| LORDY, LORDY, DES IS 40! |
| The Caf� au Lait seems to have become THE place for east-end Toronto musicians to celebrate their birthday these days. Following the success of Angel Marr's birthday celebration in March, Des Leahy.(of Fresh Eire, Blushing Brides, etc.) just celebrated his 40th birthday there (April/01), to his utter astonishment and heartfelt appreciation at the massive turnout by friends, musical peers and fans alike. Highlights of the first part of the evening included a surprise appearance by Brian Maxim of Moxy, who performed a powerful version of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Born on the Bayou". And to digress for a moment, there is a "Creedence Clearwater Revisited" tour happening now, currently slated to appear at Casino Rama on November 24/01. The Revisited version of CCR is comprised of original bassist and drummer, Stu Cook and Doug "Cosmo" Clifford, respectively, along with Elliott Easton (from "The Cars") on lead guitar, Steve Gunner on guitar and keyboards, and John Tristao (from "People") replacing John Fogerty, who of course moved on to perform as a solo artist. And speaking of originals, former Goddo drummer Marty Morin was also present and capably shared conga duties with Angel Marr throughout the evening. There was also an interesting performance on drums and vocals, alternately, in the form of Darren Smith, who sang Humble Pie's "30 days in the Hole" and Rod Stewart's "Stay With Me" and played drums on the Beatles' "I'm Really Down". Jim Nielsen, whom I previously referred to (mistakenly) as a member of Go Freddy Go, played bass on several of the earlier tunes of the evening and was replaced by James Taylor on subsequent tunes. Craig Martin, who started off the evening on lead vocals, was accompanied on a tune by Jimmy Cass and Terrence Riddell, from his own band, Midnight Ramblers, a Stones tribute band. Des, being the birthday boy, was obliged (is this a guy thing?) to play lead guitar for most of the evening, but was given a break later in the evening by Alex Andrusevich playing a beautiful blues tune, as well as (damn, can't remember his name - Des or Mark Yanetta would know) from the Ya Babies. I remember seeing Sugar Plum Croxen on stage around this time, but this is when the Southern Comfort kicked in! As my note-taking eventually fell by the wayside (I was having way too much fun at this point!), I have only a vague recollection of the rest of the evening, although I remember someone doing a tribute to Joey Ramone with a very danceable version of "I Wanna Be Sedated" as well as another Rod Stewart tune, "Hot Legs". The last tune I remember hearing was a U2 song (I'm starting to think of that band as "U Again?", since the radio stations have been overdosing on promotions for their already sold-out upcoming concerts here) sung by Dan Williams of Pillars of Society and Fresh �ire. As usual, owner Joe and assistant, Sammy, had their hands full but still managed to provide their usual high level of courteous service. While there were many other great musicians in attendance, there simply wasn't time for them all to be accommodated, much to their chagrin. Oh, well, there's always next Wednesday! |
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| DES LEAHY (from left: Mark Yanetta, Des Leahy, Doug Inglis, Paul Martin) |
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