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Amos Lee live rocks

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First of all, Amos Lee is a guy who is a bit of an acquired taste, but when you get him, you really get him!

Second, I know I must apologize to my regular readers for not writing on this blog for ages, but it’s the summer time here folks!

The tickets we got for free and the added bonus were the seats. They were 1st balcony, 1st row center right above the sound board. It has been a while since we’ve both been out together and it couldn’t of been better.

His sound was that of many influences. Folk, Jazz, Dixie Land and Jazz were right there front from the start. The band that was with him complimented him perfectly. They seemed like they all were high school buddies, that just happened to stumble upon this thing called playing in a band and was enjoying every minute of it.

The drummer was simple but yet very tight. He also caught my wife’s musical eyes in that he plays the drums the other way from what she normally sees in other bands. The bass player reminded me of Billy Wyman in his stage presence. Great bassist, but seemed very, very relaxed on stage.

Now the keyboardist with Amos Lee was another story. He was the most colorful on stage. His sound was big and bouncy! His stage demeanor had the essence of Levon Helm, the drummer for The Band. He was just a grooving to everything and he knew when to fade in and out perfectly! Now for the man of the hour, Amos!

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The style he plays is quite simple, most of the time, but he shows how to pull out all the stops at the drop of a hat. His voice took some time getting use to, but in the end he made quite the impression on all of us! The song that stood out in my eyes was Sweet Pea. When I was first deciding which free show to go to, it was this song that drew me towards seeing him. The way he plays this one live is just plain and simply amazing! To see what I mean, I highly recommend going out and seeing this guy live … I know you’ll won’t be disappointed.

Keep on Jammin’




Canada’s second National Anthem

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The theme song from CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada (HNIC) has recently made the news and created a major debate both socially and politically in this country that I call home!

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This theme is something that we all grew up with. Every time this song was played on a Saturday night on CBC, it meant the begging of something that we all waited for, for a whole week! It was like the ringing of a triangle that told the cowboys that dinner was on the table. We all knew that it was the start of something special and that something was known as HOCKEY NIGHT IN CANADA!

I know that most of my readers may be from another country and you may have a tough time wrapping your head around this one, but this is not just a simple song that unites us all under the same cloth, it’s about a way of life.

I decided to write this post a little bit after the emotional tidal wave of patriotism had past. If you are in the eye of the hurricane, trying to gauge and reason what to do first is overwhelming in the initial stages.

The negative train of thought is to say, What the hell are you doing at the CBC?, This is a nasty travesty of justice, a shaking of ones society’s core values or better yet, a single event that portrays a betrayal of ones country’s essence in the way of Biblical proportions!

hockey.jpgThe positive is to acknowledge that yes, the sun will come up tomorrow and we will continue on with life! What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger …

I’m going out on a limb here folks, but I am leaning towards the positive aspects of this event. I know that I’m in good company to boot, here’s just a few!

Johnny Bower, as long as the song is played somewhere, that’s the main thing. That’s the key, the song will still have something to do with hockey.

Paul Henderson, Things have changed, and things change. They dropped the song. Get over it. Let’s move on.

The song was sold to TSN (The sports Network) and CBC decided not to pick it up. Ok, let’s remember this day and in the words of the hockey great Paul Henderson, Let’s get over it!

Keep on Jammin’

Woofstock

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Woofstock is North America’s Largest festival for dogs. It’s held in Toronto on June 7th – 8th in the downtown core. “The summer of canine Love” is a good way to describe it! 140,000 people can’t be wrong!

My wife, Midnight our black lab and myself just came back from this crazy event and what a blast it was! They blocked off a fairly large area of streets in Toronto and it was informative and tons of fun!

There were so many people and their dogs all over the place.

The vendors had great freebees and the products were top shelf stuff! There was even this company called Happy Tails that have a Pet Resort & Pet Camp in the very popular Muskoka area.

Our guests have the freedom to come and go as they please between open pet-sized bedrooms or cabins, fireplace lounge and one of many large dog parks segregated by size and temperament. They can run and play all day, chasing chipmunk and dragonflies, hunting frogs, swimming, and umpteen other things dogs being dogs like to do.

There is also a human equivalent called the Deerhurst Resort not too far away as well. There is no connection between the two but it’s nice to have the best of both worlds right next to each other. If we had more dollars then sense, then I think we’d be there!

The best thing I we took out of this event was the ability to bring our dog right inside a very respectable pub for a couple of Guinesses! Cheers, a little hair of the dog won’t kill ya! Hope to see you there next year, drop me a line and we’ll buy the first round, really!

Keep on Jammin’

Mother of all guitars!

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Wordless Wednesday

Strange guitar

Imagine carrying this guitar around to gigs or taking it in for repairs. Heck … just imagine tuning the darn thing! Let alone where you might find strings for it!

That’s huge man. I wonder how much it weighs.

Oh, if you like cool guitars – maybe some strange guitars … you’ve got to go over to Guitar Licks and Tips to see my latest post.

Keep on Jammin’


Guitar World has a fantastic selection of guitar tabs

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In all honesty, good readership, when I first started to pick up my axe again after a huge break, I didn’t even think about using the internet to look up how to play tunes. Yes, what a rookie move. As a matter of fact, it wasn’t until I started searching online that I began to use tabs at all!

