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Jon Anderson from Yes at Danforth Music Hall

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Jon Anderson, the legendary singer from the greatest progressive Rock band of all time Yes, will be performing at the Danforth Music Hall on March 21st, 2010.

Jon Anderson will bring his melodic vocal tenure in a solo performance, to the same stage that he graced almost 2 years ago to the day.

The Danforth Music Hall is a great place to take in any show. I remember one time that one of my readers gave me a ticket to see Rick Wakeman play there a couple of years ago. It was after I was very sick and I guess the reader wanted to do a good deed at the time and there I was.

So if your a big Jon Anderson or Yes fan, try to get out and see the man with the golden tones! It will be worth the drive.

Keep on Jammin’




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!

amos-lee.jpg

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’

Saga, 30th Anniversary Tour

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I was made aware of the Saga concert on the morning of the show.

Tony, God bless that guy, called me on Saturday morning and asked if we were going to see them that night. I had told him that I knew nothing of the show and hung up to get some tickets on-line.

My wife was not feeling up to going to the show so I naturally decided to contact my keyboardist friend Rick to drag him along.

The tickets were $20.00 Can. the seating was in general admission. We were one the first one’s there so we decided to stand beside the stage. We waited for a long time until Tony,the old keyboardist from Pylis and his beautiful wife Laurie to meet us there.

Last time we saw Saga live was around 2 years ago at the Hard Rock Cafe in downtown Toronto. That night we stood on the right side of the stage were Ian Crichton the guitarist traditionally played. Tony wanted us to be on Ian’s side of the stage so I could be amazed by his wizardry. At this point I was recovering from a heart problem and I thought that it was really nice of my old buddy to be thinking in this way!

This time I thought we should be on the keyboardist Jim Gilmour’s side because of Tony’s nice gesture the last time we saw the boys in the band.

We were around 15 feet, yes 15 feet away from him and it was wonderful vantage point to see the band from. Tony couldn’t have been happier.

Here is the set that they played that night!

Trust
That’s as far as I’ll go
Wind him up
Your not alone
The one
The Perfectionist
Conversations
Scratching the surface He did this solo and it was dedicated to a married couple that he knew.
The Flyer
The Perfectionist
The Runaway
See them smile
Compromise
Careful where you step
Don’t be late

Don’t be late is my favorite Saga of all time! It really was the best song that I have ever played then and now!!!

Encore
Humble stance
On the Loose

The end of a Rocking Roll/Progressive Rock era ladies and gentlemen.

Keep on Rockin’ Saga!

Canada’s band plain and simple – no debate needed

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Well ya know, men have this saying about women and here it is for all to ponder! “Women may not always be right …….but their never wrong!”

This statement certainly rings true for the many music aficionados that contemplate “who is/was” the finest Canadian Rock & Roll music of our time. We are the ones who still hold the torch high from the glory days gone by. And we pledge an undying allegiance to the band that is/was “truly Canadian”.

These guys helped convey the thoughts and dreams of a youthful country desperately looking for it’s identity! They held and cherished us as a mother would her child. They are “MAX WEBSTER“!!! Or for the more refined followers, THE TORONTO TONTOS. Ah those little Rascals!

While going up as a young lad in Brantford, I had seen some of the best bands of my time! Pink Floyd, Yes, The Band, The Rolling Stones, the Who but the only band not to reach those lofty heights are Max Webster.

maxwebster.jpg I’ve talked to a number of Canadian music aficionados who ramble off the bands that they have seen in action and the Mighty Max is among them. Even most passing acquaintances have told me that they have witnessed Canada’s premier band as matter of fact!!! This I much admit REALLY PISSES ME OFF!!!

Why not me God! What the purgatory did I do to deserve this cruel and un-Canadian punishment!

Keep on Jammin’

Canada’s own John ‘JD’ Roberts

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Now I grew up watching this guy when he was one of the first Video jockeys in Canada. He talked about and interviewed many of the days greatest bands of our time. He was always soft spoken and very intellectual in my eyes.

Now a days, he is a anchor person at CNN. When I see him in his new refined roll for the American cable company CNN, I still get a chuckle and wonder what reaction people would get if they saw one of his blasts from the past interviews? Well, here goes!

