Loser Blogger

That's me. Loser Blogger. My last post? April of 2007. Many months ago.

Excuses? Many.

a) found myself a bit bogged down after being an official blogger for Jamilton, the Hamilton Spectator's music website. Two blogs were too much. Cross-posting would get boring fast.

b) have been too busy living life to stop and write it down. (still true)

c) not that much happened, really. don't want all my posts to be nothing more than "oh, look at me. look where i went. look what i did." But then, I don't really want my blog to turn into some kind of platform, because heaven knows, I have plenty to say. Best not go there. (Much.)

d) ok that's enough. any further detail would just fall under b so I'll leave it at that and get on with a new post.

News: First of all, I resigned from my decade-long run of being the musical director/bandleader of the Toronto Blues Society Women's Blues Revue. It was time to let go of the reins. Although each and every member of that amazing band could easily be the leader, in the end, it was Suzie Vinnick who was invited to continue with this most challenging position.

With Women's Blues Revue, the task is to bring together a seven-piece band, six or seven incredible vocalists, rehearse them for one hour per singer a day or two before the show, and then go into Massey Hall and perform this material well enough to be recorded live for radio airplay on CBC nationally. That's quality musicianship, and I'm so proud to be a part of it. Thankfully, I continue as the keyboard player in the show, and I thoroughly enjoyed playing Massey Hall for the fourth time on December 1st, 2007, without the added pressure of being in charge. You know what would be even better? Playing Massey Hall when I actually *know* the music... lol

Anyway, the rest of the time, I've been gigging and enjoying Groove Corporation. We played quite a few festivals over the summer plus some clubs, corporate stuff, and charity, and we made lots of new fans. Here's a little youtube video I took right from the stage at Ribfest in Burlington... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tpr44d6_e5U. The band has really matured and the eight core members are genuinely committed, especially now that we're working on original material. We hope to have a CD sooner than later. It takes a little longer when you're dealing with a group this size, with members living as far away as St. Mary's and London all the way to Burlington and Stoney Creek, plus, although these guys are all totally professional musicians, they have jobs and/or young families, so clearly, things can't chug as fast as they did with the full time units I've worked with over the years. But that's a good time to segue to telling you about my new employment situation....

Yes, I have a "day job". A real one. Yes, yes, I've been doing web design and free lance lotsa-stuff for years, but my time was always my own to manage. Recently, I accepted a full time position at McMaster University with the Faculty of Engineering, outreach and enrolment department. It's a job with many facets (suits me fine), including overseeing the production of a video, a stock photography project, promotional materials, plus special events planning, and lots more. It is a temporary contract, replacing someone who is away on a long term medical leave, but it will keep me busy until at least the spring. I'm grateful to my dear friend and fellow musician, Tiffany Thompson, who recommended me for the job. Thanks, Tiffy!

And, speaking of Tiffy, we're still working together on Hen Party along with Catherine Bragdon. All of our lives have been crazy busy and complicated (people moving, falling in love, changing jobs, etc. etc.), so things slowed way down, but at least got our picture taken, and made some decisions about our musical direction and style. Our focus will definitely be much heavier on original material, so it will be a while before we'll have a whole night's worth of songs to perform. But we can pull off a set if we need to, and we love every opportunity to perform together.

I've also continued to perform occasionally with other groups, like Rhythm and Bones, and also Brian Blain. Here's a youtube video of Brian and us "Blainettes" performing at the Toronto Jazz Festival. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUFERVW9qX8

Well, that's it for now. Thanks for reading. I'm off to the Maple Blues Awards tomorrow night (weather permitting). I'll try to take some pictures.

Lily

Blogfodder! (Crossposted with Jamilton.ca)

"Celebrity Chauffeur" Harry Manx
Yep, Harry showed up at Healey's the night I played there with Brian Blain, and he talked me into jumping into his luxury rental wheels and we headed on over to the Reservoir Lounge, where Margaret Stowe was playing with a fabulous swing band. Ultra fun night.

Harry Manx & Kevin Breit @ Hugh's Room
A few nights later, I went to Hugh's Room on Harry's invitation to catch his CD release for "In Good We Trust". I'm not alone in buzzing with afterglow from this concert. I was literally moved to tears, and I caught others in the same predicament. A must see if they should come to your area.

