INTRODUCTION

Hi....My name is Howard Stacey and as a resident of Oshawa for 55 years and a guitar player/songwriter/freelance journalist for over 40 of those Canadian winters, I find myself now in the self-appointed,but unenviable position of being a messenger for live acoustic music in Oshawa.Please remember who not to shoot.With my professional and personal history with such internationally known artists as John Lee Hooker,Bobo Jenkins,The Houserockers,Jerome Godboo,Anita Perras and the Apple Hill Group, I feel I am now qualified to share with you my stories and try to encourage you to experience as much live music as your brain and your budget can possibly afford,although I am not capable of restricting myself to doing either.The restrictions,that is.....................
I have hosted the Tuesday night Acoustic Jam at Chicago's Diner on Simcoe Street North in Oshawa since March 2007 and continue to be amazed at the level of unknown talent that has had the guts and the imagination to join me on the stage at Chicago's.Because there is no house band to reluctantly pick strangers off of a list to join them,I have had countless people tell me that they would not do this anywhere else.Why?....Because our atmosphere is like a campfire or basement jam where almost anything goes.If you walk in off the street and like what you hear,don't wait around to ask permission or sign a list, get your guitar out and join us. No pressure...No competition....and definitely not a place for the usually massive egos that dominate all of the other open mic/live psuedo-jam/open stage type of things.More on that later.
Sit in with Donnie or Steve or Kirk or Joe or me or whoever is there and just have some fun.
The less of me,the better...really...More on that later too....Just get yourself a beer and relax......Enjoyment inevitably ensues.....