Merry Christmas-ness

All of us at the branch would like to wish you and your families, clubs, crews, gangs or whatever a happy holiday of your choosing under the seasonal banner of Christmas and/or Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Amaterasu, Beiwe, Maidyarem, Hogmanay, Montol, Saturnalia, or whatever solstice celebration your faith, creed, culture, ethnicity or choice may have bequeathed and/or require of you. Have a season! Greetings! Merry! Holiday! I have included a link to my own Christmas tune here for your listening pleasure--it is a song I wrote about three years ago and finally got around to recording last Friday with my pals Ben Mullin and Steve Pelehos, aka 'The Belarus Racing Team'. Enjoy!

The branch will be closed this Saturday, Sunday and Monday December 24th, 25th and 26th for the holiday and will re-open next Tuesday, December 27th and resume our regular hours all next week.

This week: don't forget our Buy, One Get One Free Entree (of equal or lesser value) special for our online friends on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights for this week and next...just quickly print out this page and jot down your name and email address on it somewhere and hand it to your server. Remember, it is not available with any other offer or special and it expires at the end of the month.

Thursday, December 22: Steve Parisien, Jazz Guitar, 8pm, no cover. Steve is a local talent like few others, here is a note from Steve, describing what he does:

Thank you for joining me and experiencing some of my musical ideas. Let me tell you a little about myself. I started in music by learning the piano at the age of five. My father had a music business, so I had the fortunate opportunity to learn other instruments along the way. Of those, the guitar was the instrument I enjoyed the most. After taking some formal lessons on classical guitar I pursued my love of jazz and for a short time played locally in the Ottawa area. Other pursuits in my father's business and later my own business in the music field kept me away from playing for a number of years. However, about five years ago my interest in playing was rekindled and recently after being pushed by fellow musicians, I came out with my first album 'Bright Start'. It's a collection of musical ideas that I hope you enjoy.
...Steve

Steve always puts on a good show, and I hope you'll come spend some time with him this Thursday!

Friday, December 23: Frank Western and Birdie Whyte, 7pm, no cover. It's Friday again, and this Friday is even Christmas eve-eve...to me that sounds like a good excuse to hear Kemptville's, nèe, Canada's(!) favourite playing, singing, slide guitar and banjo couple/musical duo. That live in Kemptville. I would challenge anyone to disprove that...but you would lose, and I? I would laugh at your loss, haHA! haHA! haHA! (Because that's how I laugh when other people lose...) But I wouldn't laugh too hard or too long because that would be silly. So come out on Friday, would you? It will be the best Christmas eve-eve you've ever had at a Frank and Birdie show at the branch. Unquestionably.

While we're here, don't forget about this:

Tuesday, December 27: David Celia, 8pm, $6. David Celia is '...as restorative as a cool fresh waterfall,', he displays 'excellent musicianship…elegant and melodic' (Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy) A recent German review calls Celia 'completely charmful…contemplative…wonderful atmosphere..you will like him immediately..like a warm embrace from a good friend' (rock e-zine, Berlin). 'David Celia is one of the best talents to hit Merseyside from North America' (Alex McKechnie, Cavern Club,Liverpool).

Roots-pop with hints of folk and perhaps some country vibes and a little rockin', David’s classicism manages to naturally and effortlessly, cross genres and ages. Toddlers, adults, lovers of folk music and fans of pop music are all equally charmed.
Fellow ‘music heads’ are impressed by his musiciansip and craftsmanship,as is evidenced by friends & guests appearing on 'This Isn’t Here' (his most recent album),including Dave Clark’s Neil Young inspired drumming (Rheostatics,Gord Downie Band), Don Kerr (Ron Sexsmith), Joan Besen (Prairie Oyster), Jenny Mitchellaka, Jenny Omnichord on banjo, (Barmitzvah Brothers) and Bob Wiseman (Bob Wiseman) on Casio keyboard, the inspiration behind a track or two.

You may catch wisps of such diverse influences as Wilco, Buddy Holly, Blue Rodeo, Bob Dylan, Todd Rundgren and George Harrison, but ultimately, 'This Isn’t Here' is 100 % David Celia: charming, whimsical, hopeful and optimistic. 'Look at this world; I can’t believe that it’s still happening…we must be doing something right'. This album speaks of what matters most, to most of us: love, hope, family, friends, 'staying on your path', recognizing your blessings and heck, plain old fun.

So there's David's story (mostly cribbed from his website, I'll admit) he's a fun guy, sweet and talented, and he'll be here singing for his supper next Tuesday...I'll be there also...how about you?