Steve's Blog
Thursday November 28, 2013

Hi everyone

It's been another incredible week at Rogue Towers as we continue to seek the salvation of The Hollywood Theatre on West Broadway. Meetings, discussions, negotiations, legal wrangling, financial juggling - all sorts of stuff with which I am not very familiar! We are still hopeful of a positive outcome, but it's by no means certain. Nor is anything finalized - or even close - yet. In the mean time please visit www.savethehollywoodtheatre.com for the latest information - and to see what YOU can do to help!

In the short term, please buy a Save The Hollywood Theatre button at the concert tomorrow night! $5.

1. Brishen, Friday November 29th, 8pm, St. James Hall (3214 West 10th Avenue)

"QUINN BACHAND IS one of those musicians so precociously talented it doesn’t seem fair to others. He started playing classical violin at four, picked up guitar at 10, quickly mastered a range of swing styles from Django Reinhardt’s manouche gypsy-jazz to traditional Scottish and Irish reels, and when barely in his teens was accompanying Ashley MacIsaac and touring the antipodes with him. Now he fronts his own gypsy jazz quartet, Brishen, with ace fiddler Richard Moody, and brings it to the St James Hall on Friday (November 29) for a self-titled debut release party that should swing like a shithouse door in a gale." So says this week's Georgia Straight, using a rather odd mixed metaphor at the end!

Anyhow, without doubt we have one of the country's most prodigiously gfted guitarists playing at The Rogue on Friday. He'll also play some banjo - the instrument that Django Reinhardt first learned to play when he was even younger than Quinn. Brishen made their Rogue debut at this year's April In Paris festival. Their debut CD came out a few weeks ago. With Joey Smith on bass and Reuben Wier on rhythm guitar they have a superb rhythm section. Add to that Quinn's incredible fretwork and the sublime fiddle / viola of Richard Moody (who is also a member of The Bills - and brother of the delightful Ruth Moody, who graced our stage a few months back.) Just to make it an even more exciting prospect, they will be joined by Victoria's Maureen Washington - one of the capitol city's most popular blues and jazz vocalists. It's going to be a great night!

There are still tickets available online and at Rufus' Guitar Shop. I apologize for not having made it out to Highlife Records to deliver tickets for this show. I plan to head over there on Friday morning with tickets to a few of our other shows (including David Bromberg. They had sold their original allocation.)

For more info on Brishen visit www.brishenmusic.com

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

On this week's show I'll have an extended feature on the music of David Bromberg - including some tracks from the new Bob Dylan collection, Another Self-Portrait, on which David is the featured guitarist on the vast majority of tracks. There will also be some classics from the 1970s and - following David's 20 year hiatus from recording and performing - his newest recordings on Appleseed Records. I'll also be playing songs by Aoife O'Donovan - some from her new solo CD, Fossils, and others from her other bands Crooked Still and Sometymes Why.

There will be new releases from Sarah Jarosz, Chatham County Line, Eric Bibb, The Abramson Singers, Humming House, The Rheingans Sisters, Tamikrest, Lala Njava, and the soundtrack of Inside Llewyn Davis - the new Coen Brothers movie about the Greenwich Village scene in the sixties.

Please join me for the very best in Roots, Folk, Blues, World and Celtic music - and much more besides. Broadcast live on CiTR fm 101.9 in Vancouver, Telus TV Channel 7023 in B.C. and - i think - Alberta, and of course streamed live on www.citr.ca

3. Rogue Calendar 2014

I will have a few copies of this unique Calendar on sale next week at our shows. I have a preview copy of the first few months - featuring photos of Rogue performers at our shows - taken by me - and listing concert and festival dates, so come and have a look tomorrow night - and put in your orders now. They will be printed on glossy paper, heavy stock, spiral-bound and ready to hang on your wall. Size: 15" x 12". Price $30.

4. Martin Hayes documentary, Sunday December 1st, 7:45pm, Pacific Cinematheque, 1131 Howe St.

Don't miss this award-winning new film about the mercurial fiddler from Co. Clare. Limited availability of tickets. I've got mine!!

5. Free live music film, Wednesday December 11th, Fifth Avenue Cinema

Music that inspired the Coen Brothers' new film Inside Llewyn Davis - with songs peformed by Joan Baez, Patti Smith, The Secret Sisters, Avett Brothers, Gillian Welch, Jack White, Rhiannon Giddens (Carolina Chocolate Drops), Punch Brothers, Colin Melloy (The Decemberists,) The Milk Carton Kids and many more. Get your free tickets by visiting anotherdayanothertime.ca - and get there early, because the film will be oversubscribed!

Cheers, and see you soon!
Steve