Crash the Time Machine The Odds 7th album has been released. The basic Odds lineup of Craig Northey, Pat Steward, Murray Atkinson and Doug Elliott are joined by the 5th Odd – Steven Page.
This is songwriting at a very high level, then taken even higher by players who are truly gifted.
I’m so glad that these guys got back together again after a hiatus from 2000-2007.
You can hear multiple influences in each and every track.
They’ve backed Warren Zevon, they wrote and played the soundtrack for Kids in the Hall Film Brain Candy and their TV series Death Comes to town, toured with and played with The Tragically Hip and Barenaked Ladies, wrote music for Corner Gas.
Crash the Time Machine deals with religion, the days we’re all living in and several songs in memory of their friend Spirit of the West leader/writer John Mann.
The song is Somehow in a Dream. The Waterboys are mentioned. As Craig tells us ..
“John told me that in his last hours, he’d like to have someone play “Whole of the Moon”
The Sept 9 Mulligan Stew has a special guest – Ariel Posen.
He’s just achieving liftoff in his career but there’s absolutely no denying he has a profile arc heading up.
A session guitarist in Winnipeg (I saw him as the second guitarist in Bros. Landreth. If Ariel is playing beside Joey Landreth and more than holding his own, you know he is good)
He began his career quietly showcasing new guitars online for the companies making them.
He had no idea the effect he was having on the guitar and music fans of the world, especially in Europe.
So. when he finally decided to start his solo career and released his first album How Long (2019) Ariel was gobsmacked to find a ready and willing audience in Europe and across Canada, then in the USA.
Then came Headway, Mile End, Mile End 2, Familiar Ground, the Downtown EP and just now Reasons Why.
He’s touring Canada
Sept 26th in Calgary
Sept 27 in Edmonton
Sept 28 in Saskatoon
Sept 29 Winnipeg (home town)
BUT FIRST – On Sept 23 he performs at the 2023 Eric Clapton Crossroads Festival in LA.
Also invited by Eric are The Bros. Landreth. Also from Winnipeg.
Two Canadian icons join forces and become partners in music.
One is/was Gord Downie. Lead singer and songwriter of The Tragically Hip.
Truly beloved. And hugely missed after losing his fight to cancer but went out in a blaze of songs with The Hip and the last Cross Canada Tour.
The other is Bob Rock. Known for his production work with Metallica, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Ron Sexsmith and The Tragically Hip.
Bob tells the story of how they became friends and how Gord contacted him and asked if he had any tracks he hadn’t used because he had words he hadn’t used..” so let’s put them together”
The album took years to complete but when they last met. Gord says to Bob “Please finish it”
Bob told us “ I had to fulfill the promise “
Bob Rock on Gord Downie and their album Lustre Parfait Saturday on Mulligan Stew.
Bumped into Russell Broom at EFMF. We talked Art Bergmann and his next album. What brings you here? Says I Playing with Jill Barber. Says Russ
And that’s how Jill and I ended up sharing a freshly poured Big Rock and a wonderful interview in the green room.
Jill covers thoughts and emotions on her home and Homemaker, her latest album. The complete interview – over a cold beer – starts this two-part Mulligan Stew Podcast.
Part 2 is an hour special with winemakers and locals on the fires that raged through the hills of West Kelowna.
It ends with a message that they’re “open for business”. Farming is tough enough. To have roads closed during the high tourist season is hard to survive.
How can we help?
If you’re buying wine soon please buy BC from your favorite winery. It all helps.
Speaking of the recent wine country fires, the interviews we did with locals and winemaking friends for Tasting Room Radio will be
We were born a year apart and once we were both making and playing music we crossed paths over the years.
What was special about the relationship was that we talked like two friends who loved the same music and artists.
I was fascinated by his Indigenous roots and he couldn’t believe that I had been a Mountie.
We discovered that we both found our musical roots through late-night radio. I was completely in awe of the Border Radio of Wolfman Jack on XERB Del Rio Texas. Hard driving r&b, blues, conjunto and zydeco at midnight. Radio under the blankets and pillows.
Robbie was doing the very same thing in downtown Toronto and with his Mom’s family at Six Nations of the Grand River Reserve.
Robbie of course went on to become a legendary guitarist and songwriter.
From Ronnie Hawkins Hawks to The Band to playing with Bob Dylan when he decided to introduce electric backing to his folk audience. They were decidedly not happy with Bob or The Band.
Robbie, Levon, Garth, Rick and Richard created historic music. First in the basement of Big Pink in Woodstock with Dylan then on their own.
The songs became the fabric of what was to become Roots and Americana Music.
Several became anthems.
The Weight, The Night they drove old Dixie down, Up on Cripple Creek. All three were written by Robbie.
I was lucky enough to be in the audience at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco for The Last Waltz. November 25, 1976. Their final concert.
The only reason I got into that magical event was because Robbie had invited me to come.
I did interviews with him while he mixed the film’s audio a year later.
Another one was when the Martin Scorsese film actually came out in 1978 and another was when Robbie released his autobiography, Testimony.
Some interviews are locked away in network archives and some are lost.
However, in putting this special together I did discover, at the last minute, another partial interview and I’ve added it into the Mulligan Stew Podcast.
It’s nearly impossible to include every project that Robbie either planned or executed. He was never not busy creating.
However, I’ll leave you with a partial awards list.
The Band and/or Robbie were inducted into the Juno Hall of Fame, Rock Hall of Fame, Aboriginal Lifetime Achievement Award, Canada’s Walk of Fame, Songwriting Hall of Fame, Govern General’s Performing Arts Awards for Life Time Achievement, Grammy Lifetime Achievement, Order of Canada, and many more.
