War Child Benefit-The Dakota Tavern

To truly understand the Cowboy Junkies, one would have had to listen to their legendary 1988 release The Trinity Session, an album that received such critical praise for not only its sound, but its method of recording. Taken in one day (well, almost...save for Mining for Gold) in late 1987, using only one mike and the awesome acoustics of The Church of the Holy Trinity in Toronto, the finished product was a unique and timeless recording that cut through the heavily produced late 1980s.
It was this album that affected me so strongly as a late teen that I compulsively played it for almost a year, introducing everyone I knew to the haunting vocals of Margo Timmins and methadone induced playing of brothers Michael and Peter and Alan Anton. Following each release through The Caution Horses, Black Eyed Man and Pale Sun, Crescent Moon, the Cowboy Junkies remained a strong musical escape for me through the mid-nineties, fluidly painting stories of places both distant and attached.
For some reason, it wasn't until this past Tuesday, 20 years since I cut the wrap on my vinyl copy of The Trinity Session, that I got to see them live and in grand fashion, well worth the wait. Thanks to War Child , a most worthy international organization, helping the most innocent casualties of war, an evening with not only the Junkies, but a well versed assembly of fellow Canadian musicians was brought to Toronto hippest gathering place, The Dakota Tavern in Toronto. From the minute my wife and friends and I arrived, I knew this would be an evening to remember. My expectations where truly exceeded, from the first note of the Cowboy Junkies, through the harmonies of the Skydiggers, the beautiful and angelic vocals provided with youthful exuberance by Ivey Mairi, the rollicking good time always offered straight up by Tom Wilson and band and the multi-instrumental genius of Guelph native Jeff Bird.
The best part of it all was that the closeness of the surroundings that not only made you feel that you where a spectator, but in a way, a part of the production. Everyone rubbing shoulders with everyone else, making new acquaintances and sharing the creation and appreciation of good music on level playing ground in an organic intertwined simbiance. I walked away with a fully signed copy of the bands first album "Whites Off Earth Now" and my good friend Shawn Creamer (also part owner of The Dakota) was able to get the OK from the band to get my camera in to produce these shots that I feel help capture the special quality of the evening and the one-of-a-kind warmth the Dakota exudes. Truly icing on the already stacked cake:-)
Thanks War Child, thanks Dakota (special hat tip to Shawn) and a big round of applause to all the performers for making my Tuesday night one I will not soon forget!