Sunday February 5, 2012

Sometimes a band gets their big break and you never really know when that's going to happen. They have to stick their neck out and just keep plugging away.

Paolo Nutini got his big break when he was in his mid teens. He had won a pop quiz and got selected to sing a few songs when David Sneddon was delayed for a big show. The crowd loved it and it got the attention of someone in the crowd who became his manager. The rest is history. I was supposed to interview Paolo but he was delayed in his arrival on site and it didn't happen. Sometime delays work the other way :)

Tommy Shaw, singer, songwriter and guitarist of Styx fame told the crowd a great story the other night. He had toured for two grueling years trying to make a name for himself and things just didn't take off for him. He was back home (Alabama I think) and was listening to Styx on the radio as he was driving home from a gig at the bowling alley. It turns out that Styx was looking for a new member to replace John Curulewski who had left the band suddenly. Someone who had seen him during his two year tour was impressed and Tommy got ultimately the job with Styx. Can you imagine?

I was fortunate once again to be at the right place and the right time to chat with Greg Keelor of Blue Rodeo fame. He was just getting off an interview on Virgin Radio and I was introduced to him. We walked and talked about the live bar music scene and their own road stories. Early on touring was a challenge because one of the members, Cleave Anderson, was a postman. They would nevertheless make the sacrifices with Cleave likely going with no sleep many nights.

The most grueling trip was a three month tour in America, interrupted by a weekly trip to London, England! They would fly out on Wednesday, play Thursday, and fly back on Friday! "By the end of that, we were all on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Our manager thought it was a good idea" he says. That relationship didn't last. If you were there last night, you would have seen the results of that work ethic. I've never seen a crowd sing like that in my life, and I've seen a lot of live concerts. Everyone knew every single word and screamed it at the top of their lungs. Everyone has been talking about the size of the crowd at KISS ... I can tell you, it wasn't far from that at all. I'll post some video from back stage very soon... you'll see what I mean

Sometimes you have to claw your way there, sometimes you get lucky and sometimes both happen. Luck favours the prepared.

And boy was Silver Creek prepared for their show last night on the big stage playing just before Blue Rodeo, a band they have huge respect for. These guys know work ethic. They went on a tour last year playing thirty gigs in thirty days, sleeping in motel rooms with two beds (there are five guys in the band). They are constantly playing music and have gotten extremely tight. I literally had shivers seeing them on stage rocking out the huge crowd. I can tell you one thing, if Jim Cuddy offered them a bus, they would say "when do we leave!", not "I'm too tired". I'm just sayin'

One of the many wonderful by-products of the Ottawa Bluesfest for those of us that attend every year is the social aspect of this great festival. The local music-lover has lots of places to go throughout the year and we all bump into each other on occasion, but the Bluesfest is the common denominator - it tends to have something for everyone and as such it's the one place where we all know everyone will be there.

Tonight I was treating the Bluesfest as a concert instead of a festival. That is, I arrived with the intention of seeing one band, and after that band was done I made my way home. For those that buy a festival passport each night averages out to $20, and just try and see a major act for $20 nowadays. Almost five years ago I drove to Montreal with a $40 ticket in hand to see CAKE, and with that in mind forsaking everything else to see them tonight was a bargain.

The Rogers Stage was packed with fans singing along to almost every song while many in attendance merely stumbled upon a damn fine way to kill time until Blue Rodeo hit the Bank Of America Stage. After lingering at the back for the first chunk of the set I found my crew in time for the big hit Sheep Go To Heaven from 1998's Prolonging The Magic. While I stood in the middle of the crowd with a group a friends I had one of those experiences where people I know from a myriad of different places kept walking by with an almost Twilight Zone sort of regularity. The social circles just kept overlapping and we ended up with quite a crew while onstage lead vocalist John McCrea led off most tunes wielding his uber-twangy classical guitar as if he was holding a Les Paul plugged into a Marshall stack.

Looking like he just stepped out of the audience with his white t-shirt and baseball cap, McCrea's plainspeak style of baritone vocals featured prominently in every song as the band tore through favourites such as Love You Madly, Never There, and Wheels. For all the rain throughout the festival this year it was the few drops at CAKE that brought out the first rainbow. The Bluesfest crowd has learned to be undaunted by such small sprinkles and we were rewarded for our perseverance with a terribly fun cover of Black Sabbath's War Pigs and CAKE's own Short Skirt/Long Jacket while McCrea instigated a vengeful screaming contest, pitting one side against another by proclaiming, "They hate you because you're strong!" before getting both sides to scream in standard grandiose rock and roll unison.

By the end of the set I had encountered several people I haven't seen since last Bluesfest and with hugs all 'round and about a thousand raised glasses I decided to take this one oppourtunity to duck out early and get a half-decent sleep, my first since the festival started. Hey, you don't have to see everything and this weekend marks the final stretch of the musical marathon that is the Ottawa Bluesfest, so rest is of the essence.

Sometimes when you're just walking along minding your own business, you can turn a corner and run smack into Lady Luck. Last night, I decided to zig when I would usually zag, and found myself walking along backstage behind the Black Sheep stage. I bumped right into an interview being conducted by Video Joe. He was talking to the amazing Otis Taylor. Now some of you will already know about Otis Taylor, but for those of you who don't, you're in luck! He plays the 'fest on Saturday July 18th at 6pm on the Rogers Stage. The band has been touring, and Otis says they're tight. Don't miss it!

I listened in, like a fly on the wall, and took some notes during the interview. Otis has an easy going personable style. Some of his music deals with very dark and troubling subject matter...he's not one to shy away from from a challenging topic. Joe asked whether or not Otis needed to go to a very dark place in his own mind to create music like that. Otis said (and I'm paraphrasing here): No I'm not that dark, I'm just good at writing that kind of music. Michael Jordan is good at flying through the air, and me, I'm good at dark. But then he hastened to add: You know, there are also some happy songs on the new album, they're not all dark. Otis' new album is Pentatonic Wars and Love Songs, and he has the lead track Ten Million Slaves on the soundtrack for the movie Public Enemies.

The interview carried on for several minutes, and I was honoured to be able to listen in. You can find the whole interview below in the Video Joe playlist.

But then, it happened...a little bit of Bluesfest backstage magic! Joe had wrapped up, and I was going to try to follow up with a few questions of my own. But coming off the back of the Black Sheep stage was Concession23 (check them out at www.concession23.com). And Sherry Philp of Concession23 had a case in her hand. And Otis zeroed in on that case instantly...Is that a banjo? he said. If you ever find yourself in this situation, I strongly recommend that you do not position yourself between Otis and the banjo. :-) He made a beeline. What kind of Banjo is that? (Answer: Gold Star). Can you take it out? (Sherry obliged). Can I change your tuning? (Yes).

What followed was pure magic... bluefest lore in the making. Otis sat down on the picnic table out back of the Black Sheep Stage, and just started to plsy that banjo. Both Nick Strachan and Sherry Philp of Concession23 took turns chatting with Otis, while he played and talked about old style bluegrass.

I think that often musicians love musicians. There's a bond. And last night, Lady Luck gave me front row seats as Otis held court on a "found" Gold Star banjo belonging to another band. Eventually, Sherry reclaimed her Gold Star and they were off, smiles all around. It was a little bit of Bluesfest backstage magic that I won't soon forget! Thank-you Lady Luck!

I'm in awe whenever I think about the logistical and technical requirements of putting on a world-class festival like the Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest. Happily, I know the people who run the show, and they know the people who do all the electrical, sound, and lighting for the entire site!

I spoke to Doug Voll who works for the Temporary Power Division of Palmer Audio. These are the guys who wire the site! And I spoke with Jeff Farrow at Christie Lights, the good folks who light up the stages! I wanted to know how it was all put together; who does what? Where does the power come from, and where does it go? Read on for the answers!

It seems the forward-thinking people who designed and constructed the Canadian War Museum on this site knew that there might be a need for power out on the front lawn. So they put in place a power distribution bunker which provides 800Amps of service at 600Volts. Folks, that's a lot of juice! In my mind's eye, I picture the Bluesfest organizer's learning this fact, rubbing their hands together in delight, and gleefully planning to suck up and use every drop of power to put on their amazing festival. And they've done exactly that, and more!

There's about 20,000 ft of power distribution cable which brings power from the bunkers to the vicinity of the stages and other powered areas on the site. The power requirements for these stages are staggering...The Rogers stage has 100,000 Watts of lighting, and even the Subway stage boasts 60,000 Watts of lighting gear. Those two stages are powered, not off the grid, but by diesel generators running on site. But we know the 'fest is green, so naturally these are high-tech low-noise state of the art generators running on bio-diesel. I understand if power is lost at any stage it can normally be restored in less than 5 minutes.

The folks at Wall Sound, Palmer Audio, and Christie Lights do an amazing job. Together they bring power to the sound systems and lights. They even switched out the old style incandescent lights in the food tents, and replaced them with compact fluorescents...that move alone means that the previous years' total of roughly 12,000 Watts required for that area has been reduced to approximately 1,000 Watts!

But the big daddy is the Bank of America stage. The lighting requirements for that stage alone are staggering to begin with, but when the big boys like KISS come out to play, they need more! So a bio-diesel powered generator was added to the existing bunker-based hard-wired service to help handle the load.

Jeff Farrow at Christie Lights estimates that a band like KISS added an additional 40% to the lighting requirements for the main Bank of America stage! The Bank of America lighting rig absorbs 600Amps just for lighting, which includes 100 moving lights and approximately 86 lamps rated at a whopping 2,000 Watts each. There's almost 200,000 Watts of light on that one stage! That's quite a bug-zapper... I think this year's Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest mosquito mascot had better watch out!

Today is a seminal moment for Ottawa supergroup Silver Creek. They play the big Bank of America Stage, opening for Blue Rodeo. And they have a plan. They are going to rock it out and just be themselves. I've seen them live many times and think that's a great plan.

I've been friends with Shawn Tavenier, lead singer and guitarist, for quite a long time. I've seen Shawn play tennis courts, bars, taverns, backyards (my own actually) as he worked his way up. When I saw the whole band play Barrymore's at their CD release party to a sold out crowd, I was blown away and knew these guys were going places. The band members are pros, all they do is play music, and they are scratching their way to the top with hard work, skill and perseverence.

