Sing in Spring with the Seaway Valley Singers

September 2, the upcoming South Dundas municipal election gained another candidate when Phillip Blancher filed nomination papers announcing his intention to seek election as South Dundas councillor.

“I want to make a difference, and improve things in South Dundas,” said Blancher, who has been considering seeking election for quite some time.

Blancher moved to South Dundas just over nine years ago. 

“Over those nine years, I haven’t always agreed with council decisions, and how things have been handled,” said Blancher. 

As a father with a young family, and the owner of a small business that specializes in communications and web development, Blancher believes he would bring a different perspective, a younger perspective to the South Dundas council table.

“I am younger than those who currently sit on council, and having a young family, I think I see things a little differently than they do,” said Blancher, explaining that because council decisions affect everyone in South Dundas, it would be nice to bring the perspective of someone with a young family into that process.

Blancher was raised primarily in the Gananoque area, and was educated in journalism at Sheridan College.

“As much experience as I have, I have no direct experience sitting around a municipal council table,” said Blancher, who hopes to get elected as councillor and gain that experience. “Also, no matter who you are at the table, you only have one vote.”

Blancher’s community involvement includes being president of the South Dundas Soccer Association and Seaway Kickers. He is vice president of the South Dundas Historical Society and served on the Morrisburg Waterfront Implementation Committee.

His platform is available on his website phillipblancher.ca, and includes getting back to basics, good customer service, putting South Dundas first and a focus on economic development.

The nomination deadline for the upcoming municipal election is September 12. So far Steven Byvelds and Evonne Delegarde are the only two candidates for mayor. With the withdrawal of Leslie Disheau, Jim Locke is now unopposed for the deputy mayor’s chair. The three council seats are being contested by Phillip Blancher, Bill Ewing, Bert Geertsma, Jim Graham and Archie Mellan. The list of candidates is not finalized until after the nomination deadline.

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 When a band comes along that has fans and critics alike raving, well, that’s a band that is clearly going places.

And that pretty much describes the 24th Street Wailers.

“This is just great, gritty, fun live stuff.” (Dan Aykroyd, host of House of Blues Radio Hour)

“…The 24th Street Wailers are committed to the music, continually write better new material, and bring a sense of joy to the stage..” (Holger Peterson, CBC’s Saturday Night Blues)

One of the places the Wailers are going is Morrisburg, to the St. Lawrence Acoustic Stage, on Saturday, November 2, at 7 p.m. 

Mark your calendar.

This break out band is made up of Lindsay Beaver, gut bucket singer/drummer, Emily Burgess on lead guitar, Jon Wong on sax and Michael Archer (Lindsay’s husband) on harmony bass. Together, they are creating  original, exciting and heartfelt blues-based music that is winning them a huge fan following. They’ve been touring across Canada and parts of the western United States since the first of April. 

I had the opportunity to talk with singer/musician Michael Archer, while the Wailers were in Jasper.

“Yes,” Archer said, “we’ve been  pretty constantly on the road, and we’ve been performing for a big mix of audiences, 15 festivals and many clubs.”

Part of the dynamic appeal of the Wailers is the strong bond the musicians have been successful in establishing with their audiences. It’s very clear that their music speaks to people.

 “We often invite folks to dance in our shows: when we were in Wolfville, we actually had a big group dancing and singing on stage along with us. Audiences are as much a part of the concert experience, I think, as we are. Keeping a concert exciting and fresh is such a big part of our performance.”

 “We never,” Archer said, “play at an audience.”

The 24th Street Wailers have been together for a little over three years. Among them, they have garnered a great many individual honours and accolades and each brings powerful musical skills to the unique Wailers sound.

I asked Archer what drew the group to the blues.

“It’s just great music,” he said. “I think it influences everything else musically. But we also are very into R&R. Blues and R&R were like the punk music of the 50s, which kind of matches our personalities and how we perform on stage,” he laughed. 

“We find that audiences react extraordinarily to the blues; people get involved and excited.”

What establishes the 24th Street Wailers’ uniqueness among blues performers?

“I believe the energy we bring to the music helps set us apart. We are not just playing traditional slow blues (although that’s great music too!): we are drawn to the more energetic numbers, the style of artists like Magic Sam and Nick Curran. It’s hard to describe, but we are mashing R&R and blues into a new 21st century feel,” he laughed. 

The Wailers have been earning critical  and fan kudos for their original songs; Archer says that there are definitely overtones of traditional blues themes in their writing, “but we like some humour in our songs,” he added, “not just ‘we’re depressed and you have to be too’.”

He shared the story of one of their songs, which revolves around their 20 year old tour van, with its shag carpet, the awning that rolls out from the side, the big eyelashes around the headlights. “Frankly, we can’t get a name for that song that sticks, but we have a lot of fun with it.”

