Sellers and Newel

 Having lived in the same house for more than 25 years now I have seen a lot of the great stores and restaurants come and go in Toronto's little Italy.  As sad as it is, nothing lasts forever. Twelve years ago I walked into the bookstore almost across the street from me called Sellers and Newel. I had been in before but this time I struck up a conversation with a nice fella name Peter. (Wow...Peter Sellers...how cool!)

Around the same time, Andrew Downing and I had been lamenting that we no longer had a venue to perform our banjo/cello duo in the hood. We both started playing our second instruments (he is actually a bassist and I have always been a guitarist) around the same time. We had a weekly gig on Ossington before it become fancy as it is today, at a little place called Todo. Those were special times and great memories (including the amazing special guests we would have). I thought we would never find another cool place like that to play in our hood. 

Back to my conversation with Peter; I don't remember it clearly but I think I told him about Todo and Andrew and the banjo/cello duo. He seemed inspired and said we should play at his bookstore. I asked Andrew and the rest is history. 

Fast forward twelve years and 200 plus concerts and Peter has one of the coolest and most popular music venues in the city. People contact him from all around the world now to play at his intimate bookstore with the magic live-music vibe. If you haven't been yet it is a thing you must experience. One of those things that makes our neighbourhood and city so special. It is still a little bit of a secret (ie. there is no marketing budget) but you should probably buy your ticket in advance to make sure you get a chair. (what are there...maybe 25 chairs?) 

Yes, you can shop for books at night too before the concert or on the set break. You can hear a pin drop at every concert and it is quite likely you will leave knowing some new people and maybe seeing people there you haven't seen in a long time. 

This coming Tuesday, December 12,  I am performing there with my trio Banjo: Drum + Bass. It features Aidan McConnell on drums and Brandon Davis on the bass. We play a repertoire that included some very old and some very new tunes I wrote. Also, some unusual cover tunes and maybe even a tiny splash of holiday spirit.  

To reserve your tickets please email Peter at: sellers@sellersandnewel.com

If you can't make it to the show please check out his list of upcoming shows here and try to make it to the store to buy some books as gifts and maybe a couple for yourself :-)