Interruption

Patrick and I are going to have to take a step back for a little while. I got news of a death in the family. To say it's a shock is a gross understatement, and there's little more to be said about it at this point.

Hopefully we'll be back tomorrow.

Thanks for reading.

Thursday, February 7

Here are some dudes watching Stereo Airing.

So we went to the Marquee last night. Kind of a surprise; Jack's Pizza, which is owned and operated by the same people behind the Marquee, is a tiny little pizza stand, with four stools to eat pizza on. The Marquee is a big place. More photos:

This is Maggie, flaunting her ECMA media pass before CBC Saint John radio reporter Sarah Trainor.

This is Chuck Teed, of BBQ Records. Such a cutie.

This is our friend Zach, loving life.

Them, The Ragtag!

And at The Capital:

Rebekah Higgs has a face. We promise.

***

So, we didn't get on Q. Hardly a disappointment, though, because we got to sit in the exact center of the front row, and right beside Glenn Murray, author of Walter the Farting Dog. He was one of several members of the Fredericton arts community on standby to speak to Q host Jian Ghomeshi between bands. We saw Joel Plaskett, Wintersleep, and Carmen Townsend and the Shakey Deals. We learned Carmen and her band, all from Cape Breton, are currently working with Violent Femmes singer/guitarist/songwriter and now producer Gordan Gano. They're playing tonight at the Capital (free cover, remember?), along with Gary Beals, Share, Mike Trask and Mudhill, Slowcoaster and Grand Theft Bus.

And speaking of tonight, we're most excited about two downtown events:

- We're hitting up the no-case being held at reNeu Boutique at 6:15 p.m. The Divorcees, Adam Puddington and the Proof, Ruth Minnikin and The Reels are playing the ECMA No-Case Hay Sale Hootennany, among racks of vintage and Fredericton-produced clothing and accessories.

Also a priority for us is the Music Nova Scotia showcase being held at the Back Nine Bar, attached to Mexicali Rosa's. Ghost Bees, Ryan Cook, Jon McKiel, Great Plains, Dog Day, Wintersleep, and the Tom Fun Orchestra are there starting at 9 p.m.

And now, naptime.

Good morning Saint John

Good morning, everybody, I guess. I'm at CBC Fredericton, comandeering the P.C. of intrepid radio reporter Angela Chang. If Kyle Cunjak is Fredericton's busiest promotor/photographer/musician, Angela is likely the busiest journalist. Somehow, she made it to the metal stage at the Elk's Club last night, in her capacity as reporter, and also made it to work for 4 a.m. this morning, as usual.

And speaking of that sort of thing, I'd just like to take this small bit of space to praise Patrick's gentle wakeup abilities. At 6 a.m. this morning, my cell phone made its alarm noise because I had to make my early-morning hit for CBC Radio Saint John. I responded by promptly rolling over.

My mom would have stood at the foot of my bed yelling and bouncing the mattress with one foot and flickering the light. Patrick rubbed my back in a circular motion and said, 'Sweetheart, sweetheart don't lose yourself this morning.'

That said, he didn't have the presence of mind to remember how a cell phone works when I asked him to call me a cab.

That's because we were out at all hours last night. ALL. HOURS. Carousing at the Marquee (above Jack's Pizza in the Tannery) with (speaking of Saint John) Chuck Teed of BBQ Records fame. I interviewed Chuck last year around the release of the third installment of his label's signature compilation franchise, Saint John's Finest. Saint John 3: The Revenge showcased the Port City's long list of indie bands.

Chuck was manning the door at the BBQ Records and Music N.B.-sponsored no-case, the highlight of which, for me, was a draw between the performance by Shotgun Jimmie, of Shotgun and Jaybird fame, and the spontaneous interpretive dance routine thrown together at the last minute by... some drunk guy. I really wish I could have gotten pictures of either of those things, but Patrick, bless his heart, was over at the Capital Bar at that time, soaking up all the no-cover goodness and capturing images of Halifax's Rebekah Higgs.

On our walk home last night/this morning, we saw Julie Doiron walking towards the Tannery area. Big fans! We were halfway down the street before we remembered that we are bloggers with a camera. Oh well. Next time.

As for right now, I have to go get ready for hits with Fredericton and Moncton. Those will run simultanously around 8:15 in both cities. Photos of last night later, the next time I'm anywhere near my camera.

photo finish

Fredericton's (now defunct) On Vinyl. Photo by Kyle Cunjak.

