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Wednesday, 11 December 2019 12:40

Former student returns to PCPS for concert

Perhaps you can go home after all.

When Astrid Tanton was in Grade 5 at Prince Charles Public School in Verona, she covered Taylor Swift’s Mean in a school talent show.

Last Friday, she was back in the same gym, and when the audience asked for her to do a Taylor Swift song for her encore, she happily obliged.

“It’s fun,” she said. “You can go home.”

Now 17, Tanton is a recent graduate (Ontario Scholar at 16) of Rosedale Heights School of the Arts in Toronto. She’s been busily building a musical career in Toronto and came back to the area last week to do shows at Sydenham High School and Prince Charles. She’ll be heading to Ryerson for Arts and Contemporary Studies next year.

“Music is universally inspiring,” she said. “I’ve been singing since I was three years old.

“In high school, I was learning what I want to do — share music.”

She describes her music as a blend of mainstream pop and jazz, with R & B influences.

“I’ve been getting more gigs and I love playing larger stages,” she said. “I want to keep performing.

“Everyone says I light up when I perform.”

That she does. And the kids at PCPS loved it.

For this gig, she recruited a couple of friends, Jay Yoo on guitar and Dennis Lee on keyboards.

“I think it’s important to have live musicians when you perform, especially when it’s for kids,” she said. “It gets them more involved.”

And while the school does have a modest fund to pay for visiting musicians and such, Tanton not only declined a fee, she even made a donation to the school’s arts and music program.

Tanton is very active on Instagram with 1,500+ followers.

You can listen to some of her music at https://linktr.ee/astridtanton

Published in SOUTH FRONTENAC
Wednesday, 14 August 2019 12:47

You can teach on old festival some new tricks

Without any fanfare, Blue Skies Music Festival hit a milestone in its 46th edition over the long weekend. The festival, which takes place near the Clarendon station, the last remaining station from the old K&P railroad, just at the crossroads between North and Central Frontenac and Lanark Highlands, has remained stubbornly true to its non-commercial hippy roots throughout the decades, but it has evolved in some interesting ways

The artistic directors, including the most recent, Danny Sullivan, have tapped into the burgeoning indigenous music scene over the last ten years or so, and have made conscious strides towards gender parity among the featured main stage acts.

It was not discussed in the program or announced in any way during the festival, but this year, under the artistic director Al Rankin, gender parity among the band leaders was reached. Of the 12 featured bands over three nights, 5 were female led, 5 were male led, and 2 were partnerships between a man and a woman. There were, however, more male backing musicians than female.

Nonetheless, the voices, the genesis of the music, the lyrical and musical core of the performance, was as much female as male this year, for the first time, enhancing the commitment to variety that has been the hallmark of the music at the festival for many years. Ending the festival with the Montreal based Urban Science Brass band, which features a New Orleans style brass jazz band supporting freestyle hip hop, also provided a feeling that something new is afoot on the old Blue Skies stage.

The penultimate band on Sunday Night (Aug. 4) was the afro Cuban band OKAN, which is led by violinist Elizabeth Rodriguez and percussionist Magdelys Savigny. Both of them came to Canada from Cuba as part of the Jane Bunnett supergroup Maqueque, and have ventured off on their own.

OKAN comes from dialect of Yoruba, a language linked to the Afro-Cuban Santería religion. It means heart and soul.

Rodriguez and Savigny were joined by three other players, including their frequent collaborator, legendary keyboardist Miguel de Armas, a newly minted Canadian citizen who wowed the Blue Skies audience in 2018 with his own Cuban jazz quartet. OKAN’s rhythmic, energetic, and hypnotic set was one of the musical highlights of the sold-out festival this year.

Al Rankin, who lives near Inverary, had a stint as the artistic director of the festival a number of years ago. He is the programmer for the Live Wire Concert Series in Kingston and holds occasional house concerts as well.

