Ancaster Musician Paul Vasilak Passes

It is with sadness that we announce the passing of Ancaster musician, hairstylist and photographer Paul Vasilak. He passed away on Friday, July 14, 2023 due to a motorcycle crash. Our condolences to his family, friends and fans.

Click here for the Hamilton Spectator story.

Social Media Reaction

Laura Cole

You were one of a kind, Paully.💔 A friendship unmatched. The love, support and encouragement you’ve given me over the years will be carried out through my entire life. You’ve always reminded me of how proud you were of me, and I’d always remind you of how proud I was of you. I’m absolutely devastated that you’re gone. I am heartbroken that I can’t call you for a pep talk, launch another rocket with you, play pinball together, play music together- those are all memories I’ll cherish. We made a lot of those in our time together. Another hole punched in my heart. I miss you already. 

Til we meet again, 😔 I can’t believe I’m writing this.. 

Rest in Paradise, Paully. 

Give CBT and Bob a hug for me.

Matt Paxton

Rest in Peace, Paul Vasilak

Thank you for all the support and inspiration and songs. You were one of a kind. I hope you and Bob are jamming and laughing together.  

Links: Caretakers, More Caretakers Stories, Video above courtesy of TheCaretakersProject

Links: Matt Paxton, More Matt Paxton Stories, Greg Preston, Video above courtesy of Jay Lolli

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Previous (Blues Blast Music Awards Nominations) - - - Next (Living Blues Awards)

Happy Father's Day! Caretakers, Ludgates, Craig Cardiff, Donald McGeoch

Update of 2017 post.

Links: Caretakers, More Caretakers Stories, Video above courtesy of TheCaretakers Project



Links: John and Sheila Ludgate, More John and Sheila Stories, Video above courtesy of saxondale2



Links: Craig Cardiff, More Craig Cardiff Stories, Video above courtesy of Latent Image Studios

Links: Donald McGeoch, More Don McGeoch Stories, Video above courtesy of Angela Henrique

More Father's Day Videos

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Previous (Big Rude Jake Passes) - - - Next (Indigenous Peoples Day/Summer Songs)

Happy 7th Birthday Trebleclef!

Today (Feb 15, 2022) our little monkey turns 7 years old! 

Click here for more of Trebleclef's adventures.

Treble's happy that live music is back in time for his birthday. He's vaxxed, boosted and ready to go out an enjoy some live music! 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUDDY!

Links: Caretakers, More Caretakers Stories, Video above courtesy of Thee Caretakers - Topic

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Previous (Valentine's Day Videos) - - - Next (Blues Music Award Nominations)

Music in Honour of Gary De Podesta

Local music superfan Gary DePodesta passed away recently and there was a wonderful  musical celebration of his life at the Pearl Company in Hamilton on Friday, October 6, 2017. All monies raised will paid for the rental of the venue as well as to Gracenotes (which helps fund local music projects in Hamilton).

There are some amazing musical acts, including:

• The Barr Band
• Sonny Del Rio 
  
  
  
  Links: Sonny Del Rio, More Sonny Del Rio Stories, Video above courtesy of Barb Pitre
  
  
• Graceworks 
• Jude Johnson
  
  
  
  Links: Jude Johnson, More Jude Johnson Stories, , Video above courtesy of Hamilton Blues Lovers
  
  
• The Kings of Marigold (Christopher Clause, Michael Scott, Peter Taplay, Scott Taplay)
  
  
  
  Links: Christopher Clause, More Christopher Clause Stories, More Beatles Covers/Stories, Video above courtesy of Shotgun Jilly
  
  
• Fred Magie
  
  
  
  Links: red Magie, More Fred Magie Stories, More Beatles Covers/Stories, Video above courtesy of Fred Magie
  
  
• Melissa Marchese
  
  
  
  Video above courtesy of Andrea Cassis
  
  
• Lena Montecalvo
  
  
  
  Links: Lena Montecalvo, More Lena Montecalvo Stories, More Beatles Covers/Stories, Video above courtesy of trebilco65
  
  
• Trickbag
  
  
  
  Links: Trickbag, More Trickbag Stories, Video above courtesy of Trickbag Canada

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Previous (New Low Country Hilll EP) - - - Next (News Roundup: Tom Petty, Purple Helmet, Shjaane Glover, Colin Cripps)

