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.
The fundraiser part of the night raised $1005 with performances by The Swingin Blackjacks, Caution Jam, Frankie Foo, The Happy Pals, Action Sound Band, Quail, Hedefine & Roderman, Camp Combo, Mike Nagoda & The Spectrum Blues Band and both scholarship recipients. The public can make donations to the ALGMS fund by sending email transfers to [email protected]

Michael Fonfara Memorial Concert Update: On Tuesday, April 5, 2022 family members, musicians, friends and fans of the late musician extraordinaire, Michael Fonfara gathered at The Paradise Theatre in Toronto to honour his legacy and celebrate his life. The legendary Canadian keyboard player passed away in January 2021 after a long battle with cancer. At the request of his family the event was held back until COVID restrictions could be lifted to allow venues to operate at 100% capacity. The evening opened with Avril Fonfara eulogizing her late husband with spoken word and song. Downchild`s Chuck Jackson handled MC duties and the capacity crowd was treated to sets by Downchild, The Hogtown Allstars, Johnny Wright & Hotline, Brothers of The Lincolns Alumni with Prakash and Jordan John, Robin Banks and Michael’s band mates from his days in The Checkmates and Rhinoceros (John Finley, Danny Weis, Peter Hodgson, Allan Gerber). All performers donated their talent and time. After production costs were deducted the combination of ticket sales, donations and CD sales turned a profit of $4624.00 (divided equally between the four Fonfara grandchildren and deposited into their individual Registered Education Savings Plans). The Michael Fonfara Memorial Concert was captured on film. A two part video of the event will be released to the public before the end of the year.

A Blues Film Close to Home: Filmmaker Eric Doubt is in the final stages of production of a fascinating documentary on a regional blues scene in the small community of Acton, north west of Toronto. For several years a handful of hard-core blues fans have developed a beautiful venue and brought in a succession of blues attractions that have nurtured a community of blues lovers over the years. At a time when we worry that the blues is in decline, it’s encouraging to see such a healthy, vigorous regional blues scene. The venue is called The Juke Joint in Acton and the film is called The Juke Joint in Acton – A Blues Community and is in large part a tribute to the Juke Joint founder Stew Laing, who passed away in 2020. Fellow co-founders Kim Duncanson and Eric Schubert are keeping it going, supporting aspiring and established musicians and celebrating the blues and its sister genres. Lots of familiar faces show up in the film including Steve Marriner, Tony D and Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne. To watch the trailer, find out more about the film (and if you’re able, to contribute to their fundraising effort to complete the film) go to https://jukejointmovie.com/