Saturday Night Shuffle

Bonavista seems to me to be a hideaway town. Nestled in between a row of mountains and the vast ocean we are cut off from the closest town. We love it that way, we love that anyone that comes into Bonavista is not just passing through, they are here for a reason. They are usually travelers that have heard of our history or landscape beauty.
On this particular Saturday night Walkhams Gate Pub was scheduled to play host to 4 extraordinary musicians from St. John's, the hub of Newfoundland music. The four musicians are from 4 different bands and usually don't play together besides the two of them. Kaleb Mahoney is the lead singer and guitarist for The Monday Nights, Elliot Dicks who also plays in The Monday Nights and also a band called The Novaks, Robert Kelly who now plays for a local treasure of a band called The Irish Decendents and Andrew Ledrew who has a great solo career building for himself. These four guys are great musicians of their own but are also great friends of each other. They jam on each others albums and help out when needed which is what I personally think is the best way to make great music. It happened numerous times in the 60's and doesn't really happen enough these days.
Around supper time I looked out the coffee shop window and could easily see a wave of dark clouds crashing in over the mountains that barricades Bonavista from the rest of the world. The temperature dropped and a chill fell over the town that spoke volumes with everyone that walked into Walkhams Gate that night.
The band shows up around 9ish setting up their equipment. It was going to be the first time I have ever heard a four piece band play at the pub and was wondering how good it was going to be considering the size of the place. If it didn't work it could have been disastrous I was thinking, but if it did work it could very well be brilliant. Elliot sets up his lonely snare which later he would make sound like something you would hear in the backwoods of the delta, raw and sheer genius. To make something so simple sound so complicated takes alot of talent. One of the very first things they do as a team is order a round of shots, Sambuca to be exact which I kept flowing that anise liquor well into the night. Beer and rum well wet their whistle all night long and what a whistle it was. They played like a band that played together for years and years. Kaleb and Andrews songwriting was exceptional with songs like Annie and The Wild Goose showed off Kalebs songwriting as being probably one of the best new songwriters in Newfoundland today. It was the perfect night, the people that came to the show were not just there to drink and get drunk, talk during songs about what happen that day or bask in the glow of their Iphone until their faces turn a pinkish red from radiation poisoning. They were there to listen to a great band perform not only their own great songs that they poured their heart into for everyone to criticize, which really can't be a easy thing to do, much respect, but also a gauntlet of covers from The Stray Cats to The Band, Elliot bares a strong resemblance to Levon Helm of The Band so it was that much better, he also looks a lot like Ginger Baker of Cream. Kaleb's voice barreling through Bob Dylan tunes did them more justice than im sure he gives himself credit for. While Andrew shaked and rattled his way through Stray Cats with a rockabilly style that would make any pink Cadillac driver green with envy. The night turned out to be a great time, good people and great music. Those who was fortunate enough to walk into the fog of musical greatness walked away that night with a new sense of respect for musicians and their very own talent.
At the end of the night we went our own ways, made a few handshakes and paid each other our very own respects to what we did. I went on to clean the bar after wasted booze and empty bottles filled the floors and tables. It wasn't as bad as some other nights the cleanup part side. But being in the position that im in its a very good thing. I then walked away with a huge respect for Kaleb, Elliot, Robert and Andrew as talented musicians.

Just BS Cd Release

Bonavista on a Saturday night, there's shed parties, small house parties where you can go and listen to the latest mtv disaster. Not my cup of screech and coke should I say. Theres really nothing like listening to live music and having a few drinks and laughs with a crowd of people dancing a jig right next to ya. Thanks to Steve Abbott, Bob Little and Walkhams Gate Pub we all have a great place to enjoy great Newfoundland talent and music. Many nights I've been on the other side of the bar throwing beer from corner to corner as Steve and Bob belted out the tunes that we love and have grown on us. Every now and then me and Sharon could take a break and lean up against the bar and listen to Either Steve or Bob do what they have done for Bonavista for years, sing everything from traditional Newfoundland music to Steve Earle to Stan Rogers. After all the years of playing the pub Steve and Bob finally released an album of theirs and your favorite songs. Starting with one of my favorite Dubliner songs called Dirty Old Town that was most famously covered by the punk/irish group The Pogues. Ending with their most requested songs Venice Is Sinking. In between is a array of hand  picked by Steve and Bob favorites from Bob Dylans Wagon Wheel to Stan Rogers Fogartys Cove. They also throw in there Walkhams Gate Pub's owner Harv Templemen favorite St Olav's Gate, a Tom Russel staple. The cd has beautiful production all done by Bob Little in his basement. The sound sounds professionally done in one of Canada's best studio. You can drive around town listening to Just BS with your windows down or just sit back and listen to them at home. You can find the album at Walkhams Gate Pub at anytime and this weekend the 18th of June you can come to the official CD release party at Walkhams Gate Pub and listen to Just BS in person. They will be selling cds there while supplies last so come on down and have a jig or two and sing along to Steve and Bob.