Shout Out Out Out Out!

What a great concert! Last week Erin and I got to get out and see a live music show downtown for the first time since Milo was born.

Yup, the Grandparents drove out here from The Wack to babysit and Erin and I went rockin'. Four bands were playing at Richard's on Richards as part of the Levi's & Exclaim "Four For Fall" tour. Sorry about the plug, but when someone sponsors indie & local live music, they deserve it. Unfortunately, the tour's over now. Hope you got to see it.(Hey, nice idea there, Ted!)

Whitey Houston (no, there's no "n" in there) started us off - pretty rockin' band for just a bass player and a drummer. They had some CD's and some nice coloured vinyl for sale there too.

The Fembots were next - a great-sounding band from Toronto. Kind of alt-country style music with great songwriting. And they had a vibrophone up there which made a really cool replacement for the lap steel guitar. I haven't heard their newest album yet, but their last one, Small Town Murder Scene, was absolutely wonderful.

The third act was Luke Doucet, the reason Erin and I went out in the first place. If I've mentioned him on my blog before, it's because I'm a huge fan of his work and he's an old friend. His shows are not only musical events for us, but places where we might run into a dozen friends we haven't seen in months.


Luke was up there with his band (including his wonderful fiancee, Melissa McClelland, who's a great solo performer in her own right) wowing us with his always-amazing guitar playing and singing. He almost got upstaged, though - his nine-year-old daughter came up onstage to sing Tom Waits' "Gun Street Girl" with him. It was priceless. You could see the crowd go from "aw, isn't that little girl cute!" to "Holy Crap, is that really her singing?" That child has some pipes. She was back up playing the tambourine and rocking out for the encore too.

The last band was Shout Out Out Out Out! You have never seen a band like this, I assure you. Imagine, if you will, a band with two drummers and four bass players who all play keyboards and synthesizers too. They play dance music. And they look and dress like a cross between The Ramones and Grizzly Adams. High energy, fun dance music by guys who ought to know better - the guys from Whitey Houston are in this band and it's fronted by Nik Kozub, from Veal and The Cleats. They have one single out and I bet after this tour they'll have a deal to record a CD. If you like smiling, sweating, and headbanging with your disco, check 'em out. Disco rocks.