Launched in 2005 by The Coalition for Music Education, Music Monday is the world’s largest single event dedicated to raising awareness for music education. Each year on the first Monday in May, hundreds of thousands of students, educators, and music makers participate in a simultaneous nationwide concert performance of an original song written by a Canadian artist. This year's song, entitled Sing It Together was written by Marc Jordan and Ian Thomas.

On Monday, May 1st, the Land O' Lakes Public School Glee Club, directed by Kathy Bateman was once again invited to participate in the national showcase concert held in Ottawa at the NAC. This is the second time that the LOLPS Glee Club has participated in this national showcase concert. The last time Kathy took a group to Ottawa was in 2014 when her students performed the song, Is Somebody Singing cowritten by Ed Robertson (of Barenaked Ladies fame) and Canadian astronaut, Chris Hadfield.

This year's experience was one that the 28 Glee Club members who span grades 1 through 8 won't soon forget. They sang their hearts out along with hundreds of other students in a massed choir. Their performance can be watched online. Go to www.musicmonday.ca to check it out!

This week, the Land O’Lakes Traditional Country Music Hall of Fame announced who the inductees for 2017 are going to be. The second annual awards will handed out this summer as part of the Flinton Jamboree on Saturday August 5th at 3:00 during a gala show featuring hall of fame members.

This years inductees in the musician category are Bill White from Harrowsmith, Neville Wells from Ompah, Ross Clow from Verona, and Lionel Grimard from Harlowee. In the songwriter category, Sheila Calthorpe of Yarker, and in the posthumous category, Bob Goodberry from Verona. Many of the names on the list are familiar to music enthusiasts throughout the region as they have played regularly over the years and still play today. Within the past few months all of the living musicians on the list have played at local venues.

The hall of fame will be enshrined virtually in the coming months with the creation of a comprehensive website.

In addition to establishing the hall of fame, the Flinton Jamboree has been active in other ways in recent weeks.

Pine Meadow residents and staff were delighted to be presented with a cheque for $1000.00 from the Flinton Jamboree Committee on Mar.17, 2017. The 2016 Flinton  Jamboree was very successful and the organizing committee decided to donate to Pine Meadow’s capital campaign to replace 11 bay windows at a  total cost of approximately $125,000. Five windows were completed in 2016. At least 3 more will be able to be done this summer and the project will hopefully be completed in the summer of 2018. Thanks to the Flinton Jamboree Committee and all the other individuals, organizations, counties and townships who have helped us with this ongoing project.

More donations are welcome and still needed!

The 2017 Flinton Community Jamboree will take place August 3-6 on the grounds of  the Flinton Recreational Centre. For more information about the event or to volunteer or donate, please visit their website at www.flintonjamboree.ca.  All the contact information is there. One way or another, come out and support a fantastic weekend of live music!

North Frontenac Little Theatre’s production of the Canadian playwright Norm Foster’s play, Here Along the Flight Path, went up last weekend at Granite Ridge Education Centre in Sharbot Lake. The play centres around John Cummings, played by Marc Veno, who is a teacher at Harrowsmith Public School.

The title of the play refers not only to the planes that fly over the apartment building in an un-named Canadian City where the play is set, but also to Cummings himself. Although he is a catalyst for changes in the lives of three women who live in the apartment next door at different times over a three year period, he does not act. We get a picture of his changing perspective on the world and his life through the interaction but he is essentially along the flight path of their lives, watching and listening as they eventually fly off to the next phase of their lives, leaving him behind.

The play also has something to say about gender and gender stereotypes. Cummings is 46 when the play starts, a cuckolded divorced man who loves his young children but may or may not be involved in their lives. He thinks about having sex all the time, but knows he wants something more in his life without really knowing what it is or how to seek it. Veno captures all this very well, but he is hindered by the character’s limitatoins. As a playwright Foster sets his characters up to reveal and maybe discover themselves, and then inevitably retreats to a joke, keeping the characters from being too “real” and this also hinders the performances of the actors playing those roles. Veno did a very good job, showing Cummings is a fundamentally decent man who respects, cares about and eventually helps each of the women living next door.