Published in CENTRAL FRONTENAC

The new(/old/refurbished) organ at St. Paul’s in Sydenham got its second workout in a concert setting Sunday at Jeffrey Moellman, director of music at St. Mary’s Cathedral, brought his five musical children (Jonathan, Clara, Paul, Gabriel and Catherine)to town at the request of colleague, St. Paul’s Music Director Damien Macedo.

The organ has had a rather storied journey to get to Sydenham and is in the process of breaking new ground with an electronics/pipes technology to restore former glory.

Moellman’s performance featured pieces by Craig Sellar Lang and George Thalben-Ball and while the organ performed well in the higher scales, the bottom end still needs some work. No fault of the performer though.

“We’re about 80 per completed on the organ project,” said Hans Berriman, one of the driving forces behind the restoration project.

Berriman, himself a trumpet player, hails originally from Perth Road and has connections with the old church. While working as an OPP officer in the Kenora area, he undertook a similar project there.

“That one took about four years,” he said. “This particular organ was rescued from St. Mark’s in Deseronto.

“It was in another church before that. We’re quite pleased that it fit in the architecture of this church.”

They’re using a Hauptwerk virtual organ system augmented by air (pipes) and electric.

Restoration of the organ has spurred a musical renaissance of sorts with concerts scheduled for 2 p.m. Sundays throughout the summer.

On July 21, Luba Cargill, Fran Harkness and friends are scheduled for an eclectic mix of violin, piano and chamber ensemble. (See Northern happenings for further concert details)

Merriman said they’d very much like to hear from anyone interested in playing at the church (particularly the organ once it’s finished) but “we’d like to make this available as a venue form anyone who needs one.”

It should be an attractive one as the acoustics of the old church (original thick lathe and plaster) make it particularly effective for music.

Most of the Moellman kids (Clara, Paul and Gabriel) played factory-built (two of them ¾ size) fiddles, the sound was incredible. Much of this was no doubt enhanced by their impeccable fingering techniques but the youngest son sounded particularly good during his solo section.

Published in SOUTH FRONTENAC

On Saturday June 1 and Sunday June 2, 2019 Little Texas Roadhouse Bar and Grill will be hosting the 1st Annual Inverary 3 PITCH 3 CHORDS Spring Fling in support of Inverary Youth Activities. All proceeds from this event will go toward one-time capital costs to replace the holding tank, to complete major renovations to the washroom facilities and to upgrade the electrical in the canteen.

The idea of the Inverary 3 PITCH 3 CHORDS Spring Fling came from combining my love of live music and baseball.

This family friendly two day event will feature live music, baseball, a large kids zone, vendors, food vendors and a beer tent.

The lineup includes: Rudy & Saddle Up, Hicktown, KnucKel Hed, The Ice Gods, Old Habits, Richard Cranium, White Brothers, Lane Duke, Courtney Kane, Picket Fences, Clem Chesterfield & the La-Z Boy Recliners, Jordy Jackson Band, A night with Elvis, Eastbound by Bytown, Chelsea Road and more

Tickets are $35 for a weekend pass, 16 years and under free. The Kids Zone will have several free activities as well several exciting pay per use activities.

Published in SOUTH FRONTENAC

The Land O’Lakes Traditional Music Hall of Fame has revised some of its categories this year, and will be holding its first stand alone induction ceremony at the Lion’s Hall in Verona on October 6.

Everyone who is a member of the organisation has the opportunity to vote for new inductees each year, from a list of nominees that is developed by the jury.

This year 171 ballots were turned in, and the winners were announced last week.

This year the entertainer category has been expanded to include three winners, one each from Frontenac, Lennox and Addington and Hastings Counties.

The Frontenac inductee is Wayne Eves from Battersea. Wayne is well known as the house bass player at the weekly Sunbury Jam and at the twice monthly Bedford Jam. The voting in the Frontenac category, which had six nominees, was tight. Both Joey Saunders (Sydenham) and Don Cochrane (Kingston) were only three votes behind.

