Tommy Emmanuel launches Pan-Canadian Tour · Friday May 16, 2014 by colin newell
This week, my nephew William (an aspiring guitar player), and I (a guitar slinger since the mid-70’s) had the pleasure of seeing finger style guitar player Tommy Emmanuel – in person at the Mcpherson Playhouse in Victoria, B.C.
Arguably one of the hardest working solo acts in the business, Tommy has been touring for over 5 decades. Starting his career at age 4 in a family rich with musical heritage, Tommy was playing professionally by the age of 6 in a family band and by 10 years of age had already toured Australia.
With a Chet Atkins “Certified Guitar Player” title (and I know of no other players who have this accreditation…) and 2 Grammy nominations, Tommy’s 7 year stint of touring a minimum of 300 dates a year is truly breath taking and staggering. It is no wonder that his skill with the 6 string guitar borders on the unnatural and nearly impossible. His evening show, comprised of 2 1.5 hour sets, left everyone (particularly the musicians in the audience) staggered and, like me, elated and exhausted at the same time – witnessing the level of showmanship and raw focused talent.
As mentioned above, there is a major influence from Chet Atkins, who was clearly a leader in guitar playing technique from the 1940’s through executive production roles in the 70’s – and his influences (which are readily audible in Tommy Emmanuel’s style include Merle Travis, Django Reinhardt, George Barnes, Les Paul and Jerry Reed.) And in Tommy’s show, he displays all of these with perfection and aplomb. In fact, some of the delivery is so rapid fire that you often are not sure if Tommy is drawing on some historic influence or cooking it up on the fly and in the moment. Either way, it is guitar fireworks like you have never seen.
Being an acoustic and electric guitar player, with a (I think) modest level of accomplishment at an intermediate level, I felt like 1.5 hours of Tommy’s playing would be perfect for me — because I am there for the joy of the music and the learning. In fact, a guitar workshop (which he does frequently) would have been a better choice. Fact is, I am more of a technique technician than an actual performer – meaning I spend way more time hammering out technique than actual melodic playing. But for the fan of Tommy and his art, his show was engaging, long on humility and genuine engagement and light on the grandstanding typical of this level of artist. His sense of humor infused all but the most serious of tunes – and there were a few… and I will not spoil the surprise as this is, after all, tour date number one.
Not surprisingly, the McPherson theater was a full house – what was odd, however, was the age group of the audience – 65+. There were even 90 years young folk at the show and as many guitar players as I know, many were clearly absent. And upon additional investigation, I found that many of my guitar playing friends who worship Tommy’s skill set and live shows, discovered that the local show was not very well locally publicized. Even I kind of fell upon some tickets that my nephew had purchased months ago (that his guitar teacher had tipped him off to). And by the time I had clued in and checked the theater online ticket listings, there were only singles available. Which is not a problem for the artist, because the room was full. I guess in an ere of social media, when one wants to follow an artists tour, they need to subscribe to their feed – whether it is facebook, e-mail or twitter. Whatever works.
Anyway – for the rest of you Canadian guitar players out there that want to catch Tommy Emmanuel live, head over to the tour date page – His shows feature a lot of his original material, many of the cover tunes that he interprets oh so well, and some humor and story telling thrown in for good value. As I quipped to my nephew, “Everything I can play on the guitar, and I mean everything I know… Tommy can play in about 5 minutes at break neck speed…”
I have seen many, many YouTube videos featuring Tommy Emmanuel and his live performances are hotter than anything you can watch on a screen — if such a thing is possible.
So grab a ticket. And enjoy! And happy guitar playing!
The Urban CBC Chickens of Greater Victoria · Monday April 28, 2014 by colin newell
Let them chicken’s run!
I consider myself an avid CBC Radio fan — and recently when a colleague told me about their urban farm in Victoria and how they named their chickens after local regional CBC Personalities – well, I could not resist pitching it to the local CBC station on 90.5
In the photo above, there’s Carol Off, (the black one), Jo-Ann Roberts (the gray one) and Anna Maria Tremonti (the red one)!
This podcast (interview) is around 4 minutes long – so strap yourself in.
Hats off to the CBC for listening to their listeners and knowing when a story has wings… and in this case, folksy charm.
Podcast – If you cannot see the audio player above, click here for the mp3 download.
Book Launch - Food Artisans of Vancouver Island & the Gulf Islands · Monday March 31, 2014 by colin newell
Andrea and I are going to a book launch at the Victoria Public Market at The Hudson on Thursday, April 24th —
and I thought it would be a great opportunity to coordinate an evening out of sampling food and drink in an open and friendly environment — and throw in a book launch for good measure.