And they are paying their dues. They did a Canadian tour late last year, playing 30 shows in 30 days. The five guys shared rooms with two double beds (ummm cozy). This brought them closer together (literally and figuratively) and they have a tight new CD just hot off the press. They sequestered themselves in a family cottage for days with no interruptions and it sounds fantastic.

They have played the smaller stages earlier in the day, with a great afternoon show on the Rogers stage last year. That earned them admiration and respect as well as a promotion to the biggest stage of them all at the Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest. The Bank of America stage feels like a football field when you're standing on it and I hope you'll be there to support these guys. They are incredibly skilled musicians and songwriters and their dedication is remarkable.

Oh yeah ... so I asked you, would you tatoo the lyrics of a Neil Young song on your back? Watch the interview Bill Love and I did with the guys in the "Allan's Video Reports" section just below and to the right to see why I asked this strange quesion.

Don't forget, history being made tonight, 7pm Bank of America Stage. Be there!

As you approached the festival last night you may have noticed remnants of KISS confetti strewn about. I was curious so I did some poking around and found out from a pretty reliable source that the stuff is indeed bio-degradable. Good old KISS, saving the planet a million bits of paper at a time.

The evening was gorgeous, and with the questionable weather we've been subjected to at the Bluesfest this year I had no choice but to bail on my plan to see the amazing Steve Marriner in the Barney Danson Theatre and instead chose to take advantage of the cloudless sky outside. Fortunately Steve will be playing one more time on Sunday afternoon with Monkeyjunk and I won't miss that one.

Busta Rhymes was late going on at the Bank Of America Stage so I dropped by my default stage, the Blacksheep, where I found electronic indie act M83. Here was a guitar/drums/keyboard trio that laid down 120bpm and utilised laptop computers and microphones running through rackmounted effect units to create swirling maelstroms of dance music, much to the delight of the hundreds of fans looping along. I was struck by a little deja vu of Silent Disco who played the same stage the previous night, only this was much louder.

The beer lines seemed inordinately long just then so I opted to wait for a cold one over at the Hard Rock Cafe Stage where I could take in the breathtaking sunset while I waited. The Bluesfest seems to have settled into the War Museum site quite nicely by now, some tweaking over the last couple of years has them using the space very efficiently, and the relatively recent addition of a stage in this space has resulted in arguably the most picturesque venue at the festival.

Beer in hand and sun on the wane, I turned to see one-of-a-kind bass phenom and musical freakshow Les Claypool taking the stage. With three musical accomplices on drums, 'cello, and xylophone (all four of them masked in a very un-KISS-like manner) Les let loose with his ever-complex, always engaging wacky music. With a creative genius that approaches Gary Larson while bordering on Zappa-esque and bass chops that seem to come from another planet, I wanted little more than to stand and watch every note from the man best known for writing and performing the theme to South Park, but such was not to be.

AJ Sauve has been a major part of Bluesfest operations since the very beginning, and perhaps partially as an apology for not gaining backstage access for KISS, AJ had assured me complete access for Styx last night and as it turns out I'm both a Styx fan and a Gowan fan. As I whisked up and down the walled off corridor that runs from the photo pit to the soundboard and beyond getting my bearings, the band came on to thunderous applause. I turned around and there they were right above me, clustered together like they were posing for a photo shoot, which I suppose they were, given all the cellphones raised in the air.

A quick aside - The cellphone in the role of the new concert lighter; selfish or practical? Discuss.

By the second song Styx had delved into one of their biggest radio hits in Too Much Time On My Hands and followed up with the orchestral light-prog piece Grand Illusion that featured Gowan on vocals for the first time of the evening. I saw more than one breast being jiggled towards the stage (okay, I saw two) from my exclusive perch as the band gleefully tore through power chord symphonies before an audience that was right with them, every note.

I had ducked out to the Gold Circle to enjoy a tasty Canadian (bless AJ) when Styx handed the stage over to their new(ish) frontman. You may not know this, but Larry Gowan has fans the way Jimmy Buffett has fans, the way Phish has fans, the way Obama has fans. Seriously. Now I'm not a member of this clan, but I'll concede I do like my Gowan. Though I had just started my beer I had no choice but to gulp it down and run back to the front of the stage when he started playing Criminal Mind on his twirling keyboard. In his preamble to the song Larry mentioned how the guys in Styx thought it sounded like one of their songs and of course they were right. The track fit into the rest of the repertoire seamlessly.

Though it was a set that had more than one of those, "Oh yeah, they do that one," moments, highlights included a surprisingly fitting cover of I Am The Walrus and the show ending Renegade. The band made special mention of the drummer being voted year's best rock drummer in Modern Drummer Magazine and well deserved, that's quite a feat. Add in Gowan's underappreciated (by all but a cultish few) piano abilities and you got a pretty seriously talented band onstage. Musically and nostalgically it was every bit as good as the KISS show, but without the makeup and platform shoes.

No word on whether or not the Styx confetti is bio-degradable.

KISS is arguably just as much about the music as it is about the showmanship. Some might argue the ratio is not quite 50/50. In any case, there is no question they put on a mind blowing show and it takes some serious technology and manpower to put it together.

I had the chance to hang out on and near the stage when when it was being assembled which was quite thrilling. I mostly stayed out of the way but did my best to tweet things that I learned and I posted a bunch of pictures as well. To see those tweets, you can go to http://search.twitter.com and type in isfan in the search box. Then go back a few pages (I tweet a lot ... people kept asking me for more and I actually got temporarily suspended by twitter yesterday).

Here are few interesting things I found out.

There is a total of about 59 staff just on the KISS crew. They are divided into many departments, each with their own specialty (carpenters, lighting,sound, wardrobe ...). The actual equipment came in on seven truck which actually doesn't include everything since much of the lighting and sound was already provided. The entire KISS production is roughly a thirteen trucks! The crew travels on four buses and the band flies. No shocker there!

On top of that, there were local crews from several companies pitching in for overall assembly, lighting, sound and so on. It would not be too far off to suggest that the total number of direct staff required to put on the show last night is close to 100. You might even be happy to know that the company doing the pyro show is Canadian (check out Joe Reilly's interview in the Video Joe video player below).

I got there at about 9am and the trucks had already arrived and lots of equipment was already unpacked. There were people everywhere unloading, unpacking, assembling ... there was even a guy dusting equipment with a brush! I knew it was going to be a good show when the truck arrived with DANGER signs on it and big canisters and piles of fire extinguishers were unloaded.

Then they started assembling some of the really cool stuff. I took some pictures of what I originally thought were just lights until they flipped them over and tied motors and chains to the assembly. OMG ... the band is going to drop down from the ceiling!!! As things were getting finalized, I got out of the way, just in time to get suspended by twitter ... perhaps I was overzealous in my sharing? Some frantic messages to twitter and all was good again ... panic was over.

Like everyone else there last night, I was blown away by the show. The theatrics, the fire, the explosions, the music. KISS was my number one band as a teenager. I still have my KISS army application and my original Double Platinum vinyl (dated 1978!) and somehow had never seen them live.

Strangely though, as I as leaving the flats with my family, I was thinking of the poor crew. They had to tear everything down, pack it, load it up on trucks and leave for the next town that same night. The guys I talked to didn't even know where they were going ... said something about a place eight hours away. They don't ask anymore ... they do their job and get on the bus for the next gig. It turns out the that the next gig is in Quebec City today (5 hrs away). I'm guessing they left Ottawa in middle of the night, arrived in Quebec City early this morning and are doing it all again. Wow! Rock n Roll All Nite ... literally.

I arrived late again last night (astounding just how much the pesky real world can interfere with Bluesfest) and just had to check out Silent Disco before staking out a spot at the main stage. Silent Disco is a dj who plays to an audience that listens via wireless headphones. There are no speakers - if you aren't wearing headphones you'll hear only the eerie near-silence of the shuffling of hundreds of dancing feet and the occasional group "woo." It's a wonderful experiment in the collective unconscious and well worth checking out, but c'mon, we all know why we came out last night.

Ever since this years acts started to leak out, KISS has been on pretty much everyone's radar. As the fest drew near it seems like the city started to collectively think, "Omigawd, KISS is actually coming to town!" As the date loomed there was talk of a Shannon Tweed Day and the paparazzi (in Ottawa?!?) tracked Gene Simmons' every move. At the root of it we have a masked three-chord rock band that was big in the 70's and early 80's and has done nothing since, aside from grow into bono fide pop-rock legends, so why are these guys about the biggest thing to hit the Bluesfest?

The teenage girls behind me explained it easily. "We love KISS!" But why? "Because we love their songs!" And really, what more do you need? Let's see: Before the band even started a banner bearing their logo unfurled from the rafters. When the flag fell the band made their entrance by descending from the top of the stage. Only KISS has the audacity to lower themselves from the ceiling of an outdoor venue. They launched into a set that explored a lot of their first album and left a lot of casual fans in the dark while to the rest of us felt like we were pumping quarters into the world's greatest pinball machine. Despite the three hundred (count 'em, three hundred) faux speakers on the stage and Paul Stanley's insistence on "turning it up", it took a while for the volume to kick in.

The pyros at the end the first tune just kept on coming as 50% of rock & roll's greatest showmen shelled out those three magical chords for a myriad of fans young and old, and many of them masked as well. There was a nod to The Who with a bit of We Won't Get Fooled Again near the end of the set, but for most of us the band hit their stride near the closing. They ended with their timeless classic, Rock And Roll All Night and encored with everything else we'd been waiting for, from Lick It Up to Detroit Rock City with fireworks punctuating almost every other downbeat.

If you'll indulge me: I have been a professional musician and music teacher for several decades now, and I'll never forget one day as a kid listening to the only KISS tape I've ever owned, Dynasty. I was listening to the monster hit off the album, the disco-tinged I Was Made For Loving You, and I found myself tapping my foot through that classic drum fill before the solo, 1-2-3-4, and whammo, the band was back in. Whoa. I rewound the tape (remember those days?) and counted 1-2-3-4 through the whole thing and wow, it all fit. Whoa. I dug out some records and found that Pat Benatar and Joan Jett all fit into four as well. Whoa. Essentially, KISS helped me discover my bread and butter, 4/4 time, and for that I will always owe them respect. When they launched into the tune mid-encore if you heard a man maniacally counting to four through the drum fill with a slightly more than slightly drunken tribute sort of exuberance, well that was me.