Faye Davidson (played by Ellie Steele) is the first neighbout, a ‘hooker with the heart of gold’, Angel Plunkett (played by Carol Belanger) is a ‘plucky’ aspiring musical theatre actress from the sticks come to make her mark in the big city, and Gwen (played by Barb Matson) is a 40ish woman seeking a new life on her own after her policeman husband dumped her for another woman.

Steele played Davidson as strong, unapologetic, worldly and at the same time sympathetic. The scene just before she leaves for Montreal is a classic slapstick ala the Dick Van Dyke show. She decides to have sex with Cummings before leaving town, and he refuses, leading to a kind of chase scene as they both trip over couches, all the while delivering their lines on cue.

The character of Angel Plunkett is in her early 20’s, too young for John Cummings to pursue, which she makes abundantly clear. Carol Belanger captured a lot of the naivetee of Plunkett, who clearly is never going to succeed in musical theatre, but has a second life as a country singer-songwriter back in Alberta. She appreciates her neighbour, a friendly face in a cold big city.

Barb Matson had more to work with as Gwen, who enters into an affair with Cumming, essentially using him to recover her composure and sense of self worth in order to return home to Vancouver and face her own life. Matson was very good in the role, good enough that her ultimate decision to leave Cummings with no warning takes him, and the audience, by surprise. But the structure of the play is such that Cummings is “on the flight path” not the destination.

In spite some of my issues with the play itself, the NFLT production was very solid this time around, the acting and staging and lighting were all clean, and the subject matter of the play was interesting as well.

North Frontenac Little Theatre presents their spring production, Here Along the Flight Path at Granite Ridge Education Centre this weekend (Friday and Saturday 7:30pm and Sunday matinee at 2pm.)

The Norm Foster written adult comedy also stars Carol Belanger and Barb Matson.

Tickets will be available at the door - $15 ($10 students)

Melodia Monday brings a lively celebration of music by and about Canadians to Sydenham in mid-May.

“Funny, toe-tapping and haunting, this program of Canadian songs is a great way to welcome spring, and celebrate our complicated country,” says the Grace Arts Committee; “ The group’s repertoire ranges from Newfoundland to Leonard Cohen, to The Arrogant Worms.”

Melodia Monday is an a cappella choir of local and area singers, well known for their performances in many communities in the Kingston area.

Concert-goers will also have an opportunity to enjoy the show of fibre art works by Kingston artist Phillida Hargreaves, which will be on display from May 1st at Grace Hall.

Grace Arts, which is bringing the group to Sydenham, is a committee of Southern Frontenac Community Services (SFCSC), an agency that provides health and social services to seniors and vulnerable families in rural South Frontenac, and which supports the expression of the arts from our region and beyond. Revenue from the tickets will be divided between the choir (to buy music and pay royalties,) and SFCSC, to go toward upgrading the sound and light systems of Grace Hall.

Tickets are $15 each and are available online at: www.sfcsc.ca/gracearts, or at the door. Refreshments will be available.

Good food,  great music, and the company of friends. What could be more fun on a Friday night?

The BellRock hall presents Tapas and Tenors, featuring the combined efforts of professional chef Jack Francis and the singing trio the Kingstown Tenors.

Tapas are the Spanish version of what we in Canada commonly call appetizers—a selection of delicious finger foods that are a skillful blend of flavours and textures, both savoury and sweet.   In Mexico, similar dishes are called Botanas. Jack, whose alias is “Happy Chef”,  is preparing these for your enjoyment during the concert.  And as a bonus, he can sing, too!

