August 20-July 4 (Or How I Spent My Summer)

Monday August 20, 9:30 PM

1st attempt at a blog in hebrew...back to front...Michael Vick is guilty, now let him plead for mercy on his hands and knees...doggy style...attended 14th annual Ottawa Folk Festival saturday at Brittania Park on the Ottawa River....Kris Kristofferson was headliner, age 72 but looking at least 20 years younger...Buffy Sainte Marie also looks terrific at age 65 (?)(she's the Satchel Paige of singer-songwriters)..plus Jimmy Lafave, Ray Bonneville, Eliza Gilkyson, Oh Susanna, Penny Lang, Michael Jerome Browne and many others....Woody Guthrie was dominant theme...his daughter Nora was featured guest along with Lafave and Kristofferson during saturday afternoon interview session with Mike Regenstreif plus the travelling Guthrie tribute show "Ribbon of Highway" closed the concert after 1 sunday morning...listen for audio highlites on mike's thursday morning CKUT show...kristofferson was truly shocked that woody guthrie is not in country music hall of fame...
http://www.ribbonofhighway.com/


I dont know what Dan Patrick is going to do now(apparently neither does he) but count me among the crowd that will miss him on ESPN radio, especially right before my own show....Patrick signed off friday at 4 after 18 years at ESPN...
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-patrick10jul10,1,1292278.story?track=crosspromo&coll=la-headlines-sports&ctrack=2&cset=true

I've had a major crush on Emmylou Harris since the time I first saw her on The Mike Douglas Show in the mid-70's...now 60 emmylou headlined a show in shelbourne, vermont on august 6th...not only does she sing like an angel (and looks even better) but she is a baseball junkie who keeps a portable sportsticker backstage to keep track of her favorite team, the atlanta braves...and is a big time animal lover, especially dogs, fostering three at a time until they are ready for adoption...how do you think she feels about michael vick?...wish she could find out how i feel about her...
http://www.emmylou.net/

What did I learn about myself after taking all but one day in july off?...that i could easily do it again...don't get me wrong, i love this job but after nearly 30 years i discovered that i enjoy doing nothing even more..well, not exactly nothing but just having the opportunity to sit under a tree on the lachine canal...or enjoy a pint on the terrace at hurley's...or meet a friend for a movie...all between 3 and 7...was a real treat...so was pulling my first all-nighter in years...first all-nighter without worrying about being coherent the next day...i'll spare you most of the details other than to say we forced Tony to open up early for us the next morning at Cosmo...and the mish-mash never tasted so good...there was plenty of music to enjoy, as always during a Montreal july but even by montreal standards this past july was exceptional...Dweezil Zappa and friends finished off the month in grand style...his second visit to montreal with "Zappa plays Zappa" in less than a year was sensational....as musician Liam Callaghan observed Zappa played the equivalent of six hours over two nights in town with a different band and did not play a single song twice...I found the moments that Dweezil "shared" the stage with his dad (beamed onto giant screen) very emotional...be sure to check out the videos, exceptional quality of two performances from his first montreal visit last october...
http://www.zappaplayszappa.com/index.html

I'd never say nearly 40 years is worth waiting for anybody or anything but John Fogerty sure delivered during his first ever Montreal appearance on july 17 at Place Des Arts..I heard some sound complaints but fogerty and his band-including kenny aranoff on drums and billy burnette on lead guitar- sounded tremendous from where i was located (corbeil-5th row)...so now that one of the best-if not THE best songwriter in American rock and roll history (that's songwriter-not lyricist) can anybody explain why Montrealers had to wait so long???...
http://www.johnfogerty.com/
http://www.kennyaronoff.com/
http://www.burnette-rock.com/BillyBurnette.htm

Canada week began in style at the JazzFest as I saw The Cowboy Junkies (my last show at The Spectrum), Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, The White Stripes and Buddy Guy from July 2-7.
Dylan, playing at Place Des Arts for the first time since 1966, was tremendous(what-you expected me to say he was crap?)...highlites included a slow, mournful "Shelter From the Storm" and a song that is currently my favorite from Modern Times-"Spirit On The Water"...when Dylan got to final verse of "Spirit" fans in cheap(er) seats had their say....
"You say I'm over the hill", sang Bob...followed by shouts of "NO! NO!"...
"You think I'm past my prime"..again followed by cries of "NO! NO! NO!"...
"Let me see what you got gal
We could have a whoppin' good time"
...we sure did...Dylan is still "headed for another joint"...currently in Australia, he returns to North America in October for a series of concerts in U.S. college towns accompanied by Elvis Costello...
http://www.bobdylan.com/moderntimes/songs/spiritonthewater.html

I knew The Spectrum was too good to be true...I haven't been to every select rock club in north america but I have been to a lot and none of them are/were better than The Spectrum...I consider it a privilege to have played a small but vital role in the history of the venue as a member of BillyBob Productions...we (Lloyd Fischler, Gary Silverman, Andrew Besner) coaxed Jesse Winchester out of hibernation in January of 1998 to help fill the place (with Loudon Wainwright III opening up)...I'll never forget the site of Jack Todd with tears rolling down his cheeks as Jesse sang "Yankee Lady"...Frank Marino, also on the comeback trail shortly afterwards, approached us to promote his return gig there and then to top it all off legendary singer-songwriter John Prine played a sold-out show (we even made money-$300) for us...Prine had previously never been asked to play Montreal...he slashed his usual performance fee (down to 10g) for us as long as we took him out for a genuine french meal...i asked him to play "Bad Boy" which he did...at soundcheck-just for me...perhaps not The Police circa 1982 but historic music nights nonetheless...and it couldn't have happened without us...(you're welcome)...The Prine concert also led me out of a hosting gig on "The Habs This Week" but that's a long story for another time...

Favorite Spectrum Shows (I can remember...)

1. John Prine
2. Stevie Ray Vaughan
3. Frank Marino & Mahogany Rush
4. Steve Earle
5. Jesse Winchester
6. Little Steven & Disciples Of Soul
7. Gary "U.S." Bonds
8. Clarence Clemons
9. Sonny Landreth
10.Daniel Lanois

www.johnprine.net

Spectrum Shows I wish I had seen:

Alvin Lee, Big Joe Turner, Cat Power, Iggy Pop, Joe Strummer, Lonnie Mack, Paul Butterfield, Phish, Rory Gallagher, Screaming Blue Messiahs, The Blasters w/The Fabulous Thunderbirds, The Replacements, Wilson Pickett

I've never been hassled by a wrestler before but this Green Phantom guy swears he's coming to get me this week....anyone have Jacques Rougeau's phone #?...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=BLvApsbEJbo