The Double Essence road show with my best friends and cohorts in Minds In Retreat, The RingTones, Scottmandu and Devlin Miles hit Kingston and Ottawa in October after a long-overdue return to Toronto’s C’est What, then took it bicoastal with a junket to Los Angeles and Orange County in early November.

I was also able to debut new material at a Hallowe’en show at Gabby’s on Bloor Street with The Baying Hounds, a supergroup comprised of once and future Scottmandu alumni Bob Binns and Claude Kent with bassist and vocalist extraordinaire Johnny Wright.

Sandwiched between these tour dates I was privileged to attend three fantastic concerts in Toronto in the space of two weeks.

My all-time guitar hero Jeff Beck was stunning at Massey Hall. Who else could or would end a show with instrumental versions of The Beatles’ A Day In The Life, Puccini’s Nessun Dorma (Jeff won a Grammy for his studio recording) and Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance? This was not a rock show, but being in the presence of greatness knows no style boundaries.

I found out about Los Angeles’ Dawes from Bob Lefsetz, who, along with New York City blogger Holly Hughes, has become my favored trusted source of BS-free music news and passion. This may be old news by now (they have been on late-night television and have toured tirelessly for the last few years as well as backing up Jackson Browne from time to time) but Dawes are the real deal, and the show put on by brothers Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith and their bandmates was riveting. Picture a 21^st century version of a mid-thirties-aged Springsteen (Taylor’s lyrics, voice, guitar chops) teamed up with a Max Weinberg/ Dave Grohl clone brother (Griffin) who sings like an angel and looks like a teenager and you kind of get the drift.

Cool American west-coast indies Blitzen Trapper and Belle Brigade opened the show and took the packed house at the Opera House on a great trip along unexplored avenues.

I got a tip from old friend and former Nashville resident Cris Cuddy that the legendary and inimitable Malcolm Holcolmbe (whom Cris had befriended while living there) was to appear in Toronto at the Rivoli the night before I left for California. The show was a special treat in that I was able to reconnect with promoters The Garys who gave my early band the Fictions some of our first opportunities to find an audience. Malcolm has had a colorful and tempestuous career arc, not to mention some challenging personal issues, and his music is not for the faint of heart. A true bluesman with a God-given finger-picking ability, a bad haircut and the wrong end of a Crossroads deal, Malcolm was all spit, fire and anguish, Tom Waits meets John Lennon in his primal phase at Kurt Cobain’s place with Bert Jansch sitting in.

As if things couldn’t get better, November brought Prince to Canada and although work duties prevented me from catching his Toronto shows, the buzz drove me to the John Labatt Centre in London, Ontario where I went crazy like 1999 with about three thousand other fanatics, singing at the top of our lungs and clapping until our hands throbbed. His three female backup singers led by Shelby J opened the show with a killer version of one of my all-time favorite Bob Dylan songs, Make You Feel My Love, then His Royal Purpleness appeared out of a cloud of smoke with a triple shot of Gold, Purple Rain and When Doves Cry. House lights up, everyone on their feet singing along from the get-go. Worth the midnight drive back home in a snowstorm, and it got better after that!

My highlight of the annual TAXI Road Rally in Los Angeles was meeting Ravi, former guitarist and mentor for boy-band sensation Hanson in the 1990s. Since then he has reinvented himself as an inspirational speaker, endorsement guru and philanthropist.

His presentation was as smooth as silk, his message clear and simple. Find something you are passionate about, and become a champion for it. He has walked the talk, having had great success in this space with sponsors as diverse as Duracell, Sennheiser, Martin guitars, Ray-Ban and, most recently Voyage-Air travel guitars, which actually fold in half for stowing in the overhead bins of airplanes. Oh did I mention he is also an aviator? It turns out that the aviation profession in the U.S.A. Is awash with musicians, and he has founded an association of musical pilots who play at air shows and related events.

