Well about 8-9 years ago Diamond Dave found out he can accually make some money playing music, and has been going hard ever since. Managing approx. 200 gigs a year. Playing mostly upright bass these days Dave keeps busy with 3 different bands, and still occationally doing the rent-a-bass player bit. Washboard Hank:Dave has been playing for Hank about three years now doing lots of cool shows, festivals, having lots of fun, drinkin’ lots o beer. Electric City Ramblers:the work horse band, playing the Pub circit, argicultural events, almost anything. A very versitle band. Members are Dave MaQurrie, lead vocal, guitar and a songbag bigger than Santa’s. Fiddlin Jay Edmonds, mandolin, Fiddle. The County Boys.Daves all original Band. Playing with Tin Can Chris Culgin and Banjo Benj Rowland. 3 songerwriters, 3 singers. Fairly new band but doing really well. Exciting live.

Show starts at 9pm - $3 cover

Brock Zeman may only be twenty-five years old, but already he’s released three previous albums with his signature roots style, and been praised by critics for the maturity of his vocals, the depth of his storytelling and his impressive live performances – which he shares with audiences widely and regularly, across North America and Europe.

His fourth album, Welcome Home Ivy Jane, produced by Keith Glass of Prairie Oyster fame, along with Zeman and Steve Foley at Audio Valley, cements Zeman’s talent as a songwriter who balances the grit of everyday life with a lyrical heart. Sung in his deep, rich and twangy vocals and backed by a first rate band, Zeman is, as one reviewer has said, “certainly a rising star” (Atlantic Seabreeze).

Zeman’s vocals often illicit immediate comparisons to Americana greats; Country Music News has said that Zeman has “a voice that begs to be compared to Steve Earle” while Rootshighway claims that “Brock Zeman should have been born in Austin Texas.” But it is Zeman’s songwriting that makes the comparisons to the great singer-songwriters stick.

Joe Gee’s been around, geographically and musically. Born in N.Y. state, lived in Seattle, Baltimore, Charlotte, and, for now and forever, in Austin Texas. The son of musicians, he started playing piano at eight and, when The Beatles came on the scene, guitar at ten.

Early on he was influenced by the AM radio playlists of his youth; The Beatles and other British Invasion bands, The Beach Boys, R&B and soul acts like The Drifters, James Brown, and Otis Redding. But Joe was especially and increasingly drawn to the sounds of bands like The Byrds, Bob Dylan, The Band, Buffalo Springfield; acts that incorporated traditional country music styles and instrumentation in their work, and writers whose lyrics seemed more real and often more meaningful than those of their pop\rock counterparts.

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“On Thursday, May 8th auditions will be held for the ‘On Stage’ portion of the Stewart Park Festival. The event will take place at O’Reillys pub, 43 Gore Street. Each performer will be asked to play 2 songs , at least one of them must be an original composition. Six acts will be chosen and two spots are reserved for local acts.  We are looking forward to a great night of entertainment.

Washboard Hank plays an amazing conglomeration of bells, licence plates, duck calls, etc., and actually gets music out of it. He also plays banjo, kazoo, and dobro, and will probably break a lot of guitar strings too. If the proper plumbing supplies are available and space allows you can expect a solo or two on the “Fallopian Tuba,” made out of 1 1/2″ PVC pipe and a stainless steel sink.

One reviewer called Washboard Hank “a cross between Jerry Lewis (not Jerry Lee) and Stompin’ Tom Connors.” His repertoire includes bluegrass, rockabilly, country, television themes and Oktoberfest. He can go from sensitive to manic to ridiculous in an instant. Don’t blink, you’ll miss something good. Hank has appeared on dozens of TV shows (Elephant Show, W5, Mr. Dressup, etc.) recently performed on C.B.C.’s Madly Off In All Directions, and spent the last four years as a member of Fred Eaglesmith’s band, doing 200 + shows a year all over North America. Working so steadily with Fred was letting Hank’s own career slide, but he’s getting it built up a bit now.

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Formed in the spring of 2003 these rowdy Winnipegers are on a mission to show that not all country is Nashville Pop with a hint of twang. Drawing influence from artists such as Johnny Cash, John Prine, Fred Eaglesmith, and Stompin’ Tom, they bring the music back to its original roots with alcohol-soaked songs full of trucks, trains, and a whole lot of heartache.

Formed in the spring of 2003 these rowdy Winnipegers are on a mission to show that not all country is Nashville Pop with a hint of twang. Drawing influence from artists such as Johnny Cash, John Prine, Fred Eaglesmith, and Stompin’ Tom, they bring the music back to its original roots with alcohol-soaked songs full of trucks, trains, and a whole lot of heartache.

Our band name, Shag Harbour, was suggested by a friend of a friend. The more we said and heard it, the more we liked it. So here we are and there it tis’. Our original name, Good-ta-Go, was abandoned because we feared it would conflict with another band in Ottawa, whose spelling created similar pronunciation.

The Shag Harbour band logo was designed by a friend of the band. The Celtic knot (top center) signifies a musical tie to that genre of music, which of course is a big part of our East Coast musical content. The contoured shapes above and below the name are somewhat similar to the outline of a space ship (Shag Harbour is also home of a UFO sighting in October of 1967). The left and right sides are open, signifying our ability to be open-minded and flexible in music genre choices.

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Our band name, Shag Harbour, was suggested by a friend of a friend. The more we said and heard it, the more we liked it. So here we are and there it tis’. Our original name, Good-ta-Go, was abandoned because we feared it would conflict with another band in Ottawa, whose spelling created similar pronunciation.

The Shag Harbour band logo was designed by a friend of the band. The Celtic knot (top center) signifies a musical tie to that genre of music, which of course is a big part of our East Coast musical content. The contoured shapes above and below the name are somewhat similar to the outline of a space ship (Shag Harbour is also home of a UFO sighting in October of 1967). The left and right sides are open, signifying our ability to be open-minded and flexible in music genre choices.

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