Tag Archives: Bob Dylan
Jack de Keyser, Blues Legend, Coming to Harbour Street Fish Bar
This Saturday the Jack de Keyser band will return to our area to play the Harbour Street Fish Bar in Collingwood. This two-time Juno winner and seven times recipient of a Maple Blues Award has been referred to by a U.S. publication as “a coveted super-hero in Canada”. Jeff Healey’s assessment of Jack de Keyser as “The finest blues guitarist in Canada” is shared by many, including Bob Dylan, who commented, “If Jack de Keyzer was from Chicago, New York or LA, he’d be famous”. Kathy Pellizzi, writing in Los Angeles Film & Music agrees: “If you think the hippest, hottest bands are coming out of Los Angeles, you are mistaken! More power to Jack de Keyzer, come show the Americans what we’ve been missing!”
Playing over 120 shows per year, he has been called “the master of live performance”. The power of his recorded output, including the two Juno wins, is that he records live off the floor to capture the magic of his live shows and his great band.
Although he is known primarily for his guitar playing, he’s also been praised for his song writing and vocals. . Ruth Schweitzer in Maple Blues magazine said “Multi-talented Jack de Keyzera gifted songwriter, a mean guitarist and a smooth, sultry singer”. He won first prize in the 2007 International Songwriting Competition for his song “That’s the Only Time”.
Local Players Excited To Be Doing The Last Waltz
The latest production at Meaford Hall by Chris Scerri, a tribute to The Last Waltz scheduled for November 25th, is a bit of a departure from his previous productions. Up to this point he has put together variety shows that combined local and imported talent, built mainly around the talents of musical director Tyler Yarema and others from the Port Credit area that Chris has introduced to Meaford. This time around it will be all local talent, some of the best that our area offers, under the musical direction of keyboard player John Hume.
For each member of this tribute band, The Band and their iconic farewell concert both hold special significance.
“It was a magic moment in music history,” says Chris Scerri, “that allowed for some of the most influential modern day artists to get together for the ultimate Jam.” He adds that the DVD of the concert movie is one which, “I can watch time and time again, and continue to be inspired by both the musical talents and the show itself.”
The Last Waltz was the name Robbie Robertson gave to the farewell concert of The Band, performed on American Thanksgiving Day in 1976 at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. A film of the concert by Martin Scorcese was released in 1978 and was hailed by film critic Michael Wilmington as “the greatest rock concert movie ever made – and maybe the best rock movie, period” Time bears that out, with the influence of the movie being felt almost forty years later.
The Thursday Outlook – August 10 to 14, 2017
The Travelling Thornburys are featured this Saturday night at The Leeky Canoe in Meaford. This is a duo consisting of Jon Zaslow and Kevin Campbell. They offer up some great harmonies and tunes that range from The Beatles to The Everly Brothers. Jon as also an accomplished guitarist that has become a regular accompanist for Chris Scerri and has co-hosted many Thursday night jams with him at The Leeky.
At The Barn Coop on Saturday night, it’s a rare chance to see Culture Reject in concert. This is part of a concert series put together at The Barn by Greg Smith, in which he pairs more established artists with up-and-comers. Culture Reject, featuring Michael O’Connell and Karri North, is a band that has a unique and mesmerizing sound. Michael evolved this band out of the popular band Black Cabbage, with which he toured for several years. He now tours annually in Europe to a growing following there. The opener for this concert is Jake Feeney, a young singer-songwriter who seems much more mature than he is. Having been a songwriter since he was six or seven, Jake has a voice similar to John Maher and a beautiful style of guitar picking. This is a show well worth checking out.
The Legendary Sylvia Tyson This Week at Meaford Hall
This week Meaford Hall is bringing a true Canadian icon to town, when Sylvia Tyson visits to perform in concert at the Opera House. Over her long career, she has contributed both in the foreground and behind the scenes as the Canadian music industry has evolved into the world powerhouse that it is today. Her distinctive voice created the prototype for generations of female vocalists and her songs have become standards.
When she left her parent’s Chatham home in 1959 to pursue a music career in Toronto, the new folk era was just emerging. The Kingston Trio had brought a new sound to radio with their hit, “Tom Dooley”, a traditional tale set to simple instrumental accompaniment. Bob Dylan had moved to Minneapolis that year and enrolled at the University of Minnesota, where he began to discover folk music as an alternative to the rock and roll he’d been playing with Little Richard and Bobby Vee. Gordon Lightfoot was in California studying jazz composition and orchestration at Hollywood’s Westlake College of Music.
Albert Grossman was just getting into managing artists who appeared at his club, the Gate of Horn in Chicago, including eighteen year old Joan Baez. Recognizing the potential of the folk movement that was emerging on campuses, Grossman put together a trio with folk singers Mary Travers, Noel Stookey, and Peter Yarrow, who as Peter, Paul and Mary topped the charts in 1963 with “Puff The Magic Dragon” and Dylan’s “Blowing In The Wind”. By that time Grossman’s management stable, which dominated commercial folk music, included Dylan, Lightfoot, and the duo Ian and Sylvia.
