Last book read: No time to read. Too busy boozing

Last record listened to: 'Sweet Nothing' by Sonic Rendezvous. IMO, one of the all time greatest, unknown, overlooked, and underrated bands that ever existed!

Goddamn!!! Those phone cameras take horrible pictures. Or is it just mine? Here's my new bike taken with my new motorola phone camera. I had to 'art-ify' the shot in photoshop to give it some kind of interest.

Then again, it reminds me of a series that an artist friend of mine did years ago. He went out and bought a bunch of kids toy cameras and took all kinds of shots with them. Then he printed 'em up, had a show, and sold a bunch for lots of dough……… Hmmmmm……..

Some people have had so much character when they where alive that they linger on in memories and sometimes if we`re lucky, in song by imitation. No one who ever met singer Hock Walsh would have accused him of not being interesting or for that matter unoriginal. At my regular Jeff Healey gig two Thursdays ago our special pest was good friend John Dickie who can do Hock`s voice at the drop of a hat. This time it was "Whole Lotta love" by Led Zeppelin with Hock at the helm. Dickie`s previous guest spot had him doing Hock does James Brown. It`s a great feeling to be laughing so hard you can hardly play and I welcome it anytime at the risk of falling over.

The next night at a Casino gig with Jeff Healey, Jeff was in the middle of the audience`s big moment "Angel Eyes" and he starts in to doing a pretty good Hock himself. Then I find myself the next day stuck in a loop of hockisms while driving , singing everything on the radio with that unmistakable tone ( I did this for a while with Sean Connery much to my wife Maggie`s dismay and threats of quartering. So I stopped but it took awhile).I remember Years ago at Grossmans Tavern while I was going through my divorce period, Hock looks at me and in his infinite wisdom says " Cheer up, things will get worse". So I did! Who wouldn`t with a line like that?

For awhile there he also ran the fast food section of the Isabella Tavern. I asked him for the old standard Burger and fries that had been available for years before only to receive a reply of " We don`t serve potatoes". What I did get though was a brick of cheese on top that equaled the meat ounce for ounce.As far as music is concerned, he will mostly be remembered for his singing on the early Downchild Blues Band records and so he should. Those are monuments of the canadian blues scene that inspired more than a few, me being one of them. So here`s to Hock Walsh for still being around even when he`s gone and yeah! Big Joe Turner may have done a great job with "Flip Flop and Fly" first but my favorite version is definitely the Downchild one. The one with that voice that lives on. 

….or As My Life Crumbles and Gets Stomped Into the Ground.

 Haven't posted anything lately, as my personal life has gone to shit. Oh well…. these things happen…….

On a positive note I finally broke down and did something I'd never do. I got a cell phone, or as the English say, a 'mobile.'

O.k., o.k., the 'positive note' remark was bullshit -anyone who knows me, knows that I hate telephones of all types. I rarely call anyone, nor do people hardly ever call me.

Damn. Seems like a total rip-off to be paying $30. a month or so, so that other people can get in touch with me!!!

416-720-3531

LAST BOOK READ: I haven't had time to pick up a new book lately, so I rooted around in the basement, and dug out the first Charles Bukowski novel that I ever read. Ham on Rye. I've probably read this book 6 or 7 times over the years. My old pal Shane Dempsey got me wise to Bukowski many years ago, back in my Ottawa days.

To tell you the truth, I'm almost loath to even mention Bukowski anymore. Seems that he's become the name to drop by people who don't know what the hell they're talking about, but want to sound 'hip.'

It's been my experience that most people don't 'get' Bukowski anyway………..

LAST CD LISTENED TO: This afternoon, I played some old junk that I used to listen to with a guitar players ears. John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers featuring Eric Clapton. You know, the 'Beano' album! Some of the tracks on there still send chills up my spine: 'Steppin' Out', 'Have You Heard?'. I'm not much of a fan of Mayalls singing, but Claptons guitar playing on that album will never be matched!

The south Side Shuffle was great! We played with a bunch of other bands who had set up like us, up and down the main street of Port Credit. They close off the main drag for this festival every year, set up a huge main stage, and then hire bands to play for the 'shuffle' which is what we were a part of.

The crowd was great; I sensed that they seemed to be enjoying the variety that we offered, and every set we played people would gather around our little nest.  

There wer a lot of other real cool bands there as well: I finally got a chance to hear the Be-Bop Cowboys! Yeah! Awesome!

