East End Rockabilly Riot – 1st anniversary show!

The East End Rockabilly Riot returns to The Dominion on Queen on Saturday, June 13th, for a first anniversary celebration. I am very excited to once more be a participant in this unique rockabilly showcase in Toronto’s east end. While I have my own monthly DJ night (see DJ playlists for details), I really dig spinning records as part of a live music night, and the EERR shows have been great fun over the past year. The initial EERR event was held on June 7th, 2008, featuring live sets by The Royal Crowns and Tennessee Voodoo Coupe. One year later, another exciting lineup hits the stage at The Dominion, with Tennessee Voodoo Coupe returning, joined by rockin’ 2-piece combo Buzz Deluxe. Here is the official press release with all the details:

East End Rockabilly Riot!
First anniversary show

Live at The Dominion on Queen
One night only!
Saturday, June 13th, 2009

featuring performances by:
Tennessee Voodoo Coupe
and
Buzz Deluxe
with
DJ Rockin’ Dave Faris

$10 cover, doors 9 pm, showtime 10:15 pm
500 Queen St. E., (416) 368-6893, www.dominiononqueen.com
Sponsored by Mill St. Brewery

Kick off the summer early, as the East End Rockabilly Riot rocks The Dominion on Queen, Saturday June 13th. The Riot celebrates its first anniversary as it returns for its third edition, featuring live appearances by high-octane local combos Tennessee Voodoo Coupe and Buzz Deluxe, along with DJ Rockin’ Dave Faris providing red hot tunes throughout the evening.

The East End Rockabilly Riot was launched in June of 2008, in an effort to create a unique event in a historic venue east of the great dividing line of Yonge St., showcasing rockabilly and vintage rock ‘n’ roll (with a nod to related sounds such as hillbilly, country, psychobilly, and instrumental twang). Following two successful shows in 2008 (including the Halloween-themed “Night of the Living Rockabillies”), EERR is back for another round in 2009, and all participants are primed to deliver a memorable night of loud, fast, out of control rock ‘n’ roll. This is no nostalgia trip, it’s a vital injection of the music here and now, while channeling the excitement and energy found in the music’s infancy.

Headlining EERR#3 is local 4-piece Tennessee Voodoo Coupe. TVC are an offshoot of Toronto’s garage punk rockers Blue Mercury Coupe, although they have been making a name for themselves with their “100 proof reckless hillbilly jive.” With BMC’s Big Rude Jake on lead vocals and acoustic guitar, and Steve Good on doghouse bass, TVC round out their lineup with Stevie “Six String” Abrams on Gretsch guitar, and Colonel Gary Edwards on drums. TVC tackle a mix of early rockabilly, country, and ‘40s jump blues, along with some originals and a few surprises. TVC have been rocking stages across town for a couple of years, and host the EERR series.

Joining the Riot for the first time are T.O. sensations Buzz Deluxe. The duo of Jesse James Dale (guitar, vocals) and Kerry Dale (drums, vocals) have stripped down their setup to the bare essentials, embracing the raw power of rock ‘n’ roll in its most direct form. Buzz Deluxe are 100% blood, sweat and rhythm, slicing fingers on guitar strings, chipping teeth on microphones, and bludgeoning knuckles on drum rims, all in the service of rock ‘n’ roll. They merge a variety of edgy roots influences, from rockabilly and surf guitar to gypsy swing and garage rock, arriving at their own powerful, loud and raunchy sound. Powered by the pounding, driving beats of standup drummer Kerry Dale, and the intense Gretsch twang of Jesse James Dale, Buzz Deluxe will tear the place up and keep audiences movin’ and shakin’.

DJ Rockin’ Dave Faris will be spinning revved-up rockabilly and rock ‘n’ roll tunes to set the stage for the live action. Faris has hosted his monthly “Rock and Roll Riot” night at The Cameron House for over half a decade, spinning a wide variety of music from rockabilly to punk, garage, surf, country, blues and much more. He has spun at all of the East End Rockabilly Riot events, and at John and Jenny’s 2008 “Rock’n It Up III” Rockabilly weekender at The Cadillac Lounge. Expect some floor stompin’ rockabilly boogie and hillbilly rock all night long!

For more information, contact: eastendrockabillyriot@yahoo.com

www.myspace.com/bluemercurycoupe
www.myspace.com/buzzdeluxe
www.buzzdeluxe.com
www.dominiononqueen.com
www.millstreetbrewery.com

Rock and Roll Riot – 33.3 Revolutions from April, 2009

It’s been a few weeks, but here’s a slice of my DJ setlist from the April edition of Rock and Roll Riot at The Cameron House. April’s selections leaned heavily towards soul, funk, R&B, blues, garage and rock and roll, keeping the joint groovin’ and shakin’ all night long. A fun night, and I will be back at The Cameron on Saturday, May 30th for another round.

