\ TO EAST \ For over seven years now the delightfully versatile Jazz combo The BTBs, about which I’ve written previously, has held court almost every Wednesday evening at Relish tapas and entertainment bar. That hasn’t really changed since the venue relocated to a bigger, better located space at 511 Danforth this past summer. But…
\ TO EAST \ It’s not just because he wrote a song about me or the fact that he’s a subscriber to TorontoMoon.ca that I’m a big fan of songwriter Robert Pelletier and his Felix & The Cats original Pop Rock band. I’ve been impressed with this tidy combo since first hearing them at the…
\ TO EAST \ The host of the hugely successful Sunday night jam at Relish (relocated this summer to 511 Danforth Avenue) songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and wit David Macmichael, has added another hosting gig to his weekly repertoire, now shepherding the weekly hoot at new bar The Cut (aka The Big Bruce) at 1963 Queen St.…
\ TO EAST \ After a roller coaster month and a Herculean effort to move her Relish tapas bistro of 13 years literally up the street into a new, larger and better-trafficked space, Joanne Clayton is ready to welcome the throngs in her new home at 511 Danforth Ave. near Logan. “Relish 2.0” is now…
\ TO EAST \ People all over the GTA are in a celebratory mood tonight after the Raptors’ convincing win in Game 6 of the NBA finals to win an historic first championship in that league. But at Relish in east TO, patrons, musicians and owner Joanne Clayton will be more excited to mark the…
\ TO EAST \ An entertaining instrumental Jazz group that applies a Jazz lens to a wide variety of songs from other genres, doing a whole lot of improvising as they go, the BTBs are all talented players who clearly perform for the love of music rather than lucre. As we mentioned in an article…
\ TO EAST \ I’m not sure if it’s part of Relish owner Joanne Clayton’s game plan or just a co-incidence, but Monday evenings at the funky tapas bistro/live music destination room in east TO always seem to feature a very boisterously rollicking feature entertainment act. For a couple of years it offered the dynamic…
Double bass player Abbey Sholzberg was gone for a stint in western Canada for over a month in late November through the holiday period and no doubt all of the several groups he performs with missed his solid musicianship and amiable presence on their gigs during that time. He’s versatile, as we’ve written before, backing…
\ TO EAST \ A lively crew that plays Gypsy Jazz in the style of the late great Django Reinhardt, Django Gypsy Jam consists of a rotating cast of members but is anchored by staples Ron Sellwood on squeezebox and, with no drums employed, versatile and ubiquitous stand-up bass player Abbey Sholzberg holding down…
\ TO CENTRAL \ It’s been a while since I last wrote about the Danger Bees, the cheeky alt-Pop outfit based around the songs and persona of versatile multi-instrumentalist and composer David Macmichael. The group, which had some personnel changes that may have left it producing precious little honey lately. The group has been pretty…
\ TO CENTRAL \ We told you last month about some of the amazing instrumental and composing prowess of multi-dimensional songwriter/musician/artist Mark Sepic when he performed an evening at Relish tapas eatery in east TO. We mentioned his “Junkestra” project in passing in that article and one of the photos that accompanied it showed him…
\ TO EAST \ While the future of many a young man has no doubt been clearly pointed to by the perceptions of a certain “one-eyed” oracle of sorts, I rather doubt that what I’m alluding to is what songwriter Boris Buhot had in mind when he decided to adopt a new moniker for his…
After learning over the weekend about the recent death of yet another old friend, this one from my youth in the 1960s, I inevitably have been reflecting on the summer of 1968 when he and I were pretty good pals and I spent many an afternoon and evening in his basement at his band’s rehearsals…
\ TO EAST \ Land’s sakes alive! For a bunch of “outlaw Country” roughriders these boys in High Court County sure do clean up nice when you get ‘em in the studio! Folks who are used to seeing this high-energy group perform quite masterfully at gigs all across southern Ontario over the past couple of…
\ TO EAST \ An unusually gifted and inventive musical artist, Mark Sepic hasn’t been as prominent on the local scene as he was a few years ago since moving out to the wilds of the 905. But tonight the elementally diverse songwriter and experimental musical artist and instrument-maker/educator is back in his old East…
\ TO EAST \ Featuring a variety of traditional instruments such as fiddle, horn, accordion and standup bass along with two acoustic guitars, the loose and lovely Django Gypsy Jam band is one of those good-time outfits that lifts spirits with delight. The instruments dance and dive and ripple and rustle in the hands of…
\ TO EAST \ It’s been a year and half since Rap sensation Bryan Van Dusen bid TO adieu to move with the love of his life and wife Jenna to the “left coast,” where the pair are still madly in love and enjoying life to the max. But this weekend BVD, as he’s known…
\ TO EAST \ The last time I saw Jody Ferrer perform —in November at the weekly Tuesday night “ABC Songwriters Circle” show downtown at Amsterdam Bicycle Club (which runs again tonight with another stellar guest list and host Robert Pelletier)— he was mysteriously sporting a decorative mask for some reason. I didn’t get a…
\ TO EAST \ It’s been just over eight years tonight since Joanne Clayton first tried out live music at her funky tapas bar on Danforth Ave. a block east of Woodbine and both her restaurant and the east TO live music scene have never been quite the same since. These days Relish offers at…
\ TO EAST \ As we told you back in November, songwriter and acclaimed vegeran Pop Rock guitarist Alex Radeff has been appearing weekly Tuesday afternoons for the past several months (with a short break over the holiday period) for a 12-3 lunch show at downtown’s True Love Café on Dundas St. E. at Sherbourne.…
\ TO CENTRAL \ A staple of Folk festivals, the songwriters-in-the-round musical presentation concept has also been gaining in popularity for club night shows the past couple of years. We’re written previously about several of these events, typically hosted by a talented performer and inviting songwriters, arranged in a semi-circle or line on stage, to…
\ TO EAST \ Blame it all on Bluegrass! For it was Bluegrass bands, particularly The Dixie Flyers, that first got me going to bars regularly to listen to live music when I was barely more than a pup in my mid-twenties living in London, Ontario. The Flyers and various other offshoots and combos of…
