Kaldor brings talent, wit to imperial
Published Thursday October 23rd, 2008
Talking with Connie Kaldor is, lyrically and literally, like being touched by a cool refreshing prairie breeze - exhilarating!
And if you think this Regina-born singer-songwriter and unique instrumentalist, now based in Montreal, knows nothing of our East Coast, you will be amazed. At a mention of Springhill, Nova Scotia, she broke into a verse of the Ballad Of Springhill, a song written by another world famous singer-songwriter, Peggy Seeger. Seeger is taking part in a 50th year observance of the tragedy in the former mining town Friday night. And at a mention of Cape Breton, Kaldor sang the opening lines of the Song Of The Mira in such a melodic voice it made the phone in my hand a vibrant musical mike.
Pamela Winters in musicHound, the Essential Album Guide, says, "Connie Kaldor is one of the strongest folk-influenced artists to surface in Canada in three decades, that she likes being referred to as a 'folk chanteuse' because it highlights the theatrics so much a part of her creativity."
Connie loves old restored theatres because they give her a feeling of closeness to the many great singers who have performed on their stages over the years. I'm sure she will never find a more acoustically perfect showcase for her art - theatrical, vocal and instrumental - than Saint John's lavishly restored Imperial Theatre, where she has a concert Sunday at 8 p.m.
Connie has recorded 13 albums that have sold tens of thousands of copies. Her live performances are legendary, her fan base fiercely loyal. She is a tireless chronicler of the human condition without pretension. She is also clever and witty, recording albums with titles such as A Duck In New York, Love Is A Truck and A Poodle In Paris. Yet, she can write such exquisitely lovely ballads as Wood River, Out Of The Blue, Gentle Of Heart and One Of These Days and sing them with heartfelt emotion.
Graduating from the University of Alberta in 1976 with a degree in theatre, she performed with the Mummers of Newfoundland and Toronto's Theatre Passe Muraille. She is also a pianist and guitarist, who reads music, sang in choirs and family parties as a child and at Regina folk festivals as a teen. She was torn between whether to pursue music or theatre. Then, in 1979, after what she describes as an epiphany, she realized that although she loved theatre, she could live without it, but she could not live and not make music.
In the more than two decades since that realization, she has blazed a trail across the Canadian music landscape, winning three JUNOs and a Parent's Choice Gold Award, has hosted her own Vision TV series, Wood River Hall, performed hundreds of concerts, performed for Queen Elizabeth and had her Wood River chosen as a quintessential Canadian song by Canadian Geographic. Her first album released in the U.S. was Small Cafe on Philo in 1993 and she has toured extensively south of the border since. Her Saint John concert Sunday is the only one in the Maritimes, so don't miss this rare opportunity to hear one of Canada's best. Tickets, $20, $22 and $24, are available at the Imperial box office, at 674-4100 or 1-800-323-1467, or by visiting www.imperialtheatre.nb.ca
NBCMHF Tickets at Saint John Sewing
Somehow, the fact that the Saint John Sewing Centre had New Brunswick Country Music Hall of Fame banquet, induction and concert tickets never hit my radar. They have a few full-event ticket packages left for $40 and many advance concert-only tickets for $13. On Saturday, the concert-only tickets are $15 at Saint John High School, where the concert takes place at 8 p.m., featuring the four living 2008 Hall Of Fame inductees: Saint John veteran fiddler Pat Boulanger; Fredericton's popular multi-instrumentalist John Jeffries; Riverside's piano and sax wizard Maurice Fleming; and Moncton recording artist Norma Gale. Joining them for solo spotlights will be past inductees: Ned Landry, Ivan and Vivian Hicks, Bob Henry, Allison Inch, Randy Vail, Gary Morris, Mavis O'Donnell, Rick Russell, Derek Knowes, Al Hooper and others.
