Steve's Blog
Wednesday January 18, 2012

Hi everyone

We had a fine concert with Andy White the other night. Not a very large crowd, but enough to justify our giving him a proper listening space to play for a change. Big thanks to all of you who took a chance on the show.

1. Jeffery Broussard, Thursday January 19, 8pm, St. James Hall, 3214 West 10th Avenue

This week is Cajun Week in Vancouver, with Dirk Powell and the Foghorn Trio at Capilano Uni on Saturday following on from the return of Jeffery Broussard and the Creole Cowboys this Thursday at St. James Hall.

Jeffery Broussard was a leading member in Zydeco Force, an influential band at the forefront of the nouveau zydeco movement. His accordion and vocals defined this new style of Creole music, incorporating the soulful sounds of R&B into contemporary zydeco music and dance. The son of esteemed accordionist Delton Broussard, young Jeffery began his musical journey on the drums in his father's legendary band, the Lawtell Playboys, who were themselves innovators, adding some R&B and a funkiness to this traditional roots music. During this time, Jeffery was exposed to some of the great Creole fiddle players, including the king of the zydeco fiddle, Calvin Carriere. Jeffery has retained those precious melodies and songs he heard at home, at social gatherings and on the bandstand. And with the creation of the Creole Cowboys, and as one of Louisiana's hottest Creole fiddle players, he captures the essence of this rich musical heritage. Jeffery was nominated for two Best Of The Beat Awards last week: Best Zydeco Artist, and Best Zydeco Album of 2011 (Return Of The Creole, on Maison de Soul records) www.jefferybroussard.com

Last February Jeffery brought his band to The Rogue for the first time. It was a great night, with the dance floor full right from the start. We hope to see you this Thursday for more of the very best in Louisiana Zydeco this week!

2. Weeknights at The Rogue

Last Fall we mainly presented shows on weekends. This year, in our efforts to keep on bringing you the very best music around, we find that we need to present bands on different nights of the week from time to time. With our early start - and finish - times, we hope that you will continue to support our concerts, whatever the night of the week, and whether you've heard (of) the band or not. We guarantee all our shows 100%. If you don't think they live up to our billing we'll refund your money or give you tickets to a future show.

3. Sherman Downey, Tuesday January 24, 8pm, St. James Hall

With this in mind, we encourage you to check out the positive vibes and acoustic / folk / bluegrass / pop energy of Newfoundland's superb young quintet Sherman Downey and The Silver Lining next Tuesday. They are stopping here en route from the enormous Woodford Festival in Queensland and on their way home via the Cold Snap Festival in Prince George (now there's a climatic variation to conjure with!!) Come and lift your spirits with some amazing new music from the east coast. Check out the band on www.shermandowney.ca

4. Keeping The Rogue alive

We were delighted to see that the BC government has re-instated access to Gaming Funds for non-profits. While $135 million has been ear-marked for non-profits, only $6 million will go to Arts Groups. BC remains the Province with the lowest per capita funding for the Arts in Canada. We came to rely on Gaming Funds for many years, and suffered when they were taken away a couple of years ago.

Luckily we found support from a great new radio station, Shore 104.3fm, and they have really helped us get through those years. At the present time there is a takeover bid in progress for Shore. It was declined by the CRTC in October and is subject to an appeal from the prospective buyers (Astral, who make those big electronic billboards, like the one on the Burrard Street Bridge.) Whilst that takeover is still under appeal we will not be receiving any concert sponsorships from Shore. Meanwhile, we will endeavour to submit an application for Gaming Funds - we only have until February 13th - and keep our fingers crossed!

These are trying times. We may even lose all our funding at some point. Who knows?

As Pied Pumkin (I think it was they) used to sing, "if there's no audience, there ain't no show". Without your continued support we would not be able to carry on. Please keep on coming to our concerts, renewing your memberships, and helping us spread the word about our shows.

Thank you!!!