Roy Forbes, Holger Peterson, The Bros. Landreth and AV and the Inner City. All of the interviews were done backstage at the Vancouver Island Music Festival of several weeks ago. In Courtney. Thank you, Doug Cox and Team. Talking to Roy about performing his Thistles album after all those years, to Holger about some of the highlights of his years coming to the festival and interviewing Roy for the audience. The Bros  Landreth tells the tale of travelling to the Byron Bay Blues Fest in Australia to finally play with Bonnie Raitt. There was just one thing they wanted to do before that...go swimming in the surf. Things went sideways. Ann Vriend and her Inner City Choir introduced themselves and their second jobs and left us with a song. Holger was hosting and doing interviews. The Bros. Landreth was playing various side stages and headlining Sunday Rocking Roy was playing his Thistles album from his "Bim" Days. with a great band Ann Vriend and Inner City, after a chat,  left us with a cappella gospel song.

Mariel Buckley  Is On A ROLL

Two  Western Canadian Music Award Nominations for Breakout Artist and Roots Artist, Polaris nomination, Americana Festival in Nashville in September, Winnipeg Folk Festival, King Eddy gig with Tim,  released a version of album Everywhere I Used to be (deluxe) Two new tracks – Prairie Town Dreams and Sad all the Time.

And she’s not done yet!!! Heading to the Edmonton Folk Festival as well.

Mariel brings tales of relationships, sadness, depression, and small-town loneliness that can squeeze the life out of you. Not exactly feel-good songs but there is hope throughout. And a fight-back spirit.

The complete interview – a romp – can be heard on the Mulligan Stew Podcast and the video version on terrydavidmulligan YouTube Channel

E talked about when she realized that words, music and voice could be the way out of her dark life and relationships.

I wrote this album for losers and underdogs. I want every outsider and lost soul to feel seen and safe with these songs.

I wrote it for anyone who’s ready to make a change and especially for those who aren’t. 

Onward !!!!!!

 

It’s Festival Season. Wine, Music, Blues and Roots, Food, Fishing, Camping.

The annual Cowichan Valley Wine Festival returns to its Month of August setting.

Its kicks off July 27  with Sunset Soirée from 6-9 PM at the gorgeous Campbell Commons at  Brentwood College School in Mill Bay.

13 wineries will be pouring some of their favourites plus some chosen especially for this event. Attending and tasting allow you to actually meet the maker of the wines. There’s nothing better than getting the real story of the wine. Expect high-end, new releases and a few surprises being poured.

This year the food program will be created by  Mensch Catering, so you know it will be very interesting.

Wineries pouring on the night will be Alderlea, Blue Grouse, Cherry Point, Damalli, Devino, Deoll, Enrico, Rocky Creek, Unsworth, Venturi Schultze, Zanatta and Emandare.

August in the Cowichan Valley  Aug 1 – 31.  12 wineries.

Wine Passport.  

Your map and tasting glass are your ticket to all 12 participating Cowichan Valley Wineries.

Everyone who purchases a ticket is automatically entered into draws. Accommodations, wine, tours,  transportation and gift baskets.

Details at www.cowichanwineries.com

Our guests are

Alderlea – Julie Powell co-owner/co-winemaker

Blue Grouse – Bailey Williamson  Head Winemaker

Enrico Winery – Lorin Inglis  General Manager and Pres Cowichan Wineries Society.

(Jim Moody from Zanatta had tech issues and I will do a follow up)

www.cowichanwineries.com

www.alderlea.ca

www.bluegrouse.ca

www.enricowinery.com

@zanattawinery

Chef Kristian Eligh – Marilena Café and Raw Bar.  Victoria

It felt like the longest opening of a new restaurant I’ve seen in many years.

It feels like 3-4 years ago I knew that Kristian and his family were moving back to Victoria with a plan to create a singular restaurant.

Then came years of COVID and post-Covid.

Finally, the day has arrived and Marilena Café and Raw Bar was just launched.

Kristian is a chefs chef.

From Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry to culinary director of Hawksworth Restaurant and now Top Table Group Executive Chef.

The Top Table Group includes Blue Water Café, Eliza, Cin Cin, Araxi, Il Caminetto, Bar Oso.  Quite a line up and it doesn’t include their two New York City restaurants.