The Kingstown Tenors are something really special.  Talent abounds in this fun, local group.  Vocalists Tim Togerson and Danny Young are the other two tenors in the trio.   Presenting a wide range of styles, and carefully stitched-together vocal interpretations of familiar tenor classics, pop, rock and folk-rock, all three singers have terrific voices and they know how to harmonise them perfectly.   They are backed by a versatile four-piece band which easily switches musical styles to match the choice of songs.

You may have heard them perfom at local festivals .  According to others who have heard them, the jokes and banter that accompany this gang are just as good as the songs.

The concert is scheduled for  Friday May 5 at 7pm. Tickets are $15 per person; $25 per couple. Tickets available at Food Less Travelled in Verona Nicole's Gifts in Verona, Asselstine Hardware in Verona, and Sydenham Pet & Farm Supply in Sydenham
Gina Ritchie 6133295749

Bellrock Hall at 6034 Leveque Rd. www.bellrockhall.ca for more information and directions.

Elinor Rush, in her role as fibre artist in Loughborough Public School, shows grade one and two students a completed version of the Sensory Blankets she is currently helping them make. Also known as “Fidget Quilts”, these colourful, textural items have been found to calm and occupy people who have Alzheimers or other forms of dementia. The small quilts incorporate a lot of things to distract and occupy an anxious, often confused and restless person: they include a variety of surface textures, soft fringes, bright colours, big buttons in buttonholes, large beads on a ribbon, and even a zipper.

It’s an ambitious sewing project for children so young, but Rush has ensured success by doing much of the prep work beforehand, so each child can finish a square by practising a recently-learned skill such as sewing on a button or a small heart, cutting a fringe, or threading beads. In the week before, Rush gave the children small needle ‘books’ with their own needles, and taught needle-threading, knotting and simple stitching. Each child stitched their initial, cut from bright felt, onto the book cover, and sewed a button onto one of the fabric pages.

Rush will assemble the children's completed squares into small six-square quilts, a size that will fit comfortably across a person’s lap. In another week, the children will go by bus to Fairmount Home, where they will meet the people to whom they are giving the quilts. The children have been delighted to know that they can help someone else with their sewing.

Throughout the project, the theme has been “resilience”; helping seniors cope with the changes they are facing, and learning, themselves, to master new sewing skills that will improve with practice, and may prove useful in their own lives.

It was billed as a ‘Music Night’ featuring Chris Brown, Luther Wright and Sarah McDermott along with local bands After the News and Goldwing and it was indeed a fundraiser for the Hartington Community Association to hire expert witnesses when it goes to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB) to oppose a planned subdivision development on Boyce Road in Hartington.

But, there was also a feeling that this could become, in the words of one of the lawyers representing the Association “a landmark case.”

Developer Terry Grant’s original proposal was for 47 new homes but that was later revised to 13. After a series of frustrations at both the Township and County levels (primarily not having the matter considered within the required six months), Grant decided to take the matter to the OMB (hearing scheduled to begin May 8), whose decision will be final.

Area residents, including association spokesperson Michelle Foxton, expressed concerns about wells going dry, as well as hydrocarbon contamination from a nearby former gas station and last November, the case caught the attention of the Canadian Environmental Law Association (CELA), legal aid clinic (among other things) that has been involved in a number of high-profile cases including the Richmond Landfill, the Walkerton Inquiry and the OMYA – Tay River Appeal.

“This is an important case from the public’s standpoint,” said CELA Counsel Richard Lindgren. “It could set precedents.

“We’re concerned that putting in a new subdivision could affect wells and there’s an interesting extra in the petroleum contaminant concern.”

Lindgren said the case met CELA’s criteria (they only accept about five cases per year) and “I’m pretty happy with the expert evidence we’re gathering.”

And that expert evidence is what the fundraiser is about.

While CELA isn’t charging for its services, expert testimony isn’t free.

“We need a hydro-geologist, a land use planner and a professional engineer,” Lindgren said.

And that’s where the fundraising comes in, so, they called up some musicians.

