Big Dave to Junos in Vancouver

Called Big Dave this morning to wish him luck at the Juno's tomorrow night. His cab was waiting as we spoke, so hopefully he made his flight to Vancouver! I'll be following the Awards as closely as I can over the next couple of days. I sure wish the Saturday stuff was broadcast. It might help the artists get at least a few miles out of these Awards. Prime time for pop stars just kinda cements the status quo, doesn't it? Surely we could cycle through the less commercial categories annually and at least present a couple of them each year during prime time?

For the international readers: the Juno's are Canada's big music awards. Sort of like the Grammy's, only on a Canadian scale. They are held in a different Canadian city each year, with Vancouver being the 2009 host.

Myself— again spared the burden of nomination— I'll be busking Toronto's Queen St. district on Saturday and Sunday. Blues for people without TVs or internet? Actually, the weather is supposed to be warmer at last, so I'll be selling CDs, telling stories, singing songs... Keep your ears open if you are in Toronto over the weekend. I know all of you Vancouver music fans are going to have a great time. Meanwhile, my sincere best wishes to all the Nominees this weekend. Every one of them is a winner.

It's been a few weeks since I posted. The Tour is getting bigger! Well, not bigger than Century size, but we ARE about 70 percent booked now. That's a good thing, but I still need to bring in another thirty dates! The West is mostly booked, and we are playing just about everywhere EXCEPT Vancouver. So, what's with that? Make me an offer, please... Medicine Hat and Swift Current are both in danger of maintaining their status as "blues free zones." Actually that's probably not true, but it seems silly that we can take the blues to the arctic, but not to Medicine Hat. If you are in Medicine Hat and are a blues/roots fan, drop me a line. We need to talk. I've got a date for you. Yes, we will play in your cousin Fred's bowling alley...

Speaking of arctic and sub-arctic— we set aside a few days for Northern adventures this year and are busy negotiating details to make it work. CBC was (and hopefully still is) to be involved recording some of these shows, and I'm going to the Canada Council with my hat in hand for a travel subsidy. You know, it's pretty strange. We could go and play some European shows for less cost than going to Nunavut. And, of course, the western arctic ain't cheap either. But this leg does seem to be coming together. I think we can. I think we can...

I'm way behind on the Atlantic coast, but expect to see the dates fill in fast once I get on it. We've sketched out a loop in late November to Kenora and Thunder Bay. The Tour will almost certainly return to Ontario for about ten days in early December. Is that wild or what! A cool 100, back to back shows?

Finally, I signed a License Agreement with the CBC in order to be able to release a live CD of the last tour Dave and I played— the Big Road Blues Tour. This will be a limited edition, and will be available exclusively at our Century Blues Tour dates. It's a great recording, made for Canada Live and Saturday Night Blues, and it really captures the show at it's best.

I'll get the developing schedule up in the sidebar soon, so check back and see how we're doing.