Category Archives: Music

June 28, 2026 · 11:50 am

A Nostalgic Return to the Ottawa International Jazz Festival

For the first time in many years, we found ourselves back at the OIJF the other night in Confederation Park, right in the heart of downtown Ottawa.

From about 1990 to 2011, attending the festival was an annual tradition for us, so returning brought back a flood of wonderful memories. Especially that night in 1999 when Wynton Marsalis marched through the 8000+ crowd leading a New Orleans style brass parade. Or the night Diana Krall cut her finger playing the piano and asked if anyone in the audience had a bandaid! This was a nostalgic evening and a reminder of just how special this festival has always been.

Our seats were right in front of the stage, giving us a perfect view of two outstanding performances. First was Bob James, one of the pioneers of smooth jazz, whose music has influenced generations of musicians.

Then came Hiromi’s Sonicwonder. Born in Japan, Hiromi is one of the most explosive, virtuosic and electrifying jazz pianists and composers performing anywhere in the world today. Her energy, creativity and sheer technical brilliance had the audience captivated from the first note to the last.

We noticed many changes – no alcohol or food allowed in, gates don’t open until about 30 min. before show, prices up up and away. Still, it’s our favourite place to be on a warm summer evening.

It was a nostalgic and unforgettable evening—a wonderful return to one of Ottawa’s great summer traditions. Maybe we’ll see you there next year.

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May 17, 2026 · 1:58 am

Robert Charlebois

I remember seeing Robert play outside at Camp Fortune near Ottawa that summer. He sang his award winning song Lindberg among others.

The lyrics blend absurdity, pop culture and Quebec joual slang. That being said it is a very memorable song that transformed the Quebec music scene. Here is an English translation of the lyrics.

Spoken Intro:
Astro-jets, whisper-jets, clipper-jets, turbos…
By the way… I was at Sophie’s.
Who took the plane, Holy Spirit of Duplessis, without telling me!
So… I took off again on… 

Chorus:
Quebecair, Transworld, North-east, Eastern, Western, and Pan-American!
But I don’t know where I’ve ended up. 

Verse 1:
I went to the south of the south, under the sun.
Blue, white, red, palm trees and frozen coconuts.
At the poles, with tanned Eskimos.
Who knit arrow sashes.
And always, Sophie, who had just left again. 

Chorus:
Quebecair, Transworld, North-east, Eastern, Western, and Pan-American!
But I don’t know where I’ve ended up. 

Verse 2:
There was even, there was even a company that hired pigeons that flew inside.
And that did the balancing to keep it in the wind.
It was absolutely, absolutely, absolutely very messy. 

Chorus:
Quebecair, Transworld, North-east, Eastern, Western, and Pan-American!
But I don’t know where I’ve ended up.

Verse 3:
My Sophie, my very own Sophie, took a company that flew on Turkish rugs.
And me, by the way…
I ended up on camelback! 

Chorus:
Quebecair, Transworld, North-east, Eastern, Western, and Pan-American!
But I don’t know where I’ve ended up.

Outro:
Then I took a fall… a hell of a fall with a parachute.
And I found my Sophie.
She was in my bed… with my best friend.
And above all, my jar of maple cookies, that I had collected… 

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May 14, 2026 · 11:17 am

April 9, 1973

I remember attending a Procol Harem concert at University of Guelph, Ontario on this date.

They also played:

It was a real fab concert 53+ years ago!

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September 21, 2025 · 5:15 pm

Powerhouse

Were you ever in a rock band or dreamt about it? Well I was very briefly in 1969. The band was called Powerhouse. Doug on drums, Eric on keyboards, Tommy lead singer. There must have been a bass, a guitar and a trumpet player too. I played tenor sax. I remember doing one gig in Renfrew I think it was, before we broke up. We had a hurse for transferring the equipment.

I was new to the tenor sax having dropped playing the flute a year earlier to learn the sax in grade 12. While generally easier to play than most wind instruments, I was still nevertheless a pure novice. So I had not played it in a year and borrowed one from Woodroffe High School.

I remember practices at Doug’s house near the Ottawa airport. We also set up in our family room for awhile but that may have been the summer before. I remember playing or rather trying to play the sax parts in Sam and Dave’s Hold on I’m Coming. Of course in those days all we had was a record player way of listening to a song to learn it.