Marilena is two rooms in one. They’ve been described as “pockets of ambience”.

The Raw Bar, led by Chef Clark Park. The Café is the turf of one of the best managers Aaron Matsuzaki.

The wine directory is large. It’s overseen by the brilliant Shane Taylor

This is a destination, my friends...

Go to www.marilenacafe.com and check out the dazzling menu and wine list.

The café is a blend of Japanese-inspired small plates, Italian salads and large sharing plates of whole fish, lobster and  48 hr Beef short rib.

Cocktails on tap and a list of variables called lively, adventurous and sophisticated.

Pouring select Vancouver Island Wines. One from Basque country and Aquilini   Cab/Merlot Family Blend from Red Mountain.

Marilena is now open. It was well worth the wait.

www.marilenacafe.com

Red Robinson was the first announcer to play rock music on the radio in Canada. He was 16 years old.

Imagine the lives he influenced. Loved by teens. Hated and hounded by parents and adults.

Red made no distinction between black and white artists:  he just played the hits. 

That drive and determination took him all the way to induction in the Rock Hall of Fame.

I'm told I did the last interviews with Red Robinson. 

He was in a retirement home in Vancouver and living with his memories.

Red was directly responsible for the turning point in my career. He phoned me at CKCK in  Regina and asked "Would you like to come home.? Back to the West Coast?

One of the happiest moments in my life. 

We became friends and co-workers. 

His timing was impeccable.  He was the right guy. In the right place. At the right time

He got to play and then meet and interview

Elvis Presley

The Everly Brothers

Jerry Lee Lewis

Roy Orbison

James Brown

Bill Haley

Carl Perkins

Johnny Cash

Little Richard

Jackie Wilson

Fats Domino

Chuck Berry

Ray Charles

Rickie Nelson

Buddy Holly

Sam Cooke

Patsy Cline

Peggy Lee

And

The Beatles.

He Introduced The Beatles at their Vancouver Concert.

Started the careers of many many announcers. Me for one.

Changed the lives of millions of teens during the late '50s and 60's.

 

I have a number of interviews with Red...

The last two were Zoom interviews. The first didn't go well. Red couldn't hear the questions but the second and last in 2022 went much better.

This Podcast is both of those Zoom interviews back to back. The first was in March 2022 and the second October 2022.

I hope it tells some of the story of his life, the music he played, the lives he changed and his place in Canadian radio.

Red died April 1, 2023.  He was 86

 

On the occasion of Bruce Allen’s birthday, I thought I’d sit down for an early morning Zoom call.

Bruce has a roster of talent that plays the World’s stages, so you can find him at 8 am just finishing a call to South Africa.

He’s a full-speed guy. Never outworked,  no matter what the project.

In over 50 years Bruce has become one of the best artist managers in the entire music business.  Bruce Allen Talent.

After a start with BTO,  Bruce decided to take a chance on a young singer/songwriter Bryan Adams. They agreed to be a team with a handshake and started to make music history.

His roster now includes legend Anne Murray, Michael Bublé (there’s a story), Jann Arden, mega-producer Bob Rock and his first band in a while The Offspring.

 

In the 23 minutes that I have his attention, Bruce tells tales about

The state of the current music business..

The loss of Gordon Lightfoot

Bryan Adams – his place today

Jann – she’s busy Mully

Michael Bublé – we trade Bublé stories. Love it

Bob Rock and Gord Downie – amazing story

The Offspring – first band he’s signed in years.

The Loss of our dear friend – Red Robinson DJ Legend.

Enjoy Big Bad Bruce. Next Week and very special feature on the early rock life of Red Robinson. His last two interviews.

 

Two very special friends. Both are culinary leaders in Canadian food.

Ned Bell.  Executive Chef and co-partner at Naramata Heritage Inn. A spokesperson for multiple culinary and seafood sustainability movements. A true force….leading by doing.

He’s the chef ambassador for the province of BC through the Buy BC Program.

He’s a week away from launching the 4th annual BC Seafood Festival. On Mt Washington, Vancouver Island

June 23-25.

Lots to talk about with Ned and his event next weekend.

