Toronto Actor and Musician Raoul Bhaneja Set To Host The Maple Blues Awards

Toronto Actor and Musician Raoul Bhaneja Set To Host The Maple Blues Awards
Maple Blues Awards Will be Held on Blue Monday, January 21

For Immediate Release: September 13, 2012; (Toronto, Ontario) – Blue Monday, typically thought to be the most depressing day of the year will be anything but as Raoul Bhaneja, a Toronto actor and musician most noted for his work performing Shakespeare’s Hamlet solo and his blues band Raoul and the Big Time, is set to host the 16th annual Maple Blues Awards on January 21, 2013 at Koerner Hall in Toronto.

A yet to be announced cast of some of the best National blues musicians will be performing at the ceremony, all backed by The Maple Blues Band featuring Gary Kendall, Michael Fonfara, Teddy Leonard, Al Lerman, Tom Bona, Chris Whiteley, Pat Carey and Chris Murphy. Following the ceremony will be the popular after-party, featuring live music. Tickets for the Maple Blues Awards are on sale now for $35 - $65 and can be purchased at The Weston Family Box Office, located in The Royal Conservatory building at 273 Bloor Street West, Toronto or online at https://tickets.rcmusic.ca/public.

After many years of performing the duties of co-chairs of the Maple Blues Awards nominating panel, both Brent Staeben and John Valenteyn have stepped down to focus on their many other commitments in the blues community. The Toronto Blues Society is happy to introduce a new steering committee for the nominating panel that includes Deborah Cartmer, Program Director at CFBU FM radio in St. Catharines, Yves Trottier, Program Director at Dawg FM and Paul Norton, Programmer at CFRO FM and CITR FM radio in Vancouver.

The Maple Blues Awards is Canada’s national blues awards program. Its goal is to promote blues music across Canada, and to recognize outstanding achievement in the field. Each year, the Maple Blues Awards recognizes a leader in the blues community with the Blues With A Feeling Award (Lifetime Achievement Award).

The Maple Blues Awards will be wrapping up the biennial Blues Summit, a weekend of panels, discussions and workshops for blues artists, promoters, agents and festivals. On Sunday, January 20 the keynote speaker for Blues Summit Six is Holger Petersen, who in addition to being the president of Stony Plain Records, is also the host of CBC Radio’s popular program, Saturday Night Blues, host of CKUA’s Natch’l Blues and programmer of the Galaxie Blues channel.

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A Friend In The Blues - Danny Marks - New Release Review

I just received a copy of Danny Marks' newest release, A Friend In The Blues. Marks, a multi instrumentalist, is joines by Alec Fraiser (bass and vocal), Al Cross (drums), Jonathan Goldsmith (piano) and B3), Sherrie Marshall (vocal) and Wayne Mills (sax). Marks penned all 12 tracks on this release opening with Caretaker, a modern R&B based blues with a light jazzy bottom. Marks trades guitar riffs with Mills on Sax. Blues For Lonnie Johnson a shuffle style track has some cool Texas style riffs. Blues Party Tonight is a swing style track with a heavy horn bass and a Latin rhythm. Uncle John is an acoustic based finger picked blues ballad. Back To The Blues, is a ballad style track with the tale of the blues business and an interesting guitar hook. Two Brothers takes a more rural feel with a western flare. A Friend In The Blues has a very light, happy touch, almost a jingle. The Other Side stays in what I'd consider a more traditional western style in a rhythmic ballad. That Lonesome Valley takes an even further step into the country with a spiritual bent... think Porter Wagonner. Mixed Up Girl is another track that looks at the blues from a rural view adding slide and an uptempo beat. The recording concludes with Maybe Tomorrow, a quiet ballad accompanied with primarily acoustic guitar and slide.
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Make It Real Records artist: Cameo Blues - 10,000 Hours - New Release Review

I just received a copy of the new Cameo Blues recording, 10,000 Hours. The band, made up of Ray Harrison on piano, John Bride on guitar, John Dickie on Vocal, Mike Sloski on drums and Tommy Griffiths on bass lay down some blues rock here for your listening pleasure. Dickie original track, Penguin Walk opens the recording with a driving boogie that gets you moving. 21st Century Rockit 88 is a rockin' blues giving piano man Harrison some space to do just that. A pretty cool track with underlying slide throughout. Gasoline is a smooth style with a cool guitar hook that should receive good airplay. Hold Your Love is a radio oriented ballad that could easily be the song of the cd. It's strongly written with smooth vocals and an equally smooth guitar solo. Talk Radio is a pretty interesting track with a different style of blues attack that I actually like pretty well. This track has a particularly cool guitar part on it with some nice pinch harmonics. In contrast to the first 7 original tracks, the last 4 tracks are all covers. The band does an admiral interpretation of Howlin' For My Darlin' and a nice stripped down version of Sittin' On Top Of The World. Jimmy McGriff's All About My Girl is a great jam to wrap to recording. Want something on the light side of the blues with some foamy rock... this may be it!  
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Unshakeable - The 24th Street Wailers - New Release Review

