Six decades is a long time to be doing anything, but if you can do it rocking the blues, that’s not a bad path to follow. And nobody does it better than Matt Minglewood.
This year, the Cape Breton rock legend marks 60 years since his teenage band the Rockin’ Saints was making the rounds of high school dances and local taverns, and after celebrating his 79th birthday earlier this month in Membertou, he’s bringing his full band show to the Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre’s Bear Head Room on Friday, Feb. 20 at 8 p.m.
If you’re still reading this, you probably don’t need reminding of all of Minglewood’s accomplishments, but Moncton-born, Glace Bay-raised man in the black hat has seen and done it all by this point, and his legacy as a trailblazer doesn’t need to be rehashed here.
He still has the voice, he still has the chops, and he can still get a crowd on its feet with hits like Caledonia, Me and the Boys, Georgia on a Fast Train, and Someday I’m Gonna Ride in a Cadillac, which is still a damn catchy tune.
And don’t get me started on when he sings Rita MacNeil’s Working Man, there won’t be a dry eye in the house.
It’s not like anyone needs to be sold on the concept of a Matt Minglewood show in Port Hawkesbury, he’s been part of our lives for so long, there’s no question it’ll be the event of the month, with his well-seasoned crew of lead guitarist Nick McInnis, bassist Don Hann, Jeff Stapleton on keyboards and drummer Moon McInnis.
Matt was the highlight of my first rock show, on the slopes of Citadel Hill for Natal Day in 1979, when he rode onstage on a horse, like the rock ’n’ roll cowboy that he was, and I was privileged to be at the Crazy Horse in 1990 when he received the second East Coast Music Association Lifetime Achievement Award from Dutch Mason, to whom he’d presented it the year before at the Pub Flamingo.
There would be many shows and interviews in the following years, and the musician who was born as Roy Batherson has always been able to look back at a career filled with ups and downs with a smile and a healthy sense of humour.
At this point, you probably just want to make sure you have your tickets, and the easiest way to do that is through the Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre website, at phcivic.com, or call the box office at 902-625-2591.
And if you want to make a weekend of it in Port Hawkesbury, on Saturday, Feb. 21, the Cabin Fever Concert Series started by singer-songwriter Steve MacIntyre is back for a third year.
This weekend’s installment takes place at the Port Hawkesbury Royal Canadian Legion, Branch 43, with guests like the rich voice of Canso folk singer Jim Hanlon and Cape Breton storyteller-in-song, Terry MacQuarrie.
Cabin Fever has one more show lined up before winter melts away, with Elyse Aeryn and Brooklyn Blackmore, on Saturday, March 7.
For more details, visit robynsnestproductions.ca.
On the mainland, Pictou’s deCoste Performing Arts Centre is helping us get through the rest of February through the power of laughter with two of Canada’s best known standups, the master of misery Jeremy Hotz on Saturday, Feb. 21 and Elvira Kurt & Friends’ Girls Nite Out Comedy Tour on Thursday, Feb. 26.
For more details, visit decostecentre.ca.