Kentucky's All Seeing Eyes, Equator, Lunchmeat @ The Monarch Tavern, June 13

Soledad Brothers fans should check out that Johnny Walker's All Seeing Eyes are putting down at the Monarch Tavern on June 13.

All Seeing Eyes, Equator, Lunchmeat

at The Monarch Tavern (12 Clinton St) 

Saturday, June 13 at 7:30 pm

Tickets: $20 advance

The All Seeing Eyes

Born of a parade, the All Seeing Eyes are the pride of Dayton, Kentucky. The three-piece of multi-instrumentalists developed into the house band at Masonic Sounds Studios in that Kentucky river town. Housed in a Free Mason Blue Lodge, they created the new LP “In Us We Trust”, now available on Mauvias Foi Records (available via Bandcamp right here). The trio was recently defined as “the MC5 of the country blues” by Tav Falco, in the truest of descriptors.

Trone des Fleur, their second LP, is a brilliant follow-up to their debut and is set to explode.

Johnny Walker fronts the band, playing harmonica and guitar.  He is the progenitor of the Soledad Brothers, Pearlene, and Cut in the Hill Gang who has toured singing for MC5/DKT. It should be noted that Walker has done session work with the White Stripes, the Detroit Cobras, the Greenhornes, Low Cut Connie and James Leg, and dozens more. Walker has also been championed by noted DJs John Peel and John Sinclair.  Kane Kitchen (bass) has been keeping time for Barrance Whitfield and Savages and alt-country singer Jeremy Pinnell. Lance “Lucky” Kaufman is a multi-instrumentalist playing drums and singing for the All-Seeing Eyes. Lucky has toured the world with his trad-rockabilly band, the Star Devils, his collaboration with Cut in the Hill Gang as well as lending his talents to many session recordings and many other bands.

The All-Seeing Eyes was formed to play a party on a parade route for the largest annual celebration in Cincinnati, Ohio. It was quickly realized that the trio could fill the role as house musicians for Walker’s newly established recording studio, Masonic Sounds Studios, across the Ohio river. The All Seeing Eyes began writing and recording their LP in earnest while working in and recording for various artists in the Masonic Sounds Studios. They have played extensively in the Midwest and South of the United States, the UK, and France.

The bands live set has been showcased warming up for Jon Spencer, the Cobras, the Demolition Doll Rods, Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds,Dead Weather, Cedrick Burnside, Tav Falco, CATL, the Melvins, and so on.  They have managed to play over 60 shows a year, in spite of Walkers professional obligations as a psychiatrist and MD. The All-Seeing Eyes will be performing at Blues, Psych Rock and Garage Festivals all over the US and Europe in 2026 with a stop in Toronto for a show at the Monarch Tavern with Equator and Lunchmeat on Saturday, June 13. Advance tickets are $20 online @ Leap (Showclix) here. 

Check out the All Seeing Eyes below...

 

The Flashing Lights, Absolute Losers @ Lee's Palace, Saturday

Matt Murphy and his Flashing Lights crew resurface for a show at Lee's Palace tonight at 7 pm. Get tickets right here. 

LINKS
Watch a Flashing Lights rehearsal right here

Whaddya mean you don't know the Montego Beach Hotel Calypsonians

The "Souvenir Album" attributed to Montego Beach Hotel Calypsonians is actually a collection of Jamaican mento recordings by Lord Lebby cut in the early 50s. 

The Souvenir Album by Montego Beach Hotel Calypsonians 

At first glance, what might appear to be a corny calypso album recorded at a Montego Bay resort to make a quick buck off clueless American tourists is neither a live recording nor calypso. The target audience was definitely foreign visitors but the Souvenir Album attributed to the Montego Beach Hotel Calypsonians is actually a collection of Jamaican recordings made by Lord Lebby and his mento band, most of which had been previously released on 78s during the early to mid 50s by Stanley Motta's MRS label (Motta's Recording Service). 

