Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – September 2, 2025: "Crazy Blues" and Other Crazy Songs

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif finds connections and develops themes in various genres. The show is broadcast on CKCU, 93.1 FM, in Ottawa on Tuesdays from 3:30 until 5 pm (Eastern time) and is also available 24/7 for on-demand streaming.

This episode of Stranger Songs was recorded and can be streamed on-demand, now or anytime, by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/595/71788.html

Theme: “Crazy Blues” and other Crazy Songs.

Mamie Smith- Crazy Blues

The Rough Guide to Blues Women (World Music Network)

Patsy Cline- Crazy

The Unforgettable Patsy Cline (Polygram)

Steven Fromholz- I’d Have to Be Crazy

A Rumor in My Own Time (Capitol)

Rosalie Sorrels- We Were Kinda Crazy Then 

Travelin’ Lady Rides Again (Green Linnet)

Lennie Gallant- She’s Gonna Drive You Crazy

Shelter from the Storms (Lennie Gallant)

J.J. Cale- Crazy Mama

Naturally (Mercury)

Ball & Chain & The Wreckers- Crazy Arms

Live at the Bayou (Ball & Chain)

Durham County Poets- Good Kind of Crazy

Out of the Woods (Durham County Poets)

Jim Kweskin & The Jug Band- Crazy Words, Crazy Tune

Greatest Hits (Vanguard)

Leon Redbone- I’m Crazy ‘Bout My Baby

Whistling in the Wind (Rounder)

John Prine- Egg & Daughter Night, Lincoln Nebraska, 1967 (Crazy Bone)

The Tree of Forgiveness (Oh Boy)

Bebop Cowboys- Crazy Rhythm

Début (Bebop Cowboys)

Tom Paxton- Crazy John

Tom Paxton 6 (Elektra)

Michael Smith- Crazy Mary

Love Letter on a Fish (Tales from the Tavern)

Carla Gover & Brett Ratliff- Crazy

Kentucky Queen (Redbird)

Russ Kelley- Crazy Shades of Blue

Crazy Shades of Blue (Ark Road Music Productions)

Billie Holiday- Crazy He Calls Me

Lady’s Decca Days, Volume One (Decca)

Sunny and Her Joy Boys- You’re Driving Me Crazy

Introducing Sunny and Her Joy Boys (Stony Plain)

J. Reissner- Crazy Swing

Portrait in Blue (J. Reissner)

Ana Gasteyer- Crazy People

I’m Hip (Henry’s Girl)

Ian Robb- Champion at Driving ‘Em Crazy

Ian Robb & Hang the Piper (Folk-Legacy)

Leonard Cohen- Crazy to Love You

Old Ideas (Columbia)

Shirley Eikhard- Crazy from the Heat

Going Home (Artisan Music)

Tom Russell- The Other Side of Crazy

Who’s Gonna Build Your Wall? (HighTone)

Barbara Dane- Crazy Blues

On My Way (Dreadnaught Music)

Next week: Part 1 – Songs and Conversation with author David Eisenstadt; Part 2 – Riding in My Car.

--Mike Regenstreif

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Tuesday August 23, 2022: Artists of My Montreal

Stranger Songs with Mike Regenstreif finds connections and develops themes in various genres. The show is broadcast on CKCU in Ottawa on Tuesdays from 3:30 until 5 pm (Eastern time) and is also available 24/7 for on-demand streaming.

CKCU can be heard live at 93.1 FM in Ottawa and https://www.ckcufm.com/ on the web.

This episode of Stranger Songs was prerecorded and can already be streamed on-demand by clicking on “Listen Now” at … https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/595/57356.html

Theme: Artists of My Montreal.

I moved to Montreal in 1968 when I was 14 and lived there until 2007. The artists on this show all lived in Montreal at some point in those years and we first crossed paths while they lived there. Many are still friends today. There were many more artists I could have included had time allowed.

Chris Rawlings & Mike Regenstreif (2007)

Chris Rawlings- Pearl River Turnaround

Pearl Soupe (Cooking Fat Music)

Bruce Murdoch- (The Plains of) Jericho

Bruce Murdoch (Radio Canada International)

Sean Gagnier- Circle Harbor

Circle Harbor (Sean Gagnier)

Penny Lang- Ain’t Life Sweet

Ain’t Life Sweet (She-Wolf)

Tex König- Sea Fever

Königsblende (Music Cellar)

Russ Kelley- Elaine

Crazy Shades of Blue (Ark Road Music Productions)

Bill Garrett & Sue Lothrop- Red Shoes

Red Shoes (Borealis)

Stephen Mendel- Old Ties and Companions

Sing Me a Story (Stephen Mendel)