At one point mid-show I sidled up to festival top-dog Mark Monahan and after filling his ear with honest and I'm sure tiresome complimentary drivel, I asked why, in his opinion, did KISS turn out to be one of the biggest turnouts ever at Bluesfest? "Because lots of people bought tickets," he says.

How can you not love this guy?

I'll tell you why so many people came out to the show last night. Even for a city as sophisticated and shall we say white collar as Ottawa, it was a classic rock and roll moment, encapsulated perfectly in the closing number. Now, there is only the smallest fraction of those present last night, if any, that actually rock and rolled all night, and find themselves still partying right now, in the middle of the day, let alone doing it ev-er-y day, and if you did find such a person, well, you probably wouldn't invite them over for BBQ. The thing is though, we all want to party every day, and that's what those four masked men up there were talking about. It's not the action, it's the intent. We all have responsibilities and gotta go to work in the morning and thus are unable to rock and roll all night, but we all want to, and therein lies the key. We're the dudes they're singing about, the bleary-eyed ones who made it to work for 8:30 even though they would've given anything not to. I tell you, KISS are nothing but tour bus-riding, makeup-donning, platform-wearing, tongue-wagging, working class heroes.

In tonight's news, I'm going to tell you right now that sure, Styx is a little cheesy, and you might think that throwing Gowan into the mix (replacing the unmistakeably cheesy Dennis DeYoung as lead vocalist) couldn't help much but I'll humbly scream that you're sadly mistaken. Styx will surprise you with their enormous catalogue of if-Queen-was-American material and if you don't already know - Larry Gowan is one seriously, and I mean seriously talented dude, and he has a fanbase that is reminiscent of Deadheads in their loyalty and rabidity. And if there's just no way you can bring yourself to believe me there's always the incredible Les Claypool on the Hard Rock Cafe Stage.

Can you imagine a little kid being homeless or a veteran losing his home and having nowhere to go, nowhere and nobody to turn to? This is the sad reality for thousands of nearly forgotten people that are still without a place to live following the Katrina catastrophe. It is simply unthinkable!

Here is one of the stories that conviced Zack Rosenburg and Liz McCartney to do something. An 82 year old WWII veteran would drop by for breakfast, go away and would then come back for lunch and go away again, day after day. One morning he just broke down crying. When asked what was wrong, he told them that every day after breakfast and lunch he would drive to FEMA to ask for a trailer to live in and every time they would say no. He would sleep in his pick-up truck and try again the next day for six weeks straight. He lost hope and broke down. If the government wasn't going to help, then Zack and Liz would and their life, and the lives of all the people they have been able to help, would change forever.

Bluesfest cares and not because the organization has to ... it just does. It is continuously supporting the "Blues for Schools" initiative and many other charities. With hundreds of thousands of people coming through the festival every year, it provides a substantial opportunity for a charitable organization to reach thousands of people and change the world.

One of those organizations is The St. Bernard Project that is helping Katrina families rebuild one family at a time. It was a real privilege to sit down and chat with Zack Rosenburg, a real living angel.

Zack was a Washington D.C. criminal lawyer, by his own admission not the world's favourite bunch. Zack and his girlfriend LIz McCartney decided to volunteer for a month or so in New Orleans and that month turned into years. This was six months after the catastrophe and they expected to see things coming back to normal. In the area where they were, 27,000 homes had been flooded and most lost everything, including their jobs. The people and the stories they came across were so moving, they could never go back to their regular lives. They left Washington and founded the St.Bernard Project which is named after the parish in Louisiana where they are operating.

So how did Zack end up at Bluesfest you ask? Jeff Turner, Senior Director, Partnership Development for the United Way of Ottawa explains that they came across at a conference in Louisiana that included a tour of the St. Bernard Project. They ultimately sent a group to Louisiana and the stories that they came across hit a chord and they decided to help. They contacted Mark Monahan, Execuitve Director of the Ottawa Bluesfest, to see what could be done. Mark basically said "whatever you need ... we'll help in any way we can". New Orleans is synonymous with blues and music in general ... I'm convinced that had at least a bit to do with it.

It takes a mere $15,000 to rebuild a home on average since most of the labour is done on a volunteer basis. The project has managed to get over two hundred families back in their homes and yet there so many thousands more still homeless or living in putrid conditions. The problem is huge but also solvable

I urge you to check out http://www.stbernardproject.org but also drop by their tent which is along the edge of the road between the Subway Stage and the Hard Rock Cafe stage. They have nice t-shirts on sale and other ideas for you to help. At the very least drop in for a chat.

After fifteen years in Ottawa it almost seems like Bluesfest has always been here, and sometimes you find yourself taking the thing for granted. Like hour three in the Louvre when you find yourself giving a Da Vinci only the most casual of glances, with so many days and so many stages you sometimes find yourself walking by performances that in another circumstance you might be rapt with attention. Such was my attitude with Our Lady Peace last night - when I walked by they sounded great, but I had smaller fish to fry.

Every once in a while I find myself taking a good look around at the Bluesfest, and I tell ya, this thing is big. The mainstage area alone is of admirable size, and the fact that it boasts two stages is a stroke of genius that dramatically increases the amount of music the space can offer to tens of thousands of fans. And the side stages put many festival mainstages to shame, both in size and programming. I mean, Alan Parsons, The Yardbirds, Los Lonely Boys, Buckwheat Zydeco, Steve Earle, Matisyahu, David Lindley, and Drive By Truckers all appearing on just one of the many sidestages. That sounds like a heck of a festival right there.

While many people work very hard to make this festival happen, there is a pinnacle to the pyramid and his name is Mark Monahan. He's been the helmsman since day one and from what I can see every decision ultimately goes through him. You'll see him constantly and never know it. If there was a calmer man I've never met him. I asked him the other day how he can be so relaxed when this huge operation rested on his shoulders and he just smiled and said there was no other way to do it. And that, I suspect, is one of the secrets to his success.

And what a success it is. Like almost everyone else who opted out of OLP I went straight for the Hard Rock Cafe Stage for Toots and the Maytals. I have never seen the beer lines so long and the Empire Grill was so busy they weren't honouring my media pass. Onstage the band supplied music that had us all moving - a great reggae band can get the whole crowd to know where the beat is, even when nobody is hitting it. The syncopated guitar makes everyone move, but it's that magical roving bass and sparse drumming that forces us to all imagine the implied one together.

Believe it or not, the grooves were even fresher at the Blacksheep Stage. The crowd was smaller than it should have been because of Toots, but the Spam Allstars were kicking it pretty hard. The band has a dj instead of a drummer, and though after Kid Koala blew my mind Sunday night it'll be a long time before I can watch a dj again, he did an admirable job. Add horns and percussion and guitar on top and these guys kept the crowd hopping.

With the Bluesfest In The Byward over there was nothing to keep me going past 11pm leaving me free to rest up for the pyro-fest-apalooza that the city is bracing for tonight as KISS hits town. Shannon Tweed made the cover of the Sun and word is her man Gene has been strutting about town complete with security detail. The '70's makeup darlings have given Ottawa a slight case of Obama-style excitement and why not? I saw KISS more than 25 years ago and the memories of that show are forever burnished into my soul. Turn down the think, turn up the rock, and we'll see you tonight, fists in the air.

How does one fit 'Stone Temple Pilots', 'Tom Fun Orchestra', and 'Great Lake Swimmers' into a snappy headline?

The Bluesfest does tend to become a bit of an endurance test, especially this year with the after hours program going on downtown. I woke up yesterday afternoon still reeling from the spectacular show Kid Koala put on at Capital Music Hall on Sunday night. I got my work done and with one eye on the increasingly discouraging weather I made my way down to the Bluesfest to catch Stone Temple Pilots.

This being the only evening of the festival with only one stage in operation, I was curious to see how many people were going to make it out on a Monday night. I noticed the bicycle valet wasn't very busy and expected a humble crowd at the mainstage, but was surprised to find a phalanx of rabid fans stretching well back into the Rogers Stage area. Dressed all in white a la Freddie Mercury and alternating between microphone and megaphone, singer Scott Weiland led the Stone Temple Pilots through a raucous rock and roll show from atop his own riser at the front of the stage.

This was a full-on balls-to-the-wall fists-in-the-air concert with a heavy band awash in smoke machines, big-show lighting, and a big screen behind the band showing everything from car chases and nuclear mushroom clouds to random psychedelic patterns. I ran into Bluesfest's head electrician the other day and was told that the lighting output on the Bank Of America Stage is equal to the mainstage at the enormous Bonnaroo festival in Tennessee, and the Stone Temple Pilots used every single watt last night, much to the joy of the enthusiastic crowd. There was even some crowd surfing as the band raged through some of their bigger hits like Plush and Interstate Love Song. Suffice to say, it was a night to leave the lawnchair at home.

It was the last night of the first ever Bluesfest In The Byward, and I wasn't going to let it pass me by. I was pleased to see that the Great Lake Swimmers were playing at my favourite live venue, Maverick's, but I just had to see the Tom Fun Orchestra first. Eight Cape Bretoners crowded on to the stage at Pier 21 and drenched the hyper audience in sheets of sound that while never fully abandoning the entrenched down east flavour touched on styles that I heard variably described as 'ska', 'acoustic dance', 'electric east coast', and my favourite from Lindsay the Merch Girl, 'cluster rock'. Call it what you will, the Tom Fun Orchestra is a thickly textured, rollicking good time that manages to avoid any sort of cliche.

Over at Mavericks I walked in on an utterly silent sold-out crowd who watched with rapt attention as Byward mainstage headliner Serena Ryder sat in with the Great Lake Swimmers for the last half of their quietly intense set. She has appeared on more than one of their albums and proved to be a focal point on stage as the band worked through an engaging string of subtly hook-laden ambient folk tunes. The wall-to-wall audience stared in awe at what we all collectively intuited was a special evening of music, and it proved an excellent ending to the Bluesfest In The Byward offering this year, as I'm sure many walked away from Mavericks with that show-of-the-festival look on their faces.