As it happens, CBC Food Matters host and food journalist Don Genova is launching his first book,
Food Artisans of Vancouver Island & the Gulf Islands. This evening event will feature Don talking about his book with
a vast array of special guests — bearing food and drink.
We have attended cooking classes with Don as well as various food history and food security events -
Don is a very well informed food guy – and he is genuinely engaging on one of the subjects we love the most: Food!
Since this is something that most of us can relate to, what better opportunity than to get a few faces from the Victoria together to explore the market and sample some of the fare that will be provided as part of this ticketed event?
In attendance, showcasing their culinary and brewed expertise:
Organic Fair Sodas of Cobble Hill
Dad’s West Coast Awesome Sauces – Hot sauces of Lake Cowichan
Cowichan Pasta – pasta – Shawnigan Lake
Golda’s Pesto, Mill Bay
Tree Island Yogurt – Courtenay
Venturi-Schulze Vinegars and Wines – Cobble Hill
Sea Cider – Cider, Saanich
Merridale Estate Cidery – ciders and spirits (and anything else they make there) – Cobble Hill
The Creamery at Cheese Pointe Farm – cheeses – Cowichan Bay
David Mincey and his wife Paige – Chocolate and Canning – Victoria (see below for more info)
Spinnakers, Victoria, will be sampling vinegar, beers, and shrubs (a drinking vinegar)
Perk up with Drumroaster Coffee, Cobble Hill, serving espressos and macchiatos made from their special Don Genova Roast
Chef and foraging expert Bill Jones will demo some recipes from his new cookbook, The Deerholme Foraging Book.
http://www.deerholme.com/
David Mincey will be talking about Chocolate. http://victoriapublicmarket.com/preservation-foods-chocolate-project-at-the-hudson/
All this is included in the price of admission – $50 for a couple / $35 for singles and 1 signed copy of Don’s book is included.
Bonus – Early bird ticket buyers (first 50) will receive a specially-labeled Bean-to-Bar chocolate bar from Organic Fair! Be sure to select early bird option on the event ticket site if you see that it is still available!
The Ticket event link for the Don Genova book launch is here
Additional vendors of the market in attendance will be:
Ravenstone Farm – Local Artisan Meats, with special guest Cory Pelan of the Whole Beast Salumeria
Salt Spring Island Cheese
Silk Road Tea
Cowichan Bay Seafood
The Spice Trader – (Vancouver Island Salt Company)
A bit more about Don Genova:
Don Genova is a Cobble Hill-based award-winning freelance journalist specializing in food and travel. He also teaches cooking classes, and courses in food and travel writing and sustainable gastronomy. His stories on radio, television, in print and on the web share the fascinating backgrounds of farmers and food artisans passionate about what they raise, grow and produce.
His latest radio column with CBC Victoria is called ‘Food Matters’, and delves into the world of sustainable eating in British Columbia. His first book, Food Artisans of Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands, was published in April 2014 by TouchWood Editions.
Don earned a Masters of Food Culture from the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Italy in 2007. He also holds a Bachelor of Environmental Science from the University of Waterloo and is an Honours Graduate of the Humber College Radio Broadcasting Program.
MC at the event will be CBC’s own Jo-Ann Roberts! Join us, it will be fun!
The Ticket event link for the Don Genova book launch is here
Colin Newell is a Victoria area resident, and long time writer on the subject of food, adults beverages and coffee culture – he website Coffeecrew.com has been online since 1996.
Coming to Cobble Hill - Amazing Pizza - chef and name sought · Monday March 24, 2014 by colin newell
Who doesn’t love a good pizza place in the neighborhood? You know the kind of home grown, mom and pop operation that makes their dough in house from genuine Italian pizza flour…
and bakes the pizza in a 500-650 degree oven… in and out of the oven in 3 minutes or less.
To be savored in a comfortable pizzeria or taken home to enjoy…
Where the pizza recipes are not your standard multiple toppings, but healthy and fresh ingredients from a menu designed by an actual award winning chef and food expert?
Well, there is one such place only weeks from opening on the Cowichan Bay turn-off on the Island Highway – in the Valley View Mall – where the Country Grocer and Drumroaster Coffee are located…
They need two things:
They need a name.
And they need a Pizza chef!
The name needs to be short, catchy and original – and they are putting out a little contest to reward the person that comes up with a name that sticks.
And they need a passionate and motivated self-starter Pizza chef that is going to love the rural life in the Cowichan Valley as well as the upscale vibe of this new pizza joint.
Jump in with your ideas in the comment field or send me a note!