In Lennox and Addington, Yarker’s Barry Calthorpe was selected. Barry was the dobro player in Echo Mountain for many years and now plays with Bill White and White Pine. He will also join his wife Sheila, who joined the hall in 2017 as a songwriter.

From Hastings County, the new member will be Sid Prescott from Foxboro, in another close vote. Sid plays pedal steel in the band Heartland, and is also fiddle player and vocalist.

In the posthumous category, Tamworth’s colourful fiddler Don Johnson has been elected.

In the songwriter category. Bob Mcquaid from Trenton, who penned the Highway of Heroes song among many others, is the 2019 inductee. The other nominee in the category was Clarendon Station’s own Dave Dawson, who finished a close second.

In the promotors category, Ellis Wolfreys from Verona was elected. Ellis is a performer as well as the host of a radio program on CJAI FM from Amherst Island that spreads the word about the music scene in Eastern Ontario.

Two other people are being inducted this year. Odie Snider from Cloyne will receive the lifetime achievement award, and from Bancroft John Forman is a Directors pick.

Tickets have not been printed yet for the induction ceremony and gala performance on October 6, but about one third of them are already spoken for and the Hall of Fame President Bob Taylor said he is certain it will be a sell out. Music lovers are encouraged to get them early, by visiting the hall of fame website or contacting him directly at 613-336-9633. They are only $10.

For more information, go to lolmusichof.ca

Published in SOUTH FRONTENAC
Wednesday, 06 December 2017 12:14

Concert at Snow Road Hall

On the evening of Thursday December 14th Joey Wright and Al Tuck will be performing an intimate concert of song and story telling. The concert will be held at the Snow Road community hall at 7:00pm.

In June 2013, Tuck's studio album Stranger at the Wake was longlisted for the 2013 Polaris Music Prize. "Fair Country" is a mix of original songs and co-writes with poet Alex Rettie; and covers, was released in 2016. December 2016 saw the release of a tribute album, featuring 15 of Tuck's songs, performed by 15 of his musical friends, and produced by Adam Gallant of Charlottetown, PEI.

Joey Wright is a Juno-nominated songwriter, composer and performer from Toronto/Elphin. Joey is well known for his lyrical and inspired guitar and mandolin playing. As the eagerly anticipated follow up to Hatch, 2017’s Country, Music takes us further down the road on Joey Wright’s musical journey.

Al and Joey will be having a good time keeping the event fun and informal and Al will surely be playing some songs by the great Gene Maclellan.

Published in NORTH FRONTENAC
Thursday, 23 November 2017 08:26

Country Music by Joey Wright

Country Music by Joey Wright

review by Martina Field

It was a relatively warm early November evening (Nov. 12) when the Cardinal Cafe started to fill with people in anticipation of Elphin resident Joey Wright’s CD release concert. The ambiance was set by the lovely candle-lit room, which made the atmosphere of the renovated church/cafe even more warm and relaxed.

Joey’s new album is called Country Music and on that night, except for a couple of tunes from his earlier albums, and two of Jenny Whiteley’s, he played mostly from it. Wright’s last solo album ‘Hatch’ was a break with tradition from his first two, which were mostly fast paced blue/new grass instrumental records. In Country Music, this departure continues. In fact, the only instrumental tracks on this album are two quite beautiful Interludes, that only last a few seconds. The rest have lyrics, written by Joey with the exception of a wonderfully slowed down version of Bob Wills’ Faded Love.

The title track of the album, Country Music, has the familiarity of a rich old country song from an era gone by, so much so, that at first I mistook it for a cover version of an older country song. In fact, it was jointly penned by Wright and Jenny Whiteley, Joey’s partner in love and in life. Jenny joined him on stage, as did Dean Stone, Julian Brown and Mike Eckert.

