Open Air Festival Debut!
This entire adventure has been special beyond my wildest dreams…..literally…and the magic continues! So get this……
2 years ago, when I lived near Jericho Beach in Vancouver, I had the pleasure of seeing Sherman Downey and his band (at the time The Silver Lining, now Ambiguous Case) at a house concert in the building I lived in. Sherman is an incredible artist, a Newfoundland native now residing in the west coast town Corner Brook.
I wasn’t sure if I was going to stop in Corner Brook, as I didn’t know anyone there. I decided to google it and noticed Sherman had hosted an open mic at The White Horse Lounge before, so I sent him a note to see if it was still happening. He replied saying yes, and that if I was around for the weekend, it would be good to check out the first ever 3 Bear Open Air Festival. So I planned on staying.
I have done a lot of volunteering at music events in the past few years, and thought 1……I’d ask the festival organizers if they needed any more help, and 2….if they had any ‘Tweener,” spots available. A tweener is performance slot at a festival on the main stage between major acts to fill the transition time with something interesting for the crowd.
After dialoging back and forth a bit through email, both options were YES’s, and I was on my way to Corner Brook!
I was so excited!! All my life I have wanted to play on an open air festival stage, and it was finally about to happen! Thursday and Friday held amazing jams at the White Horse Lounge with Sherman and his buddies, as well as The Pathological Lovers – another fantastic Newfoundland Band. Friday was also met by moving around a plethora of festival barricades with the 3 Bear festival team. My ripped factor just increased exponentially!
Enter Saturday….I walked into the festival gates to pick up my volunteer pass, which I quickly obtained. A few moments later, while I was taking in the beautiful day and scene, Neil Targett (Bass player for Sherman, and one of the festival organizers) approached me with an “Aritst,” pass…………….Now, this hadn’t even crossed my mind at this point, but when Neil handed the pass to me, it hit pretty hard in all ways awesome, as this was the first time I’d ever been given an official artist pass!! I wasn’t pumped at all as you can tell…..
Anyway, I played one of my tunes, one of my Dad’s (Little Red Wagon), and then played the recording of my Dad’s tune “Take The Time,” over the microphone for the audience. It was a super special moment, and wouldn’t have traded it for anything in the world.
Thank you so much to Sherman and friends of Corner Brook, and all the organizers of the 3 Bear Open Air Festival. It was such an honour to be involved with the debut of this amazing event, and I look forward to watching its continued success in the future.
I was super fortunate to have Tom Cochrane, the team’s social media man, film my first ever outdoor stage performance, and I am so happy to be able to share this with you all. Thanks Tom!!
*From this wild chain of events, I have been given the opportunity to play my own night at The Whitehorse on Tuesday evening, so if you are in town and want to see/hear more tunes and stories, I’d love to meet you and shake your hand.
Thank you world and all your kindness!