The legacy of the Guess Who is well-established at this point, especially around these parts.
Two key contributors to the Prairie rock machine — singer Burton Cummings and guitarist Randy Bachman — have both lived in or around the Victoria area, and some of the band’s most famous songs were penned in the 1960s while travelling on the Island, according to the pair.
They have kept their regional relationships intact over the years by playing regular concerts on local soil, both alone and together. Bachman and his BTO bandmate Fred Turner were at the Royal Theatre in May, so now is the time for Cummings to come back around. He’ll do just that on Sept. 26 when he stops in — with his full band in tow — at the Port Theatre.
Fans of the singer (whose solo hits include Stand Tall, Break it to Them Gently, Fine State of Affairs, and My Own Way to Rock) will want to be quick on the draw if they hope to catch him during his only Vancouver Island date on this run. A whopping 350 pre-sale tickets were sold Thursday, which is big business for the 800-capacity Port Theatre.
Tickets are available to the public for $97.50 or $107.50, plus service charges. They are available at porttheatre.com, by phone at 250-754-8550 or in person at the theatre box office (125 Front St.).
•••
New York soul music syncopators the Budos Band have delivered a new single from their upcoming album — just in time to whet the appetites of fans planning to see them play live in Victoria next week.
The group, which is performing July 27 as part of the three-day Phillips Backyard Weekender, will release its new album, Burnt Offering, on Oct. 21 through Daptone Records. Horn-heavy jam The Sticks, the first song released from the album, can be heard by visiting timescolonist.com/arts.
•••
The annual Vancouver Island Blues Bash is celebrating its 20th anniversary next month with a lineup that includes a former member of Fleetwood Mac.
Award-winning acts the Curtis Salgado Band (Aug. 30) and Rick Vito and the Lucky Devils (Aug. 31) will headline the ticketed nighttime performances. Vito was a member of Fleetwood Mac during the late ’80s.
The lineup also includes free daytime performances from local acts Preston McCool, the Electric Timber Co., David Vest and the Push Band (Saturday), Inglewood, Summer & the Sinners, Uncle Wiggly’s Hot Shoes Blues Band and the Cal Batchelor Band (Sunday), and the Deb Rhymer Band, the Soul Shakers, Auntie Kate & the Uncles of Funk and the Midnights (Monday).
Blues Bash is held at Ship Point in the Inner Harbour over the Labour Day weekend.
Tickets are on sale now ($30 per day or $45 for a two-day pass) at the Victoria Jazz Society office (250-388-4423), Lyle’s Place, the Royal and McPherson box office (250-386-6121), and rmts.bc.ca.
For more information, visit jazzvictoria.ca.
•••
Juno Award winner Dean Brody will perform Aug. 2 in Duncan as one of the headliners at this year’s Sunfest country music festival. Brody, who is from Smithers, will be doing so with a slightly bigger spring in his step, it would appear.
Brody earned an impressive six Canadian Country Music Association nominations this week, including single of the year for his hit Bounty. He also scored nods for album of the year (for Crop Circles), songwriter of the year, video of the year, male artist of the year and fan choice award.
The 2014 CCMA Awards Show will be broadcast Sept. 7 on CBC-TV. For more information about the popular Duncan festival, visit sunfestconcerts.com
•••
Controversial rap act 2 Live Crew is joining forces with street poet Blowfly for a much-anticipated Aug. 14 performance at the Upstairs Cabaret.
The pair of acts from Miami are cut from the same cloth: 2 Live Crew is the controversial (and oft-banned) rap duo of Brother Marquis and Fresh Kid Ice, who rose to fame (with now-departed members Luke Skyywalker and Mister Mixx) with 1989’s As Nasty as They Wanna Be. Blowfly — whose sex raps date back to 1980 — is deemed the world’s first “dirty rapper” and has been credited as an influence on everyone from Snoop Dogg to Ice-T.
Tickets are $25 (plus service charges) at eventbrite.com. Opening acts include Dirty Brown Camaro and DJ Anger.
•••
A new video by the New Pornographers burned up the Internet this week, which is good news for the Vancouver-Victoria-New York-Phoenix collective.
The group, which features Kathryn Calder of Victoria on keyboards and vocals, has issued an insanely good clip for War on the East Coast, an apocalyptic video that was shot in one continuous take. The single is taken from the band’s upcoming album, Brill Bruisers, due Aug. 25 on Matador Records.
Though you won’t see Calder in the clip — only Dan Bejar and A.C. Newman of the group were cast — the song does feature a reference to Victoria in the opening stanza: “Last night I dreamt, Vancouver dressed up in the ocean/ Last night I dreamt, Victoria drowned in the ocean.”
To watch the video, visit timescolonist.com/arts.
•••
Beach House does not have any new music to promote, but that won’t stop the Baltimore dream-pop duo from making its way to Victoria for a hotly-tipped performance at Sugar nightclub on Sept. 21.
Victoria is the first stop on a 14-date trek across Canada for the group, which last played Victoria during the 2009 Rifflandia festival.
Tickets are $25 (plus service charges) at Ditch Records, Lyle’s Place, and ticketweb.ca.