Merry Christmas, all...

To the several hundred people who made it to a BobCat show in 2007, to the folks who opened up our shows (BobCat Bob, Dave Haskins, Rob Bowman, Heather Daley, and Rachel Ferguson) and to the wonderful performers who made it worth everyone's while to come out (Tony D, Suzie Vinnick (twice!), David Gogo, Lynn Miles, Wendell Ferguson, Katherine Wheatley, Coco Love Alcorn (who we had to cancel on in 2007 but has promised to give us another chance in 2008, Ana Miura, Meredith Luce, and Rick Fines) the Merriest of Christmases.

In an act of dedication, I was out Saturday preserving "BobCat Arena", as you can see here:



The good news -- the roof didn't leak a drop during Sunday's rain. The bad news -- if you were hoping for us to install the retractable roof dealio from the Olympic Stadium in Montreal... it's not gonna fit, so our concerts will have to have a roof over their head for the foreseeable future.

If you aren't already signed up for Chris & Diana, you're probably out of luck; but worry not -- there are more great shows coming in 2008, and we will have details early in the new year on several of them.

Merry Christmas. Enjoy some great music over the holidays.

Bob and Cat.

Another chance to see Chris Whiteley - Vinyl Cafe tour

I should point out that those who want to see Chris Whiteley at any cost can get a taste of him by going to one of the shows on the Vinyl Cafe's Christmas Tour.

Stuart MacLean and his gang put on a fine show (I've been, so I know), and in addition to Chris, my heeeeero Danny Michel (who HAS to come and do a BobCat show before I run out of tunes to cover -- so far, I've managed to mangle "Invisible Man", "Whale of a Tale", "Old Tattoo", and "I will love you for miles", and I won't stop until I destroy his catalogue entirely) and other musicians whose names I can't remember or find on the Web (CURSE YOU GOOGLE).

Of course, our pal Suzie Vinnick is a proud alumna of the Vinyl Cafe tours, and regular parts of the orchestra include John Sheard and Dennis Pendreth

In any case, I'm sure that the whole tour will be great. They are in Ottawa on December 22 and 23, at the National Arts Centre.

And if you can't make it to that, come to a show and I will do my best Stuart McLean impression for you. "It was a warm evening, the kind of evening where people sit on their front porches waving magazines in front of their faces... thin magazines, like Time Canada or the Watch Tower, not like Vanity Fair... except for Dave, who was waving a copy of Penthouse and wondering why Morley was mad at him..."

SA-TUR-DAY, HEY! Rick and Suzie rock.

In the unlikely event that we ever get discouraged about house concerts, memories of November 17, 2007 will serve to put us back in a good mood.

Rick Fines and Suzie Vinnick put on not one, but TWO fabulous shows for us, with over 60 people getting to hear some absolutely wonderful musicianship and songs.

Those who were at the evening show got an extra treat when their musical pals Wendell Ferguson and Katherine Wheatley, in town for the Healing Garden benefit concert today (November 18), dropped by and ended up getting up to play and sing with Suzie and Rick.

Here's some of what it looked like. If only you could have heard it!

We also have a big box of food for the Ottawa Food Bank, lots of new Rick & Suzie fans, and our first show of 2008 to announce (in a separate post). Enjoy the pics.

Twice the Suzie & Rick is GO!

Hi there -- just to formally tell folks that Suzie Vinnick and Rick Fines are doing an afternoon and an evening show with us at BobCat. While our evening show remains totally jammed with people, there are some seats available in the afternoon.

Second show:

Rick Fines and Suzie Vinnick @ BobCat House Concerts
1:00 mingle, 2:00 show
Suggested donation: $20, (please pay in advance)
e-mail us to put seats on hold.

How exciting to see so many people who want to experience great music. See y'all Saturday!

Suzie & Rick, filling up quick

Hello to first-time visitors from the OFF Folkbits list or the LizbluesOttawa list. Just want to let folks know that we are filling up, but have about a half-dozen seats left for the Rick & Suzie show.