The reception, banquet and induction ceremonies will be held at the Delta Hotel's Grand Ballroom, Brunswick Square, Saint John, starting 4:30 p.m. The concert is two blocks away, down either Canterbury or Prince Edward Streets.
PEGGY SEEGER AT SPRINGHILL
I have only heard Peggy Seeger once in concert. That was at Payne Hall on the Harvard campus on the eve of former U.S. president Ronald Regan's first election. It was a stage she was to share with her husband, the late Scottish folklorist, songwriter and political activist Ewan MacColl, but he had a severe throat infection and Peggy did the entire two-hour concert by herself and held its sold-out audience transfixed by the hypnotic strength of her voice and her songs. She is the lady who wrote the Ballad Of Springhill, about the tragic "bump" that collapsed the No. 2 colliery of the town's coal mine. This is the 50th anniversary of that tragic event, a two-day observance called Remembering '58. It begins with an anniversary plaque unveiling today at noon at the former site of the colliery. It's a tribute to all miners who toiled underground in Springhill. Tonight at 8 p.m., there will be a candlelight memorial service at the town's Dr. Carson and Marion Murray Community Centre. No admission will be charged, however, Salvation Army officers will be there to accept non-perishable food items. Arrive early, seating is limited.
The Remembering '58 concert, Friday, 7 p.m., at Springhill's Richard Calder Arena, features Peggy Seeger as special guest. Also at the concert will be the Men of The Deeps miners choir that has received rave reviews around the world. And there will be a performance by the Ruddick Sisters, three daughters of The Singing Miner, Maurice Ruddick, Valerie, Sylvia and Ellen, who were known as the Minerettes during years of touring with their father as family singers. It was Maurice who kept the men in the last pocket singing until their rescue after eight days of entombment in the 1958 bump. Valerie, now Valerie MacDonald, and her husband Barry lived in Hampton with their two children for many years and staged monthly coffeehouses. Another of Maurice's daughters, Lee, will perform at the candlelight service tonight. For tickets, call the Carson and Marion Community Centre at 902-763-3000.
HANSON and WILLIAMS' TRIBUTE SATURDAY
A 12-hour Jazz and Comedy Tribute Concert in memory of Mary Hanson and Jamie Williams, this Saturday 2 p.m. until closing at Somerset Pub, Saint John North, features singers, dancers, comedians and instrumentalists, all performing without charge, so that all profits go to the Oncology Radiation Department, Saint John Regional Hospital. For tickets, $20, call John Hanson at 654-3166. Leave if you must and return when you can.
COMHALTAS CONCERT SATURDAY
A CD launch concert for Fredericton fiddler Kathleen Gorey-McSorley, a recent competitor in the All-Ireland Fiddle Championships, takes place at St. Joachims Church, Saint John, Saturday, 7 p.m. Her debut CD is called Caitlin Is Ainm Dom (My Name is Kathleen). Also performing is Carolyn Holyoke and Comhaltas singers, musicians and dancers. Tickets are $10 at MusicStop, Saint John; Kennebecasis Drugs, Rothesay or at the door. Call 847-0010 for details. It's sponsored by Comhaltas.
RON HYNES & DAVE GUNNING TONIGHT
Ron Hynes and Dave Gunning share a stage at Shadow Lawn in Rothesay, tonight, 8 p.m. Titled Hard Working Hands, their tour extols the virtues of hard work mirrored by Gunning's youthful voice and the wiser one of Hynes. Tickets are $30 by calling 847-7539.
HAVELOCK COUNTRY SATURDAY
A Country Concert, Saturday, 7 p.m., Memorial Hall, Havelock, features the Blue Side of Lonesome band with guests Ralph and Lynn Henderson, Mort Mills, George Steeves, Tom Burgess, Elva and Winston Greer, Justin Bannister, Gary Jones and Gay Belding. Admission is $5. For details call 756-8303.
Gerry Taylor cgtaylor@nbnet.nb.ca has covered folk and country music for over 30 years.
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