Archive for the ‘Jamilton’ Category
THE BOOK BAND
Representing the Best of Small Press
P.O. Box 3471, Stn. C. Voice: 905-545-5274
Hamilton ON L8H 7M1 E-mail: info@thebookband.com
www.thebookband.com Attn: Trudi
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Hot Hamilton’s Cool Blues Scene
It’s the early 1960s and two Hamilton teens, Doug Carter and Richard Newell (later known as King Biscuit Boy), with two other friends, form The Chessmen band after being bitten by the Blues bug. Success from playing local gigs somehow results in a “tour” in England and Germany. The rest, as they say, is history … but it’s a wild journey that Blues aficionados will enjoy reliving. Cool Fool: Blues Rockin’ In The Hammer is Doug Carter’s honest, funny and as-true-as-he-can-remember-it story of playing the Blues (and other musical styles) from the 1960s to 1980s. Published by Seraphim Editions (www.seraphimeditions.com ), this straight-shooting memoir brings to life the vibrant Hamilton and Buffalo music scenes of the times. It traces Carter’s love of music and the ups and downs of his musical career, along with the good, the bad and the sometimes ugly bits about performing live.
Carter says he wrote the book to expand on the back story of Hamilton’s most famous Blues harmonica virtuoso, Richard Newell, and “to celebrate the music and the musicians I made some great music with along the way.”
A book launch for Cool Fool will be held on Saturday August 14, 2010 at the Artword ArtBar (15 Colbourne Street, Hamilton), starting at 7:30 p.m. This event is free and is open to the public. There will be live music by Eddies Club Blues with Ron Copple, one of the original Chessmen. There will also be a short reading by the author.
Founded in 1995, Seraphim Editions publishes the works of established and emerging Canadian writers.
For more information about Cool Fool or the book launch, or to request a review copy (pdf format), please contact Trudi at info@thebookband.com.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Bassist Doug Carter has been a Hamilton musician since he started gigging with The Chessmen at local high schools and clubs. For many years, he made a living playing music with such Blues notables as Morgan Davis, Teddy Leonard, Donny Walsh, Harrison Kennedy, and Mike Oddie, as well as rockers Tim Gibbons, Fraser Loveman,
Michael O’Brien and Tom Wilson. Doug has co-written songs with Richard Newell and guitarist Mike McMillan. He is also a visual artist who has exhibited throughout Southern Ontario, and from 1995 to 2004, he administered the non-profit Carnegie Art Gallery in Dundas, Ontario.
To arrange an interview with Doug Carter, please contact him at coolfoolthebook@gmail.com
Read A Chapter here:
a lifetime spent trying to play the Blues in Hamilton, Canada
Doin’ The Buffalo Shuffle
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This is my story, my memories, from my very subjective point of view. I’ve tried to capture the enthusiasm of the era, a golden age of pop music, and its roots in the Blues . I apologize if I’ve left anyone out that should have been included and I’ve done the best I can to confirm the spelling of the names I have used, but since 1959 was over 50 years ago, etc., and memory being what it is, what you’re holding, if not the truth exactly, is how I remember it. 
I made very little money from my musical endeavours, if you don’t count the $15 or so I get each year from the royalties for “Deaf, Dumb, Crippled & Blind” and “Caledonia River”, two tunes I co-wrote with Richard Newell that, believe it or not, someone somewhere still gets out of the vaults to spin on air.
Click on the Book Cover to order it.
The women in all the lives I touch on in this memoire have been left out on purpose. That’s another, and in some situations very complex, subject. I think I’ll leave that for the soap opera version.
In retrospect, the music ruled. As J.B. Lenoir wrote “…the voodoo music has got the whole world in its spell.” It sure as hell had me.
It’s hard to express the appreciation I have for all the help everyone along the way gave me pursuing my dream. Having gone straight from high school to the cold mill at Dofasco, as it was once known, I knew early that the get-a-regular-day-job-with-a-pension-and-stick-to it-until-you’re-65 was never going to work for me. Face the Burlington Street bus to Beach Road to & fro 5 days a week or hit the road and take a chance on life in a Blues Rockin’ band? Well, the next 150+ pages or so is my answer to that question.
About Cool Fool, The Book
Doug Carter
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Hear the songs at
Hamilton Canada Blues Blog Cool Fool: Blues Rockin’ the Hammer! (thanks Brother)
December 08, 2006
Gettin’ The Blues In 1963
Gettin’ The Blues In 1963: Something’s Gotta’ Hold On Me! I’d been thinking about it for awhile the early days of blues rock and early electric bands in general in Hamilton starting with my own experience growing up in Hamilton in love with black rock ‘n roll & rockabilly & electric blues & then playing with Son Richard (Richard Newell aka King Biscuit Boy) & the Chessmen from 1963 to 1965…and then I went to the Canal Bank Shuffle blues festival in Thorold, Ontario back in October and ended up seeing Harrison Kennedy backed by an old friend, Keith Lindsay on various keyboards who put me in touch with Russ Carter, the guitar player for The Bishops with which Harry had been front man at one time…and Russ has pictures & stories…& I was in band back then to & one thing leads to another so here I go… If anyone reads this & has access to or know where there are photos, documents & especially music, tapes, 8mm or super* film or better etc. (at the moment I’m looking for material from the late ’50s to the mid-60′s, pre-psychedelia but that will be another chapter & then the next era & so forth…) I’d love to get in touch and talk about adding the material to a “history of Hamilton bands” aspect of this blog…some bands contemporary with The Bishops and the Chessmen I remember: Freddy & the Goldtones, Doug Holland, The Prophets, The Bucks (I have vinyl by the Bucks! they practiced in a basement on East 26th Street a couple of blocks over from my house ), Frank Rondell, Nicky Moore & The Sceptres…but there were lots more… To give you an idea where I’m comin’ from here are some early band photos I somehow still have…and a couple of the tunes from a tape Richard made in 1963 at the Sportsmen’s Bowling Alley & lounge on the side of the escarpment in central Hamilton off Wentworth Street south…Richard, vocals & harp, Ron Copple, steel guitar, Rick Golka, lead guitar, Russell Carter guitar (understudying Rick on lead to take over at the next gig as Rick was leaving to play full time on the Ontario bar circuit with Frank Rondell with whom he eventually cut a few 45′s), Richie Hodgson, drums, Paul Cronkwright piano and myself on bass…playin’ the blues for me starts in 1963. We played all over the city, there were dances everywhere…we rehearsed in a Fish ‘n Chip Shop run by Ron Copple’s parents at Brucedale & East 13th right to next to a fav teen hangout, The Rocket, a combo variety store soda shop with a great juke box…let the joint jump, let the good times roll! 