His latest efforts in concert with Shanti Bhavan, the Music For Life Alliance and his own organization Sunflowers in the Shade have brought life-altering changes to the poorest of the poor in India through the building of schools, infrastructure and communication channels.

What closed me was his opening mission statement, which dealt with the corporatiztion of America and the world, and the need for artists to stand and express the human values that live outside the financial, economic and consumerist agendas that seem increasingly to dominate business and government policy-making. He’s even converted his name to an acronym: Reaching Audiences with a Voice of Integrity™. I’ll let you be the judge, but I’ve been going to conferences for many decades and would go see this guy talk over and over again.

My activities at the LCBO continue apace with my sommelier duties at the downtown club, and I find myself well-provisioned and in fine shape with my family and many good friends here. I wish them and you a very happy Canadian Thanksgiving.

On a musical note, I’ve been busy with preparing four separate repertoires for three shows in the next week, with four acts on the bill on three dates in three cities. See below for the show details.
You can find me and “My Band” on Facebook and on Twitter (@sscottmandu).

Thanks for reading, and for your support of independent music.

Devlin Miles with RingTones and Scottmandu in Ontario, Canada October 13 – 16, 2011

If you are in the area, please come out and join us for good times and real music. We will be performing a number of new songs including a lovely Michael Roberts original titled “Going Home” and my new rocker “Going For Broke”

Devlin and I first met at the annual TAXI Road Rally, an established and exceptionally well-run conference in Los Angeles. We’ll be there again this year and will be playing at the conference and then returning to The Renaissance Dana Point in Orange County for a show on November 9. So if you’re out on the coast, look for us the first week of November in and around L.A. We will both be bringing along brand new songs in addition to the fans’ favorites.

There is a new feature on the Double Essence website. The RingTones have a new page here, featuring a short video clip of our Ottawa debut at The Elmdale in 2010.

Allergies and fatigue, anxiety and angst, depression and despair, loneliness and heartache, fear and self-loathing, concern for loved ones, artistic frustration, economic woe, aging and health problems, poverty and futility; I know I’m not alone in confronting these sometimes overwhelming challenges. Don’t ask me how to make sense of it, don’t ask how I cope; this is a quest and I never know where it will lead me.

I do know it begins with family. So much in our lives can be traced back to our early years when we are absorbing and assimilating the values and behaviours that form us. Yes, we develop critical faculties and the will to shape our own identities, but there is that mysterious element we all share and it is called blood.

Living in a city like Toronto can be a headache; in this urban laboratory there is continuous reinvention and exploration resulting in outcomes that are far from certain. There are days I am thankful to be part of that process, which has challenged me to achieve beyond any of my expectations. I have forged many lasting friendships and even the ones that didn’t endure left their tattoos on the skin of my soul.

And then there are days when that soul yearns for some other place. This is the echo of the nomadic strain in my blood, tempting me with its siren song to the shores of P.E.I. and B.C., the winding country lanes of Old England, the rolling green hills of New England, the megaliths of Manhattan and the lights of Los Angeles. It’s part of me, it’s part of my family.

Without the enterprise and courage to find a new solution, my parents and their parents would not have ventured from their far-flung origins to stake their families’ fate here. It’s no accident that I, my brother and my sister have been residents of the same part of the country our whole lives. After all, our forebears traveled from the Canadian West Coast and Prairies, Atlantic Canada, New Jersey and Great Britain in search of a better life and yes, love, happiness and adventure. So we are blessed by their efforts.

Now as age takes its toll on us all, as my father, after suffering a stroke, spends his days in care with my mother at his side and as my siblings’ families grow and start their life journeys, I find myself still on that road, eagerly anticipating the view around the next corner. As Steve Earle sings in “Guitar Town”, I gotta keep rockin’ while I still can. Fame and fortune may not find me, but I know I’ll find something worthwhile. That’s the sweet taste of liberty, and the joy and gratitude in my heart for the gifts I’ve been given and that I can give in return.

That’s what this new song is about. Going for broke, standing up for what you believe, not giving up no matter what the rest of the world is doing.

