Happy summer everybody!

It's Friday the 13th, and I want to say thanks to all of those who came out to a show in the first half of 2008, as well as our great performers, Chris Whiteley and Diana Braithwaite, Tony D, Andy J. Forest, Penny Lang, Amy Campbell, Sarah Johnston, and Coco Love Alcorn.

We've had a wonderful first half of the year, and I now encourage you all to go find more live music this summer at Westfest, Bluesfest, the Jazz Festival, the Stewart Park Festival in Perth, the Folk Festival, with Tony D's new project Monkeyjunk at Irene's, at the Sheep, or wherever life takes you.

We're taking the summer off, since we figure most people are going to be cottaging, vacationing, and festivaling, and since we want to do some of that too!

But rest assured, we will be back in the fall with some more amazing performers.

February 10: Sunday afternoon swamp romp with Tony D, Andy J. Forest, and Steve Dunn.

BobCat House Concerts is heading south in February. Unfortunately, it’s only a metaphor, and we will be our pasty white selves for the foreseeable future… but even so, there’s a treat to be had.

We in Ottawa are lucky to have guitarist Tony D as one of our own. For years, he’s played with anyone and everyone and become a linchpin of Ottawa’s blues scene. And Tony is bringing his endless creativity to BobCat, along with a couple of great friends of his.

Even though Andy J. Forest was born in Washington State, his soul found him in Louisiana, where he has become a tremendously acclaimed singer, writer, harmonica player, and artist. With a lucky 13 albums to his credit (including a live CD recorded with Tony D and the band at the Rainbow), Andy is a frequent visitor to Ottawa.

Tony and Andy are bringing along veteran percussionist Steve Lund, who’s played with them before, as well as the Drew Nelson band, blues legend Dutch Mason, and many others.

Just the facts:

• Andy J. Forest, Tony D and Steve Lund
• Sunday, February 10, 1:00 mingling, 2:00 show
• Suggested donation $20
• As always, we provide non-alcoholic beverages; please feel free to bring beverages of your choice, some appetizer-ish food to share, and a donation of non-perishable food or cash for the Ottawa Food Bank.
• Reserve your seat via e-mail (bob.ledrew@gmail.com); we request prepayment -- please don’t short-change the artists!

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.

A baby BobCat is born

Last night, in front of a motley crew of friends, colleagues, and folk from near and far, Bob and Cathy were pleased to:

• Celebrate Cathy's 40th birthday in truly rockin' style, and
• Celebrate the birth of our bouncing baby BobCat House Concerts with the awesome duo of Suzie Vinnick and Tony D.
  

It's sometimes difficult to know exactly how things are going over when you're trying to keep everything going, and this was a bit ... unusual as a combined party / house concert.



But, if you'll pardon the crudity, Suzie and Tony ROCKED THE FUCKING HOUSE!

From Howlin' Wolf to Lowell George to their own songs to a rousing and down-and-dirty-bluesy chorus of "Happy Birthday" for Cath (the Cat of BobCat), they brought the friendly, warm vibe to our house that they bring to every show and then some.

Tony was hot off gigs paying tribute to his late mentor Dutch Mason and getting ready for his big Hendrix tribute show at Barrymore's, and Suzie was

• (a) touring madly;
  
• (b) fresh from snagging THREE Maple Blues Awards;
  
• (c) waiting to hear whether she and Rick Fines will continue to dominate their category in the International Songwriting Competition (Rick Fines won in 2004; Suzie in 2005; and a Suzie+Rick co-written song is a finalist in 2006!) ; and
  
• (d) getting ready for an official CD release for her new disc with her other musical buddy Rick Fines, "Nothing Halfway" (March 22 at the NAC's Fourth Stage).

We couldn't have had better openers for our series. The music was exquisite. When you have played as often as Tony and Suzie have, it seems like there's a telepathy between the two of them, and the songs just flow out. Suzie's vocal talents are unbelievable, and she is a quick-witted and creative guitarist. And anyone who's heard Tony knows that whether it's a flamenco-flavoured rock tango or an all-out Howlin' Wolf blastoff, his red Gibson 135 and his blond Strat seem to exhale inventive, stylish, and technically perfect guitar lines.

So now we've got one down, and our big sign has its first two signatures for display in the sunroom.

And now, we're looking for number two. It may be in June, or a little earlier. We'll keep you posted. In the meantime, enjoy the photos.

Ciao for now,
BobCat.