This Week In Art/Culture/Entertainment
By John Swartz
First a brief note about missing a column last week. As I was sitting down to write I injured myself. Substantially, but not catastrophically. I didn’t even think it was serious until later the next day. It was enough to make sitting down to write a bit of a chore. In the mean time, if you figured out what I did, go ahead and laugh.
Hey, Buddy, Can You Spare A Dime?
Peter Light has been volunteering to teach guitar at Foley Catholic School in Brechin for the past couple years. He does it because, “If it wasn’t for art and music, I’m not sure I would have finished high school.”
He is doing what many musicians do, and not often for a lesson fee, pass on their knowledge.
He has a problem, the guitars he has on hand for his program are few, old, and too big for small hands. He’d like to get some guitars for the kids to use and has started a Gofundme to raise $1,000 for that purpose.
There are so many misperceptions about music education in schools. Too many of them only have a teacher’s salary covered by the budget, and no money for instruments, or such a small budget they have to get inferior instruments. Getting help to teach and manage student performances is a task often left undone because ether is no time, or no network to call on.
It’s really a shame because I can start now and finish next week providing names of people I know personally who said they would either not stayed in school, or end up in jail if it was not for their involvement in music. The skills learned are transferable to so many other subjects and conduct of life. Only those who devoted significant parts of their lives to learning to play can appreciate the reach music has into life in general.
Despite what you hear about education funding in the U.S., you’d be surprised by how much money is put into high school music programs. In Texas, yes Texas, there are dozens of high schools with programs with budgets that are six figures in size and another tier of schools who have access to money annually approaching six figures. Heck some of those schools have sponsorships from instrument makers which gets them a totally different price sheet for their purchases.
In this province, we have a long tradition of disregarding music education (art and theatrical arts as well) as important and necessary, and we are poorer for it.
Drop by Peter’s Gofundme page and make a donation.
Did You See It?
Many people remember Jim Kelly, or as most of us knew him, Speedy. He was at just about every rock show in town and also many of the most famous ones in the GTA and other places Most times you’d see him, he had an 8 mm camera with him. He seemed to always be rolling tape, or film as it were. He captured footage of bands like Alice Cooper, Led Zeppelin, Cheap Trick, Van Halen, The Who, Z Z Top, Grand Funk Railroad and Genesis.
Robert Gronfors and Philip Lalonde started a Youtube channel a couple years ago and uploaded videos as the film was restored and synched to music (the old 8 mm footage had no sound). The newest upload is a 27 minutes of a concert Max Webster had and it premiers on January 17 at 4 p.m. Mike Tilka, who was in the band at the time, helped Identify what tunes were captured.
Have You Heard?
A few of our favourite musicians have put out new music lately. Here’s what I know about how to find it.
James Gray has a new album, Daydreamer, and the second tune, Temporary Smile, was just put out this week. He also released Small Town Waltz earlier in the week and you can watch the videos online. You can also find his previous album, New Friends That Talk Like Old Friends, to listen to or buy a download on Bandcamp.
Samantha Windover has been putting videos of her music on her Facebook page with a frequency I can’t keep up with. Some are covers, some are originals. .
Bleeker has a new album coming and in the mean time one of the tunes, Wake Up, will be released Friday on one of the music streamers you have. You can listen to many of their previous releases on Youtube, and their Erase You album is on Bandcamp. Their song, Blue runs Deep, has been the Regina Pats hockey team as the club’s anthem this season, and Self Made, was used during the World Series on Sportsnet.
Zachary Lucky also has a new album, The Lost River Sessions, which will be out soon. A single, Everywhere a Man Can Be, is on Youtube, along with his other music. You can hear it, and his other music on his Youtube channel. The album is headed for the final stages of production and Zachary has a Kickstarter campaign to cover the costs. The single and his previous albums are on Bandcamp.
About Bandcamp
You may have noticed I often link musician’s music to Bandcamp. That’s because quite a while ago I looked into royalties paid by streaming services and found Bandcamp paid more to artists than the others. Bandcamp also has the advantage you can download music files, or buy albums while the others don’t.
When I surfed into Bandcamp today, they had this announcement highlighted: Bandcamp Fans have paid artists $1.65 billion using Bandcamp, and yesterday alone bought 76,532 records. You won’t see the others telling you squat about what they pay out.
On Tuesday Bandcamp also announced they will not permit AI generated music on their service (they already did to prevent impersonations, but this is related to original music). Bandcamp said they are doing this so users can be sure the music they listen to, buy, or download is from people, not machines.
Also earlier this week Rick Beato (you should check out his Youtube channel, it’s the best music related channel on the internet) did a video about the first AI created song to make a Billboard chart (digital sales), and Spotify has been criticized for infesting their service with AI music and not telling anyone.
AI music is slop. It’s getting so I can recognize it pretty quickly. Anyone with a band that doesn’t have Bandcamp on their radar for distributing their music is shortchanging themselves. And in your case, reader, if you are sending a link to a new music discovery to your friends, check out if it’s on Bandcamp first and use those links.
Mariposa
To everyone within reading vicinity, the Mariposa Folk Festival is now accepting applications for the 2026 audition showcase (at St. Paul’s Centre April 11) until February 6. You can find out everything you need to do to apply online.
You can also get tickets online for both the upcoming concerts they are producing. Lance Anderson is once again doing the annual Gospel and Blues gig at the Opera House February 21. Joining him are Garnetta Cromwell, Gavin Hope, Jesse O’Brien, Mackenzie Jordan, Steve Pelletier and Everton White.
I know many of you are wondering who those people are, but Lance always has one or two people who are not household names in his Mariposa bands. Last year many people were wondering who the heck Jordan John was, until they heard him play, in order, drums, Hammond B3, guitar, piano and sing. One month after the Gospel and Blues gig he became the new lead singer of Tower of Power. So don’t let unfamiliarity hold you back.
Then on March 28 The Free Label with guest Evan Rotella will be in concert at St. Paul’s Centre. If I need to tell you who The Free Label are, you get detention for not paying attention here. This is going to be a great show.
And it’s time to apply to be an artisan vendor for the summer festival; you can do that online.
The Mariposa community is also mourning the death of festival founder Ruth Jones-McVeigh on January 7 at the age of 99.
The Shorts
- Arts Orillia has a free Teen Art Night (ages 12 to 18), January 23 from 6 to 9 pm at Creative Nomad Studios. It’s free and all supplies provided for painting, drawing, jewellery making, and mixed media.
- A fundraiser for Orillia Skateparkers and Racoon Skate Club is happening at St, Paul’s Centre Jan. 24. It is from 2 to 10 p.m. and has several bands playing (Aawks, Overcook Nova Doll, The Raven’s haven, Kneel Worm, Brat Stepson, Still Deciding, and Loose Jaw). It’s an all ages show and admission is $20 or pay what you can.
- North Simcoe Arts has a roundtable happening January 28 at Creative Nomad Studios. It’s from 1 to 3 p.m. and you can register online. The agenda is what you bring to the table.
- The Old Dance Hall Players have an imrov night, Making Snowflakes January 30 at Brewery Bay Food Company. You can get tickets online.
- Mariposa Arts Theatre has their next play, Without Rule of Law, running from February 5 to 15 at the Opera House. It’s about a group of young people confronted with a mystery and how it affects them, and it’s a comedy. Tickets are on sale now online.
- The Orillia Concert Association has season tickets on sale (still only $90) and their lineup is: Terry Lim And Friends Feb. 22, Daniel Vnukowski March 22 and The Brooks, Ronai, Teske Trio May 3. All concerts are at 2:30 p.m. You can get the season tickets online.
- OMAH has two exhibits opening Jan. 31; the annual Women’s Day Art Show and Made in Orillia; you can also see Tracing Places: Advertising In Orillia and the permanent display of artefacts from Gord’s estate.
- Quayle’s Brewery has Darcy Windover playing Jan. 17; JJ Blue Jan. 18; Jamie Drake host an open mic Jan. 22; a comedy night hosted by Daniel Shaw Jan. 23 (tickets early show; late show); and Chris Lemay Jan. 24… the Hog ‘N Penny has No Great Mischief playing Jan. 17; and an afternoon jam session every Sunday with Sean Patrick and others… The ANAF Club has Charlotte and the Dirty Cowboys playing Jan. 17 and a jam happening Jan. 18 from 2 to 4 p.m. … Jakob Pearce is at Alleycats Music Jan. 17 at 2 p.m.
(Photos by Swartz – SUNonline/Orillia and Images Supplied) Main: Peter Light teaching kids to play guitar at Foley Catholic School in Brechin.
