Harvest Jazz & Bluesa Feast oF a Festival

brunswickanharvestbrunswickanharvest2 • Sept. 21, 2010 • Issue 3 • Volume 145

Gregg Allman who? Buddy steals the show

Blues legend Buddy Guy turned Harvest’s Gregg Allman cancellation nightmare into a dream come true for fans. Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan

Colin McPhailThe Brunswickan“I’m like the Mississippi River, always rollin’ on.”

Truer words have never been spoken. Buddy Guy is immortal. And he swooped in last minute to replace Gregg Allman, who cancelled his Harvest date for the second straight year.

The agonizing beauty of the blues that drips from every syllable sung by the soulful, charismatic 75-year-old was, once again, in full force during the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival, and the lucky few fortunate enough to witness the legend-ary bluesman perform were given all the evidence they need to realize that although Buddy won’t be around forever, his music will keep rollin’ strong like the muddy river he sings of.

Buddy and his four-piece blues band appeared on the Budweiser Blues Tent stage Wednesday night without a word and erupted into “Nobody Understands Me But My Guitar,” beginning with a classic, guitar-screeching solo.

For added measure, he switched the lyrics to “nobody sleeps with me but my guitar” with a wink that made you think “oh boy, this cat’s trouble.”

Dressed in a floppy beige pageboy hat and a spotted red and black silk shirt that was as smooth as he is, Buddy looked towards the crowd with his big, flirty 75-year-old eyes brimming with youth, and said “hello, Canada!”

It took him one song to have Frederic-ton eating out of the palm of his hand.

From then on, Buddy redefined the word showmanship with his charming

playfulness, anecdotal segments and vitality-filled performance, challenging the crowd to keep pace.

“I was in India last month and they didn’t fuck it up like you just did,” he said cheekily, bringing the music to a halt after being dissatisfied with the audience par-ticipation in the classic tune “Slippin’ In”.

Having received an acceptable decimal range from the crowd, Buddy ceded the Great White North changed him as person.

“I didn’t know who I was before I came to Canada 20 years ago.”

He said he loved New Brunswick and the people – except for the weather, of course.

The sold-out crowd weren’t the only ones challenged by Buddy under the haze of yellow and purple light. Each band member was forced to keep up with his frontman’s electric performance. However, no matter how much face time the wide-smiling keyboardist or the Dom DeLuise-esque drummer were given on the jumbo video screens, all eyes were on Buddy.

He was a magnet of energy, playing his guitar as if it were an extension of him. He played the instrument from nearly every position imaginable and with basically every body part imaginable, including his teeth and behind – not to mention whip-ping the strings with a towel.

He and he alone, can make such white noise sound so good.

While the attitude and flair were ever-present, the moments to remember were the glimpses into his softer side. From the power and emotion in which he sang “Feels Like Rain” to when he recalled how

he got his first radio when he was young and was introduced to the blues and some of his major influences like Muddy Waters, the audience was given a window into his heart and soul.

Quite possibly the most endearing mo-ment of the show happened when one of

his guitar strings broke and he stared at the neck of his instrument in disbelief, as if to say “how dare you disobey me.” Then he turned to the crowd with a boyish grin.

“Sorry ‘bout that,” he said sheepishly and promptly continued to play.

As the guitar solos and clattering keys of

the piano settled in the warm Fredericton night, and Buddy threw a couple handfuls of guitar picks into the crowd, fans left knowing it was unequivocally the musical treat of the year – or possibly decade – to catch this legend one more time before he hangs up his guitar to rest.

Haley RyanArts ReporterDavid Myles cheated a little.

Last Saturday night at The Playhuse, the hometown blues-folk artist played his new album for the sold-out crowd, which had yet to be released.

“I’m here in Fredericton, and you know what? We’re gonna release it tonight,” Myles cried from the stage, which the rows of people greeted with thunderous applause and cheering.

His casual performance style made it clear that Myles was home. He shared little anecdotes about his family and friends, most who were sitting in the audience, and almost ridiculously loud clapping occurred after every one of his songs.