L to R: Lily Sazz, Mr. Rick, Brian "Colorblind" Blain, Michelle Josef at Healey's Roadhouse in Toronto

Mike Eastman and Jack Pedler @ the Good Friday Jam at the Squire in Hamilton

Highlights of late include, (in order of occurrence):

Tiffany Thompson's birthday celebration, which was a little shindig on March 10 at the Cootes Paradise Bistro. She was performing as part of her jazz duo with guitarist Jamie that night, and Doug Smith (another great guitarist, and also sound engineer at Pepper Jack) guested for a couple of tunes, and that was a treat.

A few days later, I was guesting with Rhythm and Bones, who were playing as part of a cancer benefit at the Coach and Lantern in Ancaster. An hour or so before the gig, I got a call saying the bass player was so ill, he couldn't possibly play. I called up Steve Hilbert from Groovecorp, picked him up, played him the CD of the most of the tunes we were going to play, talked him through the numbers on the way to Ancaster, and voila! The band sounded great. Yikes, though!

Kudos to Russ McAllister, who organized a terrific blues jam on Good Friday at the Squire on the mountain. It was like a reunion for some of us. I walked in the door, and didn't even have a chance to grab a drink or remove my jacket before I was plunked behind a piano and rockin' with the boys. Very fun!

Worlds collided one day at Mohawk College, when I attended a master class featuring Hamilton's Bill Dillon. Darcy Hepner arranged it, and I bumped into fellow Jamilblogger Gord Lewis (TeenageHead), plus Carl Horton (jazz master keyboardist), plus Christopher Hunt (who is not only Mohawk faculty, but also the music director at my husband's church). There was punk, jazz, blues, and the classics - all together for an afternoon of Dillon-speak. Freaky.

Probably the biggest highlight for me was going to Hugh's Room to catch Harry Manx and Kevin Breit's Toronto CD Release. That was one of the best concerts I've seen in a very long time. It was their first gig, really, and the magic was in the air. I was so moved by the emotion combined with amazing musicianship, and I know I wasn't alone with this opinion. Folks are still talking about it and buzzing away. Prediction: Juno Nomination 2008. You heard it here, first.

Brenda Whitehall's in town! Brendawas my business partner way back in 1990, when we started The Hammer Magazinetogether. She's been living in Vancouver for years, but was home for a visitrecently, and we spent her birthday together by going to the Jann Arden concertat Hamilton Place. Another great show. There's a whole bunch of historicinformation that includes stuff about The Hammer Magazine, including images on Alex MacDougall's blog that were recently posted. What a trip down memory lane. Check it out. He's got something fun and interesting going, and there's lots of local blueshistory there.

I'm really looking forward to the summer, and playing all these festivals. I hope to return with lots of blogfodder. (I think I just invented that word! I like it.) There are a quite few things brewing. For example, looks like we'll be doing a media release for the Women's Blues Revue Live CD. Although it was complete in November, the Toronto Blues Society really hasn't had a chance to properly launch the baby, so we'll be doing something for industry folks at the NOW Lounge in Toronto in June.

So that's about it. I'm still on my quest to help people understand that blues music is not just "Woke up this morning" songs. Blues is still so misunderstood. I remember when my husband and I merged our CD collections. He is a big fan of blues and jazz, but I had to file all of his recordings under "old or dead artists". I turned him on to Fathead, Paul Reddick, Harry Manx, and so many others. Hey, what can I say. He's a grateful guy, now. He still likes old and dead artists, but that's helped me revisit them, so it's all okay.

If you're free on April 28th, come and say hello at the Corktown Pub. I'll be rockin' with Groove Corporation, and the last time we were there, it was great.

Lily
www.lilysazz.com

Friday night rocked!

Crosspost alert: This post is a duplicate of the one on Jamilton. But read on... it isn't all the same!

L to R: Sean Cotton, Suzie McNeil, Lily Sazz, Tiffany Thompson. Yes, yes, our noses are all red because we were freezing!

Yesterday, I found out quite by accident that Suzie McNeil (of late known for her being a finalist on "RockStar INXS") would be playing downtown at Gore Park for the lighting of the CHML Christmas Tree of Hope. I figured it would be a great way to deliver her CDs for Women's Blues Revue Live. She's got a track on it called "Up Above The Clouds". We laughed about it, because I had a few songs on the project for which I was unsure of the composer, and Suzie Vinnick helped me track down a few of them. She called Sean Cotton, a frequent collaborator and backup band member for Suzie, to see if he knew who wrote that tune, and low and behold, it turned out to be him and Corin Raymond (aka The Undesirables). Anyway, she put on a great half hour set in sub-zero temperatures, and Sean and the band sounded great, too.

