We Ain't Rich or Famous but We're The Happy Pals
Bajaj Films Productions Ltd.
Every Saturday, at the unusual hour of 4:30 pm, Grossman's Tavern, a pub on Spadina Avenue in Toronto, is the scene of a true New Orleans jazz party. The band, The Happy Pals, have been playing there for many, many years in front of an enthusiastic audience.
The band was founded by the legendary Kid Bastien. Legendary indeed! He was one of the few people whose annual visits local New Orleans musicians were looking forward to. Most of the time he was accompanied by some of his band members like Roberta and Patrick Tevlin and drummer Chuck Clarke.
After Bastien's untimely and sudden death in the beginning of 2003 he left a rich heritage, not in recordings -there were too few of them! - but in a band that was ready to take over his tradition.
The Happy Pals' lead player, Patrick Tevlin, switched to trumpet and took over the leadership of the band. Just like Bastien, Patrick doesn't believe in recording in the cold atmosphere of a studio, in fact he doesn't believe very much in recording at all, which is our loss! All he wants to do is to play for a live audience who drink, dance and have a good time accompanied by the music of his band.
Right from the start of the Happy Pals their concept was based on the music and philosophy of Thomas Valentine who made such a strong impression on Bastien when he first visited New Orleans: play simple music to entertain the people and make them happy.
We have been able to convince the band to let us tape their show live for a SunTV variety show.
Screening at Shanghai Intl. Film Festival June 23, 2012 at 13.30 hrs.