Leonard Cohen- Suzanne

Songs of Leonard Cohen (Columbia/Legacy)

Steel Rail- Wooden Ships

River Song (Crossties)

Jesse Winchester- I Wave Bye Bye

Gentleman of Leisure (Sugar Hill)

Kate & Anna McGarrigle- Complainte pour Ste-Catherine

Tell My Sister: Kate & Anna McGarrigle (Nonesuch)

Ronney Abramson- Song for Canaan

Stowaway (Castor Island Music)

Cathy Fink- The Midnight Prayerlight

Doggone My Time (Sugar Hill)

Chaim Tannenbaum- Coal Man Blues

Chaim Tannenbaum (StorySound)

Marc Nerenberg- Puppets in Raincoats

Delia’s Gone: Murder Ballads & Other Songs of Love & Death (Marc Nerenberg)

Orit Shimoni- One Voice

Strange and Beautiful Things (Orit Shimoni)

Linda Morrison- World Go Round

Line By Line (Heartstrung Music)

Notre Dame de Grass- New Canada Road

New Canada Road (Notre Dame de Grass)

Yonder Hill- Northern Lights

Yonder Hill (Yonder Hill)

Kevin Head- Everyone Needs a Backyard

Hear Them Callin’ (Kevin Head)

Michael Jerome Browne & Mike Regenstreif (2005)

Stephen Barry- Talking Bullet Hole Blues

Original (Bros)

Michael Jerome Browne- Children

Drive On (Borealis)

Rob Lutes- Rob’s Deep River Blues

Gravity (Rob Lutes)

Shtreiml- Rachel’s Bulgar

Spicy Paprikash (I.J. Rosenblatt)

Next week: Festival of Flowers.

Find me on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

The Yellow Door to celebrate 50th anniversary

On November 12, I’ll be in Montreal with a bunch of old friends to help the Yellow Door Coffee House celebrate its 50th anniversary. While it used to be conventional wisdom that the Yellow Door started up in 1967, Marc Nerenberg, who was around at the beginning and has kept folk music going at the Yellow Door in recent years, has traced the coffee house launch back to 1966 – which means the Yellow Door is, by far, Canada’s longest-running folk venue, and one of the last surviving folk venues of the 1960s anywhere.

I was 15 years old in 1969 when I started going to the Yellow Door. I went to a concert at the Back Door – a sister club to the Yellow Door that was open from 1969 to 1971 – where I heard about the Yellow Door and headed there the following weekend.

Back then, the Yellow Door was run by Chuck Baker and the format was to book lesser-known acts for three-night gigs from Monday to Wednesday and headliners for three nights from Thursday to Saturday. Sunday night was Hootenanny Night at the Yellow Door when performers – professionals and amateurs – put their names in the hat for chance to play three songs (or 15 minutes, whichever came first). As I recall, 12 performers got to play – in the order their names came out of the hat – on Hoot Nights.

In short order, I was a regular at the Yellow Door (and the Back Door) soaking up performances by almost everyone who played there. While some of them are largely forgotten, some became well known, and a few became legendary.

At some point in 1970 or ’71, I got involved in helping run the Yellow Door. I think Chuck just drafted me one night to work the coffee counter or sell tickets. I eventually did a lot of both, and then started to MC the occasional set. By 1972, I was MCing the Hoots every Sunday. Once in a while, when Chuck was away, I took over – even sleeping in his apartment on the Yellow Door’s top floor.

So, like so many performers who started out on the Yellow Door’s small stage, I got my start learning how to run folk clubs and concerts at the Yellow Door. In the fall of 1972, I started to produce folk music concerts at Dawson College and McGill University (while staying involved at the Yellow Door) and in the spring of 1974, I took over running another folk coffee house, the Golem, whose booking policy I modeled after the Back Door’s. And even though I’d moved on to the Golem, I was still around the Yellow Door a fair bit.

Perhaps my most memorable night at the Yellow Door was in the spring of 1972 when Jerry Jeff Walker and his guitarist (I recall his name being Travis something) happened to pass through town – I think they were en route from Ottawa to New York – and showed up at the Yellow Door on a Monday or Tuesday night. I was MCing that night and Jerry Jeff asked me if he could do a guest set. I told him that I’d have to clear it with the artist – his name was Merle Michaels, an American, I think, who was then living in Montreal and who I’ve not seen or heard of in the past 40 years. I asked Merle if it was OK for someone to do a guest set. “Sure,” he said, “Who?” At first he didn’t believe me when I said it was Jerry Jeff Walker. Anyway, after the show, maybe a dozen of us were on hand to hear Jerry Jeff play for about an hour-and-a-half without a break. He didn’t do “Mr. Bojangles” that night, but he did do “Stoney,” my request.

