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Mia Rose

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I am not a big follower of the modern day pop singer but, this girl is someone to follow.

She is pretty and has a eerie and haunting alto voice while still obtaining a soaring soprano range that reminds me of Alanis. Mia Rose is the type of singer that you will remember where you were when you first heard her sing. I know, this sounds odd coming from me but, she really is!

On YouTube, she also plays an original piece of hers on her classical guitar. She seems quite relaxed while playing and her overall technique is not that bad either.

I hope that I can honestly say that I do in fact remember where I was when I first heard her voice.

Keep on Jammin’




Two words – Marty Delaney

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Have you ever been to a bar and heard the most interesting guitar player staring right in front of you playing like a possessed man on stage? Well that happened to me last year.

My wife, sister, brother in law, Stevie cakes (long story), and myself went to a bar that is in our neighborhood which I have always wanted to visit. It’s called The “Eton House“. It’s commonly known as the “Greek/Newfie” bar in this area.

A newfie is of course a person from the Canadian province of Newfoundland. It’s just a nickname that the rest of Canada and possibly the world has for the people that come from that province. Newfie’s are the nicest people in the world that you will ever meet. We have many Newfie friends. If the world had more of them, there’d be no wars, honestly!

So, there we were. We had a lot of light refreshing beverages in us at the time and the music coming from the outside speakers of the music playing in the bar sounded fast and furious. It sounded like a band but to our surprise,it was a single guy alone, playing acoustic guitar with some machine in the back ground playing drums and keyboards.

His chord progressions are similar to the ones that I play, but when he adds some little riffs to the songs, it’s just like he’s some kind of mad genius, hell bent on blowing you not only out of your seat, but the building as well! He blows you away with his ability to play.

If you are ever in Toronto on a Saturday night, it would be a crime not to see this guy. He is a musician that you can’t help but love. His voice is great and his selection of tunes would make a dead person tap their foot as his energy is intoxicating!

A couple of weekends ago at the Eton House, Marty and the kids were having a fund raiser for his niece and her mother. His niece has a disease that has to be treated at a hospital, in the capitol of his province which is far from the little village they live in, in Newfoundland. The money raised that night was for some pocket change for her mother to use while she is receiving treatments. God speed on her recovery!

A co-worker from the hospital had told me of their plight, and the event gave me an excuse to go and see this great guitar player again. She had also informed me that she knew Marty personally. I was introduced to him and talked for a while during one of his breaks. He said that he remembered seeing me there watching him perform. It was probably the envy energy that I was directing towards him that probably caught his attention those nights.

While chatting, he asked me if I might be interested in playing with him in a band with another guitar player and a stand up bass player. We would be playing more progressive acoustic folk music and performing at venues where the audience was there for the music and not just the beer.

I told him I would think about it. Wow, what a lucky break for me! I still have to get back to him but the answer is a definite YES!

Stay tuned for further updates.

Keep on Jammin’

Bruce Cockburn – If a tree falls in the forest

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Now this is a song that I will attempt when I get a moment or so.


I heard Bruce do an acoustic version of this one on the radio and as usual, they didn’t announce which album it was from. Is it just me or, does this tick you off too? As said best by Charlie Brown “AAAAAAAAAhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!”

I love the use of his wammie bar on his guitar. He is the type of player who will either use or not use an effect and pull it off right both ways. This is what I shoot for when choosing a song that I want to play. If I can’t tackle a song correctly then I’ll try and try again! However, if I can’t, then I be a man and just let some get away!

Keep on Jammin’

Listen to great new musical artists at Unsigned.com

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A couple of months ago my wife introduced me to this great new site called Unsigned.com. It’s a site dedicated to giving independent music and vocal artists an outlet to be heard on the internet.

The site is a great place for unsigned artists to create a profile and upload their music. The website now has over 4000 artists and listeners using the site on a regular basis. When visiting the site you can find musicians that play in a variety of genres such as Rock, grunge, hip hop, metal, country, jazz, and New-Wave Artists. The variety is fantastic, and I’m sure anyone who loves music and enjoys discovering new bands will like Unsigned.com.

