Articles by our west-GTA correspondent Mike Beggs
By Mike Beggs, for TorontoMoon.ca \ ETOBICOKE \ With skills in vocals, guitar, mandolin, bass and keyboards, Paul Morgan punched the clock on an enviable 280 gigs in 2018, with multifarious acts. For the past 8-1/2 years now he has been holding down Wednesdays at the Irish Shebeen Pub at 5555 Eglinton Ave. W. on…
By Mike Beggs, for TorontoMoon.ca \ MISSISSAUGA \ Its calendar has always been heavy on your Country and Classic Rock, but Mississauga’s Caven’s Alley bar has clearly kicked it up a notch over the past year or so with the addition of authentic Honky-Tonk bands like Borderline (which is back there tonight) and the equally…
By Mike Beggs, for TorontoMoon.ca \ TO WEST \ The mind blurs when running through Colin Linden’s list of credits. And it will be much the same for fans tonight tonight, no doubt, when the Toronto/Nashville guitar virtuoso, singer/songwriter and producer begins strumming, bending and sliding his way through original and vintage Blues, Country, Rock,…
By Mike Beggs, for TorontoMoon.ca \ TO EAST \ Frank Cosentino’s 2017 (American) Blues Hall Of Fame induction only made official what anyone who has heard him burn through Stevie Ray’s “Cold Shot,” Hendrix’s “Crosstown Traffic,” some Elmore James, or his own “When Love Knocks You On The Chin” could have told you. Tonight, the…
By Mike Beggs, for TorontoMoon.ca \ BURLINGTON \ Given the glut of them out there, it would be tempting to categorize the Killin’ Time Band as just another party cover group. But that would be impossible. It’s the first time they’ve been featured in these pages, but KTB are no strangers to their hometown paper…
By Mike Beggs for TorontoMoon.ca \ TO WEST \ On The Perlich Post’s web site, there’s a great pic’ of songwriter Steve Poltz eagerly flipping through vinyl in a Toronto record store. And that’s all you need to know about this self-described “washed-up Punk/dead ringer for a folksinger” who closes out a two-night stand at…
By Mike Beggs, Special to TorontoMoon.ca \ PORT CREDIT-MISSISSAUGA \ It’s by now ritual for Port Credit types to head into the peaceful confines of First United Church only to have their earwax blown out, courtesy of Michael White & The White. Since 2015, they’ve been doing an annual show here, covering one Led…
By Mike Beggs, for TorontoMoon.ca \ ETOBICOKE \ Sometimes it seems like the Punk music era never happened judging by the West End bars, where you might hear “I Wanna Be Sedated” but you sure won’t get any Stranglers. That’s why it was good to finally see the Pink Leather Jackets, who took over the…
By Mike Beggs for TorontoMoon.ca \ PORT CREDIT- MISSISSAUGA \ “I don’t do a lot of Blues in here. I know some,” Tony Paglia said over the mic’ last Sunday during his weekly gig at Shore Grill & Grotto, in Port Credit. He then stretched out on an emotional run at B.B. King’s “The Thrill…
By Mike Beggs, Special to TorontoMoon.ca \ MISSISSAUGA \ In video footage recently unearthed on you-tube, the late Janis Joplin makes a 1969 appearance on the TV show “This Is Tom Jones”, where they do a great duet on the song “Raise Your Hand” (released by STAX star Eddie Floyd in ’67). It also serves…
By Mike Beggs, Special to TorontoMoon.ca \ TO WEST \ By my math, we’re now at the 35th anniversary of the Shuffle Demons – although there’s been no mention of that from the band itself (and bandleader/alto sax player Richard Underhill is a super-sharp guy who was a worthy Toronto mayoralty candidate in 2014, and…
By Mike Beggs, Special to TorontoMoon.ca \ BURLINGTON \ There will be all kinds of fun to be had when Oakville singer Hailee Rose and Hamilton musical icon Dave Rave return to the Black Bull in Burlington today for a matinee session. Last time out this barn-beam-and-plaster pub had suburbanites rammed in and dance-crazed as…
By Mike Beggs, Special to TorontoMoon.ca \ OAKVILLE \ Kudos to John Marlatt, the colourful owner of Oakville’s Moonshine Café, who manages to bring in some of the great grass roots artists on a consistent basis. Take wayward San Diego folk/rock stalwart Steve Poltz. Or Canadian alt/Country cult hero Fred Eaglesmith, who makes his fourth…
Bassist Stan Miczek will also share original tunes from his new cd at tonight’s jamathon. -GARY 17 By Mike Beggs, Special to TorontoMoon.ca \ PORT CREDIT-MISSISSAUGA \ The first snow on the windshield made me bristle for a second the other night. But what it’s like to be starving, or homeless when the deep…
By Mike Beggs, Special to TorontoMoon.ca \ ETOBICOKE \ A couple of months ago we reported that, after a 2-year run at Timothy’s Pub, the Tuesday night residency for the Groovestone Rock covers band moved just down the road to Southside Johnny’s Bar & Grill at 3653 Lakeshore Rd. West a little west of Brown’s…
By Mike Beggs, Special to TorontoMoon.ca \ MISSISSAUGA \ As you might have guessed, there’s no Wally in Mustang Wally, which plays the Lionheart British Pub tonight (Friday) in the upper NorthWest reaches of Mississauga. It’s just a fun name for a cover band. Co-lead singers Roger Collins and Regina Myles, lead guitarist Sergio Amadio,…
By Mike Beggs, Special to TorontoMoon.ca \ PORT CREDIT-MISSISSAUGA \ Not every sit-down acoustic duo can handle a request for Def Leppard’s “Last Bite”. But that the Phil & John Show pair can do so speaks to the talents of Phil Naro (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), and John Rogers (lead guitar, vocals) who hold down…
By Mike Beggs, Special to TorontoMoon.ca \ BURLINGTON \ Caught up in bureaucracy that doesn’t want to pay for a much needed new wheelchair to help him get out to gigs because “he isn’t due yet” according to their calculations, Blues/Americana Roots artist Shawn Brush will hopefully be able to “keep rolling” after a fundraiser…
\ ETOBICOKE \ By Mike Beggs, Special to TorontoMoon.ca For his adroit indie Pop musings through four albums [often with a wry, even sarcastic bent, particularly when touching on family and home -Editor], Toronto singer/guitarist James Clark has been extolled in several previous Toronto Moon articles. However, this afternoon he will be playing strictly songs…
\ By Mike Beggs, Special to TorontoMoon.ca \ \ PORT CREDIT-MISSISSAUGA \ The Southside Shuffle Port Credit Blues & Jazz Festival has been marking its 20th anniversary this weekend by presenting such decorated, international Blues artists as Coco Montoya, Duke Robillard, Savoy Brown, and the Sue Foley Band. But of course, part of the appeal…
By Mike Beggs, Special to TorontoMoon.ca \ TO WEST \ For almost two decades, David Celia has made his bones as an Alt/Folk/Rock artist (with four CD’s), as a sideman on guitar (Ian & Sylvia, etc.), and by touring regularly across the True North and across the pond (playing such festivals as Glastonbury in England…
By Mike Beggs, Special to TorontoMoon.ca \ BRAMPTON \ There’s a theory that the Blues grow on you with age. Maybe that explains why I found myself buying a Stevie Ray record last week. Or why I immediately gravitated to the music of American Blues guitar icon Walter Trout, who makes a much-anticipated appearance at…