News Roundup (Blue Rodeo, Lena Montecalvo, Shea D Duo, Gunter Ott)

• Blue Rodeo wins Governor General Arts Award

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Funny Stuff

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Recently Added

Our Performer List

• Blackwood Two
• Juliet Dunn
• Sarah J Felker
• Kauffey Temple
• The Macinaws
• Shea D Duo
  
  
  
  Video above courtesy of Juliet Dunn
  

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Blasts From the Past 

• 2009: Juno Winners
• 2010: Jack Harlan@Artword Artbar
• 2011: Mark Vanderheyden@Pheasant Plucker
• 2012: Juno Winners
• 2013: Ensemble w Wax Mannequin, Dave Pomfret, Mark Lotterman and Dave Gould

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Upcoming Birthdays 

Thursday, April 3

• Lawrie Ingles
• Dave Ptolemy

Saturday April 5

• Annette Haas

Sunday, April 6

• Kim Campagnaro (Groove Corporation)
• Alan Cross
• Martin Verall

Tuesday, April 8

• Lena Montecalvo (Caretakers)
  
  
  
  Links: More Lena Montecalvo Stories, More Leonard Cohen Covers/Stories, Video above courtesy of Mike Trebilcock
  
  
• Gunter Ott
  
  
  
  Links: More Gunter Ott Stories, Video above courtesy of SimVid2
  

Thursday, April 10

• Sarah Burton
• Al Lerman (Fathead)

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Previous (New Southern Ontario Roots Endowment Awards) - - - Next (Carl Jennings of Freedom Train and Danny Lockwood on New Mark Crissinger EP)

New Rob Green Debut CD: Soul Dancing

It's not often that an artist has such a strong, top-notch debut as local singer/songwriter Rob Green's Soul Dancing.

Filled with stunning songwriting and considerable musicianship, the CD is a sonic adventure.  Rob's expressive voice travels through symphonic flourishes, amazing acoustic guitar, jazzy saxes, funky beats, and beyond.

Backing him up is a contingent of talented area artists, including Mike Trebilcock, Lena Montecalvo, Sharon Musgrave, Jacob Moon, Neil Braithwaite and others.

This wonderful disc is available through Rob's web site or at his live shows.

You can listen to tracks from the album below.

 
Links: Rob Green, More Rob Green Stories, More CD Releases 

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Previous (News Roundup w/John Ellison, Alex MacDougall and more) - - - Next (Videos: Tim Gibbons@Brantford Station House)

New Caretakers CD: Love, War + PRopaganda

Love, War + PRopaganda is the latest CD from Hamilton's own folk-rock band with a conscience, the Caretakers.

The group have taken the amazing sound from their debut disc and journeyed beyond. The bedrock is still classic, melodic folk rock though. Lena Montecalvo's powerful vocals and Jeffrey Martin's character-filled voice are on full display, as always.

In this cool collection, you get the funkiness of Just Like California, the pop-flavoured Flowers for Peace, the countrified Left a Friend Behind, the catchy I'm the Happiest Man (featuring some cool Ukele work) and much more. Lyrically, they cover many social issues (especially on songs such as On Becoming Noam Chomsky and In Humanity We Trust).

Jeffrey and Lena are the core duo of the Caretakers. Joining them are a number of amazing local musicians such as Mike Trebilcock (who also produces), Carrie Ashworth, Barry Mac, Kim Deschamps, Jesse O'Brien, Matt Coleman and former Caretaker Norm Van Bergen

The CD is available at their live shows and can be downloaded on Bandcamp.

Below is a song from the CD, courtesy of the band's YouTube page.



Blast from the past: Review of their debut CD + Videos

Links: Caretakers, More Caretakers Stories

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Previous (Locke Street Fest) - - - Next (News Roundup + Videos)

Barry Mac@Upper James Neighbour Block Party (September 17, 2011) Part 2

Click here for Part 1

This performance was a fundraiser for the Neighbour 2 Neighbour Centre, click picture below to donate.


Bonus videos courtesy of DirkFimBob







Links: Barry Mac, More Barry Mac Stories

Barry Mac and Lena Montecalvo@Upper James Neighbour Block Party (September 17, 2011) Part 1

Click here if you can't see the videos.









More to come . . .

This performance was a fundraiser for the Neighbour 2 Neighbour Centre, click picture below to donate.


