when…but I do know, for many (us included) the words ring true. All kinds of people…artists, techies, retirees, tradespeople, suits…become regulars at The Cameron House. It’s the kind of place you can go to by yourself and feel completely comfortable. Cindy, who manages the club, goes that extra distance to create a warm, inviting environment. Whether it be decorating for special events, celebrating the birthday of one of the regulars, or just keeping things clean and safe. On the odd occasion we’ve been there and a potential troublemaker has shown up, she swiftly takes charge and resolves the issue without most people in the room being aware anything was happening.   

We first stumbled upon The Cameron House while exploring Queen West when we moved to Toronto in the early 90’s. It was a Saturday afternoon and we poked our heads in to have a look. It was a quiet day and the patrons were mainly oldtimers nursing their pints in the front room. Soon after, we found ourselves drawn there regularly to see performers like Bitch Diva and The Nancy Sinatra’s who drew a very different crowd from what we saw that first afternoon.   

Then, two former members The Leslie Spit Treeo began hosting a weekly Open Stage called ‘Spit Fridays’. It attracted a variety of performers…singer-songwriters, spoken word artists, even the odd dancer…each with 10 minutes to share their talent! Sometimes, well-known artists like Bob Snider and Holly Cole would even drop by to do a few songs. At first we sat quietly watching on the sidelines. Then one week we brought a guitar and put our names on the sign up sheet. And from then on we performed a few songs every week. For fun, Pat who emceed the open stage, used to make up band names to introduce Dwight and I. The one we remember most fondly was ‘Darlings Of The Open Stage’, which is not coincidentally the title song on our first CD. The song is a tribute to that magical time and place.   

Around the time when Spit Fridays ended, over 10 years ago, another regular event started up. The Cameron Family Singers began performing “real country music” every Sunday afternoon. Since then it has switched to Saturdays at 6pm and draws a full house every week. The band is made up of a group of “cousins”, all amazingly talented professional musicians who put on a great show. Sometimes when I’m sitting there during the show I’ll look around in amazement at the joy in the room. And I get that warm fuzzy feeling when I recognize so many people who’ve all been going to The Cameron House for years.    

Over the years we’ve seen so many memorable musical performances in both the front and back rooms of The Cameron House…Blue Rodeo, Kevin Quain and The Mad Bastards, Courage Of Lassie, The Backstabbers, to name just a few. And now, for the past 14 months, we have our own weekly show! It may sound kind of corny but it is an amazing feeling to be performing in a club that has such a musical legacy. As the old spiritual says “I’m singin’ in paradise, I’m gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.”