springtime

I am not one to wax poetic about the weather. Let's face it - most of the year there's very little to wax poetic about in this burg of extreme climactic conditions. But after a winter of grey, cold and snowy discontent it's difficult to supress a smile when we hit a string of days like the ones we're now having in Southern Ontario: not a cloud in the sky, very light breezes, cardinals and jays chirping on tree branches, glorious 14 degrees, not a trace of black slush left anywhere, nubile nymphets gamboling up and down the avenue in their flip-flops, laughing and flirting with schoolboys. Spring is not often a very nice season in these parts: it's usually the fall that amazes with its warm glow and blazing colours but so far, April is as good as anything Paris can offer (well, except for the fashion, the architecture, the food, the wine, the women and the culture....wait a minute....that leaves.....cardinals and jays!!!) Never mind! It's glorious outside and I relish my daily constitutionals like you would not believe.

Spring has sprung, the grass has ris...

where's the justice part II

Just got back from an amazing show - not at the Roy Thompson Hall, not at the Humingbird Centre, not at Massey Hall. Just a small bar downtown, on a sleepy Wednesday night. The band in question was a quartet of absolutely phenomenal musicians - all in their mid-twenties: Jesse Barksdale on lead guitar, Drew Jurecka on violin, Roberto Rosenman on rhythm guitar and an excellent bassist whom I don't know. I've played with all the three young gents named above but have never heard them play together as a unit. Tonight I witnessed a display of blinding virtuosity, served with a great sense of fun and with a maturity and musicality worthy of musicians twice these guys' age.

They blazed through a repertoir of Django chestnuts (Minor Swing, Dinette, Manoir des mes Reves) and the usual standards (Shine, Pennies From Heaven) - the latter two sung with humour and zest by Drew. The joint was about half full and there was a couple of hoofers, swinging away to the the side of the stage. The people that were there were certainly appreciative of the music but I couldn't help but think two thoughts: in my extensive travels through Europe the only place where I would see an act of this calibre would be in a major concert hall, yet in North America one can wonder into a small bar in the middle of the week - in Toronto, in Memphis, in Austin, in Montreal - and listen to such unbelievable talent. The other thought is related: why, oh f...ing why, on any random music channel I can see a never ending array of no-talent rockers sporting the right haircut but zero musical ability and making millions when right in this city, right now I can listen to guys who have spent thousands of hours honing their craft and yet play for tips in a side street bar on a Wednesday night.

One part of the answer is self-evident. The music these guys play - as gorgeous as it is - is simply too complex to ever be highly commercial. Also, the technique required to play this music is so demanding as to go right over the heads of 90% of radio listeners. And yet....still there is no justice. It can be claimed with a fair degree of certainty that a highly skilled brain surgeon will make more money than a family physician straight out of college. A landscape architect will make more money and gain more recognition than a gardener's apprentice. That's simply not how it works in our business. If you can package it and if you can sell it, perhaps the content of the package is not all that important. Conversly, even if you have an exquisite gem but don't know how to sell it or promote it you'll play on a quiet side street, not on MTV. Injustice? Certainly. The way the cookie crumbles? Most definitely.

In the meantime, if you're in Toronto, check out the Victory Cafe on Markham Street every Wednesday night. You'll be amazed!

two flicks

My dear wife and I went to the movies on Saturday. The weather was pathetic. One miserable degree above zero, a northerly gale blowing down Yonge Street and a thick sheet of sleet falling at a sharp angle. What's more, I had an out of town gig ahead of me that night the thought of which I did not relish. So we drove up Yonge Street, found convenient parking across the street from the movie theatre, didn't bother putting money in the meter (in those weather conditions even the ever vigilant T.O. parking Nazis would not venture out - a correct assumption, as it turned out) - and went to see a matine showing of the new Kevin Coster vehicle, The Upside of Anger...

A suburban wife (a tour de force performance by Joan Allen - an Oscar nomination in 2006 - you heard it here first!) is abandoned by her husband who - it would appear - has run off with his Swedish secretary. The wife starts socializing with fellow boozer, neighbor and washed up baseball star, Kevin Costner. Over time they form a bond that is prickly at times, funny at other times but always real. The dialogue is sharp, the acting exquisite, the abandoned wife's four daughters and Kevin Costner's boss all have juicy, funny, true-to-life roles. There is a surprise ending which some critics have panned but which, to my mind, actually adds poignancy to the movie. It was nice to see Costner act "small" (no dancing with lupine prairie dwellers and no armies to lead). No machine guns, no exploding heads, just excellent dialogue throughout. This is a movie that seems deceptively simple, yet is anything but. Highly recommended!

There was no parking ticket on the windshield as we left the theatre but the wind had increased, as had the stinging ice pelets. I drove down to Burlington to play my gig which was relatively uneventful, except for the thick caking of wet snow on my car by the time I got back home.

On Sunday night there was no gig and I wallowed in the luxury of watching my new digital channels. There are about 5 out of the 50 that I find fairly useful, three that I watch rather frequently (FOX news, the documentary channel and COOL - TV) of which COOL TV is definitely the best. Jazz and jazz related material 24/7. So far I've seen great and rare clips of Louis Armstrong, Louis Jordan, Duke Ellington and hilarious performances by Cab Colloway and some old hammy Dizzie. Really excellent stuff - even though COOL does tend to pad out the time with completely un-jazz stuff like the Ed Sullivan show and mawkish 1950's musicals where a major seventh chord played by the string section masquarades as jazz.

Anyhoo - on Sunday night COOL TV screened a really nice 1950 film starring Kirk Douglas called A Young Man with a Horn. Apparently, the script was loosely based on a Bix Biederbecke biography, though anyone familiar with Bix's sad, short and brilliant life would not have seen all that many similarities - apart from the main character's complete obsession with music. Lauren Bacall starred as the femme fatale who seduces the naive young horn player and makes him lose his way and abandon his purpose. Doris Day was the orchestra singer in love with Douglas and ready to spring to the rescue. Best of all, Hoagy Carmichael played - well, more or less himself. He was the piano player, ready to back up Kirk musically and as a friend. It all sounds really cliche (and the ending was kind of vanilla!) but: phenomenal black and white photography, splendid Art Deco sets that had me salivating, moody lighting, seductive cityscapes and just exquisite music with the lead trumpet played by Harry James. To hear Hoagy speak and play was such a treat. And Douglas actually made the trumpet player believable, if a tad too "Douglas-y". If you come across this on DVD, watch it - if you like jazz and the atmosphere of the 30's and 40's you'll like this flick a whole lot.

And, since we're on the subject of TV - I'll be glued to the box tonight watching my current favourite show, "House" on FOX. Absolutely first rate medical series, starring Hugh Laurie as the misanthropic genius physician, Gregory House. I've seen Laurie in the very funny British series "Jeeves and Wooster" (also highly recommended) and here he does a flawless American accent and plays the brilliant, incisive but socially completely impossible Dr. House. Do watch it before its ratings tank and FOX pulls it (fingers crossed this will not happen....)