At some point in their careers , most rock , folk , and blues performers will endure these kinds of evenings where they feel they are an afterthought . If they want to earn a little cash then this is an unfortunate consequence .
Two-time JUNO-winning blues guitarist Jack De Keyzer has toured the country playing between 140 and 200 dates a year for more than 30 years , and though he has outgrown some of the bad bar scenes , he can well remember what it ’ s like .
“ In a blanket sort of way , I would say Quebec puts more value on culture and music ,” De Keyzer observes . “ You are going to find better sound systems in a lot of their venues and you are not going to find TVs on .
“ In the rest of English-speaking Canada , it ’ s just like , ‘ Business is slow ; how about we throw a band up against the wall beside the kitchen and the women ’ s washroom , between this pool table and this shuffle board . Maybe we will get an extra 40 people .’”
The guitarist laughs at his statement and admits it ’ s a generalization . As an alternative approach , he believes the musician and the audience must create the venue . Oftentimes , he says , he books shows in a legion hall or a theatre and plays for the cover charge , thus eliminating having to play the “ chicken wing places ,” as he not-so-lovingly calls them . Asked to describe his favourite venue , he laughs and says “ a full venue .”
De Keyzer ’ s experience is on par with any touring musician ’ s . Across the country , of course , there are venues where musicianship is appreciated and that attract both great musicians and a musicloving crowd .
One such place is The Moonshine Cafe , a downtown Oakville , ON bar that features live music seven days a week . Its capacity is officially 60 and there is always a cover charge . Regular clientele know that they are going to hear good music every night . And like most good music venues , it has a permanent stage and PA system .
“ The audience is not so much age specific as likeminded ,” says owner John Marlatt , who is celebrating 11 years of owning and operating the Moonshine . “ They want to hear good music in an intimate setting without the distraction of TV sets and other things going on , like dishes clattering and people yelling and yahooing and getting hammered and all that stuff .
“ I went to a few places that I loved back in the day – [ Toronto ’ s ] Hugh ’ s Room was one . The Staircase Theatre in Hamilton was another , and Tootsies in Nashville was another . That had some influence on how we finessed what I wanted to do . Hugh ’ s Room , particularly , is a listening room ; Tootsies was just one band after another . The Staircase was just a very cool spot to sit .”
Marlatt and his partner , Jane Mackay , have attracted some great acts over the years , including The Sheepdogs , Paul James , Fred Eaglesmith , J . P . Cormier , and De Keyzer among them . On a couple of occasions , Tom Cochrane has joined musicians on stage . Recently , Steve Poltz , whose notoriety was established after playing and recording with multi-platinum selling artist Jewel , filmed a CBC feature there .
“ I think venues need to know where they are in the food chain . You are not Massey Hall and you ’ re not a chicken wing joint ,” he offers . “ And , I am not an anchor date for a touring artist but certainly a great place to come and play on a dark night and pick up a few bucks , make some new fans , and sell some merch .”
Although the pair isn ’ t getting rich from owning the club , Marlatt is realizing his dream of providing artists the chance to develop their performance skills . To that end , he has the musician ’ s proverbial back . It is not unusual for him to ask a patron to be quiet during a performance and , after one sharptongued warning , to refund the cover charge and ask the offender to leave .
“ I do feel comfortable doing that ,” he declares . “ Usually when someone is doing that it ’ s because they don ’ t understand totally what the venue is . Either they are comfortable with it or not . And if they are not comfortable with it , they don ’ t come back .
“ The long term customer is who I kind of cater to – the ones who come to two or three shows a month . And the artists appreciate that as well . I know that . I guess the general principle is that it has to work the way we do it with the cover charge every night . The
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band or the artist has to deliver a performance to justify the money , the people have to be willing to pay the money , and the venue , of course , has to do some business . We are all tied together that way .”
As artists crave a large room filled to capacity with attentive music lovers listening , the etiquette of yesteryear is a somewhat disappearing phenomenon . The Waterloo Jazz Room takes things to the extreme to protect the performing artists and the patrons who have paid a cover charge to listen to quality music . Performances are preceded by some “ housekeeping notes ,” usually delivered by Stephen Preece , the president of the Waterloo Jazz Society .
He will ask for cell phones to be switched off and for people to refrain from talking during the performance . And in what appears to be an innovative move , the artists perform shorter sets of 30-40 minutes so that there is a chance for people to socialize or catch up on their texting during intermissions .
“ I did extensive research at clubs all over the world before starting The Jazz Room in 2011 ,” Preece explains . “ Virtually every club in the world struggles with the tension between ‘ talkers ’ and ‘ listeners ’ and they all deal with it in different ways .
“ If you go to the high-end jazz clubs in New York – Blue Note , Birdland , The Village Vanguard – they all have ‘ no talk ’ policies with signs on the tables indicating that , and usually a taped message over the sound system asking people to not
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