In This Issue:
 
•            The Return of BLAINblain - Tuesday Mar 10 at Thymeless
•            Mothers Day at the Sky with Jerome Godboo and Layla Zoe
•            What is it about 432 hz?
•            Treasa, The Guitar Workshop and words of wisdom from Richard Bell
•            The Grammys
•            Morgan Davis remembering Rod Phillips
 
 
Welcome to the last-minute (almost)Spring Blainletter. If you got this via Facebook and you would like to subscribe to the monthly Blainletter send a blank message to info@brianblain.ca and put "subscribe" in the subject line.  Last month's experiment with the Reverbnation mailing list did not really work out so for the moment I will be managing the fanlist the old-fashioned way (maybe that's just as well – your email will stay completely private and close to my bosom). First, a couple of upcoming shows:

TONIGHT  Tuesday March 10, 2009
BLAINblain @ Thymeless - 355 College St.  9pm
$5 or PWYC
Get ready for something entirely different from the Brian Blain you've come to know and love. It's all instrumental ambient electronica but we're having fun. What could be more fun than playing with your own son!
 
Mothers Day, Sunday May 10 (3:30pm)
Brian Blain guesting with Jerome Godboo and Layla Zoe
Sky Restaurant and Cocktail Lounge, 2680 Skymark Ave, Mississauga
 
Jerome at the Sky: Last Sunday I took a trip out to the hinterland of Mississauga where I have rarely tread. I saw Gary Kendall's matinee at Hollywood on the Queensway (though I missed their special guest, Steve Strongman) and I visited a new venue, The Sky  Restaurant out at Eglinton and Renforth. There on a big stage with great production was Jerome Godboo and Friends including the amazing Dave Murphy on keyboard and guitar (dare-I-say) "legend" Pat Rush. He's certainly a local legend and he's made his mark around the guitar world too. Pat was getting a great sound out of a cheap Fender Squire guitar and when I asked him if he had modified it he said is was right out of the box. $135 at Long & McQuade.  It's amazing what they're able to turn out these days. I tried Pat's guitar and although the neck did not feel as welcoming as my beloved Strat, I think I could manage quite well with one. I never was too fussy about guitars as long as they stay in tune.
Anyway…Jerome invited me to be a special guest at the Sky's big Mothers Day show. Layla Zoe will also be guesting. Mark your calendars. I may yet organize some kind of Motherless Day concert around that…I would like to maintain the tradition, but if that doesn't come together I'll get to sing "Don't Forget Your Mother" for the west end crowd .
 
My encounter with A432: A couple of months ago I received a call from a rather intense young man who wanted me, as editor of the Toronto Musicians Association newsletter, to know about from a gentleman who was very excited to let all musicians know that they should tune their instruments down to A 432 hz (from the standard pitch of 440). It's a miniscule difference but you can hear it ..
Norbert Brainard was a violin virtuoso. He founded the Amati String Quartet. He passionately supported the use of the "Mozart A" (aka the Verdi A) of 432 Hz "in opposition to today’s absurdly high 'Karajan tuning' of A well above 440 Hz." He recorded certain tones (and their octaves) both in the low and high tuning, did a spectral analysis, and discovered the lower tuning created a larger sum of overtones, which explains the fuller sound; it was also proven, that Brainin’s Strad had its best resonance by far at exactly C=256 Hz, which is about A=432 Hz." Other theories abound that involve sacred geometry and the dimensions of Egyptian pyramids and now there is a new movement advocating this pitch as being a healing factor and more consistent with our natural state. There is even a conspiracy theory that Nazi madman Goebbels had orchestrated (pardon my pun) the move to 440 as the "standard pitch" just to hold the population from spiritual growth and making it impossible to "Transform to the Light"...OK this is getting a little weird but I had to see (hear) for myself so I went and bought a guitar tuner that could be calibrated at 432 hz and I tuned one of my guitars with it. This was my resophonic guitar, pretty loud to start with, but once I had it tuned and strummed a big chord it sounded much bigger and fuller. No doubt in my mind (ears). I have since tuned my flat-top to 432 and recorded about a half hour of my usual guitar noodling. I didn't really notice a dramatic difference this time but I'm going to get it online but I haven't figured out how just yet - it's a pretty big file. Now I'm going to tune the old Epi back to 440 so that I can go out and jam with the rest of the universe but I am quite fascinated by this.
 
