February... well 2012 sure has started to roll on by like a firecracker heading downhill... I don't usually memorialize too much here because the main thing about this site and the calendar is to tell you about the music happening at the Townehouse and cool things going on at the Laughing Buddha... but WTF is going on this year? Newt Gingrich is winning some American primaries! Highway 69 and 17 have claimed a lot of good peoples lives already... including a young drummer that played here a bit... my condolences to Cole's family and friends. But I still can't get the Sudbury Star to cover the story about the provincial government slashing the MTO budget for plowing roads, leaving our northern highways in the hands of private plows... more closures... more deaths... John Vanthoff, Gilles Bisson and Mike Mantha have been in the news about it... standing up for their communities and the safety of their highways... the safety of people coming in and out of their communities. Where is our champion of highways? Where is the Bart? As usual... he is towing the company line of Dalton McGuinty. For 16 years he yelled about the highways and now that McGuinty privatized the plowing contracts meaning our roads get closed as soon as the contractors have put their hours in... our Minister of the North is mum on the subject. As a citizen... i gotta say... that's weak. As someone who ran against you in the last provincial election, I gotta say... your days are numbered. People won't take this forever...
Ok, so elsewhere... USW6500 has to put another brother in the ground this week! There's got to be something in the fact that there are thousands of people working in the mining industry in Sudbury and most of them would rather wear the name USW or CAW/Minemill on their jackets, shirts and baseball hats instead of Vale or Xtrata... Don't you think employers should be looking at a better way of doing business these days... something that makes people proud to work and bear the name of the company they work for.
We're lucky here in Sudbury... they can't pick the nickel up and mine it someplace else... You know what happens though if you build something for years from parts that have to be brought in??? You spend your life building equipment that makes the company rich beyond their dreams with profits soaring... they try to offer you a deal where your wages go back to 1980 levels and when turn it down, they close the plant and move it to the third world country to the south and give the jobs to people who have been starving to work and will take any concessions they throw out there and throw workplace safety rights back 100 years... shit man... I thought we were moving forward. Not while this country elects people like Steve Harper and Dalton McGuinty.
Through music we can organize, theorize and sympathize.
Through music we can escape, join together and understand.
Friday, February 3rd - Sulfur City Blues Band - $5.00 at the door
Always a good night out with SCBB. Lori sings, growls and hollers her way through a list of blues and rock songs like a cross between Bjork and Bessie Smith. Come out and wash your winter blues away...
Saturday,
February 4th - 2-5pm - Fundraiser
for Locked Out Workers - donations at the door
Hosted by Charlie Angus MP, Claude Gravelle MP and Glenn Thibeault
MP... featuring music from Charlie Angus, Kevin Closs, Mike OBrian of Kill the
Autocrat and Paul Loewenberg.
What we have to remember is that the strike th...at produced the CAW emergence out of the UAW was ALSO against Caterpillar. Here is a company posting record profits and wanting their production line to work for wages that will never allow them to buy a house or raise children or save for retirement. People have to send a message to government that corporations must not be allowed to carry out these actions against workers. Shaking the foundations has to reach right to the Hill. It has to reach right to Caterpillar's head offices.
Join us this afternoon to sing about it. Join us to plan and begin effective action.
Wondering why so many members of parliament are around? Sunday, Feb 5th from 2-4pm at the new USW Hall on Brady Street sees the Northern Ontario debate of the 8 candidates for the Leadership of the Federal NDP Party. Paul Dewar MP will be on hand to speak this afternoon. Charlie Angus and Claude Gravelle have both officially endorsed Paul Dewar in this leadership race.
Also... just after finishing writing the calendar and the web updates... a tragedy happened... Caterpillar decided to close the Electro-Motive Diesel plant in London after 34 days of lock-out. it's a shameful situation. I hope that the boycott of Caterpillar cuts deep and shows that voices of solidarity don't just come from the picket line... they can come from everywhere.
and this is an editorial note... there are so many NDP MP's around because this is an important issue to many people in the country and this is the political party that is trying to do something about it.
Saturday, February 4th - 11pm - Hugh Jazz and more!- $7.00 at the door
Tonight we'll have a mix of the best local bands in the scene right now. We kick off the night with the 3 piece, Hugh Jazz. This Django Reinhardt inspired group conspires of Ben Wardo from the Coffins on Double Bass and two outstanding guitarists. This all instrumental group will also be returning to the stage in March on our all instrumental night... Friday, March 16th - we'll have Little Sir Echo (Matt Foy, Jeff Houle and Mitch Houle), Hugh Jazz and Supertoke (new all instro trash rock band featuring 3 Lucha Libre manglers ... Lucha Loco, El Santo and The Blue Demon).
