FRED SCHULZ NEEDS YOU!!! COULD YOU LEND A HAND TO BE PART OF THE COLLECTION BRIGADE FOR THE CONCERT ON THE BARGE, THIS SUNDAY?
PLEASE CALL HIM AT 705-687-8426 IF YOU CAN HELP OUT.
JUST SO YOU KNOW. IT WAS A TWO YEAR PROJECT, FROM BEGINNING TO END, IN ORDER TO SPARE THE BARGE FROM THE ELEMENTS. THANKS TO THE TOWN OF GRAVENHURST AND THE WORKERS FROM BEAVER CREEEK CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTE, HERE IN GRAVENHURST, THE BARGE HAS ANOTHER TWENTY-FIVE YEARS OF LIFE……AS ONE OF ONTARIO'S MOST PHOTOGRAPHED OUTDOOR ENTERTAINMENT VENUES. SO THE UNOFFICIAL BARGE DEBATING SOCIETY SHOULD BE ECSTATIC. WELL, FOR THE MOST PART, WE ARE! JUST ONE LITTLE PROBLEM. THE MUSIC ON THE BARGE MANAGER WON'T HAVE A PROGRAM TO RUN, WITHOUT GENEROUS PATRONS……AND VERY GENEROUS "COLLECTION TAKERS," FOR THE MID-CONCERT PERIOD, WHICH HELPS OFFSET THE COSTS OF BRINGING IN THE ENTERTAINERS. HAVING ONLY A FEW REGULAR COLLECTION TAKERS EACH WEEK, HAS MEANT THAT MANY PATRONS ARE NOT APPROACHED FOR THEIR DONATION, AND THUS, THE FINANCIAL BALANCE FOR MR. SCHULZ BECOMES A LITTLE MORE PRECARIOUS. ALSO HAVING TO DEAL WITH NO RAIN-OUT RELOCATIONS, MEANS THAT THERE WAS NO MONEY RAISED FOR THE FIRST CONCERT, AS IT WAS CANCELLED ON ACCOUNT OF SEVERE WEATHER WARNINGS. THESE EARLY CONCERTS HELP EVEN OUT THE FINANCES FOR THE REST OF THE SUMMER, AND IT'S FAIR TO SAY THE CHALLENGES WILL BE MUCH TOUGHER THIS YEAR THAN IN THE YEAR PREVIOUS…….BECAUSE OF THE "NO RE-LOCATION SITUATION." THIS IS THE RESULT OF HAVING NO INDOOR VENUE WITH A LARGE ENOUGH CAPACITY TO HANDLE THE BARGE AUDIENCE.
HAVING A LARGE CROWD, WHICH IS EXPECTED THIS WEEKEND FOR A WELL KNOWN ACT, THAT COULD FILL THE SHORELINE WITH SPECTATORS, NECESSITATES HAVING MORE DONATION COLLECTORS; AND CURRENTLY THERE ARE ONLY FOUR WHEN THERE SHOULD BE EIGHT, AT LEAST, TO COVER THE WHOLE AREA. IF YOU CAN HELP FRED OUT, PLEASE GIVE HIM A CALL, AND HE WILL BE DELIGHTED TO EXPLAIN THE IMPORTANCE OF THE BUCKET BRIGADE, TO KEEPING THE CONCERT ON THE BARGE PROGRAM, IN OPERATION. NOW THAT WE HAVE A WONDERFULLY RESTORED STAGE OUT ON BEAUTIFUL GULL LAKE, WE NEED TO IMPROVE THE PROGRAM'S FINANCIAL VIABILITY. COLLECTION TAKERS ARE JUST AS IMPORTANT AS THE ENTERTAINERS. SO PLEASE CONSIDER GIVING A FEW MOMENTS OF TIME, TO HELP THIS CRITICAL FUNDRAISER.
“Music on the Barge” Gull Lake Rotary Park – Gravenhurst That 60’s Show – Sunday, July 8th
“Music on the Barge” Gull Lake Rotary Park, Gravenhurst is pleased to present the new musical production That 60’s Show – The Ultimate 60’s Experience on Sunday, July 8th commencing at 7:30 p.m.. A feast for the eyes and the ears, the show is a nostalgic trip back to the days of peace, love, war, protest, hippies, flower power and rock and roll.
That 60’s show will blow you away with cutting edge production, and the biggest hits that defined an era.
You’ll hear such hits of the 60’s as The Twist, The Locomotion, Louie Louie, Blown In the Wind, A Beatles Medley, House of the Rising Sun, Turn, Turn, Turn, Proud Mary, These Boots were Made for Walking, My Generation, Born To Be Wild, Fly Me To the Moon, Sweet Caroline and many more.