In the end, the launch of local photographer Kyle Cunjak’s city hall exhibition of music photography closed too early for us to partake in. Kyle, who performs in several bands on his Forward Music label, is playing tonight (and twelve times in the next three days), and had to take off for preparations. That the opening closed 45 minutes ahead of schedule may have had something to do with turn-out, but we wouldn’t know.

Not to be thwarted, we caught up with a cheerful Mr. Cunjak at the Capital bar complex after a short, perplexed visit to the steps of city hall. His exhibition comes on the eve of a potential ECMA for best photographer, his first such nomination for his colourful, technically precise and often humorous compositions. Several bands featured in the photos had attended the opening, including juggernauts Wintersleep.

Kyle, it could be said, exemplifies how an artist can build on his reputation and network to promote it elsewhere when a event like the ECMA’s lands in his hometown.

“I’ve been meeting with international booking agents and festival organizers and labels so we can start exporting [Forward Music Group’s] artists internationally. And I’m having a good time so far; there’s a lot to see,” Kyle said.

Photographer/Musician Kyle Cunjak. Cheese!

Now we are at home. Maggie is preparing notes for her appearance on CBC morning radio while I play spider solitaire and contemplate our next move. I’ve found it difficult to strike any sort of itinerary for the weekend, other than the pursuit of what’s free and what’s under-the-radar. It’s been difficult, to a point, to remind myself that these hectic days are my last in this city I have lived in so long. I wonder in moments like this if going out with a bang is a sincere way to leave a place; to speed through a series of crazy events without stopping to contemplate what this place was to me, and obscure, or try to, the pain of letting go.

THIS JUST IN.

Swoon.

Guess who's going to be on Q tomorrow at noon? Three guesses. And the first two don't count. And the answer is actually two people so whatthehellwhydon'tIjusttellyouit's

PATRICK AND ME.

Maybe. They invited us and we get reserved seating, and if they have time Jian might just have a little 90-second visit with us. Either way, we'll be in the audience.

... J-J-J-J-ian!

Screaming girls at Soundwaves

"Posted" from Miramichi Valley, Soundwaves 2008

Maybe it’s to be expected that, with a musical line-up featuring, in part, three boys-only highschool rock quartets, there will be, in tow, a gaggle of screaming girls championing the cause of each one.

But after the din that followed each of these acts, it was not entirely surprising that the Soundwaves competition’s top-prize was awarded to a group composed of five girls and one boy, five fiddles and one keyboard, and whose set featured a step-dancing interlude. The strength of the group -- Vegetarian Haggis, of Fredericton -- may have been the variety it offered the five-act showcase of New Brunswick youth talent. And that wicked name.

Soundwaves 2008 winners Vegetarian Haggis

When Maggie shoved her mic, on loan from CBC (did anyone hear her this morning?), into the semi-circle of Haggitarians that formed around her when she jumped on stage, she got a breathless explanation of what the name 'Vegetarian Haggis' meant. Something to do with someone's trip to Scotland and thoughts on 'their future.' O.K., cool.

The other bands that played (there were five, not four like we thought yesterday), included Hilary Ball, a young songstress and pianist also of Fredericton who has had an album produced by Vetch's Cora Woolsey and Matte Robinson, Posted, a male quartet from Miramichi Valley, Fifth Member, also from Fredericton, and In the A.M., from Saint John.

Mastoid Process of Woodstock, sadly, did not make it into the final five.

Hmmm. Impressions, impressions...

Well, not to criticize some very talented and visibly stage-comfortable highschoolers, but we were struck by how normal all the performers looked. Back in our day, 'musicians' grew their hair long and pierced things on their faces. These people were mostly dressed the same, and you could tell it wasn't because they were terribly organized. And the three male rock bands tended to sound quite similar. We guess what we're saying is, it's interesting to get a look at artists before they completely come into their own, creatively.

As judges deliberated, Blues-guy Ross Neilson played a three-song set. That was cool. And, incidentally, Ross will be playing another set at the no-case being held Saturday night at Boom! Nightclub. You know, we like it there, but being the grammar nazis that we are, we have a hard time typing a proper noun that requires an exclamation point in the middle of a sentence. Just saying.

As for the Musiplex, there were many people there who, like us, hadn't heard much about the venue or don't manage to leave the Southside all that often. It's a nice size; it's not a cavernous Aitken Centre arena, which we sometimes have trouble filling enough to justify a big name show in the city, and it's not one of the three bars at the Capital Complex, which can get cramped and sweaty when there's the right amount of interest in an event. The tunnel-like route from the coat-check to the auditorium, however, was kind of disorienting. We felt like tired, impressed, but coatless hamsters by the end of the night.

