Man I love Justin Rutledge! Not only is he quite possibly one of the greatest talents on the scene today, he's just a great guy. I first saw him at the OCFF Conference in Guelph and became an instant fan - dragging all kinds of friends down to his weekly residency at the Cameron House on Queen St. We honoured that little tradition by shooting a video of Justin at the Cameron doing his sublime sing-a-long, "Don't Be So Mean, Jellybean". There is something so magical about the way people come together around that song that I couldn't wait for the guitar to be built to shoot the video. Hopefully we'll get that up soon - three camera shoot by f8 with recording produced by Juno-winner Danny Greenspoon!
Anyway, Justin kindly asked if I'd bring the guitar down to the 'Shoe for his CD launch for "The Devil on a Bench in Stanley Park". Naturally, I hoped he'd do "Jellybean" on the guitar. But as it turned out, Justin had a few other surprises for me...
First of all, I get into the office backstage and Justin introduces me to Jim Cuddy, who's just hanging out - ready to do a guest spot. Justin tells him a little about the guitar and then leaves us to it. Had a really nice conversation with Cuddy while he strummed and sang a little just trying it out. Would love to do a show with Cuddy or Blue Rodeo at some point.
Then, Justin brought the guitar out for a whole other song - a new one whose title I don't know yet - which was fantastic.
And then the "Jellybean" moment came. He doesn't do that song from the stage or through any mics. He just pulls a chair into the middle of the room and people gather around him. This time he stood on a table with his own guitar and David Baxter (a guitarist who shows up with ALL my favourite Toronto bands at one point or another) came out with the Six String Nation guitar. They did the song as a duo and it was sweet as ever. Broke a string but who cares - it still sounded fantastic.
Thanks to Justin, David Baxter and Jim Cuddy.
Posted at 1:31 PM
Don't know if you know Jim Bryson - an amazingly talented singer and songwriter from Ottawa who spends much of his time in the not-so-shadowy shadows as guitarist for Kathleen Edwards.
He called me a while ago to see if we'd be interested in coming up with the guitar to take part in a workshop he was hosting at the Ottawa International Writer's Festival. How could I say no to a great guy like Jim Bryson? The festival put us up and I'm writing now from the hotel following a terrific day. We were set up in the lobby of the auditorium at the National Library and Archives building. We did a presentation there for a visiting school group from Lisgar High School in Ottawa. The kids were great and we did portraits with them after the session. Then we hung out doing portraits until the evening, when Jim's workshop was happening with the fantastic Lynn Miles and a few other folks.
There's kind of a secondary stage outside of the auditorium in the lobby where we were and there was a poetry reading there after our school session but before the workshop. Just before THAT got going, Doug and I took advantage of the fact that the piano on that stage is none other than Glenn Gould's! We got some great shots of the guitar on top of the piano that should be up in the Gallery soon.
Gotta go, busy day tomorrow getting back to Toronto in time for Justin Rutledge's CD launch at the Horseshoe.
Posted at 1:29 PM
Took the guitar to the Danforth Music Hall last night for the show by the African Guitar Summit.
Slim and Donne have both played it now. So has Mighty Popo and Pa Joe. Adam Solomon had a crack at it at Summerfolk in Owen Sound but for some reason the pick-up wasn't working. I'll have to make it up to him. Too bad Alpha Yaya Diallo wasn't at the show last night because I really want to hear him on this thing. Good excuse for a trip to Vancouver.
Posted at 1:28 PM