25th Annual Women's Blues Revue

The Toronto Blues Society www.torontobluessociety.com has been producing this popular event for the past 25 years. The evening is nothing short of spectacular. A combination of an all female band, supporting talented female vocalists and moderated by CBC host and an Officer of the Order of Canada Shelagh Rogers is an affair of grace and charm, almost unusual for the blues. The blues that I have studied is often delivered by talented and  worn male musicians with challenging lives. This event had the grace of  a Jazz dance show done to blues rhythms.

The all female band was composed of attractive young musicians led by Donna Grantis, the musical director and guitarist, who dressed in black leathers with stilleto heels, and played guitar like a mix between Jimmy Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan. The horn section had sax played by Carrie Chestnutt and Colleen Allen and trumpet by Rebecca Hennessy. Sadly, there was no harp! I wonder is this the male influence of the blues? In fact I have never known of any majour female harp players.  In my world, harp is the foundational instrument of the blues. There was a stand up bass played by the attractive Brandi Disterfheft, and keyboard played by Lily Sazz to round out the sound.

The show opened with Treasa Levasseur, who sang from her new album Broad, and told her various life tales. From  raising her 16 year old daughter, and stressing out about the clothes she wore, to  the words from her parents and lover on how to how to pursue her art. She was elegant as she told her stories and danced flowingly to the sound. She really awoke our senses.

Following Theresa there was Emma-Lee a tall blond singer wearing a gold sequence dress, who spoke softly but sang rough. She called out for her mother in the stands, who happened to be sitting next to me. She was so overjoyed to be playing Massey Hall. Her sound was powerful and moving as she explained how she had recovered from a difficult period in her life and bounced back and was now giving the performance of her life. She is compared to K.D.Lang but she is really her own style.

The other singers included Suzie Vinnick, Shakura S'aida and Kat Danser. Each were fantastic. However, the show stopper was a small dimunitive lady with a large voice by the name of Ada Lee. She charmed the crowd with stories of her life, and started to drift into her own world as she spoke about being the only black person in Peterborough. She showed her strength by arriving on stage with little help, even though she had been in an accident recently. She confessed her age of 85 years young, and coined the phrase from Tina Turner, what's Age got to do with it. She showed her might of character in the way she held the audience's attention as she got back to singing after the band started revving up to get her show back on schedule.

For an evening of grace and charm, check out the Women's Blues Revue next year.

Enjoy Blues with that Female Feeling,


The Adventure Guy

Toastmasters District 60 Fall Conference - Toronto

This November 11th to the 13th was the Toastmasters Internation Annual District 60 Fall conference. An ingathering of all aspiring public speakers, authors, screenplay writers and inspirational coaches. It is a group of positively focused personalities the likes of which I have never seen before. So well educated, and grounded in learning.

I had the pleasure of being the activator for Elliott Katz, http://www.awardpress.com/ an author who has written a variety of books including Walking Trails around Toronto, Cycling Across Canada and his latest  "Being The Strong Man a Woman Wants". Elliott shared information on how to find the time to write your book, how to publish it, promote it and help change the world with it. He referenced such books as The Origin of Spcies by Darwin, Das Kapital by Marx, etc. as to how books are such a powerful medium to influence the thoughts of generations. He empowered his audience to emulate this ambition, to write your book and help steer the course of humanity by putting your thoughts together in a book format. Nowadays it can be done by self publishing, or electronically via a kindle. Blogging, as I do is another format to influence and shere your thoughts.

Elliott did a mock promotional radio interview on me and my book in process entitled Zen Lessons in the Art of Trailblazing. My book takes my story of travelling North America as a young ski bum, selling jewellery in Universities and skiing the majour resorts of North America and translates it into Zen life lessons. The 3 main points are 1.Say What You Mean, Mean What you Say
                2. Pursue Noble Goals.
                3. Live in the Present.
The audience appreciated my interview and our seminar was well received.

However, the highlight of the Conference was the wrap up speech entitled  How I lossed my Way to the World Championship of Public Speaking by Lance Miller http://www.lancemillerspeaks.com/. His compelling story was about how he lost many times before making it to the top of the Toastmaster public speaking award. His mission was to say, we never lose at competitions, we learn from each failures to see how we can improve and change. The human existance is about self development and personal growth. Therefore, never look at a loss as a permanent failure, but as part of education to to success. In this way we will always try to compete, pursue our dreams, and live the life we were all destined to enjoy.

I look forward to meeting you at the Top.


The Adventure Guy

40th annual Heintzman House Xmas Craft Sale

This weekend is the 40th consecutive annual Heintzman House www.hhouse.ca Xmas craft show. The show runs November 12th and 13th from 10:00 until 5:00 pm at 135 Bay Thorn Drive. There is a $2.00 admission fee and the funds raised by the Heinztman Auxilliary group goes to restore the interior of this heritage home. The building is one of the oldest in the Town of Markham and was once the home of Charles Heintzman of the Heintzman Piano Company. The house was built in 1816 and is currently used for wedding receptions, and special events.

The property is located at 135 Bay Thorn Drive just off Bayview and Royal Orchard Drive in Markham. There will be a wide selection of Canadian arts and crafters, from beautiful woodworkers (awesome wooden sculpted pepper mills) to jewelley. My favourite is our family business Nice Things www.nice-things4u.com. Come by  and check it out, in the bridal room top floor.

Come check out the elegance of Heintzman House, and support local Canadian artisans and a fine heritage property this weekend. Great time to get those special gifts or memorabilia.

Supporting our Canadian Artists the Remembrance Day,


The Adventure Guy
 

South Side Johnny's Etobicoke Open Mic

There has been many musicians I have met that have participated in the Open Mic at South Side Johnny's. This famous name has many operations (different ownerships) in the US, and this local Toronto one is a fine establishment.

This Open Mic is on Sunday nights and starts around 10:00pm. The back up band is Phoenix,  with lead singer Rebecca. She is very personable,  has a very gutteral "Melissa Ethridge style voice and plays keyboards. The barmaids are young and bouncy, which is quite a change from some of the divier music establishments I have attended. The patrons are your basic bar personalities, and the crowd of talented musicians was quite low on this particular evening.

The unfortunate part of this jam, is the number of songs each artist gets to perform. Some can stay up for four or more tunes, making it quite a long night if you want to get into your set. The foundation of the band is quite good with excellent guitarists, drummers and keyboards.Unfortunately, this particular night their electronics died in the middle of a musicians harp set, just when he was starting to get into it.

In summary, I have good feelings about this Open Mic. It is more rock than blues. The good female vocalists and young barmaids, make it worth the outing.

If you are in the neighborhood, it is worth checking out.

If you are travelling from far, maybe think twice.

Rock On,

The Adventure Guy