The Dave "bookie" Bookman Tribute @thegarrisonto felt less like a concert and more like a reunion of Toronto's independent music soul. One by one musician stepped onto the stage to celebrate the songs Bookie loved,turning the room into a loud, emotional reminder of how deeply he connected artists, fans and the city itself.
The Big star covers carried heartbreak humour and raw gratitude, but what stood out the most was a sense of community....veterans, newcomers, and lifers all sharing the same stage for someone who spent their life championing live music. For a few hours the Garrison felt exactly like the kind of room Bookie fought to protect.
#music #live #tribute #live #secret
Big Star for Bookie. ⭐️🌟✨💫 Another gorgeous night celebrating the late Dave Bookman, a champion of Toronto and music. I grew up listening and absorbing Bookie on the radio - he gave his audience the beauty of discovery and artists opportunities to be heard. In recent years I’ve gotten to learn a bit more about him from some of his beloved friends and am grateful to have been introduced to this annual celebration as a result. @stephenstanley and @elliottlefko do a remarkable job keeping the spirit of Bookie alive through this community outpouring that so well embodies his voice and actions. Amazing night everyone, until next year. ❤️🔥
This last little while has been a reset button on my inner machinery 💻💾💚but the love program is rebooting nicely. ❤️💙💜I’m feeling more grace and space in the music realm - feeling like I still have some runway - and being surrounded with such magical lovely talented affirming people and sweet pals at the Toronto Big Star/Bookie Charity banger - and playing an intimate show with other lovely songwriters minutes from my door the night before at Cassette (and seeing my old high school pal Ted Wilson!!) were real grounding moments. There are many parts to my whole reboot. Part of it is being sober again - and trusting that process. And that’s not me preaching - everyone needs to find their own flow state. Mine doesn’t have alcohol in it. It’s only been a week but I feel so much less suppressed. More me. Able to accept love and look strangers in the eye when they step up and say kind words. Able to let the tears come. Able to roll with anxiety and not shoo it away. The talented Ted Carty and Marmaid played lovely unique sets at cool cassette and I had a great time seeing so many Nepean buds - and my great golden friend Stephen Stanley (and the legendary Elliot Lefko) organized many other friends to pull off a wild Big Star show at a packed Garrison with so many very VERY difficult songs staged by a fabulous raft of performers with an intergalactic backing band. It was all a real solid step towards another series of steps. Thankful to be here. Proud of everyone I played with this weekend. Your songs are stuck in my being like peanut butter on my ribs. Step on. Ain’t no half steppin’.
💚💜🩷💙✨❤️
Friends. Hi. Big weekend. Nice to slide back into the tour pocket with a home and away/O-town/T-dot back to backer. 👌Come hang in the Ottawa realms for a nifty Nepean show tonight at cool Cassette showcasing some rad songmakers and then tomorrow, I’ll be doing one Big Star song alongside a cavalcade of some incredibly gifted gemstars of song doing the same to honour Dave Bookman at the Garrison. It’s all happening. 🌟💥✨🩷💙💜💚❤️
Tune into @cbcq tomorrow morning to hear Black River played in all its glory. Thanks for the spin! 🌊𝑭𝑼𝑻𝑼𝑹𝑬 𝑾𝑨𝑽𝑬 is out now. We are in London ON tomorrow night at @honeydipbar
Companions of the computer farm. 💻 🐷Photo slide show incoming. What’s crackin? I’ve been recalibrating the Graventown machinery. It’s been a mind bending trip to be offline planting some future Xmas trees in the spring sun and working my dad bod to it’s near demise. Lots of things upcoming. Some really great stuff happening with my new fledgling album “Geographics” - including debuting at number 14 on the NACC top downloads and charting at 134 on the official airplay charts for the Americana Music Association (AMA). I mean - what? That’s wild. I’ve never been on any quote unquote “charts” outside of Canada. Very thankful and very floored. Beyond thankful for all of your support this past Bandcamp Friday. A great musical friend told me that though they’ve loved all my albums differently, Geographics really feels like something special. That moved me. Feels like the love locomotive is back on the tracks. 💚💜🩷💙 Here’s where you can catch me in some sweet spaces and festival type graces alongside some familiar faces. (PS tickets for the Ron Hawkins show in my yard on June 6 are dwindliiiiiiinnnnggg - picture me saying that walking away in a tunnel - and check out that red winged blackbird and the flower moon in my hood 🌕)
May 8: Nepean - Cassette (w Ted Carty and Marmaid)
May 9: Toronto - Bookman Big Star charity show
May 17: Uxbridge - Springtide farmers market
May 21: Brockville - 1000 islands house concerts (w sleepy bronco)
May 29: Toronto/Kensington - Lola’s (w Old Mountain Low and Mip Power Trio)
June 6: Nepean -GTown Yard Pals 1 (w Ron Hawkins)
June 10: Wolfe isle - Spicers (w Stephen Stanley)
June 12: Uxbridge - Springtide Festival
June 13: Peterborough - Pigs Ear Tavern (w Grainne Ryan)
June 26-28: Harrowsmith - Linespike Festival
July 10-12: Durham - Four Winds Festival