This next flick is of JD, as we know him, with a member of the Canadian 80’s band FM. The member of the band is the always entertaining mandolin player, Nash the Slash!

If you recognize John Roberts and watch him on CNN, I honestly want to know what your initial response is to this video. I realize that it may make you do a double take but I hope it makes you think!

Keep on Jammin’

The Band is mostly Canadian eh?

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I’ll bet my life that most non-Canadians did not know that THE BAND was made up of mostly Canadians. They hail from the same neck of the woods that I came from. The History of “The Band’s” connection with Ontario is well documented. I am originally from Brantford and it happens to be in the middle of the area from which they all originated. Must be something in the water?

Well to tell you the truth, I didn’t realize this until a couple of years ago.

I had heard stories of one of them, Robbie Robertson being from Canada, but as far as I knew, they were the biggest and best in the world in my opinion, and I figured they must have been from some other place in Canada.

Check it out:

Robbie Robertson, is from Toronto but spent a lot of his younger years in the Six Nations reserve. I use to go there a fare amount and had friends from that area. It’s not far from Brantford.

Rick Danko lived in Simcoe. My family went to the Simcoe Winter Lights Festival regularly. They put on this great Christmas light show near the downtown part. There is great park and it has a small river running through it and the best time to go is when it is snowing heavily! You will think that you are at the North Pole, really great little town.

Richard Manuel is from Stratford. This is quite the quiet town. It’s around the Kitchener-Waterloo (which had it’s name changed from Berlin, during World War II) and is now known for the Stratford Festival. This is a Shakespearean festival that every kid from the southern Ontario area went to see many times throughout their childhood. The theater is a must to see if you enjoy great acting and visual effects.

Garth Hudson, is from London Ontario. My sister lived there for a while and I went there the odd time. Nothing really special about this place, but if I went there more often I probably would have found something.

Who says us Canucks are only good at hockey!

keep on Jammin’

My first Rock Bands Concert … a KISS tribute one at that!

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I mercifully skipped grade 7 for you all and went right to the good stuff.

Well I just have to let the cat out of the bag and swallow my pride on this one! Yes I was playing in a KISS tribute band and was Ace Frehley. Well in all honesty, the majority of the tunes were KISS tunes. I was the only one in the band who did not belong to the KISS Army though.

I was into more challenging music but the only guys I knew that could play were these guys! Don’t get me wrong, these guys were my best friends for the longest time! Eddie, was the drummer and had extensive gigging with a “Polka Band” and Brian, the guy in my previous posts was the other guitar player. We didn’t have a bass player at the time due to the fact that no one we knew played the bass.

When I was in grade 7, I remember playing with the Muroz brothers. It was fun because they had taken lessons and could play their instruments well. I think we played some Queen, Led Zeppelin and some pop tunes of the day. I forget why we broke up but I guess that is how it goes. Sorry, I just had to write a bit about the grade 7 thing!

Anyways, we would practice and practice for hours on end. I keep trying to get these guys to slow down and take apart the songs that we were playing and it did sink in to some degree. I’m sure that they would tell ya differently but it’s my blog so there!

As we grew older we found that other schools had band and that they were playing live at their schools so we had no choice, let’s do a live show. Our first and only show was to be played at “St. Bernard’s” school. This was what we thought was our big break!

During this time I had been introduced to another band in the making. They were both in high school and they were just who I was looking to play with. They were Tony, the keyboard player who sounded like a god on that thing, and Harry the guitar player who could play quit well technically but lacked the feel that you need!

Anyways, when we played the show, I had a blast! My soon to be band mates where in attendance and the show went on. Brian, who was like Gene did this wild guitar solo in the audience with the help of MANY GUITAR EXTENSION CHORDS while i was lying on the stage moving these knobs on my old ” BOSS BF-1 FLANGER”. Our band was named “Duce” and when we played it to start off the show, the words go something like this, “Get up and get the hell on out of here!” and there goes Brian singing it directly to a nun, I almost blew a nut laughing so hard on stage!

So, how was that?

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