It was great to see the Bluesfest step beyond the expected again this year with the new Bluesfest In The Byward. There are some bugs to work out, but five days of late night programming and a huge free outdoor stage has raised the bar yet again for this amazing festival and from where I was standing it looked like a huge success. It's just astounding to sit back and watch the Bluesfest grow year after year, and I'm sure this Bluesfest In The Byward thing will be a stepping-stone to something even more astounding as the years go on.

That's the end of the late night stuff so I'll actually be able to get reasonable dose of sleep now and then, although I suppose it makes sense to maintain my lack of sleeping pattern at least until Wednesday's Rock & Roll All Night And Party Every Day-a-thon.

Ok it's us again - Karl, Brad, and James: the father and sons guest reviewers with a catchy new moniker; Bluesfest Brothers and Pop. Do you like it?

Undaunted by forecasts of rain , we headed off to see the Bluesfest lineup for Mon July 13. When we arrived and asked for schedules the volunteers pointed us to the Bank of America stage and said it was all happening there.

Our timing was perfect - we managed to walk up 10 rows from the stage and be entertained by the surprisingly diverse Gym Class Hero's. We're not much for cover song ...especially of 80's pop tunes but I felt the the rest of their set showed off the groups vocal and musical talents culminated in an excellent rendition of Cookie Jar. Kudos also for the mini Michael Jackson tribute...inspired a mini moonwalk.

However, as they graciously forecast, the night belonged to the Stone Temple Pilots (STP). Admittedly I came to concert knowing little about the group beyond their numerous hits (recall from previous review that I missed the 90s).

The fans were chanting STP before the band came out and they didn't dissappoint. With an effective light show and tight power chord songs they handled the set like pros.

I was especially impressed with their stage presence - guitar player acting like a modern day Keith Richards, lead singer dressed like a sort of Miami Bice lounge lizard doing a lot of quasi ballroom 'backwards' dance moves and the bass player looking like one of the bad guys from the Matrix.

The fans were 'all in' for this one yelling out all the hits (maybe that's why Scott needed a megaphone ;-)). As we were up close and personal they educated me on the mosh pit, slam dancing, and body surfing. (anyone missing a left shoe ?)

Over to teen town...they probably consider STP an 'old' band....putting me in Granpa Simpson territory.

By Brad G.

Gym Class Heroes put on a great show, it got everyone jumping and was really entertaining. All the women in the crowd seemed to love Travis McCoy, the lead singer of the group. It was good to see almost all the fans stay for the entire performance even through the pouring rain. They really involved the crowd well, which made for a better show, Travis, made comments about the song before he sung it so you knew what to expect. I give it a Brad rating of 8 cookies out of the cookie jar.

The last show of the night was Stone Temple Pilots I had never seen them before or even heard of them but they were so wicked. The singing and guitar playing were absolutely amazing, and it brought in a very hard rock crowd. There were about five songs where mosh pits started, I only got pulled in once but others made sure they were in it. It really showed how much the fans appreciated their music, there was also a whole bunch of times where people got put on top of the crowd and started crowd surfing. I would definitely give it thirty people being pulled into a mosh pit out of thirty because after seeing the show I am now definitely a fan.

I had a conversation earlier tonight with Tammy Parent, the person in charge of the incredible volunteer army that helps to bring the Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest to life each year. I found it very interesting to hear Tammy describe the volunteers, their motivation, and the process she uses to bring order to a huge endeavour like this great 11-day music festival.

First, some basic facts. The Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest is run by a very small group of highly skilled and dedicated individuals with a passion for music and excellence, but it takes a 4,000 person volunteer army to bring it to life. Yes, four thousand!

How on earth do you go about inspiring 4,000 people to give freely of their time and energy? Well, as Tammy notes, the music is "the sexy thing" that draws out the volunteers. There isn't a strong requirement for a separate volunteer recruitment drive...instead Tammy knows that once the word starts to get into the media about the Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest line-up, the people will come to her! Her job, her mission, is to be prepared for them when they start to bang on the door. Tammy works year round for Bluesfest.

Several years of experience have taught Tammy what works and what doesn't. Yes, the volunteers are motivated by a love of music; this is clearly one of the biggest perks associated with being a volunteer. Volunteers can earn free passes for working 6 or more shifts. But many volunteers say they love the atmosphere and social interaction they find at the 'fest. Some actually go through Bluesfest Withdrawal when it's over. Many of the volunteers keep coming back year after year. Yesterday I spoke with one man who has been volunteering for 10 years. One other thing: many people love the idea of being part of something that is always such a big success. Face it, people love a winner!

I asked Tammy about the organizational structure...I was picturing something very military and hierarchical. In reality, Tammy has a strong dedicated group of leaders running a fairly flat organization of 4,000 volunteers. I met Tammy's assistant Steve the other day (he's a big Neko Case fan, and we both caught her concert :-) In addition, there are 30 Area Leaders who run everything from VIP services, to Beer tents, to Info Booths and Backstage Catering. Training is required for every role.

Tammy has one more tool at her disposal. It's a little piece of technology designed to handle all of the tracking and organizational needs of a huge volunteer army such as the one required by the 'fest. The folks at Simply Hospitality built it, and it's light years ahead of the paper print-outs and faxes that were in use "back in the day". This software lives "in the cloud", which means that access is possible from any internet connected computer (but everything is strictly password controlled, of course). With this software the organizers can precisely control each shift. They can track their volunteers (don't miss a shift if you made a commitment! They'll know!!! :-) Volunteer registration forms are tailored and specific: Which job? Which shift? Which specific beer tent...? Area leaders can email reminders and notices to only those specific volunteers who need to know. Communication is key to success!

I've always had a great respect for the job done by the volunteers at the festival over the years...I just never appreciated how complex it all is. The bottom line, of course, is that it takes great people to run a great festival. When you go down to the show tomorrow, take a second to say "thank-you" to one of the 4,000 volunteers working to make it all great!

"I don't think anybody could be tighter playing the blues on the piano than David Maxwell. He plays the blues like it should be played. He plays the low-down, dirty, funky blues. He's got it all together."

John Lee Hooker

If you're even lightly acquainted with the blues, you'll know a quote like that from John Lee Hooker caries serious weight. David Maxwell has played piano with nearly all the greats from Muddy Waters to Buddy Guy. He has received numerous Grammy award nominations and an actual Grammy award. The list of accomplishments is simply too long to include here.

I had the distinct pleasure of talking with David before the show and watching him and the band get ready for the show. I was also present for an awe inspiring forty five minute show and walked David from the Barney Danson theater to the signature booth and then off to the Hard Rock Cafe stage for a set with Hubert Humlin.

David's stage readiness is something quite interesting in itself. First is the position on the stage. He likes to be in a perfect location to see everyone else. If you pay close attention during the show, he carefully directs the band with specific looks and gestures. It is therfore critical all band memebers see each other, especially since there is lots of improvisation going on.

He was visibly and vocally unhappy with the steadiness of his keyboard. He plays the keys very hard and the flimsy keyboard didn't stand a chance. A fan commented on that after the show and he muttered "unacceptable". Nevertheless, the show was a big success. I was sitting in the front row and was unable to film because everyone was bouncing so much from the music. People really go into it and were in awe of the skill on display.

As we were walking the grounds after the show, I asked him a few questions, posed from a fan perspective, and was surprised by many of the answers (which are paraphrased ... we were walking and talking).

Q: How much of the show is improvised? A: The songs are pre-selected but the actual execution is roughly fifty percent improvised.

Q: What do you think about while you're playing? A: Mostly focus on the music but distractions seep in once in a while. That bouncing keyboard was a distraction.

Q: What is something people likely don't know about you? A: I was in the studio with Eric Clapton and Keith Richards to record a Hubert Hamlin CD entitled About Them Shoes as a tribute to Muddy Waters.

Q: Do you play any other instruments? A: "The clarinet" It turns out there is a totally different side of David from a musical perspective. The clarinet brings him into another musical style, which includes Moroccan influences. Now that, I did not know. Will be researching that some more.

Q: Where did you get those fancy red shoes? A: "Memphis"

Q: What's new? A: Just finished recording an album with Louisiana Red

I hope these little known details about David Maxwell will heighten your appreciation for this blues piano master. He has been a regular at the Ottawa Bluesfest and hopefully you'll have the opportunity to catch him in the future. Don't miss it.

Over the next few days, I'll share some details from a great discussion Bill Love and I had with all the band members of Silver Creek following their show at the Rainbow last night. I'm a huge fan of this Ottawa based band and look forward to catching them on the big Bank of America stage this coming Friday at 7pm. I'll also touch on what it takes to manage 4,000 volunteers, Bluesfest and their involvement with charities and some technology stories as well.

One of the great things about music is how quickly it can create connections and bring people together. After both Thursday and Friday's shows my girlfriend and I hung out with C.J. and his band until the wee hours and I was looking forward to meeting up with them again yesterday. I caught up with the guys backstage and managed to convince half of them that they would be crazy not to check out the Bluesfest before reconvening for their midnight gig back at Fat Tuesdays. We hooked up with a friend of theirs who plays washboard with 'Lil Brian (ever heard two washboard players talk shop?) and I led the crew on a Canadian history-laden stroll down Wellington Street to the festival site.

We did a walkabout under ominous skies and my posse seemed very impressed with the festival grounds and the overall layout of Bluesfest. These guys have played countless festivals all over the world and it was nice to hear them sing praises. When I enthusiastically pointed out the cupsuckers pictures were taken, beers were emptied, and cups were gleefully sucked. After a perusal of all the stages we decided the best bet was The Soul Of John Black on the Subway Stage.

We manoeuvred ourselves in front of the beer tent were we felt we could be social without bothering anyone. The music was kickin' but really we were all more into digging the overall scene with the band to one side, the Ottawa River bouncing rare glimpses of sunlight to the other, and thousands of happy fans in between.

At one point the ever-teasing rain built up enough strength to cause us to seek shelter in the ever-trusty Wired tent. Eventually the precipitation ran out and we were able to regain our beer tent pole position in time for Hubert Sumlin's set. Sumlin is an original; the man has played guitar with many of the true legends of the blues and for that alone he deserves miles of respect. The crew I was hosting were all excited to catch his set as they had all crossed Sumlin's path in one way or another along their musical journeys. As expected, when Hubert was wrenching out pentatonic masterpieces we were engrossed, but frankly we didn't get much of that. It seemed that when he wasn't handing a solo off to one of his band members Hubert was handing one off to the great Texas Horns or David Maxwell who was sitting in on keys. All in all top-notch blues was emanating from the stage, so what can you say about that, but we would have liked more playing from the man himself.

