A new Nanaimo music venue & this Friday's show

Eric Harper

Alex Cuba

On October 24th I went to the opening of the Nanaimo Entertainment Centre with my good friend Paul Jay. (A.K.A. the Mountain Man) The inaugural offering was flamenco/pop guitarist Eric Harper opening for the Grammy award winning Alex Cuba.  The Nanaimo Entertainment Centre is a project undertaken by local business entrepreneur Paul Manhas with Joel Spillette as manager for the facility. A great deal of money was spent renovating the former “Caprice” movie theatre into a contemporary convention style centre complete with a catering service and a 375 to 400 seat facility and a second somewhat smaller room as well.  This of course fills a void in the Nanaimo market for a venue of this size.

The entry area was familiar from when the facility was a movie house except that a licensed bar has replaced the concession stand offering a more adult oriented selection of treats. Everything changes once you pass through the double doors into the theatre area. The twin theatres are opened up to one large room with a level floor, fresh paint and decor. Attention has been paid to the sonic quality of the room with acoustic conditioning installed to guarantee great sound. The seating was comfortable and we had no complaints.

Eric Harper did a wonderful job of warming up the audience with his flamenco style guitar playing, interesting stories and great songs. He drew the audience in with his tales of being a youth in Portugal after leaving the USA in his teens. Academic music training and discipline are evident in his performance along with his obvious talent.

The star of the night was Alex Cuba and his trio. Albeit that I found his english a little hard to understand, his music transcended any language barrier. His music was uplifting and performed impeccably on his black Gibson guitar. (looked like a ES335 from our seats) Almost immediately some of the folks had rise out of their seats and into the aisle to move their bodies to the beat.  I think it was impossible to sit still with the infectious beats emulating from the stage. He was quite funny at times including getting the entire band (drummer included while keeping beat with a shaker) laying on the floor playing the song while wiggling their feet in the air.  That after having his band, including the sound engineer do a little dance for the audience. Great entertainment. One of my favourite moments of the night was when Alex Cuba performed a cover of the Blue Rodeo song “Bad Timing” in Spanish.  It was the most moving rendition of the song I’ve ever heard. The music is a Latin influenced pop/funk/soul mixture delivered with style and grace. I was immediately struck by his unusual right hand technique as his approach is generally reserved for bass players. During the course of the show he explained that he had been a bassist who had switched to guitar, but retained his right hand technique.

This Friday the BoodAbooM acoustic duo is opening for Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart at Nanaimo’s “Headliners”. Headliners is near Mrs. Ritchie’s Restaurant in the center of Nanaimo and serves the community as both a live music venue and a performance arts school. Stacey and Mark were both part of Stacey’s brother Steve Earle’s band during the early parts of Steve’s career. After getting married Stacey and Mark left “The Dukes” and began their own musical journey. Several albums and years of international touring have solidified this Nashville couple as an Americana/roots/folk music act not to be missed. Blaise and I are looking forward to opening the show for Stacey and Mark. Tickets are $20 advance and $25 at the door. We hope to see you there.

Remember as you face life’s challenges and rewards, love is the answer. Trying to approach everything from a standpoint of love, patience and kindness go a long way cultivating a life of much less stress.

Until next time, Brother T

Comments can be sent to boodaboomband@gmail.com

Getting closer to complete

Rick Salt and Joel Spillette

Blaise Zhiam

The upcoming BoodAbooM album is still in production down at Lois Lane Studio. The bulk of the recording has been done, bed tracks, the majority of the guitar tracks, keyboards and lead vocals have been laid down. We are still adding the harmony vocals and a few other odds and sods before sitting back in “digesting mode”. That’s when it’s time for critical listening, as well as deciding any final judgement calls on the mix. We were moving along quite well and should be finished within the next couple of months. A few schedule set backs happened as we allowed for other acts to bump in when needed, but that was taken into consideration some time ago.

The songs are feeling great with wonderful performances from the same crew that put together the “Choices” album. Blaise is of course on bass as an integral element in the BoodAbooM sound, joined by Billy Hicks on drums, Joel Spillette on keyboards, myself on the majority of guitars with Rick Salt lending his magic guitar licks to a few of the songs as well. The songs are ranging from lay back ballads to full out rockers, toe tappers, foot stompers and a reggae tune in the middle to round things out. Twelve songs strung together around a theme of mindful awareness, appreciation and consideration for all things.

A couple of gigs have come and gone since my last entry, a rare BoodAbooM duo show in a local pub and a fund raiser for the local food bank. Pub gigs are fun, but many of our fans who had hoped to enjoy the usual engaged performance were faced with a packed pub which is considerably noisier than our concert / coffee house shows. The place was hopping and stayed that way all night. The opportunity did give Blaise and myself a chance to lean into the party time tunes which is always a blast. Tunes from “Toots and the Maytals” to “Ben Harper” mixed in with “Leonard Cohen” and “Bruce Springsteen” were served up ala BoodAbooM style. The food bank fund raiser was a concert environment held at Headliners in Nanaimo. The talent was quite amazing and included Jayden Holman, Mikaila Tombe, and young guitar prodigy Ian Perry. Terrazetto also deserves an honourable mention for their great performance. Ken and Len put on one helluva show.

Recently I compiled and posted a video for the song “Hummingbird” from my “Choices” album on YouTube. I love those little birds and was happy to realize they are in abundance around our new home. Our previous home was also a haven for hummingbirds which was the inspiration for the song. Please have a look and share a link with your friends who might enjoy.

The next show for BoodAbooM will be November 2nd when Blaise and I will be opening the show for Stacey Earle and Mark Stuart who are performing at Headliners in downtown Nanaimo. Stacey and her husband Mark are song writers who have toured internationally with their Americana Roots music style. Stacey is Steve Earle’s sister and both she as well as husband Mark toured with “The Dukes” in the early stages of Steve’s career before branching out on their own. I’m sure it will be a great show. Tickets are available by contacting Headliners, Arbutus Music or at Fascinating Rhythms in Nanaimo.

Beyond all of this I have had some correspondence with the folks on the Occupy Canada facebook page. With their permission, I will be compiling images taken during last year’s Occupy movement efforts and posting them in video form with the song “Start A Revolution” from my Choices album. It seems fitting, since I am a supporter of passive resistance as a means to edge toward change. Everyone knows, the world needs change. “Choices” which includes both of the mentioned songs is available for download from iTunes and at CD Baby.

Stay tuned to this blog for news about upcoming shows, videos, progress of the BoodAbooM album, as well as where and when we are having our CD release parties. Yes, there is likely going to be more than one!

Fall is arriving out here on the west coast and it’s been a beautiful transition from one season to the next. Although it’s been dry gentle weather out here, soon it will be colder yet. As with all things, that too will pass.  Everything changes, nothing stays the same, before you know it, summer comes around again.

Remember, treating everyone and everything with loving kindness brings the love back to you. Be kind to each other.
Brother T

Comments can be sent to boodaboomband@gmail.com