The Scottmandu recording marathon continues, with brand spanking new remixes of “Charade” and “One Of Them” finding their way to fans who hit the website for free downloads. James Paul and I are putting the finishing touches on “Nobody’s Fool” and “Love Let Us Down” as well as a revamped orchestral megamix of “Prisoners In Paradise”, so come on back for a taste of those tunes in the coming months.

Schwiggy, the king of SCHLOSS, has been instigating his usual madness with this month’s free download. “Nothing”, an existential observation on modern communication, wireless and otherwise, features the incomparable Lynne Rafter of Me and My Scarecrow as guest vocalist. No whistling this time, Lynne!

Minds In Retreat, my favorite retro golden oldies and ‘80s cheese cover band, kicked off the spring on April 9 with a set on the patio at the Cadillac Lounge, celebrating “Michael Geraghty 2.0”. I had the pleasure of contributing vocals and guitar to this party and even got to sit in on harmonica with Michael’s band. Thanks to all who came out to toast Michael’s recovery from cancer treatment.

Following up our mini-tour of California, I headed south of the border again in May to collaborate with Devlin Miles, this time for a Coop Concert in her adopted hometown of Greenfield, MA.  While there we found a kindred spirit in drummer Rick Mauran, who accompanied us in performance and also generously opened his home to us for a weekend blitz of songwriting and recording. Thanks Rick!

If you enjoy YouTube (and who doesn’t?), please take some time to check out my channel at http://youtube.com/scottmandu109 for clips from our shows in Dana Point, CA and Greenfield, MA, as well as a recent Garage Baby performance at the Drake Hotel in Toronto, featuring the wild antics of Michael Bennett, Adam Faux, Claude Kent and James Paul.

Last Friday night, I had a great time at Mitzi’s Sister in Toronto filming the James Clark Institute’s NXNE set, my personal kickoff to summer festival season. As always, their performance was loaded with clever wordplay and lots of twang. Harmonica, too! Highlights will hit YouTube soon.

On the non-music side, my struggle to survive the increasing costs of being an indie musician continue. As you may know, I have always had an abiding love for all things food and beverage, and will be spending some of my summer days and evenings earning my stripes at the LCBO. In addition to my “regular” day job (it’s a private club, folks, sorry I can’t invite you over), this promises to be a very busy season as I also plan more musical activities at home and abroad. A full report on future appearances into the fall will be published as soon as I have more details. I will also be soliciting sponsorships and “crowdsourcing” funds for the completion of these ongoing projects. Any leads or assistance in these areas would be much appreciated.

I hope to see you sometime while the sun shines – remember, I do catering and wine tastings as well, and barbecue season is here, so contact me if you’d like some help or company.

Before you get to the travelblog, I invite you to visit the Double Essence Shop for this month’s free download, the 2011 Altitude Boys remix of “One Of Them”.

I was very happy to catch up with all my peeps in SoCal, including Prime Rib Productions’ Phil Rohr (lovin’ that Vinho Verde) and his lovely wife Shelley and son Declan (who will be starting at a new school for the exceptionally talented in the fall).

The ASCAP “I Create Music” conference was a networking bonanza as usual, Canada represented in force by Frankie Whyte (FW and The Dead Idols), Lily C who is working on a new record and Mark Cooper (Coop) who has a studio in Northern California I hope to visit someday.

My touring partner Devlin Miles and I worked hard rehearsing our set between conference events and managed a good turnout for our first Hollywood appearance at the Planet LA Japan Earthquake benefit in support of the American Red Cross. We even scored some cool swag in the silent auction, and were able to sneak a quick version of Adele’s “Rollin’ In The Deep” into our short set of Miles’ originals. We were interviewed by Jowanna Lewis of Screw Pop Culture (podcast will be available on iTunes) and had a photo opp with Ben Reiss of Planet LA. Thanks to Ben, Mark, Music Box and The Cabana Club for including us in the event. Also a shout out to Chris Arena for lending me a cable, and the other bands on the bill, our friends Native June and Robotanists.