Eric, my good friend got me into it. Not sure how but he knew the other members. Tommy was the son of my grade 9 Latin teacher. Doug (Inglis) went on to a recording career with the reconstituted trio Powerhouse, then on to the better known rock trio Goddo and sadly passed away in 2021. It was fun playing with them but I felt I did not know what I was doing and would often fake playing.

So the realty of the need to practice eventually took the fun out of it for me. Anyways another bunch of fond high school memories I sometimes reminisce about. Should have kept up that sax and flute!

That’s Doug in the middle.

I leave you with a lovely tune from Greg Godovitz’s band Goddo that showcases Doug’s creative ability.

Finally, here is a great tribute to him from fellow band member …. starting about 32 mins in.

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August 2, 2025 · 6:01 pm

KPLZ

I’ve had a battle with ChatGpt lately. The popular AI platform says KPLZ 101.5 Seattle never had a program called Friday Night Jazz. Well I happened to have recorded this program on 6 separate occasions way back in 1982 when I was living in North Vancouver.

So here is the proof. It’s a short sample of the full audio cassette recording I made of the program on April 2, 1982.

So I uploaded this file to ChatGpt and it now has adjusted its database accordingly. It really was a great radio program playing crossover jazz and fusion artists like Bobby Caldwell, Maynard Ferguson, the Yellowjackets, Grover Washington, Spyro Gyra, etc. Tom Reddick was the announcer.

In case you don’t know what music I am talking about, I leave you with a couple of samples. It really was groundbreaking music at the time – the precursor I suppose to Smooth Jazz which I don’t really like. Yes, I know, this is all trivial pursuit but great memories nevertheless.

Dave

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December 12, 2022 · 5:59 pm

My Favourite 10 Music Groups

OK, I worked it all out last night. Here are my all time favourite pop/rock music groups.

  • 10 The Guess Who/Acoustic Alchemy
  • 9 Lenine
  • 8 Jimi Hendrix Experience
  • 7 Firefall
  • 6 Brian Auger
  • 5 The Eagles
  • 4 Level 42
  • 3 Bob Marley and the Wailers
  • 2 The Doors
  • 1 The Beatles

Most of these groups are probably familiar to you. Some not. Level 42 is a jazz/funk group from Isle of Wight. I bought their first 2 albums in the 80s and still enjoy their music. Brian Auger is an English Hammond key board player from the 70s who still amazes me with his jazzy chords. If you can’t remember who Firefall is, Google their 70s soft country rock music and you will remember them. Lenine (pronounced leneenay) is a superb Brazilian, composer, vocalist and guitar player on the rock side. (Brazilian Bossa Nova would be my desert island music of choice followed closely by Bob Marley.)

I had to include a Canadian group and the Guess Who from Winnipeg with Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman is it, really! Than I remembered my love for Accoustic Alchemy’s intricate nylon string guitar music from the 80s which I still listen too frequently. So a tie for 10th. On the classical side I still listen to Dmitri Shostakovich, particularly his 5th Symphony which rehabilitated his relationship with the Russian Communist authorities in the 30s.

Well that’s it. What are your favourite groups, any overlap with mine?

Simply the best group of all time!

Whoops. How could I forget to mention Argent? Prog rock group with strong vocals led by ex Zombies keyboardist Rod Argent. Anything they did was amazing. So I am revising the list to 12 top picks with Argent at no. 10, Acoustic Alchemy at 11 and the Guess Who at 12. (Sorry for the delayed double posting.)

Whoops 2. How could I fail to mention Yes. Their war protest song “Yours Is No Disgrace” is pure masterpiece:

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December 11, 2021 · 4:48 pm

And then there were two…Beatles

About halfway through Peter Jackson’s new documentary series of the Beatles making their live Let It Be album in 1969, Paul stares vacantly into space and utters the phrase “And then there were two.” His eyes water over and he almost cries. So did I. Ringo sitting nearby even looks dejected. George had left on Friday at noon with the terse comment “I will be leaving the band now.” i.e., quitting the Beatles. The fab four had had a meeting on the weekend to try to patch things up. The meeting did not go well. On Monday morning Ringo and then Paul come in for work. An aid tells them that says John is not answering his phone and won’t likely be coming in. This prompts Paul’s eerily prophetic comment.

