Steve's Blog
Thursday June 9, 2011

Hi everyone

Well, the Stanley Cup Final is down to a Best Of Three, with The Canucks having home ice advantage. I'm sure they would have "taken" that at the start of the play-offs.

What has that to do with folk music, you may ask? Well, if the Canucks were in with a chance of lifting the Stanley Cup tomorrow night we would have probably had to cancel the Don Ross / Brooke Miller concert. Now we can go ahead with it. If you get there early you can watch the game in a local hostelry. It should be over in time for you to come to the concert.

1. Don Ross & Brooke Miller, Friday June 10th, 8pm, St. James Hall, 3214 West 10th Ave

Don Ross, Canadian guitarist extraordinaire, pretty much invented his own musical sub-genre - Heavy Wood - a few years ago. He's been making annual appearances at The Rogue for over two decades and has a string of fine albums and awards for guitar virtuosity to his name. Many years ago he played at St. James Hall with his Celtic band The Harbord Trio. It was their only Vancouver concert. They had been booked for the Vancouver Folk Music Festival in 1987, but when another band had sound problems their concert set was first delayed and then cancelled. What a pity! They were excellent. The Harbord Trio featured Don with his first wife Kelly MacGowan on harp and vocals and the brilliant fiddler Oliver Schroer (now both sadly deceased.) A few years ago Don met PEI guitarist / songwriter Brooke Miller at a festival and they are now married and living in Halifax. Brooke took a couple of years off the road, but is now back with a great new CD, Shake It Off. Don launched his latest CD, Breakfast For Dogs, at the end of last year. I missed his concert here with Swedish guitarist Jimmy Wahlsteen last November. Don and Brooke have shared the stage at The Rogue just once before, and this will be a special concert and a rare chance to hear them together on stage - with heaps of new material. Both the new CDs are available on Candy Rat Records - one of the better download-oriented sites on the web. This will also be our final concert at St. James Hall before the summer festivals. Our next show here will be with the amazing Swedish trio Vasen on Friday September 2nd.

2. Vancouver Folk Festival Tickets - Early Bird Deadline for Rogues is tomorrow, June 10th!

Rogue Folk members can still buy weekend tickets for the Vancouver Folk Music Festival (Jericho Beach park, July 15 - 17). We will pick up the tickets around 2pm on Friday afternoon so if you've already ordered them by then - and paid for them - you could pick them up at the Don Ross show.

Alternatively you could come to the Don Ross show and still buy tickets. We'll pick up any remaining tickets on Saturday, and you can then make arrangements to pick them up at a concert at Capilano University Theatre later in June or from our office on West Broadway.

We will not be able to take any more phone or email orders after Friday June 10th at 2pm, so act now to avoid disappointment! Early Bird tickets are $135 but only $122 from us. After June 11 they will be $150 in advance, and $165 at the gate.

3. The Edge On Folk, Saturday June 11th, 8am to noon on CiTR fm 101.9 and www.citr.ca

I'll have new releases by David Bromberg, k.d. lang & the Siss Boom Bang, The Secret Sisters, Pokey LaFarge & The South City Three, and some great songs from the last two issues and CDs from Sing Out magazine, as well as festival previews, new releases, old favourites and the occasional request. Please join me for 4 hours of the best roots music on the dial.

4. Jazz Festival Concerts at Capilano Performing Arts Theatre

We'll have a sales table and a raffle at the following concerts:

Alison Brown Quartet, Monday June 27th, 8pm

This is one of my favourite bands, and Alison Brown (banjo) and her husband Garry West (bass) also run Compass Records, North America's premier Celtic music record label (they took over the Green Linnet records catalogue a few years back, and also host the likes of Lunasa, Solas, Karan Casey, and lots more.) Alison is one of those incredible banjo players that defy categorization and astonish with their speed, clarity and virtuosity. Her fingers are lightning fast, but look closely at her right hand. It's barely moving at all. The band blends Celtic music with influences from Cajun, jazz, bluegrass, Latin music, and beyond! With virtuoso pianist John R Burr and - I hope - the incredible mandolin / percussion wizard Joe Craven this band can excel at any style of music and win over any crowd. Highly recommended!

Mississippi Sheiks Tribute, Wednesday June 29th, 8pm

Jim Byrnes, Steve Dawson, The Sojourners, Del Rey, and Danny Barnes will reprise the wonderful concerts presented during the Cultural Olympiad last year.

Savoy Family Cajun Band & Foggy Hogtown Boys, Thursday June 30th, 8pm

Note: we moved the Foggy Hogtown Boys from St. James to create this amazing double-bill!

With influences from Acadian music, old time fiddle tunes, and traditional songs from the old world, Cajun music and Bluegrass are North American cousins of Celtic music, and we have two of the very best bands in either genre under one roof! Marc Savoy is a brilliant accordion player with a distinctively deep, throaty sound on his squeezeboxes. He is also an accordion maker. Probably North America's most famous one, in fact. His wife Ann Savoy sings and plays rhythm guitar, and their two sons: Wilson (piano) and Joel (fiddle) round out the wonderful Savoy Cajun Band. They have just released Turn Loose But Don't Let Go (Arhoolie Records) - a stunning 15 song collection of hard-driven dance tunes and soulful songs from the bayou. Toronto's Foggy Hogtown Boys are Canada's premier Bluegrass / Honky Tonk combo, featuring mercurial fiddler John Showman, mandolinist Andrew Collins, and Chris Coole on guitar and banjo. Although, the group draws a great deal of inspiration and material from the "golden age" of bluegrass and country music, solid original songs written by members in the band blend well among the old chestnuts. Their latest CD, Scotch & Sofa, is a remarkable collection of songs and instrumentals ranging from Salty Dog to Chinquapin Hunting and Always Been A Rambler. Let's turn the theatre into a grand old roadside honky tonk bar. Dance the night away, for tomorrow we are on holiday!

Have a great weekend.

See you at the Rogue!
Steve