Bongo Beat Records

10/24/2024

COOL CALENDAR!

THE SONICS. THE DAMN TRUTH.
GENE CHAMPAGNE. RALPH.

This is where you want to be.
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THURS. Oct 24
The Sonics
Toronto Film Premiere

Garage Rock Greatness.
Only Canadian screening.
Introduced by Ralph Alfonso (in person! whoo!)
$15 (VIP seating also available)
licensed venue (yay!)

The Redwood Theatre


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FRI, Nov 15
The Damn Truth
Mills Hardware
Hamilton, Ont.

with special guest
Gene Champagne (Killjoys/Teenage Head)
and, of course, Ralph, will be there!

Only Canadian date before The Damn Truth fly off
to the UK the very next week

Mills Hardware
Gene Champagne
The Damn Truth
The Damn Truth (with Gene Champagne)

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THURS, Nov 28
Ralph film double-feature!
BBAM! Gallery

Two films!!

- Coffee Jazz & Poetry (the poetry of Ralph Alfonso)
- Vie de Nuit (Montreal premiere)
PLUS: Intermission Ralph performance (what?!)

For the first time in Montreal, we've put together a double-header of Ralph films that haven't been seen in over 20 years.

COFFEE JAZZ AND POETRY is a 2000/2001 documentary by Patrick Jenkins that follows Ralph from Vancouver to Toronto, and explores his zine, music, poetry and outlook with various animations of Ralph's songs (one of which, Venus In Violets, was on rotation at Much Music). This documentary debuted at the Montreal Film Festival and aired nationally on both the CBC and BRAVO channels.

VIE DE NUIT was originally a silent film shot in B/W (directed by Chris Hooper) as a kind of homage to French new wave films with the RALPH band performing the soundtrack live in concert. This was taken on tour across Canada in 2001 with great success. The Winnipeg show at the West End Cultural Centre was taped for the CBC which aired it nationally. In 2002, director Chris Hooper synced up that audio with the film and we are showing that version for the first time ever.

Here's a quote from the 2000 Vancouver premiere:
Starring Sandra Steier, the film is a fast and loose homage to the cinema of France and Italy in the '50s and '60s. Steier plays "an enigmatic woman running wild in the night. Her lover is a shadow never in focus and almost always behind the wheel. Tres mysterieux." Combined with Ralph's trademark jazz narration and incredibly tight band, this evening promises to be mellow, cool and very, very beat, man.

This will be a fun evening and perhaps an introduction to what Ralph was doing in the 90s - connecting beat poetry with jazz, garage rock and lounge and everything else (somebody had to do it).

Tickets: $15 (we'll have a link/page ready on the weekend)

Patrick Jenkins
Chris Hooper
Sandra Steier Photography
Ralph Alfonso

08/06/2024

THE RAMONES ARE BACK!
and Talking Heads, Iggy Pop, The Damned, Mo-Dettes, Patti Smith, Blondie, Teenage Head, the Barracudas, Bif Naked, Richard Hell, Diodes, Dead Boys and more!

Yep, my classic punk pix are back in stock at BBAM! Gallery. I spent a few hours yesterday at the photo lab getting all these favourites back in print. On FUJI archival photo paper. Each one is signed by the photographer (me).

Although lab prices have gone up, I am keeping my price low at $20 (but note that the next batch will cost more) because I want everyone to have a smiling Ramones in their house. I am well aware I should be asking for more money (feel free to lecture me about this, lol).

During my time as a rock writer/photographer (Cheap Thrills, New York Rocker, Bomp!, Kicks!, Shades, Impulse, and others), I was fortunate to interview and photograph many icons at the beginning of punk (1976-77).

With the odd exception (groups tracking me down wanting my 60s vibe), I pretty much put my cameras away after I started working at record labels. I don't shoot digital and I still have my workhorse Pentax Spotmatics. My photography came as part of my journalism training ("we don't want art, we want you to get the shot and make sure it's in focus") and some of my straight up photography appeared in the Toronto Star when I was a stringer for them.