I used to read music all the time no matter which instrument I was playing. So over the years I eventually drifted away from this method of playing and used my memory for most tunes. After a while there were far too many little parts that I had forgotten and it made me quit disappointed in my playing ability! Nowadays, I don’t know what I’d do without guitar tabs. They certainly make it easier to learn a new song!

Although I’ve only used a couple of sites in the past, this site, Guitar World, really stands out to me. Browsing through the site I soon realized that if I was either a beginner, or advanced player of most common instruments, this would be a website to seriously bookmark.

This is a fabulous site to use if you’re looking for some great tunes to add to your repertoire no matter what instrument you play!

I’m a huge Beatles nut from way back in the day so I decided to see what they had. I actually found some refreshing new ways to approach some old standbys that made a lot of sense in my mind. The Guitar World’s Beatles guitar tabs section is very impressive to say the least! The videos in this section were nice, and simple to understand, just the way I like them!

They had so many unique interpretations of how to play certain tunes that I just had to stop and think about where in the song could I squeeze them in. Besides, there is nothing better than having the ability to change up and improve songs when you’re playing live. Always remember that when playing live in front of other musicians, they will take apart everything you do on or off stage. If you add different approaches to a song, you make it that much more appealing to those in the know and they WILL be impressed!

Their nirvana guitar tabs category is a must check out area as well! The tabs here have that subtle differences that you’re looking for in order to keep the crowd attentive and wanting to hear more from ya.

This is a must site to see, I’ll guarantee you!

Keep on Jammin’

So who is and isn’t a musician here

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I was just wondering to myself today about how many of you, my good readership, are musicians and who isn’t. I’d like to know for a number of reasons. No, this is not to embarrass anyone or start some kind of mid evil Inquisition folks.

It’s just to:

(1) to tailor topics.
(2) and concentrate on certain categories

Just a simple answer would do here folks, nothing earth shattering.

You could state “Musician” or “Non-Musician”. What instruments you play and maybe what type of gear you have. If your a “non-Musician”, then tell us what genre of music gets you going! If you have any interesting or entertaining events might be good for a laugh, I know we all have 1 or 2 of them up our sleeves!

So state your case and get back to us … we’re waiting!

Keep on Jammin’

Rascal Flatts

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They were the biggest-selling American act in any music genre in 2006, but now country stars Rascal Flatts want the rest of the world to hear their songs. The band talks about performing in London and their collaboration with actor Jamie Foxx. (Feb. 1)

They seem like a bunch of guys that you’d love to go camping with, if your into that sort of stuff, I know I love it!

But anyway, they appear to be fairly talented and modest. I read that these guys have a bit of a grittier side to them that is just crying out to be heard.

So only time will tell if they are the real thing!

Keep on Jammin’

Jeff Healey rest in peace

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I found this out this morning while making Midnights breakfast (she’s our new beautiful Labrador Retriever).

Wow, taking about being blown away! I think that I will always remember where I was and what I was doing when I found out of this great musical lose! I can still remember when I found out that Stevie Ray Vaughan had passed. I actually called my wife right after finding out.

Rock and jazz musician Jeff Healey died Sunday in a Toronto hospital after a battle with cancer, his publicist said. He was 41.

Healey lost his sight at age one as a result of Retinoblastoma, a rare form of retinal cancer.

Retinoblastoma, is a cancer that hits children younger than 5 years of age.

Healey had the great honour of playing with George Harrison doing one of Harrison’s songs called As my guitar gently weeps. He also played with other guitar gods such as B.B. King and Stevie Ray Vaughan. It was Stevie ray who actually brought Jeff into the greater world musical spotlight. Being in the 1988 movie called “Road House” didn’t hurt either!

I was in his club called Healey’s in Toronto and saw Saga’s second last show in Canada, the last one was in my home town of Brantford, with the lead singer Michael Sadler. Nice place to see a show, go check it out.

My wife and I are God parents to my cousin’s son and he is blind. This happened as a result of contracting a disease called Toxoplasmosis. He is a very outgoing little fire cracker and has a love for all genres of music. He has developed a great singing/rapping voice and has actually recorded some tunes at a local recording company.

My cousin and his son went to a event for the blind that Jeff Healey was at around 3 years ago. His dad thought that it would be a blast for his son to meet him, so they both went up to talk to him. When they met, our godson went silent, if you actually know this little guy, you would think that I was making all this all up because he’s never Silent! He knew who Jeff was and what he accomplished so maybe that is why he was nervous about meeting him.

So let’s keep Jeff and his family in our prayers.

Jeff Healey
1966 – 2008

Best Selling Album of all time turns 25

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It’s hard to believe, but Michael Jacksons Thriller album is now 25 years old. To celebrate the albums milestone a special 25th anniversary edition of the album hit stores in February.

I realize that most people either love or hate this guy, but I happen to be caught in the middle. His way of making music does get your attention. It seems to be passing the test of time and we all know that that is the true yard stick to measure success. Hell, the man-child even got the great Eddie Van Halen to play on this album.

Van Halen’s guitar style, referred to as Shred, comes at you like the heat of the sun on a cold winter’s day on “Beat it”! If the album’s style passes the Eddie test then there has to be something great and innovative about Micheal’s formula, to successful writing!

If you want to hear more about the album and hear what the King of Pop himself has to say about it watch this video.

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