Many of the group’s songs are born and developed on the road in that same old van.

“Lindsay and Emily bring a new idea to us, explaining ‘this is the feel we’re going for in this song.’ Jon and I perk up, and we play the piece together on the road. We find the best way to get a new piece of music out there is to play it together, sing it together, feel the song out.”

Where did the band’s name come from?

“The fact is, three of us still live on 24th street in Etobicoke,” Mike Archer said, deadpan, “and we just, well, ‘wail.’”

Sandra Whitworth of the board of the St. Lawrence Acoustic Stage is clearly excited about the band’s visit to Morrisburg.

“The 24th Street Wailers is one of the most fun bands touring Canada right now…I’m not sure that any group could make us feel so happy listening to the blues, and I will be very surprised if we don’t have people dancing in the aisles at this show.”

The 24th Street Wailers will be performing at the St. Lawrence Acoustic Stage on Saturday, November 2, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $18 in advance, or $20 at the door and are available at The Basket Case, Morrisburg, Strung Out Guitars, Cornwall, or on line at www.st-lawrencestage.com

[…]

The pumpkin displays have been put away and Upper Canada Village is preparing to light up for Alight at Night on Friday, December 6.  

The Alight at Night Festival at Upper Canada Village is one of Ontario’s premiere winter events where over a million lights transform this 60 acre heritage site into a magical winter wonderland that you can explore by foot, horse-drawn wagon or by romantic carriage ride.  

“Alight at Night is Eastern Ontario’s largest outdoor winter light festival,” said Darren Dalgleish, General Manager/CEO, St. Lawrence Parks Commission. “This year we certainly seem to have Mother Nature on our side with a fresh blanket of snow.”

 “We try to add to the visitor experience and with new technology on the market each year we are able to enhance our lighting displays to bring out the best of the beautiful backdrops and vistas that the Village and surrounding grounds provide.  We are making some exciting lighting enhancements to the Toy Train experience this year and I think families will love it”

The Festival is open on select nights from Friday, December 6 through Saturday, January 4, 2014, from 5-9 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. 

Upper Canada Village continues to impress visitors by introducing state-of-the art, innovative lighting during its Alight at Night Festival.  

Over a decade ago, the Village switched over all of its incandescent stringed lights to energy-saving LED Christmas lights, now over a million in total. 

 In 2010, new Wallwasher technology provided a rainbow of alternating colours that illuminate the facades of the Village’s historic architecture and paint a dramatic effect on many of the site’s majestic trees.  

The Sound & Light Show, featuring seasonal music accompanied by dancing lights, will be offered with shows playing every half hour on the grounds around Crysler Hall.  A video clip of the show has seen over 100,000 views on YouTube. 

And this year, visitors will delight in the addition of laser beam technology, where over 100 new projectors will shower tiny laser beams that will create a starry, firefly effect … watch for the dazzling results of this new technology along the Toy Train ride!  Toy Train rides are included with admission.

The Festival brings together many family favourite holiday traditions.  Carolling takes place in Christ Church at select times led by a keyboard player and vocalist.  

Christmas carol song books are provided in the church and visitors are encouraged to sing along or just soak up the holiday ambience.

Strolling through the site is a great way to see the lights at your own pace, or you can relax and take a horse-drawn wagon ride.  

For a more intimate and exclusive experience, romantic carriage rides for two are available in the Village’s Pommier Carriages.  It’s an ideal way to make engagements, anniversaries, or your visit extra-special!  Advance reservation is required. 

The Pommier Carriage ride is $80(tax extra) which includes admission for two, half hour romantic tour of the lights, gourmet departing gift and a 20 percent off discount for Pommier Jewellers in Cornwall.  

Carriage rides are very popular and book up quickly.  

Call 1-800-437-2233 or locally 613-543-4328 to make a reservation.

Follow the tantalizing smell of fresh bread and cinnamon rolls baking in the wood-fired oven at the Bakery.   You can find the fresh baked cinnamon buns and bread for purchase at the Village Store and the buns for purchase in Cook’s Tavern or at the Snack Shack next to the Bakery.

Visitors can also relax over a heartier meal, full service dining at Willard’s Hotel or cafeteria style service at the Harvest Barn.  

Alight at Night has been named one of Ontario’s Top 100 Events three times by Festivals & Events Ontario.  

Advance ticket purchase, particularly during the holidays, is strongly recommended to speed entry into the Festival and reduce time waiting in line.  

Streamlined pricing provides one price for all activities including entry to the Festival, horse-drawn wagon rides and a ride on the Toy Train – Adults (13 to 64 years of age) $13; Seniors (65+ years of age) and Youth (6 to 12 years of age) $10; Children 5 years of age under are FREE.  Tickets can be purchased online at www.AlightatNight.ca.

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