The guys had to head back downtown so I pointed them cabwise and then it was dinner via Works burger and vying for space for Joe Cocker. The crowd was huge for last night's musical legend and real estate was at a premium.

I may very well be mistaken, but I think Joe Cocker has never recorded an original song, or at least he hasn't had a hit with one that I know of. Not since Elvis is there a cover artist that I can call to mind that has made such a career for himself. Joe Cocker may not write songs but to say he hasn't added to the canon of rock would be a large mistake. To take a great song and make it your own is such a rare and intangible skill that very few examples come to mind - John Coltrane's My Favourite Things, The Beatles Twist & Shout, Manfred Mann's Blinded By The Light, and dozens of songs by Joe Cocker. With nothing but a raspy soul voice that sounds always on the verge of disaster and a pair of awkward flailing arms, Joe Cocker has become a legend by crafting remarkable arrangements of incredible songs, and he will forever hold a firm place on any list of the greatest rock screams ever, which he proves every night as he tries in vain to sever a vocal chord in his definitive version of With A Little Help From My Friends. It was one of those sets where almost every song came with one of those "oh yeah" moments as the crowd was continually reminded of just how many hits this man has produced.

Afterwards it was down to Capital Music Hall for a midnight set by Kid Koala. I had been looking forward to this set a lot - I don't know much about dj's but I know I like what this guy does an awful lot. With three turntables and a mixing board at his disposal, Kid Koala uses vinyl as his primary source material and makes completely other music with it. He is a Record Player. What he does is completely his own and no-one else on the planet could stand up there and create the well thought out, almost symphonic set that he kicked out. There are those that would argue that this sort of thing is some sort of lesser musicianship, and to those I would say that to accomplish what Kid Koala does with his turntables would take as many years of dedicated practice as it would take to become an accomplished guitarist or drummer. The set was mind-blowingly creative, and his version of Mancini's Moon River complete with a brilliant solo that perfectly mimicked the melody proved that this scratching stuff is inherently musical at it's base.

My new old friends in C.J. Chenier's band seemed hurt that I wasn't going to be catching their last set of the festival so my girlfriend and I ducked out of Kid Koala a bit early and B-lined it over to Fat Tuesday's. Alas, we were too late to catch any of the band, but with hugs and email exchanges all around I'm still glad I made it for last call.

On a personal note, it was four years ago tonight in the middle of ZZ Top's set that I struck up a conversation with a beautiful woman named Heather. Yesterday we marked the anniversary of our first meeting as we always do and as I hope we will for many years to come, by spending the day together at Bluesfest. Sometimes it's about more than just the music.

Bluesfest has become such a huge festival, likely drawing close to 500,000 people this year, that some advanced technology is required on nearly all fronts.

Why are staff scanning not just on the way in, but also one the way out? How long does it take to assemble the stages and wire the whole place? How many audio and video staff does it take, who is involved and what is it like in the main audio/video control room? How do you manage to schedule and handle 4000 volunteers who come together just for this festival? How many trailers is Kiss bringing and what are some their technical requirements? Where did the concept for the new website come from and how did it come together (hmmm I can answer this one).

Bill Love (my business partner and one of the real technical guys at FaveQuest) and I will be begin bringing you behind the scenes technology oriented stories and associated video. Please send your questions to info [@] favequest.com and we'll do our best to answer them on the news page or directly back to you if we can't squeeze a story in.

If you're curious about the new website with the Bluesfest Viewtube (videos, bios, personal calendar, invite friends, jukebox, facebook application ...) you'll want to check the CTV Ottawa - Tech Now show with Paul Brent which is part of the CTV news hour starting at 6:00pm tonight (Sunday, July 12). Mark Monahan and I were interviewed at length about this new initiatitive just last week. I hope you enjoy it.

Lastly, I would LOVE to hear what else you would like to see on the website that you would allow you to get even more out of the festival. Send me a note at allan.isfan [@] favequest.com

Every outdoor music festival shares the same Achilles Heel and the rains finally broke through the magic Bluesfest weather-bubble yesterday to dump the occasional brief downpour as festival goers scrambled for cover. I'll admit the storm clouds kept me away for a lot of the afternoon but come hell and / or high water I wasn't going to miss The Punch Brothers.

Despite their cliche instrumentation, The Punch Brothers are to bluegrass as Tom Waits is to folk music. With twenty-seven strings divvied up between five fine pickers, The Punch Brothers barrel through manically tight arrangements that touch on several styles without bowing to any. There's no need for a drummer in this ensemble as Chris Thile from Nickel Creek (looking like a cross between James Dean and Justin Timberlake) pumps out charging rhythms picking on both sides of his mandolin bridge, as he did on their brilliant cover of Radiohead's Morning Bell / Amnesiac. If you missed them stop reading this right now and get yourself down to LeBreton Flats, they're on the Rogers Stage at 3pm Sunday.

Immediately following their set I sensed another drenching coming and found myself taking cover in The Wired tent near the back of the main stage area. This is a highly recommended place to wait out anything that needs to be waited out; there's lots of space to move around, there's free internet, a bar, and even screens that show the main stage so you can see what the drowned rats are seeing.

As expected, the rains were again fairly short-lived, and with a few drops here and there notwithstanding, it would prove to be the last rainfall of the evening. I milled about and had a samosa (at $2.75 it might just be the most food for the buck on the strip) and grabbed a coffee at that kiosk in the war museum that you pass by going to and from the Blacksheep Stage. I'd never stopped there before, and I found out that at less than $2 for a damn good cuppa joe I had spent years walking by what is probably the best deal at the festival, aside from the music of course.

While we're on the subject, many of you may be walking through the lobby of the War Museum for the first time at the festival this year. If this is the case, you should try and set aside an afternoon to come and check out the museum itself sometime soon. They do an exceptional job of informing and honouring without glorifying, and the architecture of the building itself is quite a trip. It's a meaningful addition to the admirable collection of museums here in town, and it's well worth checking out.

I was very excited for Bluesfest's first ever show in the LeBreton Gallery. The LeBreton Gallery is that huge room full of tanks and other military vehicles that can be seen through the windows at the front of the museum. To describe it as a unique atmosphere for a show is a dramatic understatement. Literally hundreds of armoured vehicles, fighter jets, submarines, motorcycles, jeeps and who knows what else crammed into a large scalloped concrete room, and on a small stage flanked by two tanks before perhaps 400 astounded fans seated in folding chairs stood Ornette Coleman between two bass players with his son behind him on drums.

The atmosphere bordered on eerie as Coleman reached to the edges of the jazz universe alternatively on sax, trumpet and even violin. The sound of genius can sometimes be noisy, and never is this more obvious than when Ornette Coleman dances on the fringes of tonality, exploring every modal dark corner he can reach as he did again and again last night. I was surprised by the musical variety and by how the band could play so freely and yet be so tight at the same time. It was without a doubt the most interesting thing I had heard at the Bluesfest so far this year and I very much hope that programming in this unique room will become a standard feature of the festival.

Eventually I did the impossible and walked out on the ethereal Ornette Coleman, and though I will always regret not seeing that show through to the end, you just can't be in two (or, as it happens, three) places at once. I have always admired Brian Setzer's guitar playing and just couldn't miss seeing him with his sixteen piece band. I split my time between catching him play Stray Cats hits like Sexy + 17, Stray Cat Strut, and Rock This Town and the amazing Matisyahu on the Subway Stage. If you want UP music you will find none higher than his. An orthodox ascetic Jewish hip-hop singer who famously won't begin performing until at least three stars are visible in the night sky, Matisyahu is an act not to be missed even if you have only the most pedestrian interest in this style of music. If his stuff doesn't get your body moving you probably need prayer, so you'll be in the right place either way.

Damn you Bluesfest and all your unbelievable bookings! I would have loved nothing more than to have seen the entire Ornette Coleman set, the whole Brian Setzer set, and all of Matisyahu too, but alas, 'twas impossible. I suppose if the biggest complaint of the festival is that there's too much good music then we're doing okay, but still!

I consoled myself with another trip down to the Market for a repeat of the previous night. Again Mumbo Jumbo Voodoo Combo and C.J. Chenier kicked every ass in attendance and had the entire patio on their feet. C.J. and his band will be on the main stage in the Market Sunday afternoon and if you can get down there do yourself the favour. Aside from the enormously talented C.J., his band is quite astounding, including an unreal bass player and the cousin of Dickie Betts (from The Allman Brothers) on guitar.

Very late I made my way home after an exhausting but wonderfully long day at Bluesfest. Today should be another musical marathon and with better weather there's no excuse to start late.

As I'm now getting my head around the realization that I have a backstage pass that allows me to get to pretty well everywhere, I'm starting to venture behind the scenes and hoping to report some insider stuff. I actually got to hang out with the legendary blues pianist David Maxwell before his show and then went on a walkabout interview after the incredible show. I learned some very interesting and surprising things about him which I'll share with you in the next couple of days. For now, some wacky stories.

Jackson Browne packed the house on the biggest stage of them all at Bluesfest Friday night and he has done that everywhere he goes for a very long time. He is a legend period full stop. "Oh won't you stay ... just a little bit longer" and so many more classics.

He could be difficult if he wanted to. And yet, he was among you as a fan when you didn't even realize it. If you thought you saw someone that looked like him buzzing around on one the bluesfest golf carts ... actually driving it, then you missed an opportunity to chat with the legend. Mr. Browne actually came to Ottawa a day early to take in the festivities and check out the music himself. I can't recall who was with him on the cart but they had a genius idea realizing that if Jackson drove the cart himself, no one would possibly think he was actually Jackson Browne, even if they thought they recognized him. And so he buzzed around the grounds and no one noticed a thing.

In fact, he can be so down to earth that Catherine Cote, a bluesfest employee, accosted "some guy" looking to get into Steve Earle's trailer. She asked him who he was and what he was doing there. He simply introduced himself and told her Steve Earle is an old friend and was looking to catch up with him! This guy was Jackson Browne. No pretention ... just a guy.

