Tag Archives: livereviews

The Fontaines Live At Taloola Cafe – Saturday, February 23, 2019

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Image result for sara fontaine music

The Taloola cafe was a perfect venue for the musical duo The Fontaines, which is composed of a husband and wife who can be found performing at different venues throughout Windsor. The vintage and artsy aesthetic really fit the mood for the types of sounds and lyrics that The Fontaines were about to expose us to. I had tried going to Taloola the previous night on Friday because I knew that the cafe had live music on Fridays and Saturdays starting at 8, however the cafe was packed and so I told myself I would come the next night a little earlier assuring myself a seat. I arrived at about half an hour to eight which gave me enough time to drink my first green tea of the night and wait for what I was expecting to be a great performance.

The Fontaines are composed of Sarah and Ryan, a married couple who musically, excel together. Sarah is the main vocalist and plays the acoustic guitar while Ryan plays the cello and has some solid accompanied vocals on most tracks. The Couple also had their kids and other family members at the nearest table to the set, which for some reason just really added a lot of charm to the performance. With that being said, the most charming thing about the bands performance was just how personal and raw it felt. They performed an hour set of about fifteen tracks, and although they didn’t specify whether or not the tracks were from an album or recent mixtape, it very much felt that way as there wasn’t a single track that felt out of place and the transition between each tracks were very smooth.

A common theme throughout most of the tracks is love, particularly the love the Fontaines share. In songs like “hello my lover” and “lets fall in love” the Fontaines explore love in an interesting way that other bands usually can’t which is due to the fact that they are indeed married and in a sense they are expressing this love in unison and from a place of common understanding. This also translated to the actual music itself as the duo harmonize beautifully together on the chorus’s of most songs. Their music is very much so melancholy, which is weird to say because there songs certainly aren’t sad but rather just sound sad if one wasn’t to be listening to the lyrics, but this is probably just due to the fact that the two main instruments at work are an acoustic guitar and a cello.

Overall I found it to be a very pleasurable and relaxing experience by the end, the cafe was perfect because it allowed me to just enjoy some tea and live music while I escaped reality for an hour which was needed after the stressful week I had. If I had one complaint about the overall experience it would be that due to the social nature of Taloola cafe the chatter of others would sometimes make the music hard to hear clearly, but this was a pretty minor problem overall. The Fontaines were very charming and you could tell that they were genuinely just doing what they love up there with the person they love.

Windsor Symphony Orchestra: Bowie Got Soul – Friday, February 22 2019

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By Allesandro Rotondi

The Windsor Symphony Orchestra is one of the longest running and most profound forces in the local music scene. Since its initial conception in 1947, the WSO has kept classical alive, strengthened rock and roll, and facilitated pop music. They have also been strong supporters of student education, the importance of the arts, and collaboration with other musicians in the area, including the University Singers student choir that I’m a member of.

This evening was a collaboration with Jeans N’ Classics, a GTA-based group that joins the WSO for tribute concerts to great pop/rock artists. The band includes a guitarist, keyboardist, bassist, drummer, and two lead and two backing vocalists. The band fronts the stage, with the orchestra assembling around them in a half circle, as the conductor stands elevated in the center. The show was held at The Chrysler Theatre, and with a seating capacity of 1200, it was clear this was nearly a sold-out show. This was likely due to the billing of the concert, titled “Bowie vs. Prince,” but due to legal complications with Prince’s estate, the bill was changed to “Bowie Got Soul.” The show must go on.

The concert featured the music of David Bowie sung by Jean Meilleur, and an assortment of other soulful artists like Earth, Wind & Fire, Gnarls Barkley, The Spinners and The O’Jays, all sung by Gavin Hope. The Bowie songs were well received by the audience, as expected. The audience was a combination of youngsters and not-so-youngsters, some from Bowie’s era, some from before, and some like me who were too young to even remember Bowie’s late electronic period. As Gavin Hope walked out wagging his purple tie in the air, the audience laughed and applauded, and a group of ladies shouted “We want ‘Purple Rain!’” Gavin began to sing “Purple tie, purple tie” to the tune of “Purple Rain,” and quickly halted after receiving a look of impending doom from the conductor. The audience understood, and Gavin joked that the WSO’s legal teams could not match those of Prince. The ensemble brought the soul tunes to life, and the audience had redeemed their purple-clad expectations before long.

The mood was very different between the Bowie and soul sets. During Bowie, the audience was reflective and reminiscing, often swaying back and forth and smiling as they grabbed fond memories out of the air and tied them back to the music gracing their ears. Everyone was happy, but it was bittersweet for those who still have an ache in their heart over Bowie’s sudden, unexpected death in 2016. When the soul music hit, the atmosphere changed instantly. Feet began tapping, fingers began snapping and clapping, and people jumped out of their seat to dance in the aisles, much to the chuckles of others who were too scared to do so. It was vibrant, uptempo, and groovy.

