Sometimes I won’t have anything especially profound or enlightening to say in this column. (I can hear you now: “Only sometimes?”)
Occasionally, I’ll have a week that was so full of travels, adventures, and mid-summer memories that I’ll just share those with you and hope you find them reasonably interesting, enlightening or amusing.
Like this week.
It began with my latest musical performance at The Louisbourg Playhouse, a former Disney movie set piece that has been one of Cape Breton’s hidden jewels for the past quarter-century. I’ve been fortunate enough to play there – as a soloist, backup musician and group leader – several times over the past 16 years.
On this Friday night, Cathy and I met our Glace Bay friends Wendy and Francis MacPhee for an early sound check at the Playhouse before settling into supper at the re-designed Grubstake Restaurant, which now includes a coffee shop. (Sample drink: “The ‘If Katy Perry Was A Latte’ Latte.” No, I have no idea what that means. But I look forward to finding out on our next visit.)
Our audience was small but enthusiastic. It included several people from Western Canada, including an Alberta visitor who turned out to be an aunt to one of Cathy’s fellow Girl Guide leaders here in Port Hawkesbury. We had a wonderful time and Cathy and I look forward to more adventures with Wendy and Francis, onstage and off, as the summer proceeds.
The next night, my parents in Grande-Greve had us in for supper before we headed to Holy Guardian Angels Church for the multi-lingual Catholic Mass service that takes place every year as part of the Festival Acadien de L’Ardoise. It always means a lot to me to play that organ and help the senior choir at that church. I can’t help but think that somewhere, Jane Martell was smiling that Saturday night.
Roughly 14 hours later, Cathy and I led the music at Reach Church Port Hawkesbury, followed by an impromptu church fun-day up at Port Hood’s Boardwalk Beach. It was my first chance to check out that specific shoreline following years of swimming and snorkelling fun at nearby Sunset Beach. I highly doubt that will be the last time I hit Boardwalk Beach – it may not even be the last time I get there this summer.
Later that evening, back in Port Hawkesbury, Joel Plaskett and the Emergency took to the Granville Green stage. They got a little company, as close to two dozen local kids clambered up on the band shell and danced up a storm to Plaskett classics such as “Nowhere With You” and “Maybe We Should Just Go Home.” That’s not a scenario every musician (or sound technician) desires or encourages – more power to Plaskett and company for giving these kids a night they’ll remember for the rest of their lives.
The last Monday and Tuesday of July were a bit of a blur. The afternoons were spent in Arichat, rehearsing with Delores Boudreau for a couple of shows and then, the following day, recording an episode of “East Coast Spotlight” at the Telile Community Television studios that will focus on my long-time friend’s delightful music and colourful life story.
The evenings in that wild 48-hour run were devoted to a high-flying music practice for the album release party for my friends Jay and Krista Luddington, aka. Eastbound, and then to a productive, energetic theatre rehearsal for the Strait Area Theatre Society’s debut production, “One Hundred Thousand Welcomes.”
July ended with the arrival of The Cape Breton Summertime Revue at SAERC. It was my first chance to see the “Next Generation” wave of Revue shows that got under way in 2015, and the delightful blend of newcomers and veterans didn’t disappoint. Several of us were still quoting lines and songs from the new show the following morning. (Now, if they could just do something about the sweltering heat in the SAERC Auditorium on nights like this…)
August began for me as July had ended, with music and community coming together, this time at the Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre for the latest edition of the Ceilidh Market. It’s been a fun place for me to play old favourites and test-drive new material this summer. Besides, how many other times am I going to play a three-hour show that includes a black bean burrito from The Rusty Kicker on my lunch break?
So, there you have it: One week in the middle of my summer.
And this all happened before the Eastbound release party in Dundee, the latest edition of Swim The Canal in St. Peter’s, and a visit from relatives in Europe. I suspect I’ll have more to say about all that next week, and in the meantime, I hope yours has been a terrific summer, as well.