Early the next morning we were on the road to Santa Barbara driving past breathtaking cliffs along the Pacific Ocean. It felt good to be out of the big city, and we received a warm welcome at Oreana Winery’s tasting room, just a couple of blocks from Stearns Wharf, the centerpiece of the town’s seafront. We played outside on a blistering hot May Day afternoon, and were happy to play a “campfire” set on the patio once the PA system went down with the sun. Many thanks to Jami at Oreana, Jenna and Jason for their hospitality and the new fans and friends we met there, including Chaye Tione, an amazing young poet who jumped in for an impromptu performance between sets.

After a quick morning of sightseeing, we were on the road again, this time to the heart of Orange County, Dana Point. Just a couple of miles from the famous and picturesque San Juan Capistrano and Marine Base Camp Pendleton, this seaside community welcomed us with open arms and we got great support from new and old fans from far and wide. Many thanks to the Phillips family for their hospitality, and The Renaissance Dana Point for the stage to play on. A couple of our ASCAP colleagues, Ruby from Alaska and Kyleellen (queen of the silent auction) made the journey from L.A. to catch our show and we pulled out all the stops on the last night of our mini-tour. Here’s a clip of Devlin’s song “Autumn’s Fires” from that show.

You can also find it on YouTube by clicking here.

So that’s the short version of this latest adventure. Apologies to anyone I left out, but I’ll make it up to you somehow.

I am out for now. Thanks for reading.

In the last decade I have reacquainted myself with L.A., and at a music industry conference a couple of years ago I met Devlin Miles, a talented and determined songwriter living in New York City. We stayed in touch after returning east, and she made the trek to Toronto and Ottawa last fall to perform her first shows in Canada. The photo of us onstage at The Elmdale in Ottawa is reprinted courtesy of Kim Nicholais.

Since we both planned to attend ASCAP’s annual conference in Hollywood this month, calls were made, friends and families mobilized, and she has asked me to share the stage with her at three California venues. I am very excited to be working with her again and grateful for the opportunity to play for our American neighbors.

Scottmandu and Devlin Miles support Japan Earthquake Relief

Here are the dates:
Saturday, April 30, 7:30 p.m. Cabana Club, Hollywood.

We will perform three songs at Planet LA‘s Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Benefit.

http://planetlajapanbenefit.eventbrite.com/

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=209128495765470

Sunday, May 1, 2 p.m. Oreana Vineyard Tasting Room, Santa Barbara.

The first patio gig of the year! We’ll be performing together and solo from 2 to 5 p.m.

Tuesday, May 3, 6 p.m. Renaissance Dana Point in Orange County.

We’ll be kicking of the evening in style at this early show, bands come on after 9.

The good news is that the sun is out, we’re back on Standard Time, and new events and performances are in the works. With the help of my long-suffering but ever brilliant production partner, James Paul, great progress has been made in the recording studio, bandmates are returning from vacations and other commitments and I am preparing for the ASCAP “I Create Music” EXPO in Los Angeles in April. This trip will also give me an opportunity to reconnect with one of my favorite “American Cousins”, Devlin Miles who has asked me to accompany her at a performance in Orange County on May 3.

I have spent some time this winter updating my mailing lists and will be sending updates and tweets when I have more news. Celebrate Spring!

Did I mention that Claude Kent has been a source of great advice and companionship over the years? Well, I have even taken his advice on a few occasions, or followed up on some random information he has provided. Such was the case when I found my current production partner, the redoubtable and contentious James Paul. A musician of prodigious talent, a movie obsessive, collector of all cool vintage audio gear, master of the analog and digital worlds, producer, mastering engineer, Altitude Boy and proprietor of the Magic Bean Roastery and The Rogue Music Lab, James had started a studio in his parents’ basement and is now in his third commercial location which strangely enough was the original location of Reaction Studios, where I recorded the first tracks for my 1993 solo debut, The Adventures of Scotty Showdown (see Shop page).

