Yellowknife Sings! - A Fan-made Featurette

Northern Divas: Wonderful, gave me shivers. Final number was a touching and inspired songs geared toward Yellowknife.

Pat Braden: What a storyteller, John Mayer could learn something from this guy. His 12-String Chapman Stick is gorgeous, it looks like it would feel like playing a piano, left hand strumming the bass line, right hand tapping out the melody. Just plain cool.

The Gumboots: I've never been to a Gumboot performance but I'm very glad I didn't wander off too early. Their harmonies are spot-on (of course) and, my God, does Mr. Gilday have a beautiful tenor voice, I'm gonna miss him and I feel sorry for those grade eight's coming to Sir John next year that'll miss him. Their final song was the Nova Scotia's provincial anthem (I didn't even know they had one!) "Farewell to Nova Scotia" and it was pure gold. These men really are Modern Minstrels, and I really hope they continue making music for many years to come.

Theresa Pamplin: I know this doesn't have anything to do with her musical performance but did she ever wear a pretty dress! It was a gorgeous, long black number. You know, say what you want about opera music, but I love it. (Oh! Just noticed her shoes!) The practice strength of the breath control an operatic singer must have is a sight to be seen or rather, a sound to be heard. Not to mention all the memorization of intricate music and beautiful but foreign lyrics. What really stuck out for me was the fact she didn't bring out a bottle of water of cup of tea to sip between songs! It just shows her obvious training and pure professionalism that she has. Gosh, she's a tall, brunette operatic angel. She could make it as a model or Miss Canada or something!

Continuing on with Theresa's actual performance, the first of two pieces she sang accompanied with violist (blank) had a very Firefly-b sound to it. It's hauntingly beautiful tones felt like the background music you'd find in a Japanese RPG or playing during the game's opening cinematic. The violinist was kind of cute too.

Rick and the Relics: Well, I got to be honest, I wasn't really expecting much from this band, being billed as Christian-slash-something or other on the artist line-up. But I decided to see what they were all about and stuck around. Mrs. Giovenetto was one of the back-up singers and I felt that usual comfort of knowing someone that's performing.

It was a rather large group, four ladies harmonizing as a back-up quartette, title man Rick on guitar, a familiar looking dude named Garry on bass, and t cute looking young man on bongo/drums. (Rick later explained that his name was John Tse and he is a recent transplant from Toronto. Cute, talented AND an import. Excellent...) Anyway, Rick started off with a few vaguely familiar ditties but the only thing really memorable I noted were his last four songs.

"Northern Lights" has a wonderful...oh what was it...doo-wop/Chordettes feel to it. "Snowflakes" has a decidedly blues-y feel to it, but it manages to keep a go-lucky groove with some surprisingly inspired lyrics (He talks about "frying snowflakes over candles." Ha!) His next song was a sea shanty, which I always adore, and this one did not disappoint. More akin to the slower, longing ilk of wives singing to husbands and sons lost to sea. It was quite stirring and is one of the songs that makes me wonder if I was born on the wrong side of the continent.

His closing song "Ridin' on Rainbows" has the easy gospel rock sound that I had first expected from R & R. A sweet song to end softy by and it didn't even make me think of Skittles once. (Okay, maybe it did once, but only when he introduced the song!)

After a bit of a walkabout I caught the end of Ted Wesley, and actually I liked it. Their pianist made me think of a player piano. Love that!

Dana Sipos: Okay, I had heard lots of good things about her from Kelsey. She plays a mandolin, how minstrel can you get! I'm glad she wasn't hyped up at all; her skill vocally, lyrically and instrumentally is there, no doubt. With her sound. I definitely got a Nelly Furtado "Folklore" and sweetafton23 aka Molly feel, but without a doubt she reaches beyond what my meager comparisons can do justice to.

Dressed as if she'd fit comfortably during a 60s Woodstock, I can describe her voice as smooth and deep as the surface of the lake when the midnight sun stretches it rays long into the calm night. "Soothing" doesn't even begin to describe her style. Paired with simply ingenious lyrics, her strangely envirgorating music awakens something ancient, classic, and fleeting feral as you listen. Sitting there, I almost felt like I should stop eating processed foods, wearing brand name shoes and start planting crops or something. I was genuinely sad to see her go off-stage but maybe I could get her to sign the CD I will most definitely buy!!

