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Saturday, September 01, 2007

"Fuzzaneli" - in memory of a true friend

Michael Jeffrey "Fuzz" Friend was a good friend to me back in my college days at Innis College in the University of Toronto. I just got the news today of his passing away last Friday, August 24th, 2007.


My first encounter with Fuzz was hearing him growling an expletive like "turkey shit" or "You look just like death warmed over" or "there goes some sex on the hoof..." at someone in the Innis College Student Society office in the "old building" of Innis College on St. George St.
I soon learned that Fuzz spoke this way all the time, but only to those he knew and liked or were in some way close to him.

I was good with my hands, and pretty soon I found myself doing handy work and house renovations with Fuzz during summer vacations, winter breaks, and any other free time I had when I could help out.
Fuzz taught me all the little professional secrets and tricks of the trade, as well as imparting much of his grass-roots life wisdom - and he had plenty life wisdom and plenty experience to base it on.

Mike was 13 years my senior, and had been a professional auto mechanic and a Narcotics Detective on the Toronto Police force before arriving at U of T. so, you can imagine how worldly and experienced he was in contrast to students who had just left home for the first time and/or were fresh out of high-school.

Many of the skills Mike taught me carried me through a renovations and handyman career for many years, safe work habits kept me from harm - it was Mike's insistence that we secure ourselves with strong rope that saved my life once when I fell off the side of a three story house we were painting.
Mike and I became good friends, and within the space of a year we were also a good work team that was in demand six months in advance each summer to fix, renovate, or re-build homes in the Toronto area.
On one particular job, we were putting up new drywall, and I had scribbled the words "Fuzz 'n' Eli" on the wall as a sort of signature of our "masterwork", well from that day on, Cathy - the wife of the family who's home we were renovating, referred to us as "the Italian firm of FUZZANELI".

Mike also knew how to enjoy himself with simple pleasures, like sitting at the Old Brunswick House bar in the main hall downstairs with friends, and drinking those little 40 cent glasses of beer that they would serve us by the dozen.
I can recall one very peaceful and quiet Christmas vacation weekend at the Innis College "InnisFree farm" out in the country, where Fuzz cooked a nice pot roast for us, and enjoying the company of a Fuzz and Sue and a few other friends out there.
Mike loved animals, from dogs (like the legendary "Guppy"), to birds, to reptiles. Through his live snake and reptile collection, Mike taught me and others to understand these reptiles, to not fear snakes (at least not boa constrictors), as well as providing himself with a hobby that he dedicated so much of his life to.
Mike loved Country music, but also appreciated many contemporary Canadian Folk and Rock artists. He certainly was not shy about speaking his mind or telling us what his likes or dislikes were.

On my recent two visits to Canada, in summer of 2001 and last month (July 2007), I was very glad to have had the chance to visit Mike and Sue and spend the evening with them.

Under that growling rough exterior, long hair and fuzzy long beard, Mike had a heart of 24 Carat gold.

"You Turkey Shit!!! You look like death warmed over!!!"

Rest in peace Mike - you've done your part, you deserve the rest!

Monday, July 30, 2007

In memory of Bill Perry RIP

I was quite shocked to receive the sad news last week of Bill Perry's passing on July 17th, 2007 - he died of an apparent heart attack at age 49,
a bit young for any active human being, and certainly an early age by Blues standards.
About eight years ago, I was given the pleasurable task of writing a promotional review for a one week stand at Tel Aviv's Camelot club.
I was given a preview copy of his 1999 CD, recorded live at Manny's Car Wash in NYC ( I highly recommend this CD!!!).
When Bill Perry got onto the stage at Camelot, I was a bit shocked at his diminutive size - the power and energy of his playing on the live CD, and the cover photo, had me expecting a much taller man, with a bigger physique.
Nonetheless, Bill Perry was a big man, in more ways than one. A powerful Blues guitarist and a singer with an unusual voice.
By all accounts from friends and musicians who worked with him, Bill was a very warm, genuine, and a funny man.
SInger Ritchie Havens considered him not just an excellent band member, but a soulmate, a close friend.
Bill, you left us much too soon, you will be sorely missed.

