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Charlottetown’s Rachel Beck is a former teacher who is obviously an attentive student herself.

Area music fans might remember her playing Blue Skies a couple of years ago as The Beck Sisters with her sister Amie but last Saturday night with her band Alicia Toner (fiddle/vocals), Kerine Bouchard (cello/vocals), Robin Ettles (bass) and Nick Coltas-Clarke (drums), she was a more pop-rock person than the folksy Beck Sisters.

Beck played an assortment of her own songs, including most of her latest CD Stronger Than You Know as well as some of her older work like Warrior (the video of which features one of her daughters). And listening to her music, you can’t help feeling there’s a little bit of Carole King and/or Joni Mitchell in there.

And there is.

“There’s a bit of throwback in there,” she said. “The songs have a poppy beat and they’re short (2-3-minute average) — more radio-friendly than a lot of music these days.”

Beck acknowledged the King and Mitchell influences, along with Annie Lennox, Fleetwood Mac and Sarah McLachlan but there’s also another one.

“My dad used to play in bands around military bases,” she said. “He was big into rock’n’roll, Clapton and Rolling Stones.

“So I used to listen to what he listened to.”

Just a bit of trivia for the fans — the people she jumps off a bridge with in the video Hearts On Fire aren’t musicians.

“They teacher friends of mine,” she said. “And we’re all wearing wet suits under our clothes.

“That water was like 4 degrees.”

Toner opened the show with her guitar-player fiancee Greg Gale and showed she can not only belt out a song with the best of them, she’s one kick-ass fiddle player as well.

Beck and her band made the Sharbot Lake stop in between performances at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa and Hamilton. She’s currently on tour all over Ontario before heading out west and then back home to the Maritimes.

Published in CENTRAL 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

Last week was a busy one at Prince Charles Public School in Verona beginning with a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) night, a concert by the Blue Skies Community Fiddle Orchestra, a play from the 1,000 Islands Playhouse Young Company and then on Thursday afternoon, the school’s Grandparents & Games gathering.

“There’s a common misconception that there are two kinds of people — math people and non-math people,” said Principal Peter Mouncey. “That’s not true.

“Everybody can do it (and) math is fun.”

To that end, Prince Charles invited grandparents (and other family members) to have a chance to play new and familiar games that promote arithmetic and problem solving skills for Primary/Junior age students (JK-Grade 4).

“In conjunction with the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University, the staff at Prince Charles are participating in a two-year project to help families find fun and effective ways that engage children with mathematics,” Mouncey said. “We will provide all the games, some light snacks and a math card game for each student to take home.”

And by all accounts, it was mission accomplished.

As Grade 6-7 class members Jorja Steele, Maddy Parks, Sydney Leonard and Isaac Badour wandered around the games tables offering cookies and snacks they’d baked as part of their classes, grandparents like Ina Emmons enjoyed the company of their grandchildren and their friends.

“He’s (grandson Tyson Revelle) always at my place but he made a point of wanting to do this this year,” she said. “He said ‘you come, you come.’”

Grandfather Peter Fitzsimmons was part of a larger group playing the card game Uno.

“Nobody knows the rules,” he joked. “They’re (the kids) picking on us.”

SK-Grade 1 teacher Lee Casement said games are a good way to teach concepts like probability, spatial sense and counting.

“This was so successful last year, we just had to do it again,” he said. “I remember being a student here in the ’80s and we’d have a grandparents tea.

“It’s nice bringing this concept back.”

Published in SOUTH FRONTENAC

“Keep calm and fiddle on” was the motto last Saturday as the Blue Skies Community Fiddle Orchestra held its 8th annual Jam-a-thon & Pie Auction fundraiser at the Maberly Hall.

The hall was packed with music and musicians, and yes, the great majority of those were fiddles and fiddlers.

And right in the middle of it all was orchestra leader Cindy McCall, complete in her Yes (the band) T-shirt, handing out percussion instruments and providing some semblance of organization to all this (it’s a jam, after all, how much actual structure can there be?).

“I’m having a great time,” she said. “It’s our major fundraiser and we have more bands than ever participating — all ages and styles.

“There’s a lot of goodwill here — a lot of people brought food and donated things.

“Many people brought tunes they wrote and they gave me the music and charts to hand out.”

McCall has been leading the Orchestra for 10 years.

“There are 53 people in the orchestra right now,” she said. “There were 10 when I started.

“We’re in a pretty rural area here and there isn’t a lot of arts and music education in the schools.

“(But) the tradition of fiddle music is very strong here.”

And that’s important, she said, because passing on those traditions is a big part of what they do.

“If we don’t pass this on to our kids, it will die,” she said. “(The Orchestra) is a vector for musical education.

“It’s community based and next year will be our 20th.

“It’s touched hundreds of lives.”

