Fort Steele Fall Fair is held in the shadow of Fisher Peak and the Southern Rocky Mountains. It is an annual event usually held on the second Sunday in September. The mornings are usually cool, sometimes a touch of frost, but there is always more than good chance of bright sunny day. This particular Sunday it was a little overcast but other wise still a beautiful day. It was, as usual, a good day to amble around the park, take in the sights and sounds and enjoy some of the best Cinnamon Buns on the planet. Also there was the sonic background of a variety of street musicians playing laid back “folky” country music. An added attraction this year was the dog show. Patrons of the Fair took the opportunity to show off their pets. From the tiniest of tiny dogs to dogs big enough to support a saddle. They were all there, running, jumping and just being dogs. For a pensioner the fee was $5 for a day of home spun entertainment and it was money well spent. Here a just few shots of a laid back late summer day at Fort Steel.
Steve Knowles – Musician
Steve Knowles – Musician
Rollie – Musician
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
For this summer evening of spectacular music we need to thank the Fisher Peak Performing Arts Society. It takes a lot of organizing and fund raising to provide the citizens of Cranbrook with this wonderful free concert series.
The SummerSounds program, organized by The Fisher Peak Performing Arts Society, has been running for a few years now and with each passing year the attendance has steadily grown from a handful to what must have been a several hundred very happy patrons on this particularly fine summer evening. The society, the volunteers and the many sponsors should be thanked for the considerable efforts that they put into presenting this continuing program of fine local musicians and musicians “from away”. On that note don’t forget the fine Argentinean keyboard player Gabriel Palatchi and his band who will be performing in the SummerSounds program on Saturday August 24, 2019. It promises to be an exceptional night of Funk, Jazz, Hispanic, Flamenco and New Tango with lots of dancing in the park. I have seen and heard Gabriel a number of times over the past 3-5 years and his music should not be missed.
notched double free-standing bridge. It doesn’t fit into any one category of musical instruments, but rather several, and must be classified as a “double-bridge-harp-lute”. The strings run in two divided ranks, making it a double harp. They do not end in a soundboard but are held in notches on a bridge, making it a bridge harp. They originate from a string arm or neck and cross a bridge directly supported by a resonating chamber, making it a lute too. The sound of a kora resembles that of a harp. The thumbs are used to pluck the strings while the remaining fingers hold the hand posts and secure the instrument.. The music utilizes polyrhythmic patterns in Ostinato Riffs (“Kumbengo”) and improvised solo runs (“Birimintingo”) that are played at the same time by skilled players.” – Wikipedia
Mount Baker Hotel on Baker Street in Cranbrook. The manager is a keen supporter of live music and on most Thursday evenings (6-9pm) there are live musical events. A favorite event is the open mic hosted by Keith Larsen every first Thursday of the month. Recently (Thursday, June 20th, 2019), Lonesome Jim (aka James Neve) performed two sets featuring his vocals accompanied by his stellar acoustic 6 string and 12 guitar pickings.Never one to stand still for too long he was sporting his new and improved persona. The “Willie Nelson” pony tail was gone and has been replaced by a new taunt, trim back and sides hairstyle. The looks may change but the performance, as always, was stellar. Here are couple of photos of the new Lonesome Jim.
This is a rare treat. An opportunity to spread the word about an exceptional local talent. Douglas Francis Mitchell is an East Kootenay singer song writer with, to my knowledge, well over a hundred songs in his repertoire. There are new songs rolling off his counter top each day. He is a topical song writer with a great belief in the need for artists to dip into what they know best. That is, the personal experiences, the work environments, and the relationships in the world that surrounds us. He does not write “moon, June, spoon” songs of youthful love and loss. He does not write “hurtin’ songs”. Nor does he write songs full of youthful angst. That sentiment is long gone and there is much more weighty and comedic material around to feed his creative impulses. What he does write are clear and honest songs about events and personalities that inhabit our world. One of his most recent efforts is Better get Used to It. This came about in response to the devastating fires of last summer. The sentiment is basically one of “It doesn’t matter which way you vote, Climate Change is no joke”. The song was recorded at James Neves’s studio out at Wycliffe. Doug sings and plays guitar, Rod Wilson provides the percussion and the sound effects. The fiddle playing and back up vocals are by Ally Blake. Murray Hayward created the video……
band Dead Flowers can trace his family connections all the way back over that route. One must applaud the dedication of the two “Right Coast” Boston musicians who came all the way to Kimberley to perform at the Jazz and Blues Spring Concert Series. The pedal steel guitarist Dan Beller-McKenna Victor left his home back East to catch the early flight from Boston to land in Calgary at two in the afternoon. There was time to hook up with Victor and a cadre 
of Calgary musicians to play an engagement that night. For Saturday it was the drive down to Kimberley for the concert then on Sunday the drive back to Calgary to catch another flight back to Boston in time for the working week. That’s what I call dedication to one’s art. For the Kimberley concert the collective was called Dead Flowers and consisted of Victor Coelho (Guitar and Vocals), Dan Beller-McKenna on Pedal Steel Guitar; Tommy Knowles (Calgary) Bass Guitar; Dave Morton (Calgary) Guitars and Vocals; Kenton McDonald (Calgary) Drums. This was a solid Rock/Blues outfit and their excuse to perform in Kimberley was to go “Rolling Through Stones Country”. This was not a Tribute Band. There was no light show, no fog machine, no pyrotechnics, no prancing rock stars, just five musicians paying attention to what they were doing and to hell with the usual arena “show biz” stuff. For them it was just an opportunity to explore the repertoire and musical associations of the Rolling Stones. During the night there was some fine rock staples, such as Honky Tonk Woman, I’m a King Bee, Tom Petty’s Falling and the socially incorrect Good Morning Little School Girl (would anyone dare write lyrics like that in this day and age?). There was some Buck Owens Country music in the mix and, of course, the country music Classic Wild Horses. We sometimes forget that this song is an original by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. You can’t accuse the Rolling Stones of being just a bunch of pretty faces. Here are some images from another fine concert at the Studio 64 in Kimberley.