Sunday at the Toronto Beaches Jazz fest

I had a great day yesterday in the artistic village area called the Toronto Beaches where the Beaches Jazz Festival is held -
a totally free festival in its 19th year - http://www.beachesjazz.com/mainstage.html
they have sponsorships from Subaru to the provincial Lottery to food vendors...
I made contact with Brian Blane, the head of the Toronto Blues Society, and he directed me to the Media Tent so that I could sign in as a Radio Journalist, and get backstage access and meet all the other organizers and folks in the biz.
I met the mother of a new 16 year old Blues/Jazz diva Sophie Berkal Sarbit
- the mother heard I was from Israel, and spoke to me in Hebrew - she is the daughter of a Rabbi from Winnipeg - the Jewish connections in the music scene never cease to amaze and surprise me.
So I got to hear 2 blues shows of the Saturday Night Fish Fry
http://www.beachesjazz.com/mainstage/2007/bios/BillKingFishFry.html
headed up by singer, organist and piano player Bill King, who is also the Beaches Jazz festival organizer and the creator of the JazzReport and the http://www.jazzpromo.com/ sites

next up was an amazing guitarist and solid singer named Kal David in a trio with Hammond organ and drums, later accompanied by his partner, singer Lauri Bono:
http://www.beachesjazz.com/mainstage/2007/bios/KalDavid.html

of course, I distributed copies of the book (Touched By The Blues) to Jazz radio people, local organizers, etc. let's hope we get some reviews...

Friday, July 20, 2007

Belkin and Jutas - Blues from Lithuania




In the beginning of April 2007, two Blues performers from Lithuania arrived in Israel for a 10 day tour of local clubs. On many of the gigs, they were joined by local Bluesman and Blues-harp master Dov Hammer.

The Belkin-Jutas Duo are an acoustic Blues duo made up of guitarist and singer Aleksandr Belkin and guitarist and singer Virgilius Jutas. Each of these guys has his own electric Blues band back in Lithuania, but for the sake of travel, they formed this compact duo.

Belkin and Jutas are both fine guitarists, with Jutas playing acoustic guitar rhythm and some soloing on this tour, and Belkin playing acoustic rhythm and also some very nice slide guitar. Aleksandr Belkin also accompanies himself on harmonica part of the time. Both artists provided us with various renditions of Blues standards, and even a couple of original songs, although their English is far from perfect, the feeling was there, and they sure can "belt out" a few...

The 10 day tour was a success, thanks to local Blues promoter Alex Shain, and the duo is considering coming back to Israel again in the coming year.

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Albert Collins' "My Mind is Trying to Leave Me"

I was recently re-acquainting myself with a live Albert Collins recording
from 1983 - "Don't Lose Your Cool" (Alligator Records ALCD4730)
and I really got into the humorous song -
"My Mind Is Trying To Leave Me"

so here are the lyrics for those of you that are not
familiar with the song,
search it out and give it a good listen (the guitar solos are pretty hot too!):


I went to breakfast this mornin',
Down to the corner bar
I thought I heard my baby call my name,
And it came from so far
I started runnin' and answerin',
Like a crazy fool would do
Aha, ya' see, my woman gone away and left me
And now my mind is tryin' to leave me too

Now my friend stepped out the bar
And stopped me and offered me a drink
I went in and had a double
And I began to think about my baby
Aha, like a crazy fool would do
You see, my woman gone away and left me
And now my mind is tryin' to leave me too

Oh!

Ha-ah, I went into the barber shop and ordered ham 'n' eggs
And each barber gave me fifty cent
They thought I was tryin' to beg
And I started cryin' like a baby (like a baby, ha!)
Like any fool would do
You see my woman gone away and left me
And now my mind is tryin' to leave me too


Another very nice Collins tune is "A Good Fool is Hard To Find"
which can be heard on the brand new Tommy Castro CD
"Painkiller" (Blind Pig Records),
where Tommy sings and plays some sizzling guitar in tribute to Albert Collins.

Collins recorded the tune for his 1986 Alligator release
"Cold Snap" (Alligator ALCD 4752).

Tuesday, March 20, 2007

Ted Cooper is in the house!

Canadian/Israeli Blues artist Ted Cooper was recently visiting in Israel and gave 2 acoustic performances in the country. Ted is an excellent electric and acoustic guitarist, harmonica player, and bass player, as well as a deep voiced singer of Blues, Country, R & B and Rock and Roll. Ted has a repertoire filled with a nice set of self penned songs that he's written over the last 25 years, and many standards of Blues, Country, and Folk-Rock that he's made sound like he wrote them himself.
Ted was a regular fixture of the Blues and Folk music scene in Israel throughout the 1980's, playing many Jacob's Ladder Festivals, as well as being a regular in clubs and kibbutz venues around the country. Ted moved back to Toronto in late 1993, and very rarely performs on stage these days, except during his visits to Israel.

