Every year Caleb Marshall can’t help but abide by the same yuletide tradition – huddling up close to his TV screen until he’s awash in the cozy black and white glow of Jimmy Stewart declaring It’s a Wonderful Life.
But this year, the Theatre New Brunswick artistic producer decided to flesh that classic story out by bringing it to the stage so it could truly come to life for all to see.
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Even though we may not know it, Buck Tingley insists we’re all starved for the blues.
The guitarist, who hails from Turtle Creek but currently resides in Halifax, is more than willing to carve a new niche amongst the abundance of indie dance clubs that he says pump out an apathetic rhetoric, drowning the burley surley sound he craves. His current string of shows are designed to scrape together the funds needed to gain a government grant that will help him afford to record his debut, so we can listen in on all we’ve been missing.
“The blues is generally about things gone wrong, sad turns of events,” he said. “It’s supposed to be lowdown, dirty and grimmy, but for some reason it makes me the happiest man alive.”
That joy has kept him sustained through years of grueling tours, where gigs were few and far between. But Tingley said that being forced to the fringes only feeds him.
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There was a buzz right away, along with a muffled crackle as Astrid Young plugged into her first very own amp, a Fender Deluxe reverb from her brother Neil.
And as she started to strum the budding songstress fell for what her brother had passed on to her, but decided then and there to play it in her own way.
“It definitely alerted my neighbours to the fact that I lived there,” Astrid said of the Fender, which she kept cranking for years before joining several prog and heavy metal bands, while her brother, the world-renowned Neil Young, delved deeper into rootsy vibes. “I don’t know how they could stand to be in earshot when I played, I was relentless.”
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Out from under the pangs, Elliott Brood’s twangy guitar picking flows a searing tone akin to yesteryear, but the members of the bluegrass trio insist they’re reaching for far more than nostalgia with their weathered songs.
“There’s just something so sweet about something that’s old,” said Mark Sasso, front man of the Windsor, Ontario bred band. “It’s like playing a worn guitar, one that’s had a life before me, its own stories, and you can feel that when you play.”
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Andrea Gibson pens poetry to lift it off the page, to shout it out as a gift for everyone within earshot, to truly bring it to life.
“Maya Angelou says an unspoken poem is an unfinished poem,” said Gibson, a renowned slam poet from Colorado who will be belting out each stanza at UNB this week as part of her latest college tour.
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He played until every chord and riff soared, until his gaze followed those notes heavenward, and the crowd roared for Joel Plaskett before he cracked a smile. His scorching Wednesday night set was one of many highlights for this year’s Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival, which wrapped up Sept. 20, as much for Plaskett’s mid-song sermons as any of his guitar solos.
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This year’s Harvest Jazz & Blues festival may not have sported a name as big as Buddy Guy on its lineup list, but festival organizers say they worked to build a more well-rounded experience in 2009.
“(It) was exactly what we hoped it would be,” said Patti Graham, this year’s festival chair, of the Sept. 15-20 event. “In terms of numbers, we absolutely compared with last year, which was a record year for us.”
This Harvest may not have gone off without a hitch- the unfortunate passing of original headliner Koko Taylor, who has been dubbed the Queen of the Blues for her sultry songs and silky voice, earlier this summer left organizers in a bind. But blues legends like Elvin Bishop and Watermelon Slim more than catered to the same classically inclined crowd, while Shad brought out the hip hoppers, and Joel Plaskett and Hey Rosetta! strummed cheeky ballads and heartfelt dirges for the indie loving masses.
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Andrew Titus says there’s so much more to poetry than rhyme or reason.
When the St. Thomas University English professor reads he’s looking for something more.
He tries to look past the page, beyond all the literary tricks and turns of phrase, to a place where versus aren’t only studied in hushed libraries- they’re brought to the pulpit and performed, so every word can truly be heard. He’s hoping that his new weekly workshop, Stand and Deliver, can be that kind of place when it begins on St. Thomas University’s campus on Sept. 16.
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Joel Plaskett said he relished in reaping the rewards of his headlining spots at this year’s Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival “” the prestige, the spastic crowds, the chance to rub shoulders with national legends and local up-and-comers alike. But the singer-songwriter said he’d almost rather focus on sewing the seeds for new songs, despite releasing a triple solo album earlier this year.
“My mind won’t let me go to sleep at night until I exhaust it, which usually means I write,” he said the day after his Harvest set with his band, The Emergency. “I guess I’m a bit of a workaholic.”
That addiction may be a blessing to his fans, but he said it will by no means lead to another album any time soon.
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Most rappers follow their break-out album by bogging down their next disc with collaborations from newfound contacts. But not Shad.
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A Wayward Word's Worth 