Winner winner chicken dinner!

I don't blog about hockey much anymore. It seemed like a good day for it. Heck, I got the winning goal. Tuesday morning hockey is always fun. Such a great group of guys; musicians, comedians, one of my fave neighbours and more. I always enjoy and take advantage of the open ice before we play. I need to practise all my "hot-dog moves" including the Michigan which I actually pulled off successfuly (albeit a bit sloppy) in the tuesday game one time. I wasn't having a great game individually today but I still always have a great time. There were only a couple minutes left on the clock and I saw an opening up the right wing. I considered dishing to my left winger but I thought we better get a shot on net just in case. I put up a decent backhand and I think it just squeezed under Burkie's arm above his pad. It doesn't matter; it went in and we won. After Tuesday hockey is over I always have to wait three more days until the classic Friday hockey game. My body likes the days off for recovery at this point (58 yrs old) and I will certainly watch a few hockey games between then and now. Go Leafs Go (we miss you Auston! ...speedy recovery I hope)

October gigs!

ello again, I write to you, you and you in good spirits; why it's the first day of the NHL season! There are other good things going on too. I have been getting together and playing folk songs with a talented young singer named Brigit McDermott. We are invited to perform together this Friday night at Sellers and Newel. (Yes, that is the bookstore you keep hearing about with many live music events) Probably best to reserve tickets. (we go on first at 8pm)

-- Another good one to get advance tickets for is Friday October 25, So Long Seven is playing a rare Toronto concert at the excellent venue at Alliance Francais. (just north of Bloor on Spadina) How do you say no to banjo tabla guitar and violin on a Friday night? :-) Ronley Teper and I are playing together a few times this month. Our regular monthly show at the Tranzac with the Lipliners is on Sept 23, 930pm. We are also invited to play a duo gig at the Mezzrow's from 3-6pm on Sunday Oct 20 in parkdale. (Ronley and I will also be in Hamilton on Oct 26 at the Capitol Bar)

what a fun thursday night. I just watched some of my hockey buddies play a great show a the Dakota (Max White and Jack White in their band Harmony On Mars) I made it home to watch some more playoff hockey and tell you about my gig tomorrow. I have been playing a monthly gig with Collette Savard and the Savants at the Tranzac for almost ten years now. Tommorrow is no exception. The exception however is that we are debuting four new tunes. This is rare. We squeeze in a new tune every now and then; often unrehearsed. this time we managed to get together a couple times and work on these new songs. I took it upon myself to arrange three of them. It was fun as Collette writes great songs. She is also a great singer. So...I turned one of her creations into a prog rock tune. Another one I turned it into a kind of a Led Zeppelin blues and the third one is Bill Evans Trio meets Joni Mitchell. I am not sure they will all come out great tomorrow but someday soon they will be part of our repertoire and maybe even our new record. We are at the tranzac tomorrow; May 10 from 7-9pm. Hope you can come. tim

Hockey injuries

My focus and main passion in life remains to be music. The beauty and the challenges alongside the wonderful community I am so fortunate to be a part of continue to inspire me. My hobby is hockey. Both playing and watching. I love this sport. Currently I am injured again from playing. I will spare you the details but I bruised my ribs pretty bad. I feel lucky that there is no break or damage to internal organs that they could find. Having recently endured another serious hockey injury that lasted a few months I am starting to wonder if it is worth it. Of course it is. However, I don't want to have numerous episodes like this every year for the next twenty years. I suppose it is a bad stroke of luck. Maybe the positive take away is the reminder that having one's physical health makes everything else easier and more enjoyable. Another recent topic for me was the 25th birthday this week of my oldest son Dylan. I can't believe he has been in our lives for that long. Time moves so fast. He is an amazing guy and I love spending time with him playing sports, talking about film/art and music etc. It was curious for me to realize that I wasn't exactly sure where I was when I turned 25 but with the help of my oldest pals Steve and Curf I figured out that I had been living in Montreal for a few months in my divey bachelor appartment. This inspired me to ask my Dad about his 25th birthday and we dug up some cool old memories over the phone about that too. It is a bit of a slow time in my music world. I have not been practising or composing as much although there have been some inpsiring projects that are ongoing. (working towawrds a couple new recordings with projects in which I am a sideman) These hockey injuries are not helping. I had to miss my Lipliners gig last night due to the pain. (some will think I stayed home to watch the Leafs playoff game but I can assure you that was not the case) One final note, I am really enjoying reading fiction again these days. Miriam Toews (I think she lives in my neighbourhood) my current fave author although I am currently reading the memoir of American pop singer Liz Phair. She is a good writer and has some good stories to tell. (including one of the most detailed descriptions, written in first person of giving birth I have ever read)

February newsletter

 Hey, the sun came out! Hope you are enjoying the blue sky.

I have a few shows that I feel really lucky to be part of this month. I have a trio called Banjo: Drum + Bass that I have been performing with that features Aidan McConnell on drums and Brandon Davis on the bass. (I play banjo)  We are back at our favourite venue/bookstore Sellers and Newel (672 College St.) on Tuesday February 20 at 8pm. If you haven't been; this is the coolest place in town to hear music these days. Great sound and intimate vibes. Advance tickets are the way to go. Email: sellers@sellersandnewel.com

Another exciting concert is the return of Cluttertones. This is the music of my dear pal Rob Clutton. Cluttertones have been making music together for more than a decade and the group features Rob on Bass and compositions, Ryan Driver on analog synth and Lina Allemano on trumpet. This concert will also feature a couple pieces from Lina's latest critically acclaimed CD Canons that you can purchase here: https://linaallemano.bandcamp.com/album/canons (I will be playing banjo and guitar) This concert is on February 16 at the Arrayspace 155 Walnut Ave, Toronto. 

February 28 is the day that Ronley Teper and the Lipliners will be collectively freaking out at the Tranzac. We start at 930pm and play two sets. Every show is different with this amazing artist. I look forward to it and hope you can make it. 

The second friday of every month (this month it is the 9th of February) I rock it up on the electric guitar with Collette Savard and the Savants. 100% satisfied customers, great songs, great band, great friends! It is an early show too; 7-9pm. 

Thanks for reading my note. take care. -tim

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 :-)

TIM (This is Music) Adult Music School!

I have been having some fun of late learning how to run a little business. It is about time since I have have been running many of them for decades. My wife Julie has had great success with her latest business/art venture with is https://shawstreetpottery.ca/  She has been very helpful with helping me get my latest venture up and running. TIM! 

It is truly amazing what you can do with social media and little businesses now. When I started booking tours for my groups in the 90s there was no world wide web for the common person and email was brand new. I still managed to book gigs all over Canada and we got there somehow too without google maps :-)

TIM (This is Music) is and adult music school where I will be teaching group guitar classes for beginners, Rockband, Intro to theory classes and more. It is best to sign up for the email list on the TIM website as there will be limited spots opening and those on the list will be the first to hear about it. 

I have focused on teaching kids for a long time but I enjoyed teaching the one year at Mohawk College in Hamilton so much I have been trying to continue in that direction. It is hard to find a teaching job these days so I finally decided to start my own school. It will be way more fun here. Trust me! I will still teach kids music as I have a bunch of good students and there is still something very rewarding about teaching someone their first guitar lesson. 

I still have my Guildwood Records website. It's not the prettiest website but it is still probably the best way to keep up with my local shows and touring in the future. (I am not the best at keeping it up to date)