CR Avery and Friends The Cameron House 2012-06-07

CR is on a fastbreak tour, 2 shows in So Ont before he takes a week off to work on new material while basking on the beaches of Cuba. He's more likely to be busking on the beaches. He does like Fidel Castro and his beard though.

Support tonight comes courtesy of the spoken-world underground in TO. David Silverberg, by day a mild-mannered digital journalist,by night the Grand Pookbah of the Toronto Poetry Slam Circle, is hosting.

David opens with a piece on opening up to strangers, likely called, The Story of Frank Warren and Post Secrets and tossed in a haiku about a startling street person with a Jesus complex. He introduces Robert Priest, Amanda Hiebert, Lara Bozabalian and Evalyn Parry.  Priest reminded us of the nobility of not fighting while Evalyn tackled the issue of self-identity in these post-modern times.

CR Avery is...well, as always, challenging. Comes out of the box strong with his Maggies Farm mashup, sliding into the piano ballad homage to Amy Winehouse and other artists who fell, Israel's Saviour and Queen. He's feeling the harp tonight and rolls out Springsteen's 57 Channels and Hendrix's Voodoo Child. 

Got some new songs, 4AM Text showcased CR doing an unplugged guitar tune. Don't think I've seen CR pick up a guitar in over 30 performances I've witnessed. This song is fun and I hope it sticks around for the tour. The second unplugged song of the night is the banjo tune, Rednecks and Dykes.
Gotta love CR's social commentary songs; got a problem with gays, homeless people, liberals, revolutionaries, outsiders??? Well, fuck you, you're a douchebag.

What might have been called Bonfire Orgasm was another new song for Cece and I. Not too often you get a saw in a show. A little eerie background for what is like the Guernica of word. Hard to see/hear it all the first time through. Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson are evoked.

The show closes with a dedication to MCA and Levon Helm, recently deceased, That's It For This Cowboy, an end of the road tale.



CR Avery and Friends
The Cameron House
2012-06-07


David Silverberg - The Story of Frank Warren and Post Secrets
Amanda  Hierbert - You've Been Calling Me
Robert Priest - Muhammed Ali
David Silverberg - (haikku)
Lara Bozabalian - Victor Hugo
Evalyn Parry - They Thought I Was A Boy

CR Avery

Maggies Farm
Israel's Saviour and Queen
57 Channels and Nothing On
4 AM Text (Happy Valentines)
Bonfire Orgasm (Cathy Petch on Saw)
Voodoo Child
Rednecks and Dykes
That's It For This Cowboy (Dedicated to MCA and Levon Helm)