Congratulations to Julian Fauth on his 4 well deserved Mapleblues Award Nominations: Songwriter of the Year, Piano/ Keyboard Player of the Year, Acoustic Act of the Year and Recording of the Year for "Ramblin' Son". Julian's great talent is matched only by his modesty, so let me be the one to ask you to please consider voting for Julian Fauth in these categories. You can vote at www.mapleblues.ca until Dec.6th, 2008. Thanks for your support.

Julian appeared on CBC Radio's "FUSE" program back in March of 2008 with Melissa McClelland and Luke Doucet.

To hear some of the performances from that day, click here.

Julian has been nominated for a Maple Blues Award for Keyboard/Piano Player of the Year.

To cast your vote, please go to www.mapleblues.ca to register and cast your vote.

The winner will be announced at The Mod Club Theatre at 722 College Street, Toronto on Monday, January 15, 2007.

Check www.torontobluessociety.com for more information.

Tickets can be purchased through www.ticketpro.ca

Four news items shook the universe recently. First, I was nominated for a Maple Blues Award for piano player of the year. My name was right there, along with Curly Bridges, Rod Philips, Lance Anderson and Kenny 'Blues Boss' Wayne! Illustrious company, as you see.

I immediately began practicing my acceptance speech in front of the medicine cabinet, holding a toothbrush for moral support: "I'd like to thank my mother, my father, my sister, my dog (okay, I don't have a dog) ... This means so much to me ..." (I start sobbing here).

Unfortunately, I missed the deadline for voting. If I hadn't, I would have voted for Curly Bridges. Although Rod Philips, Lance Anderson and Kenny Wayne all deserve the award, Curly Bridges is one of the senior masters of Canadian blues piano, playing with unaffected grace and a confidence that comes from decades of paying his dues. So, if I'd had my act together, I'd have voted for him.

But I was quite elated to be mentioned in the same list (who told them I play piano??) Second world-shaking news item: Kevin Doyle, 10-year veteran blues DJ who hosts the show Voodoo Healin' in Waterloo, picked my CD as his favourite blues release of 2002. Fred McDowell came in second. I know, I know. What was Kevin smoking? But it was a nice gesture, and hey, maybe some people actually do like my CD better than Fred McDowell's. Could be true, couldn't it? I swear, bribery had nothing to do with it. The Rolls Royce was entirely unrelated to this decision.

In a related matter, Al Kircaldy, Peterborough's intrepid blues DJ, picked my CD as his favourite new release for the month of December. (It actually came out in August, but I didn't send Al one until December.) And in an interview, he told me he thought it was the best Canadian blues release since Paul Reddick's Rattlebag. Now that's a big yardstick to be measured against.

Gary Tate also included my CD in his list of top ten Canadian blues releases of 2002. (Contrary to popular belief, that wad of $1,000 bills was already in his hand when I shook it.) I am blushing and squirming as I write this, because I'm a lowly barrelhouse man who is not used to this kind of attention. But seriously. No, seriously. I thank all those who gave me encouragement and recognition. It felt really ... strange. But I liked it.

From August 18 to 25, 2002, I had the good fortune to go to Cuba, to play at a variety of venues in Varadero, Santa Clara and Camajuani. The tour was organized by Andrew Demciuch, the owner of L'Arte (2060 Dundas W.), where I've been playing every Monday night for more than 2 years. Andrew also organized the Russian tour David Rotundo and I did in April. This time around, David was otherwise engaged, having brought his friend, guitar maestro Enrico Crivellaro, over from Italy. But David will join me on my next jaunt to Cuba, which is supposed to happen in November. This time, I went with Livan Castro, a Cuban-born artist now based in Toronto, who had an exhibition in Cuba.

Compared to the Russian tour, the Cuban tour was both more work and musically a more eye-opening experience for me. In Russia, we just played the blues, as we do here. In Cuba, I played some blues, both solo and with some very good Cuban musicians, but I also sat in with several Cuban bands on traditional Cuban songs. This was new for me, hence the need for some last-minute cramming, but the combination went surprisingly well, I think.

In the course of six days, I met and played with about 25 Cuban musicians, many of them classically trained, although some were self-taught. All of them were very good. As is customary in Cuban music, there were lots of acoustic nylon-string guitars, tres and percussion instruments, although there was also an electric bass player and a very good trombonist on one of the gigs.

I started off with a gig at Arenas Blancas, which is a 5-star, all-inclusive tourist resort. My partners were Los Hurricanes, a very experienced and versatile trio who play there regularly. They had me start the night off with a set of solo piano numbers and then joined me on stage. We alternated songs for the rest of the evening, with me switching between piano and guitar. The audience's response was quite favourable. A Cuban rap group, which happened to be at the hotel because some of its members work there, was especially complimentary. This concert was videotaped, but I haven't seen the result.

