This originally ran on October 3rd, 2011
In many ways, the population currently residing on this mudball are from two different worlds when it comes to music. Some components are time-worn and exist in both, and some are at loggerheads with one another, creating a sizeable chasm between the two that is much deeper and wider than even the fabled ‘generation gap’ of the ’60s and ’70s.
One down, two to go… Angharad Drake, as far as I know (I mean, I wasn’t there, Nanaimo being a lo-o-ong walk from Oregon), finished her one gig on Vancouver Island and is set to play two more in Vancouver before leaving for her homeland, Australia. Those will happen (barring God and Act of Congress— and we have seen how Congress has been acting lately) on Friday and Saturday, June 23rd and 24th. On Friday, she will play Trees Organic Coffee and Roasting House and on Saturday, The Heatley. Here is a sample for your listening enjoyment.
As bizarre as even I still consider this lil’ factoid to be, Yours Quite Truly honestly did spend the majority of the Reagan administration touring Canada’s hepper lounges and ski resorts as one-fifth of the one and only (…ah-hemm: but AUTHORIZED, I’ll have you know) Beach Boys “tribute” act known as Endless Summer.
So there!
Tomorrow night, Nanaimo, it all goes down. The very first Canadian performance of Australia’s folk-rockin’ Angharad Drake, and boy do I wish I could be there. Drake has been bending ears down in Oz for the past few years and is slowly developing a following as loyal as anywhere on the musical scene. No SXSWs or Bonnaroos for her. She is working her way up from unknown, but those will be part of her circuit next time around.
A Message from Bob – Thanks to my computer’s ongoing Carnival of Ever Changing Problems, this article has become a three parter instead of two. The pictures for this and the conclusion of the Sgt Pepper and Beatles Dissertation (no longer ‘Short’) will run as soon as possible next week, when this damn machine stays stable…wish me luck.
The past week I have been revisiting some of my earlier DBAWIS columns and am shocked at how few people (as far as I can tell) know about them, even now. When I write about musicians, it is usually personal, both the person or people and the music, and I feel that sometimes they are more water under the bridge than anything. No one sends notes asking about someone I wrote about in 2012 unless something has happened since and there are so many truly talented people who deserve recognition. So this week, I am going to point toward artists you may have missed whom I think are above the norm in terms of talent and/or personality. And maybe I owe a few of them money, but that is neither here nor there.
Once again, Life has conspired to delay a column, this one being Part Two of the Sgt. Pepper/Beatles thread. It will be posted this coming Friday.
In the meantime, here are some related items from past columns, a little more back story for the uninitiated, and some amusing pictures that prove Sgt. Pepper has always been an obsession with some people…especially musicians.