I just got a copy of Unshakeable, the new 24th Street Wailers CD and they continue to grow as a band. Lindsay Beaver, lead singer and drummer for the band, Mike Archer on bass, Emily Burgess on guitar and Jon Wong on sax. The release opens with Home Cookin' and I have to say that Wong's horn work is impressive. I notice that the band has gone for a vintage sound with Beaver's vocals sounding like they are through a vintage ribbon mic throughout the recording. Love Triangle features guitarists Carter Chaplin and Marc Doucet along with the band adding an extended guitar exploration. Trouble shows solid writing and increasingly interesting instrumental contributions from the band. On What Can You Give Me Now, Burgess shows her chops with some super guitar riffs. I'm Not Free is actually a really interesting ballad and in my opinion the strongest track on the release. Another strong track is Jack, Jim Johnny and Me is a cool jump blues that is sure to get the listener moving. This CD shows significant growth over the Wailers first Cd and is certain to win them a larger audience.
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Dan McKinnon : Self Titled - New EP Review

I have a new EP debut from Dan McKinnon, a talented Toronto native. McKinnon's new release has 4 strong tracks displaying his feel for the blues and his technical acuity on the guitar. Track one, Satisfied, takes an Albert King style attack at the blues with an unusual rhythm basis and plays some pretty tasty blues riffs as a highlight to the song. No question...man can play. Track 2, Blues For Brother Nelson is more in jumps style with that jazzy edge... think Gatemouth Brown. It's a strong track and gives McKinnon a great opportunity to lay down some strong grooves. Track 3, Bad Habit, is a slow blues with an "woman problem" story line. McMinnon uses the lower octave of his guitar neck to set the stage for some dynamic soloing on this cut. Probably the strongest track on the EP, Bad Habit shows some strong chops. The Ep finishes up with Some Kind OF Special, a rockin' blues which of course gives McKinnon a chance to play some hot licks on his guitar. Overall I think that this is a very good debut EP and I'm looking forward to hearing more from McKinnon as he develops further.
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New Release: Anthony Gomes - Up2Zero - Review

I just received a copy of the new recording, Up2Zero by Blueswax Magazine's "Blues Artist of The Year" Anthony Gomes. The disk opens with a screamer, Back To The Start, a Texas style blues with a great base, flaring guitar and solid vocals by Gomes. One Last Time is a great T-Bone walker inspired track with blazing guitar work. Gomes shines not only on guitar but also on vocals. Love Sweet Love, more structured for airplay, is a solid track with hints to Jimi, Robin Trower and Robert Cray. Fly Away follows a blues rock format and will also be well suited for commercial airplay exhibits some great guitar tone. Darkest Before The Dawn, the classic song, is extremely well done here with Gomes singing the heartfelt ballad and playing beautiful melodic guitar runs... shifting keys midway and with elegant backing female vocals throughout. Room 414 is an uptempo blues rocker with nods to Crossroads and inferences to the room in which Robert Johnson cut his known recordings. Gomes vocals lead the way for his call and response instrumental vocal trade off. Voodoo Moon leads a new path over the SBW "Help Me" groove with great success. The rhythm is different, the pattern is different and he even does a nice uptempo break in the middle. Anywhere You Run, a third classic airplay type song is well written and played both with lead and backing vocals. Last Bluesman Gone, a tribute to recently passed influences, has the darkness of the swamps and really cool backing vocals. Gomes asks the question what we gonna do. I really like the vocal take on the old spiritual styling of the song and the solemness in which it is delivered. Possibly by accident the most effective song on the release. Up 2 Zero, the title track is a blues rocker has a lot of the hooks of a contemporary blues song. It has enough guitar for the guitar people (paint peeling speed), enough vocals for the vocal people and catchy enough for the casual listener. I can see why it was selected for the title track. The release is wrapped up with N' Abandonne Pas, the french version of Darkest Before the Dawn, done in thoughts of Gomes' roots in Quebec City.
Gomes has indicated that he will be touring extensively in 2012 to support this new release. Should be a great show!


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New Release: Tim Bastmeyer - Self Titled - Review

I just got the chance to review the new self titled release by Tim Bastmeyer. The release is quite interesting composed of 10 original tracks and one track, "Goin' Down, penned by Don Nix. The release features Juno award winning Julian Fauth on piano as well as James Thompson on bass, Cory Richardson on drums and of course Bastmeyer on Guitar and vocals.

