Updated April 2004

Welcome to my groovy domain!

On with the news:

Big Time Video Premiere

Raoul and The Big Time will be debuting their first video for the song titled 'COLD OUTSIDE' directed by fellow Train 48 cast member Andrew Kenneth Martin at the Underground, the Drake Hotel, 1150 Queen Street W, on Monday April 19th at 10:30pm. This will premiere be followed by a live set featuring songs from their newest internationally distributed album COLD OUTSIDE. www.raoulandthebigtime.com

Wickens-Knight Every Tuesday's at Chicago's

Dylan Wicken's new band, Wickens-Knight can be found every Tuesday night at Chicago's, from 9 pm till midnight. This new line up features the lovely and talented Jon Knight on vocals and guitar, along with Dylan, Harpo and myself. Dylan Wickens won the Toronto Blues Society's New Talent Search last year . www.dylanwickens.com

Raoul and the Big Time goes to Number One!!

Raoul and the Big Time's second release "Cold Outside" was listed at the number one spot on Ian Angus' "Let The Good Times Roll", Blues Top 20 on CIUT 89.5 Toronto for the February/March 2004 Chart. Cold Outside will be distributed in Canada by Festival Distribution, and in Europe by Cross Cut Records.
Watch for our new video of the title song off Cold Outside.

New Sue Foley CD

Sue Foley's new recording, titled "Change" will be released in September 2004. Recorded at Hugh's Room December 2003, this 'live and acoustic' release is quite a "change" from her last CD "Where The Action Is". www.suefoley.com

Tom Scores an MBA Hat Trick

"....and the 2003 Maple Blues Award for Drummer of the Year goes to...... Tom Bona !" ......For the third consecutive year ( 2001, 2002, 2003 ). 

What an honour it is to be chosen among Canada's great blues musicians.

The 7th Annual Maple Blues Award Show was on Jan 19, 2004 at the Phoenix in Toronto. I performed in the house band backing up the show's host, Jackie Richardson, and guests Duke Robillard and Jackie Washington. The house band was lead by Gary Kendall on bass who directed us through the 25 'stings' and the guest performances through out the night. Rounding out the band was Jack DeKeyzer, Al Lerman, Michael Fonfara, Pat Carey, Chris Murphy, Chris Whitely. The night ended with a winners showcase that included performances by Morgan Davis, Suzie Vinnick, and Jack Dekeyzer.

Raoul and the Big Time Releases "Cold Outside "

Our long awaited second CD was released on Friday, January 16th, 2004 at the Silver Dollar to a full house. Graham Guest ( the great western piano player from Sue Foley's band) was our 'special' guest for the evening. This new CD, Cold Outside, has 10 originals and 2 rare covers and features guest performances by some of the best living blues men around including Junior Watson, Big Joe Maher and friend and mentor Mark Hummel.  Cold Outside will be distributed in Europe by Crosscut Records in Germany.

Bumpin Uglies Matinee

Mark 'Bird' Stafford has invited me to play a house gig in St Catharines every Saturday afternoon from 2 till 6 pm. The club is called Bumpin Uglies and it is located at 249 St Paul Street, (905) 685-9077 . Mojo Willie and Bird share the hosting and harmonica duties and there will be special guests each week. The first two guests are Chuck Jackson and Bill King. The band is rounded out by the fabulous Jimmy Rassmussen on bass and guitar virtuoso James Anthony.

November 2003:

The 7th Annual Maple Blues Award nominee's have been announced. I have been
nominated for Best Drummer for the third year running. For the past two years, I
have been the Maple Blues Award winning Drummer of the Year, thanks to all the
voters. Will it be a hat trick?

I will be spending more time in the Toronto area this winter, gearing up for a Raoul and the Big Time CD release party on January 16th, 2004 at the Silver Dollar. I will also be doing some more recording with Sue Foley, with hopes for a 2004 release. Please also check the calendar page for some in-town gigs with Randy Dawson Group, Dylan Wickens Band and the Bear Band.

October 2003

The Sue Foley Band had successful European Tour from October 6 to October 17th. We played in France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and Holland. We drove over 4000 kms on this 11 date tour. Please see calendar page for specific cities played. This was our third trip to Europe in as many years. Thanks to Rick at BMI in Den Haag, Netherlands. He loaned me a set of Pearl Drums for whole tour, courtesy of Pearl Europe via Max Lishi and Paul Frederick in Canada. I am working on a journal of the tour, if any one is interested in the day-to-day details of this tour, please email me and I'll send it to you when it is complete.

Here is a link to a review from our Zurich show.

September 2003

Sue Foley band played the Southside Shuffle on Sept 6th at 5 pm on the main stage and again at the Crooked Q at 10 pm. The fabulous Richard Bell was on keys for these two shows. I played the main stage again the following evening with the Maple Blues Band, featuring guests Dawn Tyler Watson, Jeff Healey, Kenny Blues Boss Wayne, Mr Downchild - Donnie Walsh, and with Mr Southside Shuffle - Chuck Jackson. The band played an incredible 2 hour and 20 minute set with out a bathroom break!

Summer 2003

July 19-21, 2003 - Yellowknife's 'Folk on the Rocks" was a festival season highlight
for me. Where else can you stay out untill well past midnight and still see the daylight! I played a lot of music during this festival. Sue Foley did three shows, I played with Yukon guitar slinger, Aylie Sparks and also with Arlene Bishop/Blair Packham, friends of mine from Toronto. I even jammed with a fiddle band on the main stage. There are pictures with me at the kit, while the bands change around me, I'll post them soon.

