Steve's Blog
Wednesday November 17, 2010

Hi everyone

Just a couple of things this week. Firstly, thanks to everyone who came to the shows last weekend. The Jane Mortifee and Jim Byrnes concerts were absolutely spectacular! And special thanks to the volunteers who made the shows possible - and ran them so smoothly.

1. Battlefield Band & Jocelyn Pettit, Thursday November 18th 8pm, St. James Hall, 3214 West 10th Avenue

A must see for fans of Celtic music, and for anyone interested in history, Scotland, Scots abroad, fiddle music, bagpipes, Gaelic singing, English singing, ensemble playing, and - as a special treat - anyone interested in the burgeoning talent of local fiddle players. Battlefield Band have been touring and recording for over 4 decades. They are still going strong, with some wonderful young musicians joining the ranks along the way. This tour is the final one for founder and keyboard player Alan Reid. I spoke to him on the radio show last weekend, and he's not putting his feet up, smoking a pipe and writing his memoirs. He'll be touring again, in a duo this time, and will continue to write his stunning songs of Scots at home and abroad. He will be replaced by fiddler, piper and Gaelic singer Ewen Henderson, who is the fifth member of the band on this tour. The others have been here before, of course. Piper Mike Katz hails from Los Angeles, and looks like an escapee from ZZ Top, but he is one of Scotland's favourite adopted sons and a very talented multi-instrumentalist and composer who first played at the Rogue with Ceolbeg back in 1994. Alasdair White is a brilliant fiddler who also excels on a wide variety of wind instruments and keyboards. Sean O'Donnell is a Glaswegian singer and guitar player with a fine voice. Together, The Batties make a joyous sound, and we are delighted to welcome them back to The Rogue for the 9th time, dating back to 1990. Their last appearance here was in 2006. www.battlefieldband.co.uk

The opening set will feature young fiddle sensation Jocelyn Pettit and her quartet. She is a former member of the North Shore Celtic Ensemble, who released her first solo CD earlier this year. At a young age of 15 years, Jocelyn is a fiddle player with outstanding talent! In a short time, she has developed musicianship well beyond her age! First inspired by driving Cape Breton fiddle music, Jocelyn now enjoys creating original compositions, and arrangements of traditional and contemporary Canadian, Scottish, and Irish tunes. Blazing NEW-TRAD Celtic Fiddle with original, contemporary, and traditional music, mixed with funky rhythms and lots of groove! Music to move to, dance to, and celebrate! www.jocelynpettit.com

2. The Edge On Folk - CiTR Fundrive Special Edition - Saturday 8am to 12 noon, CiTR fm 101.9 and www.citr.ca

On this week's show I'll feature one or two CDs - classic albums covered by brilliant bands from the west coast. Definitely Abbey Road from The Waybacks and guests (recorded at Merlefest in May) and quite probably Dark Side of The Moonshine by Poor Man's Whiskey. I'll spin some of my favourite albums of the year, plus concert previews (including the new CDs by Don Ross, Joel Fafard and The Breakmen.)

This is a very important show, and the only one for me during CiTR's fourth annual Fundrive, which is currently underway. I have some new CDs to give away as rewards for your pledge - including a new Warren Zevon retrospective, The Breakmen, Patrick Street, Kevin Burke & Cal Scott, Celtic Fiddle Festival, Lee Harvey Osmond, Chuck Brodsky, Cirque Du Soleil, Eric Bogle, Po Girl, Nathan Rogers, Ron Hynes, Kila, Lennie Gallant, Annie Lou, April Verch, Paul Pigat, and some special personal favourites of 2010 compilation CDs too.

For a $30 donation you'll receive a CD and a CiTR Member's Card. (that's 60 cents per Edge On Folk show in a year)

For a $60 donation, you'll receive a CiTR Record Bag, 2 CDs and a CiTR Member's Card.

For a $101.90 donation, you'll receive a CiTR Pop Alliance CD, a CiTR Record Bag, 2 CDs and a CiTR Member's Card.

For a $250 donation, you'll receive a CiTR Record Bag, a CiTR Pop Alliance CD, 5 CDs and 2 CiTR Member's Cards - plus you get to host your Listener Hour on CiTR!!

For $500, you'll receive a CiTR T Shirt, a CiTR Record Bag, a CiTR Pop Alliance CD, 10 CDs and 2 CiTR Member's Cards - plus you get to host your Listener Hour on CiTR!! (and that's still only $10 per show for a year!)

You might instead opt for a tax receipt for the full amount of your donation (or a combo of a tax receipt for part of it plus a corresponding portion of the swag).

You can donate online on www.citr.ca (please, please donate to my show!) but this will only result in a tax receipt.

If you want the swag - and who doesn't just luuuuv swag?? Then please call 604-UBC-UNIT (604-822-8648) during my show. You might get to speak to the lovely Andrea Berman (Pacific Pickin', CiTR's Bluegrass show), who's helping out that day.

Please join me for 4 hours of the very best in Roots, World & Folk Music. And, if you can, please pledge to CiTR and help keep us on the air, sounding better, and secure in the knowledge that someone out there cares about what we do for the local music scene - and your ears. After all, where else can you hear such a huge variety of speciality programming? Of under-represented music, that doesn't get played on commercial radio - nor even on CBC.

Thanks for your support!!

See y'all tomorrow night. Och aye!

Steve