Entertainment Features

Mike Dixon and Mark Clifford Present "The L Show!"

Mike Dixon and Mark Clifford Present "The L Show!"

By David DeRocco dave@gobeweekly.com  https://twitter.com/?lang=en 

The summer of ’69 was 50 years ago, but with all due respect to Bryan Adams, he wasn’t the only guy to start a band and try real hard that summer.

Long-time friends and Niagara residents Mark Clifford and Mike Dixon began their long and productive careers as full-time musicians 50 years ago. Now, five decades later, the two familiar faces on Niagara’s music scene are taking the stage once again for a special musical event designed to celebrate their five-decade partnership and shine a spotlight on their talents and musical passions.

The event, called “THE L SHOW,” is a unique collaboration between guitarist Clifford and percussionist Dixon being staged at the Niagara Artist Centre’s TCO Rooftop Terrace. Billed as “Mike Dixon and Mark Clifford In the Shadows,” THE L SHOW will be a musical exploration of various sonic landscapes – part improv, part classical, part prog rock, and wholly original.

“A couple years ago, we decided we wanted to do something different for our 50th,” said Clifford, who first performed with Dixon in 1969 when he invited the drummer to fill in at a local gig. “We want to take you on a trip. We don’t really have songs. We have a skeleton and a direction the music will take. It’s going to be very flowy, just the two of us, some additions from a bass player, some spoken word. It’s going to be very unique.”

Google “Mike Dixon Mark Clifford In The Shadows” and you’ll get a feel for the experimental progressive scope of the music the pair will be performing at this milestone event. It’s a far cry from most of the music the two have produced individually and collectively over their 50 years of performing music in the Niagara area. If there’s six degrees to Kevin Bacon, there can’t be more than two degrees when trying to connect other projects to Dixon, the mustached maestro of the drum set, or Clifford, the eclectic instrumentalist best known for being one-half of Vox Violins.

Trace the careers of Dixon and Clifford and you’ll discover a long list of people and projects the pair have been associated with through their years playing Niagara stages: bands including The Strolling Sentry, Hue and Cry, Motion, Sage, Stone Soup, The Fun Kings, Tone On 10, The Bailey Brothers, Foxglove, The Drips and Mojo Willy, and artists from Rick Rose to Ron Sexsmith and Tim Hicks. However, Niagara residents who spent time in bars in the late 80s and early 90s will no doubt remember the most popular collaboration between Clifford, Dixon and friends – the genre-defining party band called The Loud Shertz. That band – which also featured Mike Gallagher, Steve Norris and Paul Clark – helped set the bar for cover bands looking to carve out a career and earn something more than just “exposure” from club owners in Niagara.

“The Loud Shertz was probably the high points of our careers,” said Dixon, who along with Clifford has proven that it’s possible to be a career musician in Niagara. “I’m proud to say we were the first party band that built an audience playing pig roasts. Rick Rose and other local guys were doing originals and were still going to make it someday. The Loud Shertz committed to being a party band, and it worked.”

During their heyday, the Loud Shertz were commanding fees as high as $3,000 a night – pretty decent coin for a band playing bars like The Hideaway, The Lions and The Mansion House during that time.

“We had Shania Twain open for us when we played Deerhurst,” remembers Dixon. “We played The Hideaway one Saturday night and got $750. Some band out of Kingston called The Tragically Hip played there the night before and got $500. Those were good times.”

The L Show – “L” being Roman numeral for 50, and also “L” to reflect the career longevity enjoyed by Clifford and Dixon – will also feature percussionist/poet/digeridoo player Mike Corrigan and technician/recording engineer/bassist Gery Hotson. As for who the pair hope to see in the audience, the longtime friends and collaborators had similar thoughts. 

“Who should come?,” said Dixon. “Mark and I are doing this for those people who have joined us along the way, friends and musicians who have been a part of the journey. We started doing this 50 years ago and we’re still doing this. We’d like to see some familiar faces.” Adds Clifford: “If you’re expecting your favourite tunes, it’s not going to happen. But if you want to hear some really cool music, come out. Hopefully we’ll see some friends we haven’t seen in a while. It’s going to be a magical night.”

Tickets are limited, and advance tickets are now on sale at NAC, 354 St. Paul Street St. Catharines. Tickets are $10 at the door Friday, August 23rd.
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