***

So in the early evening, we're going to see Kyle Cunjak's photography show at City Hall (freewinefreewinefreewine), and later we're likely to check out the BBQ Records/Music New Brunswick N.B. no-case at the Marquee, above Jack's Pizza in the Tannery. We've... never been to that venue, either.

Fredericton's the Slate Pacific, Stereo Airing, Them, The Ragtag, and All Of Green are playing that one, as well as Saint John's Hospital Grade and Born Under Satellites, and Sackville's Shotgun Jimmie, formerly of Shotgun and Jaybird, one of Julie Doiron's bands.

We are, however, MORE than likely to take in the free stuff at the Capital Bar Complex tonight.

At the Capital:
8:00pm - The Fussy Part (Fredericton)
9:00pm - Great Plains (Halifax)
10:00pm - Chillin' Room (Fredericton)
11:00pm - Rebekah Higgs (Halifax)
12:00am - Wheeler (Halifax)
1:00am - The Tom Fun Orchestra (Cape Breton)

At Wilser's Room:
8:00pm - Sleepy Driver (Fredericton)
9:00pm - Jeanne Doucet Currie (Annapolis Valley... we think... help us out?)
10:00pm - Chrissy Crowley (Cape Breton)
11:00pm - Ruth Minnikin (Halifax)
12:00am - Nadira (Halifax)
1:00am - Ryan LeBlanc (St. Andrews)

And, Maggie will be on CBC Radio again tomorrow morning, at 6:50 a.m. in Southern New Brunswick, at 8:15 a.m. in Moncton and Miramichi (hi Maggie's Mom), and in Fredericton.

Again, write us at ecma2008@gmail.com

'Children are our future' or 'Take me to where the free wine is'

Maggie here.

Tonight Patrick and I are supporting ‘the future of East Coast music’ by attending the 2008 Soundwaves Competition at the Musiplex, 15 Cityview Ave., on the Northside, kicking off the official ECMA events. Neither of us have been to that particular venue, but it sounds like a big deal, boasting over 12,000 square feet of products, services… and fun!

Somewhere in that 12,000 square feet, four high school-aged bands from around the province, narrowed down from nine that have opened shows for established East Coast artists, will vie for a grand prize including the opportunity to showcase at Music NB’s annual conference.

I’m not sure which acts made it, but check out the band names from the semi-final nine:

Hilary Ball (Fredericton)
Posted (Miramichi Valley)
In the AM (Saint John)
Dazed2839 (Minto)
Fifth Member (Fredericton)
Carpe Diem (Rexton)
Mastoid Process (Woodstock)
Vegetarian Haggis (Fredericton)
Leo Hayes Jazz Band (Fredericton)

“Mastoid Process.”

I could just die.

The original nine opened shows for established artists like Isaac & Blewett, Steve Waylon, Ryan Leblanc & Kendra Gale and Vetch.

Admission is free at the Musiplex tonight, but you can hear all about it from me on CBC Radio, 99.5 FM in Fredericton tomorrow morning around 8 a.m.

And speaking of free things, there’s all kinds of that going on this weekend, starting tomorrow, when stuff actually get underway.

Because it’s the way my mind works, the first thing I'll mention is the event promising “free food and wine” on Facebook: the Kyle Cunjak ECMA Photography opening at City Hall. Kyle, known for his promotional work with the Forward Music Group, is also nominated for Photographer of the Year.

Also, huge: the members forum at Giraffecycle.com is screaming at me, things like “ALL SHOWS ARE FREE!!! NO COVER!!” at the Capital Bar Complex this weekend. This means, starting Thursday, free hour-long performances at the Capital and Wilser’s Room (the bar formerly known as the Taproom) by such artists as Julie Doiron, Old Man Luedecke and Share. Seriously, look: http://www.giraffecycle.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=413649#413649

Of course, there are shows at the Capital Bar Complex every weekend. How often can you see a free show at the Fredericton’s tiny Backstreet Records location? Not often, I’m guessing.

I gather the event is actually being held on the huge set of stairs leading up to the store; we’ll have to get more info on that.

And if you have any info on free or interesting things you think people should see this weekend, reach us at ecma2008@gmail.com.

ECMA forecast.

York Street, Wednesday, February 6.

