CLIPS AND COMMENTARY FROM CANADA'S BEST KNOWN UNDISCOVERED OLD WHITE BLUESMAN

Monday, January 24, 2000

The Legendary Horseshoe

Dropped by the Shoe to hear some youth-oriented crossover blues from 20 miles, the side project of Judah Bauer, guitarist in the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion (which is far less bluesy despite the name). Tip of the Day: We can expect John Lee Hooker in our fair city in April!

Monday, January 10, 2000

Welcome 2000

I'm making a resolution to get out and play guitar at every opportunity - I even brought a guitar to a party without being asked. Then a couple of days later I was at a party with a group of old-timey and country players and there it was a more organized "song circle" so that everyone got a turn. When it came to my turn, I thought I'd pull out one of the few country songs I knew - Hank Snow's "I'm Moving On" so I started into in but no-one joined in, a couple of guys even put down their guitars and headed back to the kitchen. I finished it unceremoniously and one of the veterans of this groups leaned over and said "No one knew the rhythm you were using" and played it the way Hank did ...and I guess I had bluesed it up over the years. But I recovered with a version of Midnight Special that was closer to the trad arrangement - though it too had strayed over the years. There was a point where I looked out at that group of players and realized that I was using a barre chord that few if any of the other players knew. Quite the opposite of the Tony Quarrington experience. (Lesson Learned: There will be times when you're the least knowledgeable in the group and there will be times that you're the most knowledgeable in the group. Accept it and have fun)