story by Norm Richards
As good a reason as any to raise money for charity I say, have a battle of the bands event. Sure, and why not? I much enjoyed my evening and the company I kept. The financial people of Winnipeg get together every year to do this. They throw together a desperate number of people together from the financial trade to be in the bands. They're given maybe a month at best to rehearse. They show up and maybe some magic happens. Sure enough. We were entertained by four groups.
The first group was called The Bailouts, the others were Prime + 1, The Bottom Line and The Wall Street. Good thing I wasn't a judge. That was left to Brad Oswald of the Winnipeg Free Press, Tracy Koga from Shaw TV and Howard Mandshein from 92 CITI-FM. I had friends in the third band up to perform. I might have chosen them. They had a couple of ringers in their lineup.
Kathy Kennedy is a well know Winnipeg blues singer and Ron Siwicki is often seen as a guitar accompaniment at the Pony Corral. They're good and worthy of praise any day of the week. But the evening went to The Wall Street, with a remake of The Wall by Pink Floyd. Norm Goodman lead the band with ripping lead guitar parts not far off from what David Gilmore of Pink Floyd would do. I was a little surprised. I'm used to seeing Goodman taking the bus home everyday from his accounting job. He's the guy with The Beatles' haircut but tonight he's trimmed to look like Gilmore more than Ringo. The acts were festooned with daily players in the financial investment community and not full time rock musicians. So, I give them praise for pulling it off. Great fun was had by all, especially those who ended up winning the fund raising prizes at the end. My tickets lay abandoned on the table as I write this.
I was graced by the fine company of Nygard executive Gordon Stein and his wife Denise. Gordon is a seven year member of the board of tonight's charity Manitoba Riding for the Disabled Association Inc. Winnstock.ca tonight helped raise $63,000 to assist disabled people enjoy life while attending horse riding events throughout the year. Denise shared many stories with me about those experiences and some of her own. One was when Princess Ann came to Winnipeg during the Pan Am Games and her and Gordon were boarding some of the horses in competition at Meadow Green Riding Academy when they owned it. Princess Ann visited and greeted participants at the Academy. My evening at this event was full and uplifting. I felt better being there rather then remaining home practising drums for my own next event.
Radio Play and Press
KK Band #4 in Kamloops"At the Crossroads" radio show
May 2009
1. Duke Robillard’s Jumpin’ Blues Revue – Stomp the Blues Tonight (Stony Plain Records)
2. Andrea Marr – Baby What Do You Want Me To Do? (independent)
3. Johnny Winter – Barefootin’ (Virgin Records)
4. Kat Kennedy Blues Band – Slipped, Tripped Fell in Love (Kat Blues)
5. Jimmy Reed – Bright Lights, Big City (Warner Strategic Marketing)
6. Elvin Bishop w/ Nemeth, Cotton & Strehli – I Found Out (Delta Groove Music)
7. Harry Manx – Only Then Will Your House Be Blessed (NorthernBlues Music)
8. Shirley Johnson – You’re Reckless (Delmark Records)
9. Shawn Kellerman – Pretty Woman (Flamingcheese Records)
10. Shawn Kellerman – Give Me My Blues (Flamingcheese Records)
11. Roy Rogers – Patron Saint of Pain (Blind Pig Records)
12. Ndidi Onukwulu – Horn Blower (Jericho Beach Music)
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Manitoba Blues Society Newsletter
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Singing back ups with Don Bouchat's Joe Cocker Tribute
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Winnipeg Free Press - The Local
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October 6, 2010
Exciting faces kept showing up at the door at Bella Vista acoustic jam Wednesday night. In a bid to let his inner adult out, famous children's entertainer Jake Chenier, arrived saying "I've just started to play adult songs on the scene," and sang songs of adult love and nature concerns with lines like: "Mother Earth, does anyone know she's dying?" Kathy Kennedy organizer of the sold-out Women in Blues (WIB) concert Oct. 16 arrived later and belted out a perfect rendition of Janis Joplin's Piece of My Heart ("I impersonated her for a few years" she confesses). Onstage, she joined stompin' blues artist Claire Still, who's one of the exciting new acts at WIB. Film student Erica Marks, 20, a newbie on the open-mike scene, startled everyone with her talent, and Raven Sharma, 24, of metal band Sedentary (and a budding geologist at the U of M) stepped out of wait-staff mode at the Bella and sang a vulnerable song about "the only time she was ever in love." Four hours and 20 musicians -- all for the price of a drink, or a bite to eat.
Winnipeg Free Press - The Local
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December 29,2010
MUSICAL WHO'S WHO: What a musical happening at Mona Lisa! John Hoeschen (J-Ho), who drums like a madman in the Rod Hussey Revue, organized the jam last week and collected food bank items for Winnipeg Harvest with bass player Rod Hussey and keyboard player Gerry Atwell, and all-star Winnipeg guests. "It was just a bunch of people who wanted to have fun with their friends." Exciting guests came out to play, including dramatic guitarist James Creasey of the wild facial expressions, blues woman Kathy Kennedy, who wailed a three-octave Stormy Monday, plus opening act The Lunch Moms, headed up by Mike Jones and wife Renee Delaurier and reggae band Rockalypso. Spotted at the jam: National Film Board's Leslie Stafford, emerging songwriter/insurance man Tim Bromley, accountant Cindy Pelletier, railway man/musician Rubin Kantorovich (with recording studio in his basement, now he's retired), International Cellars' Sheila Bennett, Turnbull Whitaker's Lori King, National Leasing's Scott Clendenan, Great West Life's Brenda Toutant. Travelling horticulturist Bronwyn Berry worked the door, as the evening wore on. She's home for a white Christmas from her nursery job in Las Cruces, New Mexico "where they get 324 days of sunshine a year." And no snowflakes on their tongues.