Robbie and I talk, The Hawks, Bob Dylan, growing up at Six Nations, heading for the Mississippi Delta as a 16 year., The Last Waltz (and one magic moment) and talks about his three most famous songs.
If I’m lucky enough to locate more of our interviews, I’ll add them to the Podcast mix and repost them.
Thank you all..for Remembering Robbie and his life!
One of the greatest bands to ever walk our stages and play with our hearts has been taking the final curtain – one by one.
Ricky Danko
Levon Helm
Richard Manual
This week – the heart of The Band – Robbie Robertson
Left to carry the flag Garth Hudson.
Very few artists can ever lay claim to changing popular music. Just a handful.
Then one day it hits you– hammers you actually. You get total clarity and begin to change everything you’ve known and held sacred. So it was when Eric Clapton heard The Bands Music from Big Pink.
It was like all of a sudden he heard this record and said to himself, “Now this is what music should sound like.” For me personally– this has always been one of the most interesting moments in rock music history.
Photo-Don Dixon
My pal Corey Wood called me just as I was finishing recording Saturdays Stew. “Sorry to tell you this but Robbie’s gone”
He knew how special I thought Robbie Robertson was.
Dixie Down, Cripple Creek, I shall be Released, Chest Fever, King Harvest, Stage Fright, Acadian Driftwood, Somewhere down the crazy river. Once were brothers.
On the eve of the 50th anniversary of The Band’s landmark self-titled 1969 album, Terry David Mulligan catches up with Robbie Robertson. As the lead guitarist and principal songwriter for the brotherhood known to all as The Band, Robertson holds an esteemed place in music history.
On September 20th, his sixth solo album Sinematicwill be released. The record will be followed by the release of the documentary Once Were Brothers, the story of The Band on film. Robbie talks with Terry about his many projects, including the soundtrack he wrote for Martin Scorcese’s film The Irishman.
Roy Forbes, Holger Peterson, The Bros. Landreth and AV and the Inner City.
All of the interviews were done backstage at the Vancouver Island Music Festival of several weeks ago. In Courtney. Thank you, Doug Cox and Team.
Talking to Roy about performing his Thistles album after all those years, to Holger about some of the highlights of his years coming to the festival and interviewing Roy for the audience.
The Bros Landreth tells the tale of travelling to the Byron Bay Blues Fest in Australia to finally play with Bonnie Raitt. There was just one thing they wanted to do before that…go swimming in the surf. Things went sideways.
Ann Vriend and her Inner City Choir introduced themselves and their second jobs and left us with a song.
Holger was hosting and doing interviews.
The Bros. Landreth was playing various side stages and headlining Sunday
Rocking Roy was playing his Thistles album from his “Bim” Days. with a great band
Ann Vriend and Inner City, after a chat, left us with a cappella gospel song.
Two Western Canadian Music Award Nominations for Breakout Artist and Roots Artist, Polaris nomination, Americana Festival in Nashville in September, Winnipeg Folk Festival, King Eddy gig with Tim, released a version of album Everywhere I Used to be (deluxe)Two new tracks – Prairie Town Dreams and Sad all the Time.
And she’s not done yet!!! Heading to the Edmonton Folk Festival as well.
Mariel brings tales of relationships, sadness, depression, small-town loneliness that can squeeze the life out of you. Not exactly feel-good songs but there is hope throughout. And a fight-back spirit.
The annual Cowichan Valley Wine Festival returns to its Whole Month of August setting.
It kicks off July 27 with Sunset Soirée from 6-9 PM at the gorgeous Campbell Commons at Brentwood College School in Mill Bay.
13 Cowichan wineries will be pouring some of their favourites plus some wines chosen especially for this event. Attending and tasting allow you to actually meet the maker of the wines. There’s nothing better than getting the real story behind the wines you’re tasting. Expect high end, new releases and a few surprises being poured.
This year the food program will be created by Mensch Kitchen and Catering .
Wineries pouring on the night will be Alderlea, Averill Creek, Blue Grouse, Cherry Point, Damali, Devino, Deol, Enrico, Rocky Creek, Unsworth, Venturi Schultze, Zanatta and Emandare.
August in the Cowichan Valley Aug 1 – 31. 12 wineries.
Wine Passport Program
Your map and tasting glass are your ticket to all 12 participating Cowichan Valley Wineries.
Everyone who purchases a ticket is automatically entered into draws. Accommodations, wine, tours, transportation and gift baskets.
Chef Kristian Eligh – Marilena Café and Raw Bar. Victoria
It felt like the longest opening of a new restaurant in many years.
It was, I think, 3-4 years ago I knew that Kristian and his family were moving back to Victoria with a plan to create a singular restaurant.
Then came years of COVID and post-Covid.
Finally, the day has arrived and Marilena Café and Raw Bar was just launched.
Kristian is a chefs chef.
From Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry to culinary director of Hawksworth Restaurant and now Top Table Group Executive Chef.
The Top Table Group includes Blue Water Café, Eliza, Cin Cin, Araxi, Il Caminetto, Bar Oso. Quite a line up and it doesn’t include their two New York City restaurants.
Marilena is two rooms in one. They’ve been described as “pockets of ambience”.
The Raw Bar, led by Chef Clark Park. The Café is the turf of one of the best managers Aaron Matsuzaki.
The wine directory is large. It’s overseen by the brilliant Shane Taylor