This is the “low point” in a poignantly fascinating close up with the Beatles at work in the studio. New Zealander Peter Jackson who directed, wrote and produced the The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogy series, does an incredible job here with this 7 hour 3 episode TV series. It’s probably one of the best movies I have ever seen. John does come in a little later. Things do get patched up with George and he returns later in the week. They move to the new Apple studio and keyboardist Billy Preston is invited to join the group.

This is a documentary about making a documentary. After 3 years of no public concerts, the Beatles commit to work 21 days in the studio to prepare 14 songs for some kind of public event – a movie, a concert, a TV series, an album?? No one seems to know and the lads are divided. John is willing to do a live concert but the others are unsure. Paul quips that they have grown shy. Finally the idea of a roof top concert is pitched and they sign on. The movie ends with this live concert on the roof of the Apple Records building in Saville Row.

What I like about this movie apart from the great live music is that the personality of each individual Beatle is on display. As things continuously derail, the pressure mounts to complete the project. Paul starts pushing them a bit. George feels rushed which prompts his walkout; John is typically cynical and funny, Ringo is like a teddy bear that holds them all together. Despite their differences, they have each other’s back and love goofing around. It speaks volumes that Paul and Ringo supported the release of this “tell all” warts and all, now 50 years later. It corrects for example the false story that John and George came to physical blows – this never happened. Yoko Ono is silently present at all times with John. Paul brings in Linda Eastman several times. Paul recently said he is happy that the series is out because it corrects the record that he was somehow the root cause of the Beatles breakup, which he himself had bought into at the time. (John, the founder becomes the first one to leave in 1970.)

The concert on the roof is hilarious with 2 bobbies wondering if they should start arresting people due to the noise complaints and passersby on the street wondering what is happening. The Let it Be album is “live recorded” in situ and not dubbed as was the usual way albums are made. It turns out the material was judged to be “uneven in nature” so the Beatles delay releasing it until 1970 after some adjustments by engineer Phil Spector (at John’s request). This was after they had gone into the studio yet again to produce Abbey Road which has been acknowledged as the best album they ever made. So there is creative life in them yet when this movie ends. In 2003 the “Naked” version of the Let It Be album was issued by Paul to better reflect the actual sonic quality they were trying to achieve by recoding live. It is an amazing listening experience!!!

All in all, 5.5 stars out of 5. If your a Beatles fan, you have to see Let It Be!

(Note, it’s currently on the Disney Plus channel. You can sign up, cancel and then watch it all month.)

PS. John is my favorite! Who is yours?

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July 19, 2021 · 1:02 am

Inner Journey – Bluegrass

la-to-ak2Download

We were no where near Kentucky or Virginia but we were about to discover some Bluegrass. We headed north out of Louisiana for Arkansas. We noticed how close we were to the Oklahoma border – so we diverted west again just a bit. The first day we drove on a winding road to a state park called Broken Bow. Wow – a huge park on a river and lake with superb facilities, store, restaurant etc. We hiked for an hour or so and enjoyed a nice étouffée dinner followed by a warm crackling campfire. It was to be a cool night and we were up by 7h30 raring to go a little farther into OK the next day.

As we were about to leave we noticed an Ontario plate at the campsite across the road. We had a nice chat with a friendly couple, Charlie and Cathy from Perth, Ontario. They were on their way home hauling their 5th wheel travel trailer from Harlingen, TX which is near the Rio Grande border with MX. Many Canadians spend the winter there in the dozens of RV parks that abound. Well it turns out they like music – specifically Bluegrass and were on their way to an informal festival with friends in Arkansas at which they would be playing. They invited us to join them there the day after next.

We googled things and realized that we were smack in the heart of ‘tornado alley’ in tornado season. Keeping a wary eye to the sky and listening to weather forecasts, we headed farther north in OK. It was a scenic drive through beautiful trees and we stopped for lunch at Windy Stop National Park. Continuing we stopped for the night at Talemena S. P. and found a nice grassy site. We went for a 90 min hike along the historic Ouachita military trail. The shrimp and dirty rice dinner tasted so good that night that we danced for joy.

