Steve's Blog
Thursday April 24, 2008

Hi everyone

It's going to be a busy weekend! We should have two full houses.

Oysterband, Saturday April 26th, 8pm at St. James Hall, 3214 West 10th Avenue

We can no longer accept phone or email reservations for this show. We will have to cut off on-line sales later today. Certainly by this evening. There are still some tickets on sale at Highlife Records and Rufus' Guitar Shop. There will not be any tickets available at the door.

Having said that, if you made a reservation by phone or email, and your plans have changed, please let us know as soon as possible. (Perhaps you have since purchased tickets, maybe someone in your party cannot make it.) We are currently holding 80 tickets that have been reserved. So it is essential that you notify us of any changes.

Oysterband are in fine form right now, with their latest CD, Meet You There, one of their strongest to date. They are exceptionally musical, and their tunes are always memorable Instrumentally they feature cello, fiddle, guitar and melodeon, and singer John Jones has one of the best voices in folk rock history. This will be their fifth Rogue gig, dating back to 1987 at The Savoy, 1990 at WISE Hall, 1991 at 86 Street Music Hall (with June Tabor), and 2001 at Richards On Richards. Their current tour has no American dates, so we will have a few visitors from south of the border. We have received ticket purchases from as far away as Wisconsin, California, and Oregon, as well as neighbouring Washington State.

It will be a great night! Come early! Concert details

The Bills, Sunday April 27th, 8pm at St. James Hall

Western Canada's finest stringband features wonderful musicianship, amazing vocal harmonies, stunning choreography, and a range of folk / roots material from many traditions: Celtic, Klezmer, Balkan, Swing, Cajun, Quebecois, Old Time, Bluegrass, Latin: you name it, they can play it! And they probably will, too.

"The biggest blast of fresh air to come out of Canada since The Band" — Glasgow Herald

"Their sound is panoramic, mischievous, fiercely unpretentious - and musically splendid." — Boston Globe

"Sheer brilliance ... probably the best live act I have ever seen" — Maverick Magazine (UK)

Tickets for this one are selling fast, so don't delay if you want to be sure to see them.

www.thebills.ca, Concert details

Urgent Request

We need help on Saturday bringing equipment from Long & McQuade's new store on Terminal Avenue (near Main Street) to St. James Hall. We need to bring a drum kit, a bass rig, and two amplifiers. This will not fit into my car. We need someone with a van who can meet me at Long & McQuade at around 3pm and then head over to St. James to load in via the elevator around 4-4:30pm. If someone out there knows how to assemble a drum kit, that would be a bonus!!

Of course, if anyone has a drum kit they could bring to the hall, that would be even better.

I still need help with the bass rig, though. I'm sure it won't fit in my car.

The reward? Tickets to the show for starters, of course! If you loan us the gear we will pay you the market rate for it as well.

Please email me or call 604-736-3022 if you can help out.

Thanks a million!!

Future shows

Don't forget that we have Patty Larkin and Peter Mulvey on Sunday May 4th, Pied Pumkin on Friday May 9th, Norah Rendell & Brian Miller on Thursday may 15th, Denmark's Haugaard & Hoirup on Thursday May 22nd, and Kansas City's The Wilders on Friday May 30th. All at St. James Hall, and all guaranteed to be spectacular concerts.

The Edge On Folk, CiTR fm 101.9, 8am to noon, every Saturday, www.citr.ca

Don't forget to tune in to my weekly radio show on CITR. This week I'll have new releases by Wyckham Porteous, Eivor Palsdottir, Rita Chiarelli, Justin Townes Earle, The Wilders, Rupa & The April Fishes, as well as features on upcoming concerts and lots more. Please join me for four hours of the best roots music on the planet!