Peter Ponders the Painted Lady

In last last week’s column, some of my language was a bit salty. However, if you are more offended by that than you are about the threats to our democracy, freedom and tolerance posed not only by neo Nazis and white supremacists, but by extremist ideologues (on both sides), well then maybe you’re part of the problem. As far as neo-nazis are concerned, I will not attempt to disguise my distaste, disdain and disgust for those thugs, those losers who apparently venerate “Hogan’s Heroes” as a World War II documentary.

So now let’s lighten up and talk about some music. I dedicate this week’s column to all the people who whine “There just isn’t any good music being made anymore!” There is, you just aren’t looking in the right places. (It’s actually all around you.)

Last Friday, I went to “The Painted Lady” at the invitation of Dylan Weller, for an “Indie Week” event, run in cooperation with “Eclectic Comfort“.  Always nice to run into Dylan and Cameron Carpenter, and it was a great chance to see 3 previously unknown (to me) entertainers. Tiz McNamara led off with a solo acoustic set. He is in the studio recording an EP as you read this, and this is a sample of his work entitled “Take It In”. While he does sing covers, he is quite a composer in his own right too.

https://www.facebook.com/TizMcNamaraMusic/videos/490926464415636/

Chris Birkett played next accompanied by Shari Tallon, who played several different instruments, including keyboards and the flute. It was an energetic set, mostly composed of originals, but even some Sly And The Family Stone, much to the delight of the audience. Here’s one of his tunes performed solo, “Just A  Boy”.

https://www.facebook.com/chrisbirkettmusician/videos/10155202158072041/

The evening was completed by Eric Mercer, whose bluesy-rock set was also very popular with everybody. I was unable to find a video of his music, but he does have Facebook pages, both a personal page and one for his music. Again, worth following up on if you like good music, and you wouldn’t be reading DBAWIS if you didn’t.

So, I got introduced to three acts I had no previous knowledge of, renewed old friendships and made new ones, heck of a way to kick off the weekend. “And so to Lois’s.”b)

I had put up “Rhapsody In Blue” on my timeline recently, and my friend Harry Fox posted this gem of a cartoon from “Fantasia 2000”. Thanks Harry, and thanks for opening my eyes to The Dead South, by the way.

https://youtu.be/qWJ-kGuOA_Q

Recently Jaimie Vernon posted this song from Maddie & Tae, who are putting out new music shortly. “A Girl In A Country Song” is really well done, pointing out the absurdities and indignities which women have been and are being subjected to due to sexual objectification. (This is probably a good time to note that sexual harassment is defined as UNWANTED attention, [caps for emphasis], so anyone who attempts to disparage these fine women as frigid and incapable of loving, [or any other of the “sour grape” epithets that rejected oafs employ] is simply talking out of their hat.) Anyway, I love this song, I love the tune, the words and the message. Good luck with your new release, I know that you’ll be back in my column in the very near future.

https://youtu.be/_MOavH-Eivw

https://www.facebook.com/100027658622660/videos/137089030556384/

Recently I became friends with Vincent Camilleri, another hardworking local promoter. He has some great bands, again ones which were new to me! He posts great videos, like the one at the top of this paragraph, which is Academy Killer with “Late To The Party”. Vincent does a lot of booking in the Hamilton area, so keep your ear to the ground, as there are upcoming shows, well, upcoming! For example, Stackhouse will be playing at the Corktown pub in Hamilton, Ontario September 1st. I hear you say “But Peter, I don’t know what they sound like! ” Well,  you do now. You’re welcome.

https://www.facebook.com/100027658622660/videos/137058690559418/

Every successful band needs “gunslingers” on guitar. One of “the axemen” for Social Strife is Julio Biafore, who himself is an accomplished composer/singer. I have been pleased to have him send me some of his work, and so I thought that I would share one of his songs with you. I really like “Love In My Heart”, and I think you will too.

https://youtu.be/7eC7lpSiMas

Another local “gunslinger”, Dylan Hennessy has just released a new instrumental, “Kaiju”, and has been posting it on Facebook. I thought that I would add it on to my column as it’s a very nice piece of music, and very “heavy”, as Suzi Kory commented.

https://www.facebook.com/dylanhennessy/videos/10155316301091792/

Speaking of, I mean, writing of, Suzi Kory, she has just finished a full length album, available wheresoever you scratch your musical itch online. Entitled “The Secret Garden”, here is an excerpt from the title track.

https://www.facebook.com/suzikory/videos/319899921911096/

*Promoting your band* Even at my relatively advanced age, I still have the odd WTF moment! Some of you may know of my liking of the Danish band “Powersolo”, whom I have featured on my timeline and even here in my column. Last Thursday, I posted the simple message “I love your music” on their Facebook page. When I woke up the next morning, I had a reply from Kim Kix, the frontman. He sent me a very nice personalized, topical reply, which really impressed me. He obviously cared enough to look at my profile, and you bet that I mentioned this to Cam and Dylan at “The Painted Lady”, as I am mentioning it to you now. That’s another good point about promoting your bands, and an adjunct to my earlier column on this subject. Have someone monitor your band’s Facebook page carefully, in order to make quality, thoughtful replies to any messages you may receive. After all, you want people to talk about your band and your music. And without further ado, here’s “Sloppy Bird Boogie” by Powersolo.

https://www.facebook.com/POWERSOLODK/videos/10154280372837408/ .

Note that this week marks my first anniversary writing for this great blog, so next week’s column will reflect on that. Stay tuned, lots more to come!

See you soon.

1. a) Among other things -Latin
2. b) Paraphrase of “And so to bed.”, last sentence in most entries in the famous diary of Samuel Pepys, English politician, bon vivant etc. of the 17th and very early 18th Centuries.

=PJM=

A confirmed Cat person, Peter dabbled with being a water boy, a paper boy and an altar boy before finally settling on a career with the Canadian federal government.  Once, in his youth, he ate a Dutch  oven full of mashed potatoes to win a 5 cent bet with his beloved sister Mary’s boyfriend. (Of course he was much younger and a nickel went a lot farther!) He has retired to palatial “Chez Montreuil”, which he shares with his diabetic little buddy Reg the Cat. He is blessed to have his dear Lois in his life. He is not only a plastic aircraft modeller, but a proud “rivet counter”. Military aviation and live music are among other interests of his, and he tries to get out to as many shows as he can. He will be here for your enlightenment whenever the stars align. Profile photo courtesy of Pat Blythe, caricature courtesy of Peter Mossman.