When, last April, I produced and distributed to clubs a hard copy newsletter I called Scarborough Moon Magazine (unfortunately only one issue was produced —the Scarborough club owners I talked to aren’t the brightest people in the world, and they didn’t pick up on its potential and support it) the choice of a cover story was easy: it was about singer Al Reilly, whose Catalyst band has brought a lot of pleasure to east TO audiences (and club owners by virtue of always getting strong attendance at his shows).

In the course of interviewing Al for the article it became clear that for this pint-size but big-lunged Rock frontman, making music is what he lives for. His original song “Never Let Go Of Your Dreams” is an anthemic rallying cry for doing whatever it takes to live the dream —and he does.

While Catalyst (now with Earl Johnson on board) continues to pack rooms, lately Al’s expanded his reach by teaming up with various combos to gig as a stream of different bands —all equally sharing a common thread of excellence in performance and work ethic. Tomorrow he unveils another as he and versatile veteran Dan Walek team up in a combo to be known as Rotten Roll. And they appear in a part of town he hasn’t been seen in for some time as they perform at Etobicoke’s Maple Leaf House at 2749 Lakeshore Blvd. W. just west of Royal York.

Pic: Al Reilly fronts band at Dan Walek’s Sun. jam -Facebook