Dressed in a loose black suit, Myles looked like a kindly raven as he played, his lean frame slouching in and cradling the guitar as he bopped around to the more upbeat new tunes.

Myles was accompanied by long-time friend Alan Jeffries, whose nimble hands worked magic on his own acoustic guitar. He’s the strong silent presence Myles relies on when they’re on the road.

The new material Myles performed has some unexpected twists fans of his will enjoy, like more falsetto and vocal acrobatics.

You can’t help but smile when Myles gives a shout-out to his mother, thanks Jeffries for the fifth time or tells the story of seeing the Barenaked Ladies in The Playhouse when he was young - he’s just so damn nice.

He’s funny too, and as far from preten-tious as you can get. Myles poked fun at himself when he explained how the idea for a steamy love song popped nto his head.

“I was sitting by myself one night, waiting for a show when this line came to me: ‘I wanna turn time off and turn you on,’” Myles said and jokingly aired out his shirt collar as the audience laughed and called “ooooh.”

“I know, I was uncomfortable with myself,” Myles chuckled, “it’s not a place for a tall skinny guy to go.”

For all of the self-effacing lead-up, “Turn Time Off” was one of my favourites of the night. The lyrics are so personal and honest, and the melody is light but sultry.

Don’t worry if you missed the show. You can pick up Into the Sun in early October,

and invite that special someone over - just thank a “tall skinny guy” for the sound-track to your next date night.

“Last time I was here was moments before shit hit the fan.”

Steven Page, former lead singer of the popular Canadian band Barenaked Ladies, remembers his last show in Fredericton before news of his 2008 drug arrest became national gossip.

This year for Harvest Jazz and Blues, Page performed his solo material as well as a few Barenaked Ladies classics to a sold-out crowd at The Playhouse.

Along with being able to see Page’s talent up close, which was especially impressive in a more acoustic setting with just Page, his guitar and cellist Kevin Fox, the audience gained some personal insight on the Juno award-winner.

The topics of Page’s dry banter between songs varied from “that dirty feeling” he had as one of the few Jewish boys in his elementary school during the Christmas pageant, to how he has come to view fame and music.

“You could get addicted to applause and success, but I have to remember I’m serving you. It’s not just me under this one light ... we’re all in it together. Without you, there’s no me,” Page said, as he stopped once to wipe the sweat off his face.

The tunes themselves were pretty evenly split between Page’s solo record, Page One, and Barenaked Ladies standards like “Jane,” “It’s All Been Done,” and “Brian Wilson,” which ended the set and received the most cheers from its familiar opening chords.

A standing ovation called Page back to the mic after a few minutes of wolf whistles and applause, and he brought David Myles with him, which cranked up the volume by ten when the crowd saw its hometown boy on stage with the Canadian icon.

The pair jammed together on an old-time rock and roll-y tune, after many jokes about Page’s age and the fact that Myles had first seen the singer when he was in grade three.

“You really could have left that part out,” Page said as Myles grinned.

After a short jam session, the pair faded into the dark backstage, but not before Page’s arm could be seen reaching up to clap Myles’ on his thin shoulder.

Steamy songs for “the skinny man”

Stripped down Steven

Sept. 21, 2010 • Issue 3 • Volume 145 • 3brunswickanharvestSingin’ the blues to lose the blues

The band’s time to shine. Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan

T.J. Wheeler and his students march through George Street Middle School New Orleans-style. Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan

Alex KressArts Editor

It’s the last rehearsal for the George Street Middle School musicians before they take the stage with blues musician T.J. Wheeler at Harvest, and last-minute crinkles are being ironed out.

The bass drummer can’t quite figure out his harness; the clasps won’t hook up to the drum properly. T.J. and four other kids are all trying to decode the mystery.

The flute player can’t seem to disassem-ble her flute and another child’s French horn is causing him trouble. Again, T.J. is stumped.

“I see anybody coming at me with a

horn, I say ‘go see a music teacher!’” T.J. jokes.

