Those who frequented Local Loco’s during the cafe’s early years (circa 2006/07) may remember a little orange cat named Neko (“cat” in Japanese). The cat, belonging to cafe co-owner Corey Matsumoto, was a favorite attraction due to her calm, unfettered sociability. It was Neko’s fearless nature and bountiful love for all that inspired the sound of Corey’s latest music project, Neko Rei. Read more »
Powell-River-born singer-songwriter Elke Robitaille is hitting the road again. Along with her husband, bass player JP Downer, she will travel from coast to coast of the United States and Canada from May to September, 2008.
The Elke Robitaille Duo recently completed a 4-month entertainment contract with Princess Cruises on the Diamond Princess, on its Hawaiian-islands cruise. The Duo gave over 100 performances in the Diamond’s Wheelhouse Bar. After well and truly earning their sea-legs, these musicians are ready to get their show back on the road.
The summer tour will start in Elke’s home town of Powell River, BC at Local Loco’s. A tour kick-off show is scheduled for April 25th. From there, Elke and JP will make their way East across the United States and then travel back West across Canada. Shows will be scheduled to take place in about 45 states and nine provinces, at a variety of venues from cafes, pubs, and lounges to farmers’ markets and street festivals. The duo are no strangers to life on the road. They have already completed one tour of Canada where they played in five Provinces and 25 cities. They have also performed extensively on the West Coast of both countries, from British Columbia down to California. Elke has also taken her solo acoustic act to Nashville and New York.
The Elke Robitaille Duo hope this four-month tour will give them exposure to a broader audience from coast to coast. They will be promoting Elke’s sophomore acoustic album, Naive, as well as her debut album, Doors, fortified with an array of brand new merchandise including t-shirts, tanks and stickers.
For more information about the tour including show dates, venue information, and travel blogs, please visit:
Fusing elements of folk, bluegrass and hip hop, Corwin Fox has created his own evolving style of folk music that seems best classified as ‘neo-folk’ A quick look at his music collection reveals some obvious reference points like Bob Dylan, Ron Sexsmith, the Beach Boys and Bob Marley, but if you look a little closer, you’ll find more obscure artists such as Jim O’Rourke, Dead Prez, XTC, and John Zorn. No matter where it comes from, Fox’s unique style of highly contagious personal and political folk songs will have you singing along before you even realise it.
Over a decade ago this eco-activist (and father of two) was playing in what was likely the most banned punk band to come from Ottawa’s Canterbury School for the Arts. From there, Corwin Fox went on to play in countless bands, tour the country numerous times with Ottawa prog-popsters Big Fish Eat Little Fish, write several scores for the Counternotes theatre group and compose an original score for the CBC documentary Don’t Pass Me By.
The years 2000 to 2002 saw Corwin marry and head back to school, studying recording engineering at Fanshawe College. There, he met Christiaan Anderson and Dean Watson with whom he soon formed the art-rock band, Balls Falls and the label Coqi Records. In 2001 he won EMI Music Publishing Canada’s award for best song for “Doctor God” from the Balls Falls album. Corwin’s debut solo album, Can You Sleep? was Coqi’s first release and was followed up in 2002 by Compassionate Relay which contained the classic tracks “Bring Me Back”, “We Love the Beehive Burners” (theme song for an air-quality activist group) and “Fantastic Mr. Fox” (named after Roald Dahl’s children’s book). Read more »
by Corey Matsumoto
Ever thought about what music is? What makes up a song?
Scientists long ago discovered the basic mechanics of sound waves—how sound can be created, shaped, captured, released, and heard. Almost every living thing on earth makes an audible sound of some sort. If you subscribe to Gaia Theory, the earth itself is a single living entity producing an orchestra of sounds.
However, there’s a certain je ne sais quoi about music that puts it in a separate category of sound from other natural and artificial sounds that flood our aural environment. Songs are physical manifestations of our emotions—truly living entities capable of transcending time and space (wirelessly, even). Music is basically physical vibration (sound waves) created by expressing a thought or blend of thoughts through one or more instruments.
Although a song can be technically quite simple when broken down into its elements (bass, rhythm, beat, tempo, etc.), few people truly appreciate how a song comes into being. Indeed, when a band gets together to jam or create a song, there’s a lot more going on than even they may realize.
It may be observed that musicians and artists who are passionate about their work are supersensitive to emotions and interpersonal dynamics. Music and art become an outlet for personal expression and even help the artist process life’s difficulties. A musician playing “in the zone” is literally “flying high”—carried on an emotional wave by the instrumentation. When a group of musicians play “in the zone” together, the results can be pure ecstasy. There’s nothing quite like hearing a group of people playing from the heart while tuning into each other so intensely as to complement one another’s parts in perfect synchronicity. The resulting music becomes an entity unto itself—often only living for the moment (Dude, did we record that?). Read more »