Featuring Memory Lane, a band of world renowned musicians and singers, the 60’s come alive in an explosion of sight and sound. Mladen Alexander is a four time Juno nominee and multi award winning guitarist/singer/songwriter. He has shared the studio and stage with such prominent artists as John Mayer, Triumph and Tom Cochrane. Dena Mazzolin is a graduate of Hollywood’s prestigious Musicians Institute where he studied guitar, piano and music theory.
Nina Cutrone is a well known and respected vocalist and songwriter who’s worked with internationally known producers and artist such as Beppe Cantrareilli. Her impressive skills and professionalism energize the stage and audiences every night. Rail Koonin has been playing and studying electric and upright bass for over twenty years. Rail is a graduate of the Humber College Jazz/Contemporary Music Program.
With the influences of Buddy Rich and John Bonham, Nick Chiarore infuses every song he plays with a spark of rhythmic energy that elevates the original to a new level and provides the driving backbeat for the evening. Paulo DeBartolo is the bassist for That 60’s show and knows what to bring to the show with many years of touring and recording under his belt. Paulo has shared the stage with bands such as The Foo Fighter, Bon Jovi, and Sum 41.
Relive the music, the culture, the fashion, and the good vibrations with That 60’s Show at “Music on the Barge” Gull Lake Rotary Park, Gravenhurst on Sunday, July 8th commencing at 7:30 p.m.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE CONCERT ON THE BARGE SEASON, OR IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO MAKE A DONATION, YOU CAN CALL FRED DIRECTLY, AT 705-687-8426.
ANTIQUE WING OPEN - BY GOLLY, IT ALMOST KILLED US
We have finally been able to open the expanded retail operation, of our boy's main street Gravenhurst Music Shop, in the former Muskoka Theatre building. We opened this week and Suzanne and I both agreed, that as far as spring chickens go, the barn door closed behind us a long, long time ago. We're old chickens who just don't know when to peck and wander about. Andrew and Robert have enjoyed such incredible business expansion, over the past year, that they thought it might be worthwhile to coax mom and pop out of semi-retirement, to do that antique-thing. I've been in the antique trade since the late 1970's, and when Suzanne and I married, in the early i980's, we agreed to establish the framework of an eventual retirement business, and up until last fall, ninety-nine percent of our trade was through online sales. When the opportunity presented to expand in the same building, where Andrew and Robert have been operating their retail business for the past six years, we were certainly interested in considering heading back into main street enterprise. But the caveat was, we would set them up, and develop the inventory strategy, do the hunting and gathering, if they would eventually take over its day to day operation for the off-season. Suzanne is getting closer to retirement from teaching, and we are looking forward to antiquing all over the place, because we both find it very relaxing. Even the store this week has been fun. We used to have a small shop on the main street of Bracebridge, from 1989 to 1995, but we gave the location up, when I was appointed public relations director of the Crozier Foundation, and curator of the Bracebridge Sports Hall of Fame. So it feels quite nostalgic to get back into the driver's seat again, and Suzanne is sitting at the desk, same as she did at the old Birch Hollow, and repairing quilts and blankets the old fashion way. Drop in and see us if you around town with nothing else to do. We've got air conditioning. I plan on writing my blog from there as soon as I find a suitable desk and a chair that won't cripple me……as this one does at present.
A Preamble Tale
Our family has been Ontario's Algonquin Park campers for many years. Since our boys were in their early teens, we have canoed on many of the fabulously scenic park lakes..... but our favorites have always been Canoe Lake, Tea Lake and Rock Lake. As an ongoing researcher somewhat obsessed with the alleged drowning death of Canadian artist Tom Thomson, I have spent my vacations close to Canoe Lake (for study) where his body was found in the early summer of 1917. I believe it was murder. I will deal with this down the road in my blog collection.One evening at Rock Lake, as my wife and son Andrew were sitting down at the campground's beachfront, adjacent to the famous Booth Trail, they watched in the low light of autumn dusk, a man walk through the shoreline area, down onto the beach, stop momentarily, and then walk into the water. He hadn't taken many steps into the lake when he simply vanished. A ghost? An apparition? A message to the living from someone who has passed? Who can say?It was only a short time before this holiday weekend for us, that a gent had perished in a canoe mishap a short distance from this camping area, being found on the other side of the bay several days after he went missing. Could it have been the image of the chap repeating the events of that fateful night. This is an example of the kind of encounters our family has had, and never discounted, over the past twenty five years. We don't over analyze these events and we certainly aren't frightened when something similar happens in our day to day activities. We are open-minded to such interactions but we don't make any attempt to draw spirits into our domain, or hope to make any particular connections with the other side. If it happens, well, it happens, and we appreciate the opportunity to experience something a tad outside simple explanation.Our many parallel encounters certainly won't make the next thriller movie out of Hollywood and I don't believe there's one story here that would be the spark for an author to embellish into fiction. These are just honest, non-sensational recollections of personal experiences with unknown entities that may abut or prutrude a tad into the true definition of paranormal. Yet the fact of their commonplace may validate your own encounters that you may or may not have dismissed as something unworthy of after-thought. Then this is for you......not stories to frighten.....rather accounts to enlighten. Please read on!
