Michael Caplan
Down-home Music & “Porch Songs”

Local venues (Toronto; 2011-date)

Solo gigs at venues including the Winchester Bar (where Billie Holiday sang!), the Wing House, the Underdown Pub, Cloak & Dagger and the Local GEST. Also organized shows featuring guest performers such Bill Coleman, Whitney Rose and members of The Slocan Ramblers, and local blues harmonica legend “Cabbagetown Steve” Grant.

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Porch Songs (House of ShAkE, 2021-date)

Livestreaming from the virtual Porch of the House, and live from other locations, including the Cloak & Dagger Pub in Toronto.

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Ogopogo Life (Toronto, 2019; Barrie, 2022)

Opened these two family-friendly events, a daytime EDM rave and an afternoon on the ice, for an organization of cold-water enthusiasts

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Tunesmith (Imperial Pub Backroom, Toronto; 2018)

One of three performers sharing the evening in this regular series organized by Mike Thorner.  

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White Rabbit (Freiburg, Germany; 2013)

Solo set at this underground (literally) German music club – the first country act they’d had, and a big hit with the audience.

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Street performances (Toronto; 2007 and 2012-13)

For Honest Ed’s Birthday Event and for the Cabbagetown Business Improvement Area, among others, then for two years as part of the Cabbagetown Festival, including with blues rock band Code Green and with guests The Slocan Ramblers (now a Canadian bluegrass sensation).

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Market Hall (Peterborough, ON; 2011)

Sang with Bill Coleman tap-dancing as part of the event announcing the naming of a dance floor in honour of Public Energy director and local “arts champion” Bill Kimball.

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LGBT Pride Day (Toronto, 2009-2011)

Performed in the Free Zone for three years running (in 2009 with Wayne Cass on electric guitar, and with Ben Rough on guitar and harmonica in 2010).

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Brother, can you spare a dime? (Winchester Street Theatre, Toronto; 2009)

Singing the old union song, “Which Side Are You On?” a cappella, in a duet with dancer Tanya Crowder as part of this evening of works by independent choreographer Pam Johnson.

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NDH Aria (Regina, SK; 2008)

Performed two songs by invitation of the founder and director of New Dance Horizons, Robin Poitras (who’d heard him perform in Grasslands and at a party in Toronto), during this performance art fashion show to celebrate Regina artists and fundraise for NDH.

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“The Power of Ideas: Celebrating the Work of James Hillman” (Pittsburgh, PA; 2008)

Sang as part of this conference for renowned cultural psychologist James Hillman, including a duet with Bill Coleman tap-dancing (and Bill taught James, amateur tapper, a step or two after the performance).

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The Grasshopper Bar (Cabbagetown, Toronto; 2005-2007)

Weekly shows (“Whether they wanted me to or not!”) in this local watering hole. Met and began collaborating with Gabriel Chartrand.

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Steelpan Country (CD recorded at Donkey Studios, Toronto; 2006)

Vocals and guitar on 11 songs by Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen and others, with virtuoso Cree steel drum player Gabriel Chartrand.

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Electric Eclectics (Meaford, Ontario; 2006)

The duet caught the ear of Canadian composer/sound artist Gordon Monahan, who invited them to perform at his music festival in rural Ontario – where they stuck out like the only unsore thumbs in a line-up of extreme experimentalists from all over the world.