June 18, 2009
Bruce Peninsula, Apple Crisp Music Festival, Next Church, Kingston, 20 March 2009
photo taken on May 1, 2009, at the Albion Hotel, Guelph by sidrguelph.
It is approaching the summer solstice in Kingston, which means that before we begin the long march back into darkness, we celebrate with the Skeleton Park Music Festival. Things are already underway, they were kicked off on Wednesday, in fact, and continue tomorrow night with an Into the Magic Soundbox event and with the main festivities taking place on Saturday. Of all the great acts who are going to perform during this free morning-to-dusk event, I am most looking forward to seeing Bruce Peninsula live again.
Bruce Peninsula will undoubtedly being riding into town with spirits high: they are about to start their Western Canada tour in Kingston (as logical a place as any) and have just been long-listed for the 2009 Polaris Prize for their stunning LP A Mountain is a Mouth. While the $20000 cheque isn’t made out in their name quite yet, I would not be at all surprised if they continue into the final round.
Bruce Peninsula make music that is born out of bogs and fields, oceans and mountains. They invoke ancient places in songs that sound like traditional spirituals but express modern, worldly concerns. They do amazing things with their many voices. There are stand out individual sounds, the growl of Neil Haverty and power and rich vocals of Mischa Bower, which are two identifiable voices, but it is their collective voice which is so memorable. Layers of vocals are presented, softly, sweetly. They build upon each other, merging only to break apart in ecstatic howls. Abusive percussion drives it all, with bells and chimes, claps and guitars being propelled along. Melody and harmony exist cheek by jowl with stomps and shouts. It is raw, emotional, effecting. The sound is old – spirituals are not exactly burning up the top-forty charts – but these sounds, and their delivery by the hydra-headed group, are nevertheless fresh and invigorating.
As mentioned, the band is about to hit the road out west and some of you lucky folks are going to see them with the amazing Rock Plaza Central and others are going to be graced by Jon-Rae Fletcher, in addition to BP, both of whom have received the b(oot)log seal of approval. You would be silly not to go out and see them live. So go! Full dates at BP’s site/space.
20 Jun 2009 – Skeleton Park, Kingston
28 Jun 2009 – Bruce Trail @ Poor Pilgrim Island Treasure Hunt, Toronto
7 Jul 2009 – Pyramid Cabaret w/ RPC, Winnipeg
8 Jul 2009 – Walker’s Nightclub w/ RPC, Saskatoon
9 Jul 2009 – Brixx Bar w/ RPC, Edmonton
10 Jul 2009 – Dicken’s Pub w/ RPC, Calgary
11 Jul 2009 – Canmore Hotel w/ RPC, Canmore
13 Jul 2009 – Biltmore Cabaret w/ Jon-Rae, Vancouver
14 Jul 2009 – Logan’s w/ Jon-Rae , Victoria
15 Jul 2009 – Habitat w/ Jon-Rae, Kelowna
17 Jul 2009 – O’Hanlan’s, Regina
To get a bit of a sense of the awesomeness of BP live, I offer you their stunning set from the Apple Crisp Music Fest in March. Come out to Skeleton Park this Saturday. Don’t worry about the rain – you’re not sugar, you won’t melt. But you will enjoy the music.
Bruce Peninsula, Apple Crisp Music Festival, Next Church, Kingston, 20 March 2009
1. Inside / Outside
2. Steamroller
3. drank out of a pickle jar (talk)
4. Shanty Song
5. just don’t buy steve’s cd (talk)
6. Shutters
7. Seven inch (talk)
8. Lift ‘Em Up
9. small confession (talk)
10. 2nd 4th World War
11. singalong (talk)
12. Weave Myself a Dress
13. Crabapples
14. do it all over again (talk)
15. The Chain (Fleetwood Mac cover)
Be sure to buy AMiaM and the fabulous 7″ (where you can find ‘Lift ‘Em Up’) from Zunior.
June 9, 2009
…and we’re back (with info about SPMF)
After a longer than expected hiatus, b(oot)log is back up and running. So go on and download away.
I have nothing new for you except to say that Kingston & area residents should go to The Mansion tonight for the Velvet Underground tribute night where all songs off of “Loaded” will be played by local artists.
See the AppleCrisp site for more details. All proceeds will be going to the Skeleton Park Music Festival, running June 17-19. And speaking of which, the line up has finally been announced. Here’s the poster
June 5, 2009
Server Down temporarily (I hope)
For those of you who might be vainly trying to listen to the stuff I’ve posted here, you will notice that my hostname is apparently invalid. The hosting people are apparently working on it (it was supposed to be fixed by 10:30 this morning) so hopefully we will be back up and running before to long. So hold tight. And I might even write something here to celebrate the return of service (don’t hold your breath – it is sunny out and the porch calls…).
Oh, since I am posting something I might as well post about live music and recommend that you go see Flowers of Hell tommorow at the Living Room (in The Mansion). It will be good times.
B(oot)log 