Look for Bulldog playing with *The Jann Childers Blues Project* somewhere around O-town! You just never know where Ben will turn up!

I enjoy playing with many fine musicians all around the Central Florida area. It could be Jann Childers and her excellent line-up one week and Doc Williamson or the one-and-only Jody Hudson the next.

And Bulldog most certainly IS trying to put his band back together as this update is being written! Stay tuned for late-breaking developments there!

Ben lives, works and plays the BLUES in O-town! We came to Orlando in ' 61. I was in the 2nd grade. Except for my college years and a brief stint in the Navy, I've spent all of my adult life in Central Florida. Although it certainly has its "down side" too, this community is a pretty good place to be. But when you take a good, hard look at the state of *Live Music* here in Central Florida, the news is NOT all good! Let me explain...

The "Good News" and the "Bad News" Orlando has more than its share of music. That's fine as far as it goes. The Bad News is that far too much of it is the kind of trendy-glam-kid stuff that sells lots of records and offers something to our tourists and the much sought after 18-25 age group but leaves most of the rest of us "out in the cold". I think that that feeling is shared by many musicians and music lovers in Central Florida. The sad truth is that our area doesn't do a very good job of supporting real musicians who aren't into the kind of crap that passes for music today! But many music lovers are banding together in an effort to change that! More about the ORANGE BLOSSOM BLUES SOCIETY and CENTRAL FLORIDA FOLK in just a bit! These two fine orgs are doing some GREAT WORK in Central Florida!

Bulldog Ben and his long-time collaborator "Les is More" Canney; the photo is circa 1997...

A good shot of Bulldog Ben with Les Canney playing a wedding reception in 1997. Their cronies in the band "Steel Rail Bluues" are playing their butts off, though they're not in view here.

Guitarist Les Canny and bassist Jeff Walker, who hails from Atlanta, comprised the backbone of S.R.B. in this general period. The guys met at the First Unitarian Church of Orlando, a Unitarian Universalist congregation; hence the second "u" in "Steel Rail Bluues"! Drummer Curtis Michaelson rounded out this earlier version of the band.

Jeff Walker moved back to the Atlanta area, and we've lost touch with him, sad to say. Guitarist Les Canney, who actually is "a rocket scientist" in his day job, took a position with Raytheon and is now in the Boston area.

Although Steel Rail Bluues jumped the track a few years back, we do have a fine CD to help us remember the music we made in the two years we played together. You too can own the disc "Mean Ol' Frisco" for just six bucks! E-mail Bulldog here for details:

bulldog236us at yahoo dot com ~ E-me anytime!

Bulldog Ben with the nimble-fingered Mister Canney...

For many years, "Steel Rail Bluues" was singer/harp player Bulldog Ben and guitarist Les Canney. In this shot Les and Ben are on the stage in Gore Hall at Orlando's First Unitarian Church. The occasion is the monthly coffeehouse and open mic event, the "Black Cat Cafe". The Black Cat is held each month on the 2nd friday, and is an Orlando tradition dating back to one fateful "Friday the 13th" in May of 1994.

Many greats on the Orlando music scene have played the Black Cat including Terry Binion, Cyd Ward, Peter Easton and Susie Cool! And although Tom Cordle now makes Tennessee his home, he used to stop in and play just about every month! Christine Cooney, John Mark Schilling and Floyd Radford have also graced that storied stage in Gore Hall, as have John Cholewa and Dennis Lawson of the old "Budapest String Band!" Quite a cast of characters, to be sure!

Here's a page from "Black Cat Cafe History!" The special "Eighth Anniversary Black Cat" took place on May 10, 2002. It was quite a night with many local musicians showing up to take part. Regulars like Alex Moore, harpist Jim Wilson and Tom "Topcat" Cook were there, while Chip Dockery, Bulldog Ben and Les Canney showed up after not having too many chances to stop in and play in recent months. Black Cat favorite Steve Currence was in rare form, and sensational singer and songwriter Lisa Firestone also stopped by and WOWED everyone with an excellent set! It was a night we'll not soon forget! Today, in 2005, dedicated volunteers like Tom Greenman are keeping the Black Cat tradition alive!

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