The bulk of the tour took place inland, away from the beaches and the tourists, in Camajuani and Santa Clara. Camajuani was then in the midst of an annual festival, which has been taking place for at least 105 years. The town is naturally divided by a main street, and each side has its own team, complete with its own patron saint: the Chivos (or Goats) and the Sappos (or Frogs). The festival consists of a week of public revelry, culminating in a grand display at which each team unveils an impressive, hand-made float. These floats are several stories high and comprise an astounding array of hand-painted and sculpted decorations, light-shows, etc., accompanied by fireworks displays and music. Each team labours in secrecy until virtually the last moment. Each tries to create the most impressive spectacle, although there is no formal jury and no formal decision on the winner. Both floats were remarkable, one depicting a scene from 17th century European palace life, the other depicting the glories of the Roman Empire.

In the course of this revelry, I played with several groups at several locations, including a spot in a concert at the Casa Cultura of Camajuani. I did some solo numbers on keyboard and guitar and was accompanied on some others by a local guitarist and bass player. The audience seemed to respond best to 'Highway 61', an adaptation of an old Sunnyland Slim number (which he, in turn, adapted from an older tradition), and to a slow, minor original, 'When My Mother Died'. I was asked to play that song again a few days later. An artist --of whom there are many, highly gifted ones - told me it inspired him to make a painting especially for me, which he will send me. I can hardly wait.

In Santa Clara, one of the highlights was playing with an assortment of young musicians. We played together several times, but the climax was a late-night concert at an old, open-air amphitheatre, which seems to be a local cultural hot-spot. The programme included several bands, including the group Sacramonte, which boasts an excellent vocalist, a consummate dancer and an array of fine guitarists and percussionists. They performed some traditional Cuban salsa and some Cubanized versions of Spanish Flamenco. I sat in with them for a few numbers, switching between piano and guitar, trying my best not to disrupt their beautiful rhythms. I then played several solo numbers, some on guitar and some on piano, and several blues numbers with a Cuban back-up band, consisting of bass, guitar, percussion and the aforementioned excellent trombonist, who is a member of the Symphony Orchestra of Camajuani and is all of 24 years old. For the finale, Sacramonte and the other bands on the evening's bill, including yours truly, all jammed together on a Cuban theme - a bolero, if I'm not mistaken. The proceedings were taped by a cameraman from local Cuban television.

All in all, it was a memorable experience and a musical eye-opener for me. The musicians were, without exception, highly gifted and very warm and approachable. I'd had some trepidations about what they would think of the home-brewed barrelhouse blues I play, but the reception was warm and positive. Let's face it: Cuban music has no need of the likes of me. They have a very rich, varied musical tradition of their own. That they nevertheless permitted me to join them with such patience and evident pleasure at experimenting with a complete novice to Cuban music was a privilege I won't forget. After the concert was over, characteristically, the musicians were not ready to quit, so we all trooped off to a nearby park and continued to play until the wee hours of the morning, fortified by excellent Cuban rum.

I didn't do much sleeping in Cuba. But I was already missing it on the way to the airport. I have rarely - no, make that never - been exposed to so many creative people (artists, writers, dancers, musicians) in such a short time. I'm looking forward to going back.

Five years ago, Julian Fauth was pounding the piano at the Baldwin Street Restaurant, a small watering hole in Kensington Market (now Planet Kensington), when David Rotundo walked in with his omnipresent belt of harps. It was the beginning of an enduring musical liaison which has now taken these two raccoons from the streets of Kensington Market to the Concert Hall in Volgograd, the Canadian Embassy in Moscow and Le Club, RussiaÕs most prestigious jazz bar, among other venues. David and Julian have just completed a two-week tour of Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) and Moscow in the Russian Federation. They teamed up with Russian bass virtuoso Alex Boldyrev and, occasionally, other local musicians.

David and Julian have come a long way in those five years. David has been playing with the likes of Ronnie Hawkins and local guitar hero Jack de Keyzer, as well as fronting his own band, the Blue Canadians. Just last year, he released his debut CD, BlowinÕ For Broke, with Julian on piano, to widespread critical acclaim. He has become a regular feature all over Ontario and Quebec. Julian has been busy playing solo or with small combos, such as Dark Holler, and has served as a sideman for a variety of Toronto blues heavyweights, from Michael Picket, Paul Reddick and Brian Blain to rock institution Johnny Lovesin. He is currently working on a CD, featuring David Rotundo as well as Paul Reddick, Juno award winner Madagascar Slim (another old friend from Kensington Market) and New York jazz veteran Bob Mover.