If I can be immodest for a sec -- you'll never have an opportunity to see these two in a more intimate, comfortable space than BobCat, unless you get them to come over to your living room for a private show.

So don't hold back. There's lots of nice folks to meet, good food to eat, and the music will be AWESOME.

See ya,

BobCat Bob

Moving Meredith, affecting Ana, and rocking Rachel

Biggest crowd ever at our concert last Saturday featuring Meredith Luce, Ana Miura, and opener Rachel Ferguson.

It was a wonderful show, with a tremendous amount of energy, enthusiasm, and talent demonstrated by these three young women. And that energy got reflected back to them by a very appreciative crowd.

Here are some shots, if you want a... er, peek... at the evening. (Some photos, including the one at left, courtesy of Emily Chen, whose M Wears tees were sported by Meredith Luce and BobCat Bob, and who designed the fantabulous BobCat logo. What a creative gal!)

Both Cath and I were somewhat disturbed to discover that two of our three performers could easily be our children. Sure, you say, you're both from Cape Breton, where a generation is 13-15 years. But still...




Rachel Ferguson was kind enough to come over from Aylmer and open the show. She has a lovely voice and an unflinching gaze on some sensitive matter, and you just feel as if she could explode. A real treat.










Ana Miura is at a very different stage of her musical career than Rachel. With her fluid voice and her guitar playing, she's able to create a beautiful stories in her songs, and she has a sly sense of humour that finds its way into her between-song conversation. Her set was simply lovely, with an especially beautiful version of her song Transcanadian.















And finally, we had Meredith (or in honour of Halloween Merry-death) Luce. It's so great to meet young people (which makes me sound old, but still) who are so talented AND so together. Meredith's songs are wonderfully conceived and she's such a convincing performer, it would be impossible to not be won over by her.

I did my best, however, to alienate potential fans by demanding she (with virtually no rehearsal) sing "I will love you for miles" with me in my ongoing obsession with doing Danny Michel tunes until he agrees to do a show.

It's all my fault. Don't hate her.

Still seats left for Suzie Vinnick and Rick Fines. Don't wait too long and be disappointed.

3 must-see fall 2007 BobCat shows

It's been a while, but BobCat has been working away on concerts for the fall of 2007, in between real life. Much of last weekend was spent at the Ottawa Folk Festival, listening to wonderful performances by some people who are already booked, have already performed at BobCat, or are now firmly ensconced on our list of "want'ems."

Among the highlights for us:

• Penny and Jason Lang - a legend and a legend in the making
• Jah Yussuf - a Malian n'goni player who jammed the blues with Chris Whitely to ecstatic levels
• Buffy Sainte-Marie - such power. such presence.
• Chris Whiteley and Diana Braithwaite - killer blues set Sunday night that had folks dancing in the aisles
• Kate Weekes Trio - sweetly-voiced songs with great appeal
• Oh Susanna - a pure voice with purely insightful songs
• a slightly over-caffeinated Meredith Luce, leading a great workshop show
• the Arrogant Worms - able to make us laugh till we ached with great musicianship
• Old Man Luedecke - great banjo playing and insightful writing.

It's a great festival, and if the universe unfolds as it should, we may be slightly more formally involved in 2008.

And we're ready to announce 3 shows, with a fourth to hopefully get added soon.

• Our first show will be Saturday, September 15, with BC singer-songwriter Coco Love Alcorn. There is no shortage of musical families in Canada, and Coco is part of a great one. But she doesn't need family ties to make her way in the music business – from touring with Ani diFranco to working with 54-40 to her own music being featured on "The L word", Coco has mixed up a potent blend of jazz, folk, and R&B that has irresistible groove. And Coco loves her bike, so we're organizing a Sunday ride to show her some of Ottawa's best riding. If you're interested in joining up, let us know.
  





