Intimate concert series amplified by homegrown musicians

You won’t be subjected to the predetermined whims of a streaming service algorithm when you walk into King Cob Market Pub: only local music is on the menu at Darryl Friesen’s Ellice Avenue restobar.

Since opening to the public two winters ago, Friesen has been building an extensive digital library featuring thousands of songs by Manitoban artists he’s acquired either through his own purchasing habits or by donation from the performers themselves.

Over the course of a single pint, guests can expect a well-curated jaunt through a half-century of local tracks flowing through the bar’s eight-channel analog mixer and its 200-watt Yorkville speakers. During a recent visit, Bif Naked’s spoken-word poem Eine Tasse Tea led into Forever Dub by the Hummers into Don’t Change, a jangly folk tune from Dylan Csincsa, who releases music under the moniker Borrowed Standards.

The soundtrack on the stereo is one piece of the music-first strategy at King Cob, which has volunteered itself as the unofficial pre- and post-concert watering hole for its neighbouring venue, the West End Cultural Centre.

Each week’s schedule features Wednesday evening “Bella Vista” nights, free, open-door shows that continue the tradition of the beloved Italian restaurant, which held midweek concerts at its Maryland Street lounge until its closure in 2019. Upcoming performers include Chilean songwriter Los Días Floreados (March 4), folk singer Matt Foster (March 11), Mariachi Ghost leader Jorge Requena Ramos (March 18) and One More Time with Blair Barkley (March 25).

This Saturday, the bar will host the inaugural edition of a monthly jazz workshop with Winnipeg’s Impressions Jazz Group, who will be joined by Casimiro Nhussi and the N’Afro Band.

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In the heart of Wolseley, another homey dining room has struck a chord with a regular winter concert series.

Programmed at Bonnie Day (898 Westminster Ave.) by songwriters Dominique Adams, Jacob Brodovsky and Laura June Rose, Every Second Sunday is envisioned as a house concert inside a restaurant, with two seatings of each show for intimate audiences capped at 30.

“The intention of the series was just to have some listening room shows where the artists aren’t fighting with a chatty crowd and where we can basically create a house concert without having to use a strangers bathroom or sit on a pillow in their living room,” Brodovsky says.

The response has been emphatic: February’s show featuring Greg MacPherson and Keri Latimer (Leaf Rapids) was sold out. And if you’re looking for a ticket to Sunday’s concert (Slow Leaves and Well Sister), you’ll have to rely on the secondary market.

Next up in the series is a March 15 show from Diaphanie (formerly of ATLAAS) and vocalist and pianist Marisolle Negash. Tickets ($25) are available at the restaurant or showpass.com.

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If you’re smelling something funky on Corydon Avenue on Wednesdays, it might just be Gitch.

Over the past year, the quartet of Joey Landreth, Murray Pulver, Paul Yee and Daniel Roy has enjoyed a no-cover weekly residency at Little Italy’s venerable Bar I (737 Corydon Ave.), with talented friends such as Mama Sol James, Roman Clarke or Irvin Miller dropping in every week for guest spots.

With the Bros. Landreth currently on tour in Europe with Begonia, Gitch switched it up last night, with percussionist Roy joined by vocalist/keys player Leonard Shaw, guitarist Larry Roy and bassist Bruce Jacobs.

winnipegfreepress.com/benwaldman