Paper ballot returns for 2014 municipal election

What better musical gift to enjoy this time of year than a concert at the St. Lawrence Acoustic Stage featuring six exciting artists.

The board of directors of the Stage promise it will be a memorable musical show case Saturday, December 14,  at 7 p.m., at the Morrisburg Meeting Centre.

Returning to the Stage are area musicians Stephanie Coleman and Claude Plamondon.

“I hope to be showcasing all new songs,” said Stephanie Coleman. “My songs are related to every day life and relationships; I tend to write from a more real place and often have personal feelings or experiences embedded within a song. I feel that my style of writing lyrics has grown. And I’m extremely glad to be coming back to the Stage.”

Claude Plamondon looks “forward to getting back to the Stage since it’s been a while and that venue is pretty special.” 

Plamondon describes his sound as composite. “I grew up with many different genres of music… but I do have a strong liking for harmonies and guitar music. I’m performing some of my original songs (joined on stage by accordionist Bill Sypes), I hope the audience will enjoy. I find that as I write songs, I feel a need to sing them, especially if the subject matter is personal and close to home.” Claude has been  recording, and performing with Cornwall’s Winston Marley.

Sandra Whitworth of the Stage describes local musician Keegan Larose as “a bit folk and a bit pop.” Still a very up and coming young artist, Larose began playing guitar in grade seven, eventually graduating to solo work in 2008. He has performed at both open mics and organized venues in the Cornwall area. He now does mostly solo work, and will bring his unique sound to his debut at the Morrisburg stage.

Jamie Heath, who also hales from Cornwall, is a “blues man.”  “I play the blues because I love the groove,” Heath explained. “The images that appear in my mind when I sing and play the blues are tangible. In other words, I feel the blues in my bones. The blues is my form of expression.” 

A professional musician for over 20 years, Heath recorded with the MAMMOTH Blues Band and Black Egg Blues, and teaches at Limelight Music Academy. 

“Blues is about the truth of real feelings, feelings of love and loss, feelings of happiness and joy, in fact every human emotion.” 

Musician Amanda Bon, who will be joined on stage by gifted guitarist Danny Artuso, comes from Ottawa. She formed her own band, The Outskirts, in 2010.

While critics and audiences might seek to define Bon’s sound, she has her own unique view. “We take equal parts folk, country and bluegrass and throw them in a blender. (My music) is none of those things, but all of those things at the same time.  I am guilty (I say that jokingly) of continuing the long standing tradition of often writing about love in one way or another.   But my new album has a theme of “homeness”, coming home, being home. I  also write about broader themes of life, people and relationships.” 

She finds it difficult to describe her vocal style, but has heard words like soothing, pure and gentle applied to her voice. She laughs that she is more like “old fashioned country singers, minus the southern accent,”

Debuting at the St. Lawrence Stage, from Port Elgin, is Ben Turcotte, just in his late teens, and, according to Sandra Whitworth, “winning song writing and other awards all over the place.” 

His style has been described as a mix of genres. “I really enjoy many types of music. I play in a Blues-Rock band: I also play a lot of Jazz: I just finished producing a track for a friend’s rap mixtape. I really do enjoy folk and blues the most, and I think that’s where most of my songs start.”

Studying music at university, Turcotte finds the inspiration for his original writing by exploring the “many different layers to dark things. The things I learn usually come out in my songs. Many other songs come from dreams. Dreams are fascinating.”

Tickets for the St. Lawrence Intimate Acoustics concert  on December 14, 7 p.m., are all $10. Contact www.st-lawrencestage.com for information.

[…]

Get ready, members of Canada’s Dragons’ Den. Derrick Jansen, Brett Fodey, Liam Adams and T.J. Barnhardt may only be in grade six at Iroquois Public School, but they already have serious entrepreneurial plans, and an eye to saving the environment at the same time.

The four students of Madame Chantal Lacroix have entered the Innovation, Creativity, Entrepreneurship competition sponsored by the Upper Canada District School Board which will take place on May 1, 2015. They could take home a $500 prize in the junior category should they win.

The challenge set by ICE: How Can You Change the World?

Working on computers, paper,  and the classroom SmartBoard, Derrick, T.J., Liam and Brett have designed a unique web page. Every Monday, following research and planning, the site posts a new environmental challenge. By accepting and acting on the challenge, consumers could actively affect their community.

“Something like global warning is just too big for us to deal with directly,” explained Derrick. “We decided to centre on our own community.”

“As part of our page, we put up quotes which show people how they can change their own environment one step at a time,” said Liam.

For example, the challenge issued two weeks ago on the page had to do with shopping habits. “When you go to the grocery store,” Brett explained, “pick up at least one thing to put in the Food Bank Bin. That directly helps people in this area.”

“Another week, we challenged people to choose a different way to go to work,” said Derrick. “The point is to find a new way to look at the scenery and to rediscover our local area. That will make you happier, and nicer to be around, and you will get more done at work.”

“Brain storming, problem solving, this whole project is student driven,” said Mme. Lacroix. “All the teacher can do is assist the students.” 

To win the May 1 competition, the four students must go on stage alone before a judging panel. On stage they must “make a (personal) pitch.” While they have access to a projector for PowerPoint, a microphone, and the right to bring in prototypes or product samples, the boys must directly address  the audience, and the judges. 

They have two minutes to set up on stage, and 10 minutes to present. Following their presentation, they must respond to questions from the judges, just like the format in Dragons’s Den. Later, they will learn if their pitch has been successful.

“We are really nervous,” T.J. said, “but we are working on our script and we will practice a lot.What we want is to get noticed, to get people to pay more attention to their environment. We’ll really have to know our stuff.”

The four boys and their teacher travelled to a special planning day, on March 26, held at Kemptville Municipal Centre where they took part in an ICE workshop involving inspirational videos, planning and presentation, and goal setting. 

“We really focussed on the different parts of making a pitch,” said Derrick.

The students have already gone themselves into the community to connect with local businesses and with the media to develop awareness of their project.

At this point, the IPS website is only on FaceBook and Twitter.

“We want to create an Application,” said Brett. “The junior prize would allow us to launch an App.”

These young Iroquois  student entrepreneurs are definitely planning to be noticed in the board competition on May 1.

[…]

 “Based on today’s experiences, I would say that this is probably going to become an annual event,” said Iroquois fire fighter, and one of the organizers of the first ever Fire Fighters’ Breakfast, Shawn Markell. “ We had nearly 200 people come out to enjoy the pancakes and sausages. People came steadily from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.”

The breakfast, held at the Iroquois Civic Centre on Sunday, February 15, was cooked and served up by members of the Iroquois fire station. There was no admission cost: visitors were just asked to make a donation when they came in. The funds raised will go to the Firefighters Association for the South Dundas Fire and Emergency Services, and will be used for projects in the community throughout the year such as kids events and safety awareness events. 

The maple syrup was donated from Fowler’s, while Iroquois Foodland donated the food for the event.

“My goal and Mike’s (Eastman) goal was to see that everyone was able to have breakfast as part of our community. We wanted community families to have a chance to get together and enjoy a good meal. A dozen fire fighters and their wives and kids were all working on putting this meal together, and I feel the response to our first breakfast has been great,” said Shawn Markell. 

[…]