WHAT: WINTERFOLK IX BLUES AND ROOTS FESTIVAL
An all-ages indoor music festival w/150 artists at six venues on seven stages over four days
WHEN: FEBRUARY 18-21
WHERE: See below
TICKETS: IT’S FREE (with the exception of one ticketed stage “BIG BANDS FOR YOUR BUCK”
Saturday, Feb. 19 which is $12 adv / $15 @ the door. 7:00 pm doors open / 7:30 pm start
Book online and get early bird $10 price til February 4
WEBSITE: www.winterfolk.com
The NINTH ANNUAL WINTERFOLK FESTIVAL is gearing up to knock your socks off with “BIG BANDS FOR YOUR BUCK”. Featured at this single Saturday night ticketed event will be four fabulous big bands, (complete with horn sections) that are making big waves on the music scene today. On the bill is country crooner JACK MARKS & THE LOST WAGES, purveyors of fresh new Canadiana THE WARPED 45S, Parkdale street-folk punks FREEMAN DRE & THE KITCHEN PARTY and shaggy Afrobeat dance band THE MINOTAURS. All other performances are free, including those by exceptional singer-songwriters JAMES GORDON, MOSE SCARLETT, JORY NASH, JOANNE CRABTREE and TANNNIS SLIMMON as well as DAVID HEIN of “My Mother’s Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding” fame. Bringing mo’ blues to the table is Bluz FM radio personality DANNY MARKS, GARY KENDALL from Downchild Blues Band, plus the oh-so-talented multi-instrumentalist JIMMY BOWSKILL.
For more information on artists, venues and schedules please visit www.winterfolk.com
Toronto’s free, all-ages, mid-winter, weather-proof urban blues and roots festival, now in its ninth year, will take place in six downtown venues (seven stages), for another four-day extravaganza.
Winterfolk Festival IX will once again feature fresh faces and seasoned artists alike. And where else are you going to hear so much Canadian talent all in one weekend and in one area of downtown Toronto? It’s a coming together of some of the finest musicians around. Many award-winners and new rising stars can be found at the festival.
After another extensive search for new talent through auditions held in several Ontario cities, the Winterfolk festival – which runs from February 18-21, 2011 – will also be presenting the winners of that process as part of a total 150 artists (including community stages) performing this year. The fest is thrilled to present such artists as hot jazz veteran BIG RUDE JAKE, vintage swing “gets yer toes tappin’” duo HOTCHA!, indie darlings THE DONEFORS, sultry Latin temptress LAURA FERNANDEZ and sublime singer-songwriter NOAH ZACHARIN. But also watch out for newcomers the quirky and engaging BETTY SUPPLE, klezmer trio THE HORABLES, (gotta love that name), brilliant bluegrass/old-time duo THE SATURDAY SAINTS and a hauntingly harmonious girl-duo THE BLACKEST CROW among others.
HIGHLIGHTED ARTISTS:
JACK MARKS & THE LOST WAGES - www.myspace.com/jackmarksmusic
• Nominated for a CFMA award in 2010 in the emerging artist category.
• Touring Holland and Germany in January 2011.
On the heels of a 2010 CFMA nomination and the release of his second full length album titled ”Lost Wages”, artist Jack Marks is emerging as one of the most important writers on the Toronto scene today. With plans to tour Germany and Holland in January 2011 and to begin his third album in three years in March, Marks is known in Toronto as a ”songwriters songwriter” and the rest of the country is beginning to catch on.
THE WARPED 45S – www.thewarped45s.com
• ”Winners of the 2009 Rogers Fan Choice Award at North By North East”
First cousins Ryan Wayne McEathron and Dave McEathron grew up together in small town Ontario and in 2007 formed their first band together – The Warped 45s. The new five piece roots rock / alt country band quickly developed a layered but warmly accessible sound, with multiple voices, harmonies, and diverse instrumentation. In June 2009, the band won the NXNE Roger’s Fan Choice award, toured the east coast of Canada, and signed with indie label Pheromone Recordings for a September 1 release of the new album titled 10 Day Poem for Saskatchewan, distributed in Canada by Fontana North. receiving extensive airplay and rave reviews all across the country, they continue touring and are already started on a new album.