When I met James, he was already well-known in local circles for his activities as a musician in Pale Criminal and The Potboilers, as much as for his studio chops, having worked with, among others, a young Alanis Morrissette. He was also a respected FOH audio tech at clubs such as Sneaky Dee’s and The Cabana Room in Toronto.

Acting on a tip from Claude, I sought James out at his sprawling compound on Niagara Street, and we began work on what would become “Scottmandu” in 1998. At the time, James was (and remains) a devotee of analog recording. He had, however, been bitten by the Mac bug, and knew a thing or two about the digital realm. My CD project quickly became a training ground for both of us as we ascended the somewhat steep learning curve of Logic Pro. James has read the manuals cover-to-cover, but then I freely admit he’s a better man than I.

At one point we were crafting mixes for the songs on my record in an unorthodox manner, with some of the instruments coming through the console from 2 –inch 24-track tape, others from one of the computers in the control room, and other sounds and effects being flown in live through studio hardware. (Sorry to geek out on you, the musicians out there might get it). Anyway the point is, we learned a lot, and going through that experience together forged a bond that remains strong to this day.

We have continued to collaborate and taken our musical relationship far beyond the usual studio owner/ client level, developing a strong friendship as well as a fruitful and continually stimulating creative adventure. And any progress I have made as a producer and studio engineer, not to mention Mac geek, I attribute directly to him. Oh and did I mention his Juno awards?

Let’s track back oh, forty years or so, when popular music was a true cultural phenomenon, the culmination of the golden age of recorded music, and a mere decade into the miracle of color TV. One day in the town of Kingston, Ontario I met both Don Barber, featured in Chapter 1 of One Contact and Michael Roberts, who will be discussed in depth later. The three of us now comprise a musical act ironically (I think) called The RingTones and will headline two of the three shows this week. The third show features a band Don and I belong to with three other former schoolmates of the same vintage, two of whom (both named John) have played music together since high school.

I mention this for two reasons. One, we love music and will play until the day(s) we die, even though our chances of making anything resembling a living at it have been proven to be scant to nil. Reason two is that we have special guests (support acts) on these shows who are considerably younger than we are and are musicians for the same reason. One of them is a young American woman named Devlin Miles, whom I met two years ago at a music business conference in Los Angeles. Our friendship and musical collaboration arose from that chance meeting and it is inspiring and heartening to me to have made that connection.

When I attended that conference, I invited Phil Rohr (see chapter 3) to join me as a guest and together we attended a seminar on music marketing through social media which was conducted by Ariel Hyatt, whose company, Ariel Publicity, is based in Brooklyn, NY. At the time, I had decided to renew and rebrand the Double Essence enterprise which was my umbrella “dba” for all freelance activities from music publishing and production to catering and event promotion. I had a letterhead and some business cards, a small business account and a website, but no marketing plan and no specific comprehension of Internet marketing.

Ariel Hyatt changed all that. I’ve seen her a few times since then but never spoken to her until last week, when we shared an airport shuttle leaving this year’s edition of that same conference. This time I took the opportunity to let her know how important that first seminar was to me. I know she, like many others in the information field, travels all over the world, rubbing elbows with those that count themselves as VIPs, trying to get her message across and pick up the connections that will grow her business.

Although she has an incredibly positive outlook and obviously enjoys doing what she does, I know how much work it is and that often it might feel like a grind that goes nowhere. I wanted her to know that should she sometimes feel, in her “dark nights of doubt”, that it isn’t worth it, that I feel it most definitely is.

I’m not making much money. There are many of us in this business, as in many other fields, whose flood of ever-mounting expenses are threatening to drown not only our dreams but our very existence. Some of us are lucky enough to have the support of family, friends, and a network of like-minded fans who will book us, come to our shows, buy our songs, slave alongside us in the trenches and help us hold our heads high. Without that respect and assistance, we cannot sing, we cannot inspire others, and we cannot contribute to the culture of our communities, countries, and planet.