CBC Radio's "Fresh Air" host Jeff Goodes and Lily Sazz

After Gore Park, I headed back to Dundas to attend the Design Hope event at the Dundas Valley School of Art. I knew that Dan Medakovic was the organizer of the CD compilation that was a big part of their "out of the cold" campaign this year, and that Rob Lamothe (one of my faves) was performing there. That was a great event! Well-attended, and they raised over 55,000 dollars in the months leading up to last night. I bumped into lots of people I know, and got to meet Jeff Mahoney from the Spec in person, and an extra bonus was meeting Jeff Goodes from CBC. His show is on from 6-9am on Saturdays and Sundays, so as a night-owl musician, I never got to hear it. (At least not by getting up early... maybe by staying up too late!) Anyway, now that I'm married to Pastor Paul, I like to say that "Sunday is the new Monday", and I seldom miss Jeff's musings on his Ontario-wide show. I love hearing about the little towns and events going on across the province, and his interviews with the characters involved. Plus he plays an eclectic mix of music, and you never know what you'll hear.

Lily Sazz

Lily's Jamilton Blog: www.jamilton.ca
Website: www.lilysazz.com

Pictures, pictures...

Thought I'd post a few pictures of the last couple weeks' activities.
First one (above) is a shot from my audience perspective at the Hamilton Music Awards, which were great, I thought. I chose this shot because Colin Linden can be seen on the screen at just that instant. Lots of friends up there!

This is me, Marg Stowe, Michelle Josef, and Ellen McIlwaine. I hope they forgive me for putting this on my blog. We were all bushed after an afternoon of rehearsal for the next day's Massey Hall concert. But the cool thing was that Ellen was raised in Japan, so ordering and eating Sushi with her was extra fun.

This is one of my favourite candid shots. It's Shelagh Rogers (from CBC Radio) having her makeup applied by sister Margot. Shelagh, who emcees the Women's Blues Revue, shares my dressing room at Massey Hall, and I couldn't resist snapping a couple of this tender sisterly moment. Margot likes to fly in from Vancouver and hang with the gals at the show.

This is what I called my "CBC Sandwich" shot. On the left, is Holger Petersen, host of "Saturday Night Blues" on CBC, and on the right, it's Shelagh Rogers, host of "Sounds Like Canada". It's the first time I've ever seen them in the same place at the same time. We let Holger share our dressing room, too, and he was dubbed "Holgeretta" for the evening. "The only man who is man enough to share the stage with these women..." Holger co-emceed the Women's Blues Revue this year, since it's also the 20th anniversary of SNB.

I'll post a couple of pictures on my Jamilton blog, too. Check it out at www.jamilton.ca.

Ciao for now...

Lily

Women's Blues Revue Live!

November 25th's Massey Hall Women's Blues Revue concert is now behind me! The show went off without a hitch, and the live broadcast went smoothly. They'll be airing most of the concert again on Sounds Like Canada on CBC Radio One 99.1 FM with host Shelagh Rogers on December 15th after the 10 a.m. news.

The WBR Live CD was launched on show day, and it's being received very well so far.

The first review is in and can be read at The Live Music Report online.

Next project is Groovecorp and Hen Party both performing at Sonny Del-Rio's Hamilton Hometown Christmas event on Sunday, Dec. 3rd, along with 13 or so other fine bands. I'm looking forward to it!

I'll post some photos of WBR when I get a chance.

Lily

Groovecorp played at MacLeod's American Roadhouse in Waterdown in October, and it was Les Kadar's last night with the band. We had the cake, but we had the dancing girls, too! Too bad Carmen's eyes are covered, but I was stuck behind my keyboard and couldn't take a better picture...

The pictures in this post are all from October's OCFF (Ontario Council of Folk Festivals) conference. There's so much I could write about, but I'm just too dang busy right now.

I'll just say that it's an amazing conference, with inspirational talent and tons of camaraderie - most of all, there's jamming and showcasing, including guerilla showcasing in the hallways, the stairwells, and sometimes even the elevators.

MJ Russell (a fellow Hen from Hen Party) went with me. She's pictured with Tannis Slimmon hearing one of Tannis' new compositions. And also MJ in the hallway right outside our room at the hotel (in Ottawa). The other pics are from the hotel room showcases and jams. Jory Nash still dressed up from the gala dinner, and also a typical scene of cases in the bathroom, and interesting displays and decorations people put in their rooms to make it interesting.

Hen Party

This is the new promo for the Hen Party, which is a new project I've started along with Catherine Bragdon, MJ Russell, and Tiffany Thompson. We'll be debuting at the annual peace concert put on by Project Ploughshares. Details at www.henparty.ca.