Sonny Del-Rio

KELLY JAY

My long-time friend Kelly Jay was in town for two weeks, basically to play The Festival of Friends.  I would like to thank Loren Lieberman and WestJet for making it possible. These are great people. Not only did they bring Kelly from Calgary to Hamilton, they brought his whole family too! 

Tammy, Shawna, Bella, Hank and Randy.  It was a wonderful time, filled with music, love and friends.  That sounds like the true meaning of Festival of Friends to me.  It was a rare opportunity for all of Kelly's friends here in The Hammer to get to know his family.  Kelly is a very proud father and so he should be, the children are all teenagers (Shawna 17, Bella 13, and the twins Hank and Randy are 12) where does the time go?  Born and raised in Alberta, you could not ask for more beautiful kids. Bright. charming and well-mannered, they stole my heart and I miss them already.

We put together a really fabulous band that featured John Gibbard on guitar, Ray Harrison on keyboards, myself on sax and everybody's favourite Hamilton blues band Trickbag.  Over the two weeks we played several venues in the area including, The Corktown, Cook's Corner Bistro, The Cactus Festival and best of all The Festival of Friends, where we got a standing ovation from 20,000 fans as we finished the show with “Oh, What A feeling, What a Rush". Believe me it was a rush!! 

 All of Canada loves Kelly Jay. So much so, that they nick-named him “Captain Canada” back in the 70’s. In those days he was hanging out with the likes of Pierre and Margaret Trudeau, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and all the others in the who’s who of rock and roll. Kelly Jay’s real name is Henry Blake Fordham. That was his father’s name, (a great saxophone player in his own time) and it is also the name of his son, Hank, (Henry Blake Fordham the 3^rd) so the beat goes on. 

Kelly Jay is a gentle giant with a heart as big as the Rocky Mountains. He has been entertaining us with that boogie-woogie piano style for 50 years! Leader of the legendary band “Crowbar”, he still has what it takes to bring down the house.  I know I speak for everyone when I say  “come back soon Kelly”.

Here are some photos of the gang that I hope you will enjoy.

Peace, love and music Sonny

Sonny

sonnydelrio.com

Photos by Paul Panchezak and Lilly Sazz/from the top: Kelly and Sonny/Kelly and Hank and Randy/in Sonny's back yard/Kelly, Sonny and Lily Sazz.

FESTIVAL OF FRIENDS

WOW  this is going to be one of the best Festival of Friends ever!  The line-up is stellar, the weather is going to be perfect , the food is always diverse and tasty,  your Friends will be there and it's all free!!    Some of my all-time favorites will be performing, including. THE SPOONS, CAROL POPE, and THE ENGLISH BEAT (Friday).... DON MACLEAN, LYNN MILES, CARA LUFT, and DAVID FRANCEY (Saturday) ...... And on Sunday we have ERIC BURTON and THE ANIMALS..... I will be performing with my old friend KELLY JAY (CROWBAR)  and  TRICKBAG on Sunday night at 8PM on the main stage.  Kelly is in town, from Calgary, for only a few days, but we have lined up some other gigs over the weekend.  If you have the chance, come and see Kelly with Trickbag and myself at The Corktown on Friday night or Cook's Corner Bistro on Saturday night.  We go till 1 or 2 AM, so you can come after the Festival of Friends and keep the the party rocking till the wee hours!!    cheers Sonny          sonnydelrio.com

Hi Y’all……. I hope you are doing some of the same things I’ve been doing, cause I sure am havin’ fun! The weather is terrific and the music is hot!
I just love outdoor concerts, the way the music drifts on the breeze. We are very fortunate here in Hamilton to have so many free summer concerts and festivals and bands playing in the park. Our beautiful harbor-front, Gage Park or The Royal Botanical Gardens, just to name a few, are host to free, live music pretty much every week-end of the summer. So enjoy yourself, get out to some of these free shows.
I love going to Van Wagner’s beach! There is lots to do there, walk along the water on that new walkway that they have, everybody is friendly, people say hello, the girls look so pretty in their summer frocks , maybe get a “sportsman burger” and some fries at Hutch’s, or a drink at Barranga’s. You can take a spin on the go-carts. Did you know that Lou Fermi has been operating Lakeland Go-carts since 1954, that’s 53 years! And then there is swimming, in one of the greatest, largest, most clean lake in the entire world! Lake Ontario! Man, what a great time.
I love my backyard! Barbeques, friends coming over, sunshine, all the beautiful flowers in full bloom right now. My wife Faye has a green thumb and loves gardening. I like to help. Mostly she does the flowers and I take care of the veggies. I especially love to sit quietly in the early morning or at twilight time and watch the birds at the feeders; we have 6 of them and 3 bird baths and a squirrel feeder too. It’s a riot.
I have played some interesting gigs lately, with the Del-Rio Band and as a special guest. I have included some photos from the Tranzac Club in Toronto, where I performed with Floyd Factor, a Pink Floyd tribute act out of T.O. I love Pink Floyd music so it was a real treat. Tony Furtado, who runs Jamhouse Studios, was filling in on drums, because their drummer was on the injured list.
Have a wonderful summer!
Cheers
Sonny
Sonnydelrio.com
(Photos courtesy of Peter Wilson)