A Humble Welcome to this Muskoka Ghost Blog-SiteBy Ted CurrieI have been working on this collection of ghost, paranormal, and local mysteries, (including a series of unusual, interesting and unexplained encounters), for most of the past six months. It is also the period that I have written several major feature articles for Curious: The Tourist Guide, (a well read Ontario travel guide) about the connection between well known American author Washington Irving, and Bracebridge, Ontario, which happens to be my own hometown. While I live in Gravenhurst (District of Muskoka), ten miles south along the same Highway II corridor, I'm still an active historian for Bracebridge and area.In 1864 the name Bracebridge, was awarded the new federal post office building, for the community straddling the cataract of the Muskoka River. William Dawson LeSueur, the postal authority of the time, (he was also a well known historian and literary critic in Canada), decided that the citizens' choice of the name "North Falls," was not suitable for the fledgling community. Instead he borrowed a name from the literary work of Washington Irving, a continuation of the earlier Sketch Book of 1819, entitled "Bracebridge Hall," published in 1822. The family of Squire Bracebridge was first introduced in The Sketch Book, and the second in the collection of stories, welcomed readers to join a family Christmas at the great Hall....plus many other short stories from the pen of this internationally acclaimed author.The problem associated with granting this "storied" name was the fact the hamlet settlers were left out of the process and given no opportunity to appeal the decision. Even this might have been okay up to 2008, if LeSueur then had issued a statement about the reasons for bestowing the honor to Irving, and granting a name with considerable provenance to the budding community. By not offering a detailed reason for his decision, and clearly stating why an honor of this magnitude would benefit the pioneer village, there was nothing presented at the time or later in his life, to answer the fundamental questions. Why Bracebridge? Why honor an American author in a Canadian hamlet that was happy with the name "North Falls." Even to this day some long time families feel LeSueur was clearly out of order for ruling out their chosen name.LeSueur, an articulate, well educated, and talented author himself, has many important titles of Canadian history to his credit, and what we know is that if he selected a name for a community himself, versus taking the submitted title, he meant it as a tribute to one and all. For example, in Gravenhurst (where I am currently penning these vignettes), LeSueur, in 1862, opted for the title "Gravenhurst," instead of McCabe's Landing, in honor of a recently departed British author by the name of William Henry Smith; the author of a philosophical essay entitled "Gravenhurst, Or Thoughts On Good And Evil," a well accepted piece by the great bards of the day, and associate philosophers who admired the poet-author's insights. In brief the book was about the commonplace of a small town and how experience evolves; what if there was no sadness? What then would be the true heartfelt experience of happiness, if there was no eventual counterpoint of emotion. It's not really about "evil" other than to suggest that how would one know about the rage of evil without the embrace of goodwill, and just what are the components of commonplace anyway?As with Irving, LeSueur greatly admired the work of this English author, and thusly borrowed the name for this first major community of South Muskoka. He just didn't offer an explanation why. This historian (who did write a book about the naming incidents) has been trying to fill in the gap for more than a decade but both communities are still rather cool to the whole concept of this literary provenance. Gravenhurst in no way has celebrated, at least to this point, having such a literary provenance attached to town heritage. As for Bracebridge, citizens over the years have embraced the idea of having Christmas festivals, as celebrated in Irving's book of 1822, and there was a several night fundraising effort in 2007 held in Irving's honor. This is pleasing to a frustrated historian because I do see the great positives of exploiting these wonderful connections laid down by learned folks more than a century ago.My point for introducing readers to Washington Irving, "Bracebridge Hall," and Dr. W.D. LeSueur, truly an important Canadian man of letters, is that for years I have celebrated as a reader, the many revered tales of hauntings, deeds of the headless horseman in pursuit of poor Iccabod Crane in that cradle of the spirited Hudson River, where Rip Van Winkle heard the phantom bowlers in the mire of inclement weather. If I could draw one philosophical message from the work of Bracebridge Hall, as having influenced my work for the past decade, it was the reference to the modern world of forensic precision and accuracy. Now keep in mind he was writing this prior to 1822. In his mind science was becoming overly intrusive in the bid to disprove many age-old beliefs and traditions, and although he didn't ever suggest that botanists and scientists should cease and desist finding truths about this grand world of ours, he didn't like the fact "possibility" was being constantly thwarted by thorough investigation. In short, while he believed in the relevance of knowledge gained by learned pursuers, he thought it was wrong to deny imagination and legend its traditional role. He felt that the world would be a more sullen, unpleasant, boring situation, if for example, without the full vigor of art, fiction, poetry, philosophy and of course the "fantastic". Such as the