Thursday, February 9th - Low Guns - $5.00 at the door
Soundman Luke takes the back seat tonight... meaning he drives the drum kit instead of the sound board. Dwayne Trudeau comes out of hiding every couple months to blast our ears and make a lot of noise. It's a duo of blues rock, slide guitar sleaze and smashing. If Hound Dog Taylor drank Dr. Jekyll's formula he might turn into the Low Guns. More Jon Spencer and RL Burnside.
Friday,
February 10th - B.A. Johnston,
DanyLaj - $7.00 at the door
The Mayor of all Dirt Malls returns… B.A. Johnston, the clown prince of gotham… the BorjeSalming of Snotrockets… this little tidbit of info ended up on B.A's site a couple weeks ago... yep. yep. yep. new album Hi Dudes!! is out on Feb 23. its available on vinyl, cassette and compact disc. as well its out on itunes and zunior.ca. its also the first album that can be ordered in stores so ask your local record dealer to get it in. If you want to order it in advance or whatever talk to the good people who are putting it out mammoth cave records. i am also going to be touring the record everywhere starting in march. ill be touring all summer so chances are good i am playing wherever your cardboard box is located.
So yeah... he sounds so organized... like he's got a new helper monkey or something. B.A. always delivers.
He seems to be doing this show with Dany Laj. He used to live in Sudbury... used to even play in a band with Sound Man Luke called The Old Youth. Dany has been down n Toronto for a few years now and has his first EP out from his Toronto excursion... check out a snippet of this review on the Blog, Wilfully Obcure... So yeah, we have the great Canadian ep called The Match, which showcases a budding troubadour who has "raw talent" written all over him. Laj possesses the same visceral moxie that forebearers Ted Leo, Elvis Costello, and Joel Plaskett made their respective calling cards, and just like that trifecta he makes it sound so damn effortless.
Saturday, February 11th - The Birthday Suits - $5.00 at the door
Nobody will be naked tonight... it's not that kind of birthday suit... the band will, however, be comprised of Don Kunto, Chris Dardick and Bryan McNally. As the day of Christopher entry into this world is about to be passing again, the boys thought it wise to have it their way with the stage tonight. Undoubtedly some reggae dub jams... some great rock and roll... a few ska tunes... maybe even a bit of R&B. It'll be a kick back and relax kind of night.
Thursday, Febraury 16th - The Olde
Timey Song Circle - $5.00 at the door
So here's the idea... a heap of musicians from across the Townehouse and Sudbury scene get together at least one Thursday a month to celebrate and learn old songs, plus bring new songs to the table that they are writing. Not exactly an open stage... it's a song circle... we'll have a nice mix of banjo, guitars, Mandolins, Washtub and String Bass... we have to find an old jug... no drums allowed... but maybe a washboard... we'll have jaw harps, harmonicas, mouth trumpets and voices. Well here... take a look at the email I sent out to the musicians to try and explain what I wanted to do...
"good day gents... I was just talking to Jon on the phone about this and I'd like to run this by a few people. I'm having ideas about what to do with some of the nights at the Townehouse that are hard to fill.. eg. Thursdays. That and I currently have no musical engagement aside from holiday bands, which is driving me a bit batty. With the Sunday Bluegrass Brunch winding down for the moment, I'd like to put out a challenge that we do some nights of old time songs... we can do it from 9-midnight or 10-1 on thursdays (keep us from losing a workday on Friday)... the idea...
Old Timey Song Circle.
One or two thursdays each month.
-we sit on stage in front of a bunch of microphones and play music that was
written before 1950 or music that we have written ourselves that fits into the
vein of folk, country, mountain music.
-we bring out a bunch of instruments and take turns playing the bass, harmonicas,
banjos, jaw harp, jugs, washtub bass, guitars, dobros, fiddles, mandolins, accordians.
-we culminate with a Thursday, July 5th evening and then a set at the Northern
Lights Festival in July.
-we use it to show each other songs by Mississippi John Hurt, The Carter Family,
Son House, Robert Johnson, Libby Cotten, Pete Seeger, Woody Guthrie, Brownie
& McGhie etc.
-we inspire other singers and players to learn songs so they can join us.
-we invite some folkies like Paul Dunn and some other folks as they pass through
town to come in and school us.
-we make girls get up and learn Bessie Smith, Elizabeth Cotten, Maybelle Carter
etc.