To Ned’s West on Vancouver Island is the official end of Canada. In Tofino.  A surf and food heaven.

Lisa Ahier started her SoBo restaurant as a food truck, making tacos for the surfers and then the tourists.

Her restaurant has become the epicentre of life in Tofino.

Surrounded by fancier and slicker dining, Lisa just does what her heart asks of her…give your community a place to gather, eat and celebrate how lucky you all are to be there. Lisa’s written and released her second book Together at Sobo.  The celebration continues.

In our interview, Lisa hints at what her future holds as she begins to move beyond Sobo and into our food destinations.

Two Pals. Doesn’t get much better than this.

 

In 2016  stellar  Canadian band 54.40 released an album La Difference: A History Unplugged. It was a brilliant reworking of their greatest hits.

You could instantly tell it was one of their songs but the instrumentation and overall sound had been changed and made fresher. It brought new life to older songs and I thought it was a great move. Clever and classic.  It takes a band working together to allow each member to express what they feel about a song they’ve been playing for years.

7 years later, here comes The Northern Pikes. They also have a nice collection of hits and the commitment to reimagine those hits and bring new life to them. Acoustically inspired.

Before Covid changed the World,  they had planned to release a 30th-anniversary salute to their landmark album Snow in June.

A collection of Pikes songs driven by one of the best radio hits ever released in Canada – She ain’t Pretty.

This interview takes us through the group think about how to carry on and what it would sound like.

The Pikes have just released an acoustically driven album called TIME TO TIME that includes 7 songs from Snow in June and three new songs.

Between my radio life and many years at Much West, I crossed paths and got to hang with Jay Semko, Bryan Potvin, Don Schmid and the “new kid” in the band Kevin Kane (also a charter member of The Grapes of Wrath)

This Mulligan Stew Podcast features a delightful gathering of Jay, Bryan and Kevin and myself. We could have filled the time just remembering stories from the late ’80s and ’90s but we had new versions of Pikes hits to talk about and play.

Girl with a Problem, a Celtic feeling Green Fields, a smashing reworking of the title track and a She Ain’t Pretty that still rocks – acoustically.

Come hang with The Pikes and their album Time to Time

Two Canadian icons join forces and become partners in music.

One is/was Gord Downie. Lead singer and songwriter of The Tragically Hip.

Truly beloved. And hugely missed after losing his fight to cancer but going out in a blaze of a song with The Hip and the last Cross Canada Tour.

The other is Bob Rock. Known for his production work with Metallica, Bon Jovi, Aerosmith, Ron Sexsmith and The Tragically Hip.

Bob tells the story of how they became friends and how Gord contacted him and asked if he had any tracks he hadn’t used because he had  words he hadn’t used..” so let's put them together”

The album took years to complete but when they last met. Gord says to Bob “Please finish it”

Bob Rock on Gord Downie and their album Lustre Parfait Saturday on MulliganStew.ca

 

All  5 guests are Artistic Directors of their folk festivals. 

Four are in a group discussion about surviving the Covid years, this year's artist lineups and celebrating the renewal of live music. The fifth is a single interview with Terry Wickham,  Artistic Director of the Edmonton Folk Fest.

Yes, they’re all competitors but they’re also participants and partners. So when Covid and lockdown took over our world they formed a group to help and support each other.

The guests are

 

Fiona Black –  Vancouver Folk Music Festival (July 14-16) Thefestival.bc.ca

Chris Frayer –  Winnipeg Folk Fest. (July 6-9) Winnipegfolkfestival.ca   

Sue Panning – Canmore Folk Festival (Aug 5-7) Canmorefolkfestival.com 

Kerry Clarke – Calgary Folk Fest (July 27-30)  Calgaryfolkfest.com 

Terry Wickham – Edmonton Folk Fest (Aug 10-13) Edmontonfolkfest.org 

 

We’ll find out how Vancouver Folk Fest survived the near collapse of their festival.

How they all worked together, as a community, to support one another.

Also, their talent lineup and who they think could steal the show.

Complete discussion on Mulligan Stew Podcast and TerryDavidMulligan YouTube Channel.

 

Make your plans …Summer and festival Season is upon us.

Thanks all

tdm