And from the pages of the "Crazy Fan" story book, an Iron and Wine (Samuel Beam's stage name) fan managed to get Samuel to sign her hip. Ok, so that's not crazy. Just wait ... this fan actually has lyrics from an Iron & Wine song tattooed on her ribs. Not crazy enough? Ok, so let me continue. Immediately after Samuel signed her hip, she went to have his signature permanently tattooed! I think that is pretty crazy. If you're that crazy fan, I want a picture so come find me.

That's about it for today ... it is 4am and a whole day of bluefest ahead of me. If you have a crazy fan or bluesfest performer story, please email me and I'll be happy to chat with you on the bluesfest grounds. Look for my upcoming story on David Maxwell and some pretty interesting details about the village for the 4,000 volunteers it takes to run Bluesfest.

Music can help you explore parts of your brain you sometimes forget are there. It is as if the right music holds the secret password to different caves within the brain. Every different type of music and instrument brings you to a different place.

My business partner, Bill Love, noted several times over the last few days (paraphrasing a bit) amazing how happy the people look This festival goes beyond music in my opinion ... it is an opportunity for people to get together and just take in the awesomeness that is floating in the air. You can feel it, you can see it. . . but you can't truly take pictures or film it and do it justice. . . you just have to be here in the moment to have it unlock the secret caves of your right brain.

With that in mind, we started with some local talent and stopped by Lindsay Ferguson on the Subway stage. She was incredible as always. She looked radiant in her dress and matching flower in her hair and her voice was bright and powerful as always. This lady is going places. I especially liked her tribute to Michael Jackson ... a nice surprise that we all enjoyed. Watch the "Fan Video" page this afternoon for clips of her show.

We hung out at Sam Roberts Band on the Rogers Stage for a bit which really got my girls dancing. A good straight ahead rock show ... nothing too crazy. The band has gotten really tight which is great but perhaps is losing a bit of the edge and craziness. Maturity is overrated. We then dropped in on Steve Earle at the subway stage but it was so insanely packed and we were so far away from the stage that I spent most of my time chatting with friends I kept running into to the point of frustrating my three daughters. Hey girls, I see Duncan over there ... I'm just going to say hi. Dad, do you know everybody? You're always yakking and it takes forever?

With that, Devochtka playing on the Hard Rock Cafe stage was our next destination. The right brain opened right up. WOW!!! What an eclectic and interesting sound. Everything from violins, to accordions, double bass, sousaphone and other instruments I'd never seen and a singer, Nick Urata, with a voice that often sounded like a new instrument in itself. A very unusual mix of east European music with serious Latin influence and rock elements, it is like nothing you've heard before, especially for a band based in Denver. If the sound was at all familiar, it is because they have been included in numerous film soundtracks. I found myself picking up my youngest daughter, who was getting tired, and holding her and dancing to this incredible music, with the Ottawa River as a backdrop ... a moment I will cherish.

What really struck me was the mix of fans in attendance. I struck up a conversation with three lovely young women standing next too us (Lia, Vanessa and Christine). I was curious to know what drew them to this particular stage on this wonderful night. They said simply that a friend had recommended they check out the band and they stuck around the whole time. I love it when people discover new music.

The kids were starting to get tired and we decided it was time to head out but I had a plan ... a trap if you will. I decided to exit near the Blacksheep Stage where I knew King Sunny Ade and His African Beats was playing. Wise indeed because everyone got caught up in the rhythm and the kids got reenergized. Who needs Red Bull when music can inject energy right into your veins through your right brain.

Check out my calendar to see where I'll be today and come say hello. . . I'll probably be wearing a bright yellow raincoat. I'd like to tell your story. http://www.favequest4bf.com/cal/133.html

The weather was in full co-operation as I biked down to the site under a perfect blue sky for the third night of Bluesfest. As I was nearing the gate I ran into two-thirds of Monkeyjunk and hitched a ride on their golf cart to the Blacksheep Stage. I was intending to check out

The Dodos

entire set and though I found their aggressive drum kit/guitar/xylophone assault engaging when I saw Steve Marriner and the Texas Horns duck into a trailer backstage I saw opportunity knock.

What a treat it was to be a fly on the wall and hear these consummate professionals cram a set's worth of rehearsal into a few minutes. I've been a musician for a long time and played with lots of people, and I can't tell you how impressive it is to hear the Texas Horns in action. You sing these guys a line and they play it back at you, and you don't have to go over it twice. The Texas Horns get it right the first time, every time, and we are very fortunate that they make a habit of skulking around backstage at the Bluesfest every year looking for people to play with.

This was all in preparation for the surprise addition of a Monkeyjunk Power Hour. In Bluesfests past The Tony D Band has hosted the regular Power Hour jam session and it's return this year saw Tony's new band joined by piano player extraordinaire David Maxwell, Zeke Gross on sax and of course the Texas Horns. Sitting in was Brothers Chaffey, Marty Sobb and others, and it was such a joy to hear the tiny trailer rehearsal jams come to fruition onstage. Music is cool.

The sound bleed from the Hard Rock Cafe Stage drew me over to where the raw energy of Okkervil River was dishing out a three guitar unison assault that was blowing the minds of those crowded around the stage. I heard more than one person say it was the best set they had seen so far at the festival and I'll concede that I wish I had caught more of them, but I decided to hit the mainstage area and check out the concession stands while Sam Roberts played on the Rogers Stage. As Bluesfest favourite Roberts tore through his signature hit Bridge To Nowhere I admired the vast array of food kiosks.

The options are pretty impressive. You can get anything from sushi to mini donuts. The pulled pork sandwich is enormous, there's fish 'n chips and ribs. . . this ain't your grandma's festival concession area. There's even. . . can it be? Works Burger! Say no more.

I was facing a triple-conflict to close out the evening at LeBreton flats. I started at the Subway Stage with the brilliant Steve Earle who was paying tribute to the also brilliant Townes Van Zandt with solo acoustic tracks from his most recent album, a collection of Townes' compositions. I stopped in briefly at the Blacksheep Stage for a little Afro-beat from King Sunny Ade to pick me up and ended up spending the bulk of the evening at Jackson Browne.

If you're at all like me you have Jackson Browne's Running On Empty album ingrained in your psyche, and though he didn't touch that album until the final two numbers (the set closing Running On Empty and The Load Out/Stay encore), every song he played last night would have fit perfectly on that brilliant recording, and those last two songs had the entire field on their feet.

It being a Friday night and all there was nothing stopping me from heading down to the Market for a little Bluesfest In The Byward. I headed straight for the back patio of Fat Tuesday's, where the Mumbo Jumbo Voodoo Combo laid down a great set opening for zydeco great C.J. Chenier. It took until near the end of Chenier's set, but he eventually got most of the crowd onto the dancefloor shaking it to his impossible-to-ignore rhythms before capping the night with encore after encore. I was lucky enough to get invited back to the band's afterparty where C.J. was kind enough to give me an accordion lesson! His father invented and named zydeco and we talked about the specifics of the genre until the wee hours. His guitar player Tim maintains that the main difference between blues and zydeco guitar is the rhythm, beyond that it's basically the same, but it's that rapid chunka-chunka-chunka rhythm that takes a typically sad type of music and transforms it into an unmistakably happy one. C.J. himself thinks the timbre of the accordion plays a large part in it, and there's no sense arguing with C.J. Chenier when you're talking zydeco!

There was talk of food - I recommended Mello's and got my butt home before sunrise. There is a lot of music to take in on a Bluesfest Saturday and one must be rested.

Yes, I know...showers of happiness, or something like that. Listen folks, it may be wet today, but don't fear the rain. It's warm, grab a raincoat, or hit the dollar store and buy a cheap plastic poncho, and head on down. The Barney Danson Theatre is there for some indoor shows today too. The show must go on! See you there!

Before you think I can't spell, I'm actually referring to Matt Mays and the unbelievable, jaw dropping show he and his band put on last night as part of the Bluesfest ByWard series.

I see a lot of live music ... one of my personal passions ... but rarely do I see a performance like that. A stunning set of musician pouring everything out on stage with a passion like I don't remember seeing in a long time. I'm not kidding when I say it ranks in the top 5 EVER for me, and I'm including U2 in that list. U2 & Matt Mays, on the same list? Yes indeed.

I ran into some friends at the show that lead some very popular bands and even they were in awe. You can never quite capture the essence of a show like that in words so I did my best to capture it with video, though that doesn't do it justice either. Check out the videos at the bottom left of the news page to see a band giving all they have. The first video was the highlight for me personally .... just watch the energy, especially around 4 minute and 50 second mark. Now imagine yourself being there with a euphoric crowd.

These are the hidden gems that people will remember forever so be sure to explore, discover and take a chance with some of the bands that are not headlining. You won't regret it.

For me, Friday July 10th is Lindsay Ferguson day. I'll be there with my kids who fell in love with her at a show we attended at the Black Sheep up in Wakefield. We simply can't stop listening to her music (I strongly suggest buying her CD as well). Check her out at 6:15pm on the Subway stage. I'll also check out Okkervil River on the Black Sheep stage at 7:15pm and will zip back to the Subway stage for Steve Earle at 9pm and hopefully catch a bit of DeVotchka playing at the Hard Rock Cafe Stage at 9pm as well (I need a twin :). With any chance, I'll catch the tail end of Jackson Browne on the Bank of America stage starting at 9:30pm after which I will collapse.

Come find me ... I'll be wearing a twitter shirt today (I'm @isfan btw). You can also email me at allan.isfan [@] favequest.com and tell me your stories or set up a meeting if you have an awesome story to share.

As a sidenote, you can check out my personal calendar right here: http://www.favequest4bf.com/cal/133.html. Build your own calendar by creating your own account on the viewtube and then clicking on +Add to Calendar next to acts that you don't want to miss. We automatically create your own personal calendar page you can share with friends.

I had such a good time tonight! I've been a long-time fan of this festival, but I don't think I've ever seen so many happy people in one night.

I spent most of the early evening at LeBreton Flats, listening to Holy F*ck, Metric, Saffire the Uppity Blues Women, Iron and Wine, and of course, Ben Harper and RELENTLESS7.

But tonight was the inaugural night of the new Bluesfest Byward, and one of my favourites, Matt Mays, was playing the Capital City Music Hall at midnight, so that's how I ended my evening.