The next day we headed east for our rendezvous in Adona, AK not too far from Little Rock. We found the Cypress Creek Music Park and checked in for a very unique night. That evening the fiddles, guitars, mandolins, base and banjo came out and we enjoyed an impromptu concert. Charlie and Cathy were great hosts and made us feel welcome. They were also very visible Christians. We enjoyed their presence. We promised to meet up in Canada again someday – and we did by chance at the Bluegrass Music Festival in Renfrew, ON a couple of years later.

So a chance encounter in tornado alley lead to some really good Bluegrass times. Check out Bill Monroe:

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February 27, 2021 · 5:33 pm

Road Trekin Days

At the Pembroke Ontario Fiddlefest with our “new” RV

We were the very proud owners of a Roadtrek RV for 4 years after retiring. We had tried out an RV rental in Florida previously and really liked the freedom of roaming everyday and staying in nature at night. So we weren’t complete novices when we purchased our 1999 Roadtrek 190 Versatile in August 2010. Our friends Betty and Glenn had been RVing for years and were encouraging us. Glenn even came with me to kick the tires before we purchased from an elderly couple who could not climb in easily anymore.

Sanibel Island Florida

Some technicalities for those not familiar with RVs. There are 3 basic types of RV motorhomes. Class A refers to the biggest ones which are bus like in shape and size and cost upwards of $200K new. These are big enough to live in however the cost of upkeep and their huge size does make for some limitations we thought. Class B refers to a converted van – what we bought. The advantage is you can park these in your laneway or on a city street and easily move from place to place. The tradeoff is their relatively small interior space. They cost upwards of $100K new. The Class C are a compromise between the A and B and is what we had rented in Florida. They are extremely popular and cost $75K and up new. You cannot easily park these in your laneway (neighbours may complain) and some cities will not let you park them in public places due to their unsightliness in some circles. There are also trailers and various pop-up campers which we were not attracted to mainly because you have to tow it.

So we decided to buy a used RV and found a Roadtrek 190 Versatile (19 feet long) in the Gatineau area. Rather than explain it all here, if you are curious, here is a link to a detailed video of what this particular unit is all about. Skip if not interested and/or you are already familiar with RV technology. It is a very complex machine that does provide all the comforts of home in a new place everynight. Roadtreks at that time were manufactured in Kitchener, ON so we eventually toured their factory to see how they put these popular units together. It is the intricate cutting and fitting that makes these so expensive. Yes it is crowded and a real test of your marriage lol!

We knew we would like the lifestyle of hitting the road and camping but perhaps we did not realize just how much fun and freedom it would all be. We went places we would never otherwise have gone and enjoyed meeting so many interesting people. We usually stayed in RV and State parks when we traveled. We also would stay in casino parking lots or campgrounds very cheaply and use their facilities. I don’t remember ever staying overnight in a Walmart parking lot or a highway rest stop as we did not consider these locations safe. At one point we lived in our baby for 3+ months when we were between houses. All told I think we spent about a year living in it and put on 60,000 km in four short years. In the end we had had enough and moved up to the comfort of renting motel rooms and condos when we traveled. Will never forget the good times we had and we understand the current frenzy people have about getting out of the city and camping during the Covid pandemic. It is a great lifestyle if you enjoy travelling and the outdoors.

Some of the trips we took over the four years we had our Roadtrek were to:

  • Pembroke, ON Fiddlefest
  • Algonguin Park and Midland, ON
  • Washington, DC
  • Renfrew, ON Bluegrass Festival
  • Florida 3 times
  • San Diego, CA
  • Winnipeg, MB
  • Finger Lakes, NY
Friends Glenn and Betty

Our very first trip was to Pembroke for the annual Labour Day Weekend Fiddlefest. This is a big deal with hundreds of RVs crowded into the beautiful Riverside park. There are hundreds of “amateur” musicians playing fiddles, guitars, pianos, string bass and singing and dancing at multiple pop up sites. People come from all over Ontario, western Quebec, northern US to participate or simply enjoy. Our friends the Clarkes had been going for years and had a large camping spot reserved that we could fit our Roadtrek into. I remember pulling into the registration area and just as we did we heard a loud pop like a gunshot. Everyone ducked. When we got out we found that one of the tire valves which was old and cracked had simply failed with a loud bang and we had a flat tire lol! We managed to get the tire fixed that day I think and all went well from then.