You have to understand that this is last glimpse we’ll get of Fredericton for a long time. Patrick Leonard and Maggie Estey, writers, show-goers, coffee-drinkers, will leave the city, the province, the country on February 13, to spend five months in China, possibly the furthest-away place in the world.

In this, our last week, the city stands to swell by about 2,500 people for the 19^th annual East Coast Music Awards from February 7^th to 10^th… most of them musicians. For a town normally notably composed of academics and government officials, this is more than a change of pace; we’re expecting something like a rebirth from ashes.

***

A steady snow was all that marked this Tuesday afternoon from any other, a thin curtain drawn across growling city buses, aged ladies staggering with grocery bags and unnumbered other clichés of Fredericton’s downtown. In the sleepy streets the stern weather nixed one predictable cliché; that the calm before the storm of activity that would descend with Eastern Canada’s foremost musical event was a storm itself.

For the occasional shop-window reminder that Fredericton “Does Canadian Music East Coast Style,” the arrival of the East Coast Music Awards to the city went unforetold on the uninterested, snow-gripped streets. It could have been weeks away.

Yet without doubt the thousands of hours of labour required to draw from the city a musical event had tasked many citizens to the brink, and many others, young and old alike, now wait eagerly for the first salvo of events opening Wednesday night.

The ECMAs, of course, are not just about “East coast music.” In volume alone the smaller “no-cases” will rival the sanctioned events, and the faces in the crowd, excusing overlap, will be different for performances by gritty urbanite garage acts than the festival’s Great Big Seas.

That the televised awards are gladhanded to similar faces year on year is no true testament to the spectrum of perfomers that surface for the ECMAs. While the awards seem to constitute what is happening in Maritime musical culture, the festival explores it.

And this, if the various cultures of the Maritimes do covet some blanket identity, is a necessary practice. That the host city has likely more in common with Upper Canada than Sydney or Summerside is little matter if the imperative is finding common ground. Reluctantly watching the beloved awards ceremony with our parents, there seemed something rather dear about the prevalent ideas of Maritime culture greasing the wheels of the ECMAs. Only now, with the event in our home, are we seeing the annual slate for what it is. And it’s exciting. And if at first glance Fredericton doesn’t look excited, it may be because Fredericton is otherwise not an entirely exciting place.

***

Chris Colepaugh and the Cosmic Crew at the Marquee, Halifax, 2007 ECMAs
Image copyright © 2007 by Shoot The Band and Dan Culberson

Maybe the ECMAs is a taste acquired with maturity and experience, like the opposite sex, or wine other than Boone’s. As a teen growing up in rural New Brunswick, the ECMAs were nothing more to Maggie than an interruption in regular programming on one of only two channels she could get on the family set, starring musicians she didn’t take seriously because they weren’t American.

Maggie, for one, says she had no idea what the ECMAs were about until she came to university in a major Atlantic Canadian city and became interested in live, independent music, least of all that the bands we drank and swayed to on Saturday nights were nominated.

We doubt this epiphany is lost on others; Even though Great Big Sea always wins, at least some of the regular-looking schmucks on the snowy TV screen are now your people. If you don’t watch the Sunday night ceremony with casual interest, you at least take measures to see who won on Monday afternoon.

Further, you have no idea what the ECMAs are about until they come to a city you live in. The televised awards ceremony is the square, stuffy tip in comparison to a rather, uh, celebratory iceburg.

Saint John writer Craig Pinhey says he’s been to every ECMAs for the last seven years, except the ones held in St. John’s in 2004.

“They've all been great, but the Saint John one remains most special in my memory, because the city changed so much,” he says. “Imagine full streets near midnight in Saint John!”

We’ve been to Saint John. We love Saint John. But we have to admit: we actually can’t. ‘Sleepy’ isn’t the word.

He recalls one of those ‘magic nights’ in 2002, specifically a few hours when Saint John band The Organizers, led by Jud Crandall, played Melvin’s Bar on Canterbuty Street.

“Everyone was somewhat tipsy -- or at least we were,” says the certified sommelier and columnist for [here] magazine. “All my arty friends were there. You know - the S.J. writer and artist types, and some of my [here] buds … My brother and his wife were here too and they were quite blown away by the scene. They thought S.J. might just be cool.”

“We were all crammed to the stage and Jud and the guys just totally rocked. When they did ‘Got To Get You Into My Life’ the place was jumping. And they played some Jam -- I think it was ‘Start,’ but I'm not sure, and a bunch of other mod stuff, which was what Jud was mostly playing in those days. Maybe some Clash too. It's a bit hazy.”