The New Hampshire-based blues man spent the week leading up to the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival at George Street Middle School (GSMS) as part of a “Blues in the Schools” residency program – the first of its kind in Fredericton in partnership with Harvest.

The festival has drawn several blues clinicians over the past eight years to 16 schools and about 4,000 kids in the local Fredericton area, but the music sessions were always shorter, segmented visits in the morning or afternoon.

This year, GSMS partnered with T.J. Wheeler for a whole week thanks to some

extra funding raised by the Labourers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA). About $3,000 went to the residency program, and a portion of the rest went to local schools to buy new instru-ments and support band programs.

Brent Staeben, music director for Har-vest, thinks the experience is invaluable for the students.

“We call it building a musical Frederic-ton. It’s about putting down our roots in the community and exposing kids to this incredible music,” he says.

“Having somebody who is a fantastic in-dividual, musician and magnetic performer takes them through something new.”

Staeben said one of the neatest moments

he witnessed was during a visit from musi-cian Reverend Robert Jones, who put a new spin on something old to make it more relatable for the kids. He took an old Mississippi Delta blues song, steadily sped it up, and began to rap while using the guitar for rhythm; the kids could barely contain themselves.

“We’ve been lucky to have some of the people who’ve created ‘Blues in the Schools’ here as our clinicians over the past seven years, and they make it for the kids,” Staeben says.

***The GSMS Jazz Enrichment class

worked their hides off for a week, but the work wasn’t over just yet.

Back in the band room, T.J. teaches them how to perform the classic “second line” march and dance, originally used at funeral parades in New Orleans. He asks them to sway from side to side, pretending to wave a handkerchief through the air, and encourages them to march triumphantly. He shows them two key hand signals to follow in order to know which part of the song to play and at what time, and then organizes them all in a line at the back of the band room to prepare for a trial-march.

Off they go, marching around the class-room. But once they’ve come full circle, they follow T.J. out of the room; they’re putting on an impromptu school-wide performance, filling the halls with rever-berating brassband music and surprising other unsuspecting classrooms along the way. The shocked looks and belly laughs from the students are priceless, and the musicians are thrilled.

Music director Tom Richards says the band is a completely changed group.

“The first day [T.J.] started out with a very basic way of teaching them about blues scale. At first the kids weren’t really quite understanding it and needed some help, but at the end of that class they were already playing in the right key for their instruments,” Richards says.

He thinks T.J. has a special charm, much of it having to do with his laid-back demeanour and being in tune with the tradition of blues.

“As a musician I think music is very important for kids to have as an outlet to round out their education,” Richards says.

“I believe it improves their intelligence. If they’re thinking about something other than just math or just language arts ... using music to teach them things makes them think in a different way.”

The kids may have transformed, but it wasn’t easy; eighth-grader Christine Hughes can attest to that.

“It was challenging. He really pushed us to get playing. We really didn’t have time to figure out the notes, so we really had to work on it pretty hard,” she says.

“We kind of crammed a year’s worth of training into one week.”

Above all, Christine learned that blues isn’t all about melancholy.

“A lot of it’s really jazzy and it’s actually really fun to play.”

She’s nervous, but is overjoyed at the thought of playing for her family – she even has some coming in from Halifax to watch.

***It’s Saturday at noon, and Officer’s

Square is bright and popping with playful little tykes. It’s the GSMS Band’s time to shine. They’re in their Sunday best, with bluesy hats and some with shades.

They open with a well-rehearsed number on stage accompanied by warm applause, and shortly move into the “second line” piece afterward, marching and swaying through the crowd as they did the day be-fore in school. Although, this time, half the crowd is marching behind them, dancing.

They return to the stage for a rendition of “Jockamo fee nané,” and finish with Muddy Waters’ “Walkin’ Through the Park” with some stellar instrumental solos. Their nerves have gone, and they’re all smiles; no sign of the proverbial blues here, but every indication of a blues education.

