From Ode Lady Whitehouse

Al wanted to give you all a bit of a recap of the NU2U Fashion Show (which is great since I missed it... sad for me).

Hi all! The musical fashion show parade and big bake sale was a huge success, the house was packed, we had a blast! The event raised close to $800 for the Roseway Hospital Auxiliary. Even tho' I missed performing at the open mic I got to recite an ode about the show with Cathy Cooke picking beside me. She made me feel like I was doing an Arlo Guthrie tune, very cool. And when we played Melanie Doane's instrumental, Mel's Rock Pile, for the finale, I had a blast keeping time to it with my wooden spoons and Cheryl Nickerson was awesome playing air with that pink fiddle we borrowed from June at the Town office. Her husband, Scott (RIP), would have loved seeing his 99 cent eBay fiddle used for the show. I know it made us all feel good, thanks Juney!! The whole event was extremely empowering, not likely to be forgotten anytime soon. Humble thanks to all involved...Ode'Lady Whitehouse

WOW! That is all I can say! Well... not really so read on.

Hey Harmony Bazaar Fans

What a great week-end!

Friday night gave us a bit of grief with the rain and threats of thunder and lighting. BUT..... we moved the gals and some guys (yes Ken, Mike and Creighton you too) indoors at the Lockeport Volunteer Fire Department's hall and it was great. Everyone was dry and warm and the music was once again more than anyone could have hoped for. Christine Crawford hosted a fun and powerful song writer's circle with local women Gina Symonds and Kate Surette (by the way Kate your Dad is super funny) and one of my new favorite singers Norma MacDonald. Irish Mythen once again brought the house to their feet with her well crafted and delivered songs and quick wit. Melanie Doane and her super cool band of awesome guys had everyone singing along and I heard many people saying "is there an instrument that woman can't play". Truly I don't think so although I didn't see a tuba on stage.

Saturday kicked off with a fashion show to support our local hospital with committee member and wonder Ode Lady Alice Whitehouse in charge. The Sobeys Open Mic was filled with locals strutting their stuff. As I ran (literally) from the main stage to the workshops to the children's stage I realized that a dress was a poor choice and next year will opt for sneakers. I didn't get to hear everyone but let me tell you about a few I thought were just amazing. Hello WOVEN!!!!!! This all women band knocked me over. They were fantastic! Lianne Perry enthralled the little ones at the playground with her interactive story telling, and Madison Violet's advice for women thinking about touring internationally was funny and very educational. Excellent tip in case female musicians are booked to perform and they are told not to sing or play their instruments, you might just want to "get out of Dodge".

Saturday night was everything we hoped it would be. Christina Martin offered music from her popular Two Hearts CD (which hangs out in the CD player in my car), Madison Violet continued to grow a loyal following on the South Shore (back from our first Harmony Bazaar). Rita MacNeil's performance was as one man in the community of Lockeport offered "the show of his lifetime". Harmony Bazaar only ended yesterday but as I went to Lockeport today to finish up some site stuff I was stopped by almost everyone I met to tell me how much they enjoyed Rita's performance and that they were so "proud" that we brought her to our community. No Problem it truly was a pleasure!

On Sunday I walked across the beach with my family to the Morning Sun Ceremony. Cathy, Wanda, Pat, and Tricia combined gospel and Aboriginal music in a way that made you feel connected to them and all those present (note to all I love to hug!!!)
The youth stage gave the audience a chance to see our local and not so local future festival headliners. Tiffany and Jessica only 10 years old brought "IT" and wowed us all. Molly Thomason is a total old soul and I am a huge fan of hers (I would love to see her again).

It was a great and full week-end of music and memories. Last night I was in asleep by 6:30pm (better than 6am) and back at it this morning. We are already working on Harmony Bazaar 2010 so keep checking us out.

Later
Errin
ps Pics will posted soon!

Sobey's Open Mic

Here is the press release that will give you all kinds of info about the Open Mic if you are feeling like you want to get up on stage!!!

Peace

Errin

Perform... get gigs... meet other musicians? The Sobey’s Open Mic at Harmony Bazaar 2009 is the place to be!!

The Sobey’s Open Mic, Saturday, July 25, 2009, is part of an already full slate of amazing talent and welcomes all types of artists to the Harmony Bazaar stage. This event at the festival provides the chance for novice singers / songwriters / musicians to perform and promote themselves in front of a live audience. “It is a great atmosphere with a full professional sound rig”, states Sobey’s Open Mic host Julie Balish, “open mics are a great way to try out new material, or to check out your local scene”.

The Sobey’s Open Mic at Harmony Bazaar furthers creates a “positive festival with a creative vibe where music lovers can gather” Julie Balish offers. The Sobey’s Open Mic is a great way to develop and build on performance skills. With such well know performers as Rita MacNeil and Melanie Doane, it will be a very popular event; giving those participating in the Sobey’s Open Mic an audience to “strut their stuff”.

Time permitting; each performer / act who signs up will have 10-12 minutes on stage. To sign up for this event performers are to be on site at Seacaps Memorial Park in Lockeport on Saturday July 25^th from 10:30am until 11:30am; stage time is on a first come first serve bases. The Sobey’s Open Mic will be from 11:30am until 1:00pm.

Original music or cover tunes are more than welcome. This is an acoustic session so please try to keep the instrumentation to a basic level. Full drum kits and using your own amps, effects pedals, etc. make it tough to do a quick changeover hence giving less time for others to play. Similarly, we are not set up for singing along with recorded tracks.

This is a great event so come along and enjoy some fantastic live music.

For more information you can contact Julie Balish at Julie.balish@ns.sympatico.ca or 656-2445.

Beer Garden Update

Beer Garden at Lockeport Rocks was a huge success. By huge I mean that we sold all of the booze and many people were just a little buzzed!

The bands were great! The AC/DC tribute band was loud just the way a AC/DC tribute band should be... I loved it!! I tell you if Fran can hunt down a Quiet Riot tribute band for next year I think the town will need to give out ear plugs ;P

Thanks to all of the supporters of the fundraiser and we will put the monies raised to good things!! Now I went home and planted some beer bottles with my tomatoes and nothing is growing yet!

Later

Errin

Beer!!! Now that I have your attention! Come to Lockeport Rocks. Harmony Bazaar is hosting the beer garden

Hey:

Just want to let you know that a bunch of committee members will be serving beer at the June 30th Lockeport Rocks concert. See Faded Blue, Dirty Deeds, and the Hupman Brothers and us!!!! :)

Should be a great show and a fun time. Hope to see you there.

I hope to find out how I can get beer to grow in my garden ;P

Toodles

Errin

Harmony Bazaar 2009

June 16, 2009

Plans are well underway for this year's festival and conference. I have decided to start blogging for those interested in the festival so they can stay up to date with all of the happenings for July as well as throughout the year. I have never blogged before so bear with me!