“Wade Leonard and Jamie McCullough knew I played,” said After the News’ Lee Casement. “Rounding up seven musicians isn’t that easy (but) we’re just trying to help out.”

Casement lives in nearby Verona and drummer Tim Forbes lives in Hartington.

There were also silent auction contributions from businesses and residents as well as the Smoking Carnivore food truck and Kingston Brew Pub bar.

Foxton said they added memberships to the 150 or so already in the association and not all of them are area residents.

“This is not just an isolated issue,” she said. “We’re getting interest from a broader area.

“And there’s no use cleaning up our messes after the fact.”

“This is a good fight,” said Lindgren. “It’s a good example of thinking globally and acting locally.

“People are concerned about site-specific impacts on groundwater.”

On April 1st, a soft coloured Saturday with low hanging clouds and a definite sense of spring in the air, Wintergreen Studios was busy preparing for an evening of music and dinner for 50 guests. The dining tables were set to facilitate a gourmet experience.  The straw bale eco friendly lodge was a beehive of activity in preparation for overnight guests.

Wintergreen Studios is a year-round education and wilderness retreat centre located at 9780 Canoe Lake Road on 204 acres of mixed forests and meadows, granite outcroppings, ponds, marshes and a glacier carved lake. The property is part of the Frontenac Arch Biosphere Reserve in Southeastern Ontario.

Ian Tamblyn was the first performer for this year’s events at the Studios.

Ian brings music like breath from the land. With stories of Ontario’s lush forests or the haunting sounds of flute over large open spaces, Ian loves the land and he takes his listeners with him.  He skips ahead, singing enticingly over his shoulder to call us deeper into the forest, across that lake, up that boulder, onto the island. “Did you hear that rustle ….?” When the hammered dulcimer sings, we hear water crashing down a rocky slope and see people dancing around a campfire. We can almost see the fireflies.

Ian Tamblyn is a musician, an adventurer and a playwright.  He puts the audience at ease with his kind and easygoing stories and vignettes. And one tends to like the people one meets through his tales. He is a apt artist for a performance at Wintergreen, a space that is as devoted to the beauty and complexity of the land as he is.

During his performance, Ian talked about the late great songwriter Jesse Winchester, an American draft dodger who became an icon of the folk music scene in Montreal in the 1970’s and beyond. ‘Defying Gravity’, at Irene’s Pub in Ottawa, April 15th, is an evening devoted to the songs of Jesse Winchester. Performers will include Marcus Winchester, Ian Tamblyn, Rebecca Campbell, Anders Drerup, Keith Glass, Pat Moore, Chris Breitner, Ross Murray and Vicki Brittle.

The Tay Valley Community Choir is pleased to once again stage a spring concert, this year with an all-Canadian twist.  “Something to Sing About,” the title of the show on Saturday, April 8th at 7:00pm at the Maberly Community Hall, is themed in the spirit of Canada’s 150th year since Confederation.

All songs chosen by the choir were written by Canadians including David Francey, Bruce Cockburn, and Stan Rogers, and range from folk to swing to light rock. Compositions by noted regional musicians Tom Lipps and Tony Turner will also be on offer.
“There are so many great Canadian composers,” says conductor Rebecca Worden, “from the famous to the largely unknown and from our own region to right across Canada.  Choosing a small selection of songs from them all is a real challenge but I’m really happy with our mix.  Our choir is so looking forward to a lovely evening of music and community to help celebrate Canada’s 150th.”  To fit in with the evening you are invited to bring along your Canada flags and wear your Canada t-shirt.

Accompanying the choir once again will be skilled pianist, Mary Lou Carroll. Several choir members will have solo singing opportunities and joining as special guests will be Ms. Worden’s own musical group, the Backyard Blenders.

Admission to “Something to Sing About” is $10 per person. Refreshments will be on hand following the concert and food or other donations to The Table can be made that evening and will be most welcome.

Something to Sing About is made possible thanks to Tay Valley Township and Blue Skies in the Community.