Odds and sods from the Toronto blues community and beyond.
Amy Louie Grossmans Music Scholarship: Congratulations to The Five And Tens (Ray Vidal, Anthony Vidal, Nick Vidal and Sean Jackson), recipients of this year’s Amy Louie Grossmans Music Scholarship in the amount of $2000. The runner-up was Wayling James (Tim Wayling, Darrell James, Chris Bender, Rob Pelletier and Larry Gould) who received $1000.
Congratulations to Josephine Matyas & Craig Jones: Their book Chasing the Blues: A Traveler’s Guide to America’s Music won Bronze in the 2022 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition from the Society of American Travel Writers!
Festival season Shuffles to an end: The Southside Shuffle takes over Port Credit September 8-11 with some fine blues from the Legendary Downchild Blues Band, Wide Mouth Mason, Steve Marriner, Ghost Town Blues Band, Lance Anderson Pianorama, Zoom with Shawn Kellerman, Sean Pinchin, Erin McCallum, Jim Dan Dee, Blue Moon Marquee, Rick Taylor, Chuckie Zehr and many more great blues acts. German buzz-act Wellbad will make their Shuffle debut.
Festival Fever: If you didn’t get to a summer blues festival yet, the night is young. Coming up August 4, the world-class Kitchener finds its legs and even though it might not have the long list of American superstars that we have seen pre-pandemic, they’re bringing in a slew of top-notch blues greats from the States and beyond
Festivals in Full Swing: The Toronto Jazz Festival is happening as we go to print with a smattering of blues content
Congratulations! Brooke Blackburn wins solo/duo category at the IBC Challenge at Bobby O’Brien’s in Kitchener. Blackburn, a Torontonian, will be representing the Grand River Blues Society at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis. He used to call Guelph home.
Union Summer Market: With massive renovations and upgrades nearing completion, Union Station is working to create social spaces for travellers and a variety of communities. Toronto Blues Society will be a partner in presenting a series of free outdoor concerts on the north face of Union Station, in the shadow of the Royal York and offering a mix of food / beverage options with fine music talent. At press time the line up is still forming but noon-hour concerts followed by after-work sessions will fill the calendar, TBS enjoying the lunch sessions with “Blue Monday” artists drawn from Toronto’s deep reservoir of performers.
Memphis Calling: Congratulations to Bywater Call who who were just selected to represent the Grand River Blues Society at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis. They rocked Stonewalls in Hamilton along with the Paul Coombs Band, Riley Michaels, Frank Cosentino, Garnetta & Dagroovmasters, Long Black Cadillacs and Jim Dan Dee for a memorable showcase of Southern Ontario blues talent.
Toronto City Budget includes Increases For The Arts: Toronto City Council has approved an enhancement of $1.83 million to Economic Development and Culture, of which Toronto Arts Council will receive a much-needed $500,000, or 2% increase. This increase, which comes at a time of ongoing pandemic disruption, affirms City Council’s understanding of the benefits of arts funding to the city. According to Stats Canada, Toronto’s arts sector has been amongst the very hardest hit by COVID-19. For the last couple of years, every musician in town has been singing the blues.
Talkin’ Blues: Mako Funasaka has posted the 300th episode of the Talkin’ Blues Podcast featuring an interview with American guitarist, composer, singer, songwriter and producer Steve Vai
©2024 Toronto Blues Society. Design by Janine Stoll Media.
TBS logo and WBR artwork by Barbara Klunder
The Toronto Blues Society acknowledges the annual support of the Ontario Arts Council, the City of Toronto through the Toronto Arts Council and the Department of Canadian Heritage, and project support from FACTOR< and the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage (Canada Music Fund) and of Canada’s Private Broadcasters, The Canada Council for the Arts, the SOCAN Foundation, SOCAN, the Ontario Media Development Corporation, and the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport.
