Wake up Wake up Little Maggie…

Wake up Wake up Little Tommy, erm, I mean Maggie

So I’m making a record. Do people still say that?

I’m rounding up a few pals and going into the Rogue
next Monday, July 27 for a one day hot-off-the-floor
session just like Sonny Boy Williamson would do.
We’re working with Chris Banks on stand up bass
and Cleave Anderson on drums. Bob Wiseman
will be dropping in for a couple of tunes on piano
and Peter Hagele as well. And, Zoe Garnett might
lay down a vocal on the tune “Dark as a Dungeon”.

The repertoire for this set of songs is pretty heavy
on the folk, blue, roots and soul side…with a
heavy dollop of bluegrass. I have been into bluegrass
since the 70’s long before it was cool then uncool
and then cool again again.

The name of the record is “Little Maggie”. I’ll let
you know how it goes…

Tom at Free Times Café, Toronto, March 31 9 PM

Ah, my folk singin’ days.

Back in the 80s, I came back from a European
backpacking tour, walked into the Kensington
market, saw a new café just about to open,
walked in, and introduced myself to Noel Paolo,
the owner.

Down and Out Then Back up Higher New Orleans

One evening in late 1980, my pal Jimmy Burke, just returned from
the oil rigs of Alberta, called and said, “Hey Tom, do you want to
go drinking? I have four thousand dollars!”

Being young and enthusiastic — and, erm, thirsty! — of course I
said yes. After a night of many and varied bacchanalian ramblings
around the bars of downtown Montreal — culminating in four guys
crawling into a closet at 3:30 AM at the Hotel Lasalle and finding
a case of warm beer, a bunch of oranges and a pecan pie – Jim
and I decided to go to the Mardi Gras in New Orleans.

What the Moon Saw

Okay, so I was visiting a town called Stoupa just outside
Kardimili, Greece one year. It’s on the Peloponnesos, not
far from Kalamata, where all the best olives are born of
those craggy olive trees with the most improbable
silhouettes.

I was there at the behest of a lovely woman from Toronto by the
name of Beth who introduced me to her friend, the late Robert
Crisp.

Which Virgin You Like?

There are two virgins of the song ‘Christmas Morning’ that you have
not heard. Someone I knew went gaga over the song and tried to
get some radio guy behind it. Apparently, all I had to do was change
a lyric and it was a done deal. Against my better judgment, I fudged
the lyric in a few places for them.

Christmas Song and Bed Drive for 3rd World Kids

Gorgeous Gentle Reader:

Have I told you how I once walked the Peloponnese to raise
money for a Canadian charity called Sleeping Children Around
the World? I was looking for a feat of daring and endurance to take
on before a big change I was about to undertake… called marriage.

That was in August 1993.

But Is You ‘Good in Bed’?

I can’t believe this one is not in several movies already. Maybe I
should check again. It’s called ‘Good in Bed‘. It’s a bit like the kind
of thing Dinah Washington used to sing. She had a very randy
song about her dentist who was seven feet tall and filled her
holes in just the right way.

My Incontrovertible, Staggering Geniosity

Hey Friends:

I just wanted to let you know that I am a genius. It’s a heavy
responsibility that few among us have to bear. But you wouldn’t
know that, would you?, You probably think it’s just wonderful to be
a genius.  But you don’t know the burden that destiny has placed
upon me.

How do I know I’m a genius?

Break your heart….(I want to)

Gentle reader:

I love cruel songs. Don’t you?

I like indifferent songs…where
the singers says, “I am self sufficient”.

She’s 30 Now

A friend of mine is turning
thirty today. Her name
is Ghazal. She is a Persian
Poet. Among the many
thousands of Persian Poets
I’ve met, she is the only
one turning 30 today.