Steve's Blog
Thursday December 12, 2013

Hi everyone

It's started raining and the cold spell appears to be over, so it's just the usual winter blahs that need to be blown away this weekend. St. James Hall is the best place to do it!

1. Caleb Klauder Country Honky Tonk Band, TONIGHT, Thursday December 12th, 8pm, St. James Hall (3214 West 10th Ave.)

Put on your dancing shoes. We'll have a big dance floor tonight for all you Country & Western Music fans. That's right! REAL Country Music! Not the schlock that passes for Country nowadays. We're talking blue collar, big boots, big hats, and a big sound delivered on pedal steel, fiddle, and guitars. Caleb Klauder is perhaps best known for his work with Portland's Foghorn Stringband. He's also a devotee of that REAL Country Music - and one of the best songwriters and singers in the genre in this day and age. His hot, swinging band also hails from Portland (the end of The Oregon Trail - what could be more Country & Western than that?)

"Klauder's musical alter ego happens to be old-time country with an acoustic-oriented, lo-fi sound that falls somewhere between 30-40's stalwarts The Delmore Brothers and early 50s honky tonk with its cloppy backbeats. On this mostly original affair [Western Country, Hearth Music, 2010], Klauder doesn't play up the hot solos from steel/electric guitarist Paul Brainard, though there are plenty of those. Instead, what's really on tap here are Klauder's vocals, which aren't polished like a natural crooner's, but are unvarnished enough to have plenty of character. The end result is a better lyrical focus, hence making this as real as it gets" -- Driftwood Magazine

The band performs Calebs praised original songs right alongside classics from George Jones, The Louvin Brothers and Dolly Parton, all at once sounding timeless, fresh, and alive. There is a drive to his music that makes it unique and captivating. This is country music made for people who want to have fun and who want to dance, harkening back to the old dance hall days when people of all walks of life came together to simply dance, socialize, and enjoy live music.

Y'all come on down now! Plenty of room to dance - or to sit and watch (betcha can't sit still, though!)

2. An Irish Christmas, Friday December 13th, 7:30pm, St. James Hall (3214 West 10th Ave.)

Live trad. Irish music, Irish dancing, seasonal songs, and a real Irish spirit will pervade the Hall tomorrow night. It's only $15 to get in and all profits go the Irish Benevolent Society, so it's also for a good cause. This is NOT a Rogue show, but we ARE helping them to promote it. For tickets go to www.irishchristmas.ca

3. Van Django Bells, Saturday December 14th, 8pm, St. James Hall (3214 West 10th Ave.)

This is The Rogue's Christmas Party, and it will be memorable and heaps of fun! Thrill to the sounds of one of the finest Gypsy Jazz Bands on the planet! And they are from right here in Vancouver. Led by the mercurial fiddler Cam Wilson and guitarist extraordinaire Budge Schachte, Van Django also boats the incredible bass player Brent Gubbels, and ace rhythm guitarist / cellist Finn Manniche. They will be joined by special guests Andrea Superstein on vocals and Keith Bennett on harmonica.

On their latest CD, Waltz In The Shape Of A Tree, Van Django continue their time-honoured tradition of working seemingly unrelated tunes into scintillating gypsy jazz medleys. Who knew that The Beatles' A Day In The Life was a swing tune? These guys did! Who thought you could blend theme tunes from Perry Mason, The Flintstones and The Third Man into a Django-style romp through our jaded TV memory banks? You guessed it! Van Django will lend their collective instrumental wizardry and twisted imaginations to Christmas medleys that will have you smiling, laughing and dancing with glee! Nobody does Django like Van Django - and nobody has ever done Christmas like this before! With bells on. See you there!

4. The Edge On Folk, Saturday December 14th, 8am to noon on CiTR fm 101.9 and www.citr.ca

It's my final show of 2013 - Heather McCain will take over for the next 3 weeks while I'm out of town taking a well-earned rest and probably looking for some new music while I'm at it!

On Saturday's show I'll have some more new releases, some Christmas favourites, and a few more Best Ofs from 2013. I hope you can join me, live on CiTR fm 101.9 in Vancouver, or Telus TV Channel 7023 in B.C. and Alberta, or streamed Live on the net on www.citr.ca We had some server problems last week, resulting in dead air on the live stream. Sorry about that. Podcasts of the show worked out fine, though, and you can always revisit any of the shows by going here

Have a great Rogueish weekend - and Wassail!!
Steve