Treasa, the guitar workshop and words of wisdom from Richard Bell: Last night I went to the jazz hang out where the old Montreal Bistro regulars get together on Fridays, "Quotes" on King Street. The bandleader is the wonderful drummer Don Vickery and his guest this Friday was the *very* lovely and talented Colleen Allen and there she was playing all these very legit jazz standards...that girl can do it all! If you haven't see her with the fabulous Blainettes horn section, then please take a few minutes (ten, actually) to view the little video montage I made of our show at the Toronto Jazz Festival. It's at http://www.brianblain.ca  Sure hope I get to play with that great horn section again this summer.
The Toronto Blues Society's Blues Guitar Workshop was at Long & McQuade's modern presentation room above their store in Toronto. One of my new musical friends Steve Strongman was a guest and he was playing great...alongside John Tilden, Teddy Leonard and the great Harrison Kennedy who regaled us with stories of Billie Holliday and Duke Ellington visiting his home in Hamilton...and taking harmonica lessons from Sonny Terry. Harrison admitted to only playing guitar for five years (though he's been a world-renowned R&B singer for 45) but he has really developed his own thing on that old Stella that his 98 year old grandma gave him. It was not the slick sound of the other players, but he's sure come a long way since he played one of my Motherless Day concerts a few years back. Make me think of watching Jeff Healey as he developed his trumpet playing. He would always be down at the Reservoir Lounge sitting in with the resident swing band. He knew the repertoire inside out but his lip was still developing and clams would occur. Nobody cared - that guy had so much music in him that he could make a kazoo sound like a virtuoso instrument, and same goes for Harrison.
After stopping by at Michelle's for a great homemade pizza, I decided to swing by the Silver Dollar to see Treasa Levasseur (Michelle's former Bandleader). Treasa dedicated a tune to Richard and everyone raised their glass. There is a certain immortality to being a musician...at least if you're one who touched people with your music. I'm sure he had many other tips, but Treasa Levasseur remembered that Richard's advice to her was: Always be on time, be polite, and play your ass off on every song even the ones you're not crazy about. Treasa and I were recording with Richard about the same time, I think (with the same producer, David Baxter). Richard's wisdom also touched me and I remember one bit that revolved around this little repeating lick he played throughout one of the slow ballads we were doing. I said to him after the first take that I wasn't too crazy about that bit but he said, in the most cordial way, something like "look kid, I've been doing this a long time and that is something that will subconsciously grab the listener". We we left it in, and by the time overdubs were done and the thing was mixed that little riff was really back there...but holding the whole thing together...subliminally. He was totally right.

Where is Brian Blain? I hope that my absence at the two big folk music conferences, OCFF in Ottawa and Folk Alliance in Memphis did not lead anyone to believe I'm out of the game. Let's just say I'm taking the year off to make a record.
I applied to two festivals and was invited to two festivals (but not the same two). I don't know that I've got it in me to start writing/calling. When I have a little music time, I want to spend it playing guitar not hustling gigs ...or posting blogs...I'm off to play some guitar
 
The Grammys: I think I've got a new conspiracy theory: I was just watching this commercial for a cell phone service and the slogan was something like "we just got friendlier". Well it depends what you mean by "friendlier" - it occurs to me that with all these touch screen phones it means now they can prove whether or not someone made a phone call because they'll have his fingerprint recorded. I saw the commercial while I was watching the Grammy Awards - until I was bumped out of my son's room (he has the only TV in the house). I guess I could pull rank and catch a bit more of the show but I've got some practicing to do...with said son, known in his world as DJ Coi. We're playing together on Tuesday...
…ok, I've pulled rank and just saw Allison Krauss and Robert Plant get two big awards...and a great performance. A good night for Rounder records...yea Ken & Donna! Now I'm only a couple of degrees of separation from the Grammy Awards because I slept in the same bed as Allison...not at the same time, of course, but it was only a week later or so...in the guest apartment at the Rounder mansion in Newburyport.
Beautiful to see Sir Paul McCartney sitting right in the front row and singing along with Smokey Robinson and the last remaining "Top" of the Four Tops. McCartney played "I Saw Her Standing There". Now there's a blast from the past!
 
Morgan Davis on Rod Phillips: As the song says, "Some people live for music but musicians play for life" and the music you create is still rolling around in the subconscious of all the fans who danced to it and especially the musicians who played with him. I've got a video on you tube  ..  and the other day I noticed a comment that said "That's my dad on organ" and then I got a message from Morgan Davis and was looking for something on his website when I came upon this heartfelt tribute. We've lost a couple of great blues guys this month, Al Kirkaldy and Big Daddy G but Rod made quite an impact on my musical life (in his most understated way). Here's what Morgan had to say:
"Rod Phillips was a heart and soul kinda musician. His joy came from playing the music, not playing the "industry" game, consequently, he was not a household name. Nevertheless, musicians knew about Rod, and it was always a gas to share the stage with him.
I came to know Rod by sitting in on the Sunday matinees at the Blue Goose. He and the Pie Guys would kick things off with a few standards and I was always mesmerized by Rod's groove and passionate singing. Along with our love of groovish music, we shared an interest in herbal medicines, and would often spend time between sets discussing the merits of herb in the parking lot.
Our friendship led to Rod playing on my "Painkiller" disc, and in the studio Rod was so helpful in laying down so many grooves, establishing such a wonderful mood, and displaying not only his great Hammond sounds, but surprising the hell out of me with his performance on the piano, which I had not heard him play before. He was right at home with Howlin' Wolf.
Rod was a most humble and gifted musician. We shared a lot of grooves and a lot of laughs. I'm missing him.  Morgan "
 
(from Morgan's website www.morgandavis.com .. )
 
 
*** Most of this was compiled from my blog, http://torontobluesdiary.blogspot.com.