Just about a year ago, Ted visited Israel and participated in a whirlwind reunion tour with singer Libi and many of the musicians and friends who used to accompany her and/or Ted over the years. Last year's reunion tour was a real blast of nostalgia and lots of wild fun too.
This year's visit was a bit more low key - but it is always a pleasure to hear Ted live on stage, this time accompanied by Assaf "Sweet Tooth" Rozov on acoustic guitar, vocals and dobro, and Dov Hammer on harmonica and vocals - both of them musicians who grew up in the Ted Cooper Band of the late 1980's.
Today, each one of them has a mature voice of his own to contribute to this trio, and the result was very smooth and enjoyable.

I really look forward to the next time Ted decides to grace us with a visit and gives a few rare performances on stage...

Friday, February 23, 2007

Michael Powers - Old Blood into new Blues


To look at Michael Powers, you would think he is just in his early twenties, just starting out in music, but don't let his baby face fool you. Michael Powers is already a seasoned veteran of the music scene and a very competent guitarist. He's also been connected to the Blues from an early age, from the early guitar lessons he received from the great Jimmy Reed, to the Blues spirit deep down in his soul...
Michael Powers spent a number of years playing in different rock bands, but in recent years, he has come back to the roots and has been playing and recording some traditional Blues alongside Rock, Blues-Rock and solid electric Blues.


Michel Powers has released two fine albums on the Baryon Records label -




"Onyx Root" released in 2004 with a good mix of traditional style acoustic and acoustic/electric tunes, as well as some modern originals.









"Prodigal Son", released in late 2006, which has a few traditional acoustic songs on it, but also originals like the haunting and beautiful title song "Prodigal Son".
His voice has allot of soul, a little bit of smoke, and the right touch of pain when needed. He is equally proficient on acoustic and electric guitar, and whether he's playing a Hendrix riff, or a John Lee Hooker riff, or even some Robert Johnson or Jimmy Reed, it sounds like it's his own style now.





I think that Michael Powers is an artist to keep watching and listening to, he's also on the list of nominations for the annual Blues Music Awards
(see Blues Music Awards), and I hope he wins one of those awards and that more people will take notice of him.

For a biographical and other info on Michael Powers see:
Baryon Records Website - artist Michael Powers

and

Michael Powers website

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

More Paul Pena Music

I finally got my hands on a copy of the live CD recorded by singer and harmonica player Big Bones (see his MySpace page at Big Bones) together with Paul Pena back in 1991.
Paul Pena is a minor Blues legend that wrote hit songs like "Jet Airliner" and "Gotta Move" (which is a favorite in recent years of the Derek Trucks Band).
A guitarist and singer who became legally blind at an early age, Paul Pena led a life that was sometimes charmed, and sometimes full of pain. When he passed away in the fall of 2005, I started searching for his recordings...

"Giant Killers" Paul Pena and Big Bones
This is a live acoustic set, but it has some nice surprises, such as guest (instrumental) performances by Alvin Youngblood Hart on a couple of songs, and when you hear Paul Pena's incredibly deep voice on songs such as "Swing Low Sweet Cadillac", you might not believe such notes are possible in a human!
Big Bones plays solid harmonica and also has a fairly deep and full voice on most of the songs. Paul Pena plays resophonic slide guitar on all tracks, and sings on a few.
I'm so glad I got my hands on this CD,
and you can also get yourself a copy by contacting Big Bones directly:
Big Bones Email

Paul Pena links:
The official Paul Pena website

Article on Paul in CV MusicWorld

Paul Pena memorial page on Friends of Tuva website

Paul Pena entry in Wikipedia

Trask Blues Band

See some recently recorded video clips of Trask playing live on Israel television:

Trask Blues Band on You Tube

Trask is a Blues-Rock cover band that does an excellent job of holding the crowd's attention at festivals and clubs in Israel.
They don't have any self penned songs to offer as yet, but what they do is a very professional job of covering some old and new Blues and Blues Rock, with a nice touch of class.

the Trask website is at: TRASK

Sunday, February 04, 2007

Come Back Baby - part 2

Well, I guess it's been too long since the last post about the roots of the song "Come Back Baby" - one of my all time favorite Folk/Blues songs.

