Tick Tock - Ready for Jump City?
Live Album this October!
That is to say, we’re going to have a very special event and RECORD a tight, jumpin’ album. Please click the photo to go to Jake’s RocketHub Project:
When you join the Jake@The Drake RocketFueler team, you’ll receive anything from FREE SONGS to the NEW ALBUM as soon as it comes out to SIGNED POSTERS to a SET OF ALL RELEASED BRJ CDs – and even some LIMITED EDITIONS that have never been released – and PRIVATE CONCERTS… and MORE! You choose. Any way you participate, it’s win win.
Please check it out, and contact us at info@bigrudejake.ca if you have any questions!
Look & Listen!
Song for Lilly Christine: This song is my tribute to an incredible talent.
Lilly Christine, a.k.a. “The Cat Girl,” originally named Martha Theresa Pompender, was a gifted burlesque exotic dancer and men’s magazine model who was renowned, admired and beloved. Her career spanned the late 40s through the early 60s “with a mesmerizing stage presence, a wild mane of long peroxide blonde hair, and a simply spectacular 37C-22-35 voluptuous bombshell body.” She was born on December 17, 1923 in Dunkirk, New York.
This is from my appearance on Hugh Reilly’s radio show yesterday – Liquid Lunch on THAT CHANNEL. I show up about 40 minutes in:
http://blip.tv/play/hY86gqT6CAA%2Em4v
We’ve replaced the video with the web address, because they’ve changed something so that it now autoloads. Don’t like it when sites autoload stuff.
Monkeys & Rumours of a BRJ video posted on Valentine's Day
No details on what will be posted February 14th, but please check out fan vid :
Join us over the next 3 Sundays!
Blog entry January 11, 2011 (Happy New Year!)
7 Years – A Good Run!!
Well, change is the only thing you can count on: After seven years, the Big Rude Brunch at the Drake Hotel is going into hiatus, starting February 2011. The folks in charge have decided to stop having live dinner music, and so I (and a couple of other musicians) won’t be playing and singing in the dining room, or the sky yard, or patio for a while anyway. There was mention that they may have me back in the spring, which would be very nice. We’ll see. However, my experience is that when management tells you that they want to take a break, it often means that it’s all over.
I have enjoyed my Sunday afternoons playing dinner (brunch) music at The Drake Hotel immensely, and have often told people that it was my favourite show of the week. The space is interesting, the food is exceptional, and the staff are beyond compare. I will miss them all, and I can truly say that I was proud to feel – at least once a week – like a part of the team.
I have a lot of warm memories of the Drake. After our wedding, my wife and I even spent a couple of nights in the honeymoon suite – a fabulous experience. No surprise that we headed back for an incredible first anniversary evening there too.
Over the years, people have traveled from far and wide to Toronto and made a point of stopping by The Drake to spend some time with me. Fans from as far away as California and the UK have come by on a Sunday afternoon to say hello and request their favorite Big Rude Jake tune. I’ve been told that at some point, I – and this gig – was mentioned in the Lonely Planet book for Toronto.
The regular show also forced me to be a better solo musician and to further develop my “ragtime guitar” chops. The Drake helped me to develop a new alternate sound and profoundly affected the sound of the last Big Rude Jake CD, (called Quicksand,). It served me well on recent tours where I played Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Northern Ontario as a solo act.
With these and many more great memories in mind, I look with excitement at some of the new opportunities that are popping up – Like finally touring the US again, and playing France in late March… (More on all this soon!).
My last 3 Sundays there will be January 16th, 23rd, and 30th. Come on out and make them extra special! If enough people show up, we’ll change the format of the program a wee bit. Most of the music I usually play at the Drake has been old time jazz and blues covers, but, if enough people request it, we will make it a real Big Rude Jake show, with lots of originals and special requests.
To contact The Drake Hotel:
info@thedrakehotel.ca
416.531.5042
1.866.DRAKETO
16th Anniversary Re-release TODAY!!