This year, Craig says, he’s pumped to see Halifax’s The Superfantastics.

Saint John photographer Dan Culberson recalls that during the Port City’s turn at hosting, “pretty much any large room in Saint John was converted into a concert hall that weekend.”

For 40 hours of that year’s fabled 72-hour jam, Dan worked as a volunteer at in the pool hall off of North Market Street where the event was held, with all the pool tables cleared off.

“I don't recall the influx of industry professionals as being a problem at all, but I do remember the late night boozing brought out the worst in some locals,” he says. “The line-ups waiting to get into the 72 Hour Jam after 2 a.m. were pretty rowdy, and sometimes filled North Market Street and part of the City Market that they were using as a sort of shelter. One night there was a stabbing just outside the venue at about 3 or 4 a.m.”

Par for the course, maybe.

“I think it was a fantastic showcase of our little city,” Dan goes on. “I know for Saint John musicians and bands at the time it seemed like a real morale boost, and there were so many people out to events I was really surprised. Saint John residents really came out to support the ECMAs. Unfortunately, I'm not sure they had much of a lasting effect on support for local music.”

Dan attended in 2003 as a delegate and in 2007 as an assistant to the official photographer, both times in Halifax, and you can see his camerawork at past festivities at http://www.shoottheband.ca/. He says he’s excited all over again for the Fredericton incarnation, where he'll be working as a photographer again.

“Fredericton has proven with the Harvest Jazz and Blues that they know how to organize a successful music festival, and I suspect the ECMAs will be a very positive economic and cultural shot in the arm for the city.”

“There's nothing else that I know in this part of the world that rivals it for bringing so many people who live and breathe music together,” he says.

Dan Jones, a.k.a. Giraffecycle.com stalwart Dan J, a notorious supporter of local music in Saint John, recalls the no-case he hosted at the The Deep End, also on Canterbury Street.

He says he has fond memories of the now-closed all-ages venue.

“All of the people involved were or became friends during that time and we did everything from painting, providing art, being security, working the door, doing sound, and all kinds of other activities.”

As for the ECMA 2002 events at The Deep End:

“We were very organized and had a lot of applications to our events. Some spots were invites but most were chosen from independent bands excited to take part in the ECMA madness. For the first couple of nights I was more involved in the sound production but for the long Saturday and Sunday events I was also part promoter and part sound tech.”

He says he’s surprised, looking back, at how many people were involved.

“I'd have to say it was probably one of the most successful events I have been involved over the several years I did promotion and sound.”

The Deep End’s Lease expired, and the venue closed not too long after the ECMAs, marking the beginning of the end for Dan J’s promotion activities.

“I was forced more and more to promote in bars and it just was not the same,” he says.

“It feels good though to look back at the bands that played who were local and regional who either still play or that their members now play in bands who are doing well today.”

By Day, Chris Daigle says he’s a mild-mannered project manager for an IT service provider in Saint John, but that when it comes to music, he wears many hats: first and foremost, a fan of music, but also a singer/songwriter in the Folk/Pop genre. Chris has played throughout southern New Brunswick, including the 2005 Saint John Jazz and Blues Festival, hosting campus radio station CFMH’s Songwriter’s Circle, and opening for the likes of Julie Doiron.

In 2002, he was opening and closing ECMA weekend at Matteo’s, a bar that used to be on the pedway towards Harbour Station.

“I remember the Friday night show quite well as the freezing rain led a lot of people to believe that turnout was going to be poor at all events. However, when I began my set the house was full,” he says.

“There wasn’t a seat to be found in the place and the crowd was very appreciative. This was one of my first bar gigs, and the experience will always stick with me because the true music fans showed up and gave us performers their complete attention. In contrast to the ECMA weekend, any other bar gigs I play it is a constant battle to be heard over the socializing that takes place in the Saint John watering holes.”

He says that Sunday, Matteo’s was the place to be for star-gazing. The bar’s location gave those playing at Matteo’s the chance to spot and chat up nominated artists as they made their way to the show.

“I played the 2nd to last set prior to the gala and distinctly remember folks like Jimmy Rankin, Gordie Sampson and Dahmnait Doyle stopping in the bar and taking a listen while I played. As a relatively new performer it was a good confidence booster to see a songwriter like Jimmy Rankin bobbing his head and smiling while you play your own originals.”

“Having the ECMAs in Saint John was a fantastic opportunity of fans and musicians alike. It gave us all an opportunity to be exposed to the industry on a much more intimate level.”