These negatives sat in binders for years until the folks at the late lamented Blue Sunshine (Montreal) urged me to create an exhibition to go with a rare showing of Ross McLaren's Crash and Burn film way back in 2009 or so.

And there you go!

YES! I can do mail-order. Ask for my catalog.

05/17/2024

BBAM! VINYL POP UP!
Saturday, May 18, 10-1pm

Cantinova Cafe, 4035 rue saint-ambroise
(next to Aubut), St Henri (Lionel Groulx Metro)

SPECIAL GUEST DJ: Ralph Alfonso
That's right, I'll be spinning some chill coffee jazz soft rock vibes to enjoy with the folks from Jungle Roasters who will also be there promoting their delicious coffee blends!

I'll have some new and used cool vinyl for sale.
Start your morning with me and then, in the afternoon, check out the Finissage for the Kristyna Baradinskas art exhibition at BBAM! Gallery.

Sunshine vibes!

Cantinova Café
Jungle Torréfacteur de café
BBAM! Gallery / galerie bbam

https://www.facebook.com/cantinova.cafe

☕️ Café, vinyle et gourmandises
🫶 Préparé avec amour

03/07/2024

Si j'avais des piles de vinyles, je partirais pour…Quebec!

Yes! My first record show since Covid. Quebec City is always a good one. Hope to see some new and old friends there.
THIS SUNDAY! DIMANCHE. 10h

Rendez-vous vinyles Québec

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550275103423

Un évènement où les mélomanes et les amateurs de vinyle peuvent se réunir.

03/05/2023

DAMN TRUTH - MONTREAL!

08/18/2021

JOHNNY DOWD
Without a doubt, one of the most exciting and dangerous artists ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2QXIXW152jM

Johnny Dowd with Wilie B on drums and Mike Stark on keyboards rock out The Railway Club, Vancouver, Sunday, Aug 6, 2006. One of the best live shows you will ...

08/18/2021

THE BEDSIT POETS
two fabulous albums on Bongo Beat

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKFo194O8Ik

Debut video by The Bedsit Poets. "The Summer That Changed" from their Bongo Beat Records debut of the same name. http://www.bongobeat.com

08/18/2021

Paul Hyde
No Gods Just Men

Listen to it here:

http://open.spotify.com/album/012CbZC0rI4RVzk5pbTSKH

Paul Hyde · Album · 2017 · 10 songs.

07/13/2021

The very first release on Bongo Beat.

RALPH - COFFEE JAZZ AND POETRY

On July 14, 1995, I released my first album into the world.

It was recorded live in the studio with about 40 friends and co-workers from Nettwerk (Terry McBride gave me a Christmas present of free studio time on condition that whatever I did was exactly like the bookstore gig he had seen and enjoyed). We got everybody really drunk and had mikes in the audience cause I wanted that Ramsey Lewis live album vibe (I was obsessed with those lps at the time).

I had barely done a few gigs at the time as a trio (me, Tom Harrison & Mike Rummen) but as the gigs progressed, I basically stole Tom Harrison's band (Little Games) which already included Mike but now we added Radar on drums/percussion and then found Tracy Marks at John Rummen's (Mike's brother) house party where he and I jammed and instantly clicked.

Remember that I had no history of performing prior to this. I had been publishing my RALPH zine and got plucked out of obscurity by Mary Lynk to be a guest on CBC Morningside with Peter Gzowski, which changed the course of my life forever (of course, it was Mike Campbell - I blame you - for tipping her off to me).

The CD rocketed up the college charts, the reviews were great, and I was one of the first releases on the newly formed Outside Music distribution. Lloyd Nishimura begged me to come tour but I just didn't quite have the resources to do that - in hindsight, I should've just gone for it, but it all worked out for when I finally did.

My one real regret was not taking up Adrian Gibson's invitation to go play The Jazz Cafe in London, opening for various people for a week. Again, I doubted myself when I should've just grabbed everybody and hopped on a plane LOL.

Anyway, it all started innocently and naively here.

http://open.spotify.com/album/2noY3Zlr2YSP9FQk9PiX8v

Ralph · Album · 1995 · 41 songs.

05/17/2021