Tag Archives: Heartwood Concert Hall
Amelia Curran Brings Her Watershed Tour to Heartwood
Amelia Curran and her band will be at Heartwood Concert Hall this Friday, Nov. 3rd. This JUNO winning artist is touring to support her release earlier this year of her eighth album called “Watershed”.
The tour hasn’t been without its mishaps. When she arrived at Heathrow in June to begin her UK tour, she was denied entry. She was told that there were technical complications with her sponsorship visa and she wasn’t cleared to legally work in the U.K. She had no choice but to cancel the tour and head back home.
For many artists this kind of setback would have been devastating but she took it in stride. “What are you going to do?” she shrugged, “Circumstances are out of your control.” Amelia Curran has bigger issues on her mind.
While celebrated for the depth of her songs, with press comments like “Curran packs so much meaning into each line that the listener barely has time to register each clever lyric before the next zinger comes along,” she has an agenda. Long before national TV ads encouraged people to speak out about mental illness, Amelia Curran made it a central part of her own purpose. In 2014 with some friends she established an organization called It’s Mental to lobby governments for better mental-health services. A public service video she made to bring attention to the cause, which included a number of Newfoundland celebrities, had the effect of bringing the issue to the forefront of political consciousness in her home province.
The Thursday Outlook – October 26 to 31, 2017
You don’t have to run through the jungle this weekend to enjoy the music of Credence Clearwater Revival. Classic Albums Live is back this Saturday at Meaford Hall. This is the large group of professional musicians assembled by Craig Martin that has been recreating note-for-note albums since he invented the concept in 2003. They have already presented Elton John’s Greatest Hits and Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours and this time around it’s CCR. The difference between this show and other tributes is that the emphasis is entirely on the sound, without any effort to recreate the original band’s stage act. You can close your eyes and pretend you’re listening to vinyl.
If you can’t get tickets to Meaford Hall on Saturday, bring your own CCR vinyl to BYOV Night at The Red Door. Come in costume!
On Friday night in Owen Sound, Heartwood presents Bootleg Credence, a four piece rock band with two sets of CCR and John Fogarty covers to reproduce the excitement of the original band. This sold out show is in support of Chapman House, Grey Bruce Hospice.
On Friday evening the music of Claude Bolling will be performed at the L. E. Shore Library in Thornbury by the Chantry Island Quartet. Claude Bolling is a French jazz pianist famous for his collaborations with classical players like Jean-Pierre Rampal. They had a popular hit with their recording of Bolling’s Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano Trio, which the Chantry Island Quartet will perform on Friday. This mix of Baroque elegance and modern swing spent over 500 weeks on the Billboard charts. Rampal’s part will be played by Meryl Gillmore, principal flute with the Georgian Bay Symphony Orchestra, along with Adrian Little on piano, Mike Grace on bass and Stephen Wood on drums.
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.
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.”