Also, it was great to see Jerome's blues funk band perform as well. Great musicianship from a rock-solid band. Jerome's a great entertainer! What can I say?

(photo courtesy of Shane Scott)

So I tried a little experiment at work tonite.

I work in a live music bar which is usually full of people who are either dressed up, or in some kind of 'fashionable' hip-ish state.

Subsequently, one is subjected to different smells -cologne, perfume, etc. Some more pronounced than othere.

Tonite, I tried something I've been thinking about for some time. Before going into work, I grabbed a piece of paper towel, and gave it a good blast of RAID. You know, the bug killer. Then I folded it up and put it into a sandwich bag, and then stuffed it all into my shirt pocket.

Probably because I never wear cologne or aftershave lotion, it didn't take long for people to notice.

"What's that cologne you're wearing?"

"Smells like summer"

"Is that Perry Ellis?"

""It's very familiar"

I let people guess for a while, and then told them that it was RAID.

"You've got to be shitting me!"

"Get the fuck outta here!!"

I took out the sandwich bag, but that really wasn't much proof. They weren't convinced…….

…………………………

Of course, walking around for an hour or so with a bag full of RAID fumes wasn't the smartest thing to do. Needless to say, I started feeling a little light headed.

Right now, I think I'm working towards a full blown migrane.

Naturally, it was worth it.

Here's Alec with another slice of life:

The night I farted and then my van went on fire

I`ve had some wacky nights in my time and this one will rank up high in the memory banks.

Brokenjoe had finished playing a great party gig in Brantford and I`d dropped off band mates Jerome and Joe at their respective homes.

 As I drove south to my place in Parkdale on this rainy evening, I let a private little fart go with all the windows up. It seemed harmless at the time. No chicks around.

As I turned on to my street not five seconds later I noticed a chemical sort of smell and started to wonder what I had ate at Ted and Rena`s party that would produce such a stench. I flicked on the interior light to discover that the whole cab was whited out and then noticed that the hood was spewing a lot of smoke.

I pulled in front of my house, popped the hood and ran in to my place to grab the fire extinguisher. As I ran out the door, my dog got out and followed me towards the mayhem. My fear at this point was that all my musical gear was in a burning truck that was right next to other vehicles that could easily catch on fire if mine decided to blow.

What I wasn`t prepared for was my little 15 pound dog attacking a big ass raccoon and chasing it around the van as I was dealing with my first problem.

Then I started to realize that my dog could easily be wiped out of existence by this raccoon with one swipe from it`s claws. So my focus changed from mass cars exploding to grabbing my dog and scaring the raccoon away, then bolting in the house with Super Poodle by the scruff of her neck, throwing her in the door and scooting back to the original dilemma to take care of that.

The raccoon at this point was panting up a tree, either because the mighty cockapoo had showed it who was boss or that my voice punctured it`s eardrums during the cafuffle. After ten minutes or so I managed to put it all out while hacking up whatever I had ingested earlier. I went into the house and gave my daft dog a good talking to. I actually think she understood that the big guy doesn`t want to fight off raccoons while his van is burning.

I`ll never fart again.

This saturday (sept.9) we'll be playing at the South Side Shuffle in Port Credit. Should be a lot of fun. We'll be playing ouside on the street, which is great for me (smoking section), along with a bunch of other bands.

The South Side Shuffle has grown from a small festival featuring a few local and touring acts, into a hugely popular major event. We figured we'd let them mature into the amazing festival that we knew they'd become ……… and then we'd let them hire us!!!!

Seriously though, this is gonna be a lot of fun!

Yesterday, we played at a friends backyard party in Brantford. It was a birthday party for a very lovely lady named Rena, put together by her husband Ted. It was an anniversary of sorts for us as well -our very first gig was in their backyard a year ago.

When these guys put on a party, they PUT ON A PARTY! There was more food than you could possibly eat, as well as every other party libation that was needed.

Here in southern ont., it poured cats and dogs all evening and nite, but it didn't bother us at all. Ted put up this massive tent (the big top) in his backyard, and we just let the good times roll. Ted kept saying 'hell, this kinda' weather don't bother us at all…..we're CANADIANS!.' I couldn't have agreed with him more…….

We played a bunch of stuff from our cd, but strangely enough, we kept getting requests for stuff we haven't released yet. I don't know how they heard some of these other songs, but I was glad to play the unreleased songs. These guys are fans!