cktimes.ca Archives for Glass Onion Folk Club


Glass Onion Folk Club

With John Gardiner

Rick Fines Trio wows blues fans in Wallaceburg

Tuesday, February 10, 2004

There's Rick Fines into the music.
 Rob Phillips – keyboardist extraordinaire
 Richard Simpkins on the upright bass.

The Rick Fines Trio blew into Wallaceburg on a east wind over the weekend and the three outstanding blues musicians soon made the audience at the Glass Onion Folk Club forget about the ice and cold outside.
Fines and sidemen Rob Phillips and Richard Simpkins are three of Canada's premier blues musicians and the combination of guitar, keyboard and upright bass they present can't help but leave the audience wanting for more. Saturday was no exception when the group was enthusiastically asked to deliver an encore after a 2 1/2 hour show.
Fines started the evening off with several selections from his latest CD, Riley Wants His Life Back, including the title track which has just won best blues entry in the International Songwriters Contest. The tune is a melodic blues offering with outstanding vocal arrangements that immediately sets your toe to tapping.
This was the fifth time Fines has appeared on the Glass Onion stage and he spent a considerable amount of the evening answering calls for requests and the affable guitarist was only too happy to comply. He did a selection of his own tunes including Proud Pappa and the haunting Just Got Back, but he also wheeled off a number of great covers by artists like Robert Johnson and Mississippi John Hurt.
One of the highlights of the evening was a two-song set of Gordon Lightfoot songs including Ribbon of Darkness and Bossman, both of which were performed by Fines at special tribute nights held for Lightfoot. Fines put his own bluesy touch on both songs.
Fines is the consumate showman, quickly establishing a rapport with his audience, delivering the goods as a musician the way only he can, but also moving the evening along with a lighthearted banter that both informs and entertains. Keyboardist Rob Phillips is an extraordinary sideman, delivering just the right ivory accents to the tunes, while bassist Richard Simpkins is both solid and subtle in the bottom he gives the trio.
"We are very fortunate that musicians like Rick Fines will take the time out to visit us here in Wallaceburg," said Glass Onion organizer John Gardiner. "Rick has attracted more blues fans every year he's played here – and five years is our record at the Glass Onion."



John Gardiner is a 25-year-veteran of the community newspaper business, but he is also a prolific writer of moralistic short fiction he refers to as "emotional thoughtscapes" or "adult fables". Samples of his fiction can be found at:

He has also produced a noteworthy piece of humanist philosophy which can be found at: http://www.xs4all.nl/~aboiten/ad502.htm He welcomes comments on his work.