There are a couple of pop sounding tunes on the album, including Nostalgia, and Black Hole. The first song on the record, Black Hole, like many of Joey’s songs, is open to interpretation. For me, within the chorus, there lies a metaphor for life, ‘I’m losing control, I can’t escape the gravity of this black hole’. I see the black hole as being the inevitability of our mortality. It is a given, it comes with being born; death is inescapable. I love that the music is so upbeat in this song despite the grave message. I also love that this is what I get from the song, where someone else may get another meaning, perhaps neither of us the one that was intended by Wright.

The second song on the album Eyes Looking Out, was the first Joey played at the concert, and he relayed how it was inspired by his grandfather who was a gunner in WWII. This song hearkens back to the dreamy tone of Hatch. The back up vocals on this song and many of the others are provided by Amy Millan and Jenny Whiteley. They are beautiful and ephemeral and sound sometimes like a whisper or an echo, and definitely add much in the way of texture to the music. They work perfectly with Joey’s rich, warm voice.

The synthesizers add texture as well, as do the horns, lap-steel, guitar and drums. Mountain Grove’s Jonas Bonetta co-produced and played synthesizer on this album, to good effect. The songs have a cohesion to one another and this glue is in good part due to the consistency of the vocals, instrumentation, (including the shimmering light touch of Wright’s mandolin and guitar), spare drumming and slow tempo. It is not at all over-produced; it is just right.

It is not only the sound and feel of this album which stand out, but also the tempo. Most of the tunes have a slowed pace or beat. They have rhythm alright, just everything seems slowed down. The over-all effect that this has on the listener, is that it seems to help calm the heart rate and remind one to breathe. This notion is punctuated by the second to last song on the record called, Time Stands Still, in which it almost seems that Wright slows time to a halt … at least for a second.

The song Meteor also stands out, not only for it’s fine rhythms, but because of the way it tells a story of a love or friendship losing its lustre, ‘making a stone out of a gem’, while looking through a rear view mirror of sorts ... ‘the sky is getting clearer, I’m looking back in time and leaving a trail behind’.

Our Love Moved Out to the Country is a love song that also plays like a story book. It’s simple and honest, saying that ‘love is the essence of the soul/pure as the tears of a child/you make me want grow old/you’re still going to drive me wild’. And, ‘when we talk I feel better/this mean old world turns into joy/my thoughts turn into love letters/I feel like a teenage boy’. We all might like to hear these emotions from our loved one.

Looking back in time, and grappling with memories figure thematically in many of these songs. In Nostalgia the chorus begins ‘I’m going down/where memories can always be found’. And, in Jodi, the lyric, ‘How can I be set free from memories/I’m stuck in memories’ ends the song. This, the last track of the album, has become one of my favourites. On Jodi, the piano and vocal hold such emotion. It draws you in to its world, and when it ends, I am, like the crowd on that evening at the end of the concert, left longing for more.

Joey Wright’s words paint pictures and tell stories. His music is original, and calms the soul. His own particular style is emerging, and I can’t wait to hear what he does next. 

Published in FRONTENAC COUNTY
Wednesday, 08 November 2017 17:44

Logan Murray in Tamworth

On November 18th Logan Murray returns to the Tamworth Legion Hall to perform a night of original songs with his band The Handsome Liars.

Murray took over the Tamworth Legion last fall, throwing a party to celebrate the release of his most recent record 'Ninety Five Acres' and packed the place with folks looking to boogie. It was a great night of music and a real medley of genres as Murray and his bands jumped from song to song touching on the blues, rock and roll, and folk.

'Ninety Five Acres' is a collection of 10 original songs that Murray wrote and recorded at his home studio in Elm Tree. The tunes reflect Murray's unique character and often manifest as humorous and original observations of the world around him touching on politics, rural life, and his love of the blues.
Also on the bill for November 18th is veteran Canadian singer-songwriter Pat Temple and his band The Hi-Lo Players who play a mix of rockabilly, western swing, and jump blues.
Doors open at 7pm. Music starts at 7:30pm

You can purchase tickets at www.loganmurray.net or at the door during the night of the concert.

Published in FRONTENAC COUNTY
Wednesday, 08 November 2017 17:31

John Showman and Tom Power at the Crossings

Tom Power has appeared at the Crossings Pub in Sharbot Lake as a member of the Dardanelles, an energetic young Newfoundland band that, among other things, is devoted to keeping traditional Newfoundland music fresh and modern.
One thing has led to another for Power, and last year he took on a high profile radio job as the host of the daily culture show Q, on CBC Radio 1. The Dardanelles went on hiatus after, although there are rumblings of a limited return, and Power found himself talking more on the radio and playing less music than he normally does.

He then took to sitting in with Toronto based bluegrass/old timey fiddler John Showman who has a standing gig at Queen Street’s Cameron House on Mondays. It turns out Showman has a background playing Irish Fiddle tunes from his days in Montreal, and enjoyed paying with Power, who provides a driving beat on guitar and foot stomp that gels well with Showman’s inventive and tuneful fiddle playing.

The duo has played around Toronto a bit as well as at the Cameron House, and when they wanted to book a show on the road it was easy enough to arrange by calling Frank and Sandra White in Sharbot Lake, who were more than willing to provide the venue.
Some of the crowd at the Crossings on Saturday Night were CBC fans looking so to see the face behind the radio voice, and others were John Showman fans, since he has played locally with a number of alt-country combos, including a show a few years back at Blue Skies Music Festival with New Country Rehab.
The show last Saturday was an excellent opportunity to hear the range and facility of John Showman. Power took the opportunity to sing two songs, a rarity for him. One was Ron Hynes’ No change in the Weather and the other a traditional Newfoundland tune he learned from his grandmother. He also provided support for Showman, who played tunes from the east coast as well as Appalachian and bluegrass tunes.

Showman not only demonstrated his great facility to inhabit tunes from different cultures, he has the inventiveness to make them his own. Power pushed the music on, sometimes adding pace and sometimes just keeping the music grounded, allowing Showman to stray into new territory within some of the old tunes and new tunes that sounded like they were from a bygone era.

All in all it was a dynamic show.

There are no shows currently scheduled at the Crossings Pub, but shows will be announced in the coming weeks. Look to their site sharbotlakeinn.com for details.

Published in CENTRAL FRONTENAC
Wednesday, 01 November 2017 16:26

Sweet Alibi shows off sweet harmonies

Sometimes, it all just works.

Such is the case with Jess Rae Ayre, Amber Rose and Michelle Anderson, aka Sweet Alibi, who brought their brand of harmonies to The Crossing Pub in Sharbot Lake last Saturday night.
Ayre and Anderson met in high school in Winnepeg. Rose is originally from small town Ontario near Collingwood but has lived in Winnipeg for 20 years.

“I met Jess and Michelle through music,” Rose said.
Specifically, the Winnipeg Folk Festival, she said.
“We all just loved harmonies.”

And harmonies is what this band is all about. Older fans will probably hear a lot of America going on there, but Rose was at a loss as to who those guys were.

“I grew up listening to Carole King, Fleetwood Mac and Joni Mitchell,” she said. “But I think we all like Feist.”
She said a lot of their original material comes from experimenting around campfires and such.
“One of us will do something and then another will say ‘what were you doing there, I liked that,’” she said.
Ayre, who grew up with Neil Young (“Harvest was a big influence), Tina Turner and The Beatles, said things have just naturally come together for the band.
“You can’t overthink it,” she said.

And so they don’t.

They’re back on the road after taking “42 days off after six years of touring” with a western swing coming up and then a trip to Germany in January.
This was their first time in Sharbot Lake and highlights included their original I’ll Wait, a cover of Bob Dylan’s Serve Somebody and the revelation that Ayre has three boyfriends and 278 pairs of earrings.

 

Published in CENTRAL FRONTENAC
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