The Russian tour was the brainchild of Andrew Demciuch, the owner of LÕArte Bar & Gallery, a cozy west-end meeting place for creative types of all sorts. Julian has been holding down the Monday night open stage there for almost as long as LÕArte has been in existence, with David as a frequent featured star. ÔIt took me two years to organize this,Õ says Demciuch. ÔWhen it came to deciding who to send, I didnÕt even hesitate.Õ By all accounts, it was the right decision: Russian audiences responded with overwhelming warmth to a music many of them had never heard before, certainly not live: deeply rooted, down-to-earth blues, soulful and straight from the heart. The initial reaction from Russian critics, too, was positive. ÔDavid Rotundo gave the best live blues performance I have heard,Õ said Mikhail Kochkin, correspondent for the Moscow Times. And: ÔJulian Fauth plays the piano like Shakespeare. Such dramatic power in every note.Õ

The journey began on April 15, with an eight-hour flight from Toronto to Moscow. After a five-hour lay-over, the team continued to Volgograd. They spent most of the first night in AlexÕ kitchen, getting acquainted with Russian vodka. David, Julian and Alex played their first show at a small, artsy bar called ÔHudozhnikÕ (where they also finished their stay in Volgograd). After an afternoon press conference, complete with food, drinks and (ahem) pretty ladies, they played a weekend at a place normally reserved for the finer strains of Russian disco. But if blues was foreign to this clientele, they didnÕt let on, dancing energetically to the boogie woogie and swaying sensuously to the slow blues.

They played several more nights at a variety of local venues, including the hip and trendy ÔWhite HorseÕ (where they met some ex-pat Canadians). Then the blues duo tackled the big stuff. Seven hundred people attended DavidÕs and JulianÕs performance at the Concert Hall in Volgograd, which was broadcast live on Russian TV; the first blues concert that august hall ever hosted. The boys pulled out all the stops. Wielding a cordless radio mike, David walked off the stage to roars of approval and prowled the stands for an extended solo. When Julian started echoing DavidÕs licks on the piano, the crowd burst into delighted laughter. After a non-stop two-hour performance and three encores, after autographing several hundred ticket stubs and diaries, and after an hour-long interview with Russian television, they were finally able to go to the bathroom.

Several faithful souls followed David and Julian from Volgograd to Moscow. The train ride from Volgograd to Moscow takes 20 hours; it gave the two blues travelers a chance to see the vast Russian countryside and catch up on some much-needed sleep. In Moscow, they made their debut at a place called ÔWoodstockÕ, where some of MoscowÕs blues Žlite sat in with them. The highlights of the Moscow trip, however, were yet to come. The Canadian Embassy in Moscow had never hosted a live music performance before. Renting a keyboard proved to be impossible, so Julian played a cheap guitar Andrew bought for the occasion. Embassy staff were sufficiently impressed to invite them back, and some Canadian diplomats made it out to DavidÕs and JulianÕs next big gig at Le Club.

Le Club began its rise to fame as an underground music bar during the Soviet Union, when Evgeny Vissotsky, an outspoken dissident, played there. It usually hosts big-name American jazz players and charges outrageous covers. It boasts a grand piano, played by Vissotsky himself, and an expensive sound system. Unlike the smaller venues David and Julian played, where ordinary Russians could attend, Le ClubÕs patrons were mostly well-heeled business men. Some of them had been primed for the event by an impromptu harmonica performance David had given the previous night at the Bi Bi King, a Moscow blues bar featuring live-sized statues of Jake and Elwood.

Although there wasnÕt much time for bumming around, David and Julian were able to see some of the many impressive sights Russia has to offer: Red Square, with its surrounding churches and government buildings, the Moscow metro, and, most importantly, the great monument to the battle of Stalingrad on Mamayev Hill in Volgograd. ÔThis was the most emotional moment of the entire journey for us,Õ David and Julian agree. Dominated by the giant statue of Mother Russia, raising her sword and calling the people to rise against the Nazi invaders, is a complex of sculptures and reliefs depicting scenes of suffering and courage. A large rotunda, containing an eternal flame and rows upon rows of the names of the fallen, was particularly powerful.

David and Julian are home again now and back at their regular haunts. You can catch them together this Friday, May 17th, at LÕArte (2060 Dundas West), for an evening of music, stories and photographs. The show starts at 9:30 p.m. With a combination of two strong, soulful vocals, DavidÕs ferocious, impassioned harp and JulianÕs rolling, imaginative barrelhouse piano and rough and rootsy guitar, the music ought to be worth a listen. Further journeys are already on the horizon: David and Julian will be going back to Russia next year, and in the meantime, a tour of Cuba and a foray to Chicago, the home of the blues, are in the works.