Taking the blues seriously. Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan

George street middle school music students transformed

brunswickanharvestbrunswickanharvest4 • Sept. 21, 2010 • Issue 3 • Volume 145

And since you couldn’t be in a million places at once...

Sept. 21, 2010 • Issue 3 • Volume 145 • 5brunswickanharvest

Clockwise from top left: Larry Campbell of the Levon Helm Band; breakdancer stalling in the street; Hungry Hearts; Richard Gloade, Esq.; She Roars; T.J. Wheeler helps with the bass dum; a graffiti artist makes his mark; Ric Hall rocks out with Buddy Guy. Centre: Rich Aucoin fires confetti cannon. Photos by Andrew Meade & Luke Perrin/ The Brunswickan

And since you couldn’t be in a million places at once...

brunswickanharvestbrunswickanharvest6 • Sept. 21, 2010 • Issue 3 • Volume 145

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An evening Helmed by rock marvels

Levon Helm and his crew hypnotized the Budweiser Blues Tent crowd Thursday night. Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan

Alex KressArts Editor

The 71-year-old drum wizard may look frail, but he sure don’t play frail.

Rock legend Levon Helm cast a spell over the Budweiser Blues Tent Thursday night from stage left amidst several vine-like microphones that seemed to bind him to his drum set.

His 11-piece band was undoubtedly just as much a part of him. They fed off each other for the entire 90-minute set, producing crowd roars that buzzed in my plastic highball cup of gin and sprite.

It was truly miraculous to witness a man of such revered stature grin so genuinely during his performance, a sight that almost wasn’t; Helm nearly lost a battle with throat cancer in 1998. He endured 28 radiation treatments and had surgery to remove the cancer, which could have easily ended his career.

He doesn’t do interviews in order to preserve the voice he has been able to rebuild, and boy, are we glad for it. He didn’t sing for all the tracks, but there were a handful he chimed in on and a couple he did on his own, met with major respect from the audience.

Helm’s struggle with his health is evident in his crinkled face, worn but incredibly gentle, and in his convex spine that hunches him over his drums like a percussive puppeteer. But he certainly doesn’t play like an old man. His char-acter was nearer to that of a giddy little boy, humble as all hell, getting a chance to play with the big kids.

He doesn’t command the attention

he gets – it commands him. He’s a porch light in the summer on a hot evening, drawing in the ever-yearning moths. They can’t get even close to having enough.

He began the first few songs solemnly focused, but blossomed with the crowd-hit “Ophelia,” a track from his time with The Band from its 1975 album Northern Lights – Southern Cross.

There was a wide range of tunes that spanned from bluegrass-country selec-tions to pop rock to raspy blues (made especially delightful by vocalist and keyboardist Brian Mitchell, who has performed with the likes of Al Green, Bob Dylan and BB King).

Near the end of the set, the band exited the stage one-by-one with a per-sonalized solo, and the trombone player

cleared his way through the dense crowd for a pleasing surprise.

Helm’s right-hand man Larry Camp-bell was left on stage to play a jaw-dropping guitar solo, only to be joined again by the whole band for a unifying rendition of another The Band hit, “The Weight” (better known as “Take a Load Off Annie”).

They made their exit, but it was no

shock to anyone that it wasn’t official. They returned for a quality encore that reminded everyone (as if they could’ve forgotten) how lucky they were to have seen such a goose-bump-inspiring per-formance by the great, but inevitably mortal Levon Helm: a true talent who won’t be throwing drumsticks into the crowd at the end of his shows forever.

Rich with electricity

Colin McPhailThe Brunswickan

Only Rich Aucoin could make so many baby boomers move that way.

The shimmering ball of energy that is the Halifax symphonic pop artist nearly brought the Galaxie Barracks Tent to the ground with his hyper in-die beats. They demanded involuntary movement of the muscles and did not discriminate against age, commanding everyone’s full attention including one older couple bouncing emphatically and screaming “FOUR! MORE! YEARS!” as conducted by Aucoin.