I finally got a hold of the double CD collection of Walter Davis recordings from the Document label...but beyond that, I also sat down to listen to and transcribe the lyrics to a few more versions of the song, following the trail of cover recordings that seems to start about 10 years after Walter Davis recorded his original 2 versions.
Here are the verses sung by some of my favorite artists, as I may have mentioned earlier, the Bert Jansch and Dave Van Ronk versions have been my favorite ones for many years - they have a very delicate but powerful and haunting melodic style both in the vocals and the acoustic guitar.


COME BACK, BABY (Lightnin' Hopkins rec. 1950)

Come back, baby. Baby, please don't go.
Way I love you, you'll never know
Come back, baby. Can't we talk it over one more time.

You know this world darlin', wasn't made in one day.
Why we can't talk it over, 'fore you go away.
Come back, baby. Let's talk it over one more time.

You know it's been a long time, since I seen you smile.
Made me think about, when you was a child.
Come back, baby. Can't we talk it over one more time.

If you ain't coming back baby, darlin' please tell me so
Then I won't have to worry, about you coming back no more.
Come back, baby. Let's talk it over one more time.



COME BACK BABY (Mance Lipscomb - rec 1964)

Come back, baby, Please don't go
The way I love you baby, you'll never know.
Come back, baby, let's talk it over, one more time

My hearts in trouble, head's in misery,
Ain't got nobody talk sweet talk to me,
Come back baby, let's talk it over one more time

Lone, lonesome day,
Seem like tomorrow gonna be the same old way.
Come back baby, can't we talk it over one more time

I left her standing, in the doorway crying
Hated to go, leave that girl behind,
Come back baby, let's talk it over one more time

I love you baby, I cain't help myself
Don't get you, don't want nobody else
Come back baby, let's talk it over one more time

Went up on the mountain, looked down at the sun,
Ain't seen nobody love me like you have done,
Come back baby, let's talk it over one more time

I love you baby, I cain't help myself
Don't get you, don't want nobody else
Come back baby, let's talk it over one more time

Come back baby, can't we talk it over one more time

Come back, baby, Please don't go
The way I love you baby, you'll never know.
Come back, baby, let's talk it over, one more time

Down to the river, couldn't get accross
Jumped on an alligator, thought it was a horse
Come back, baby, let's talk it over, one more time



Bert Jansch does a great version on his 1967 album - Nicola



Please come back baby, please don't go
for the way I love you you'll never know.
So come back baby, let's talk it over, one more time.

Woke up this morning, just past dawn,
Read the note, baby,
Saying you had gone,
Come back, baby, let's talk it over, one more time.

You know I love you, tell the world I do,
For the way I love you, baby,
You'll never know.
So come back, baby, let's talk it over,
One more time.


Dave Van Ronk recorded this a number of times,
and it was a regular part of his performing repertoire throughout his career


Please come back baby, please don't go
for the way I love you you'll never know.
Come back baby, let's talk it over, one more time

I love you baby tell the world I do
I don't want no one else but you
Come back baby, let's talk it over, one more time

Long old train, mean engineer
Took my baby, left me standing here
Come back baby, let's talk it over, one more time

If I could holler like a mountain jack
I'd climb this mountain, call my baby back
Come back baby, let's talk it over, one more time

Hey come back baby, please don't go
for the way I love you you'll never know.
Well come back baby, let's talk it over, one more time


Ray Charles had a top 10 R & B hit with his version in 1955,
Ray embellished the tune with a little traditional blues bridge (the last verse)
which is not found in any of the Folk or Country Blues versions of the song


Come back, baby, Please don't go
For the way I love you baby, how you'll never know
Oh, come back, baby, yeah yeah let's talk it over
oh one more time, oh now now

Well I admit Baby that I was wrong
Don't you know baby, aw you been gone too long
Oh, come back, baby, yeah yeah let's talk it over
oh one more time, oh now now

Say if I could holler like a mountain jack
Yeah yeah oh people I'd call my baby back
Oh come back, baby, yeah yeah let's talk it over
oh one more time, oh now now

Now one of these days baby, and it won't be long yeah
You gonna look for me child you know, and I'll be gone
So come back, baby, yeah yeah let's talk it over
oh one more time, oh now now

Friday, January 19, 2007

A Get Well Prayer for Jeff Healey

Get well soon Jeff Healey!!!
I want you to heal completely from your latest surgery,
so that you can keep on enriching our lives
with your music for many years to come!

I want to hear you playing your trumpet and singing again,
and also to hear your guitar gently weep...

Here's to your health!!!