Montreal is full of surprises - again

For 32 years, the Montreal International Jazz Festival team has been showing the world how to produce a music festival that is filled with programming innovations, draws from genres and artists from around the globe – and runs like clockwork.
The 33^rd edition, which runs from June 28 to July 8, is just around the corner and the tickets for the 180+ indoor concerts went on sale this weekend. This six-square-block musical party is always a treat, no matter whether you go just for the 400 or so free outdoor shows at 10 stages in and around Montreal’s Place des Arts, or you also pony up to see some of the formal indoor concerts.

Jazz is always the core of the festival, but you’ll also find plenty of blues, folk, afro-pop and world music. It’s always a treat to hear some of the formidable Canadian musicians who never seem to garner much attention here in the U.S.

A two-year adventure

Swedish pop-folk singer Sofia Talvik has just started a two-year United States tour, in which she plans to bring her fine music - mostly originals - to various locales as she hopscotches the continent in a refurbished old RV. The tour began here in Florida.

One of the early stops was last night at Warm Mineral Springs' Evergreen Cafe here in North Port. The Drivin' & Dreaming tour includes a stop in mid-March at SXSW (the highly regarded South by Southwest Music Conference, an industry showcase held annually) in Austin, Texas. We wish Sofia and her husband, Jonas, well on this adventure.

Warm Mineral Springs, is a natural wellness destination with an underground spring that provides some 9 million gallons a day of pure water containing 51 minerals.The springs, which is on the Natural Register of Historic Places as explorer Ponce de Leon's long-sought "Fountain of Youth," is now owned by Sarasota County.

Newport is just around the corner

If you're a Newport Folk Festival fan, or ardent fan of one if its acts this year, don't plan on showing up without a ticket, figuring you can score some ducats at the Fort Adams State Park box office.

For the first time, the folk festival (which began in 1959) as a supplement to George Wein's Newport Jazz Festival, has sold out all tickets (10,00 tickets for each day). The July 30-31 event, which is headlined by the likes of Emmylou Harris, Elvis Costello, The Decemberists, Earl Scruggs, Tegan and Sara, Mavis Staples and Ramblin' Jack Eliott.

Organizers said promotion of the event through the social networking media has been part of the success.

I'm curious how much of a similar effect will be in play a week later at the Newport Jazz Festival. The lineup is chronologically and stylistically diverse and terrific. Stay tuned.