In this review, the last will be first: What a fantastic show Matt put on. He and the band were so into playing for the crowd at Capital City. First song of the night was Tall Trees, and the band never looked back. Matt played with frenetic energy, and the smaller venue allowed him to connect with the audience in a way that just wouldn't be possible elsewhere. I think Bluesfest Byward is going to be a very good thing indeed!

Holy F*ck was the surprise of the night for me, and also for my guests today. I loved this band, but I'll my friends do all the serious reviewing (see their comments below...). This is going to be a long write-up...but hey, you have time, right?

I don't think I'm a typical Metric fan, but I love her music, I love her lyrics, and I love her attitude. She and her band poured a ton of energy into the LeBreton night air, and you fans poured it all right back. I got there early, got in close to the stage, and soon realized that there were thousands of people blocking me in. No worries, I was happy to stay and hear her rip through her set...

Saffire the Uppity Blues Women...what can I say? These ladies were mesmerizing. This is real blues, the root of what Bluesfest is all about, and the crowd was loving it. It's their farewell tour, so I hope you had a chance to catch them last night!

But I wasn't alone last night. A good friend of mine came to the show. Karl and his two 16-yr-old sons James and Brad have each written a few words, and I present them here for you to appreciate! I call this bit: Old School, New School.

Let's start with old man Karl:

Karl says: Holy F*ck !

All in all a great night of music with a searing slide guitar performance delivered by headliner Ben Harper and a solid supporting group of acts on other stages. For me the kicker was Holy F*ck ...

I'd figured my sons would favour the likes of Shiloh and Metric based on their FM stations of choice and I'd just bide my time while convincing them the headliner wasn't just someone I thought was cool when I was young (what can I say I am stuck in the 60s and 80s).

Turns out we all really liked Ben Harper's style - much more hard driving than we expected. The kicker I think for all of us was Holy F*ck.

Pretty unassuming beginning. Bunch of humble looking guys - a bass player and a drummer walk out. Then a couple of dudes stroll and queue the chopper sounds from Apocolypse now and we're off to the races for a straight through of what seemed like 10 songs of techno funk.

The bass player and drummer were tight. The former reminded me of Beck on energy drinks and delivered a solid beat throughout.

For vocals - one of the synthesizer guys did the Peter Frampton thing (sorry late 70s reference) for added effect.

So all in all a great night. The kicker for us though I think was Holy F*ck. I wouldn't have thought going in we'd all agree.

Or maybe my kids just want to see how many times they can put Holy F*ck on a website and get away with it. 

The Young Perspective

Byline: James C. (15 yrs old)

To start off, tonight, July 9th, was exhilarating! The two performing bands that personally I thought were definitely the highlights of the day were Holy F*ck and obviously, Ben Harper and RELENTLESS7. Other bands that also performed really well were Metric, Shiloh, and Brothers Chaffey. I'm speaking from a relatively young perspective, I'm 15 years old, so I will give you my review of tonight's Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest.

First, my favorite performer tonight was Holy F*ck. It was really surprising how well and how different this group performed. I would have to categorize their style as Funk/Trance, but all and all, their style was unique compared to the other groups. I loved all the songs that they played, and if you were there, don't tell me you weren't in some sort of trance! And it was almost impossible for me to stop moving to the beat. I also give a bonus to them because like some techno, electro blah blah can be very repetitive, although these were very catchy beats! TOTALLY recommend these guys for your Ipod or whatever. And last of the pros, THEY'RE CANADIAN wooo! I dont give any cons to this group because they're just awsome.

Secondly, Ben Harper. What is there to say but AMAZING! When I first heard that he was one of the main acts, I was like who the f*** is this guy. Dont forget im only 15!!! After seeing his performance, my jaw almost hit the grass below my feet. He was rocking the whole crowd, not to mention the place was packed. And what really made me say "This guy is godly" is that he broke his lower E string on his guitar, but still managed to play the song like nothing ever happend! Also, GREAT cover for the song Pressure. He definately turned the night into something worth remembering. Two thumbs up for this group.

Byline: Brad G. (16 yrs old)

The Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest was extremely entertaining and well worth the money spent on tickets. The line-up of performers for each day was what first attracted me to the Bluesfest, but when I got there I realized how great it was. The food was excellent and there was a huge variety of selections ranging from Caribbean style to Lebanese, it was very multi-cultural. The food plus the enthusiastic fans at every stage created a great atmosphere for every performance.

It was not very difficult to get from stage to stage so you could watch the majority of the performances. It was a pleasant surprise to find myself enjoying almost all the performances and having to start doing some head-bobbing. One tip I would give to enjoy each performance to its full potential is get to the stage early and get as close as possible it is much more enjoyable this way.

The first band I saw was Shiloh, unfortunately I only got to see their last few songs but judging by the quality of those I would say they are a really fun band to watch. They performed one of their best singles "Operator (A Girl Like Me)" and it was very catchy and familiar.

It was also great to know that it was a Canadian band, and when they introduced each band member they all played a little bit of their musical skills which were awesome. Overall it was a good performance and I was never bored, so I give it a Brad rating of seven and a half claps-above-the-head out of ten.

I definitely have to say my favourite performance of the night would have to be Ben Harper and Relentless7 it was very exhilarating. The performance was very lively and everyone was into it. It was hard to get out and there was some "spillage" of drinks which in a way was a good thing because it meant nobody wanted to leave and everyone was focused on the band. Ben Harper has an amazing voice and his slide guitar was unbelievable. At one point the string he was playing on broke but without any stall what-so-ever he continued playing on the string below it. He and his band gave an excellent performance and proved why they were the headlining band. They also performed a great cover of "Under Pressure" and usually I dislike cover songs but they performed it well by adding some of their own style to it. It was a great performance and I give it a Brad rating of 5 guitar strings out of 6 (which is how many Ben Harper was forced to play on).

Coming in a very close second of best performance in my opinion would definitely have to be Holy F*ck which was a big surprise. I had no idea what to expect from an underground Canadian band like this but they were so good. I have no clue what type of music you would classify this group as but it was an awesome performance to watch. There was no singing but the beats they put down were wicked and they had some crazy-cool noises to go along with it. The drumming, bass guitar playing and "noise making"? were all amazing! The best part of their performance was how everyone was rocking out to their songs but everyone did it in their own way, some did the "head bob" some did the "jump around" some did the "scream and clap" and I even saw two people doing some slow motion pretend fighting. I give this band a Brad rating of nine and a half head-bobs out of ten.

I managed to get down to the Bluesfest site nice and early tonight and had a walk around the site. Festival regulars will find the site has pretty much the same layout as last year. There's some pretty cool merch this year, and of course the cd tent has their usual extensive collection of Bluesfest artist's material available. If you want a poster make your way to the poster tent nice and early, they've been selling out of their daily allotment pretty quick. It's worth noting that they are selling posters from previous years as well with many of them autographed by big-name artists, and the best part is profits go to the excellent Blues In The Schools program, which of course helps create future artists to autograph future posters.

I was unfamiliar with all of the artists starting off the night so I headed straight to the Blacksheep Stage (if you take one thing from these logs let it be this - when in doubt go to the Blacksheep Stage). There I found a cold beer and a small, rabid crowd hugging the stage beneath a young lady clutching an acoustic guitar. What they all knew and I was about to find out is this: If Kyrie Kristmanson is what you're looking for, you won't find it anywhere else. A Canadian expat studying in France, Kyrie writes utterly unique through-composed stream-of-consciousness poems accompanied by naive yet complex and well-rehearsed guitar playing. This woman barely in her twenties breathlessly held the attention of all in attendance even when backing herself up with only a trumpet.

On a tip from a friend I wandered toward the Subway Stage only to catch Amanda Rheaume sitting in with Tara Holloway along the way at the Hard Rock Cafe Stage. Amanda was a mentor in the Bluesfest's Be In The Band program and I had the pleasure of playing with her at the Be In The Band concert back in April. She's a wonderful performer and a great person, and it was nice to hear her sitting in with Tara.

My friend was right; Brothers Chaffey were well worth checking out. It's hard to believe this seasoned 70's-era Rolling Stones-ish band is a bunch of lads from Almonte, Ontario. It was a great slice of straight-from-the-gut ballsy rock and roll under a blazing sun. Having the Texas Horns sitting in didn't hurt one bit neither.

It was time to claim my bike from the supervised valet parking and head down to the Byward Market. I forsake the bike path and went what I assume is the quick way, via Wellington. It's two kilometres of damn fine scenery past the Supreme Court, the Parliament Buildings, and the Chateau Laurier. Quite a city we live in, huh? Anyway, you'll find the free outdoor stage at York and Sussex, facing east towards a mostly closed off area. There is still one lane of eastbound traffic and hopefully the city will soon realize their mistake and allow the whole shebang to be sectioned off. The fence kills the atmosphere and there's not that much traffic using the single lane anyway. It is the first night after all, no doubt these tiny bugs will be worked out.

I couldn't bear to leave the Jeff Beck set on Wednesday night so I missed Sergent Garcia on the Blacksheep Stage. I had heard good things so I was happy to see they were rescheduled to play the mainstage in the market before George Clinton. Again, I had heard correctly. Based out of France, this collection of seriously talented musicians play latin music that is impossible to sit still through. A perfect opening for the funktaculous Pariament/Funkadelic All Stars. For those unfamiliar with P-Funk, two things become immediately obvious: this band boasts the world's greatest funk chops and the world's strangest wardrobe. When the mothership landed and the very freaky George Clinton finally joined his band onstage (to an incredibly tight cover of Frank Zappa's I Am The Slime) he was flanked on one side by a man wearing only a diaper and on the other side by a thonged woman with angel wings on roller skates. About 5,000 booty shaking people enjoyed the free show, and it was great to see the inaugural night of Bluesfest In The Byward go over so well.

Unfortunately the band had started late and there were still more acts to be had back at Bluesfest proper. I biked the lovely scenic pathway behind the Parliament Buildings and highly recommend it even if it is a few hundreds metres further than the Wellington Street route. I had planned on a quick stop at Blacksheep for a bit of Oumou Sangare but found myself absolutely unable to leave until their last note. Good on the Blacksheep Stage for booking so much world music, and if you like African music you're not going to get any better than Malian music. Oumou outstandingly fronts her traditional West African pop band, that is kora, djembe, dancers throwing calabashes in the air, and of course the obligatory Ali Farke Toure-style electric guitar, but she adds a killer bass and drums rhythm section, including the drummer from the rock band Living Colour, Will Calhoun. The result is a healthy dose of Timbuktu with an unstoppable dance beat.

