Canadian Spaces with Mike Regenstreif – CKCU – Saturday June 8, 2019

CKCU can be heard at 93.1 FM in Ottawa and http://www.ckcufm.com/ on the web.

This particular show is now available for on-demand listening. https://cod.ckcufm.com/programs/129/43304.html

Canadian Spaces on CKCU in Ottawa is Canada’s longest-running folk music radio program. It is heard Saturday mornings from 10:00 am until noon (Eastern time).

This week’s show was hosted by Mike Regenstreif (subbing for Chris White).

Guests: Mike Biggar, John Allaire, Missy Burgess.

The Afro-Métis Nation (featuring Chris White & George Elliott Clarke)- Hymn to Portia White

Constitution (The Afro-Métis Nation)

Kaia Kater- New Colossus

Grenades (Smithsonian Folkways)

Michael Jerome Browne- Where is the Song

That’s Where It’s At! (Borealis)

J. Reissner- Follow the Sunshine

Fallen Star (J. Reissner)

Po’ Girl- Abilene

Po’ Girl (Jericho Beach)

Old Man Luedecke- Easy Money

Easy Money (True North)

Wade Hemsworth with the Mountain City Four (lead vocal: Kate McGarrigle)- The Log Driver’s Waltz

Wade Hemsworth with the Mountain City Four (Peter Weldon)

David Newland- Poor William Braine

Northbound: The Northwest Passage in Story and Song (David Newland)

Jamie Andersen- Open Water

The Truth Appears (Tsunami)

Ken Tizzard- Boy from Old Perlican

A Good Dog is Lost: A Collection of Ron Hynes Songs (Ken Tizzard)

Irish Mythen- The Bravery

Little Bones (Irish Mythen)

Same Latitude as Rome (with Sean McCann)- Stay the Course

Stay the Course (Same Latitude as Rome)

Mose Scarlett- Lulu’s Back in Town

Precious Seconds (Borealis)

Leon Redbone- Polly Wolly Doodle

On the Track (Warner Bros.)

Dr. John- Didn’t He Ramble

Goin’ Back to New Orleans (Warner Bros.)

Mike Biggar & John Allaire- All the Same

Live in the studio

John Allaire & Mike Biggar- Magnets

Live in the studio

Mike Biggar & John Allaire- What Can I Do

Live in the studio

Missy Burgess- Time

Play Me Sweet (Missy Burgess)

Missy Burgess- Blue Sweater

Lemon Pie (Missy Burgess)

Tom Russell- Play One More

Play One More: The Songs of Ian & Sylvia (True North)

Ian Hanchet- I’ll Fly Away

New Life (Ian Hanchet)

Alana & Leigh Cline- The Black Mill

Alana & Leigh Cline (Scimitar)

My next show on CKCU is June 22 when I’ll be hosting the Saturday Morning program from 7 until 10 am.

Find me on Twitter. @MikeRegenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif

Ottawa Folk Festival – Saturday, September 7

We had limited time – essentially the afternoon – to spend at the Ottawa Folk Festival on Saturday and spent the time enjoying the community-oriented free side of the festival with its workshop and small concert stages.

Tift Merritt

A folk-rock concert by Ottawa singer-songwriter John Allaire was already about halfway through on the Hill Stage when we arrived at Hog’s Back Park and we sat down and enjoyed several songs before moving over to the Slackwater Stage at 3:00 pm for a workshop called “Femme Fatale” featuring young Ottawa-based singer-songwriters Shannon Rose and Catriona Sturton, and South Carolina’s Tift Merritt.

While Shannon and Catriona did well in introducing themselves to a wider audience, the workshop clearly belonged to Tift, one of the most accomplished alt-country singer-songwriters of the past decade. Playing solo in the workshop setting, Tift showed she was just as effective by herself as she is with her concert band turning in compellingly powerful versions of several songs.

If there was a heart and soul to this year’s Ottawa Folk Festival, it could surely be found at the Hill Arthur McGregor, Terry Gillespie, Lynn Miles, Doug McArthur, Arthur II & Tish Parker – and, for a story and song, Chris White – paid tribute to the late Chopper McKinnon, the beloved host of CKCU’s Canadian Spaces for 33 years, a main-stage MC at the Ottawa Folk Festival for most of its existence, and the personification of Ottawa’s folk music scene for so many years.

Lynn Miles, Terry Gillespie & Arthur McGregor

Stage from 4:30 to 6:00 pm when veteran performers

The artists told Chopper stories and sang some of his favourite songs and songs that reminded them – and us – of Chopper. Lynn’s singing Bob Dylan’s “Forever Young, Arthur McGregor’s reading of a poem about Chopper written by Wendy Moore, and Chris’ performance of a seasonal song about Chopper in his Santa-hat were among the most poignant moments of the tribute.

Chris White & Doug McArthur

Unfortunately, sound bleed from other stages, particularly it seems from the very loud Belle Game playing on the CUPE stage, hampered the concentration of both the artists and many in the audience, for much of the tribute.

The timing of the tribute to Chopper was an example of having to choose which stage to be at as there were a couple of other worthy events going on at the same time – a workshop performance and interview with singer-songwriter-astronaut Chris Hadfield and a full band concert by Tift Merritt – that I would have liked to have been at. Both, I'm told, were very good.

Find me on Twitter. twitter.com/@mikeregenstreif

And on Facebook. facebook.com/mikeregenstreif

--Mike Regenstreif