Blues Summit 8 and the Maple Blues Awards
Had a great weekend hanging out with the blues community at the Marriot in downtown Toronto last weekend ( January 20-23, 2017).
Saw lots of great music and had some great conversations too. Looking forward to Summit 9 in 2 years to do it all over again.
The Maple Blues Awards went off again without a hitch, with performances by Steve Mariner, Sugar Brown, Shakura S’Aida, Tim Williams, Michael Kaeshammer and the Paul Deslaurier Band.
Congrats to all the winners, including the new Drummer of the Year, Sam Harrison out of Montreal. Having been nominated 11 times, and winning 7 of these awards, it was a pleasure to ‘ pass on the torch’ and to congratulate the awesome Sam Harrison for his first time win of this award.
Saturday December 6 Venue Changed to El Mocambo !!
Soulstack have moved their December 6th show from the Cadilac Lounge, now to the El Mocambo, still on Saturday December 6th, still $10 at the door, still the great venue it was, now owned by Michael Wekerle ( Dragons Den). Perhaps Michael will join us on stage? Come find out.
New Orbit Room Date announced for Soulstack
Soulstack returns to the Orbit Room on Thursday, December 4th at 10 pm. After a successful event there last month, The Orbit has invited Soulstack back to entertain the music heavy weight club.
National Blues Awards Nominations are Out!
www.mapleblues.ca
I have received my 9th Nomination for Drummer of the Year !
Jon Knight of Soulstack is nominated for Male Vocalist of the Year.
Raoul and the Big Time for Entertainer, Recording and Songwriter of the Year!
Both Soulstack and Raoul and the Big Tome will be performing at the blues Summit at the Eaton Chelsea this year, January 16th and 17th, with the Award show on January 20th.
Congratulations everyone!
Soulstack Performs at the Orbit Room This Thursday, Nov 6, 2014
Soulstack will be performing at the Orbit Room on Thursday, Nov 6th $10, 10 pm Start…..come help support our debut appearance at one of Toronto’s coolest clubs !
Powder Blues at Massey Hall
Tom Bona will be drumming for the Powder Blues Band in Ontario this November, with stops including Massey Hall on Nov 8th with Downchild. See Calendar page for more details.
Nov1- Center Point Theatre, Ottawa, Nov 2- Club Soda, Montreal, Nov 7- Empire Theatre, Belleville, Nov 8 Massey Hall
Soulstack performs at the Legendary El Mocambo November 30th, 2013
It is a CD Release party at the El Mocambo on Saturday, November 30th.
(Doors at 8, first show at 9 pm-ish / $10 at the door, or advanced at www.soulstack.com).
The band is Soulstack, and we have just been nominated for a 2014 Maple Blues Award for “Electric Act of the Year”, and you can even VOTE FOR US NOW at www.mapleblues.ca (until December 7th). I have also received my 8th nomination for “Drummer of the Year” but there is no public voting for that category.
We are a soulful mix of roots/blues/soul/pop and funk “combining poignant lyricism and sweet vocal harmony with the rhythm and grit of traditional blues”. www.facebook.com/soulstack
This is our second CD release, it’s called Five Finger Discount (2013), and is a follow up to our successful debut release called Big Red (2012).
EXPERIENCE TWO DRUMMERS: At our (sold out) Kitchener / Waterloo release party earlier this month, we added a second keyboard player, so I decided to have a ‘Guest Drummer’ at our Toronto event (why not!). The legendary Mike Sloski will be joining me on the second drum kit on Nov 30th. We will therefore have two keys, two guitars, two bass players and yes, Two Drummers on stage!! We like to play, so there will be two or three sets of music, not ending until well into the night.
An extravaganza not to miss!
VOTE NOW for SOULSTACK for Electric Act of the Year !
My band Soulstack has been nominated for a Maple Blues Award this year !
Anyone and register to vote at www.mapleblues.ca until December 7th, 2013. Vote Now !
I have also received my 8th nomination for Drummer of the Year (Note: there is no public voting for the musician categories, sorry !)
The award show is on January 20th, 2014 in Toronto at Koerner Hall. I will be the house drummer for this show.