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July 11th, 2006 was a Tuesday, which meant I was trapped in the snug grip of capitalism, exchanging guitar-centric encouragements and suggestions for promises of money until the early late hours; stuck at work until eight-thirty or nine, maybe even nine-thirty o’clock*, and on a Bluesfest night no less!
As a result I only made it to the City Hall venue in time for the closing slot of the night which left me to choose between Blue Rodeo, JJ Grey & Mofro, and Son Volt. Of course I chose: not Blue Rodeo**. I started my not Blue Rodeo evening with Mofro.
This was only their second gig in Ottawa, their third would be another Bluesfest appearance two days later. Their first Ottawa show had been a year before, also at the Bluesfest. I really dug them then and I really dug them this time (and the next) too. What a fantastic group JJ Grey & Mofro are, an undeniable Southern rock band that tries so hard to be a soul group that they dug themselves a unique little niche-groove that lands somewhere between Redding and Skynyrd. They’re like The Allman Brothers with a little tenderness in place of the soaring guitars – (somehow) in a good way – though their Jacksonville roots inevitably lead them to skew closer to Lynyrd than Otis no matter how hard they try, bless their trailer-park hearts. In this case they started out slow and Otis-y before building imperceptibly into a raging B3 swirl of north-Florida hippiedom that was virtually hypnotizing.
After a half-hour or so I somehow tore myself away and grabbed a beer to ground myself. I strolled over to the Blacksheep Stage where I found Son Volt on the stage and almost everyone I knew in the audience. Though everyone involved seemed to be having a great time I found it hard to pay attention to the band because my body ached so badly to go back to JJ Grey and Mofro. I held out for that beer and maybe one more but I soon gave in and stumbled back over to the Blues ’Til Dusk Stage where I got myself virtually hypnotized right up to the 11pm noise by-law curfew.
*As a rule, my schedule had me teaching steady half-hour lessons from 3-4pm straight through to 9:30, but when I’d arrive at work for my shift and check my messages nine times out of ten I’d have one or two last-minute cancellations. Totally bonus if the person happened to be the last student of the day, then instead of sitting around twiddling my thumbs for some random half-hour I’d actually get to leave early. Soooo….When someone in one of the earlier slots cancelled I was notorious for calling my last student of the evening – and often also the second-last, if there were more than one cancellation – to see if they were willing to come in early. I’d always insist that it was no trouble if they couldn’t, but I’m sure my vocal body language suggested that I was lying. Anywho, most of the time the student was happy (or at least willing) to oblige and just like that I’d be off work and out the door before it was even dark outside. I was the envy of all my peers, many of whom seemed terrified at the very idea of picking up the phone and calling their students unless absolutely necessary.
**If you were not aware of my animosity towards Blue Rodeo then all I can say is: Welcome.
Todd Man Out 