One night as I walked in to set up, I noticed a man already sitting at one of the tables, a white hat and dark shades on. This was a little strange as there was nobody else in the club yet. I put my gear in place on stage, tuned my guitar and did some preliminary mic checks so at least some preparations were done. We were supposed to start at 10 pm. but the Hiptonics especially Prakash were notorious for showing up at the last minute. Well as usual, everyone else didn’t show until well after 10:15 and we got off to our usual frazzly late start. By this time the bar was pretty full. A couple of friends had apparently joined our strange guest who was still there staring intently at the stage. Prakash counted in the first tune and off we roared into a great version of the R&B classic ‘Soul Man’. From the stage, I looked through the dark and smoky room to see our friend’s fedora bobbing up and down with great enthusiasm.

As per usual , the Hiptonics smoked from the very get go. No matter what the line-up was (and we had a long list of substitute players), the intensity level of the groove of this band was simply unparalleled but typically, the response from the audience was how shall we put it, only mildly enthusiastic. After all, this was Toronto, the dreaded sinkhole of many a performer. I couldn’t help but think that if this had been New York City instead, we would have had everyone dancing on the tables. Sigh – so what else was new?

After the first set, someone came up to Prakash on stage and whispered something in his ear. Prakash broke out into a big grin, stepped off the stage and walked over to our mysterious visitor who turned out to be none other than Mr. Paul Shaffer, the musical director of the David Letterman band! How cool. Paul Shaffer was ‘in the house’. He told Prakash he was keeping a low profile and not to announce anything to the audience just yet. We went back on stage to do the final set.

Knowing that Paul Shaffer was watching elevated the band to a whole new blistering level. You could almost see steam coming off the stage and we were soaked right through with sweat. Paul’s bobbing fedora became a blur of white. Still, despite our valiant efforts, the audience’s response was polite at best.  Groan.

Just before the last song, Prakash came up to the microphone.

“……well, it’s been a great night….thanks to all of you for coming out and supporting live music….it’s not easy in this city as you may or may not know. I just wanted to say that we have a friend in the audience who is a big fan of the Lincolns and has flown all the way from New York City to see us tonight (the raucous cacophony began to die down as people turned in curiosity to listen to Prakash). Ladies and gentlemen, you all know him. How about a big hand for Mr. Paul Shaffer from the Letterman Band….?!”

After a second of stunned silence, the entire bar erupted in deafening applause and cheers.

“….we’d love to get him up here and join us on stage for our last song, the great Hammond B3 (organ) instrumental Green Onions, …..how about it Paul???!!”

Amidst all the clapping and hoots and hollers, Paul Shaffer reluctantly got up eventually and started to weave his way through the crowd up to the stage. He’d obviously had a few drinks.

Stepping on to the stage, he suddenly grabbed the microphone from Prakash.

“…what’s wrong with you people.??!!!..,” he yelled. “This band’s been burning all night and you’ve sat on your hands! Now, just because I’m here, you start clapping. That’s f…..d!….”

At this point, Prakash was trying to wrestle the microphone back from Paul who wasn’t finished yet.

“I don’t even want to even try to touch the playing of this guy (the incredible Dennis Keldie was our organist that night)…..you guys are clueless…..!!!”

Finally, Prakash wrenched the microphone out of Paul’s hands and quickly counted the tune in so that Paul had no choice but to get behind the Hammond and play. Of course, it was hugely exciting for all of us and Paul played his ass off. After the song ended to tumultuous and adoring applause, Paul shook all of our hands telling us how great we had played and what a fantastic band we were. I’ll always remember it as a very generous and supportive gesture from a fellow Canadian musician.

This whole incident resonated in my head for years afterwards. Paul had been dead-on in his criticism. Toronto fans seem infected by celebrity-silliness and a jaded, destructive apathy towards their own.

It makes me wonder: why?

I still don’t know.

- Vezi

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4pm-10pm Sunday July 10th.

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Kensington Sound is happy new announce their new collection of KEL mics. Known for their unique sonic qualities, KEL mics have been used with such artists as Katy Perry, One Republic, Alanis Morrisette, Bil VornDick, Celine Dion,  and Sting.KEL Audio is a promising mic manufacture, well worth an acquaintance.

www.kelaudio.com

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A straggly thin kid with blond dreadlocks walked by and handed me a flyer. It read: “Songwriter’s Hall Of Fame Concert”. I looked it over. Wow. David Gates (from the band, ‘Bread), Jerry Lieber, Mike Stoller, (Jailhouse Rock etc.) a bunch of other killer writers and the coup de grace: Jimmy Webb (Wichita Lineman, MacArthur Park) one of my idols. Now these are all names that may not resonate with the reader but suffice it to say, the lineup was legendary and not to be missed. Impulsively, I decided it would be a good thing to take Steve and Melwood to the concert and without telling them, scooted off down to the box office that happened to be only a few blocks away and bought three tickets. They weren’t cheap but hey, opportunities like this don’t often come up. That evening found us in velvet red soft seats with about 2,000 other expectant fans and as the lights dimmed, I had a feeling we were in for a memorable night.

