HOLIDAY CHEER TO LAST ALL YEAR! Friends, Family & Alumni of UCCB are invited to the annual Holiday Get-Together, Saturday, December 21 between 4:00 – 7:00 p.m. at Daniel’s Bar & Grill on Charlotte Street in Sydney. There is no cover charge, plus there will be munchies, giveaways, great specials and music by KINTYRE. Everyone is welcome to this event sponsored by the UCCB Alumni Association.
SATURDAY NIGHT ROCK. They’ve been referred to as ‘The ACDC of the East Coast’ and ‘the best thing to happen to rock since the cowbell’. This past August, a song from ROCK RANGER’s self-titled debut helped mainland Nova Scotian Andrew Buckles place second at the 7th Annual Air Guitar World Championships in Oulu, Finland. The band also just recently returned from Toronto where they were working on a new album with IAN BLURTON (Blurtonia, Change of Heart) which they expect to release in February. Saturday night ROCK RANGER will be at Chandler’s Lounge in Sydney with special guests YELLOW. If you’re sick of pre-recorded dance music and the lowest common denominator pop music tripe that passes for commercial radio playlists these days, drop on down to Chandler’s Lounge on Dorchester Street Saturday night (December 14) for an evening with ROCK RANGER (but don’t buy them any drinks, they’re on probation).
NATALIE MACMASTER TOPS LIST OF ECMA NOMINEES.The East Coast Music Association announced nominations for the 2003 ECMA Wednesday. Cape Breton artists received 21 nominations in 13 genre specific categories and 18 nominations in 12 industry categories. Topping the list is NATALIE MACMASTER (who plays at SAERC December 12 and Savoy Theatre DEcember 14) with 4 nominations. Other mulitiple nominees are SLAINTE MHATH with 3 and J.P. CORMIER, JIMMY RANKIN, THE COTTARS and ASELIN DEBISON with 2 each. RITA MACNEIL, 4/4 THE LORD, MAIRI RANKIN, BEOLACH, ANDREA BEATON and BRUCE GUTHRO round out the genre specific categories. Nominated for awards in the Industry categories are CELTIC COLOURS INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL, CHERYL SMITH, SHAUNA WALTERS, PHIL DUBINSKY, LAUERL MUNROE, RAILROAD PRODUCTIONS, CORDON SOUND, EAST COAST RISING, 101.5 THE HAWK, CBC RADIO, CKJM, LAKEWIND SOUND STUDIOS, SOUNDPARK STUDIO, JAMIE FOULDS, MIKE SHEPHERD, THE SAVOY THEATRE, MARIE DOYLE and LORI DOUCETTE. ECMA 2003 will be held in Halifax, February 13-16, 2003. For more information visit www.ecma.ca.
FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH MUSIC. Cape Breton’s favourite surf-rock band is pulling out all the stops this Friday the Thirteenth with a show at Bunker’s. Proceeds from the show will help the band cover the expenses of professional reproduction of their album.
FRIDAY EVENING MUSIC. Join BUDDY MACDONALD and JOHN FERGUSON for a fun evening of song at Chandler’s Lounge with two veterans of the local music scene. BUDDY MACDONALD, perhaps best known for the song “Getting Dark Again”, was born and brought up on the Northern Shores of Cape Breton Island, Buddy was exposed at an early age to the songs and singing of the great Celtic singers of his native island. Much of his song writing is still influenced by the style he was so familiar with as a young boy. Buddy is a regular host of the Celtic Colours International Music Festival’s late Night Festival Club and has hosted and performed at Celtic Colours shows with Dougie MacLean and Tommy Makem. Whether appearing in a small country hall, pub, festival or concert Buddy’s love of singing, song writing and entertaining comes across to bridge the gap between audience and performer. Since the early 1970s, JOHN FERGUSON has performed traditional and contemporary Celtic music for fans everywhere. A founding member of MILLER’S JUG in 1972, John has carved a long and respected career in the Maritime music industry. Since 1977, he has been a member of the Maritime group MCGINTY and since 1990 he has also teamed up with Cape Breton singer and songwriter BUDDY MACDONALD, to form a popular duo. John also performs as a solo artist and can often be seen performing with many of the region’s well known traditional musicians.
CELTIC MUSIC COURSE OFFERED AT UCCB. A new Celtic Studies Course will be offered at UCCB beginning in January. Performance Analysis of Celtic Arts, is a course that will focus mainly on the music and dance of Ireland, Scotland, and Cape Breton Island, with some exploration of other Celtic regions. You don’t have to be a musician or read music to be a part of this experience in learning, and better still, you don’t have to leave the comfort of you own home either. And you don’t even have to live in Cape Breton! This will be a Distance Education course taught over the Internet by renowned Ethnomusicologist KATE DUNLAY. Listed as Celtic Studies 310, it can be taken for full-credit or the course can be audited for half the cost. for more see www.uccb.ns.ca/distance/celtic/. One appealing aspect of taking this course is that it can be used to advance you towards a Certificate in Heritage Studies. The program will be of particular interest to people within the public and private sector involved in the hospitality industry, tourism, education, small business and museums. For more information about the Certificate in Heritage Studies you can check out www.uccb.ns.ca/.