So, 50 years after the Yellow Door first opened as a folk music venue, and about 47 years after I first showed up at the basement coffee house, a bunch of us from the old days will join with today’s generation of Yellow Door performers to celebrate at a special 50th anniversary reunion concert, curated by Marc Nerenberg, on Saturday, November 12, 7:30 pm, at Petit Café Campus (57 Prince Arthur Street East in Montreal).

Among the old friends from my Yellow Door era who will perform are Bill Garrett & Sue Lothrop, Bill Russell, Chris Rawlings, Danny Greenspoon, Joel Zifkin, Kevin Head, Linda Morrison, Marc Nerenberg, Michael Jerome Browne, Noah Zacharin, Peter Paul Van Camp, Ronney Abramson, Russ Kelley, and an acoustic version of the Stephen Barry Band.

Among the younger performers from today’s generation of Yellow Door performers will be Bashu Naimi-Roy, the Chinese Kiwis, Corinna Rose, Gabrielle Marlena, Jesse Daniel Smith, Jitensha, Lauriel Lewis, Simon Banderob, and Thanya Iyer.

The MCs for the evening will be Chuck Baker, Marc Nerenberg, Mike Regenstreif (Hey, that’s me!) and Penny Rose.

Tickets for the anniversary concert are available on the Yellow Door website.

The anniversary weekend will also include several events at the Yellow Door itself (3625 Aylmer Street) including a Friday night Hootenanny, a free concert on Saturday afternoon and a brunch on Sunday. See the website for details.

Fifty years – half a century – imagine that. Congratulations to all who have played at the Yellow Door over the years – and especially to everyone who’s had a role in keeping it going against all odds for five full decades. It will be something to see everyone again.

Pictured: A drawing from the 1970s by Marc Nerenberg that is being used on 50th anniversary T-shirts; and Mike Regenstreif, Penny Rose and Jesse Winchester receiving the Yellow Door Award at the Yellow Door 35th Anniversary Concert, April 27, 2002 at Café Campus. (Photo: Judith Cezar)

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Canadian Spaces – CKCU – Saturday May 9, 2015

CKCU can be heard at 93.1 FM in Ottawa and http://www.ckcufm.com/ on the web.

Canadian Spaces on CKCU in Ottawa is Canada’s longest-running folk music radio program. It is heard Saturday mornings from 10:00 am until noon (Eastern time).

It was hosted for more than 33 years by the late Chopper McKinnon and is now hosted by Chris White and a rotating cast of co-hosts.

This week’s show was co-hosted by Mike Regenstreif and Chris White.

Guests: Chris MacLean; Catherine MacLellan & Chris Gauthier.

Bill Garrett- Northshore Train

Bill Garrett (Borealis)

Chris Rawlings- Song of the Old Bush Pilot

Northern Spirits (Cooking Fat)

Kate & Anna McGarrigle- The Log Driver’s Waltz

Oddities (Querbeservice)

Bonnie Dobson- Dink’s Song

Take Me for a Walk in the Morning Dew (Hornbeam)

Moira Smiley, Tim O'Brien, Margaret Glaspy, Mollie O'Brien, John Magnie, Martin Gilmore, Jayme Stone- Sheep, Sheep Don’tcha Know the Road

Jayme Stone’s Lomax Project (Borealis)

Pharis & Jason Romero- A Wanderer I’ll Stay

A Wanderer I’ll Stay (Lula)

Jesse Winchester- All of Your Stories

Seems Like Only Yesterday – Live in Montreal 1976 (Real Gone Music)

Little Birdie- Old Synagogue

Sadder Music (Orit Shimoni)

Russ Kelley- We’re Falling

In Plain Sight (Ark Road Music Productions)

April Verch- Belle Election

The Newpart (Slab Town)

Dan Frechette & Laurel Thomsen- Puddles in the Rain

New Disguise (Dan Frechette & Laurel Thomsen)

Ken Whiteley and the Beulah Band- Quite Early Morning

Ken Whiteley and the Beulah Band (Borealis)

Jory Nash- Homeless Man

The Many Hats of Jory Nash (Thin Man)

Chris MacLean- Across the Channel

Live in the studio

Chris MacLean- Whiskey Kisses

Live in the studio

Catherine MacLellan- Jack’s Song

The Raven’s Sun (Catherine MacLellan)

Catherine MacLellan & Chris Gauthier- The Raven’s Sun

Live in the studio

Catherine MacLellan & Chris Gauthier- Beneath the Lindens

Live in the studio

The show is now available for online listening. http://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/129/21972.html

I’ll be co-hosting Canadian Spaces again on July 11.

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif