Music Before the Money

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I was out in Calgary recently and saw a band called The Beautiful Unknown from Toronto. A bunch os kids, really, but boy could they play. Their stuff was all original, some “Green Day-ish” style songs and this was okay with me. I was probably the oldest guy in the place!

As I looked around the Killarney Pub I did see what was missing. there was no excitement in the place which, for Calgary on a Friday night, was strange. Oh, there were people clapping and carrying on but the rest of the bar was a patchwork of groups watching the tube or engaged in conversations.

The sad part of this is that, here was an upcoming band was really good and very few people cared on way or another. It was background music for the majority.

This is no unusual. The readily available mass of music available on the internet these days has made live music the realm of the ‘Legend bands” like The Eagles ans Rolling Stones. They still pack houses. But the guys and gals just starting out are having a rough time getting noticed by even bar patrons.

So, I bought their disc and expressed how much I liked them. Rather than being haughty about it they warmly thanked me.

Oh, by the way, these guys were up for a Juno Award.

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Last week I was in Calgary and had the chance to see a band at The Dickens Pub featuring Dennis Davies, Marty Antonini and a fabulous horn and harp player, Danny Hull. For those of you not familiar with Mr. Hull, his resume includes the Doobie Brothers.

Danny started out playing sax and blues harmonica in the San Jose, California area in the early 1970′s. He played blues and jazz fusion with Russ Ferranti, (currently of the Yellowjackets) and, in L.A., recorded an album and toured with Buddy Miles.Jimmy Messina (of Loggins & Messina) added him to his recordings and so did Delaney Bramlet (Bonnie & Delaney).

Wanting to break out on his own Danny formed the The Danny Hull Quintet which was the power fusion band in central California in the late 70′s and early 80′s. he later changed the name of the group to Spangalang when he added Tony Lyndsay on vocals, a singer who would later work for Santana.

Danny added his blazing solos on albums for Eddie Money, Michael Bolton, Eric Martin (Mr. Big) and Journey. The Doobie Brothers called him up in the 1990′s and he spent most of the ninety’s touring and recording with the famous band. Danny also worked in Japan with Eikichi Yazawa and keyboard great, Clifford Coulter. He can be also seen filling in with the Tower of Power horn section.

I was amazed to see the turn out at the pub and the polished sound of four guys who had never played these songs together. I was also glad they played a couple of Doobie’s standards, Long Train Running and China Grove.

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