Folk You!

Ok, so this is the second time I use this title, but this time it is REALLY relevant.

I’m moving to Toronto (ok…Markham) in 20 days.

!!!!

So it’s been about 20 years since I have done anything useful with Folk You!. Sure, Gaby and I poster ”Forgiveness” on every lamp post on St Laurent, and plaster Peter Katz’s face everywhere… but that’s not ”Folk You!”….. that’s just Emma and Gaby who happen to enjoy spreading the word.

In my last post, I mentioned an upcoming showcase of sorts.  Folk You! is leaving Montreal… and we’re gonna go out with a bang. The plans are final, and Folk You! (ie me, Emma) has organized an ”in the round” at my very favourite venue run by my very favourite person (other than Peter Katz), the Centre St-Ambroise. AND I get to have three of my absolute favourite musicians play. Yes. Wonderful!

The details:

Saturday, May 17 2008

Singing My Mind: In The Round with Rob Szabo, Kerri Ough and David Martel

At: Centre St-Ambroise
5080 St-Ambroise
Montreal, QC H4C 2G1
9pm $10

I would definitely reccomend reserving your seats with me beforehand as this is a small space and is going to fill QUICKLY. E-mail me at (imagine this is normal looking with no spaces) :
(f o l k y o u z i n e A T g m a i l D O T c o m) to discuss reservation options.

Cool

www.robszabo.com

www.myspace.com/kerriough

www.myspace.com/iamdavidmartel

www.myspace.com/centrestambroise

Here’s a poster by my awesome friend Ethan Kalman at Goats Of Fury :

I have been the worst blogger ever. I think I have discovered that I don’t actually LIKE blogging when it’s not just for me. And when it is just for me, I just don’t do it. There’s a lot of pressure to be interesting when you’re writing for a public- and yes, I do have a public thank you, there’s a steady stream of about 7 visitors per day to my blog. Unless it’s just one creepy guy checking back multiple times to see if I wrote anything new. We’ll just say that it’s not. Anyway, my dilemma is: if I don’t blog for a long time, I feel like it’s obvious that it’s just because I have nothing interesting to say. But then if I write a bunch of posts that aren’t worth anyone’s time, readers may decide I’m boring, and then never come back. I can’t win.

 But I guess what it takes once in a while for me to spend an evening watching Gaby work at Second Cup with absolutely nothing to do, armed with only a semi-functioning laptop. I can’t get any work done for Peter or Rob or The Polyjesters, because this computer can’t handle large amounts of memory-usage. So all I can do is write. 

I’ve also had a fair amount of caffeine.

So what am I going to write about? Well, since I have nothing really “going on” right now, I guess I’ll just do what I always do when in doubt: talk about Peter Katz!
Really though, thing is, we’ve got a big show tomorrow night. I should have told you about it earlier. In June, The Montreal Fringe Festival hosted Peter’s “More Nights” CD release at Club Lambi. The night was a HUGE success and Peter and the band loved the venue. Peter wanted to play at Lambi again, but since the Fringe is only once a year, we had to do it ourselves. I was assigned to the task of booking the venue. After being passed around to various people and MUCH help from my friend Pradeep, I found my way to the right person and booked the show.
March 14, 2008: Peter Katz & The Curious with Mike Evin and his full band.

Amazing.

So that’s tomorrow night. Then, on March 29, ROB SZABO is coming to town!!! And he’s playing with David Martel & Meredith Luce at the Centre St-Ambroise. We are spoiled this month, here in Montreal. I hope you kids can make it.

 I’ll have some more exciting things to talk about once the snow melts and spring finally rolls around.

In May, we’re having a BIGBIGBIG show at the Centre St-Ambroise… a first-ever (and maybe only ever) Folk You! Showcase is going to be happening, under the name Celebration of Friends. And around that time, there may be some other big announcements, so keep yer eyes peeled and yer ears healthy my friends. Remember, never listen to your music with headphones or earbuds on over 75% of the volume capacity! (I learned that from Dr. Oz.)

Relatively soon there will also be a review/major gush about David Martel’s new record “I Hardly Knew Me” that we (as in all of human kind) have been waiting for for oh, I dunno, since the beginning of time. Yep, it’s that good.

Please go watch this trailer: http://www.acrossthelinefilm.com 

Hey.

