APRIL 12-18, 2018 FACEBOOK.COM/WHATZUPFTWAYNE // WWW.WHATZUP.COM ----------------------------- Feature • Toronzo Cannon ---------------------------- A Blues Guitar Seminar By Mark Hunter years and I’ll retire. Might as well see what the Chicago Blues Festival. my pension is.” For Cannon, his popularity stems not Toronzo Cannon will hold a seminar in Cannon, who turned 50 on Valentine’s from his guitar playing (though it’s hard to Fort Wayne on Saturday, April 28 at C2G Day, came to the guitar and the blues some- believe that after hearing him play) but from Music Hall. But don’t start nodding off yet. what late in life. He didn’t start playing until his lyrics. He writes about subjects that peo- 90th Anniversary It’s not that kind of seminar. There may be he was 20, and then it was reggae that inter- ple connect with. questions at the end of it, however. ested him. He was familiar with the blues, “I get to talk about things that fit the Community Celebration Cannon is the left-handed guitar player but to him it was just the music his grandpar- demographic I play for,” he said. “I’m al- from Chicago who has taken the blues world ents played around the house when he was ways working on new songs, human songs, by storm since the release of his something more than three 2016 Alligator Records debut The people in the audience can Chicago Way. understand. The longer you He’s returning to Fort Wayne live, the more things you go for the 9th Annual Blues Bash, through. I don’t just want to a benefit concert hosted by The sing songs about ‘my wom- League. Local singer and guitar an left me.’” player Rainee Perdue will open the It’s that aspect of Can- show. non’s music that grabs audi- “This event is always a sell- ences. And it’s what makes May 19 | 7pm | $9 out,” Judi Loomis, director of fund him the perfect match for Featuring organist Mark Herman development with The League, The League’s Blues Bash. Emcee Brad Beauchamp said. “It’s not often that a renowned Some of the songs Cannon Fort Wayne Children’s Choir blues group performs in our area. writes reflect what he sees Farmland Jazz Band Toronzo Cannon and his band will on his bus route, the pain of be performing, back by popular de- certain neighborhoods and Vaudeville stage acts mand from last year. Toronzo really the struggles of the people B&W movie screening engages the audience. He is more who ride his bus. Fort Wayne Dance Collective than a performer, he is an entertain- The League serves Community Celebration Presented by MUTUALBANK er.” some 3,000 people annual- 90th Anniversary Season Presented by Cannon is definitely a perform- ly from the 11-county area CHUCK & LISA SURACK AND SWEETWATER er and an entertainer. But he likes to surrounding Fort Wayne. refer to his shows as seminars. And the impact spreads far “We’re going to have fun,” beyond that number. Cannon told me in a phone inter- “The immediate im- 90 Years of Film view. “I’m going to host it like a pact The League has on A nostalgic film series seminar. We’ll be relating. I’m not the communities we serve celebrating the Embassy’s one of those cats that just plays at TORONZO CANNON is awareness of not only historic past the audience. I talk to the audience. the fact that we serve all You have to let the audience know people with disabilities, but Audience participation musical performance w/RAINEE PERDUE that they’re there. I’m not the type that we promote events like on the theater’s historic Grande Page pipe of guitar player that can hold an THE LEAGUE’S 2018 BLUES BASH Blues Bash where the audi- organ precedes each show! audience with my playing. I need 8 p.m. Saturday, April 28 ence is not only getting a Frozen (2013) ........................................May 13 to talk to the audience. I may even C2G Music Hall wonderful concert, but they ask a few questions at the end of the are also made aware of our Wings (1927) ........................................June 17 323 W. Baker St., Fort Wayne Independence Day (1996) .................. July 13 show to see if they were listening.” services during the concert,” Loomis Cannon punctuates his sentences said. Pirates of the Caribbean (2003) ........Aug. 24 $20 thru Neat Neat Neat Records with laughs. You can hear him smiling as “Each year we designate the prof- The Sound of Music (1965) ...............Sept. 21 he talks. And why shouldn’t he be happy? Wooden Nickel Music Stores its from this concert to various depart- His career is taking off like, well, like a & www.c2gmusichall.com ments here at The League,” Loomis ON SALE NOW cannonball. said. “This year’s concert will ben- The Chicago Way was named best blues growing up. efit our Home Health Care Plus department. PJ Masks ...................................................May 1 album of 2016 by England’s Mojo maga- But when he started hanging around the Home Health Care and Home Care provides Steve Martin & Martin Short zine and Living Blues magazine here in the blues jams at the local clubs, he knew he post-hospital care, wound care, medication w/The Steep Canyon Rangers States. He’s been the subject of in-depth fea- found his music. management, home health aide care, per- & Jeff Babko ...........................................May 18 tures in The Chicago Tribune and Chicago “It was dormant in me,” he says in his sonal hygiene care, bathing, oral hygiene, Tedeschi Trucks Band Magazine. CNN tapped him as a guide to official bio. “But when I started playing the assistance with mobility, meal prep and light w/Davy Knowes ...................................May 31 lead them on a tour of famous Chicago blues blues, I found my voice and the blues came housekeeping.” Lyfe Jennings ........................................ June 8 venues. He even got to throw out the first pouring out.” Cannon sees a lot of everyday life on his Celtic Woman .......................................June 10 pitch at a Chicago Cubs game last Septem- He spent several years as a sideman for bus route. And his songs boil over with real- Joe Bonamassa ...................................... Nov. 6 ber. established players like Tommy McCracken, life concerns. But don’t think for a second that his Wayne Baker Brooks, L.V. Banks and Joan- “Of course I have songs about love success has gone to his head. Far from it. na Connor. But his personality was too big to gone wrong, but I’m trying to write songs Cannon still puts in a 40-hour week as a bus be a sideman for long. that have air in them,” he said. “I don’t want Embassy Theatre driver for the Chicago Transit Authority. He In 2001 he struck out on his own as a to fill in every line. I don’t want to preach. 125 W. Jefferson Blvd. works four 10-hour shifts during the week, bandleader while still working as a sideman. In ‘The Pain Around Me’ I write about one plans his active tour schedule around his By 2003 he was a full-time solo act. particular neighborhood. I meet people who Fort Wayne, Indiana day job and uses vacation time for his yearly After releasing three albums, one self- come up to me and talk about it. They might trips to Europe. released and two on the Delmark label, he be in L.A., they might be in Fort Worth, they ticketmaster.com “I’m close to retirement at this point,” signed with Alligator. In 2015, after years of might be in London. They come up and say he said. “I’m just going to ride it out. Couple playing on the side stages, he headlined at I’ve seen neighborhoods like that.” 2 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- www.whatzup.com ---------------------------------------------------------------- April 12, 2018 whatzup Membership Makes Volume 22, Number 35 The Difference here’s so much going on here at World Headquarters that we have neither the time nor • Job Referrals space to describe this 35th issue of the 22nd volume of your favorite arts and enter- • Experienced Negotiators tainment weekly. 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