On Saturday night I went down to the Mod Club where Frankie Whyte, Basia Lyjak and Patrizia were doing a benefit show for Haiti; I hadn't been to the Mod Club since Kenny MacLean's December 2008 tribute there, and being there again brought back a lot of memories. When I arrived I saw Dale Harrison (Basia's drummer), Pat Kelly (Basia's rhythm guitarist, back-up vocalist and keyboard player) as well as Cathy May and Liz Crim, who produce and sell Basia's merch. Basia really is one of my favourite performers on the live Toronto circuit and over the last three years of knowing this woman, she has truly become one of my dearest friends. She is a huge supporter of the live music scene and in turn I have been very supportive of this gifted artist who takes her music very seriously and professionally.

The opening performer was a young singer by the name of Sarah Melody, who I first encountered a few years ago at Youth Day. She's another up and coming performer who's going to have a good career in music, and as most of you folks know, it's a tough industry to be in. But, like Basia, she does have a good team of folks like selling merch, supporting and getting her name out into the local mainstream. Melody's style of music that mixture of pop and R&B that's really popular these days, and she sang a great mixture of originals and covers.

Ultimately, the audience came down out to hear some loud rock n' roll, and shortly after Sarah Melody's set came Frankie Whyte and The Idols. They put on quite a good set of good old-fashioned rock n' roll the way it was meant to be played! They just got off a three city tour with KISS this summer in Halifax, Ottawa and Sarnia - probably three of the best shows they've been a part of to date. I've seen Frankie and her band before about two years ago and they were and still are high energy performers, and that's something you don't see a lot of these days, but it's slowly going to make its way back again.

Up next was Basia Lyjak and as I've mentioned many times on this forum, this woman is going to be one of the best females in rock in this country! Over the last three years that I've known her, she has never done a bad show and she always leaves the audience wanting to see more and more! This woman has true star quality and if you ever get a chance to go on www.YouTube.com/BasiaLyjak to watch her at her best, you definitely will know what I'm talking about. This was one of my personal highlights of the weekend! She introduced a couple of new songs, including one called "Breaking Up," a potential next single. That track, to me, is another winner which will no doubt be heard all over the country! She also performed her hit single "Don't Talk," which has a great music video that can be seen on the aforementioned YouTube channel. She also sang one of her latest singles and another great song, "What It Feels Like," which is also getting spins on radio, and although it's not getting as much attention as "Don't Talk," it really is a great tack that will get its due soon.

I hadn't seen Basia Lyjak perform since April of 2009, which is almost 10 months, but there is no doubt she's very dedicated to her music and that dedication will get her to the top. This woman is star quality and she's on the rise! Every label and management/booking company out there should see her live. At this stage, she's doing a lot of writing with various songwriters and working on getting her growing catalogue of great track recorded. I don't know when she is performing again, but as always you will get to hear it first on this forum.

The last performer was Patrizia, and she was the one who really organized this Haiti Benefit gig, choosing some of her music comrades to be part of the event. I first saw Patrizia perform at the Tattoo Rock Parlour about two years ago when she shared a bill with Random Robbery. Patrizia's style of music is opera rock, and she is by far the only one who's doing that genre of music, and she's duly getting notice on the live scene for it. It may not be the style of music all folks would favour but Patrizia really does it well. She has already recorded two albums, including "The Edge Of Emotion," a collection of classic arias put to rock music, and her latest release, "My Beloved," including a couple of originals, and some contemporary covers to complement a few more classic. She's getting a lot of play on many indie stations and CBC Radio. Check out her site www.PatriziaMusic.comyou will be amazed by her vocal style and her blending of genres!