Up in Ontario

Yukon Cigar is the CBC Radio 3 track of the day

Sweet humpbacked Jesus! My good friend Craig Konyu's band, Yukon Cigar is the CBC Radio 3 track of the day.

In his own words:

My name is Craig, and I have countless songs in my head (among other ailments). I've long thought about recording these songs and throwing them to the wind. So, in early 2007, I gathered some talented musician friends (see below) and headed to Chemical Sound Studio in Toronto. The resulting five-song collection, Spooning Noise From A Moose In A Jar, is appropriately ragged -- recorded and mixed in just 40 hours, and evoking (among other things) life and death in colourful Ontario. It has been described as "dock music." Presumably, these tunes are best enjoyed with beer.

Years ago (oh so many years ago!), the last time I visited Hogtown, in fact, Craig and some of the constituent parts of Yukon Cigar played the 30th birthday party of Craig's main squeeze, Adrienne. And they rocked. I think they even played George Michael's anthem Faith, though the song had nothing to redeem it except for being a favourite of Adrienne.

At parties we used to anticipate the later hours, when Craig would bring out his guitar and play. He could play anything, anything we could come up with. Even if he didn't know the song if we hummed it to him, sang him a few bars, he could make some shape of it. It felt a little miraculous to see his talent in action.

Congratulations, Craig!

Now listen to this: Yukon Cigar -- Hello Soul (.mp3, 4.1 MB).