Acton Music And Sound
I first played with Bo Diddley in 1973 when I was hired to back him up with my band Lick’n'Stick at the upstairs El Mocambo in Toronto.We played the whole week there to sold out crouds of fans. Bo took me under his wing and gave me some good advice on being a band leader and encouraged me. At the end of the week we recorded the sound track to a movie called ,’Diary of a Sinner’.He then asked me,”you didn’t make much money this week did you?” I said it was an honor and learning experience for me to play with him. He said the club wants us to do another week for them in the near future.He said ask for more money because he told the club he wouldn’t do the gig unless he got my band to back him up. We played the El Mocambo together at least five times Monday through Saturday. Later on we played the CNE at a vintage car show in Toronto for the weekend and Palais de congess in Montreal, The Bruce Inn in Kincardin ,Ontario, The Nags Head North,The Acton Music Festival,and numerous other engagements. One time he was playing the Royal York in Toronto for a week and he asked me if I could get a gig for him on the Sunday but it could not be advertised . I thought about it for a while and we ended up playing to a full house at a speak easy that I used to frequent. The last time I played with him was in Thunder Bay two years ago. We were supposed to play together at the Phoenix club in Toronto last year in May but he had a stroke a week before the show. The show was postponed not canceled and I was hopeful he would recover.
When I backed up Bo I felt it was my gig to give him solid back up so he could do his thing. I must have done about 100 gigs with Bo over the last four decades and watching him perform made me want to be more than a singer guitar player songwriter. It made me want to be an entertainer like him.He had a great sense of humor both on stage and off and always reached back to musicians to lend a helping hand and offer sincere encouragement and advice. In 1984 when I released my first Album ‘Almost Crazy’ he came in the studio and added his voice and percussion on a tune that we wrote together ‘The ugliet Girl in Town’. It was a tongue in cheek song about a shotgun wedding. He was releasing his own cassette album called ‘Ain’t it Good to be Free’and encouraged me to release my own album as an independent record company. I was going in that direction anyway and it was good having someone that I admired giving me the nudge of approval. In 1986 he wrote the liner notes to my second Vinyl album….”From the beginning of his young career, I predicted that PAUL JAMES would be a big star one day and that time is right now! The man is a true professional and dynamic! Listening to PAUL JAMES is listening to the building of a whole new thing. PAUL JAMES is a great musician. He’s a great tribute to Rock’n'Roll.”BO DIDDLEY Bo Diddley has been a great friend, my mentor,and an inspiration to me for the last four decades. I am still constantly influenced by his music and words of advice and inspiration. I don’t think I play a gig with my band or solo that I don’t play at least one of his songs. He will be in my good thoughts forever. He was the KING OF THE BEAT , prolific songwriter,one of the real originators of rock’n'roll, and a truly nice guy. I’ll miss seeing him terribly. I loved the man.Hail Bo Diddley.
The Acton Jazz Cafe was written up in Downbeat Magazine as one of the top 100 jazz clubs in the world. It hosts jazz musicians seven nights a week in one of Boston's quiet suburbs, Acton. Gwenn Vivian, owner of the Acton Jazz Cafe, strives to present and to support the highest quality regional live music inan intimate and interactive atmosphere.
Friday night's event is a fundraiser for Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry, as the AJC spreads the holiday spirit of giving in its live-jazz style. This fundraiser event is from 7-8:30pm. The Boston Carolers will perform with the Molly Flannery sextet. Flannery and her jazz combo have been running this holiday fundraiser for two years.
"I've performed in many jazz clubs, but never seen carolers featured," says Boston Carolers' director Anna Callahan. "It's a perfect fit for us, since we're jazz vocalists singing jazz arrangements."
The Boston Carolers are professional singers who perform a mix of traditional carols and jazz arrangements. The members of the Boston Carolers have toured internationally, taught at vocal programs around the country, and released cds; they include the best vocalists in the Boston area. The Boston Carolers are available for hire in the Boston area at corporate or private events including holiday parties, restaurant sets, neighborhood sing-alongs, and others.
See their website, http://www.bostoncarolers.com, for additional information and sound samples.
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