• Aardvark Music & Culture: 169 Broadway Avenue
• Blighty's Tuck Store: 88 First Street (Staples Plaza)
• BookLore: 121 First Street
• Broadway Music: 232 Broadway Avenue
• I Scream For Ice Cream: 489 Broadway Avenue (at C Line)

Sale price is $15.00 each
 
A special thanks go to Paul Hogeveen and JD at Minuteman Press for developing the display and promotional material for the CD.
 

Plans are already being drawn up for the 11th Annual Festival and details will be shared in upcoming issues of this newsletter. We look forward to sharing them with you so please stay tuned.  

A Heartfelt Thanks and Farewell to Gord McWilliams by: Larry Kurtz 

When the first Orangeville Blues and Jazz Festival came to be back in 2003 I had hoped that it would be something that we could sustain or slowly and steadily grow over the years. However, I had no idea that a decade later not only would it still be going strong, but that it would also be the single largest annual tourism draw to the Town of Orangeville, a tremendous booster to the local economy, a multiple Hills of Headwaters Tourism Association Award winner and twice listed as a Top 100 Ontario Festival by Festivals and Events Ontario.

There are many reasons why our "little" volunteer-run event has achieved so much in such a short amount of time, but the beating heart of the Festival these past 10 years has been Gord McWilliams.

During Gord's tenure as Administrator, the Festival has experienced tremendous growth. Beyond his administrative duties, Gord has been the main person responsible for sponsorships on a volunteer basis. His innovative thinking has led to the launch of the much loved Blues Cruise event as well as many fundraising ideas including our Caribbean Cruise draw.

Gord has been our main liaison for dealings with the Town of Orangeville, the BIA, Parks & Recreation, Police and Fire, Health and Ontario Licensing and Gaming... to name a few. He was also the primary organizer of Monday Night @ The Movies, permits and road closures. Gord has booked all the food and craft vendors, supervised the stages and sound crews, procured tents and fencing for the Broadway Garden stage and managed the thousand and one other details required to ensure a successful event.

These are just some of the obvious things Gord has done. However, it can be argued that one of his most important roles has been to bring cookies to the monthly Festival Board Meetings!

At the close of this year's Festival, Gord announced that he would be resigning his position as Festival Administrator.

On behalf of the Board of Directors and our many volunteers that would like to thank Gord McWilliams for his many years of hard work and dedication to the Orangeville Blues and Jazz Festival.

We would be nowhere near as successful without his knowledge, skill, dedication and tireless effort.

Thank you so much Gord!  You will be missed.

~ Larry Kurtz

Drowned R.A.T.s: A Volunteer's Account of the 2012 Orangeville Blues and Jazz Festival 
 by: Winston Uytenbogaart 

For those who don't know, there is a special team of volunteers that is tasked with ensuring stages, generators, banners and other essential elements are installed and disassembled at various venues during the Festival. They are known as the "Roust About Team" or R.A.T.s for short.

The weather leading up to the 2012 Festival was gorgeous and the Roust-About Team (R.A.T.s) were keen to do their thing. Preparatory work started on May 1st with the Street Banners on Broadway. The crew, led by Ken & Teresa Huntley had taken on responsibility for banners & signs across the Festival Venue and around Town. They dispatched the job promptly and led the charge to the Winchester Arms.

A few days later, the first of the first equipment and gear was retrieved from storage leading up to the Gala kick-off on the evening of Thursday, May 31. Our new stage (constructed by Volunteers in 2011) was modified slightly with the help of Gord McWilliams (who designed it) and a new steel step made up with hand rails to boot.

The story gets interesting when work started Thursday morning at the Broadway Garden venue. Kevin Hennessy was there early saving parking spaces for the generator and set backs for the security fencing. Bing, Bang, Boom... the trailer, stage and marquee tent arrived. Shortly afterward the fencing was being installed and things were clicking along nicely. Mixed clouds led us to the common view that we would have rain for the weekend.

 Not all was to be lost though. Thursday saw the installation of our tree carving in Alexandria Park - ready for revealing on Saturday morning. Help from Orangeville Equipment Rentals and a supply of hockey pucks from Brian Smith did the trick and voilà; Larry Kurtz and Ryan Grist are immortalized in wood. The carving is dedicated to the efforts of the many Volunteers and Sponsors who have supported our Festival over the years.

