Going public

by Holly Gordon

Waking Rich Aucoin is difficult to do with a phone call. His cell phone rings a little longer than should be usual, but instead of voicemail there’s a groggy voice on the other line, both friendly and sleepy.

A few questions and answers back and forth, twice as many yawns (quickly followed by apologies) and then Aucoin asks:

“What time is it? Twelve my time. See, I should totally be awake right now. This is ridiculous.”

Words and music

by Allan Wigney

It’s Bluebird North time again. Four talented performers will come together at the Live Lounge this evening for the latest installment in a long-running series presented by the Songwriters Association of Canada and billed as “a songwriters’ showcase.”

And again, local Bluebird North programmer Amanda Rheaume has dared to throw a wondrous wildcard into the traditionally folkie-friendly proceedings. Last fall, it was rootsy rocker Andy Swan, not exactly your standard folk singer. Tonight, the ante is upped as spoken word artist Q the Romantic Revolutionary stirs it up in the company of singer-songwriters Anders Drerup, Annabelle Chvostek and Brock Zeman.

Snailhouse's monumental moments

by Holly Gordon

There isn’t a better time than the middle of winter to sit down and listen to Mike Feuerstack caress his songs into being under his Snailhouse moniker. Unhurried, melodic, not brooding but ever thoughtful, his songs are artfully constructed works best enjoyed while the snow is falling and the distractions are minimal.

It’s fortunate, then, that Halifax-based In the Dead of Winter festival travels to Wakefield in February. Tonight’s Snailhouse show ‑ with Laurent Bourque opening and Rae Spoon afterward ‑ opens the weekend-long alternative to Winterlude.

Migration songs

by Holly Gordon

Louis-Philippe Robillard is preparing to migrate. The francophone singer-songwriter takes flight on Monday to Iqaluit, Nunavut, to spend almost two months with his father, followed by a canoe trip from Ottawa to Inuvik, Northwest Territories, that will take Robillard and his friends about six months to complete.

While his movements don’t follow any bird migration patterns, the Ottawa native does feel a certain kinship. This month marks a year since the release of Robillard’s debut album, Le café des oiseaux— a title inspired by his winged companions.

Down in the Valley

by Allan Wigney

Mom sang with The Family Brown. Dad was a Prescott Brother. With brother Kaylen, the third-generation Ottawa Valley musician has done her roots proud, creating original music in the family tradition as Prescott. And for much of the past year, she has literally served as Emmylou Harris to Anders Drerup’s Gram Parsons in the stage play Grievous Angel.

One could be forgiven for anticipating the debut album by Kelly Prescott to be a country record.

Counting the hours

by Holly Gordon

Eleven o’clock: Singer-songwriter Andy Swan sings, karaoke-style, to the full nine minutes of his new EP, Lou Reed; Colin Vincent makes Swan a pancake breakfast on a hot plate in the nine-minute time limit.

Fast forward to five o’clock: Swan sings the same nine minutes of his EP; a friend of his puts on a slide show for the allotted time.

Six o’clock: Swan sings the final karaoke round of his EP; drinks are involved in this last version of performance art for — you guessed it — nine minutes.

New York Story

by Allan Wigney

Zack Lober, Montreal, Que. Greg Ritchie, Saint John, NB. John Escreet, London, England. Lars Dietrich, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Samir Zarif, Houston, Texas.

Some four years ago, when the above-named gentlemen found each other in Manhattan, they must have felt destined either to form a band or star in a reality show. Or both.

Being musicians, they opted for the former option. And as jazz musicians, it’s unlikely they were offered the latter. No matter. Separately, as in-demand players on the New York scene, and together as the touring outfit The Story, bassist Lober, drummer Ritchie, pianist Escreet and saxophonists Dietrich and Zarif have in short order established themselves as forces for innovation in contemporary jazz.

The Mansion family

by Allan Wigney

To hear Muddy Watters tell it, one might think he and brother Danny constructed their latest album around the title.

“We were approached by a record label in Montreal to do this album there,” the Watters Brothers guitarist relates. “So we went down there and recorded five or six songs in a couple of days. But it just didn’t seem right to us to do a CD called Rock and Roll Mansion, not actually in the Rock and Roll Mansion. It just didn’t feel right.”

Experimental tendencies

by Allan Wigney

“I play in multiple bands,” Jamie Kronick says with a smile. “I’m one of those guys.”

The local percussionist is being modest. In four short years, he has when not backing Laurent Bourque or keeping the beat for Channel One been an architect, an aviator and now a paramedic.

He has had help, notably from guitarist Jordan Allen, who first partnered with Kronick when the latter’s band The Architects were rechristened Travel By Owl. By the time of that quartet’s demise in 2008, Allen and Kronick were already engaged in a new project.

Avenging the Yellow Jacket

by Holly Gordon

If you don’t know of Yellow Jacket Avenger, it would be tough to stumble across his music right now. The moniker worn by Geoffrey Pye, in all forms of superhero avenging and various acts of creating and producing music, followed the singer-songwriter in a move with his now three-year-old daughter and wife more than two years ago to a town about half an hour north of Wakefield. At the start of this new year, both the moniker and Pye are at a creative stalemate.

Waxing weird

by Holly Gordon

The opening of a weaved chrysalis on the stage of a music show is a rare occurrence. It is with that opening, then, that Chris Adeney, the human face behind Wax Mannequin, shows his true shape.

“It’s going to be probably pretty noisy,” Adeney describes, detailing Friday’s Irene’s show. “This chrysalis opens up toward the end.”

This what?