The Duke Spirit @ Lee's Palace - April 18, 2006

England's The Duke Spirit swung north from their US tour last Tuesday to share some of their intense alt-pop with us at Lee's Palace. The Palace wasn't as full as I expected it to be for "UK royalty", but the fans that were there made up for the lack of numbers.

As it turned out, their bass player created some sort of incident at the border and was left behind in Niagara Falls, NY. Their tour manager/van driver filled in, and did a fairly respectable job.

You can link to a slide show of my pictures of The Duke Spirit here or just view the enlargements separately by clicking on the thumbnails you'll see there. I've even integrated one of their songs (top-right). Hit the play button, then start the slide show for a multi-media experience.

Chick trio, Hunter Valentine, opened for the Spirit with some angst-ridden tunes. Not bad, but unfortunately they played to a mostly empty room.

Drummer, Laura Petracca, kind of stole the set... intentionally or not. It was hard to concentrate on McCloskey's gloom-and-doom lyrics when Laura was pounding her heart out with a big shit-ass grin on her face and the buttons on her shirt popping open!

2006 Hootenanny Revue @ The Horseshoe

Dang, if I didn't see a great show last Friday night at the legendary Horseshoe Tavern!

Victoria's Carolyn Mark (that cute little filly you see to the right), Kingston's Luther Wright, and Jenny Whiteley (I think also from the Kingston neck of the woods) brought their cast of thousands (well dozens) to the Horseshoe under the banner of the Hootenanny Revue.

Some other very recognizable folks that appeared on stage were Oh Susanna, Shuyler Jansen, Hank & Lily Fawn, Tolan McNeill, Dan Whiteley, Diona Davies and Cam Giroux. That's not to mention folks like Blue Rodeo's Basil Donovon and Ford Pier, who got coaxed onto the stage to join in.

There were too many to recognize and keep track of, especially since some were in costumes. Now that must have been Hank in the weirdo face mask, and Lily in the deer horns? But then, who was in the red demon's outfit? And, what's with the snakes?

Get the picture? No... well check out my photos by clicking on Carolyn's 'coon skin hat up there, and all will be revealed.

If this is the kind of travelling road show you're into, act fast! You might just catch these roving troubadours in Guelph tomorrow, Grafton on Friday or Kitchener on Saturday. Other than that, it's just a matter of waiting for the next time the Hootenanny Revue sweeps through the east.

Click here to read the story behind the Hootenanny Revue.

Goo Goo Dolls Surprise Visit to TO

In the first audience review so far (not submitted by yours truly), Michael Braun (drummer for Ariel's Worm) managed to snag a ticket for the surprise, short-notice Goo Goo Dolls show last night at the Opera House. Check out his comments and photos in the Community Forum.

Just click the Community button to the left, and scroll down to the Comments on Recent Shows link. Mike's message is inside.

If you managed to be there too (you lucky bastards!), why not Reply to Mike's post and add your own comments.

Or, if you've been out to see any other great acts recently (or any that really sucked!) share your opinions by starting a new topic under the Comments... section.

Worms, Stars & Cows - Thursday @ The Bovine

My buddy Vince calls me at about 8pm last night and says "You've gotta get down to the Bovine to see Ariel's Worm!". Who am I to question Vince (or his worm), so I headed downtown to catch them as the opening gig.

Great show, so I guess I shouldn't question Vince's judgement.

Check out my photos through this link, or just click on the picture. Check out their music at their MySpace.






The featured act was The Stars Here, who were doing a CD release thing. They did a fine job, but I guess I was still dwelling on Jennifer's dynamic performance fronting the Worm. She's gorgeous (and talented too)!



Anyway, biases aside, I did get some decent pictures of The Stars Here. Have a look.

They're a Waterloo-based outfit who do some mighty fine indie rock. Check out their MySpace to hear a few tunes, but (trust me) the stuff they played last night was waaaaaaayyyyyyyyy better. Now if only they'd send me a complementary copy of that new CD!

NXNE - Time to start planning

June may still seem like a long way off, but with our summer weather lately, it'll arrive sooner than you think.

North by Northeast runs June 8-10. Promotions from the organizers have just begun, if you're interested. Sorry bands, but I think you're too late to get your act considered for inclusion in the schedule. The organizers are already wading through the massive list of submissions. Plan further ahead next year!

For those not familiar with the NXNE concept, you have the opportunity to see about 400 bands spread over about 30 venues over three evenings. New band on the hour every hour. You'll be surprised at how fast they swap equipment in the 15-20 minutes allowed for that.

It's a lot like Canada Music Week, but with more of an international flavour. Think SXSW North.

There's also a conference and special events, which you'll see at the NXNE site right now. They're pricey, so unless you have the bucks and the interest, just set aside around $30 for a wristband that'll take you everywhere you want to go for live music. Since the bands haven't even been selected yet, just be patient. I'll let you know when the good info comes out.

Bluestone Band + Demon Flowers @ Lee's Palace, March 31, 2006

Pleasant surprises are always nice when you're out to the clubs for live music.

I was out to see Demon Flowers at Lee's Palace last Friday. They're the reincarnation of the Betty Moon group with some staff changes. It was a great gig with lots of new material (thanks for the demo CD, guys & doll!).

Click on this link to see my photos, or click on the photo.







I'm experimenting with new photo/slide show software, so apologies if you have a slow speed connection. If you use the slide show option, let it run through the series more than once. It gets faster and looks much better. My next goal is to have a sound track for each collection.


Ahead of the Demons, Bluestone Band from Montreal was the pleasant surprise that I mentioned. They delivered such a solid, tightly integrated set that it made me wonder why I had never heard of these folks before. All the band members contribute to the vocals, but brother/sister Ben & Angie Russell shared centre stage. Adam Bell's trumpet really adds punch to their music.

Check out their MySpace site to hear some tunes.

And, once again, click here for my photos (w/optional slide show), with the same warning about dial-up that I mentioned above. You might even click here before you do that to hear an MP3 called Don't Buy It, as a sound track for the slide show. Just don't close the audio window when you come back here to look at the photos.




PS Those wondering about what the old dude that runs this site looks like can find me in the last photo with Angie from Bluestone.



PPS There are "new" photo collections from the archives in the Showcase section... two groups that leave impressions burned into your eyes as well as your ears.