Live @ Chrismakah w Terry Watkinson and Bevy of Toronto Talent
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| Lawrie Ingles, left, with performers Tristan Avakian and Stephen Snitman |
Recently, I was lucky enough to attend an evening featuring outstanding Toronto area based talent at the
Musideum,
a unique small studio-like hall with a stage big enough to hold a
(baby?) grand piano and live shows. The space, which also doubles as a
sales location for the various musical instruments that adorn the walls,
had a good acoustical ambiance as well, offering little in echo, all
contained within an intimate setting.
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| Bob Wegner |
Truly, the unique place was so small, it would be very likely many of the umpteen
remarkable performers
lined up for the night made up its bulk so you were lucky to just get
in! In fact, as each performer did get up, they offered up about how
humbled they seem to feel to be included in the group, as Host
Lawrie Ingles, also a multi instrumentalist and singer, along with
Donald Quan,
had pulled no punches, or strings rather, on this night. Everyone had
unique, but superb talents and styles, differing enough to keep the
audience always interested. Having the legendary Songwriter / Performer
Terry Watkinson formerly of Max Webster fame there that night performing was all icing on the cake.
The loose, fun theme of " Xmas songs, religious and hockey songs", which
Chrismakah was advertised as a celebration of, was really likely just a
fun way of saying, we want to have a party, open to every belief, that
plays some great original and fun music and which may or may not be
about the holidays. Of course, the crafted event likely avoids that
nasty
H word on purpose, which just added to the unspoken light
mood set before you came in and carried on from there. Definitely right
up my alley having released
my own mock album of classics - sans the Xmas parts.
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| Jeremy Wright - Beatles specialist |
What started out as a 3 hour night turned into 4 and a half before you
knew it, with a jam-like atmosphere gripping the stage by the end. Max
Webster, Rush, Queen all got a tribute, with Host
Ingles using his knowledge of everyone's talents, as well as his own, to great use.
Ingles
kind of reminds me of a sort of Columbo up there...minus the rain
coat, but in style, kind of moving through things in his own relaxed
pace even through silences. It added character in a low key kind of way,
helping preserve a sort of raw, jammy, anything- could- happen type of
appeal. Ingles' talents did not go unnoticed either, jumping from
keyboards to bass to even percussion at times, to lead or back up vocals
& with
Terry Watkinson no less! Bob, if you could play bass, uhhhh!...Ok, he didn't speak like him. Lol.
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| Oh Chrismakah tree, Oh Chrismakah tree! |
But you know special things are happening when such talented performers such as
Bob Wegner are willing to play bass, while multi-talented Ingles drums and while usual lead guitar
Sam B rythyms to give way to the legendary
Terry Watkinson's lead on piano. Anyway,
as a connoisseur of talents and a craver of original and different, as
well as having a love of the music from the past, this was a night to
remember! Watch for the
TPE videos of some of the other amazing music artists I was able to catch...
and Stay tuned for any more upcoming shows put together by these guys...
Happy Chrismakah Everyone! Click here for Terry's full set
Until next time! TP out!
Truth is though, for personal reasons, I myself hadn't been that excited about New Years Eve last year, despite knowing there would be great food, some good friends, dancing at Stellar Hall...
With 2015-16 coming up, Stellar Hall in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada is starting to form its own New Year's Eve Traditions. 
The dinner includes a mystery style live dinner theatre with performers from Spotlight, Directed by Karen Barker.
