November 2010

Tim Bovaconti- Right Here. Right Now. In Song

Submitted by cashbox on Fri, 11/05/2010 - 11:52

Story:Lenny Stoute

PHOTO: Bovaconti bringing it vocally...

Credit:Anthony Tooton

In the background I can hear a hound baying; on the line is a genuine rock’n’roll road dawg. Meet Tim Bovaconti, 21^st century musician as mercenary in the service of pop music.

What’s it take to qualify? For Bovaconti, this means 4 or 5 gigs in the average week and a minimum 200 gigs a year. He keeps busy on the road as guitarist with Classic rockers Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman (as a member of Bachman-Cummings as well as lead guitarist in Burton Cummings’ band) and recently recorded lead guitars and lap steel in Los Angeles with Burton for his album “Above the Ground”.

Then there are the frequent tours of 10 years standing with Ron Sexsmith, including a recently concluded European jaunt, and an ongoing series of shows with comic Sean Cullen.

TERRY SUMSION: THE ENCORE CONTINUES

Submitted by cashbox on Fri, 11/05/2010 - 11:50

Terry Sumsion is a man at peace with himself, with his world and especially with his music. As he continues to work on his new CD, scheduled soon for release, he has surrounded himself with the best of both worlds – or perhaps we should say that both worlds have surrounded him.

Terry refers to those who have rallied around him as his “Angels” – all very special people helping him fight a winning battle, each in their own way. Musicians, singers, songwriters and technicians who have joined with him to create a work that this writer feels is the best he has ever produced.

The CD (Terry Sumsion – Encore) will have something for everyone and as the first single “You Gotta Believe” showed, it will be an emotional journey for the listener as many of the songs have been inspired by Terry’s real-life battle with cancer.

The Walls Have Crumbled

Submitted by cashbox on Fri, 11/05/2010 - 11:47

Once upon a time there was an annual Country Music event held in Nashville, Tennessee called Fan Fair. It is now called CMA Music Fest. Another very large event that was once called Canadian Country Music Week is now called, Canadian Music Week. Both extravaganzas had to change their names in order to tear down the wall of Country Music verses all genres.

The days of saying that a Country song is based on the overall production are over. Rock songs are sounding a bit Country and Country songs are sounding a lot like Rock and in between there is still this music called POP where both of the genres mentioned show up.

Everyone is scrambling for a hit song. Notice I didn't say Country song or Rock song, I said a hit song. The industry calls all this progress. The only part about all of this that I don't understand is why are there so many different music charts? If the song is not Country, and it's not Rock, and it's not Pop, then what is it? Hopefully a hit is what the record label wishes for.

The Music Business, Ya Gotta Luv It.

Keith Bradford

Between The Crosses Row on Row

Submitted by cashbox on Fri, 11/05/2010 - 11:45

Story: Don Graham

Setting aside the U.S. Civil War and WW 1, each of which had their share of songs that told the story of their generations, it wasn’t until WW 11 and the popularity of the old tube radio, that the music of the war reached the masses in great numbers. By 1940 over 95% of households in the northeast section of the U.S. and about 50% of homes in the south, all had radios.

Some of the music from WW 11 was obvious in its content and some were songs that expressed the sentiment of the day in such a way that they became classic love songs decades after the war was over. The obvious ones were the likes of Spike Jones’ “In the Furher’s Face” and Johnny Mercer’s “G.I. Blues” and The Andrew Sisters “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy”.

Conjure up any of those three songs and in your minds eye you will see people dressed in forties style clothing, crisply pressed army dress and a vivid impression of the Sisters Andrew in their WAC uniforms rhythmically snapping their fingers and swaying as they sing “the boogie woogie bugle boy of company B.”

THE MERCY NOW: SELF CONTROL

Submitted by cashbox on Fri, 11/05/2010 - 11:31

Unsigned

We knew it was just a matter of time before the spiritual children of Ian Blurton started making albums. And looky, this crew of grit rockers even went the extra mile in getting the Most Serene Blurton himself to produce their debut biscuit and he brings it clean and loud.

Still and all, many times we’ve been fooled again by kickass live acts that can’t cut it in the studio.

Well rejoice, this isn’t one of those. This is the other thing, a band that has honed its act on the hard rock circuit and with the help of The Great Loud One, jammed the juice onto the plastic.

The band say their sound’s a virile mix of classic hard rock, soul and garage rock, and it can all show up in the same song. That sense of impending head-on musical collisions is what keeps The Mercy Now from being just another bar band mining classic rock.

The soul’s mostly from belter Russ Fernandes, former Shikasta shouter; he’s rougher than that but owing a debut to Jagger; the blues rock courtesy of dual guitarists David Viva and Adam Burnett.