Ben Caplan Wants To Sing You A Love Song

Ben Caplan is on a mission to romance you, and he’s doing it one town at a time. The Halifax-based folk singer’s ten-year love of touring has never waned, and unlike musicians who tour once every couple of years, Caplan’s experience is one of dedicated traveler. Though he has evolved from the whiskey-swilling hitchhiker, it’s soaked into his music by osmosis and is still a driving force. His commitment to touring is a key component to his music. It allows wanderers to find a home in his gypsy anthems. On his fresh tour he brings Taryn Kawaja to supplement his gypsy guitar with her light touch of piano and vocals. Continue reading Ben Caplan Wants To Sing You A Love Song

Afternoon Delight 2015 – Small Town Charm in a Music Festival

“Alright folks, I’m kind of hungry. I think I’m going to have a light snack.”

Amidst the rolling hills of the Kennebecasis River Valley, people from all over gathered just outside of the peaceful hamlet of Sussex. The morning sun shone brightly, warming my skin as the smiles of strangers, friends and families warmed my heart. The positivity in the air consumed me. Like everybody else, I couldn’t help but smile ear to ear.

And then Miss Cassandra Strange proceeded to eat a light bulb. Continue reading Afternoon Delight 2015 – Small Town Charm in a Music Festival

Folly Fest 2015

“You’re snoring.”

That’s odd. I hadn’t heard anyone snoring. Then a crackling sting spreads across my scorched flesh and with it comes a sudden and embarrassing realisation. I had been sitting there on the shores of the Saint John River, warming myself in the sunshine, when my lights finally winked out. Folly Fest is a gruelling three days of nearly non-stop revelry and music, and only those possessing a superhuman level of endurance, or a source of military grade energy drink, can survive the sixty hour-long gauntlet without blinking. Continue reading Folly Fest 2015

Deanna Musgrave: Expressing The Ephemeral, The Intangible, The Invisible

Art is a lot like religion. It’s an expression of our perception  of the world around us. Some is very deliberate, with a strong sense of tradition, finding comfort in long-established rules. Some is created in opposition to those rules, and some, like wild shamans, are happy to find a basis in their own unique experiences. What becomes apparent when you spend time talking with artists, is that, whichever the case, that perception, and the expression of it, is vivid, sacred, and compulsory.  So when asking Deanna Musgrave about her artistic process, it wasn’t surprising when she began working out my astrological profile. Continue reading Deanna Musgrave: Expressing The Ephemeral, The Intangible, The Invisible