When Motta got into the record business in 1951, Ken Khouri at Federal (who was issuing 78s on Times Records and Kalypso Records) was his only real competition in Jamaica. There were no record manufacturing plants active on the island so the entrepreneurial Motta would cut acetates of local artists performing in his tiny makeshift studio at 93 Hanover St. in Kingston – a few blocks from Motta's cameras, electronics & appliances store – and send them to the UK to create the metal parts, run off a pressing and have the sleeved records shipped back to Jamaica to sell to wealthy tourists. 

Lord Lebby

Choosing to focus on local artists performing Jamaican mento, Motta captured early performances of Lord Fly, Count Lasher, Lord Composer, Jelicoe Barker, Lord Power, Monty Reynolds and Lord Lebby backed by available musicians long before they were famous like Roland Alphonso, Ernest Ranglin, Rico Rodriguez, Lord Tanamo, Theophilus Beckford and others. 

Although Motta began releasing music on 78s, the brittle shellac was far from ideal for overseas shipping and he soon switched to vinyl 45s and LPs. Today, Motta's best remembered for his five-volume "Authentic Jamaican Calypsos" series of 10" mini-compilation EPs which were intended to serve as tourist souvenirs. As a member of the Jamaican Tourist Board from 1955 to 1962, Motta well understood the value of the Yankee dollar but also recognized the untapped potential of Jamaica's singers, musicians and folkloric music. 

The Souvenir Album, credited to the Montego Beach Hotel Calypsonians and sold at the Montego Bay Hotel Gift Shop – just like it says right on the label – seems to be a variation on the concept of his Authentic Jamaican Calypsos. But instead of various singers and bands performing a selection of Jamaican folk songs in a mento style, it's just Lord Lebby belting out renditions of "Limbo," "Hold 'im Joe (Me Donkey Want Water)" "Back To Back, Belly To Belly (Zombie Jamboree)" along with R&B faves like the Wynonie Harris hit "Bloodshot Eyes" with an enjoyably rough 'n' raucous backing by different groupings of uncredited musicians, not the ones posing for the photo on the back of the sleeve. 

Since most copies of the LP were sold to sun-seekers and either discarded or left to languish in the basement rec-room after returning home from holiday, there aren't many copies of Stanley Motta's Souvenir Album in circulation today. As yet, it hasn't been reissued in full although three tracks from it appear on Mike "Big Mikey Dread" Murphy's excellent 2CD compilation Mento, Not Calypso! The Original Sound Of Jamaica for the Fantastic Voyage label from 2013. 

Listen to the Souvenir Album below followed by Lord Lebby's crazy version of Louis Jordan's jump blues classic "Caldonia" recorded for Chris Blackwell's R&B label in 1960.

 

Just in time for Trump's birthday, Jon Spencer shares animated clip for "Mr. Lion"

"Mr. Lion" is off Jon Spencer's new album Songs of Personal Loss and Protest on Shove Records available here. 

Happy Birthday André Ethier!

Celebrating André's birthday with Deadly Snakes footage from the Mike Bullard show. their final gig at the Silver Dollar and more.

West of Jane @ The Bell & Beacon, Friday

Mike Boguski, Nichol Robertson & Cleave Anderson stretch out organ-trio style at the Bell & Beacon tonight starting at 9:30 pm. 

R.I.P. Jamaican music legend Stranger Cole, 1942-2026

Sadly Stranger Cole – who had deep ties to the Toronto reggae scene – has passed away at 83. He'll be greatly missed.

R.I.P. Stranger Cole, 1942-2026

Jamaican Ska and Reggae legend Stranger Cole moved to Toronto in the early 1970s leaving stardom behind. Despite his talent he was forced to work at the Tonka Toy factory and as a security guard at Eaton's to make a living. His entrepreneurial spirit took over and he opened his own record store and label in Kensington Market at 58 Kensington Ave. Some 40 years later,  Stranger Cole returned to Toronto to  visit his old neighbourhood for Chris Flanagan and Graeme Mahieson's excellent short documentary Ruff and Tuff which you can view below following a few of Stranger Cole's classic recordings. Stranger Cole has passed away but his music and legacy will live on.