festival season arrives
I’ve been thinking about festivals recently, and not just because spring and summer are the de rigueur seasons for the majority of the delicious, sweaty, sun-soaked, and wonderful outdoor musical celebrations that bring folks from all ages and all callings to the trampled grass dance floor near the stage to shake their ya-yas. There are dozens of festivals in Toronto alone, not to mention the hundreds across Canada, and I’ve been thinking about what it takes to put on these festivals. Having been only peripherally involved (mainly as an enjoyer, and luckily enough as a sometime performer) I can very honestly say that it is a hell of a lot of work to put on a festival, even a relatively small one. Thinking about that, I want to take just a minute and thank the sweet blubbery bejesus out of the very very fine human beings who see fit to give up vast tracts of their time and lives to the celebration of music, community, and foods that do well on a skewer. If you’re involved in festival organizing or volunteering: thank you! From the bottom of my heart, I truly appreciate it, and I know you have had a positive impact on music lovers of all stripes.
Having said that, we are very fortunate to be playing some sweet festivals this season! Heck, even our non-festival shows coming up are really exciting for us. If you can come out I will be very happy to share some skewered food with you. Poutine on a skewer, anyone?
Sat June 8 – NEWMARKET, ON – Windfall Ecology Festival
3pm on the Main Stage, FREE!
Thur June 13 – TORONTO, ON – NXNE Festival (Dakota Tavern)
Music at 8pm / Our set is 1am
Fri June 14 – WAKEFIELD, QC (Ottawa) – Blacksheep Inn
Opening for the Mike Plume Band
Doors at 6pm / Music at 8:30pm
Sat June 15 – BURLINGTON, ON – Burlington Sound of Music Festival
Opening for LeE HARVeY OsMOND
8:15pm on the Cogeco Stage, FREE!
Sat June 22 – ORILLIA, ON – Brownstone Cafe
Doors at 8pm / Music at 9pm
Sun June 23 – NIAGARA FALLS, ON – Savoury & Sweet
Doors at 6:30pm / Music at 7pm
ARTIST OF THE WEEK. Animal Parts. I first met Josh Cockerill at a songwriter-in-the-round at Lula Lounge, and was an instant fan of his casual style of songwriting: personal, efficient, and telling one hell of a good story with each song. His band, Animal Parts, recorded their album with the same producer we had for our album (Chris Stringer! A hairy chestnut of awesome), except they did it a few weeks before us so I got to hear mixes from their album before it was released. It was a definite treat, although Stringer confided that the band were hellions in the studio: firing cannons into drums to get the right cymbal sound, and so forth. We get to share a stage with them at NXNE this year — they’re playing at the Dakota Tavern at 9PM and we’re playing at (gasp!) 1AM. I’ll be very happy to go early and catch their set.
