Steve's Blog
Edmonton pics / Coig concert / Quartette concert / CiTR / Help Wanted - an update
Tuesday August 12, 2014

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1. Report from Edmonton
The 35th Annual Edmonton Folk Music Festival ended last night. Every year they seem to outdo themselves and present a truly memorable and hugely successful musical shindig that will live long in the memory. I often refer to it as The Rolls Royce of Folk Festivals, and it would seem that all the performers - at least - would agree with me. This is an amazing organization and it has become - and continues to be - not only the finest festival in Canada, but one of the very best on the planet. Probably THE best, in fact. 


I'll write a full review and post it on the Rogue website later this week. I'll also add a bunch of Albums to my Photo Gallery in the next few days. Meanwhile we are in Jasper for the night, and plan to be back in Vancouver on Wednesday. Just in time to get some supplies - and some new cooling fans - for this week's concerts at St. James Hall (3214 West 10th Avenue.) Elk are grazing outside our cabin. It's dark and the full moon is partially hidden by clouds. It's been a gorgeous day. In fact, every day on  this roadtrip has been warm and sunny save for Friday, when we headed into Edmonton in torrential rain and stopped at Miette Hot Springs for a warming dip in the spa pools.



Irish rockabilly queen Imelda May

Full moon over the hill in Edmonton

Sharon Shannon and her ace new trio

Michael Franti and friends!


2. Coig, Thursday August 14th, 8pm, St. James Hall (3214 W.10th Ave.)
 

Cape Breton trad supergroup Coig


Cape Breton quintet Coig - which is gaelic for "five" - comprises Colin Grant on fiddle, Darren McMullen on banjo, guitar, mandolin, bouzouki and vocals, Rachel Davis on fiddle and vocals, Chrissy Crowley on fiddle and Jason Roach on piano. Each is a celebrated solo performer - and Darren accompanied David Francey on his last tour out west, Together they are a powerhouse trad Celtic band with stunning fiddles to the fore. Their arrangements are innovative, exhilarating and fresh as a brisk sou'wester blowing off the Atlantic on a sunny late fall day. The like of which you have probably experienced if you've ever made it out to the Celtic Colours festival in Cape Breton in October. That's where we saw this band for the first time, and I urge you to check them out. See for yourselves why I firmly believe that they are the most exciting sound to come off the island since the hey day of Natalie MacMaster, Ashley MacIsaac and co over 20 years ago. And Coig can sing too! So in my book they are even more versatile and exciting than those two celebrated forbears! 

This will be their first Vancouver gig and their next tour, in February 2016 is filling up so fast that we have scheduled a return date already! Don't miss their debut. You'll be telling your friends for years that you saw Coig first at The Rogue back in 2014!

More info can be found on 
www.coig.ca and click this link for tickets BUY ONLINE
 

3. Quartette, Friday August 15th, 8pm, St. James Hall (3214 West 10th Ave.)

Quartette - Gwen Swick, Caitlin Hanford, Cindy Church and Sylvia Tyson

Since their debut in 1993, the four members of Quartette have been both publicly and critically acclaimed for their lush harmonies and delightfully diverse repertoire. Cindy Church, Caitlin Hanford, Gwen Swick, and Sylvia Tyson are seasoned singer/songwriters whose influences range from blues and gospel to folk and country to jazz and pop.

Quartette has received several Juno nominations, won a Canadian Country Music Award for best vocal collaboration, performed with major symphony orchestras across Canada, and recorded the CMT-TV special, “A Quartette Christmas.”
 
Quartette continues to tour and record. In October of 2007, they released their sixth recording, “Down At The Fair,” produced by legendary guitarist, arranger and producer Colin Linden.

An evening with Quartette is always a magical musical journey. We are delighted to be able to -resent them at The Rogue for the first time! 

For more information visit 
www.quartette.com and for tickets click BUY ONLINE
 

4. The Edge On Folk, Saturday 8am to noon, on CiTR fm 101.9 and www.citr.ca

First off, apologies for the no-show last Saturday. I was in Edmonton and technical difficulties prevented Heather McCain from being able to fill-in. The "ghost mix" on CiTR was definitely not the sort of music that either Heather or myself would have chosen.

Once again, please accept our apologies. I'll try to make it up to you with some new music from Edmonton and a review of four of this summer's western festivals. I hope you can join me this Saturday.


5. Help Wanted - an update

Thanks to all the applicants who have expressed an interest in the position of bookkeeper / admin assistant at the Rogue office on Granville Island. I'm afraid I have to revisit the Job Description,

It turns out that our accounting system is a lot more complex than I had thought, and we require a qualified bookkeeper with experience in Sage (formerly known as Simply Accounting) to look after the data entry and check the accuracy and balance the books. This position is roughly 5 hours per month.

I am also in dire need of an Admin Assistant, and this entails a variety of tasks including handling artist contract details, ensuring that venues, sound techs, hospitality riders, backline requirements, etc. are in place. Handling mail, email, phone calls and recording all the booking requests from performers and agents. There are also some archival duties, andI I also need help at the end of concerts ensuring that all the work stations' cash tallies balance and that everyone gets paid the appropriate amounts for performance fees and merchandise sales. This task usually befalls me at the end of a long day, and I could use some help!! We also have a government grant deadline coming up at the end of September and I could use some help with this, too.

Not sure about the number of hours this job entails, but I am currently working around 80-100 hours per week, so I / Rogue need to find someone PDQ, and we also need to find / generate the cash to pay them! Let's say 10 hours per week for starters.

If you have already sent in a resume, and are good with money, and great at dealing with people - not all of whom are always happy! - and have some experience with Mac and / or PC programs such as Word, Excel, Open Office, etc. and are good with Social Media and Google Docs etc. then just send me an email to say you're still interested.

The extended deadline for new / amended applications for both these part time positions is now August 22nd

Thanks a million!
Steve