Funny how the winter can get ya down, eh? Unless you’re one of those people who skis or snowboards or partakes in any winter activities and actually enjoy them, the winter is a snore. I love hockey and all, and I’m sure skiing really is fun. I also don’t mind it being cold outside. It’s just the snow that bothers me. It’s so… suffocating. Szabo agrees:

So, sorry for the lack of updates to Folk You!. The winter just sucks, that’s all. I’ve been keeping busy though, and of course I’ve still been seeing live music! Mostly at the Centre St Ambroise. A little Yellow Door here and there. It’s just harder to get out there and enjoy the city and all it has to offer when it’s like, -20 degrees C. In the summer, I could walk the entire length of St Laurent in flipflops at 4 am and not have much to complain about. The snow changes all of that. Boooo.

OK, enough complaining. Here are a couple of music-related things that make me happy in these winter months:

David Martel!!! New tunes from his new record, ”I Hardly Knew Me” are up on his also new MySpace page; www.myspace.com/iamdavidmartel . Sooo good. And check out that MySpace background. I hope that gets put on a tshirt. Or in a colouring book. Wow, I want a David Martel colouring book.

iTodd Lounge:
Todd Donald got an iMac around Christmas time. In no time at all he started up a ridiculous show that basically takes his ‘Indie Invasion’ Radio Show (in the KW area) to his basement where he interviews artists and they hang out and perform or whatever. It’s very fun. The ”Webisodes” are up on YouTube for all to see! Fun extras are on www.itoddlounge.wordpress.com . There are only 2 episodes on Youtube so far, so it will only take you 15 minutes to catch up before you subscribe and hang on to every video!

Check it all out at Youtube.com/ToddDonald519 !

Alright. Talk to ya soon.

Stay warm,

Emma

I go to a lot of shows. Most of them are OK. Once in a while, I happen upon one that leaves me wondering, “Why the heck isn’t s/he super famous?”

On December 14, the opening of the Centre St Ambroise (see: previous post) was graced with such a performance by local musician David Martel. David kicked off the launch weekend with the strongest, most beautiful set I’ve ever seen him play. (I’ve seen him more times than anyone else, I think.) My friends Gaby and Tim and I were shaking our heads and chuckling as first-time David Martel listeners’ minds were blown.

Later on, Centre St Ambroise programmer Dave Cool told me that David said he had been inspired by the room and also felt as though that was one of his best sets. Ho-hum! Sorry you missed it!

Luckily, you can catch David Martel in the same super-inspirational room this coming spring on March 29 with Meredith Luce and another of my favourite gems, Rob Szabo. Amazing! Both Rob and David will be nearing releases of their new records so regular fans will be refreshed with brand new set lists. : )

Maybe I should write infomercials or other cheesy ads for some extra cash…

Photo(L-R) : Mark Berube (who also played beautifully on December 14) and David Martel at the Centre St-Amrboise. Photo by the awesome Ian Graham. Click for the full-size, nice quality, non-pixelly image.

P.S. Check out this neato video by I don’t know who of Shane Murphy at the Centre St-Ambroise on Saturday, Dec. 15!

Dave Cool is at it again! I feel like this blog is becoming a Dave Cool fan site. Soon, he and Peter Katz will be in competition for most-mentioned person on Folk You!.

What I’m reporting this time is another one of Mr. Cool’s antics to bring music to more people. He’s gone and opened a venue, now! And, as his sidekick, I get dibs on lots of jobs at this place, like door girl (welcome!) or bartender (coming up!) or sound tech (? do I plug this in here?) anddd about once a month, programmer (git yer arse on stage, monkey!)! HOW EXCITING!!

À Montréal, The Griffon Room at Le Centre St-Ambroise (that’s what it’s called!) is in St-Henri, a flourishing little town in the west end of the city. It’s stuck right next to the St-Ambroise/McAuslan brewery. There’s everything I want to say about it but in better words and more coherent sentences on the space’s MySpace page. And look, a calendar with some shows coming up! Can you guess which one I booked?

Trust me, it’s a special place. First time I walked in there I almost ate my hat for all of the potential in the room.

If you’re in Montreal, do come check out the space on the opening weekend, December 14th and 15th. The 14th will have you swaying in yer shoes with Dave Martel and Mark Berube, and on the 15th you’ll nod your noggin along to the sounds of Shane Murphy and Paul Cargnello. Only $8 for each night!

Dave Cool is showing me up. Check out this GREAT post he put up on his blog, Cool’s Corner, a little while ago, about creating different streams of revenue as an artist:

Diversify Your Revenue Streams

If you haven’t already started reading Cool’s Corner, I really suggest you do. Dave only posts interesting, helpful things about the the music industry. I read it on a regular basis and am constantly learning new things!

Do it!

Today, I want to write about connections. For me, music is really personal, and my tastes are based majorly upon how I connect with the music, and live, how I connect with the performer.

