The Globe and Mail — October 2024
Forty-plus and thriving: After more than four decades, the Cameron House is still a revered home for live music in Toronto
words by brad wheeler
It’s Sunday night at the Cameron House in Toronto, where a packed room grooves to the Doghouse Orchestra. The eight-piece parti-gras band is doing ebullient, unexpected things to bluesy material such as Sitting on Top of the World, St. James Infirmary and deep-cut Elvis Presley gospel. And if there were 50 ways to do a Paul Simon hit from the 1970s before, there are 51 now.
As the first set closes with a brassy take on Otis Redding’s Hard to Handle, the singer walks around the tiny bar with a jug the patrons stuff with money.
“Thank you,” bassist Matt Caldwell says from the stage. “We appreciate you supporting live music.”
The Cameron House, a long-standing boozery and funky cultural venue on fast-gentrifying Queen Street West, has supported live music for as long as anyone can remember. The Ferraro family has had some ownership stake for more than 40 years, and now runs the place completely.
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