Category: music
Don’t you wish your kids went to this high school?
Mike Penney, a teacher at Abby Kelley Foster Charter Public School in Worcester, Massachusetts, invited his students to record their thoughts on the ups and downs of the school year, while secretly sneaking fellow teachers into the the video frame for some stealth disco. Then he set the footage to Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance With Somebody.”
H/T SP vis Gawker
Fire. Rain. Free guitar lesson.
Want to learn how to play Fire and Rain? James Taylor has been posting free guitar lessons on his website. Even if you have no intention of learning the tune, Lesson Four is a beautifully produced video of a gorgeous instrumental rendition of Taylor’s signature tune.
H/T: Tara Calishain
Anderson Gunning — feedback
Dan Bedell, Atlantic Canada Communications Director for the Canadian Red Cross, adds a useful postscript to my piece about the unusual pairing of bluesman Matt Anderson and folkie Dave Ginning at a Halifax Chamber of Commerce dinner on May 2.
Matt’s a big guy with a big heart. He’s from the Perth-Andover, NB, area, where he organized a benefit concert April 28 that included Bruce Guthro and Lennie Gallant among others.
Perth-Andover’s population is only about 1900, and there were close to 1200 in attendance, while others watched via live web streaming. Ticket revenue and various door prize/50-50 sales, plus cash donations at the event or direct to the Red Cross during the concert, totalled just under $48,000, which the New Brunswick government agreed to match. So in a few hours, Anderson’s initiative raised close to $100,000 to assist families and individuals most affected by flood damage to their homes.
It’s not just Matt. Surveys always put artists and musicians at or near the bottom of income surveys, but they’re the ones called upon when a worthy cause needs money. If you added up the funds these folks raise every year, the total would be in the millions — an industry in itself.
Anderson Gunning
Blues belter Matt Anderson and subtle folkie Dave Gunning seem like an odd pairing, but they played together beautifully last night before an appreciative audience at the Halifax Chamber of Commerce annual Spring Dinner.
They were consistently funny, too.
“I felt a bit nervous at the prospect of playing for such a high-powered crowd,” Anderson said. “So I asked who played last year.”
“Jane Goodall.”
A banjo in North End Sydney
The composer, lead vocalist, and guitarist is Alicia Penney, one-time lead singer with the Tom Fun Orchestra. She’s accompanied by local hero Steven Wilton on percussion, Ben Furey on banjo (yes!) and vocals, and Carolyn Lionais on vocals. Sydney punk rock veteran Harry Doyle produced the session did the sound mix at his Small Studios.
[Correction:] Jenni Welsh and Stefan MacNeil produced the video. Kudos to Welsh, who’s been doing pro bono videos for a lot of alternative (i.e. other-than-Celtic) musicians Cape Breton.
Starting perhaps with the Be Good Tanyas, or perhaps much earlier with John McCutcheon, the banjo is enjoying new life as a soft, gentle instrument that has nothing to set it apart from an onion. A great development.
H/T: Leah Noble
CBRM Council’s war on young people
Sydney radio newsman Jay MacNeil is attracting hundreds of comments, “likes,” and shares on his Facebook video denouncing CBRM council’s 10-2 vote to ban teen dances from civic facilities.
You’re making it hard. You’re just making it hard. There are people in this community who spend their entire day trying to find ways to inspire and engage the youth of their community, and around your council table there are a bunch people who find ways—on a shockingly recurring basis—to disengage youth.
View the whole rant here.
H/T: Jancie Fuller via Leah Noble
The purpose of country music, explained
Cape Bretoner Gordie Sampson now lives in Nashville, where he produces about 75 song demos a year, mostly in the country-pop vein. In a CBC Radio interview this morning, he reflected on what makes country music different:
I write country song for the most part… The lyric is more important in this genre than really any genre I think. The lyric and the melody together really has to move the listener. In R&B or other types of modern music, the idea is to make people dance. In country music it’s, often times, its to hurt people’s feelings. To make them re-think that relationship that they just ended last week. It’s a bit more visceral.
The full interview, part of the Information Morning Cape Breton’s excellent Leaders in their Field series, is we well worth a listen. Gordie will be back in Cape Breton Sunday for the Cape Breton Island Film Series annual benefit for l’Arche Cape Breton.
Earle at the Cohn
Country rock artist Steve Earle (center, in spotlight) played Dalhousie University’s Rebecca Cohn Auditorium last night with his current band, The Dukes (and Duchesses), featuring Allison Moorer. She is Earle’s sixth wife out of a total of seven marriages. The evening’s highlight was Moorer’s unusual rendition of the great Sam Cooke civil rights anthem, A Change is Gonna Come. The ensemble plays tonight at Membertou Trade and Convention Centre, Sydney.