investigators who might set their sights on disproving the existence of fairies, their Queen Mab and the circles of their dance in haunted woodlands. There were some aspects of existence, and man's survival, that depended in heart and soul upon these unexplained qualities and quantities of special places and circumstances.I never pass through a woodland here in our home district, without watching down along the path, should I accidentally come upon a wee critter passing by, a toad or frog, a snake or insect that I might spare a crushing demise. As much... I half expect one day to come upon that elusive fairy ring left from a moonlit revel. While science can explain the twinkling firelights over the bog here in the late spring, as evidence of Fire-flies, Irving might have suggested we look further at the magic of creation and interaction, and be fascinated by all that is offered the curious voyeur over a lifetime.When I was a kid growing up in Bracebridge, the black snaking band of the Muskoka River....the one I had to cross at 40 below to get to school, was much like Irving's haunted Hudson River of New York. While it didn't offer passage to phantom ships in the moonlight, the steam of cold November mornings resembled an array of mystical creatures, ghosts in silhouette, spirits and legend magnified. It was dark, mysterious, silent and enchanting. It offered a great deal to any one who celebrated a vivid to over-active imagination like me. At night it was serpent-like with the steady flow toward the cataract of the Bracebridge falls. At first light it was like a Group of Seven painting. By mid-afternoon it was a sullen scene in late October, but a vision of renewal in early April when the ice slabs were pushed downstream. I often retreated, as a fledgling writer, down to the gently sloping rock embankment of Bass Rock, where we used to swim as youngsters on those wickedly hot summer days when steam arises from the asphalt....and stealing away for a cool swim is to be tolerated by even the most ardent naysayers and kill-joys (parents and bosses who think there are better ways to spend precious time). Bass Rock then, in the late 1960's and early 70's, was a hang-out for hippies and sundry other poets and country philosophers....guitar players and sightseers trying to make sense of what the new progressive era was all about. It was a comforting, soothing respite amongst the towering evergreens and naturally sculpted rock-face. The rapids up stream offered a pleasing background din, much as the wind through the Hudson Valley inspired Washington Irving and his quest to reveal earthly secrets, heavenly interventions, apparitions and superstition to invigorate our imaginations.The following collection of stories, tales, recollections of strange, paranoramal and just interesting encounters over a lifetime, here in my home region of Muskoka, Ontario, are not strictly ghost stores re-told to scare or unsettle anyone. They are not being used to drum up book sales or exploit a region of this country for its alleged weirdness and oddities. Nothing could be further from the truth. They are personal stories recounted because they have all, in some way, played a significant role in my career as both a writer and regional historian. None of them are concocted. I don't write fiction and amongst the thousands of books I own as a bibliophile, only a small shelf is devoted to fiction. This is not to say I discount Irving because his work was largely fiction. His work was insightful and inspirational, pushing this writer onward in life with an "open mind" about all possibilities and all potentials of a world and existence we still barely understand.I would like very much to dedicate this blog-site to the memory of my mother Merle Currie (nee Jackson), who passed away this past spring (May 2008), for giving me ongoing encouragement to explore this world, and never once discouraging the dreamer from dreaming.....and that meant attending a lot of parent-teacher meetings early on to explain (rather demand) her son's right and privilege to daydream if the daily routine became oppressive. "Of course he's a dreamer......that doesn't mean he's not paying attention.....it's just his way of learning and playing at the same time. You can't fault him for being happy can you?"I have lived a good life. I have daydreamed and celebrated the wonderful mysteries of life from my first day of clear reckoning. And I shall carry on the same to the final moment.....a believer that this world is.... in every exciting essence and detail combined, a very enchanted, fascninating place, and we should feel so very privileged to participate in this grand opportunity of life experience.As you read through these blog entries please don't judge them to be the work of a writer obsessed by the paranormal, or a family captivated by things that go bump in the night. Many of the experiences have been shared by one or more family members although they are not necessarily of the same mind about the events being paranormal or even all that unusual. I am the messenger here and I take responsibility for the inclusions which I have attempted to re-tell honestly without any embellishment. While family members are aware I am using their names please don't tar them with the same brush you might wish upon this story teller.I have for many years been interested in the work of John Edward, well known medium, and I have certainly embraced the concept that one can communicate with those who have passed by validating their existence. I will share some stories later in this ongoing collection of blogs about following his advice, and making my own interesting connections with the so called "other side".
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