life with more cowbell

Out on a school night – again – last night. This time, it was Graffiti’s with my pal Lizzie Violet for the Tumultuous Tuesday open mic event, hosted by Marcus Walker and featuring musicians Polly and William, Meghan Morrison and Marcus himself. And what a great place to be – out of the miserable weather and into the warmth of beer and music.

Polly and William are a duet act, both on acoustic guitar, and William switching to banjo and harmonica for a few tunes. Harmonies reminiscent of June and Johnny Cash. Here’s a photo of William on banjo (all pix courtesy of Lizzie):

Meghan Morrison is a delight – a tiny gal with a big shiny positive energy. I missed her CD launch a while back, so I was glad to score a copy from her last night (features awesome cover art that Meghan designed herself); check it out on her website: http://www.meghanmorrisonmusic.com/fr_home.cfm). She’s a lovely singer/songwriter who reminds me of Alanis Morrisette crossed with early Sarah McLachlan. She was performing without her band last night, but ably accompanied herself on bass (very Beatles stylin’) and keyboard – though, not both at once ‘cuz, like, she may be energetic but she only has two hands. Here’s Meghan singing and playing keys (it was mostly a Lizzie-requested set list last night, including Hush – one of my favourites):

And last, but not least, host Marcus Walker did the final set of the night (filling in for a missing act, apparently). It was kinda last-minute, but he was up for it, accompanying himself on a guitar he borrowed from William. Marcus puts the “m” in mellow – smooth voice and great hands on those strings.

A great night out in Kensington Market. Check out Graffiti’s next time you’re down there.