Steve's Blog
Friday May 29, 2009

Hi everyone

Luka Bloom, Saturday May 30th 8pm, St. James Hall, 3214 West 10th Avenue

Big concert tomorrow night at The Rogue with popular Irish songwriter Luka Bloom making his first Vancouver appearance in 15 years! Since moving back from New York to Dublin at the end of the millennium his record company in America has folded, but his popularity continues to soar in Europe and also in Australia, where he tours annually. He also performs in the USA on a regular basis. It's such a pity that he hasn't been here for so long, as his songwriting continues to impress and he has performed miracles reinventing his guitar style to deal with tendonitis. His latest CD is called Eleven Songs. There are actually Fourteen Songs on the iTunes version. A fine "Best Of" appeared in 2007, The Platinum Collection, and the previous year saw the release of the superb CD, Innocence.

We have had some great press in the past couple of days. Here is the link to Stuart Derdeyn's excellent preview in The Province.

And Alex Varty in the Georgia Straight made some interesting observations about Luka's writing style in this fine piece in this week's Music pages.

We promise you an amazing concert! Luka has a warm, rich voice, a powerful yet subtle guitar style, and he is an absolute charmer. He also just happens to be on of Ireland's preeminent songwriters (and his brother - Christy Moore - is pretty famous, too).

Tickets are on sale online and also at Highlife Records, Rufus' Guitar Shop, and probably at the door as well.

Doors open at 7pm, showtime is 8pm. Concert details...

The Edge On Folk, Saturday 8am to noon, CiTR fm 101.9

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the 25th Year of Broadcasting The Edge On Folk! How many of you can say where what you were doing every Saturday for 25 years? Well, that's my dubious honour! Finding the very best in Roots, World and Folk Music and spreading it far and wide on fm radio and - for the past few years - over the internet and via podcasts on www.citr.ca as well. This week, there'll be music by such eminent "rogues" as Luka Bloom, Dick Gaughan, Bellowhead, Pacific Curls, and Oysterband. Plus hot new releases by Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara, Vieux Farka Toure, Chumbawamba, Uiscedwr, Oi Va Voi, Dave Alvin & The Guilty Women, Eilen Jewell, The Shee, Rick Scott, and many more. Please join me for a peripatetic cruise along the cutting edge of real music, with its roots showing proudly.

Coming Soon To The Rogue

Firstly, it looks like we will be receiving a Grant from Canadian Heritage this year! Hooray! We received notification yesterday. Let's hope they wrote the cheque before the record deficit was announced ....

So, here are some of the shows you can now look forward to in the coming weeks. We have teamed up with several festivals to bring you some incredible performers. All of them in the cosy confines of St. James Hall.

Saturday, June 6th 11am
Rick Scott
(Note: this is a Matinee performance. Yes. 11am. Before noon!)
St. James Hall (3214 West 10th Avenue)
Family Tickets $30 ($10 adults, $8 kids)

VISI and Rogue Folk present award winning family entertainer Rick Scott. Three time Juno nominee and winner of Parents' Choice, iParenting and Canadian Folk Music Awards, Rick combines music and laughter in lively participatory concerts for all ages. Innovative, warm hearted songs & music the whole family can enjoy together. www.rickscott.ca, concert details...

Saturday, June 6th 8pm
Contra Dance
St. James Hall (3214 West 10th Avenue)
Admission $10 ($5 if you bring goodies to share)

Come and enjoy high energy, easy-to-learn community dances with an aerobic flair and charged rhythms of traditional and contemporary Celtic and Quebecois fiddle music by Vancouver's Sybaritic String Band. Something to delight the ear, amuse the feet, and provide a barrel load of fun for everyone. All dances taught on the spot, with introductory lessons at the beginning of the event, and all the steps and moves taught by the guest caller, Seattle's Sandy Strand. www.richsobel.com/sybaritic, show details...

Friday, June 12th 8pm
Corbin Murdoch & The Nautical Miles; The Abramson Singers
St. James Hall (3214 West 10th Avenue)
Tickets $15 ($12 members)

Two CD launches in one show! Corbin Murdoch's band release Wartime Lovesongs on Jericho Beach Music and Leah Abramson (Dyad, Crooked Jades) releases a CD with her newest band, The Abramson Singers. The show will open with a set by a brass quintet, who will join The Nautical Miles later on as well. www.corbinmurdoch.com, concert details...

