Far from Home / Close to Home
In the past year, Ed Epstein has opened up his Gallery 345 to increasing numbers of music performances by musicians from all around the world. Now, this happens to be in the building where I live so I stay on top of upcoming shows simply by glancing at the wall of posters that confronts me in the lobby when I come home every day.
Ed's expertise is in jazz, classical and new music so that tends to be the roster but I was struck last week by a poster for an upcoming show by Zachary Lucky and The Bravest Ghost – two Saskatchewan-based songwriters in the midst of a cross-Canada tour.
I managed to get in touch with Sean Craib-Petkau (aka The Bravest Ghost) while they were on the road and let him know I'd be happy to bring the guitar by for the show. I popped in during the sound check where I found Sean, Zachary and an Australian violinist named Indiana Avent, who's been accompanying the guys on this tour.
The three of us had a great chat about guitars, Saskatchewan and travelling the country while Zachary and Sean took turns playing Voyageur. I took the guitar back upstairs while they went on their dinner break and returned for the start of the show.
It's a terrific sounding room and suited their thoughtful songwriting and fingerstyle playing, which put me in mind of the style of people like Fleet Foxes or Alexi Murdoch.
That's the Bravest Ghost playing Voyageur during the show in the shot above. They tour has gone from coast to coast and is now making its way back to the middle of the country.
Thanks to Sean, Zachary, Indiana and Ed.
Posted at 9:33 AM
Among the Champions
No giant belts or anything like that but it was great to at least feel like a champion as I was inducted – along with 16 other inductees – as a "Champion" of the Coalition for Music Education in Canada earlier tonight at the Music Gallery in Toronto.
As you may know, I'm not myself a guitar player. My role is to share Voyageur and its story with musicians and non-musicians alike. Likewise with tonight's inductees as well as the existing roster of CMEC Champions. There were great musicians like Phil Nimmons, Tim Brady, Robert Priest and conductor Boris Brott who were part of the proceedings tonight but so were actor Eric Peterson (Corner Gas, This is Wonderland, Billy Bishop Goes to War), White Spot consulting chef Chuck Currie, cardiologist David Alter and Ticketmaster COO Tom Worrall. Professionally or not, tangentially or directly, music has played a major role in all of our lives and we are all firm believers that including music as part of every child's curriculum not only helps them develop an appreciation for music, it also helps them learn other subjects (one of music's neuro-mechanical benefits), helps to develop a sense of teamwork and cooperation, self esteem and all kinds of other benefits beside the pure pleasure of music.
Frankly, the fact that there has to be a coalition to argue for any of this is appalling. It's not like the data isn't there to support the value of music in education but it's one of those things that gets cut as governments focus on delivering test scores to match policy directives.
After a short version of my presentation tonight, I had the great pleasure of handing Voyageur to the wonderful poet and songwriter, Robert Priest (pictured) who - speaking of deliverables - served up two fantastic songs.
If part of my role as a Champion is to publicize the work of the Coalition, let me start right now by asking you to consider the value of music in the school setting and to demand more resources dedicated to music in your local schools. You can help the Coalition by donating and by getting involved in their amazing Music Monday initiative.
Special thanks to Ingrid Whyte, Jill Battson, Paul Hodge and Metalworks.
Posted at 11:48 PM