When Phil and I heard Ariel’s blueprints in 2008, we thought, “Oh, great, all we need is a clone/ partner to do the marketing work while we do our creative thing”. While that would still be helpful in some ways, I decided to start with one strategy at a time and see if I could be creative as well.

I started a modest e-mail newsletter, The Scottmandu Review, with an exclusive (i.e. small) mailing list, produced a few songwriters’ showcases, eventually got my new website finished, started connecting through myspace, Facebook, ReverbNation and Twitter. Most importantly, I tried to emulate Ariel and a few others I respected by trying to bring something of personal value to every conversation, every event I attended, every transaction of whatever kind.

And slowly I began to realize something. We’re all in it together. Even the “fat cats” want to hear a story, need to share a dream. If you can do something like play an instrument, sing a tune, write a melody, beat out a rhythm, you will find friends. Friends will be your best fans, and will find you more friends/ fans. You might not make a lot of money or be famous, but that’s not everything. You will survive, and you will help others find a joy and quality in their lives which would otherwise be subsumed by tumult, oppression and powerlessness.

Sometimes when your options are limited by circumstance, creative powers can rise to the fore and carry you on waves of energy to the peaceful shore. Are we there yet?

In this case, I happen to know very well exactly which bad things will happen, and when. But I need not and will not burden you with all of that. I’ll just go directly to The Subject at hand:

The Neighborhood Drummer, Master of Esoteric Martial Arts, Influential Bureaucrat, Relentless Purveyor Of The Power Pop, Deft With A Turn Of Phrase, Down On The One, One Of A Kind, The Superhero With The Not-So-Secret Identity.

And a man with no shortage of opinions, Claude Kent.

He was just a punk kid when I met him, but no way I could out-punk him. Our paths had crossed, but he had always been more observant than me, and reminded me of the West End connections we shared. My respect for him doubled immediately and I hadn’t even heard him play. When he sat down at the kit and poured his energy into the beat and the sheer joy of the work/play that defines his essence, I was a fan, and I still am.

I welcome all faithful readers to fact & link-check and comment accordingly (see my last brief post on New Wave Toronto), but I’m going to go out on a limb and say it was 1982 when we met. Claude had played most recently with a David Bowie tribute act, and a glam-rock project called Glamatron. And The Fitz. But that’s another story. I don’t want to muddy the waters with extraneous miscellanea.

Phil Rohr was an even younger ska-punk with attitude. Good looking boy, very quick on fretless and electric bass and Chapman Stick (gear nerd alert!). Also smart and active with many projects, including A Streetcar Named Desire, with Claude and Greg Biribauer, a sort of avant skronk/ jazz fusion power trio. I admit I couldn’t keep up. I’m trying to make up for it now, as we get together once or twice a year, reminisce, and rejuvenate. You see, Phil has a wife and son, both beautiful, both music fans, and that’s the kind of household I want to visit. And he has a studio in Atwater Village, one of the coolest areas in L.A., where we’ve put together some fine sounding tracks.

Ten to Midnight did some great shows for a few years at legendary Toronto venues like The El Mocambo and B,J, Cuddles, then splintered as so many fine bands do. I started a solo career, Sonny retired, Claude found his own voice in Clockwise, Phil formed Thick As Thieves, and so it goes.

Last weekend I helped Claude move out of the building where I’ve lived for three years, the Hilo Haven, his home for close to 20 years. He’s been out here in Alderwood and Long Branch, South Etobicoke, Toronto, Canada all his life. This was traumatic for me and the building’s owners, Irene and Alice Markoff who treated him as family. Oh well, even older boys leave home eventually.

Claude found many opportunities, looking for the right combination of players, music that would inspire him and move the audience. He continues to do so, and he moves me along with him. We have played together in countless combos, recorded together on many sessions, and I hope our adventures will continue until we shuffle off to the real Rock ‘n Roll Heaven.

And I will visit Phil and his family tomorrow, and roam his City of Angels, the city we love.