Free show tonight at The Beaver

Tonight we will be playing a free show at the Beaver with the new band Light Fires. Who is/are Light Fires? Gentleman Reg and James Bunton. You might know James as the drummer from Ohbijou, or as producer/engineer to any number of your friends' recordings (if you live in Toronto, West of Bathurst Street, the odds are pretty high that someone you know is working with him right now.) We have been working on an EP with James as well, and he's pretty great. As for Gentleman Reg, he is a familiar face to readers of this blog. Light Fires is a departure from Reggie's usual material- more Hot Nuts* than Horseshoe Tavern- and it will be their last show for the summer, since James is touring with Ohbijou until the temperature drops and the leaves turn yellow.

Reggie will also be performing his special song "The Man in The Middle" with Betty Burke- and he's not the only special guest. We are proud to present, on vocals, for a soulful number from another (imaginary) era- Mr. Lief Mossbaugh (pictured above). Lief plays with The Hidden Cameras, and can often be heard singing falsetto harmonies on their tunes. He's also an esteemed Oboist, joining Regina's orchestra for the 2010-2011 season, after a successful run with the Saskatoon symphony. Lief will be singing a tune called "You Can't Stay Young." He may even bring along another special guest, but we'll keep that under wraps for now...

The show starts at 11 pm and it is 100% FREE. The Beaver serves dinner until 11, in case you want to come early to see our muscley arms pull the amps in. I'm sure a few of us will be tankin.'

Hope to see you tonight.
xoxo
MM


*Hot Nuts is a monthly drag party at the Beaver.
*Tankin' - wearing a tank top. Not me, but probably Reggie.

Wear your Granny Boots with us on June 30th

Tomboyfriend, the band with one of the best names of all, has invited us to play Granny Boots with them on Wednesday, June 30th at The Gladstone Hotel. It's Pride Week, so we're going for a festive vibe, and trying something unusual.

Shaun will be off at Glastonbury with Dan Mangan, so in lieu of trumpet, the festive feeling will be created by Dr. Rhythm 880, a wee little drum machine imbued with soul. Special guests Jo Snyder, AKA Jo Snyder music, formerly of the Winnipeg punk bands Anthem Red, and Sixty Stories, will be playing guitar, and Sheila Sampath of The Airfields and Shameless Magazine will appear on keys. How is that for festive and unusual? And there's more.

Gentleman Reg,* one of my favourite people to share a stage with, will be singing with us as well. This spring, I spent a few months in the writing cave, and one of the projects I chipped away at was a set of songs written for friends to sing with Betty Burke. Reggie's song is called "The Man in the Middle," and this will be the first time we play it.

We hope to see you at the show on the 30th. In the meantime, click on Tomboyfriend's name to see their fantastic video "Dance Dance Revolutions Co." We're looking forward to seeing them live!

Thanks for visiting, and come back soon!
xo
MM

*The photo of Reg above is from the February 14th Wavelength 10 year anniversary & closing party at The Garrison. At the end of the show almost all of the current & former members of The Hidden Cameras got on stage together for a surprise set. It was the first time some of us had played together in seven years. Great night.

Love it #3: Dana Snell

Dana is one of my favourite drummers. Currently playing with Gentleman Reg, and Sheezer, she also spent ten years with The Bicycles. When she's behind the kit, Dana's in complete control, but she's also clearly enjoying herself, and it's infectious.

Before running into each other at various gigs, Dana and I met in a writing seminar at the University of Toronto, led by Griffin Prize winner (and gifted/gifting educator) A.F. Moritz. While anyone who saw her on tour with the Bicycles or Reg knows what a great percussionist she is, Dana has another gift the world has yet to discover.

In Al Moritz's seminar, now eight years ago, Dana shared a work of fiction she'd been working on that had me laughing out loud with its deft social satire and surreal storyline. It's been eight years since I read the draft she shared with us in the course, but I am still waiting to see her name printed on the spine of a book- I know it's going to happen.

You can see Dana playing with Gentleman Reg every Wednesday night in February at the Drake Hotel in Toronto. The Regidency will feature different musical guests each week.

The above photo is from Dana's tour with Gentleman Reg, opening for The Hidden Cameras in the fall of 2009. The one in the wig is Reg, Dana is on the right.

Talkin' bout last night

We had a great time at the Tranzac last night. I want to extend special thanks to Magali for organizing the show, and to Gentleman Reg, the Metal Kites and The Youngest for being great.

The Youngest is Amy, solo on her guitar, singing tender songs. She has a great voice.

The Metal Kites are harder to describe, and that is a complement. Mysterious lyrics, haunted guitars, creature harmonies and Magali on bass- if that's not enough to make you listen, you are immune to persuasion.

We are planning to do a show soon at a very special spot in Toronto, so I will post more information about that when we firm up details.

Thanks for reading, and have a happy Thursday.

xoxo
Betty