To that end they’re planning a 20th anniversary concert, likely in the late summer or fall of 2020 which will include some of the musicians who got their start in the Orchestra like fiddler Jessica Wedden, Jaier Mullally, who’s studying opera at U of T and the Sullivan brothers, J. T. and Noah.

There have been plenty of offshoot of the orchestra such as Fiddlers and Friends and the current trio, The Space Between (Fern Marwood, Sarah Jeffrie, Willow Marwood) and others like Jerrard Smith, who’s still a member but on this day brought his own band DLUX (David Pollard, Diana Smith, Vicki Hanes, Marty Rennick and Larry Hanes) to jam along.

“The lending library gives me the tools to put a fiddle in any hands that want one,” McCall said. “And every fall, we start a new beginners class.

“This has become more than a full-time job for me.”

And for the record, that was Lois Webster behind the mask, auctioning off pies, most of which went in the $40 range.

“Thank you to the community for all its support,” McCall said. “We couldn’t do this without them.”

Published in Lanark County
Wednesday, 20 December 2017 14:37

The Blue Skies Community Fiddle Orchestra

You’re in for a real treat on Sunday Jan 7, 2018

“The Blue Skies Community Fiddle Orchestra” directed by Cindy McCall is an all ages group of 40+ fiddlers, with guitar, percussion, piano & penny Whistle, viola, bass, cello, and flute accompaniment. They will perform some of their recently perfected delightful repertoire. This enthusiastic bunch hails from the rural areas close by and rehearses on Saturday and Wednesday at the Maberly Hall. Their fiddle music is sure to get your toes tapping and the fun they are having is contagious.

The Lanark Fiddlers Guild directed by Cindy McCall will perform a selection of Celtic and Christmas tunes. Their arrangements will make the old Wooden hall ring with splendor.

“The Unspoken Rests” a youth segment of the Blue Skies Orchestra will also perform a few Jigs and Reels that they have been polishing up for your enjoyment.

Please join us at the Maberly Hall from 2pm to 5pm for our annual “Little Christmas Concert”. Admission is $10 at the Door. Children under 12 are free. Refreshments available.

Published in Lanark County
Wednesday, 21 December 2016 13:37

Little Christmas concert

Prepare yourselves for a delightful afternoon of fiddles, friends, and Chnstmas cheer! Join the Blue Skies Community Fiddle Orchestra for their 17th annual "Little Christmas Concert' on Sunday January 8 at the Maberly Hall from 2-5pm.

The concert will feature the joint talents of the Prep Orchestra (who have only been playing together since October), the Intermediate Orchestra, the BSFO, and the always anticipated Lanark Fiddler`s Guild. The Unspoken Rests, a talented youth ensemble group representing the BSFO, will also play a lively set of tunes.

Admission is $10 and refreshments are available. Be sure to arrive early. It's always a full house! Bring your family and friends to enjoy the Christmas spirit through music.

Published in General Interest
Wednesday, 03 August 2016 23:07

Blue Skies Music Festival

The Drum is the thing as Sullivan makes his mark as Artistic Director

Scheduling a family-based Drum from Peterborough to open the Blue Skies Festival on Friday night, and the Big Smoke Drum along with Chilean-based hip hop artist Akawui to close the festival on Sunday night, was a precedent-setting decision from Danny Sullivan in his first year as artistic director.

It was the first time a drum has graced the main stage in many years, even as the festival has explored music from around the world. The experiment worked, as the first performance culminated in a round dance with hundreds of participants, and the finale on Sunday night brought the entire crowd back their feet.

In between, the musical highlights included performances by the 14-member Lemon Bucket Orchestra from Toronto; Jonathan Byrd and the Urban Cowboys from Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Irish Mythen from PEI; and Swamperella from Toronto, among others.

The hot, sunny weather, along with a push by festival organizers (who are all volunteers) to increase the sale of single day passes to the event, helped set an attendance record on Saturday. In the past, the festival has been notoriously reluctant to promote itself for fear of overcrowding the festival site.

Overcrowding did not prove to be an issue, however, as the crew of site and parking volunteers was able to handle the crowds. Aside from some sunburns and an ambulance call for a broken leg, the festival went off without a hitch in its 43rd rendition.

 

Published in NORTH FRONTENAC

The Blue Skies Music Festival has been around for 43 years, but for many people it is a phantom event. Day passes have been available at locations in Perth, Kingston and Ottawa, but they can be sold out by mid-July. A schedule of performers is never published until a few days before the festival, and although people who make the trip up to Clarendon always report that the performances are memorable and the vibe is more than friendly, many people feel that the festival is not accessible.

That is all changing, as Blue Skies finally joins the 1990s (it may even make it to the new millennium in a few years).

Not only is the schedule of performers available online at blueskiesmusicfestival.ca, tickets are also available at the same location. Camping passes are still hard to come by, as many of them are reserved for committed volunteers and the rest are allocated by lottery in May of each year, but Friday night, Saturday and Sunday tickets are now readily available. In addition to being available online, they can be purchased at the front gate to the festival, on Clarendon Road off Road 509, on the Saturday and Sunday morning of the festival, which takes place on July 30 and 31 this year.