Saturday night’s all-ages spectacle was a feast for indie-poppers, who indulged in everything the new heir to the Canadian pop-throne served. From start to finish, Aucoin sum-moned every drop of energy from

the crowd in a fast-paced assault on all senses.

He was true to his word in last week’s article when he said a Fred-ericton-specific video was created for the show, which cut back and forth between outlandish personalized thank-yous to festival organizers and the infamous contagious dancing video from the 2009 Sasquatch Music Festival. It quickly jumped to the narrative of public domain footage as Aucoin and his three bandmates leapt on stage in an explosion of rainbow confetti and fun.

The audience was treated to hilari-ous viral YouTube clips like the grape-stomping reporter and the Winnebago man, and classic film backdrops like “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and “It’s a Wonderful Life,” setting the tone for each song.

As pop anthems such as “Brian Wilson is A.L.i.V.E” and “PUSH” reverberated off the barrack walls into everyone’s heart, Aucoin spent half of his electrifying performance dancing in the throng of all-agers in front of the stage.

Aucoin ensured the crowd was as much a part of the show as he was, prefacing each track with a preparatory chorus rehearsal by getting fans to sing along with him. He even tossed a parachute for the crowd to sing and dance under while the final track “It” was playing, bringing his lyrics “we’re all in this together” to life.

Flushed with power-pop positiv-ity, everyone left smiling, knowing body-shakin’ tunes like “UNDEAD” reminded them they were still very much A.L.i.V.E.

Rich Aucoin led the crowd in glorious song . Luke Perrin/The Brunswickan

Sept. 21, 2010 • Issue 3 • Volume 145 • 7brunswickanharvest

Rural/UrbanPhoto exhibit at Wilser’s Room in The Capital Complex by Fredericton-based photographer Mike Erb. Much of his work portrays urban centers, but this time Erb adapts his urban style of shooting to highlight rural areas. Rural / Urban is on display at Wilser’s Room for September and October. Exhibit open Tues-days, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m., Fridays to 4 p.m. to 2 a.m., and Saturdays from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m.

Arts de CentrumArt exhibit at the UNB Art Centre in Memorial Hall by graduates from the Bachelor of Applied Arts (BAA) program, an undergrad degree with combined study at the New Bruns-wick College of Craft and Design and the University of New Brunswick.

The multimedia exhibit conveys the idea or physicality of one hundred, ranging from the number itself, to a centennial birthday. Painters, photographers, graphic designers, potters, fibre artists, sculptors, illustra-tors, jewelers, and fashion designers contributed.Exhibit runs until October 14. Free admission.

Oh My Darling This adorable francophone bluegrass-folk band rolls through Wilser’s Room this Friday evening. They’ll be playing some tunes from their brand new second release, Sweet Nostalgia, which was recorded in a straw bale house in Manitoba. Show up, and you’ll be treated to the sounds of the fiddle, banjo and acoustic bass.

Tickets are $8 at the door, show’s at 8 p.m.

this week in brunswickanarts

Above: Adam Guidry of Hungry Hearts; Top right: Taj Mahal a.k.a. Henry Saint Clair Fredericks; Bottom right: Benjamin Ross. Luke Perrin/The Brunswickan

brunswickanharvest8 • Sept. 21, 2010 • Issue 3 • Volume 145

Video won’t kill the Radio Radio star

Haley RyanArts ReporterFreddy, get your dance shoes ready.

The infectiously upbeat Montreal-based rap group, Radio Radio, are back in town.

Gabriel Louis Bernard Malenfant, one member of the trio who hails from Monc-ton, remembers a packed show a year ago at The Capital, and great dinner at The Blue Door after consulting his “mental rolodex of cities.”

“That’s how we know towns, we know the venue and the restaurant, so the show was sweaty and the restaurant was lovely,” Malenfant said.

This time, they’ll have a much bigger stage at the Fredericton Convention Centre to run and jump around on, which always seems to happen during their performances.

During their set at a bar last year for the Halifax Pop Explosion, Malenfant and bandmates Jaques Alphonse Doucet and Alexandre Bilodeau, were rapping while hanging off of ceiling pipes like ecstatic monkeys.