Our setup with Glenn and Betty

We were soon introduced to the routine of making the rounds to the various music venues until the late hours and than sleeping in the next day, going for a walk, eating and then doing it all over again. The music, laughter and hospitality was absolutely great. Here are a few pics.

The highlight for sure was an original song that Debbie and Maggie Beschamps wrote and performed called Whippoorwill Betty. This talented mother and daughter team had a large RV on the same site that we were in and put on a great show every night that was very popular. They had become good friends with Betty and Glenn and in appreciation composed and sang this song about Betty’s distinctive laugh for the first time. You must see the live version below I recorded. Our RV provides the backdrop.

This was the first of several visits to this Ottawa Valley festival. Sadly it was cancelled in 2020 due to Covid. We are hoping it will be a go this year. Wow, our first local RV trip was truly a great one. Thanks for reading. As usual your comments and questions are welcome.

Dave and Marie

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December 6, 2020 · 9:55 pm

Woodroffe High School Band – 2: 1966 Trans-Continental Music Tour

Concluding our story about the Woodroffe High School Band…

I was very lucky to be included in this monster trip as I had been a member of the junior band for only a year when moved up to the senior band. We were going on this tour to further our musical education and give us a greater appreciation of our Canadian citizenship. How honoured and excited we were to participate in this, led by our great band leader Mr. Peter F. Manley.

Preparations for the month long trip included raising $15,000 to cover transportation and other costs. Profits included bottle drives, bake sales, Christmas card drives, concerts, dances and selling light bulbs. A very active parents committee helped with all the work. We even made the Ottawa Journal newspaper. Then it was off to the west by train.

We boarded the train in the old downtown Ottawa train station after hugging our parents goodbye. I remember being so excited that I could not sleep. We hurtled through northern Ontario and on to north of Superior. What an immense land of lakes and trees! Finally we arrived in Winnipeg about 40 hours later totally exhausted. I was sent to the YMCA, some others were billeted or in hotels. The next day we played our first concert in front of 500 people in Central Park. It was a big success! We had a day trip to the International Peace Gardens on the North Dakota border. Phew, now it was on to Saskatoon.

We continued on our way by train from Saskatoon to Edmonton, Peace River, New Westminster (Vancouver) BC, Banff, Calgary, Regina and back through Winnipeg. The Rockies were spectacular. I remember playing at the Kitsilano Showboat in Vancouver, a trip to the beach in White Rock, BC, going to the Calgary Stampede and climbing the Legislative Building tower in Regina to see the prairie in the distance on all four sides. We were rained out in Edmonton and had a very long 500 KM bus trip to Peace River.

In addition to Mr. Manley, there were 3 other chaperones on the trip – Joe Nuth who looked after the finances, Arthur Very equipment and Joy Kingsbury who looked after the girls. We were closely watched but with 50 plus students and all those logistics to manage, we found lots of time to party freely. It’s safe to say that the senior members taught us junior members a thing or two other than music lol. All in all the trip was a great success and we arrived back in Ottawa with quite a swagger.

Mayor Don Reid wrote: “The Woodroffe High School Band is one of the leading high school bands in the Province of Ontario. Ottawa is proud of its high school bands, and this particular group of musicians has brought great credit and honour to our city. In their travels across Canada in the summer of 1966 these ambassadors represented not only the Collegiate Institute Board of Ottawa, but also the Nation’s Capital. I have much pleasure in commending to you the efforts and talents of these young people.” Wow!

1966-67 Wyvern

I remember us playing Bobby Gimbi’s “Canada” song throughout 1967 including in front of Prince Philip on Parliament Hill. In Grade 12 I decided to take up the tenor saxophone and gave up my flute position in the band. In Grade 13 I took a full slate of maths and sciences and dropped music completely. It had been a great educational and life experience. I am forever indepted to Mr. Manley and the other music teachers I had for instilling in me a life long love of music, and travelling! My favorite piece remains the finale from Dmitri Shostakovich’s 5th symphony Allegro non troppo, which we played sometimes with great difficulty.

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