The festival has a new artistic director this year, Danny Sullivan, who may be familiar to some readers because he has programmed several music series at MERA in McDonalds Corners. Sullivan, who lives with his family off the Bennett Lake Road north of Maberly, served as the artistic director at Blue Skies once before, he recalled when interviewed earlier this week, in the mid-1980s.

At that time the music director at the festival had less authority than they do now. The bands they wanted to hire were vetted by a committee.

“I left the job after one year, even though it is usually a three-year term,” Sullivan said, “because it was hard to program the way I wanted to while pleasing a group like that.”

Since taking on the job after last year's festival, Sullivan has attended different kinds of music conferences and showcases in Montreal, Toronto, and elsewhere.

“I made sure to see a live performance by every band that I booked this year. You can't tell how a band performs in front of an audience by their recordings and videos,” he said, “and I not only had the job of booking the bands, I also have to put together programs that fit together well.”

He also decided that, for his first year, he would not book any acts that have already played at Blue Skies in the past.

“One of the performers I am most looking forward to seeing, Corin Raymond, was at Blue Skies with the band, the Undesirables, several years ago but he is coming back as a solo act. He always brings something different to the stage,” Sullivan said.

Another act that he mentioned was Akawui, who will be closing the festival on the Sunday night.

“Akawui is a former mixed martial arts fighter of Chilean heritage, who has indigenous roots through his Mapuch grandmother. He performs in a Latino-urban-electro style with a hint of the Chilean star-band Inti Illimani. At the end of his show he is joined by dancers from Akwasasne in full mask. It should be a spectacle that will get people moving.”

The final act dovetails with the opening of the festival on Friday night.

“Blue Skies is one of the only festivals that owns the land where it takes place, and this is the 10th anniversary of the year when the land was purchased. In order to celebrate that, and the 40 years before that when the land was owned by Oskar Graf, as well as the Algonquin stewardship of the land for thousands of years before that, we will be holding a drumming ceremony to start the festival with members of the Ardoch Algonquin First Nation.”

Danny Sullivan said he already has plans for next year's festival, but for now he is looking forward to seeing how all the pieces he has assembled will come together in 2016.

And for the first time ever, everything anyone needs to know about attending the festival can be found at their website.

Published in NORTH FRONTENAC

On April 23, the Blue Skies Fiddle Orchestra (BSFO) Jam-a-thon took place at the Maberly Hall. This year's Jam-a-thon, which was a fundraiser for the orchestra, also celebrated Tay Valley Township's 200th anniversary of the Perth Military Settlement.

The all-afternoon acoustic jam circle featured an array of soloists, trios and groups sharing songs with a community of joyful musicians and listeners.

The day began with Gary's lively play-along tunes. The hall was abuzz with the sounds of all kinds of instruments, including the fiddle, bass, mandolin, cello, and ukulele.

Next, the beginner and intermediate groups showcased their well-rehearsed sets of reels, jigs and hornpipes.

Shortly after, the Unspoken Rests, a youth ensemble group representing the BSFO, played their signature set of tunes, featuring their own arrangements and ending with a rock n' roll, foot-stomping tune by Gordon Stobbe.

The Fiddlers Guild then performed their dynamic sets of tunes, some of which were accompanied by entertaining narratives.

To follow, the Long Sault Trio shared their music, which consisted of original and traditional tunes, and ended with a captivating, new vocal number.

The Classical Group brought a new angle of music to the Jam-a-thon and many people were raring to play along and join the fun.

The pie auction was a massive success. Eager pie-buyers helped raise over $300 on the auction alone.

At the end of the afternoon, the over 50-member Blue Skies Community Fiddle Orchestra performed their polished set-list of tunes including bluegrass, Scottish, and Cape Breton tunes.

With the help of sponsors and the community, over $3000 was raised from the Jam-a-thon. The jam was a great turnout and for sure a huge success for the BSFO.

 

Published in Lanark County

This Saturday, April 23, is the annual Blue Skies Community Fiddle Orchestra Jam-a-thon at the Maberly Hall from 1pm to 6pm. The Jam-a-thon supports the orchestra and will also celebrate Tay Valley Township's 200th anniversary of the Perth Military Settlement. The 50-member fiddle orchestra will play all afternoon and is inviting any local musicians to play with them. It’s not just for fiddlers; guitars, cello, viola, mandolin, penny whistles, dancers, listeners and anyone who appreciates home-made acoustic music is welcome to drop in and join the jam circle anytime during the day. The public can sponsor a musician to participate. Admission is by donation and refreshments will be available throughout the day. The pie auction starts at 4:30 and promises to be a highlight. Bring your friends and family and join the fun! For more information, contact Cindy McCall at 613-278-2448 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

Published in Lanark County
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