Saturday, September 29, 2007

The London Music Club


A typical Friday, southern Ontario, big road, big traffic drive from Toronto to London. This sign was about a block from our destination in London. Kinda makes ya wanna groove, don't it? As our hotel wasn't ready we went directly to the club where we were met by promoter Brian Mortimer, Rowan Poots, and some other helpers from the Great Lakes Blues Society and Karma. As always, the London hospitality is over the top! London Music Club owner Pete made us welcome and did a great job of getting the sound up quickly.
The London Music Club is definitely one of the better presentation venues in Canada. Great sound, great sightlines, friendly staff, good food and service. This place is slowly growing in stature. It's a room to watch, to listen, and play!

We had about 85 advance tickets sold on this show, so we were pretty certain of a good house. We were not disappointed. A great listening crowd in a full room! They gave us a couple of ovations at the end, and Dave and I got a chance to play dual harmonicas, which was a load of fun. All in all, a really, really, good night.

Here's the winner of the tour jacket raffle collecting his prize!

Dave was fighting a cold, so he returned to our hotel, while the Mortz and I retired to a backroom with some scotch to catch up on old times. London's been a great music town for a long time, and Mortz has been a big part of making that happen and keeping the scene alive. We chatted about my old band playing the Firehall back in the 80's, with Danny Brooks and Tom Wilson playing the other rooms at the same time. All the bands stayed upstairs... Yeah, some wild old times. I remembered opening for Carl Perkins on another trip through town. And the Home County Folk Festival- that was fun, playing with Mose Scarlett, Jackie Washington, Colin Linden... We stayed up way too late talking, but I had a great time. Thanks, Mortz, Pete, Rowan, and all of the Great Lakes Blues Society. You guys continue to make a difference! A great music town. Now, can somebody from that Home County Folk Festival offer us a gig for next summer??

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