I’m not saying I’ve got to sit down to dinner with the band beforehand and find out whether they prefer Pirates of the Caribbean 1 or 2. It’s an emotional thing.  For the sake of consistency from post to post, let’s use Peter Katz as an example. I met Peter minutes before he got onstage the first time I saw him live. I had never corresponded with him before, and had only heard one song before, a single time. (I stumbled upon this show somewhat accidentally, and the bill was Peter Katz, Mike Evin and Amanda Mabro & The Cabaret Band. I was in luck!) Anyway, buddy here got on stage and started playing, and whatever it was that I was saying to my friend was cut off, mid-sentence, and lost forever. My attention turned 100% to Peter.  It was one of those rare (for me) performances that totally absorbs me, and in an instant, I was hooked. Yes, I have a very special and personal connection with Peter Katz, having gotten to know him over the last while and now even working with him. That connection does influence to how much I love his music, because how much I love the guy himself can, at times, be somewhat blinding. Not to say that he isn’t the incredible singer, songwriter, performer, musician, human that I make him out to be. That’s part of what’s so great about him. He really does rock that much!

I started getting into ”indie” music when I was around 14, eased into the scene by tunes like ”Revelate” and ”Star Star” from The Frames. At the time, I had no idea who Glen Hansard was, but now The Frames’ frontman is now one of my absolute favourite singer/songwriter/performers, and I’ve only met the guy so briefly that it hardly even counts. Seen him live once (second time coming up on Nov 22!!!) But how many hours have I spent on YouTube watching videos of him perform? How many hours have I spent sitting on my floor with my headphones on listening to various records he’s put out? Many. Many. Whatever it is that draws me to Glen Hansard is in his words and in his voice. What ties me to the Frames, apart from him, is the violin. They go together perfectly. Please. More violin. More Glen. More records!

And my connections to different musicians and music continue on as such. Some are more direct than others, but all of them are deeply personal and REAL. Whether I have breakfast with Rob Szabo or only dream about meeting Damien Rice, whatever I find in the connection is mine and mine alone. Gaby could have breakfast with me and Rob too, or have the same daydream of nonchalantly saying hello to Damien Rice on the street, but her connection to them and their music is completely seperate from mine, as much as we feel the same way about them. Am getting philosophical here, who was it who said the thing about if there are 30 people looking at a table, then there are 30 different tables in the room? That’s what I’m getting at, though, and it’s amazing because with music and its makers, that’s really how it is.

Anyway, alls I know is that while I would sure as hell love to be in a room with 30 Rob Szabos, the one that I know is perfect, and plenty wonderful.

Is anyone following what I’m on about? It’s all relative. Each person gets their very own Rob Szabo, or their very own Mike Evin. Their very own, I dunno, Elton John. Whatever. Whoever you want.  You get your own, through your connection to them or their music. Or their drawings, or paintings, or words in a silly blog.

Art rocks, yeah? Yeah.

Love it.

How do you connect?
Seriously, would love to hear how much you love the music you love. Tell me about it! Send me an email. folkyouzine@gmail.com. We’ll connect.

Watch this!:

It’s been just over a year since I’ve started working with Dave Cool from Stand Alone Records. He’s the one who put out that GREAT documentary film, “What is INDIE?” that you all should have seen by now. (Trailer above!) And if you haven’t, well, I would reccomend it! It’s $20 for a 2-disc package; one of the discs is a compilation CD with excellent tracks from the artists featured in the film, the other is the DVD. It features industry geniuses such as Panos Panay (Sonicbids) and Derek Sivers (CD Baby) and is jam-packed with bonus features and great advice and information.

You can buy the DVD, or download a digital copy (starting from $2.99!) if you follow this here link: (Click me)

Now, the reason I’m posting this, is because Dave has set up a new blog that is just brimming with cool, helpful stuff, and he’s even offering ($0) career consultations, these days.  Cool’s Corner: Indide the Indie Music Revolution. Check it out. Talk to Dave Cool. Watch his film. Send him an e-mail. Or a Hoops & Yoyo Hallmark e-card. Whatever…..! Communicate with him. He has this brain which is packed full of so much knowledge that I always marvel at how normal he is, because surely someone with a brain as full as that must be going a little bit crazy. But nope. Perfectly normal, nice guy. So don’t be shy!

Links!

Stand Alone Records
What is INDIE?
Cool’s Corner Blog

Apologies for the lack of recent postings! As previous entries hinted, September was a ridiculously busy month. I’ll try to be brief in filling you all in on the going-ons of the last few weeks.

