Blue Shadows- Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto 1994

Since I'm officially going to be laid off from my work starting April 1 (no joke!) because in my province, all non-critical and essential services and business will close at least for the next two weeks. I'm not too torn up about it yet, and though I'm no psychic, I'm guessing these closures will be extended longer. For how long, it's anyone's guess. The good news is it is allowing me more time to browse through my collection of shows to post new material on the blog. I also have a bit of a backlog of shows I've uploaded, but haven't posted yet. I might have lost interest or enthusiasm for the show or something more interesting or timely came up. Anyways, it should mean more posts in the upcoming weeks as I'll try to make time to write and listen to even more music. Fun times! I hope...at least until the money runs dry.

When you think of Vancouver's, Blue Shadows, country music comes to mind, right? Yes and no, and it isn't a bad thing. I'm not a huge fan of country music in general, but the Blue Shadows are in a wider genre: alt country, folk, rock. You can't help but think of the Everly Brothers with some amazing harmonies from vocalists, Billy Cowsill and Jeffrey Hatcher and a tight band with a touch of rockabilly and 50's rock. Everyone knows the story of Billy Cowsill who co-formed the Cowsills in the mid-60's and stayed active in the music scene through five decades. Cowsill considers his time in the Blue Shadows as his most positive experience as a musician to that point in his career. The driving and creative force of the Blue Shadows was Jeffrey Hatcher, a Winnipegger who relocated to Vancouver (but is back in the Peg) who brought his immense talent to the forefront with some great songs. Hatcher enjoyed modest success with his band, Jeffrey Hatcher and the Big Beat in the 80's and has more recently reunited with his brothers with The Fuse, a band that pre-dated the Big Beat. It really is a shame the Blue Shadows only released two albums due to Cowsill's addictions that broke up the band. I highly recommend you seek out those two albums, On The Floor Of Heaven and Lucky To Me. The deluxe edition of On The Floor Of Heaven features a bonus second disc of outtakes and covers the band recorded.

The live recording from the Horseshoe in 1994 captures the band in fine form that was professionally recorded and aired on CBC radio. The sound is outstanding and the performance is flawless with Hatcher and Cowsill at their harmonizing best. Thanks again to stevemtl who recorded this concert on the radio and transferred and posted the show to Dime. I have many CBC radio broadcasts from this time period on cassette masters, so thanks stevemtl for taking the time to post. There was talk and interest that (allegedly) this recording would be released as a bonus live disc packaged with the reissue of Luck To Me, but unfortunately the label folded so the project didn't happen. Such a shame!
Enjoy!

Please do NOT sell or profit from this recording!
Do NOT convert to lossy formats (except for personal use)
Please share!

BLUE SHADOWS
Horseshoe Tavern
Toronto, ON
May 16, 1994
FM Broadcast

Source recording by stevemtl: analogue FM to Fuji A/V PRO videotape at SP
Transfered by stevemtl: videotape > Proscan PSVR82 > D550 (SBM) > R40 (16/48) > HD
Mastered and posted to DIME by stevemtl on 2018-05-13:
HD > Soundforge (L2 dither to 24/48, trim, edit, L2 level adjust) > R8brain (downsample to 24/44.1) > Soundforge (L2 dither to 16/44.1) > CDwave (track cut) > TLH (flac level 8, ffp, md5) > TLH (torrent) > DIME



01.  -radio host intro, etc.-
02.  The Fool Is the Last One to Know
03.  Heart of a Lion, Soul of a Dove
04.  -talk-
05.  A Little Bit Lonesome, A Little Bit Blue
06.  Raised on Robbery
07.  -talk-
08.  Give, Give, Given
09.  -talk-
10.  Johnny's Guitar
11.  -talk-
12.  A Thousand Times
13.  When Will This Heartache End
14.  -talk-
15.  Think It Over
16.  The Seventh Son
17.  If It Ain't Rockin'
18.  -talk-
19.  Born in Love
-encore-
20.  What the Hell I Got
--------
21.  -talk-
22.  -interview-
23.  -production credits-

 51:02
note: CBC 'Hot Ticket'; above is broadcast date
Karen Gordon - radio host

BLUE SHADOWS- 1994-05-16 Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto, ON FLAC. rar

This Saturday, PTSD Benefit Featuring The Fuse

It's not often I use this blog to promote upcoming fundraising concerts or special events, but when I feel it is something important I want to get the word out to as many people as possible. This isn't a disaster relief concert or a show promoting some fashionable fad, no it's an often overlooked subject that is affecting more people than you would think.

On Saturday, October 7th at the Park Theatre is the fourth annual benefit concert for the Heroes Are Humans project that provides services to military personnal and first responders who are living with post traumatic effects of their job. The concert is in memory of Ken Barker, a first responder from Winnipeg who took his own life after battling PTSD. According to a study, 24% of first responders suffer from PTSD, a rate three times higher than the regular population.

