Steve's Blog
Friday May 8, 2009

Hi everyone

The BOP Ensemble, Saturday May 9th, 8pm at St. James Hall, 3214 West 10th Avenue

Of course the main business of the day / week is the 22nd Birthday Party for the Rogue, and we have a really fine new Canadian band for you - The BOP Ensemble, featuring Bill Bourne, Wyckham Porteous, and Jasmine Ohlhauser - on Saturday May 9th at 8pm at St. James Hall.

What else can we say about Bill Bourne? He's been a regular at The Rogue ever since he opened for Vin Garbutt at The Savoy in 1987. He's introduced us to many wonderful combos:

Bourne & MacLeod, with piper Alan MacLeod. They won a Juno and released two excellent CDs. Their Rogue debut was a St Patrick's Day gig, and they certainly shocked a few Celtic music fans with their unique blend of Scots / Cajun / Blues!

Bourne & Johnson, with fiddler Shannon Johnson (of The McDades.) They carried on where Bourne & MacLeod left off, adding Shannon's sublime fiddle and a lot of songs about bears.

Bill Bourne, Hans Stamer & Andreas Schuld - a powerhouse Canadian Blues trio

Tri-Continental, with Madagascar Slim and Lester Quitzau - Roots Music from Africa, Mississippi, and Alberta

Bill Bourne & Eivor Palsdottir - a remarkable Icelandic / Faroese singer, who brings her own very pagan very Nordic band to the Mission Folk Festival this July.

and now, The BOP Ensemble.

It's been a few years since Wyckham played a Rogue gig. One of BC's most eloquent songwriters, Wyckham made his name writing a musical about Joe's Cafe on Commercial Drive. Since then he's released a string of excellent albums and penned some wonderful story songs. His latest CD, 3am, was produced by legendary UK recording mogul Andrew Loog Oldham, who worked with The Beatles and the Stones in the 60s, and now makes his home in Vancouver. Wyckham's rich, gravelly voice and his deeply narrative songs are his trademarks.

These two veteran Canadian icons are at the peak of their creative powers these days, and the third member of the BOP Ensemble puts a very tasty icing on the cake. Jasmine Ohlhauser is a young bass player and singer from Edmonton. She brings a freshness and vitality to the trio that makes them exceptional. On top of this she is an amazing dancer, with her hoop dancing particularly memorable! She played here with Bill and Slim last September, and brought the house down with her dancing.

The BOP Ensemble recorded their debut CD early this year. "Between Trains" is about to be released. There are originals by each member, and a cover or two which will blow you away. The BOP Ensemble is the perfect band to celebrate the birthday of one of Canada's longest-running, world-renowned Roots Music Concert Series. More info: www.billbourne.com

Come down to St. James Hall on Saturday night and see what we mean. Show time is 8pm. There will be free birthday cake, and some excellent bargains to be found in our CD Sale. You can also bid on our April In Paris transit shelter posters.

Rogue Folk AGM, Saturday May 9th, 6pm at St. James Community Square, 3214 West 10th Avenue

The Rogue Annual General Meeting takes place at 6pm in the downstairs hall. All members are asked to attend, and to vote for the new Board members, peruse the Annual Report, and ensure that we are a fully-functional, democratic, member-driven Society. It is an essential part of our continued existence, and especially vital for our fundraising efforts. So please come along to the AGM help us to keep this vibrant series alive and well.

New date for Dougie MacLean, Wednesday September 30th, 8pm at St. James Hall, 3214 West 10th Avenue

We have a new date for Dougie MacLean. He had to postpone his concert here in March due to volcanic activity in Alaska, which left him stranded in Anchorage. The new date is Wednesday September 30th at St. James Hall. Tickets for the March 30th show will be honoured that night. We will have tickets for the new date on sale in the next few days. As some of you may know, we have had a great deal of difficulty issuing refunds for the original show. We apologize for this. We just don't have the staff resources to deal with it while also continuing to present concerts, report to our granting agencies, remit taxes, and generally keep the ship afloat. Your patience is much appreciated. We will get to the refunds as soon as possible, so if you absolutely cannot make it on September 30th, and don't want to trade your tickets for any other concert at the Rogue, we will get you your money back. (If you bought them at Highlife Records or Rufus' Guitar Shop, though, please obtain your refunds from them.)

Radio Waves

I will be Sheryl McKay's guest again tomorrow morning at 7am on CBC Radio One's North By Northwest, before heading up to CiTR to host The Edge On Folk from 8am to noon on CiTR fm 101.9 (carried live on www.citr.ca and available as podcasts later in the day.) I'll have new releases from Buckwheat Zydeco, Uiscedwr, Lau, Eilen Jewell, Israel's Idan Raichel Project, Calexico, Red Stick Ramblers, The Clay Faces, The Shee, Slaid Cleaves, Eddi Reader, Devon Sproule, Brass Monkey, Jim Byrnes, and Zanzibar's Cultiure Musical Club. There'll be previews of upcoming concerts, lots of great Canadian music, and some old favourites from the 22 year history of the Rogue.

Radio Rogue

Radio Rogue is back on the air with a hot new playlist, mostly of upcoming artists at The Rogue, plus some new releases, and tracks by recent performers at the Rogue. Go to the home page and follow the links to Radio Rogue to tune in with iTunes (Mac or PC) or Winamp (PC)

Bum Pads for the St. James pews!

We have some very versatile, attractive foam bum pads for sale! They are compact, and fold out into a very comfortable seating cushion that's ideal for the heard pews at St. James, and handy for camping, attending sports events, picnics, you name it! They come in multi-coloured bags of parachute silk. We have a limited supply, available for $10 at the Rogue table at our shows (they were on sale for $15 at the folk festival last year.)

Folk Festival Early Bird tickets

The deadline for Early Bird tickets for the vancouver Folk Music Festival (July 17 - 19) is fast approaching! This year the deadline is Thursday May 14th! Adult weekend tickets are $107 ($165 at the gate.) We have not sold very many yet. Act now, or miss out on the chance to attend one of the best festivals on the planet at a very reasonable price. It promises to be a truly fabulous festival, and you can even have a beer this time! Yay! Some have expressed doubts as to whether the festival can retain its family atmosphere if there is a beer garden. Trust me. Every other festival in the world has a beer garden on site. They are all family-friendly. Besides, the festival really needs to try this for a couple of years to have any chance of paying off its crippling debt. It's most definitely a case of "use it or lose it" here. And we cannot afford to lose it. Line-up details etc on www.thefestival.bc.ca

Meanwhile, send a cheque payable to Rogue Folk Club to 31 - 1465 Lamey's Mill Road, Vancouver, B.C. V6H 3W1. You can purchase as many tickets as you like for $107 each. Provided that you are a fully paid-up Rogue Folk member.

And finally, don't forget to vote in next Tuesday's Provincial election

Exercise your democratic rights, and please vote for the candidate whose party is most likely to support the Arts!

Have a great weekend, and a Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there!
Steve