Tuesday, August 4, 2009

July 2009






I write this as July comes to a close. So far the summer has been ablaze with it's familiar sights and sounds - fairs, outdoor music festivals and mini donuts among other things. The donuts you know about... here is a brief account of some of the gigs I have done this month.

Canada Day (July 1 for the tourists) was in Toronto in Woodbine Park with One More Girl for a free concert. The 10,000 plus crowd were great and the girls put on a great show. The band (Denis Dufresne, Darren Savard, Tom Mckillip, Gary Craig and John Dymond ) took no prisoners and played the gig like they'd been doing it for years. The record company reps were out in force and it sounds like they were impressed.

Johnny Reid's dates this summer have been impressive. The crowds are on
his side. Merritt, Dauphin, Rabbit Lake and the Calgary Stampede among others have brought the Tartan Army out in force. Thousands of screaming fans always do wonders for one's morale. Carrying around a shiny instrument such as a saxophone makes you a bit of a spectacle and people seem to like it despite the old adage .... You can tune up a car but you can't tune up a saxophone.

Sadly, the Big Valley Jamboree in Camrose suffered some devastating bad luck. The day AFTER we were there, Mother Nature showed who was boss and flipped the mainstage over. As I write this details are sketchy but I'm sure by the time I post this news reports will be filtering out. I've heard of casulties including a death .... I hope this isn't true .... what a shame.

Sidney York's record is selling well and she seems to have an endless supply of gigs around Canada which is very encouraging.

I started helping Johnny Reid's guitarist Yvan Petit's solo effort. Yvan came to Vancouver for a week where we cut beds, guitars and his vocals for 11 songs. August for me will be spent comping, editing and overdubbing on his project. I'm very excited to be working on it as he is a real talent and the songs (most of them co written with Johnny) are excellent.

Until next time.....

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