• On October 27, we're featuring what we're calling the Ottawa Up and Comers show. Our headliners are going to be two performers who call Ottawa home, but will soon be known to Canada and the world. Meredith Luce and Ana Miura are both young, both immensely talented, and both captivating on stage. Meredith released her first CD, October, this summer, while Ana's EP Tenacious Heart came out a little earlier. Most recently, Ana has been singing with local collective Amos the Transparent, while Meredith has formed a group to bring the electric edge to her songs. We think that these musicians, who are very different in styles but are both insightful writers and charismatic performers, will make a great two-for-one act. See 'em now, before you have to go to the NAC!
  
  

• On November 17, the first return performer to BobCat is... Suzie Vinnick, this time with her longtime collaborator and friend Rick Fines. Suzie is one of Saskatchewan's great musical exports, able to growl out a blues or sing a sweet love song with her powerful voice, and to play a mean riff or two on guitar or on her wild-looking bass. Rick Fines has graced Canadian stages since the 1980s with Jackson Delta, on his own, with Suzie, and with his trio. His guitar playing is simply amazing, with tremendous fingerstyle skills and the ability to match his accompaniments to his gravelly, evocative voice. His most recent solo album, Solar Powered, is a masterpiece, and his work with Suzie Vinnick rings with good humour and the ability to push each other to musical greatness.

We are hoping to have one more show in the fall, but wanted to give you the opportunity to "save the dates" for these three.

The details:

• Each show will be $20 per seat
• We require payment in advance. You can use Paypal by going to our site (http://www.bobcathouseconcerts.blogspot.com/; otherwise contact us to make arrangements for dropping off a cheque or cash.
• Show starts at 8:00; you're welcome to come and mingle early
• We'll have a few munchies available; if you want to contribute, please do
• Our shows are BYOB; we provide non-alcoholic refreshments and encourage responsible consumption
• Music is food for the soul; but some people need real food. Please bring some
  non-perishable food items; we will deliver them to the Ottawa Food Bank.

Those dates again:

• September 15 - Coco Love Alcorn
• October 27 - Meredith Luce and Ana Miura
• November 17 - Rick Fines and Suzie Vinnick

Lots of great ideas for shows in 2008 as well. We love to get your ideas too -- is there someone you love? Maybe all it takes is an e-mail. Do you play? Would you like to open a show? Do you have a concept for a show? Let us know.

Friday Random 10(tm)

I do this on my other blog, and since there's some common cause, I'm going to post here too:

The first 10 tunes my iPod spit out this morning are:

1. Madeline, Irish Descendants
2. Closing Time, Leonard Cohen
3. Hoochie Coochie Man, Eric Clapton
4. Rainslicker, Josh Ritter
5. Milling Set, Jamie MacInnis and Paul MacNeil
6. Duncan Johnstone Set, Buddy MacMaster
7. The Night Before, The Beatles
8. Goodbye Grace, Spirit of the West
9. Coaltown Road, The Barra MacNeils
10. Tacoma Trailer, Leonard Cohen

Annotations: wow, what an East Coast set of tunes. Two sets of fiddle tunes, the Barras, the Irish Descendants (sociable!), and a touch of Spirit of the West. Even one of the Leonard tunes has some fiddle stuff happening. Beaten-to-death-Bob-anecdote-number-482: Went to high school with Stewart MacNeil of the Barras, and it was he who first exposed me to Stan Rogers and "Barrett's Privateers", quite likely changing my life. Thanks, Stewart.

PS: Went to see Suzie Vinnick and Rick Fines play at the NAC's Fourth Stage last night, as a CD release party for their disc "Nothing Halfway". What a great show. Rick Fines is a fine guitarist and is an evocative vocalist, and Suzie shone as she always does. Charlie Sohmer opened up with a nice set of bluegrass flavored songs.

Suzie Vinnick and Rick Fines CD release Mar 22

A note to let you all know that Suzie Vinnick and Rick Fines are doing a CD release show for their CD "Nothing Halfway" in the congenial confines of the NAC's Fourth Stage on March 22.

Tickets $25; available through TicketMonster or more reasonably at the Ottawa Folklore Centre.

Well worth going; we'll be there.

BobCat.