Hindsite: Fun-looking band, promising to be just a little bit louder and they brought it, starting their set with a funky cover of John Fogerty's "The Old Man Down The Road". I love their bass player (Rick Maddeaux), he looks like a wizened ol' master of rock. LOVE IT! Lead singer Laurette Debagorski has a great rock voice to compliment their guitarist Bob Baggs' snazzy rock-out sound. Man, his mini-solo with the wah-wah was so gold I had to close my eyes and absorb it.

As the familiar chords and opening verse of 4 Non Blonde's "What's Up", the very history of this eeriely beautiful early 90s hit reverberated through my skin and bones. I teared up as I and a number of the crowd joined the chorus. Simply spectacular.

Their promise to "slow it down" lasted but a song as they picked up where they left off, rock n' rolling NACC's house with a worthy cover of Def Leppard's anthemic "Panama". Definitely picking up their CD!

Vincent Gauthier: A very versatile guy according to his bill, but who doesn't milk it up on those things, right? Obviously not Mr. Gauthier! Starting his set with his own "In My Dreams", a heartfelt ballad of home sang perched atop a classy barstool. A handsomely average-looking bald man, his voice betrays himself instead as a wiry, mophead playing atop a soapbox, protesting overfishing or something. His guitarwork alone is stirring and he very modestly attributes any lyrical prowess to the number of poets, musicians and lyricists he's had the pleasure to work with. A purely instrumental number was titled after his daughter, which I found very sweet. (What a small world, he's Kirsten Gauthier's dad! Go figure!) His newly reformed band "Big Ethel" plays at the Monkey Tree regularly so I hope I can catch him before the summer is out. His final instrumental number dedicated to the early pioneers of the North and had a very pioneer/Old West sound. It was wonderfully played on a sweet blues-y steel guitar. Great set!

Priscilla's Revenge: Christine's Dad's band, this'll be good. Right off the bat, I'm definitely getting the classic rock vibe I expected but that's not to say I enjoyed it any less. I gotta say though, few things make me more happy then seeing a big man wailing away on a guitar and PR's guitarist totally brought it. A towering man, he handled that damn pretty orange-y wood tint-ish Gibson like a dream, quite obviously becoming my favourite band member to watch. But as enjoyable as it is being lead guitar biased, I must also acknowledge the bass! (Basses are guitars too!) His fingers flew noticeably faster than other bassists I've seen live, really upping the ante in the band's low register, driving his own gorgeous black matte short body bass smoothly like a hot knife through butter.

"Smooth" is a great, albeit common, adjective to describe this trio. Blues-rock permates through each of their songs, staying (not uncomfortably) within their chosen genre. Right after another absolutely KILLER guitar solo during the soulful "Where Did We Go Wrong", I found myself thinking "My God, you could have make-up sex to this song..."

Picking up the tempo considerably, their song "Highway Heaven" very quickly became a reason I will pick up their new album, hopefully out by Christmas. This song belongs on any driving compilation out there, especially (and some what ironically) alongside Steppenwolfe's rock-staple "Born To Be Wild" Ha!

Indio Saravanja: A slight guy, with big eyes and longish hair, he just looks like the kind of guy that would stand on a street corner or subway station platform and, figuratively, "kill you softly with his song", I'm serious. First impressions are a striking vocal and musical similarity to Bob Dylan but Indio is totally and completely understandable! He's versatile too, rendering his second number "Grace of Thee" wonderfully on the stage's grand piano, unceremoniously neglected for the greater part of the night.

"Holding On" had a Death Cab for Cutie or Bright Eyes indie ballad sound to it, but the tinkling sound of his most particular 8-string ukulele-like South American contraption called a turango threw in some Jack Johnson island feel, and I loved it all the same.

His final song was written in and for Yellowknife brought that now-unfamiliar clutch to my heart. I realized later it was real pride in being able to say I'm from Yellowknife. Calling any place home is often taken lightly but as a fairly frequent mover, I try and hold a certain standard to each place I bestow the title of "home" to. Yellowknife has a certain draw that anyone who is lucky enough to get stranded (in all senses of the word) in this oft-understated one highway town. It's all about what you make of your situation. Life's a pen, you just have to start writing.

All and all, the night has been a pure musical delight and I hope it becomes a tradition that I can come home to every summer.