Sue Foley Band opened Joe Cocker at Massey Hall on July 26 and in London, on July 27, 2003 . We also appeared at the Toronto Star Bluesfest on July 26th, Exhibition Grounds, Toronto, ON, the Edmonton Blues Fest and Calgary's Roots and Blues Fest. Calgary's Sun newspaper featured Sue Foley the day before and the day after the show with impressive coverage and photos.

The Sue Foley band opened for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers on July 5th in Bozeman, Montana. It was a real rock and roll moment, as the gig was booked with only 2 days notice. We ended up having to hire a private plane ( a 4 seater) and a limo to get us there, just in time for the show. Tom Petty's performance was well worth the adventure.

On July 4th, the Sue Foley band performed to over 10 000 people at the Montreal Jazz Festival. Watch this space for news on our European tour in the fall (Sept/Oct).

Raoul and the Big Time has finished recording their new cd. It's mastered and sequenced and will soon be ready for mass consumption. This second release was again co-produced by Terry Wilkins. This album will turn some heads with very strong songwriting, fresh arrangements and a few special guest surprises. Watch this space for a release date.

(www.raoulandthebigtime.com)

Modern Drummer Magazine mentioned my Maple Blues Award wins in their July 2003 "News" column.

The Dylan Wickens Band, a Jump/Swing Toronto band I perform with on a regular basis, has won the Toronto Blues Society Talent Search this year. Greg Cooper is the winning drummer, appearing on their new cd "Fall Down, Go Boom" and he also performed with the band at the Talent Search held on June 15th weekend at the Silver Dollar. Congrats to the band ! www.dylanwickens.com

Pearl Endorsement Announcement:

I am pleased to announce that I am now an endorsee of Pearl Drums. A big thank you to Paul Frederick at Ericson Music/Pearl Drums for believing in me, and for being such an incredibly nice guy! I have been a Pearl drums fan since the early eighties...my drumming idol, Jeff Porcaro (of Toto, Steely Dan, Boz Scaggs) played Pearl Drums. It is a dream come true to have Pearl drums on my side (and at my side). I will be sporting a brand new Pearl kit very soon. Thanks also to Al Webster for hooking me up with Paul.

Spring 2003:

I reappeared at Healey's Club in Toronto (Queen and Bathurst) on Thursday, May 29th at 10pm, playing with Jeff Healey, Jerome Godboo and special guest Steve Lukather of Toto. Having been a huge Toto fan, since their first first release, Toto(1977), this was definately be a huge thrill for me. I was honored to play drums for the guitar player who played with my drumming idol, Jeff Porcaro, for over 15 years.

I had the pleasure of performing with legendary, west coast blues guitarist Junior Watson at the Silver Dollar in Toronto on May 10th. Their drummer had trouble crossing the border, so they contacted me to do the gig. Thanks to Raoul Bhaneja for hooking me up with this great gig. Junior is a fabulous guitarist and a comical front man, and his bandmates; Sax Gordon and Vance Ehlers (bass) really know how to put on a good show. I was "High as a Georgia Pine' at this gig. Junior Watson will appear as a guest on the new Raoul and the Big Time cd release.

Sue Foley Band opened for Joe Cocker on a few select Canadian Dates. We had the pleasure of opening for Joe Cocker in St. John's, NF on March 25 and in Montreal, PQ on March 30th.These were stadium shows, and Joe Cocker's performance was flawless. I spoke to Joe after his St. John's show and he was very personable.

Longtime Muddy Water's drummer and Chicago Blues Legend Willie 'Big Eyes' Smith recently performed with Al Lerman, Jack Dekeyzer and Bob Strogen at Blues on Belair. I showed up to watch this blues legend drum up a storm and their first set was indeed 'legendary'. Andrew Kempa of Juke Joint Records, Willie's label, invited me up to play drums for Willie, while Willie fronted the band and played harmonica. This was quite a thrill for me to play drums for Muddy Water's drummer. Willie let me stay up for the whole hour long set.

I am the current Maple Blues Award -winning Drummer of the Year for 2002 and 2001!

Jan 2003: Sue Foley cleaned up at the Maple Blues Awards this year, winning 5 Maple Blue Awards, including Entertainer of the Year and Electric Act. She shares these noted two awards with her touring band, so as her drummer, I guess I actually won three awards this year ! As the award show's house band drummer, I performed live with host Colin James, Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne, Michael Jerome Brown and Sue Foley. It was a fantastic night of blues! I would like to thank Gary Kendall for inviting me to play in the award show's house band again this year. I would also like to thank all the voters, the TBS and the nominating commitee.

Sue Foley has been nominated for a 2003 WC Handy Award under the category of
Contemporary Blues Female Artist of the Year.

Sue Foley has signed on with The Agency Group for international booking. We hope to have a busy year touring the world!.

I recorded with Sue Foley, a song to appear on a Bob Dylan tribute album,
.. watch this space for a release date and more details. Check my calendar page for updates, or go to www.suefoley.com or www.pollstar.com for more info.

I was featured in Modern Drummer Magazine's "On The Move" column, September-2002 issue (with Neil Peart on the cover).

I can be heard on Sue Foley's new recording 'Where the Action Is', released June 2002, produced by Colin Linden. This new record proves yet again that Sue Foley is the Queen of Canadian Blues.

Check out Sue's newly re-designed website.

Watch this page for more late-breaking news!

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Tom Bona plays drums, cymbals and sticks.
all material © Tom Bona, 2002
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