\ TORONTO WEST \

Although he hasn’t indicated exactly when it’s going to happen, it appears that veteran Junction-area Rock-Blues bassist Dave McManus will be moving to New Orleans in the near future.  So his annual “It’s All About Dave!” birthday bash tonight may well double as send-off event for some attendees.

Dave announced on Facebook last week that he and his wife have purchased a home in The Big Easy, whence, it seems, he plans to “retire”. Those who know the locally ubiquitous 4-stringer from his multitude of west-TO shows (he seems to be holding up the bottom end for just about every major gig in the half-dozen or so clubs that feature live music in The Junction area and has been a mainstay at jams there and in booking new rooms for the past couple of decades that I know about) may find it hard to imagine him just sitting around watching the catfish jump.

McManus hails back to the early 70s on the TO music scene.  As the Museum of Canadian Music tells it, he was a member of seminal four-piece Seadog, which only existed for four years and released just two albums but made a big impact in that time, sharing stages with the likes of April Wine, Fludd, A Foot In Cold Water, Crowbar and Rush, among others.

For the past few years he’s been at the centre of The Junction City All-Stars band, which he founded with guitarist Les Hoffman, and also does regular low-register support work for local Blues acts such as Julian Fauth and Ken Yoshioka.

All three of those artists, along with Jon McCann on drums will be among the gang assembling to perform at tonight’s show, taking place at yet another new room in the Junction area, The Cat Pub, at 3513 Dundas St. West (near Jane). It gets underway at 9:30 and you can bet it’ll go late.

-Gary 17, TorontoMoon.ca