Anything Ellis?

[Okay, not the best title I've come up with, but it's better than another "dick" pun.]

I'm very pleased to announce the launch of the first ever Dick Ellis Revival tour! I'm calling it the Dick Over Ontario tour (a nod to the Wings live album). Right now it consists of a gig in Belleville next weekend...but, hey, even Dylan's Never-ending Tour had to start somewhere.

Belleville is Boag's hometown, and this gig is actually a private party for some of his friends, several of whom are turning the magical 40 around the same time. They've rented out a place for the occasion, The Belleville Club I think it's called, which is apparently a nice old heritage building. Should be a fun roadtrip, and a nice chance to get away and road-test our material. You know what they say about Belleville...if it flies in BelleVegas, it... well... it... you're good to g... it's all good... well, maybe they don't really use Belleville as a litmus test of any sort, but it should be fun all the same.

We've added a few new numbers to our repertoire:

Wait For The Light To Shine, an old Roy Acuff song that's been covered by lots of folks including Dylan
I've Got a Feeling, The Beatles
Burning Love, Elvis
Don't Cry No Tears, Neil Young (from Zuma)
I Still Miss Someone, Johnny Cash
Help Me Make It Through The Night, Kristofferson
Take Me Home Country Roads, John Denver

Plus we're trying to work out versions of Van Morrison's Wavelength and a funky Rufus Thomas song called The Breakdown (Part I). And there are some new originals on the horizon as well.

Last week's gig at Grossman's was a typically crazy time. Two songs into our set, this woman gets up on the "dancefloor" and starts doing cartwheels across the space in front of us, the first of which was rather expertly executed. Quite impressive. The second attempt fell a bit short of the bar, so to speak. I don't know if maybe she actually aimed to land in the chair, but the execution garnered very low marks, even from the French judge. As our imprudent gymnast landed hard on the floor, the chair tried to meld with the table, unsuccessfully so given the laws of physics, but this did succeed in the quite spectacular transformation of a full pint of beer into a creature of flight! Oddly, the gentleman who had been trying to drink the beer wasn't as impressed with his beverage's new aerial ambitions.

Cartwheel Katie then began grabbing Boag's mic, stepping on my pedal board to do so, and eventually leapt onto a table for some more dancing. This finally drew the ire of the bartender, who eventually managed to give her the bum's rush, after much high-pitched protestations and further furniture mangling. Of course, throughout all of this, we're all playing away. This all happened by about the third song. We did manage to use the occasion to work in some Jagger-at-Altamont-isms between songs.

"Peey-pul, peey-pul... who's foyting and wot foah? Who's foyting and wot foah?"
"Oh babies, everyone just calm down now. Let's get it together."

After that, it was a fairly normal evening. During the second set, we honoured some guy's request for Baby Please Don't Go, which we'd never played before, but we managed a reasonable facsimile. Late in the third set, a trio of 20-something yarmulka-wearing Jewish students ambled in and sat at the back. One of them kept bellowing for The Doors, so we obliged with the only Doors song you can pull out without any prior rehearsal: Roadhouse Blues, of course.

Always an interesting time at Grossman's.

I actually just discovered a newly added feature on our website, featuring kind words from locals who have seen us in action. Thanks for the kudos.

I'll let you know how the tour goes.