Run rabbit run

It says something about Peter Elkas' drawing power that even without much in the way of publicity he can still attract an audience several-dozen strong to a show. As before, when he headlined a show with Kris Ward and Sojourn. His soul-rock sounds got a great workout from his band.

The man himself, along with a good chunk of the Burt Neilson Band: Jeff Heisholt on keyboards and Gavin Maguire on drums, who were with him last time I saw him, and Jeremy Little on bass, doing a standup job in the absence of Elkas regular Doug Friesen.

















I think the opening act inspired Elkas to turn up the electric guitar a bit: He had a couple of really smouldering solos.

Moose and Elk(as)

Once more into the clubs. dear friends. I think the promotion for the Peter Elkas and Bullmoose show at Mavericks was a trifle underpromoted (I didn't see any mention at any of the regular locations, or much in the way of postering) but the attendance was decent: About four dozen people by my count, and an enthusiastic four-dozen at that. Bullmoose kicked things off with their heavy blues rock - and do they kick!



Elkas thanked Bullmoose for "kicking ass" but said that by comparison he and his band (in essence Burt Neilson's) would be "kicking heart."



His soulful show was more restrained than Bullmoose's, as promised, but did feature lots of "Yeahs" and many a "Wooooo!" Elkas will be back in the area soon as part of Joel Plaskett's band for its Barrymore's shows.

• Show reminder: Brown Brigade (featuring ex-Sum 41 guitarist Dave "Brownsound" Baksh) and some other folks play Zaphod Beeblebrox; it's a good thing my evening is already spoken for or I'd feel bad about not getting a ticket to see The Weakerthans and Jenn Grant's sold-out show at Capital Music Hall.

Off and on

I'm off work for two weeks - yay! I'm still going to be damn busy fomenting nefarious plans and the like, though, so expect bursts of inactivity around these parts in the days ahead. As for the immediate future, you might want to consider going to see Peter Elkas and Bullmoose tonight at Mavericks, two performers I quite enjoyed seeing separately at that very venue. Here's a shot of Elkas with Alanna Stuart guesting from Jan. 14, 2006.



Over at The Dominion Manpower and 90 Pounds of Ugly (Lefty McRighty's other band, as I understand it) will be rocking on behalf of the Sid Ford Foundation. The Spill Canvas, Meg & Dia, Play Radio Play! and Treaty of Paris play a sold-out show at Babylon; later in the evening Brockway Biggs will be dropping some rhymes and rhythms along with an armada of DJs at the Peaceful Journey 11th anniversary shindig.

Rabbit's return

Peter Elkas has graced stages on several occasion, both with his garage pop combo Local Rabbits and solo, but despite my enjoyment of his solo debut album his Saturday show with Kris Ward and Sojourn was the first time I'd seen him live (I seem to have a knack for missing his performances, having arrived too late to see him open for Feist Thursday as well). Party of One - the aforementioned debut - got a rock'n'roll makeover, and songs new and old sounded great.

Peter sings!



Local soul diva Alanna Stuart came up to perform a few songs and was lovely as usual.



He was backed by a couple of Burt Neilson Band vets: On keyboards (and some sweet backing vocals), Jeff Heisholt.



Drummer Gavin Maguire is also a BNB man.



Bassist Doug Friesen rounds out the band.



Dual singing action!



Rock action!



A really solid performance.

• Show reminder: Argh. At the same time as The Maynards and The Glads play Irene's Pub the Sick Fits will be rocking The Dominion with a couple of New York City outfits, Electric Shadows and Baby Shakes. It isn't fair, I tell you ...