I went to a concert last night at Bishop's University. The draw was to see Harry Manx, a blues slide guitar player with a world wide sound. I'd heard him on his recordings before, but had never seen him live. He began the set and I knew at once he was a genius. Cool, wry, humourous with a growl to his voice I really liked. Then he got up and walked off-stage Michael Kaeshammer, a 25 year old piano player, came on next and sat down at the piano. I'd never heard of him before, but as he began his set of boogie/jazz pieces, I realised he was a genius as well. His virtuosity and humour was amazing. Someone entered the hall late. He stopped and asked if she could find her seat or needed help. He then said he's begin the piece he had started at the beginning, just for her. Then, finished his 4th piece, he got up and walked off stage.
The lights came on. Intermission after only 7 pieces of music...? What's with that?
When we re-entered the hall after the break, both musicians were on-stage. It was two genii at play. I was totally blown away by the music, by their ambiance and their ability to play off and with each other, at their constant interplay and musical jabs and winks. As an example of Harry's humour, he suddenly got serious and confided in the audience that he had recently signed a 3 CD deal with Columbia Records. The audience expressed their delight, obviously pleased that there would be more recordings coming our way soon. Then Harry announced the deal had only cost him $ 0.99 if he buys 3 more CDs during the coming year... He totally caught us off guard! They played forever, "We've nowhere else to go and nothing else to do..." Harry said. They played seven encore calls. It was an amazing evening. See them if you possibly can!
Oh, Harry was born on the Isle of Man, the site of a recent kayaking event. That's the tie-in to the blog, not to mention the guitar aspect.
Photo from: http://www.1uptravel.com/flags
Ilatsiak Reaches Episode 24!
Did you know I have a 'sister blog' called Canadian Ctories? The current story I've been writing and posting is called 'Ilatsiak'. It is a tale set in the central Canadian arctic at the time of Sir John Franklin's voyage in the mid 1800's. I posted the latest episode today. If you're interested in the last Franklin voyage, where 127 men and two naval ships mysteriously disappeared into the arctic winter gales, never to be seen again, then this story might interest you. It ties historical fact with a bit of fiction and will provide you with a surprise ending... Enjoy!
2 comments:
you do like some good music, thanks for the introductions to it.
and I have been following the Ilatsiak stories. I'm sure I saw on televisiona re-enactment documentary about what may have happened to those ships, I dont know why 'mysteriously dissapeared' though, they had no maps, didn't know where they were going, didn't take enough food, had no back up, were of the opinion that the Inuit were savages and its a bit chilly in the arctic, not surprised they dissapeared!!
You probably wish that your third leg could work properly:-) Hell, you're getting too.....
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