33 songs from The Cameron House – April 25th, 2009

Link Wray “Wild Party”
Ennio Morricone “Svolta Definitiva”
Ike Turner & The Kings of Rhythm “Thinking Black”
Fred Wesley & The J.B.’s “Use Me”
Ike & Tina Turner “I Want to Take You Higher”
Jimmy Smith “Give Up the Booty”
The Bar-Kays “Soul Finger”
The Timebox “I Wish I Could Jerk Like My Uncle Cyril”
Booker T. & The MGs “Time Is Tight”
Solomon Burke “Home In Your Heart”
Ry Cooder “Los Chucos Suaves”
Mavis Staples “99 and ½”
Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings “100 Days, 100 Nights”
Johnnie Taylor “Jody’s Got Your Girl and Gone”
James Hunter “No Smoke Without Fire”
Little Milton “That’s What Love Will Make You Do”
Otis Redding “Respect”
Phil Upchurch “Crosstown Traffic”
Big Rude Jake “Night of the Kingsnake”
David Johansen and the Harry Smiths “Little Geneva”
John Hammond “I Know I’ve Been Changed”
Chuck E. Weiss “Congo Square at Midnight”
Leadbelly “Goodnight Irene”
Champion Jack Dupree “Junker’s Blues”
John Lee Hooker “Boom Boom”
Led Zeppelin “Gallows Pole”
The Paul Butterfield Blues Band “Born In Chicago”
Little Willie John “I’m Shakin’”
Big Joe Turner “Well All Right”
Screamin’ Jay Hawkins “Little Demon”
Bill Haley & His Comets “Rock-A-Beatin’ Boogie”
Little Junior Parker “I Wanna Ramble”
The Animals “Bright Lights Big City”

365 Days Later

Today is the first anniversary of The Mysterious Vault. I launched the blog with my first entry, a general statement of intent, one year ago today. I felt that I should mark the occasion with a posting of some sort, so here I am looking back over the year and forward into the future. It's been awhile since I actually wrote anything for the blog, so this is also a good opportunity to bring it back to life and refocus my ideas.

It is rather interesting to re-read my first entry, outlining some of the original intentions for The Mysterious Vault. Essentially, I created the blog as an outlet for my own writing, with music, film, and books being the primary focus. It is also somewhat amusing to read the comment that I had originally conceived of a blog dedicated exclusively to music films, something which I had almost forgotten. Despite my love of music films, they've barely got a mention in the blog so far (something I hope to address as I move forward!). Over the past year, The Mysterious Vault has defined itself through the content that has been posted, and it is quite revealing to me that the subject matter has been predominantly music-oriented. While there have been a few entries devoted to books and film, if the reader were to revisit the last year in the Vault, it would be primarily comprised of words and images about music, music, music.

I have not abandoned the idea of writing about books and film, and now that I see that these two subjects have taken a back seat in The Mysterious Vault, I will attempt to broaden the scope of the blog a bit more to accommodate these interests. As it turned out, over the past 12 months I largely used this blog as a place to post songlists from my DJ nights, writeups and photos of live shows that I attended, and some record, film, and book reviews. Sure, it's a bit self-indulgent, but that's the general nature of blogs, isn't it? I am writing from my own experience, and commenting on events that I am involved in or have attended, so the focus is pretty close to home. However, I hope that I am offering something beyond my own reflections, and will over time create an interesting and unique archive of images and writings about the music scene and beyond.

In many ways, it feels like I have just started this blog. It's been a year, and I've barely touched upon some of the things I intended to write about. Back in January, I was pleased to look back over 2008 and see that I had completed 15 posts in my first 8 months. Not alot, but it seemed like a good starting point. Now it's May, 2009, and I haven't made a post since the end of January, so The Mysterious Vault has really taken a hiatus. This doesn't mean that I have stopped writing, however. Like alot of bloggers (I assume!), I have numerous unfinished entries from over the past few months that never made it on-line. In fact, I have almost as many unpublished posts as I have finished entries! Whether I ever find the time or motivation to go back and complete these postings is anyone's guess, but let's just say the best intentions aren't always realized. It has been a fun and sometimes frustrating experience maintaining this blog, and I want to thank anyone who has visited over the past year.

I was considering marking the first anniversary with a post containing writing on music, film, and books, to summarize the three primary subjects of The Mysterious Vault. But then I realized that I was being too ambitious, and that this would lead to another unfinished entry. Rather, I will just keep my comments to the blog itself. Once again, it is revealed to me that music is my prime interest and passion (no surprise!), and other concerns tend to take a secondary role. So I celebrate the vast world of music, and look forward to exploring more sounds, sights, and words for as long as The Mysterious Vault stays active. Keep rockin'!