When
Pope Benedict XVI announced his retirement, reports came out that he wanted to concentrate on music. Everyone probably assumed it would be writing church hymns. Boy were they wrong! The ex-pontiff has decided to start playing some good ol' rockin' blues. In a wonderful turn of events, he'll be using local musicians to back him up and he'll be touring the hammer as well.
Since beloved Hamilton Blues Lovers Inc. C.E.O. and blogger,
Lou is also the music consultant for the Vatican, Benedict approached him for help.
"Benny, as I call him, told me he wanted to use only the most wholesome and virtuous musicians available " Lou explained, "That's not too hard to find in our little home town so I managed to fanagle quite a respectable band for him."
Pope Benedict himself will be handling the lead singing and rhythm guitar duties. The rest of the band includes
Brian Griffith (lead guitar),
Jack Pedler of
Teenage Head (drums),
Matty Buzanko of
the Rest/
Overplayers (bass) and Corey Lueck of the
Smoke Wagon Blues Band (harmonica/backing vocals).
The gang worked hard before his holiness's retirement to unleash his debut blues CD,
Abstinence Blues (through Luigi Records). They recorded such amazing hard-rockin' songs as
Soul Man,
No Nookie Tonight and a reworked version of a Teenage Head classic entitled
Teenage Rosary Praying Party.
Lucky for Hamilton, Benedict has decided to start the tour in our fair city. It kicks off with a CD release party at Our Lady of Muddy Waters parish on Calloway Drive . Opening the show will be the amazing
Banned From Heaven. Festivities start at 5pm and as the ex-pope said, "If we're feeling frisky we'll be playing really late, maybe even 'til 9pm. It's OK - After all, we're on a mission from God!"
Other stops of the tour include St. Jake's, St. Elwood's, and the Cathedral of the Immaculate Banjo. Please contact the band's manager April Fulcilli at afulcilli@luigirecords.com for tickets.
Previous (Paul O'Toole@Brantford Station Gallery) - - - Next (New Whitehorse Covers EP)