On December 23rd, 1994, Big Rude Jake and his then band, The Gentlemen Players, played to a sold-out audience at Toronto’s famous Lee’s Palace. That night, their stellar performance was captured in a live recording and released on cassette tape in a limited run. It was sold off the stage at concerts across Canada over the next few years, becoming a favourite among diehard fans who will fondly remember Jake’s discourses on Grunge fashion, censorship and sweet tender love. Who can forget the hilarious Reindeer Rant, improvised in a fit of pique during an encore?
The sound quality is remarkable. The songs are classic nineties Big Rude Jake, a period when the band was especially rowdy and exhilarating. The recording includes 6 BRJ originals plus an inspired rendition of Cab Calloway’s “Minnie the Moocher”, complete with impassioned audience participation and an extended version of “What’s the Use of Getting Sober?”.
We know. Your cassettes wore out or were stolen years ago, and there’s been no way to replace them! If you still have an old tape, you may not have a functioning tape player.
The wait is finally over!
Due to popular demand, fans can finally get their hands on a modern version of this celebrated performance! Bawdy, rowdy and charming as ever, relive the memories, or find out what you missed!
It’s available in digital format starting TODAY. CDs will be available soon – just finding the budget for printing, jacket & duplication, etc…
Big Rude Jake, vocals, bandleader
Michael Johnson, trumpet
James Stager, trombone
Mark Caruana, guitar
Hal Greer, double bass
Kevin Venney, drums
Smelling a Rat in the issue of Government Spending
I hear a voice that’s doubtful,
I hear another one that is afraid
Measuring the gains against the things they take away
But you can’t tell me that all of that money
Is better than a better world
Oh, no. I still believe in the song…
And I still believe the time has come!
from ‘Music in the Street’, Live Faust, Die Jung
As the Toronto race for mayor heats up, a timely article from Big Rude Jake, published Monday, 18 October 2010
Myths and legends fascinate me. I enjoy musing over them, deconstructing them, and contemplating the inherent lessons. On the eve of this Toronto municipal election, it might be helpful to revisit a classic folk tale, an urban legend, if you will, about a city that lost its’ way in an effort to save a few bucks.
Everyone knows the story of the Pied Piper, whom they say freed the Westphalian town of Hamelin of rats using his music. After the rat problem was solved, the people of Hamelin decided that it was too expensive to pay the piper his promised payment. In the end, the Piper avenged himself on the deadbeat town by using his musical prowess to steal away all the local children, who were never seen again.
So, to sum up, a man makes a city livable, the citizens renege and in doing so, they lose a bright and beautiful future, as symbolized by their children.
I firmly believe in keeping a watchful eye on those who govern us. No government is perfect and every city could use improvement. But the current right wing rhetoric that our city “has gone to the dogs,” is irresponsible hysteria, and, in my opinion, is an elaborate rationalization for not wanting to pay the piper. If the tale of the Pied Piper has anything to teach us, it is that our future is at risk if we buy into right-wing delirium.
If you are unsure that our city has our financial “rats” under relative control, you are likely unaware of a few important facts, namely:
* Torontonians pay the lowest taxes in the GTA: that’s lower than Mississauga, Oakville, Markham, Vaughn and Oshawa
* The City of Toronto had a $355 million operating surplus last year, and maintains an AA1 credit rating.
* The city has $15 billion more assets than debt, and takes on new debt only for long-term capital projects.
* PriceWaterhouseCoopers, which is the second-largest accountancy and professional services firm in the world, just named Toronto the most livable city world-wide.
* AON Consulting, which is an international insurance company that also offers business-consulting services, ranks Toronto the least risky city for employment in the world.
* The Dutch company KPMG, which is one of the four largest international accountancy and professional services firms in the world, has declared that Toronto has the fifth most attractive tax system in the world.