The WSO has a knack for fitting into any musical situation. Just last week my choir was with them for Beethoven and Verdi masterworks, and next week will be Mozart’s Requiem. Tonight, they back a rock band, and provide a foundation of beautiful orchestral layering that the band builds off of. And the sound is perfect: condenser microphones capture the sound of the orchestra, and is mixed in perfect dynamic level to the band. My only point of concern was that the backing vocalists could not be heard clearly at times, and the same occasionally happened to the lead vocalists. But for the amount of musicians onstage (about fifty), the sound was immaculate. Mixing a band of eight is a daunting task, let alone an entire symphony on top of that. It also speaks to the musicianship of the orchestra members who sit in the pocket perfectly with the blend of the band. All around, the musicianship, stage production, and songs were wonderful and classy, and it was an entertaining evening of fabulous music.

Setting The Stage: Terry “Lager” Lobzun Stuns Crowd

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Friday, February 15, 2019

By Chelsea Ives

Terry ‘Lager” Lobzun adjusts his I-Pad on his mic stand before starting his performance.

The looming building with tinted windows and The Pogue – Irish Pub gilded across them beckons you. A neon four-leaf-clover- shaped open sign buzzes merrily, and below it a wooden sign welcomes you with the Gaelic drinking toast; Slàinte – to your good health! You can’t see the crowd inside, but as you reach the heavy wooden door it swings open wide as a couple emerge laughing, floating out on the cacophony of bar chatter. You step in and are immediately enveloped by the warm conversation and the aromas of battered food and Guinness. The atmosphere is casual, easygoing – everybody is here for a good time, including the musician setting up in the front alcove opposite the bar.

A cozy gathering of locals waits, as Terry “Lager” Lobzun, a Wheatley wonder, sets up his equipment for the intimate audience, adjusting his mic with his guitar slung across his back and his suave tweed fedora perched on his head.

Finally, with I-Pad on stand, he plays.

And I understand why people call music transformative.

Terry’s face is transformed with emotion when he plays. Even for an audience of fifteen, Terry Lobzun’s soul flew through his fingers as he strummed, and his heart was on his tongue as he sang. The music fills your ears, but it’s Terry’s voice that fills your soul. It doesn’t matter if the songs are covers, he plays each with his own intensity and passion. His voice is a blend of Johnny Cash and Hozier – the perfect meld of old and new; soulful and breathy, like during his rendition of Howard Tate’s, “My Soul’s Got a Hole in It,” or Vance Joy’s “Riptide” – or driving deft punches in songs like Nathaniel Rateliff and the Nightsweats, “Son of a Bitch”. Every shout-out between verses is perfectly timed and playfully accentuated by a wink or eyebrow raise – always with a smile at the crowd. He had the perfect Barenaked Ladies fast-paced energy crammed into a tight space.

Terry strums emphatically, and his face reflects his passion for singing.

Terry played into the night off his own curated playlist or by request. Moving between folk, rock, and country songs effortlessly. I had the pleasure of asking Terry some questions during the intermission:

(Chelsea): “Do you make playlists with certain themes or audiences in mind for shows?”

(Terry): “Well I have a list of about 100 songs prepared – I never get through them all. But I just try and make sure everybody has a good time, I don’t really stick to a theme – that’s why you see I have my I-Pad up there – it’s a real Godsend,” he chuckles, “when you had music sheets, every time a door opened pages would fly everywhere and I’d lose my place.”

(C): “I noticed you take a lot of requests, but I heard you played an original song, ‘Just Breathe’ as well.”

(T): “I like all music, Gretta Van Fleet, George Ezra, Strawberry Alarm Clock…But I love to write songs. I have about 200 sitting in a file. Everybody can sing, but not everybody can write, and that’s what I like about it, it’s unique.”

Terry resumed by playing his original “401”. The name Stompin Tom jumped to my mind as I clapped along to the rhythmic country twang. The song is about a lover travelling down the 401 from Kingston to Windsor to surprise his girl, only to find that she had done the same. As Terry presented it with a humorous tone, “That damn radar gun – caught me goin’ 130 down the highway 401,” the crowd was roaring.

Terry plans to continue doing shows because he loves making sure people have a good time. His son, Preston, works at a recording studio in London, Ontario, and they plan on working together to get Terry’s original work recorded.

Terry, whatever you do, you will always leave your audience stunned. I’m eagerly awaiting more.

So Do dheagh Shlàinte! Everybody – to your good health as well.

Terry Lobzun’s fingers fly over the strings in “I Shot the Sheriff” while a local Wheatley man sings.