Recently tagged music

As I was saying last week, there's always too much on the go to take everything in. For example, no sooner do I sit down to write this blog entry than what comes on tv (on cbc, of course) but a new mini-series called "Who Do You Think You Are?", this week featuring Sean Majumder. The premise is that several famous Canadians (Don Cherry, Steven Page, Randy Bachman, etc) each get an episode to take the viewers back to their hometown and explore their family roots and humble beginnings. I'm not sure if I'm enjoying this episode only because it's taking place in Burlington (Sean's hometown), or because it's Sean and he's hilarious, but it's definitely warring for my attention right now. If this post winds up being loaded with even more spelling and grammar mistakes than usual, you'll know why.

I'm in a similar boat this weekend as I try to divvy up my time among too many excellent events. First of all, the NL Folk Festival kicks off tonight in St. John's with the up and coming (and fast, too) Sherman Downey. Amelia Curran and Hey Rosetta! are also on tonight, so if you're planning to go and don't have tickets, get there early. Same goes for the rest of the weekend, all tickets are being sold at the gate from here on in and if you remember Serena Ryder's legendary closing set last summer, you know tickets can sell out in a hurry. I'm working on Here and Now Late Night tonight, so no Folk Fest for me. I'll see you there on Sunday night instead; Old Man Luedecke, David Francey, Irish Decendants...not to be missed.

Now, I'd really love to spend Saturday afternoon bopping around Folk Fest as well, with Duane Andrews and Dwayne Cote, plus Peter Narvaez and more keeping spirits up, but there's also the very serious matter of the 7th annual St. John's Buskers Festival. This one is already well underway,having started on Thursday with performers on the street from noon until around 8 o'clock. The schedule more or less repeats itself each day until Sunday, but I'm really impressed with how much it's grown in the last few years. Just like Folk Fest, the Buskers Festival is now a full-day event that can keep you entertained as long as you're willing to hang around the venue, in this case, downtown St. John's. There's a healthy mix of locals (the circus-arts crew in this city are an incredibly talented and dedicated bunch) and out-of-town acts, and by the looks of the schedule, enough variety to make you want to catch them all.

But now I've filled out my entire dance card with scarcely room for the Tuckamore Festival, which has also bloomed into a premier attraction for fans of chamber music.  Fortunately, this baby goes on for nearly 2 weeks, so there's no pressure. Tuckamore has also expanded it's performance schedule significantly this year and now includes an evening concert series. I'm not as up on chamber music as I'd like to be, but I know the caliber of performers at this Festival is always high, so I think I'm going to throw a dart at my next-week calendar and let fate decide when I'll go and who I'm going to see. I'm confident I'll get a great night of music no matter what.

I'm going to bring my camera with me as I twack around these fine festival, I'll try and post the highlights as I go.

Hope to see you along the way!

Cheers