The Winnipeg band, The Fuse are once again headlining the concert with a performance from musician and first responder, Kevin Davison who opens the show. The Fuse hadn't been active much for many years, but have reassembled and performed at the last three benefits. My pal, Hugh has a personal connection with Ken and his family and he has been connected to the members of the Fuse since the 70's. He has organized this event every year to help raise funds for the project and to raise awareness because this isn't a problem that will just go away. I admire his drive and unselfish attitude and hope more people are educated and more informed than before. He also wants people to come enjoy the music and have a good time, as each year this show brings me back with nostalgic memories of the old days seeing The Fuse (aka: The Six, Jeffrey Hatcher and the Big Beat) at socials and clubs around town in the 80's. I have attended in whole or in part all the shows and if I can show support by buying a ticket and attending, that's the very least I can do. Unfortunately, I'm double booked with another concert the same night, so I'll contribute by donation (or both?). If you are in Winnipeg and are interested in attending, please consider buying a ticket (eventbrite.com), it's for a worthy cause.

Here's a link to last year's benefit. A nice sounding live audio recording of The Fuse and some nifty looking photos I took.
Enjoy!

The Fuse- PTSD Fundraising Concert, Winnipeg, MB November 19, 2016

 Merry Christmas or should I say happy post Boxing Day week! It's been busy times in December leading up to the end of the year with the chaos of the holiday season upon us. Where I live, we had a monster snow storm on Christmas day and I spent several hours on Boxing day shoveling so my neighbors don't think I'm inconsiderate or lazy. Other than that, my past few days have been spent eating turkey leftovers, sitting on the computer and watching crap TV. I'm taking the rest of the week off work, so I'll continue to waste my time eating more leftovers, sitting on the computer and watching lots of hockey. I have been feeling somewhat guilty with all this time on my hands, so it's about time I caught up on posts for this blog.

In my last post, I may or may not said (It's been a while since I read it), November was the first time in over a year since I had been to a real concert. Which means I haven't recorded much or posted any shows I didn't go to. The drought was over in November 2016 with three shows that I attended and recorded. The first was the John Samson concert (see last post) and the second was The Fuse, a local band I pretty much grew up watching as the members were most active in the 80's and 90's in various incarnations. The Hatcher Brothers (Jeff, Don, Paul) and David Briggs began as The Fuse in the late 70's, then became the Six and then, Jeffrey Hatcher And The Big Beat, where they gained much critical acclaim and modest commercial success with their album, Cross Our Hearts in 1987. Between 1993-1996, Jeff co-fronted The Blue Shadows with Billy Cowsill and released two excellent albums. After a long hiatus, the Hatchers and Briggs reformed and released a new album, Getting There From Here in 2010 under the name, Hatcher-Briggs. For their most recent album, Brilliant Sun, the band reverted back to their original name, The Fuse and have performed under that name since.

The Fuse concert on November 19th was the third annual PTSD fundraising concert in memory of Ken Barker. In 2014, Barker lost his battle with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder as the concert honours his memory with a live concert involving family, friends and colleagues and the public as Ken was a lover of music and concerts. The first two fundraisers raised $30,000 for Heroes Are Humans (The Temar Conter Memorial Trust). The Trust provides training to first responders in occupations of high incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder (fire fighters, police, corrections, ambulance etc.). This year some of the proceeds will also be donated to Cvet's Pets, a 100% volunteer run, not for profit organization that helps local Winnipeg animal shelters. The Cvet's Pets Helping Vets Program connects highly trained medical-service dogs with military veterans and first responders diagnosed with PTSD.

Since The Fuse seem to limit their live shows to annual events, this show was a must see. I positioned a spot in the upper mezzanine in the same spot as the Samson show. It provided a nice view above the crowd on the floor, where there was much dancing and socializing, so I was happy I was up because the sound quality was great where I was. The band was tight, the spirit was fun loving and it had the atmosphere of a good old Winnipeg social. A highlight for me was when my friend Hugh (in the white shirt), who organized and put on this concert, got up on stage to introduce the band and "lead" them through The Six classic, Coming To Collect. Amazing job Hugh, your singing and for making this concert happen! The concert is a great listen, the band plays songs from all their eras and the sound is sweet. I'm listening to the live recording as I'm writing this and it brings back nice memories from the show. Please check out the fundraiser websites for more info about PTSD and how you can help.
Enjoy!

Please share!
Do NOT sell!
Do NOT convert to mp3, except for personal use.
Thanks!

THE FUSE
West End Cultural Centre
Winnipeg, MB
November 19, 2016
AUD MASTER

Sony ECM-DS70P mic> Tascam DR-07> USB> 16 bit Wav>
Direct Wave MP3 splitter> FLAC> rar file

01. It Rests With Me
02. Out Of Time
03. Satin Sheets
04. If Ever I Should Fall
05. Nowhere At All
06. Cry Wolf
07. She Read My Palm
08. Days Gone By
09. Deliver Me
10. Band Introductions/Coming To Collect
11. Getting There From Here
12. Down To The Earth
13. Never Heard Of Midnight
14. St. Enoch's Road
15. I Believe
16. The Last Ones
17. Man Who Would Be King

Encore 1
18. In My Hour Of Darkness
19. My Elizabeth

Encore 2
20. Promised Land
21. Western Wind

THE FUSE- 2016-11-19 WECC, Winnipeg, MB FLAC Master. rar