(Source: onetoronto.ca. Look it up for yourself)
These results were achieved despite the fact that both the Federal and Provincial government have cut payments to our city. While Toronto provides a financial engine that creates a great deal of the wealth for this country, bottom-line economic agendas have enticed other levels of government to abandon us, leaving us to take up their slack.
These documented facts about taxes in Toronto put a positive spin on the Torontonian tax situation. As such, they suggest that the conservative grumblings over taxes are actually a smokescreen covering up a desire to renege, like the citizens of Hamelin did in the tragic fable: “now that we have what we need, lets come up with an excuse to stop paying for it…”
A livable city is not without its costs. But to refuse the piper his due is more costly by far. Just look at other cites, where ‘bottom line” anti-taxation hysteria has eclipsed any discussion on good governance. Cities like Detroit, Michigan and Phoenix, Arizona have been devastated by conservative politicians who scream for tax cuts while their respective cites tumble into bankruptcy. Services are eliminated, poverty balloons, property values fall, and inner-city neighborhoods decay further into unlivable shambles every day.
Personally, I don’t want Toronto to revisit the service-cutting “Lastman years,” when the city could not find the money to keep swimming pools open for children, where garbage cans and recycling bins were taken off the street in some areas because the city would not pay for the trash to be picked up, and where the mayor begged the army to shovel our walks (to the embarrassment of the whole town,) because there was no money allotted for emergency snow removal. To me, paying the piper means demanding good governance and not expecting a free ride. It means demanding a livable city in exchange for your property taxes, and calling for effective, well executed services in exchange for that annoying $50+ annual tax on your automobile. Refusing to pay the piper means proclaiming that a livable city has no value, and turning a blind eye to the accomplishments of past municipal governments, covering it all up with some lie about “the city going to the dogs.”
Let’s not kid ourselves. We need a well governed city first and foremost. Let’s be sensible and get our priorities straight. Let’s pay the piper his due.
Shopping?
There are some new things in the store. We hope you get a kick out of them. You can find some at “Go Shopping” here on the site.
Here are some other things we’re working on at BRJ HQ. While Jake’s getting ready to head out on tour again, he’s also been diligently looking into festivals to perform at for next year. This is quite an involved process – there are often forms to fill out, always packages to prepare, and many places require fees from musicians simply for submitting applications. It gets weird sometimes because some festival application deadlines pass early after the summer season, but other organizers aren’t ready to accept any – and don’t know when they will be! Some festivals are planned far in advance, others hire musicians a month before, and others just end up not happening at all. So, it’s interesting gathering information, but the best part is thinking about all of the great places he may end up next year and the folks he’ll meet. And sing for, of course.
Tonight, he’s at the Cameron House on Queen Street in Toronto, playing with his quartet, The BR4.
Back from away... and Idea City 2010
Jake’s back from a week at a charming cottage in the Grey-Bruce region of Ontario, Canada. He’s playing a private house concert tomorrow, and quite a few other events over the next while. His next trip away will be for 2 1/2 weeks at the end of October 2010 – a tour through Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
Due to some web restructuring, the IdeaCity video we posted here has disappeared, so let’s try it again:
Let's Get Started!
Thanks for stopping by! Before January is out, let us wish you a Happy New Year!
Things are busy around here. In addition to shows with his sextet over the past two nights, rehearsals with Tennessee Voodoo Coupe, his Tuesday night Woodshed and Big Rude Brunch at the Drake, Jake’s offering his heartfelt support to Haitian Relief. Jane Bunnett is hosting 3 nights at Hugh’s Room in Toronto with the Spirits of Havana, and other talents from the Jazz and World scene, Mr. Rude among them. Proceeds go to Doctors Without Borders in Haiti.
THURSDAY, JANUARY 28th, SUNDAY, JANUARY 31st and
Monday February 1st at 8:00 pm
Tickets: $25 in advance or $30 at the door
FOR RESERVATIONS call 416 531-6604 or email info@hughsroom.com
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And now:
