Tag Archives: Drew McIvor
The Thursday Update – Oct. 12 to 16, 2017
Two new open stages are starting up in our area this weekend. On Saturday afternoon, Amanda Dorey will be hosting an open stage at the Riverside Community Centre, and at Bridges Tavern in Thornbury, Josh Fletcher will be hosting an open stage on Friday starting at 8 pm. These additions mean that aspiring performers and fans of the surprising grab bag that an open stage can be now have the opportunity to enjoy one every night of the week except Saturday and Monday.
In chronological order, the open stages nearby are The Barn Coop on Sunday at noon; Heartwood’s bi-monthly open mic Tuesday at 8; The granddaddy of all open jams at Ted’s Range Road Diner, and Bruce Wine Bar with Drew McIvor both on Wednesdays at 8; Chris Scerri at The Leeky Canoe Thursdays at nine; also on Thursdays, Dave Russell at The Corner Café and Craig Smith at CROW; Friday afternoon, at the Bleeding Carrot, Kelly Babcock hosts the open stage, and now on Friday evening there is Josh at Bridges and on Saturday afternoon Amanda at Riverside. That adds up to a lot of free entertainment that mixes the best musicians in the area with undiscovered talents.
The Thursday Outlook – Sept. 28 to Oct. 2, 2017
Live music fans have some tough choices to make on a very busy Thursday night tonight.
Meaford Hall presents Measha Brueggergosman tonight on a return visit. This year she has released a memoir called “Something is AlwaysOn Fire”, reflecting on the ups and downs of her life in opera on the world stages. Her work is not restricted to opera. On stage she explores spirituals, gospel hymns and jazz standards, following her own personal path. Earlier in the year she released “Songs of Freedom”, a collection of songs that, as she told Vision TV, “were born out of a time when my people were oppressed and needed to find a way not only to communicate with each other, but also to express themselves”. Selections include Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, Got Tell It On The Mountain, This Little Light Of Mine, He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands and, Amazing Grace. With her four-piece band, she usually mixes in some jazz standards like My Funny Valentine. All of these elements will combine tonight to give the audience a sense of the things that are most meaningful to her.
Fans of local talent are excited about the CD release party tonight at Heartwood Hall in which Drew McIvor performs his new recording with a 10-piece band, with an opening set by Luke Martin. Drew will have copies of “Through The Tangle of Trees” hot off the press for sale at the concert.
Piano man Tyler Yarema, who specializes in stride piano and boogie-woogie, will be joining Tamica Herod and The Harbour Street Band tonight at the Harbour Street Fish Bar for what is sure to be a rocking show. Tyler will be back in Collingwood a week from tonight with a special concert at The Historic Gayety Theatre. He and Chuck Jackson, lead vocalist for the Downchild Blues Band, play a lot of duo dates together and at next week’s concert they will be recording a live CD in a celebrative event that gathers a number of friends to join them.
This Saturday at The Gayety Theatre, rockabilly fans will be treated to a performance by Robert Gordon, voice of the rockabilly revival that engulfed England in the late 70’s. Celebrated for his authentic sound, his debut album paired him with Link Wray, a guitarist who didn’t mimic the early rockers but actually was one. Gordon’s repertoire spans early Elvis, Gene Vincent and others from that era who defined a new sound that disappeared all too quickly for some people. His show in the town that hosts the world’s largest annual Elvis festival, should attract a cohort of discerning fans.
Drew McIvor To Celebrate CD Release at Heartwood
This Thursday, Drew McIvor will be launching his second CD, “Through The Tangle of Trees” with a release party at Heartwood Concert Hall in Owen Sound that will feature a full band performing songs from the CD, plus an opening set from Luke Martin.
Drew’s first CD, “Porchlight”, released in 2014, made an impact in CBC’s Searchlight Contest which led to a lot of spins on CBC radio as well as local and campus stations. He wants to build on that initial radio exposure with this release, but he’s approached it with a different focus.
“The first one was more of a smattering of everything up to that point,” he says, “This one is more about my songwriting.”
While his repertoire has always included a lot of original material, he felt that his first album was more like a sampling of genres (he likes to call it “international folk”) and he approached this second album with the clear intention of taking these wide ranging influences and making something more personal with them, “instead of mimicking those styles, embrace them.”
“This album represents the next three years of my life after the first one,” he says, “It’s important for me to consolidate what I’ve done, to document the journey.” He has also taken a different route in terms of the sound of the new CD. “We tried to make it sound more like a session with a band rather than everything set perfectly in place, tried to give it more of an organic feel. We wanted to bring out the songwriting.”
Local Players Excited To Be Doing The Last Waltz
The latest production at Meaford Hall by Chris Scerri, a tribute to The Last Waltz scheduled for November 25th, is a bit of a departure from his previous productions. Up to this point he has put together variety shows that combined local and imported talent, built mainly around the talents of musical director Tyler Yarema and others from the Port Credit area that Chris has introduced to Meaford. This time around it will be all local talent, some of the best that our area offers, under the musical direction of keyboard player John Hume.
For each member of this tribute band, The Band and their iconic farewell concert both hold special significance.
“It was a magic moment in music history,” says Chris Scerri, “that allowed for some of the most influential modern day artists to get together for the ultimate Jam.” He adds that the DVD of the concert movie is one which, “I can watch time and time again, and continue to be inspired by both the musical talents and the show itself.”
The Last Waltz was the name Robbie Robertson gave to the farewell concert of The Band, performed on American Thanksgiving Day in 1976 at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. A film of the concert by Martin Scorcese was released in 1978 and was hailed by film critic Michael Wilmington as “the greatest rock concert movie ever made – and maybe the best rock movie, period” Time bears that out, with the influence of the movie being felt almost forty years later.
