We're coming up the big announcement of the winner of CBC Radio's CANADA READS contest, in which five selected books each have an on-air advocate. Paul's King Leary is one of the finalists (and we believe certain to win). The merits of this 1987 novel are expounded on air by Dave Bidini of the Rheostatics (and a fine author also). Learn more here:
http://www.cbc.ca/canadareads/books-kingleary.html

One of our Ontario appearances last fall resulted in this: "BEST FOLK/ROOTS CONCERT OF THE YEAR. “Porkbelly Futures played The London Music Club to an appreciative audience and were as bloody great as you’d expect from a band good enough to have somebody from the Canadian Brass playing guitars and harmonica, the double bassist from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra bowing away and a Governor General’s Award-winning novelist supplying most of the lyrics. And they had London’s Teddy Leonard guesting on guitar. When Porkbelly Futures come back, don’t you dare miss them.” James Reaney, London Free Press, Dec. 29/07
Thank you Mr. Reaney! We were also pleased to see Blackie and the Rodeo Kings (featuring Porkbelly contributor Colin Linden) in runner-up spot. We'll be back at the London Musical Club on Saturday, March 22. The estimable Mr. Leonard will be with us.

Quarrington here, with late-breaking news flashes.

Porkbelly Futures played a lovely event the other night, a Christmas Party hosted by my friend Judith Keenan, who makes BookShorts, which are short films inspired by books. You could check out the website to see what I’m talking about. (Martin Worthy, our fabulous singer/songwriting drummer has done the music for some of these.) Anyway, the party was co-hosted by Irene Duma (who has made several BookShorts) and Sue Kenney (who had a BookShort made from her book, “Confessions of a Pilgrim”.) We’re going to be producing a BookShort for my upcoming novel “The Ravine.” The Gents performed also, a very accomplished comedy troupe, featuring the talents of Bruce Pirrie (another BookShorts veteran), Matt Baram, Bob Bainborough and Doug Morency. And Marty Adams, a mainstay at Toronto’s Second City, played Santa Claus. There was high hilarity.

Also, Quarrington (me) is very jazzed about the upcoming round of Canada Reads, because his (my) friend Dave Bidini is going to champion the hockey novel “King Leary.” It’s been almost impossible to get hold of this book, which is one of his (my) faves. But it’s out in a lovely new edition from Anchor Press. Anyway, read all about it HERE.

He doesn't sing or jump around on stage, but nobody can miss Chas
Elliott. We like to refer to this gentle giant as the world's tallest
free-standing bass player. Porkbelly players (and knowledgeable
audience members) keep track of his expression during concerts,
looking for the smile that bursts forth when the music feels
especially good. Chas has performed and recorded chamber music with
the great Glenn Gould - which very few can claim! - and added his "low-
frequency bass generator" sounds to some famous film scores that we
all hum along to. He towers over his section mates at the Toronto
Symphony Orchestra, but The iPod That Never Leaves Him (TiPTNLH) is filled with deep, powerful, soulful, funky music. An interesting guy...

We've just performed at The London Music Club, a wonderful Ontario venue operated by a couple of genuine music lovers. Janice and Peter Denomme have converted a gorgeous heritage home into a restaurant/live music site that's one of the nicest we've seen anywhere. Check it out HERE.
London Free Press columnist James Reaney's blog review of our show read: "Paul Quarrington and the other Futures write songs about Sweet Daddy Siki, broken hearts, trains, Newfoundland disasters and just about everything else... Guest guitarist Teddy Leonard was so hot that Quarrington joked he thought he was in Zed Zed Top (nice to see it pronounced properly). Anyway, when they do come back, go! This might have been the gig of the year.

Paul Quarrington rolls up his sleeves and wades in on Bob Mersereau's new book The Top 100 Canadian Albums; in The Globe and Mail HERE. Nineteenth on the list is The Rheostatics' Whale Music, named after Paul's novel of that title. The band subsequently recorded the soundtrack (including Paul's Genie Award-winning song Claire) for the Whale Music movie.

The producer of our recordings is Toronto’s own David Gray, so we like to drag him into the limelight now and then. First off, Dave’s a killer guitar player - so good that Butterfield tried to pry him out of Parachute Club to join a band he wanted to put together in California with the great Ben Keith. So that’s nice. Mostly, though, he’s our wonderful producer, a master of diverse musical genres who takes infinite pains with our material and, well, us. It was Dave (we often call him DG) who suggested Rebecca would be perfect for the band, and we all know how great that’s been. He also got folks like Colin Linden, Richard Bell, Roxanne Potvin and Teddy Leonard onside. He loans us gear too (DG has tons of gear) and encouraged Stuey to learn the pedal steel guitar, which adds a great new sound to our music.
Like us, DG has a keen interest in the original Blues/Roots/Country musician Porkbelly Futures from whom we get our name and inspiration. He even has a couple of original (and, unfortunately unlistenable) Porkbelly recordings.