Sure enough, the performances were stunning. Superb song after superb song I could feel Melwood and Steve sinking lower into their plush seats in sheer humility. Each songwriter performed a maximum of three songs and was allowed to play guitar or piano but here was the kicker: there was no back-up band. If they couldn’t play an instrument, they had to sing ‘a cappela’! That’s right, no accompaniment. I remember Mike Stoller, beating his chest with his fist to at least get a rhythm happening. Eventually, it came time for the featured guest to perform: the superb Mr. Jimmy Webb.

After enthusiastic applause, he sauntered over to the grand piano and regaled the audience with his showy piano skills and his great songs, one hit after another. He even showed a self-deprecating humour when he confessed that the lyrics to MacArthur Park were by in large, unintelligible and

“….ahem…..we won’t try to figure out what it took to come up with those words…” He had the audience in the palm of his hands. So far so good. And then this. The spotlight was caressing the sleek black grand piano as his fingers flew up and down the ivories in languid arpeggios when he began a little banter – words to this effect.

“…..Well…it’s certainly great to be here and…well…..I know that there are probably some great songwriters here tonight and they’re going to understand what I’m about to say. You know, fellow writers, sometimes you get real lucky and one of your songs becomes a big hit. And you’re real grateful. It’s really cool when this happens. You say to yourself, gosh, that’s my song on the radio! Trouble is…… (pause for dramatic effect)…you don’t quite like the version that came out…you know, the vocal wasn’t quite the way you imagined it could be and the arrangement a little lame…”

A few chuckles and knowing looks from the audience. A condescending turn of the head, a few more soaring notes from the studio and then an introductory series of chord movements that rang a familiar bell. Some in the crowd began to cheer when they recognized the song. “Well, ladies and gentlemen, this was one of those versions that just didn’t do it for me. I just felt that…..”

“Hey wait a minute buster!!!”…… A lady had yelled out from the audience. The piano notes crashed to a dead stop. Jimmy Webb swung around and looked out wide-eyed into the blackness, a deer caught in the spotlight. “Huh?” Somewhere  in the front rows, a lady had stood up shaking her fist at the stage. The singer was in the audience!!! (It was somebody really famous like Reba Mcintire)

“Yeah, that’s right. I’m talking to you straight now! I made you a truckload of money. That was a damn good rendition of your song that I did…I gave you a hit…..you’re so freakin’ lucky…..” As an abject and stunned Jimmy Webb clumsily tried to make amends, the entire hall exploded into laughter. Jimmy began to blabber.

“Well, gosh honey… ….no, I didn’t mean it that way….of course, honey…you did a great job….aaahhhh….I was just trying to explain to the other writers here…aaahhh…..” Well, he just wound up digging himself deeper and deeper and drawing more guffaws and laughter from the crowd. Mr. Webb had forgotten that he was in Nashville, the international mecca of songwriters, the home of country music for god’s sake. He should have known that there was a very, very good chance that the performer of his song might very well be in the audience. After digging himself into a hole halfway to China, he finally gave up with a painful grin.

“Well, I guess I won’t be doing that song here tonight after all.”

And the moral of this story is: when you are a performer, always remember where you are!

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Think you have what it takes to win this year’s contest? Enter at contest@kensingtonsound.ca.

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PledgeMusic is a music company offering you a new way to take control of your career. We’re not interested in being a rights owner – Pledge does not want ANY rights to your music, live income, merch etc. We just help you fund whatever type or format of record you want to release next.

To do this we simply help and encourage you to participate with your fans in an exciting and unique way. Pledge allows you to easily create an irresistible customised menu of exclusive content and experiences that integrates your database, MySpace friends, Facebook fans, Twitter followers and various other social networking sites. You decide how much money you’d like to raise and your fans pledge money for whichever item or experience they want. They will only be charged once the full target amount has been raised and there’s even the option to build a charitable donation into your campaign. We charge a flat 15% fee and we have no hidden fees or transaction costs whatsoever.

You are your own A&R and Marketing Manager – you choose the studio, the producer, the artwork, the promotion – it’s all down to you! Let the fans be your label, while you keep the rights to your music.

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