It’s this kind of young energy, combined with witty lyrics, electric pop beats and a

Chiac flair that has put Radio Radio on the map. Last year the group was short-listed for the prestigious Polaris music award, which honours the best in Canadian music.

If you’ve never heard Chiac before (a mix of French and English spoken mainly in Acadian parts of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick), you may be surprised that anyone could sing, let alone rap, and be understood in it - but Malenfant said it was the natural choice.

“That’s how my father talks, that’s how my nephews and nieces talk... It’s a new reality I can truly live and speak French in the streets, my grandparents couldn’t speak French or they’d be persecuted,” Malenfant said.

However, you don’t need to know a word of French to appreciate the lyrics and humour of Radio Radio’s music. With songs like “Kenny G Non-Stop” and “Dekshoo,” there are enough snippets of English to sing along with and the tunes are sure to get stuck in your head.

At first glance, their music could merely be about the funny pop culture themes of footwear and cheesy music, but Malenfant said a lot of the band’s lyrics represent their

outlook on life and how to find happiness. “‘Dekshoo’ came from the idea of not

wearing socks, having that versatile cultural approach to life where you can be on the beach or you can be at a golf club with those shoes,” Malenfant said.

“The concept behind ‘Kenny G’ is basic-ally approaching the obstacles and more sombre heartbreaks with lightness and with distance, which is what muzak and Kenny G. does,” he added.

An Argentinian nomad named Belmun-do, whom the group met at the mysterious Oak Island, as well as his simple optimism and passion for life were other inspirations for their last album. These carried through onto the one they’ve recently finished recording, coming out next year.

“The last one was more about enjoying the simple things in life ... the third album is levitation,” Malenfant said, and acknow-ledged that although the dance-y aspect of their music will certainly be on the new record, it’ll be “definitely different.”

Radio Radio will perform free shows on Sept. 22 at the Centre Communautaire Sainte-Anne and on Sept. 23 at the Fred-ericton Convention Centre at 6:30 p.m.

Chiac ear cuisine. Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan

Jumpin’ Japandroids

Haley RyanArts ReporterThe small room is packed with bodies nodding along to recorded music, wait-ing in semi-darkness with the smell of old wood and warm beer. A tall blonde girl bops up and down excitedly, gripping a friend’s hand, her eyes searching the stage.

“I hope there’s a mosh pit,” she squeals, and suddenly a pair of dark-haired young guys jump into the light and bring a round of wild applause.

The Japandroids, a Vancouver duo who sold out their show at The Capital Friday night, delivered an amazingly high-energy set and yes, a mosh pit happened.

Lead singer Brian King assured the crowd that besides some tunes on their new album, which just came out, they’d be playing old material all the fans would know, as they’ve never been to Fredericton before.

“Young Hearts Spark Fire” and “Wet Hair” were definitely crowd favourites, but from the opening chords of “Younger Us,” one of their most well-known tracks, the crowd went nuts.

The moshing became more frenzied than ever, and over the vocals of the band

you could catch snatches of the crowd as one voice shouting the lyrics, a few guys actually using one another’s shoulders for leverage to jump high into the muggy air.

One boy in a red hoodie crowd-surfed, and the band themselves got into the music just as passionately.

King looked like his head was going to fly off his shoulders; he was throwing it around so violently when he rocked out on a guitar solo with drummer David Prowse. A huge fan kept the band cool during the set, also causing King’s floppy dark hair to stream behind him in the ultimate rock-star fashion.

They’re easy on the eyes and ears is all I’m saying.

Close to the end of the Japandroids set of hard-rocking party tunes, King took the mic and announced there wasn’t going to be an encore.

“Because we’re just gonna keep going until my voice gives out!” He shouted, accompanied by whistles of approval from the crowd.

At the end of the night Japandroid fans hobbled out of the bar, perhaps with some extra bruises, but ones that would remind them of one hell of a show.

Andrew Meade / The Brunswickan