After Sangare's set there was still enough time to catch about twenty-five minutes of Ben Harper. This was my first time seeing Ben with his new band, the Relentless 7, and though I found Ben Harper to sound undeniably Ben Harper, he seems not to be wearing his Hendrix/Marley influences on his sleeve anymore, and his brilliant version of Queen's Under Pressure sealed the deal. I hope to be able to catch a whole set of the Relentless 7 sometime soon, but such is the bane of the Bluesfest goer - sometimes there's just too much to see.

With that it mind I made the two kilometre trek yet again to the Market, this time ending up at Mavericks to check out the late night Bluesfest In The Byward bar scene. Turns out you can buy a bracelet at any of the participating venues and it's good all night for all of them, so bar hopping is easy. I opted not to do any bar hopping last night, instead sticking around for all of The Murder Plans, a kickass local rock band that sometimes almost approaches a Talking Heads type of greatness.

The endurance test has begun! And on top of that I still have to figure out how I can see Steve Earle, King Sunny Ade, and Jackson Browne all at the same time tomorrow night.

I bet I wasn't the only one worried by the late afternoon downpour yesterday, but it seems the gods are smiling on Bluesfest already this year, in more ways than one. The clouds parted into the sunniest of evenings and I was able to ride my bike to LeBreton Flats and take advantage of the fantastic supervised bicycle parking lot. Use it if you can, the service is fast, free, friendly, and frankly this city is just rife with beautiful bike paths that lead to the Bluesfest site

It seems every year these people get better and better at getting everyone ticketed on the potentially manic first night of the festival. I'm not sure if it has to do with the new non-wristband system, but any and all lineups I saw were reasonable to say the least.

Sweaty from my ride, I headed straight to the beer tent and was dismayed to remember that I had forgotten my ID, and I tell you no amount of grey hair or arguing or media passes or sweatiness is going to get you a beer without ID. This is the first of many potential oppourtunities to learn from my mistakes here people, so BRING ID!

I was in a hurry to catch Monkeyjunk on the Hard Rock Cafe Stage but got momentarily distracted by the Black Keys on my way by the Rogers Stage. Some may look at the duo's instrumentation and label them a poor-man's White Stripes, but I'll tell you that what they lack in band members they make up for in energy and crunch. I can't remember the last time I heard a more distorted guitar tone, it was super-saturated and it sounded so damn good. But I really wanted to start this years' Bluesfest with some blues, so I tore myself away.

Monkeyjunk is a local trio made up of Ottawa blues legend Tony D on guitar, Matt Sobb on drums, and Steve Marriner on everything else. Tony D appearing at the Ottawa Bluesfest is an absolute given every year, and with good reason; the man has dedicated his life to the blues and he has taken his enormous talents around the world, and this new band he has is hot. Marriner played baritone guitar, B3 organ, harmonica, and sang, and I wanna tell you this is one talented dude. The kid is the real deal, and if you missed him last night you can catch him doing his own show in the Barney Danson Theatre next Thursday night.

The band was kind enough to offer me a few beers backstage despite my lack of ID and we set off to watch Jeff Beck together. Turns out Jeff Beck is Tony D's guitar hero and he's never seen him live, so he forsake the autograph tent to make it to the Bank Of America Stage in time for the set. I was pleased to find my media pass got me backstage too, and after watching Jeff walk by resplendent in his sleeveless, ribbed tuxedo shirt and looking for all the world like Ron Wood, we all headed to the photo pit and watched the set in awe.

What a feather in the cap of the festival this year. Jeff Beck is one of the quintessential guitarists strolling this planet, and he can still bring it like nobody else. The guy is one of those rare guitarist's guitarist who also became a huge star, and as he showed last night it's because he never lost an acute sense of melody. I mean, the guy is a masterclass guitar technician who easily executes passages that six-string wannabes worldwide spent months not perfecting, and he plays with a subtle perfection that is virtually unmatched, but it's all that combined with his innate melodic sense that made him a legend. As he led his band through Beck's Bolero, Lead Boots, Blue Wind and, well, everything else, Jeff Beck showed over and over that guitar wizardry is a means, and the tune is the thing.

His band was remarkable, featuring a bass player who would have stolen the show from almost anyone else, a drummer who has played with Frank Zappa and Herbie Hancock and a keyboard player who finally proved that guitar-rock keyboardists need not be cheesy. The evening was full of little musical teases, with Low Rider and Purple Haze each being hinted at twice, with a sublime cover of A Day In The Life to close the lengthy set, and the sound was good enough that the tiniest vibrato from Beck's Strat could be clearly heard well past the soundboard.

Overall it was just a fantastic opening night to the Bluesfest. Tomorrow I'm looking forward to the opening night of the new Bluesfest In The Byward. I'll be doing some heavy biking back and forth, but with George Clinton downtown, Ben Harper onsite and then the late night club scene afterwards, one really has no choice!

It isn't exactly what you think.

Rox Broughton's dream has always been to have Jeff Beck sing at her wedding. This has been in the plan for a long long time ... thirty years to be precise. So if Jeff Beck doesn't come to the wedding, bring the wedding to Jeff Beck. And that is exactly what Rox Broughton and Marty Brown did today. They got married at 6pm on the 7th month, July 8, 09 ... i.e. 6 7 8 9. down by the Ottawa river, a stone's throw from LeBreton Flats where Jeff Beck would play a few short hours later. Dreams do come true. Watch the video interview in the "Fan Videos" section below.

Jeff Beck brought out legions of fans of all kinds. From Rox and Marty to some teenage guitar players that just had to be there to see their idol play. And he didn't disappoint! He made that guitar sing and everyone was mesmerized. Although it was tough to rip myself away, I just had to check out Sergent Garcia. What a treat! I have never seen an Ottawa crowd dance and jump like that. I talked to several people there who had never heard of this band before and couldn't believe what they were seeing and hearing .... not just from the band but from the crowd. You're in luck because they are playing again Thursday night at 7:15pm on the York Street Stage as part of the Bluesfest ByWard series (NOTE this is a schedule change! Check out http://bluesfestbyward.com for details). I'll be posting more of my videos, including capturing fan reactions and more amazing performers including Tympanic, Amos the Transparent, Sergent Garcia, MonkeyJunk...

Find me Thursday night as I'll be milling around and capturing your stories. I'll be wearing a FaveQuest t-shirt ... look for a big red Q. Stop me and say hello.

What a beautiful night it was on the flats at LeBreton yesterday! Yes, I know, it rained a little at the start. But you, the fans, were undaunted, and you were rewarded. The clouds cleared away, the performers powered up their amps, and away we all went!

I started my evening watching Amanda Rheaume on the Rogers Stage, and she lived up to her billing! What a high energy show it was. She is a true pleasure to watch, and the crowd responded with enthusiasm! One of the things I love about Bluesfest is the sheer number of smiling faces you see at an outdoor music festival like this...and Amanda was generating a lot of smiles last night...I know I was wearing a silly grin.

Of course I watched Jeff Beck last night...he played the Bank of America stage, and others have written eloquently about his show. But for me, I spent a lot of time wandering the back stages before I ended up at the Beck show. I love the opportunity to discover new music (obvious pitch...I was involved with the Bluesfest website, setting up the videos so you can all do a little "advance performer discovery" prior to heading down to the show). Last night I saw Blue King Brown, all the way from Australia, and Amos the Transparent, a local band. Both of these acts blew me away!

Blue King Brown played on the Subway Stage, with the sun glistening off the Ottawa River in the background. Beautiful! We were trying to identify the lead singer's accent...Australian! The drawing power of this festival never ceases to amaze me. This was music with a message, and you folks in the crowd were obviously loving it.

Local band Amos the Transparent played the Bank of America stage. What a treat...I kept hearing people say "Hey! They're really good!". It was nice to literally be able to hear you all discovering a new band you've never heard before.

Who's on tonight? Metric, Ben Harper and RELENTLESS7 at LeBreton, and the inaugural Bluesfest Byward kicks off tonight too, with Matt Mays, George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, and many more. Who will you discover tonight?

I love discovering awesome performers I've never heard of or seen live before. FaveQuest, the company I co-founded, built many of the new applications in the main Bluesfest and the Bluesfest Byward sites with the hope that you would discover all the great acts as well. With that in mind, I'll be covering some of the smaller acts and doing my best to capture fan reactions. What acts surprised you? Which performers did you discover and fall in love with at Bluesfest? Come explore with me and tell me your stories. I'll typically be wearing a black t-shirt with the red and white FaveQuest logo.

Alrighty everybody, Bluesfest is back, and as usual they mean business. They are up to seven stages at the main site on LeBreton Flats, and now that they've added a whole new downtown element with the Bluesfest In The Byward it's going to be hard to keep track of the whole thing, but worry not, I'm here to help.

As a local musician with a journalistic itch and a concert-going hobby that borderlines on the pathological, I was thrilled when the kind folks at the Bluesfest asked me to write daily reviews for their online newsletter. Every morning in this space I'll be commenting on as much music as I can see and the overall vibe of what I consider to be one of the world's great music festivals.

I'll be ducking in and out of the obvious heavy hitters like Joe Cocker and KISS at the Bank Of America/Rogers stage area to check in on some lesser-known favourites like Les Claypool and Drive By Truckers on the Hard Rock Cafe and Subway stages, though everybody who is anybody knows that the hidden gems are almost always found at the intimate shows in the Barney Danson Theatre and at my favourite haunt, the ever-eclectic Blacksheep Stage.

I'll also be heading down for some shows at the free stage downtown, and I'm especially excited about the late-night element of the Bluesfest happening at a myriad of bars in the Byward Market because really, sometimes 11pm is just too early to stop the music.

Hi folks, I'm so happy to have the chance to write to you about my Bluesfest experience this year. I'm a long time fan of the show, and this year I've been lucky enough to help the organizers with their website...check out our Bluesfest Jukebox to watch videos and listen to all the fantastic performers in this year's line-up. I'll be taking photos and even a little fan video for the site...so come and find me on the grounds, and mug for my camera! See you there!