Virtual Blues: TBS Musicians Advisory Committee (MAC) members Gary Kendall and Dan McKinnon have been hard at work assembling and editing performances from last year’s Maple Blues Awards, adding interview sessions. Visit the TBS YouTube Channel and Subscribe to receive notifications of upcoming performances by Big Dave McLean, Michael Jerome Brown, Miss Emily.

Live Blues Starting up: Music By The Bay will launch a new series called “The Porch Sessions” featuring Steve Marriner & Jimmy Bowskill on Thursday, August 20th as well as a new series “Live Blues from the Pines” happening on Saturday, August 22nd in Uxbridge with Bill Durst and the opener Voodoo Pawn Shop at 4pm. Advance sales only. www.musicbythebaylive.com

Joanne Clayton, who runs Relish Bar & Grill will be presenting a show with the Danny Marks Combo on Saturday, August 8 from 1 – 3 PM. “From 13 shows a week to over 150 days of silence was the hardest part of this whole pandemic,” she says. Using state of the art technology will allow them to do multi-platform streams with several camera angles, banner notifications and advertising while pulling the audio straight from the soundboard. This first show will be closed to the public to control the environment and all of the stagehands will be wearing masks.
Outside Toronto, some venues had already booked some live entertainment and now that Toronto has entered “Phase 3” we can expect some live blues in the city real soon.

Paul Reddick, Steve Marriner & Chris Caddell are back at Peter’s Players on Saturday, August 8th at 8pm and the Matt Weidinger Band will be playing on Saturday, August 22nd at 8pm (This is a 28-seat, socially distanced, outdoor theatre show with one set – no intermission. Cash bar is available.

#WithoutMusic: Unison Fund has just announced a new collaborative social media campaign, #WithoutMusic, to reduce the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the Canadian music industry The campaign encourages participants to detail the positive and lasting impact of music on both their own lives and the world, and why supporting organizations like Unison is vital to the continuation of that. You can join by sharing photos, videos, stories on social media using the #WithoutMusic hashtag, and tagging @unisonfund.

Grossmans Masked: You can support one of Toronto’s remaining blues-friendly venues, Grossman’s Tavern by purchasing one of their masks for $10 ($18 for 2 masks)! You can send the venue a Facebook message or call them at 416-977-7000 with your order. The venue has a long history supporting Toronto Blues, including emerging talent with their Amy Louie Grossmans Scholarship every year.

RIP Wayne Buttery: His band, the Groove Project, was a fixture at the Harbour Street Fish Bar in Collingwood for the last 7 years and as Artistic Director of the Wasaga Blues Festival, he had a big part in building up the blues scene in that area. Friends say he was writing and recording right up to his last day. He died on July 6 at the age of 70.