Steve's Blog
Cannery Row ramps up a roots rockin' good time at The Rogue!
Friday November 20, 2015
Keep in Touch
There are two ways you can receive these updates automatically:
- Email: subscribe to us via MailChimp: Rogue Folk Club Mailing List
- RSS: subscribe to our RSS Feed
1. Cannery Row, Friday November 20th, 8pm, at St. James Hall (3214 West 10th Avenue)
THIS FRIDAY come in from the cold to enjoy Cannery Row! Their music evolves from the roots and blues of Memphis to Mississippi, the bayou rhythms from New Orleans and central Louisiana, and the latin percussion and piano and guitar sounds of Cuba. They put on one of the most enjoyable and eclectic concerts at The Rogue a couple of years ago, and since then they have released a fine, eponymous CD. The trio comprises Gary Comeau (fiddle, accordion, piano, mandolin, vocals), Chris Nordquist (drums, washboard, vocals) and Tim Hearsey (guitars, vocals). They are three veterans of the Canadian roots music scene, and between them have played with everyone from Taj Mahal to Roy Forbes & Connie Kaldor to Jim Byrnes and so many more. Together they play music with a smile and a kick in its step. Come along and let your hair down at The Rogue House. Here's a little sample of what they do: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQoxEhvresk
For tickets and more information click here
2. Linda McRae & Thad Beckman, Friday November 27th, 8pm, at St. James Hall (3214 West 10th Avenue)
Next weekend we present the return of former Spirit of the West bassist / vocalist / accordionist Linda McRae, who now makes her home in Nashville. She has just released a great new CD, Shadow Trails (produced by another Vancouverite living in Nashville these days, Steve Dawson.) It's a fine blend of Roots, Gospel, Appalachian and Blues songs - all originals, although some were co-written with inmates of institutions like Folsom Prison, where Linda holds songwriting workshops. Her music is anything but downbeat, though. This music is an inspiration to the downtrodden and the underdog, and a celebration of life and how much richer we are for the music that lifts us. www.lindamcrae.com
Opening for Linda is Thad Beckman, a Portland guitarist and songwriter best known as Tom Russell's accompanist. Thad released a superb CD of original songs earlier this year, Streets Of Disaster. It showcases his versatility and excellence as a guitarist, and also as a gifted songwriter. The final cut is a duet with Tom Russell on Tom's classic song, Blue Wing. Thad will give a Guitar Masterclass on Thursday 26th at 7pm, covering everything from finger exercises for folk and blues guitar, with a focus on Blues fingerpicking. It will take place very close to St. James Hall in Kitsilano. Contact Morris Biddle for details on Mobiddley@me.com or call 604-732-1305. The cost is $50 and space is limited.
For more information on the concert click here
3. Radio Waves
On this week's edition of The Edge On Folk (Saturday 8am to noon on CiTR fm 101.9 and www.citr.ca I'll start off with some music brought back from the recent WOMEX world music expo in Budapest by Vancouver writer Tony Montague. I'll have some historic music from the late Sandy Denny, new music and old from the founding members of Spirit of the West, a feature on Linda McRae - who was also in Spirit of the West for a while, and lots more. I hope you can join me!
Don't forget we also have Radio Rogue, broadcasting an ever-changing mix of music from all over the world 24/7 Just point your browser here to experience the finer points of Roguery!
4. History Project
I'm starting a 30 Year History Of The Rogue. It will be a coffee table book with photos from Rogue shows down the years, anecdotes, interviews and personal memories of the 1,500 (or more) shows we've presented since May 1987. We will stage a festive weekend of music by a variety of local performers in May 2017 and the book should be ready by then!! If you have any memories you'd like to share, please email me on steveedgeonfolk@telus.net
Speaking of history, check out this little gem unearthed by CiTR alumnus Dave Ball earlier today on the Discorder magazine archive (recently digitized by CiTR student interns.) I wrote this article about Spirit of the West in November 1985 - when I was still a programmer at Cominco, and I'd only been a CiTR DJ for 6 months a the time! https://open.library.ubc.ca/collecti…/discorder/…/1.0050218…
5. Rogue Calendar 2016
I've just ordered some copies of my 2016 calendar, with heaps of photos I took at Rogue events in 2015 (that's Leah Zeger of the Gonzalo Bergara Quartet on the cover, by the way). The calendar includes dates of Rogue shows in 2016, festival dates, and much more! It's full-colour, on glossy heavy stock, spiral bound, and is 13" x 10". The cost is $25, with all proceeds going to support live music at The Rogue. You can order your copy online or in person at any Rogue gig (I'll have a sample copy on hand tomorrow night, for instance!) Or call 604-732-1305 for more information.
6. Other concerts this weekend
Cape Breton's The Barra MacNeils perform Saturday November 21st at St. Andrews Wesleyan at Burrard & Nelson. It's their Cape Breton Christmas show, with lots of great tunes of a not necessarily seasonal nature thrown in for good measure. (The problem with starting a cross-Canada tour scheduled to finish up on the east coast just before Christmas is that you have to start early on the west coast!) The band was in exemplary form at Celtic Colours last month, and we strongly recommend this show if you're a devotee of Canadian Celtic music! It's brought to us by the good folks at the Vancouver Celtic Festival.
On Sunday November 22nd Jon Bartlett & Rika Ruebsaat and friends will present songs and a powerpoint presentation celebrating the lie of Joe Hill, the legendary labour activist who was murdered by the authorities 100 years ago this week. It's at St. James Hall, and it runs from 7pm to 10pm. Tickets at the door.