I'm still a little tired from the long night (and a full day of work!) so I'll add more details and photos tomorrow or on Saturday.

The decision to go to the show was a spur of the moment one. At about 1900 last night, my wife mentioned an article about a blues artist in the Globe and Mail newspaper. The Globe is a national business daily which is similar to the WSJ or NY Times. It was an interesting article, and at the end it mentioned that Magic Slim was touring Canada, and playing Montreal that very evening!

Intrigued by the profile of Magic Slim, I ran down to the computer and did a search to check about the showtime. 2030! Bingo, my mind was made up.

Café Campus is an intimate showbar with a legal cap of about 500 people. The cover charge for the show was just CA$6 - less than US$4!

The Teardrops hit the stage at about 2045 and played a couple of tunes before having Magic Sam come out around 2100 to start the party. A party it was, ... he played until 0015, a solid 3 hours with just a 20 minute break. I was truly in awe of his talent, presence and passion for the genre. He played a plethora of tunes including both his own as well as plenty of covers including (of course) Mustang Sally.

Magic Slim won 3 WC Handy awards last year. The newspaper article also mentioned that there were plans for a potential collaboration with Tracy Chapman and/or Eddie Vedder (lead of rock giants Pearl Jam).

I managed to get a nice smile from local blues prodigy Steve Hill, who showed up at the bar next to me. He had apparently headed over to the show after spending the evening jamming at the Bass Bin practice studios.

The show is part of a weekly blues series at the Café Campus organised in collaboration with the Montreal Blues Society.

All in all, it was a great evening - intimate rockin' blues just a few feet away... great service and smiles from the lovely barmaids and waitresses ... topped off by a totally hyped and groovy crowd.

The only downside was trying to wake up this morning at 0730 and realising I had to go work

Will post some pics and more details soon.

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Originally posted by Slim Lively:
Seeing Magic Slim is worth dragging your feet at work the next day anytime. As you've pointed out, this man knows how to party and puts on a top-notch performance

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Hehehe.. the only problem was the day after happened to be one of the least suitable days for me to be dragging my feet. But like you said, it was well worth it. I still can't believe that I got 3 hours of music for just a $6 cover charge.

I noticed also that he had a pretty solid booking schedule, playing nightly in cities across Canada.

You're fortunate to have been able to spend some post-show time with the man, he certainly seems like a blast to be around. He was most definitely a blast on stage!

Magic Slim brought the Teardrops to Paris in late 2000. The show began fine, with a tough first set that lasted about 45 minutes. Then Slim sat down to the bar. That was it. When it came time for his entrance in the second set, they practically had to drag him back on stage. He fumbled through a few numbers, then excused himself to the bathroom. He stayed in the bathroom for about 20 minutes, leaving the music to the Teardrops alone. When he came back, instead of getting back on stage, he sat back down to the bar and ordered another drink. The owner of the club and Slim then began shouting at each other and everything continued to deteriorate from there.

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Originally posted by Muddy Lives:
I'm glad to hear that Magic Slim is still giving good shows. I hate to relate my
(snip)
I don't expect that Slim will be invited back to Paris anytime soon. (Tickets to that show were over $50 a pop, by the way.) But I am at least happy that, judging from previous posts, this appears to have been an exception rather than the rule.

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On the contrary Muddy - his show in Montreal (for $6 and 3+ solid hours of blues) had none of the problems you describe about the Paris show. It's surprising because you mention that it occurred quite recently - 2000? Nope, at the show here in Montreal he definitely was in shape. Sure, at times he did show his age (64?) but considering that he put on 3 hours of serious blues music with a mere 20 minute break, I would say that it was very impressive overall!