Now, Friday morning was a different matter. Gray clouds threatened but the crews were on time and quickly Alexander Park and the TD Tent were in good shape. As the day wore on, the rain came and we moved to "Plan-B"; which involved moving five bands into the TD tent.

On the street, where the Blues Cruise was supposed to be taking place, coordinating with the Road Hazard Car Club required umbrellas or rain gear.

At this point a meeting of the R.A.T.s was a sorry site. We were soaked and distressed and now the Little G show at Broadway Garden show was looking to be a wash-out! We took a lot of jibes and jokes about being "Drowned RATS". However, a few minutes in the TD Tent with the musicians and all was forgotten. Fans of the Festival packed the tent and we all had a great time.

Saturday emerged as a questionable day also, but cleared up enough. And, except for several short bursts of rain, it went off very well.

Sunday turned out to be a keeper and again the R.A.T.s had a ball.

• $4000.00 Grand Prize Caribbean Cruise: Steve S., Cornwall, Ontario
• $800.00 Custom Designed Guitar: Don H., Orangeville, Ontario
• $500.00 Mark's Work Wearhouse Gift Card: Faye M., Orangeville, Ontario
• $325.00 Georgian Bay Airways Fly & Dine: John W., Caledon Village, Ontario
• $250.00 Shell Gift Card: Tina M., Orangeville, Ontario
• $300.00 Home Depot Gift Card: Paula C., Orangeville, Ontario
• $250.00 Tim Horton's Gift Card: Wayne K., Ilderton, Ontario
• $250.00 Dragonfly Earrings & Bracelet: Sandy P., Orangeville, O ntario
• $250.00 Petro Canada Gift Card: Wayne R., Orangeville, Ontario
• $195.00 Print by Jill Pringle: Ken M., Orangeville, Ontario

• a signed copy of best-selling cookbook Freshalicious: think fresh * live local * eat healthy
• a Freshalicious apron
• a re-usable Freshalicious shopping bag

CD Review: Naturally - Harpdog Brown (feat. Graham Guest), by: Garth Stiebel 

 You may recall that Harpdog Brown was a featured artist at the 2012 Orangeville Blues and Jazz Festival, jamming on the main stage with Larry and the Lawbreakers and making a special appearance at the Winchester Arms Pub. It is my pleasure to review this well-assembled collection of some classic blues, together with some tunes from modern masters of the form.  

Harpdog's awareness of the historic roots of the genre is evident in his song selection, beginning with St Louis Jimmy Oden's gem, I Had my Fun, a great sampling of 40 's Chicago blues, followed closely by Dave Bartholomew's  mid-50's new Orleans R & B hit, Blue Light Boogie.

The next four numbers written (two each) by West Coast artists, Brandon Isaak and Wayne Berezan are not at all out of place, and here, Harpdog's showmanship, great sense of boogie, swing and jazz are stand-outs, especially on Sacrifice, where comparisons of his voice to that of Louis Armstrong's are hard to resist. This Dog can bark!

 Then it's right back to the classics, starting with Saturday Night Fish Fry, 'jump' blues at its finest, then 'Fats' Waller's Ain't Misbehavin'... is it blues-flavoured jazz, or jazz-flavoured blues? The jury's still out on that one but I can tell you that the verdict is in on Naturally - it's a keeper.

Harpdog Brown can play the harp like nobody's business; add his versatile voice to the mix and you have a combo few can beat. Graham Guest on grand piano is his main accompaniest and I would be remiss if I didn't add my whole-hearted appreciation of his boogie-woogie playing on virtually all the tracks.

Harpdog Brown is showing his own appreciation of the reception he was given in Orangeville this past summer by generously donating 15% of every CD he sells here to the Festival. Please contact me at gstiebel@hotmail.com for more if you would like a copy.

The Dog will be back this way again in August and (hopefully) in the fall and if you appreciate the Blues you definitely want to see him perform.

For more details on Harpdog Brown, including his club dates schedule, visit: www.harpdogbrown.com.