Bonus videos from This Ain't Hollywood courtesy of Deadendly





Links: Barry Mac, More Barry Mac Stories

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Previous (New Dinner Belles CD) - - - Next (Barry Mac@Upper James, Part 2) 

Caretakers@Supercrawl (September 10, 2011)

Click here if you can't see the videos.





Videos below courtesy of Mama Loves Music









More Supercrawl Videos

• The Rest
• Dinner Belles (includes CD Review)
• Photos
  

Links: Caretakers, More Caretakers Stories

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Previous (Michael Birthelmer@Lock Street Festival) - - - Next (The Rest@Supercrawl)

Local Monkees Tribute CD Fundraiser (First HBL Records Release)

The Hamilton Blues Lovers have decided to get into the music business. Our first release will be Monkeeing Around, a charity CD featuring the songs of the Monkees covered by local, talented musicians.

We caught up with the ever-elusive Hamilton Blues Lovers Inc. CEO, Lou, for an exclusive interview at his mansion.

“Our initial offering had to be special, so I immediately thought of doing a fundraising album,” he explained. “There are many worthy non-profit organizations around but I wanted to do something unique. Then I thought - What better cause than to help our poor politicians? Despite all their money, there's still one thing they can’t seem to afford - A CLUE. Heck, we'd just need to buy one for them and we're all set!”

As a result, Lou founded a new organization: the Democratic Understanding House - dedicated to buying a clue for our politicians. Then, after watching a parliamentary debate on TV, inspiration hit Lou like a flash - “MONKEES!”. He decided the disc would be a tribute to the classic band.

After intense negotiations with the Monkees' management (“The band were holding out for 2 buckets of chicken each,” Lou explained) he got their blessing, and searched for local musicians to help him.

A number of tracks have already been recorded:

• Monkees Theme by the Dharlings
• Last Train to Clarksville by Frank and Kim Koren
• Daydream Believer by Barry Mac and Lena Montecalvo
• (I’m Not Your) Stepping Stone by Mark Vanderheyden
• I’m a Believer by Les Smith (Trickbag)

The CD will be available exclusively at Eatons, Consumers Distributing, and Luigi's House of Muffins 'N' Haggis.

In related news - After hearing Les Smith's work on the disc, the Monkees have decided to hire him as a replacement for Mike Nesmith, who won’t be part of their upcoming reunion tour. Good Luck Les!

Sample cover artwork provided by April Fulcilli.

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Previous (Mark Vanderheyden@Pheasant Plucker) - - - Next (Hamilton Folk Club@Pheasant Plucker)

Cool You Tube Videos (Ben Somer, Barry Mac, Robin Benedict)

Links: Ben Somer - More Ben Somer Stories

Video courtesy of Southern Souls





Links: Barry Mac - More Barry Mac Stories - More From this Performance

Videos courtesy of Deadendly





Links: Robin Benedict - More Robin Benedict Stories

Videos courtesy of Mama Loves Music

Barry Mac and the One Eyed Jacks @ Westside Concert Theatre (November 20, 2010)

This was part of the Hamilton Music Awards Showcase.

Click here if you can't see the videos.

Barry Mac (Vocals, guitar), Spider Costello (drums), Lena Montecalvo (harmony vocals), Carrie Ashworth (bass)









Links: Barry Mac - More Barry Mac Stories

More Performances from the Westside Concert Theatre HMA Showcase:

• Carter Lancaster
• Christopher Clause
• Photos from the event
  

Rick Kricket, Lena Montecalvo and David Crossley @ Plough and Harrow (September 11, 2010)

Click here if you can't see the videos.














Links: Rick Kricket - More Rick Kricket Stories - Lena Montecalvo - More Lena Montecalvo Stories - Deacons (Rick and David were members of this band)

Festival of Friends, Stage 3 (Aug 7, 2010)

Click here if you can't see the videos











Links: Caretakers - Tia McGraff - Shawn Trotter - Darrelle London, Carly and Mark


More Festival of Friends 2010 Footage:

• Songs Jackie Washington Would Like (Mark McNeil, Steve Sinnicks, Mo Kauffey, Trickbag, Sonny Del Rio)
• Loving or Leaving (Kim Koren, Les Smith, Terra Lightfoot)
• Friday Main Stage (Richie Havens, Buckwheat Zydeco, Dr. John)
• Looney Tunes (Darelle London, Mo Kauffey, Steve Sinnicks, Mark McNeil)
• Hit the Road (Alfie Smith, Carly & Mark, Terra Lightfoot, Kim Koren)
• Favourites (Stumbleweed, Tia McGraff, Gabriel Ayala,
• Blues You Can Use (Trickbag, Mo Kauffey, Sonny Del Rio)
• You Say "Seltic", I Say "Celtic" (Steve Sinnicks, Shawn Trotter, Gabriel Ayala)
• Bring Strings (Mark McNeil, Alfie Smith, Steven Elmo Murphy, Dan Walsh, Kim Koren)
• My Roots Are Showing (Trickbag, Mo Kauffey, Duane Rutter, Sonny Del Rio)
  

Open Streets Hamilton (James Street) June 6, 2010

Click here if you can't see the videos



Links: Caretakers - More Caretakers Stories

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Links: Dave Gould - More Dave Gould Stories - More Crackers Stories

VooDoo Chicken @ Jessica Agro Mac Kids Fundraiser (May 14, 2010)

Click here if you can't see the videos.

VooDoo Chicken are: (Left to Right): Karen Johnson, Lisa Winn, Christopher Clause, Spider Costello, Mike Rittenhouse, Greg Brisco, and Andrew Aldridge











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Bonus video: Lena Montecalvo & Craig Koshul (of Burnin' Ethyl) opened the night.



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The Caretakers and Friends @ Vibewrangler Studio (May 8, 2010)

Click here if you can't see the videos.

The Caretakers are (left to right): Norman Van Bergan, Jeffrey C. Martin & Lena Montecalvo



They're joined by Paully Vas (harmonica), Mike Vertimiglia (guitar-left), Dan Stadjuhar (drums), Nick Cino (guitar-centre, lead vocals on You Can't Always Get What You Want), Dave Marini (bass), John Daly (guitar-right), Barry Mac (slide guitar)



More Bob Dylan Covers/Stories





More Rolling Stones covers/stories

This was a CD release party: Click here for our review of the CD (and more footage from this show).

Barry Mac and the One Eyed Jacks were one of the opening acts: Click here for that performance

Links: Caretakers Site - More Caretakers Stories

Barry Mac and the One-Eyed Jacks @ Vibewrangler Studio (May 8, 2010)

Click here if you can't see the videos.

Left to right: Spider Costello (drums), Barry Mac (guitar, vocals), Carrie Ashworth (bass) and Lena Montecalvo (vocals)










They were opening for the Caretakers CD Release Party. Click here to view that performance.

Links: Barry Mac Site - More Barry Mac Stories

New Caretakers CD: Unfinished Thoughts

With a core of three distinctive vocalists and a talented team of musicians to back them up, the Caretakers have created an incredibly diverse new CD, Unfinished Thoughts (and Other Stories from the Songwriter's Den)

The Caretakers are Jeffrey C. Martin (guitar, vocals, main songwriter), Lena Montecalvo (vocals), and Norm Van Bergen (vocals, guitar). Though they each have a distinctive voice, the trio also work really well together when the song calls for harmonies.

The band takes the CSNY/Buffalo Springfield/Byrds style folk rock sound and updates it. Elements of southern rock, pop, country, and more can be heard throughout the disc. Lyrically, the songs also explore a number of political themes.

Standout tracks include the epic sounding Seven Monkeys On My Back, the sweet, soulful Daddy Laughed, and the incredibly catchy opening number, It's Thinking Time.

Helping the trio with this great CD is an amazing array of local talent. They include members of the Mississippi Kings and Freedom Train along with Barry Mac, and Mike Trebilcock, and others.

The disc is available at their shows and Picks N Sticks. It call also be downloaded by clicking here. A dollar from each CD goes to War Child Canada.

Below are videos from their CD Release Party at Vibewranger Studio on May 8, 2010.

The Caretakers are behind the mics (left to right): Norman Van Bergan, Jeffrey C. Martin & Lena Montecalvo

They're joined by Mike Trebilcock (Mandolin on Daddy Laughed), Paully Vas (harmonica), Mike Vertimiglia (guitar-left), Dan Stadjuhar (drums), Nick Cino (guitar-centre), Dave Marini (bass), John Daly (guitar-right), Barry Mac (slide guitar)







Click here for more video from this show.

Links: Caretakers Site - More Caretakers Stories