I mentioned New Wave artists because, believe it or not, I used to really enjoy new wave music. New wave has changed since it first came out in the 80’s but it’s still a great genre. At this time there’s 13 different artists listed in the New Wave category. You should visit and have a listen, or if New Wave isn’t your thing check out some of the other types of music that the independent artists have uploaded. You’ll be hooked on Unsigned.com before you realize what’s happening.

When I get my act together I’m going to have to upload some of my work onto the site. Then you’ll be able to hear some of my music too. Come to think of it, I’ve got a few friends that would probably be interested in Unsigned.com. If they upload their music I’ll be sure to let you know.

Bruce Cockburn – If I had a Rocket Launcher Live

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If I Had a Rocket Launcher by Bruce Cockburn, performed live (10/21/06) at the Tarrytown Music Hall. Marty Balin featuring Slick Aguilar, Charlie DeChant, Gordon G.G. Gebert, Dave Trupia, Michael Sciotto.
Video 8:01 minutes

This is a favorite song of mine to play live. If you ever get the opportunity to see me perform, it will be on my play list. I do the acoustic version very well. The solo parts are challenging enough, and this is maybe the only song beside Neon that I can always change up every time I play or just have an extended solo to it.

Bruce plays the song in so many positions that he makes it all look easy, but the great ones always do don’t they.

My Larivee L-03 has the depth that you need to pull off a technical song like this live. My DigiTech chorus pedal is the perfect fit for this tune – like it was made for it. Hopefully when I find the time, I’ll tape video of it and let you be the judge on how to improve portions of the song, or which parts to eliminate. Hopefully the latter won’t come into play. 😉

Keep on Jammin’

Wow, I can play this song too

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Journey is a band that I really respect. The vocals are so powerful. The guitar is just cutting through the air and the keyboards bring both together like nothing that I can describe. I remember when this song came out, I pretended to be sick so I could stay at home and figure it out on piano.

To this day I still love playing this song, but I honestly wish I had vocals like these guys to pull it off just right!

Keep on Jammin’


The hardest tune I can’t play … yet

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Well, the song that I would die to play live is ” The Clap” by Steve Howe from YES, (search you tube under, “YES, the clap” or “Steve Howe plays Clap”) is the one to go for,for me! I’ve played mood for a day and other standards to good response but this song is in a league of it’s own.

This next one is something that you can get a better view of how to play this one the way he plays it.

Happy New Year from the May’s house

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Well I had the honour of stumbling into the house of Bob & Laurie May this year, with my brother Tim, his son Brian and some of the members of Gemini. We were only going to stay for a while but when the guitar came out and other guitar players and harmonica players showed up, the guitar gods said that, this is our destination! We honestly wanted to wish them the best in the new year but our gracious hosts made it impossible to leave. Real salt of the earth people, if there were more Bob and Laurie’s in the world we would not have wars!

Bob is the type of guitar player who, like most of us, underestimates his abilities on the axe! He is a basic, no nonsense kind of player. When we got our our destination, we were thinking of going to a private party with lawyers and politicians (honestly we were), but thank God we found the Mays! Their home is literally a hop, skip and a stagger from my parents home that we were staying/passing out this night.

When we arrived, we were greeted by the May’s in true Brantford fashion, having a beer and a shot before our ass’s hit the chair. I had brought my Larrivee with me to show Bob because he had not seen/heard it yet. After burning one, I had told him that I had been working on this piece from John Mayer called neon and asked if he wanted to hear it, either that or I had just informed him of this difficult tune that I wanted to play for him just trying to hold back all of my enthusiasm, I can’t remember? He was the first guitar player to hear me attempt to do justice to this song.

After that, all hell broke lose and people started to pile into their house. We went on down to the basement of “Franken Wine” (long drunkin’ story best told when sober) to just jam and a jammin’ we would go. Steve, John, Bob and the guy that I called “the guy with the black cowboy hat” (i still can’t remember his name) started to play songs and it was truly a night for some fun!

Thanx Bob and Laurie for the blast we had that night.

Cheers, to the nicest people on the planet!!!

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