Friday, July 3rd 8pm
Pacific Curls
St. James Hall (3214 West 10th Avenue)
Tickets $20 ($17 members)

Pacific Curls (Ora Barlow and Kim Halliday from New Zealand, and Scottish fiddler Sarah Beattie) made their Rogue debut last Summer. It was one of the most memorable concerts of the year. The unprecedented combination of Fiddle, Ukulele, Maori traditional instruments, Cajons, Guitar, Stomp Peddles, Percussion and Vocals with lyrics in Maori, Rotuman and English unfolds a new direction for fusion World music. www.pacificcurls.com, concert details...

Saturday, July 4th 8pm
Old Blind Dogs
St. James Hall (3214 West 10th Avenue)
Tickets $25 ($22 members)

"The Old Blind Dogs play with a compelling energy and intoxicating rhythm," says The Scotsman, "as players and audience seem to share a wild ecstasy of emotion." The Dogs, one of Scotland's most highly touted traditional folk bands, are Jonny Hardie (fiddle, guitar and vocals) Aaron Jones (bouzouki, guitar, vocals), Ali Hutton (Border pipes, whistles, vocals) and Fraser Stone (drums, percussion). The Montreal Gazette called them "a Scots neo-traditional supergroup with a bracingly modern musical attack." www.oldblinddogs.co.uk, concert details...

Thursday, July 9th 8pm
Nordik Tree
St. James Hall (3214 West 10th Avenue)
Tickets $23 ($20 members)

Hans Kennemark Sweden), Arto Järvelä and Timo Alakotila (Finland) play beautiful modern folk music that simmers with life and lustre. This is simply magnificent artistry. www.myspace.com/nordiktree, concert details...

Tuesday, July 14th 8pm
Dick Gaughan
St. James Hall (3214 West 10th Avenue)
Tickets $23 ($20 members)

Scots singer Dick Gaughan has one of the finest voices on the planet, capable of capturing the heart with the most tender of traditional ballads in one moment and stirring the fire of the spirit with his uncompromising commentary on social injustice in the next. An unforgettable artist, able to change the way that you think and feel through the power of music. www.dickgaughan.co.uk

Monday, July 20th 8pm
Bellowhead
St. James Hall (3214 West 10th Avenue)
Tickets $28 ($25 members)

Eleven piece folk-big-band Bellowhead have exploded onto the festival scene and fast became one of the most talked about bands on the contemporary folk circuit. Formed in 2004 by the duo Spiers & Boden to headline the first Oxford Folk Festival, Bellowhead have played some of the top festivals in the UK and Europe In 2005 they received the prestigious BBC Radio 2 Folk Award for Best Live Act. To describe Bellowhead's music is a very difficult thing indeed - the material is steeped in the English folk traditions of song and dance, but the feel is exciting, intoxicating, slightly sinister and deeply funky ... Above all this is a BIG band. www.bellowhead.co.uk, concert details...

Tuesday, July 28th 8pm
The Outside Track
St. James Hall (3214 West 10th Avenue)
Tickets $20 ($17 members)

Featuring a line-up from Scotland, Ireland and Canada, The Outside Track plays cutting edge modern traditional music reminiscent of early Solas with a Canadian singer and a hint of the Poozies - with an occasional bluesy edge. www.theoutsidetrack.com, concert details...

Sunday, August 2nd 8pm
Fred Eaglesmith
St. James Hall (3214 West 10th Avenue)
Tickets $28 ($25 members)

Award-winning Canadian singer-songwriter Fred Eaglesmith inspires comparisons to icons like Woody Guthrie and Bruce Springsteen, tops the roots music charts, and boasts devoted fans that include a slew of his fellow songwriters. www.fredeaglesmith.com, concert details...

Thursday, August 13th 8pm
Oysterband
St. James Hall (3214 West 10th Avenue)
Tickets $28 ($25 members)

Once the bad boys of folk and rock, Oysterband have grown over the past five years into the role of musical custodians and godfathers of folk. "No other folk-rock band has the magnetism and verve of the Oysters live," Daily Telegraph www.oysterband.co.uk, concert details...

and lots more to be announced, including the re-scheduled Dougie MacLean concert on September 30th

Have a great weekend. Hope to see you at the Luka Bloom show.
Steve