Recently tagged Zach Goudie
Zach's Tracks: 3 Festivals, thrice the fun!
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
Tags: Amelia Curran, Hey Rosetta!, Zach Goudie, music
Zach's tracks
Hey all,
Welcome to “Zach’s Tracks”! I’m going to start blogging in this space about arts and culture happenings in the province. Things I’m keeping “track” of, things I recommend you “make tracks” to see, you get the picture. If you’re a St. John’s Morning Show listener, you might remember my weekly arts report, “On The Scene”, from about…goodness, has it been three years already? High time to get back at it, albeit in blog form.
So how about I start with a little anecdote: I was hosting an even a couple of weeks ago at the Wreckhouse International Jazz and Blues Festival. It was a Duane and Curtis Andrews double bill, a rare opportunity to see Newfoundland’s most inventive musical brothers perform together. Curtis even sat in on “the traps” during Duane’s set…scintillating, to say the least. Anyhow, during a wee break between the tunes, Duane took time to tell the audience about some upcoming gigs he was playing, including next weekend’s NL Folk Festival. After the show, I saw a man and woman talking to the Jazz Fest coordinator about the other festivals Duane had mentioned, and writing it all down. “Fabulous!” the lady said. ‘We can’t believe how much is going on here!” “So much better than Toronto!” the gentleman chimed in.
Now, I’m not knocking summer in the Big Smoke, but there’s no doubt that summer is the time that Newfoundland and Labrador’s cultural community is most prominently on display. So take a page from those TO tourist’s playbook and get out and see as much of it as you can.
We certainly never get to see all that we’d like to. As I write this, George Street Festival is almost over and I haven’t caught a single minute. Our Lady Peace (major nostalgia touchtone for those of us who remember the ‘90’s) and Buddy Wassisname and the Other Fellers (the captains of consistency, consummate showman, I’ve probably seen them more in my life than any other band) have already been and gone, my last chance lies with Blue Rodeo, hitting the stage tonight at 9:30. Elsewhere, I managed to catch just one out of four nights at the Reel St. John’s Outdoor Film Festival, a magnificent idea that combined movie watching AND being outdoors, with the added benefits of popcorn and the quiet pleasure of Water Street, closed to traffic. I’ve resolved to see a Shakespeare by the Sea performance before the summer ends, but sadly the production I was most excited about, “Caesar”, has already closed. I saw the electric “After Image”, but haven’t yet made it down to the Newman Wine Vaults for an evening of candlelight theatre.
So far, the highlight of the summer for me was the Victoria Park lantern Festival the weekend before last. When the sun went down, and a drumline started beating out the funkiest march I’ve ever heard and lead the parade of revellers, young and old, to the lantern display…a moment of pure summer magic. I’m sure you’ve got a similar moment, and you’ll have to forgive the St. John’s-centric nature of the events I’ve talked about so far. There are wonderful arts happenings throughout the province, I’m from Grand Falls-Windsor and am still hurting about having missed Salmon Fest last weekend. I’m hoping you’ll let me know about the one’s you’re looking forward to so we can feature them on this blog.
So check back when you can, I won’t be posting at essay-length all the time, but I’m planning to mention as much stuff as I can (with pics when possible), from festivals to Friday night gigs, touring artists to touring art, this, that and the other thing. There’s more than enough out there to keep me blogging, and to keep us all busy.
Cheers!
Zach