-we have a shit ton of fun and not put all of the pressure on one singer in
particular... ie. people can come and go but whoever becomes the core group
goes on to the festival.
-we divvy up the revenue evenly between players and have a few drinks on the
tab.
-we all take part in the initial promotion so that people know what nights to
come to the townehouse early for these shindigs.
-we all take part in the proliferation of knowledge of folk songs, traditional
blues music, songs of struggle, etc."
So that's the idea... tonight... we see if we fly.
Thursday, February 23rd - Canailles
- $7.00 advance, $10 at the door - 9:00pm doors!! Early show!!
Anyone who was at the River and Sky Music and Camping Festival last summer will certainly count this show among their highlights. They just amazed the crowd and we're pretty sure that we can sell this night out of tickets... so watch for them to go on sale on Tuesday, Febraury 7th.
Canailles started off as 6 musicians from really different backgrounds who would meet up to improvise on bluegrass, country ... more and blues standards. Their love story took a new level after a couple of months, and they started writing crafting a sound all their own: a crazy mix of cajun, zydeco, country, blues, bluegrass, ragtime and garage.
Monday,
April 16th - Yukon Blonde + Library Voices - $15.00 advance,
$20 at the door - Doors at 8:00pm!
Tickets went on sale December 15th! Yes... they are back... since the show we had in November was totally sold out, it means we are anxious to bring Yukon Blonde back to reach out to the crowds that couldn't make it in + the ones that have just got to have more. You won't believe the opening band on this tour!! Library Voices wowed the crowds at the 2011 Northern Lights Festival Boreal as the openers for Broken Social Scene. Both of these bands could sell out their own shows at The Townehouse but here we go with 2 amazing bands on one bill!
The standard bio for Yukon Blonde is now familiar… While on tour with Jon-Rae Fletcher in the summer of 2008, the band - then known as Alphababy - realized that they needed a new change of pace. Taking some of the ideas conceived on the tour, the band returned to Kelowna, locking themselves away for half a year to write new songs in a freezing cold jam space by the Okanagan Lake. The band quickly released an EP, debut self titled album, and now have released their 2nd album, for which they are five months into touring the continent to play for everyone.
They have played sold out shows at Millard's Garage, The Townehouse Tavern and a much talked about performance at the 2nd River and Sky Camping and Music festival.
Library Voices could very well be the Dark Knight of indie rock. At every turn they've been met with curses of mythical proportions. While it may be true they've had their trailer robbed on tour and the following year, their instruments and studio destroyed in an unimaginable flood, the seven piece pop-outfit from Regina have refused to let anything bring them down. Summer Of Lust, the bands newest full length offering, will be released on Nevado Records (home to Bahamas and Yukon Blonde) and marks Library Voices' third release in just over two years.
Every winter, thousands of Saskatchewan residents pack up and head south to escape the soul crushing conditions of the prairie winter. While most of the province was basking in the desert sun from their campsite in some Arizona WalMart parking lot, Library Voices rented an old town hall in the frozen rural village of Kronau (population: 209) and bunkered down to write their sophomore release. As if that weren't enough, they then packed up the van and drove headlong into the heart of winter on a cross-country road trip to Montreal, to commit the songs to tape …
Thursday, April 19th - The Wooden Sky, Sunparlour Players- $15.00 advance - doors at 9:00pm. Tickets on sale December 15th!
Over the last few years, the Wooden Sky have consistently impressed with their rootsy folk rock sound. Now, the Toronto-based outfit are getting ...ready to usher in the next chapter of their career as they prepare to release their third full-length. Evocatively titled Every Child a Daughter, Every Moon a Sun, it's due out February 28 on Black Box Recordings. The last two Wooden Sky shows at the Townehouse sold out in advance... I see no reason why anyone should wait to get their tickets... and now, this week, we've announced the support on the bill...
Making this fantastic bill, we are happy to have the Sun Parlour Players opening. Sunparlour Players originated in the mind of Andrew Penner, but over the last few years, after extensive touring, Sunparlour Players can now be called a group. Michael "Rosie" Rosenthal and Dennis Van Dine joined up with Penner during the recording of the debut album Hymns For The Happy which was released on the Baudelaire Label in 2007. Now, 4 years later, the band releases Us Little Devils (Outside Music), their third album, and without a doubt their most diverse and strongest effort to date.
As always, stay tuned for more shows! Always more coming down
the pipe. Don't miss the Bluegrass and Gospel Sundays at the Laughing Buddha…
kids welcome… at the Laughing Buddha, Sundays from 2-5pm.