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On July 1st, 1998 I went to Confederation Park to see Mahogany Rush at the Ottawa Bluesfest, an historic occasion for yours truly for a number of reasons. And that number is: three.
First and foremost this was the first and only time I saw Mahogany Rush live, and I quite enjoyed it. I’ll admit that prior to standing in the field that evening I was familiar mostly with the band’s name and the notoriety of its focal member Frank Marino than the actual music (Marino was supposedly taught how to play guitar by the spirit of Jimi Hendrix whilst he was steeped in an LSD-induced coma, a delicious story concocted by the record company who signed him). But like I say, it was a great set.
Secondly, this was just my second-ever Bluesfest show, which I think is rather auspicious. My first Bluesfest concert happened the previous year when I saw Little Feat for the first time. Clearly that had been an even more auspicious occasion but I’ve already written that ticket tale and looking at it now I see that I got through it with nary a mention of the evening’s auspiciousness – aside from an asterisk that I’ve just added in retrospect – so I feel it’s not inappropriate to mention the auspiciousness-ness of this secondary Bluesfest visit, due to its glaring auspiciousiosity.
Spoiler alert if you are somehow reading these ticket stories in chronological order: I went on to have quite a thing with the Ottawa Bluesfest. I met my wife there (m’lady), I saw hundreds of great concerts there (Rush, Jeff Beck, The Flaming Lips, The Tragically Hip, Toumani Diabaté, Furthur, James Taylor, Etta James, James Brown, The White Stripes, Buddy Guy, Jaga Jazzist, Bob Dylan, Air Supply, ZZ Top, BB King, John Prine, Gary Clark Jr., Daniel Lanois, The Allman Brothers Band, Foo Fighters, Todd Snider, Percy Sledge, Duran Duran, Primus, Dr. John, Deep Purple, Lyle Lovett, Wilson Pickett…and that’s literally just off the top of my head). Plus I’ve played at the Bluesfest a bunch of times, I’ve long worked as a teacher and presenter for two of their outreach programs (Blues In The Schools and Be In The Band), and I basically launched my writing habit by writing reviews for the Bluesfest for years…
So like I say: auspicious.
Coming in at a very distant third place as far as marking this day as a personal historic event: I believe this was the only time I’d spent an Ottawa Canada Day attending Bluesfest, the jazz festival, or any other sort of organized musical gathering* apart from the annual Parliament Hill concert (which I believe I’ve seen snippets of once; two times, tops). Though I am unquestionably a sponge for excess (entertainment and otherwise) the enormity that is Canada Day in our nation’s capital is plenty enough for me without full-production big-time concerts, thank-you very much.
But really, point number one is the number one point I would like to make so I reiterate: 1998’s Canada Day at the Ottawa Bluesfest was the only time I ever saw Mahogany Rush and it was a great show.
*Although attending disorganized musical gatherings – seeing local acts like the Real Gone Daddies, Spruce, nero, Freeway Band, No Buds fo Bob, Inglewood Jack and so many more either behind the row houses on Spruce Street or on the back deck of 40 Main – framed my Canada Day pretty much every year.
Todd Man Out 