This LIVE video is the ending from my song “Lorraine” about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1968 murder in Memphis at the Lorraine Motel. The band really got into the groove and rode that tune to a glorious ending. Much gratitude to Sergio for kickin’ this so well and for his funeral march at the end.
ABOUT The Orangeville Gig: Playing in the Street: Intimate and Transient, like the Blues
When I was a kid, my pals and I played in the street almost every day. Ball hockey, baseball, racing bikes, often dodging cars, other times running into neighbours’ lanes, always rambunctious and barely under control. The street was our back and front yard. When we were out there, we owned it. Particularly at night. No cars. Few people. Just us. Laughing too loud, messing around, growing up.
Playing my own songs with a good band, in the street, is a weird and wonderful grown-up experience for me. Particularly in Orangeville, Ontario during the Annual Blues and Jazz Festival. People are close, so the vibe is intimate and transient. Kids fool around and dance with you, people saunter about licking ice cream cones and bask in the early summer sun that warms their faces. People smile as they drift along and then stop to catch the vibes of your band echoing into the twilight sky. After our sets, folks came right up and chatted with me and the band. It was personal, it was small town, it was real.
Festival founder and creative director Larry Kurtz made this happen – has done so for years and years. Larry and I go way back to Al Lerman’s Blues Basement Workshops in Etobicoke, and we’ve shared the stage a few times through the years, too. His Orangeville event was the first festival I ever played back in the early 2,000’s. This year, my band set up on Main Street and played to a flowing and friendly crowd. Right to the last moments of daylight, we offered up an eclectic mix of mostly original tunes, even sold some CDs (What?), and, as always, made some new friends. Joining me were Nicky Balkou (guitar), Lorraine Ingle (keys), John Tiernan (bass), and my musical brother from another mother and father, Sergio Faluotico (kit).
Playing live can be a gift. A lot of the time, the venue is not. Orangeville, by contrast, is a lovely treat that always whets my appetite for playing live, and inspires a lasting gratitude in me.
Thank you all for having us.