Bastmeyer uses his vocal delivery style, somewhat like Lou Reed, delivering poetic stories as tasty guitar and piano interludes dust through the mix over top of well thought out rhythm.
Bastmeyer will head out on tour of Canada and several US markets in 2012 to support this new release.
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Southside Shuffle - The 24th Street Wailers Band

On the surface, they may appear to be fresh-faced college kids – but don’t let that, or the title of their recent release, Dirty Little Young’uns fool you. The 24th Street Wailers are a group of experienced, driven and academically trained musicians full of piss and vinegar with energy to spare.

Known for their funky, danceable and often hilarious live performances the band has played most of the joints in their home town of Toronto: Grossman’s, the Silver Dollar Room, the Rex, Hugh’s Room and assorted pubs and bars. In 2010, after only one year together as a band, The 24th Street Wailers made waves in the tight-knit blues community by winning the Toronto Blues Society talent search, and performing at festivals such as The South Side Shuffle, The Barrie Jazz and Blues Festival, The Orangeville Blues and Jazz Festival, the Toronto Blues Society’s 25th anniversary party.

The 2011 release of their first full-length CD Dirty Little Young’uns brought them to more prestigious festival stages including the Frankford Island Blues festival, Lighthouse Blues Festival, Summerfolk Festival , and the Dutch Mason Blues Festival. Most notably, however is that The 24th Street Wailers were the only English band to be a part of and win both prizes of the Festiblues International du Montreal and Prize of the Bourse Air Transat /Blues Sur Seine, the prize being a coveted headline spot at the Blues-Sur-Seine Festival in France in 2011. Shortly after its release, Dirty Little Young’uns debuted at number three in Canada and number eight over all on the Roots Music Report, was number 16 on the DAWG FM top twenty charts where it stayed for several months and was the featured “Blues Breaker of the Week” on Dan Aykroyd’s House of Blues Radio Hour.

Driven by Halifax born lead singer and powerhouse drummer Lindsay Beaver, whose tough exterior is matched by even tougher drumming and original innuendo filled lyrics, the quartet features Beaver’s husband Mike Archer on bass, songwriter Emily Burgess, who writes half of the material, on guitar and Jon Wong on saxophone. Their music is innovative; Dirty Little Young’uns is 13 tracks comprised of original material from each member — a record that begins with a raunchy shuffle in the title track, and ends with a stunning emotional and soulful acoustic song, “Turn To You”.

Living together in a little house on 24th Street in Etobicoke, near where they all met while pursuing bachelor degrees in music, the 24th Street Wailers are a band in every sense of the word – a team who eat, sleep and breathe for their craft. They are friends first – a trait that is obvious during their live performances as they appear to be having as much, if not more fun playing together as the audience has while watching and listening to them.
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Not Fade Away - Jerome Godboo

Jerome Godboo is a singer, songwriter and harp player extraordinaire. He has released twelve albums over twenty years. He’s recorded and toured with the Phantoms, Alannah Myles, Dutch Mason, Jeff Healey, Ronnie Hawkins, Jack de Keyzer, Jimmy Bowskill and Suzie McNeil. Jerome has headlined at the Montreal Jazz Festival (2005) and performed on stages across Canada, the U.S., France, Finland, Portugal, Ukraine, Israel and beyond. He’s played with Prince, Pinetop Perkins, James Cotton, the Tragically Hip, Levon Helm, Billy Ray Cyrus and many more.
Jerome has electrified audiences of all sizes.
He’s opened for the Yardbirds and performed at the Toronto Air Canada Centre with Ronnie Hawkins as well as to record-breaking crowds at the Montreal Jazz Festival and another 30,000 at Canada Day festivities as the show stopper harmonica player in The Jimmy Bowskill Band.
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Reefer Smokin' Blues - Blackburn

BLACKBURN is a band of three brothers whose music is rich in the tradition of the blues, while inflected with an electric urban vibe. Blackburn brings it all together with conscious lyrics to create hard infectious groove. Blackburn's sound features lead singer, Duane Blackburn, playing a vintage Hammond B3 organ, Brooke Blackburn on guitar, Cory Blackburn on drums and childhood friend Mark Ayee on bass. Well-known in Toronto's African Canadian music scene, Blackburn follow a rich legacy that trails back to the Underground Railroad, passed down from their father Bobby Dean Blackburn, highly regarded keyboard player and seminal figure of Toronto’s Blues and R&B scene in the 60’s. It is with much energy and originality that they take to the stage devoting themselves to each song and every show. With true sorrow and then also great joy to clear the mind Blackburn comes to life on the set engaging it’s audiences with pure feeling. Whether playing classic blues renditions or the original material that built the band, the Blackburn brothers command love and respect all across their home town Toronto, Canada.