An introduction to The Canals

Earlier this year, Benjy and I formed a band with our friend Panama. We called ourselves “Panama and the Canals.” The trio was unique -- comprised only of a banjo, a guitar, and a set of bongos. Our future looked bright. We were young, driven, and had a witty name. The only thing we lacked was talent. It turned out that bongos were more complicated than they looked, and that Benjy only knew one riff on the banjo. The band broke up after a week, but we remain good friends to this day. This blog is a result of that experience. While “The Canals” failed at creating music, we hope to make up for it here.

That’s my take on the history and decline of Panama and the Canals and the birth of this blog. However, there are two sides to every story. To read Benjy’s account, see above.

First, though, take a minute and listen to these Wood Brothers tracks. Like The Canals, the Wood Brothers continued to pursue music after branching off from a trio (Medeski, Martin, and Wood). We sympathize with them and respect their courage and perseverance. Two interesting facts about the Wood Brothers: First, somehow their debut album (“Ways Not to Lose”) is my 6^th most played even though I have no recollection of ever listening to it straight through and only recognize two of the tracks by name. Second, we could have seen them perform at World Café Live earlier this year from front row seats, but we were busy playing our first intramural basketball game (final score-- Ware 3^rd Floor: 42, Fisher Delicious Corn: 20, our first of two losses by mercy rule).

The Wood Brothers – Luckiest Man

The Wood Brothers – Atlas

Buy the album here

-Danny