FREEMAN DRE & THE KITCHEN PARTY – www.myspace.com/freemandrethekitchenparty
• ”Winner of the NOW Magazine’s Readers Pick for “Best Songwriter 2010”
This band has finally bottled the white lightening of their killer live show into a potent new debut album, Red Door 2nd Floor. They take their name from the great and timeless East Coast tradition of friends and neighbours gathering together in the kitchen for an evening of laughter, drinks and music. But despite the casual atmosphere in which they create their songs, make no mistake; onstage, The Kitchen Party is tighter than a three-day drunk! The soul of this music comes from Freeman Dre’s apartment in the heart of one of Toronto’s most creatively fertile neighbourhoods, Parkdale. It’s a place where friends hang out in the kitchen most every night, where a raccoon recently tried to give birth in Dre’s vinyl collection, where Hank the cat comes to chill out from life in the mean streets and alleys, and where a lot of music gets made.
THE MINOTAURS – www.minotaursband.com/
• “Its bumpy afrobeat rhythms are built to make us move. Minotaurs is a big shaggy dance band that often diverges from a charted route into a delta of melodic possibilities.” The Globe and Mail
This 10-piece band has been called Afro-beat soul pop maestros by Exclaim and they definitely fit the bill. With skillfully blended grooves taken from African and Jamaican music, plus pop sensibilities, they offer up a unique sound complete with horn section, dynamic vocals from Nathan lawr soaring over delectable guitar, drums. keys. A party in a bag.
VENUES:
Black Swan Tavern – 2 Stages 154 Danforth Ave, Toronto, – (416) 469-0537
Mambo Lounge – 120 Danforth Ave, Toronto, – (416) 778-7004
Eastminster United Church – 310 Danforth Avenue, Toronto, Ontario
Danforth Café (Danforth Baptist Church) – 60 Bowden Street (corner of Danforth & Bowden) Toronto
Dora Keogh – 141 Danforth Ave Toronto, – (416) 778-1804
Terry O’s Sports Bar – 185 Danforth Ave, Toronto – (416) 462-0038
ARTIST LINEUP: (For complete bios & websites please visit www.winterfolk.com
Miliitis Rue (Aaron McGill & Dan Shantz)
Andrew Queen
Beth Anne Cole (with Tony Quarrington)
Betty Supple
Big Rude Jake
Brian Gladstone
Brock Zeman
Carol Teal & David Joyce
Dan McVeigh
Danny Marks
D’Arcy Wickham
David Celia & Joan Besen
David Hein
David Leask
David Lum
David Nigel Lloyd
Eve Goldberg
Freeman Dre & The Kitchen Party
Gary Kendall Band
GCDC
Glen Hornblast
HOTCHA!
Howard Gladstone
Jack Marks & the Lost Wages
James Gordon
Jimmy Bowskill
Joanne Crabtree & Margaret Stowe
John DiBatista
Jon Davis
Jory Nash
Ken Yoshioka
Laura Fernandez
Louise Ford
Margaret Stowe
Matthew DeZoete
Melwood Cutlery & Dan Whiteley
Michael Brennan
Michael Jerome Browne
Mike Masse
Mikel Miller
Mose Scarlett
Noah Zacharin
Nonie Crete
Paul Langille
Pete Otis – The Danforth Sound
Peter Verity
Peter Wildman
Porkbelly Futures
Rosemary Phelan / Jason LePrade
Saturday Saints
Shawn Brush
Steve Paul Simms & John Jackson
Steve Payne
Sue & Dwight
Tannis Slimmon
The Blackest Crow
The Blackwood Two
The Donefors
The Horables
The Minotaurs
The Warped 45s
Tony Quarrington