Scott Cooper’s Toronto CD Release show for his new record Tiny Increments was FANTASTIC! We (Gaby and I) were doing merch so we weren’t right in front of the action, but we did have decent dancing room and some excellent company. The band was KILLER- Adam Warner on drums, Rob Szabo on bass, Alex McMaster on cello, Dean Drouillard on electric guitar, and Caroline Brooks singing along. I was happier than I knew was possible. They were perfect. Everyone was perfect. Things associated with Scott Cooper, in my mind, are perfect. I wrote a review of Tiny Increments here… click or go to the “Reviews” tab above to read it.

While in Toronto, we made sure to see as much great music as we possibly could. This means following Adam Warner around to various different venues to see him play his solo stuff, and back not only Scott Cooper but also Ron Leary, Dean’s Dragon and Kevin Quain. It was a good idea! They were all amazing. So if you are planning a trip to Toronto and you want to see some awesome shows, become friends with/stalk AW, and you’re all set.

Then it was home to Montreal for a couple of days of school before Scott Cooper and the Good Lovelies headed out this way for a brilliant show at The Yellow Door on the 22nd. Unfortunately, Lobelia couldn’t make it, so we brought Cozmos Quazar in to play, too. He did his usual rockin’ thing, with his neato lyrics and song-bombing melodies. The Good Lovelies drew an impressive crowd for their very first Montreal gig, and were just so damn lovable. Peter Katz made a surprise appearance and played “Forgiveness” (soon to be the entire world’s new favourite song) for us, by request of Coop in the middle of his set. Speaking of Coop, he won the hearts of many and performed absolutely perfectly (see, I told you- perfect!) for an audience that could not take their eyes off him. Yep, it was a pretty amazing night.

Another week went by and it was back to the Yellow Door for the big 40th anniversary celebration weekend for the Coffeehouse. We had 15 performers over the two nights, and it was wonderful. Friday night was absolutely brilliant, with alumni such as William McNally starting the night off, followed later by slightly more recent friends of the Yellow Door like Matt Stern, Dave Martel and Mike Evin. I didn’t see anything of Saturday night as I was upstairs for the most part, but judging by the audience’s cheering and clapping, having Rob Lutes, Noah Zaccharin and the Echo Hunters on the bill was a good idea. It was a lovely, successful weekend of wonderful music.

Now it’s POP season (POP Montreal, big music festival thingy) and I’m too tired to check out much. Well, too tired and too poor. We went to La Sala Rossa to check out Katie Moore, The Watson Twins and Electric Magnolia Co. (or something) and it emptied our pockets but did not really fill our expectations. It was good, but… well, you see, Gaby and I have discussed this, and she agress- I’m noticing more and more how difficult it is for really good acts to impress me after having spent so much time around the likes of such brilliant ones as Rob Szabo, Peter Katz, Scott Cooper, Adam Warner, Lindy, etc. Even Damien Rice was lacking appeal, especially considering I was actually sitting next to Peter Katz during the show and Szabo was a few seats down. I want them to be on those big stages, performing off-mic to silent audiences of 2,000 people who don’t dare to breathe for fear of missing a single moment. That’s how I am when those guys are on any stage, and so many artists pale in comparison to these guys/gals whom I can’t get enough of. It’s not to say they’re not talented or they aren’t any good, not at all! There are so many excellent musicians out there… but as performers, does it get any better than the emotion of Peter Katz, the consistency of Rob Szabo, the entertainment of The Polyjesters? And OK, let’s throw The Frames in here too, because Glen Hansard is too dynamic and awesome to leave out. I could go on and on and name more people. Matt Stern. Todd Donald. Dave Martel. Amanda Mabro. Andrea Revel. Lobelia……! I mean… hellooo? Why aren’t these the people whose faces are on the sides of busses or on giant billboards along the highway? I love them, I love them, I love them… and I just want the rest of the world to love them, too.

By the way, artists: Peter Katz has really handy postcard flyer things that are so easy to carry around and a really great way of introducing him to new people. Gaby and I never leave home without a chunk of them anymore, and almost always find a use for them. Whether it’s giving them to random music lovers in the metro or leaving them around stores, they’re a pretty awesome and simple way for your fans to really easily spread the word.

Okay. I said I was going to be brief, and then I wrote a novella. Oh well, a blog is for writing in, isn’t it? Yes. Anyway, that was my rant, my rave, my passion.

Please send your tour dates, your news, yada yada. If you don’t, I’ll just have to write some more posts about Peter Katz. (Which will inevitably happen anyway, because, have I mentioned that I love him?)

BTW, Royal Wood on Sunday Oct 7 at Petit Campus should be well worth attending. I will most likely include him in my next rant. “Why is Sean Paul on my cereal box? Why isn’t Royal Wood on my cereal box? I would like you to tell me why Royal Effing Wood is not on my ceral box. “