Dog days of Summer

Hi all. Sorry about the lack of writings. I know a blog is kind of supposed to be daily but I have been busy what can I say. Well the summer is here or at least the start of it. Its amazing how my body and whole attitude changes when the sun starts showing its face on a regular basis. I have never been a fan of the summer, things slow down, people get lazy etc. Don't get me wrong I love the sun and I love being able to walk outside in shorts and a t-shirt but lets face it its hard for The Cellar to compete with Kits beach in the summer time...oh well...This was never more apparent last Friday night when the incredible Red Holloway made an appearance at the club. WOW!!! There were only 18 people reserved and 35 or so ended up in the place but Red put on one of the most amazing shows I have ever seen. His first set was exactly 120 minutes long if you can belive that. This 80 year old played with the vim and vigour of a man a third his age. He was obviously charged about the stellar rhythm section of Russ Botten on bass, Tony Foster on piano and the wonderful Joe Poole on drums. Red played 'Old Folks" on the tin whistle for crying out loud and it sounded amazing. Red Holloway if by far the loudest saxophonist I have ever heard in my life. It was something else. So much so he even apoligized to the crowd.....Saturday was much the same except we were totally sold out which made up a little bit for the bad friday night. I have yet again had the pleasure of hanging with a truly legendary soul. Something I will never forget...

This will be an indication of who reads this blog. The Cellar has been approved to expand in July of this year. Thats right! We will be adding 20 more seats at the club which is extremely exciting. Im not going to divulge any more details at this time but we are currently awaiting approval from the city which appears to be just a formality. Check back for periodic updates.

Im heading out on the road with Dr. Lonnie Smith and Crash again for 4 nights. We play Wednesday, the 27th at Ironworks in Vancouver which I hear is close to sold out before heading to Nelson, Calgary and Edmonton. I feel blessed and honored to be playing with him. I also have the extreme pleasure of joining him as a special guest with his trio when he is here for Jazz Festival.

Thats it for now. Talk soon!!

Oh yeah, IM TRYING TO GET MY RADIO SHOW BACK!!!

Oliver Gannon Blows The Roof Off

Hello everyone. Well its Tuesday night and I still haven't come down from the high from Friday and Saturday of this past weekend. Guitarist Oliver Gannon and his quartet really tore it up especially Gannon. Oliver always sounds good when he plays but on this weekend he sounded better than I have ever heard him. After talking with him a bit he said he just happened to be shedding a little bit more these days in preperation for a gig with Renee Rosnes later in the year. Well it showed because Olly was executing perfectly and playing with his usual joyous sense of swing. Of course the band of Miles Black on piano, Miles Hill on bass and Blaine Wikjord on drums swung their asses off. The band was celebrating the release of their brand new CD, "THAT'S WHAT" recorded at The Cellar in February of 2003. The CD is available on Cellar Live and can be purchased at the club or via our website at www.cellarlive.com. Starting on Friday if you purchase two or more CD's online you will get our compilation CD free of charge. If you can believe this we sold 79 Cellar Live CD's (mostly Gannon) on the weekend. Thanks for the support and look for more records to come very very soon.

Cory