Steve's Blog
Tuesday April 3, 2012

Hi Everyone

We have a very interesting concert for you this week. It's a short working week, too, with Good Friday meaning there's a holiday the day after the concert so we can all spend extra time recovering (should we need to) and we can all stay out late and party late at the gig (may as well. Nothing to do the next day ....!)

1. Cleia & Beyond, Thursday April 5th 8pm, St. James Hall (3214 West 10th Avenue)

Cleia was a Celtic band that grew out of the Cafe Montmartre series of open mics on Thursdays, hosted by the inimitable Tim Readman. They recorded a couple of CDs in the first half of "the Noughties" (2003-2005) and featured some pretty amazing musicians and singers, including Andy Hillhouse (Mad Pudding), Norah Rendell (Outside Track), Karla and Keona Mundy (No Shit Shirleys) and Neil Hammond (now with a band called Thereafter). Norah met Minneapolis guitarist Brian Miller and they married and settled in the Twin Cities; Keona married Neil and they moved to Bowen Island, Karla worked with her choirs and The Shirleys, and Andy moved to St. John's to get his Masters in Ethnomusicology (he's now getting his PhD, in Toronto, I think.) Cleia were fabulous! They left a void in the local scene that has never really been filled, but the offshoot bands continue to flourish.

So on this night Cleia will be reunited, and there will also be sets by three of those offshoot bands, including Norah Rendell with Brian Miller and Cape Breton fiddler Mairi Rankin, who now lives in Abbotsford, and is also a member of The Outside Track. Brian has just released a great collection of songs from the lumber camps of Minnesota; songs learnt from Irish and Scots lumberjacks who brought them from the old country and / or Canada. One of those songs is a very rare one about gold mining in the Cariboo (not even Phil Thomas found that one!).

Karla will lead a trio with Kori Miyanishi (ex Dyad, now with Shout White Dragon, which presents live music for square dances at the WISE Hall every month) and Steve Charles (Redgrass, Reboot Quartet etc.) Keona and Neil bring their new band Thereafter, which also features fiddler Annie Brown and cellist Santo Bhattacharya. There might be some surprise guests too.

Tickets are still available either via our website (details here) or at Highlife Records, Rufus' Guitar Shop, or at the door. Doors open at 7pm. Show time is 8pm prompt.

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

I'll have a special Easter edition of The Edge On Folk on Saturday - four hours of egg hunting songs? Well, maybe a little more variety than that. A new single by Great Lake Swimmers, a new Brazilian music sampler, some classic B.B. King and Tom Waits, Solomon Burke's last concert recording, Blues JUNO winners Monkeyjunk, concert previews (Elvis Costello, Lynn Miles, April In Paris, The Toure-Raichel Collective, The Good Lovelies, Alvin Youngblood Hart, etc.) and much more. Tune in and find out what else is new and exciting (or maybe old and exciting!) on Saturday from 8am to noon on CiTR fm 101.9 (www.citr.ca)

Happy Easter! See you at The Rogue.
Steve