Guide to Homegrown Live 2011
The Homegrown Live Music Festival will celebrate its third birthday this Saturday with Kingston musicians, music production companies and local bars and restaurants all coming together for a full day of live music throughout downtown Kingston. For the past three years this festival has taken place to raise awareness and funds for The Joe Chitalen Musical Instrument Lending Library (AKA Joe’s MILL) and The Partners in Mission Food Bank. A $10 bracelet purchased at any of the venues will get you into every Homegrown location for the day. Starting as early as 1pm and going as late as 2am, you will find live music all over the downtown core. All of the performing musicians and those working the door have volunteered their time and talent to help keep the MILL alive and successful. This music festival is a great opportunity to see some of your favourite Kingston bands but it also an excellent chance to spot some of our lesser known and up and coming musicians. There are a ton of folks in Kingston who love to sing, play and write but don’t always have the time or opportunity to show these skills off. Homegrown Live is all about local talent and one of my favourite parts is seeing some of these fine artists come out and do their thing.
Country – On Larocks
1:00 Alex Leggett
1:30 The Boot Rot Depression Boys
2:00 John Howes
3:00 Edie and Gary Warwick with guest Mitch Baker
4:00 Frontenac Olde Time Fiddlers
5:00 ThoroughFreds
6:00 Gord Struthers
7:00 Liquorbox
Celtic – The Brew Pub
2:00 Solange Lacroix
3:00 Tracie Morgan and Brian Flynn
4:00 Derek Copley
5:00 Shane Dunne
6:00 Irish Disorders
7:00 Tuns of Tunes
8:00 Plastic Paddy
9:00 Tom MacIntosh
10:00 Rukus
Folk One – The Mansion
2:00 Brian Taguchi
2:45 Wendy Luella Perkins
3:30 John Sommerville
4:15 Gord Beech
5:00 The Broken Arrows
5:45 Tom Ward
6:30 Dympna McConnell
7:15 Rory Skelly and Richard Burgman
8:00 Chris Morris
8:45 Acoustimus
9:30 Liana Finucan
10:15 Jon McLurg
11:00 Monuments and Statues
The Next Generation – The Mansion
2:15 Evan Cheeseman
2:45 Haint Blues
3:15 For Lack of a Better Name
3:45 CARD
4:15 New Hour
4:45 Brit Fabulous and the Hobo Traveling Sideshow
5:15 Intermission
5:30 Plaid Protection
6:00 Henri McGuire
6:30 Major Felten
7:15 Pickleback
Blues – Brandees
3:00pm The Tomcats
4:00pm Slick Whippet
5:00pm Sonny Slide Maddams
6:00pm Roger Dorey
7:00pm Whisky River
8:00pm Smokin’ Daley and The Consequences
9:00pm Jump and Shuffle
10:00pm Marg Bass
11:00pm Agent Blue
12:00am Mojo Shooter
Jazz – The RCHA
4:00 Mauricio & LatinFusion Band
5:00 Spencer Evans
6:00 Rubbaboo
7:00 Downtown Trio
8:00 TBA
9:00 Dave Barton
10:00 Michelle Kaz
11:00 Inside Out
Folk Two – The RCHA
6:00 Ben du Toit, Solange Lacroix, Madeleine LeBrun
7:00 Trevor Strong and the Line of Credit
8:00 Steve Didunyk
9:00 Tracie Morgan
10:00 Christina Tracy
11:00 Brian Flynn and the All Night Band
Alternative – The Toucan
8:00 Justin Andre & the Ocean Kids
9:00 Day St. Brothel
10:00 Vital Side
11:00 Liquorbox
12:00 Owl Farm
1:00 Slaves of Spanky (tbc)
The Psychedelic Snack – The Mansion
8:15 Aquamuffin
9:15 TBA
10:15 Paradise Eaters
11:15 Give Me Something Beautiful
12:15 Me Man Jack
Apple Crisp – The Grad Club
9:00pm The Gertrudes
10:00pm Rueben deGroot
World Music – Zappas Lounge
10:00 Samba Maracuja
10:45 Swamp Ward Orchestra
11:25 Maurico & Latin Fusion Band
12:00 Zydecosis
1:00 Haitian Sensation
Excited to see Slaves of Spanky, and I hope they're show will be confirmed sooner rather than later. Spencer Evans, Swamp Ward and Vital Side are all others I need to see. Too bad this thing only goes on for one day…so hard to choose with so many venues/performers.
Seems nobody sees the injustice of bands, volunteers and atttendees donating their time, energy, and cash to worthwhile charities, while the bars rake in the dough and share nothing of their extra profits to these causes..??
Great idea in principle, but Joe's MILL and the Foodbank AREN'T the real winners here…
The bars definitely make money off of Homegrown, but if they aren't involved, where would the festival be hosted? I don't think you could go outside with this event and cordon off City-owned fields and parks, as there would be too much risk of being rained out. Further, the close proximity of the current venues allow people to hop from one to another. Perhaps this is something for organizers to keep in mind for future years when their negotiating who will be a part of the festival, and under what conditions (financially).
Does the Kingston Blues Fest have a problem with being 'rained out'?… I don't see your argument there.. ____also disagree with you that the festival needs the pubs and clubs to make it easy for people to sample approximate venues – The combination of, yes, some indoor (bars) and outdoor venues for Bluesfest seem to work just fine, why couldn't Homegrown do the same?
Should also point out that there is a possibility that some bars are actually writing cheques from their proceeds to the causes. However, I know of one bar that simply provide the venue, and I suspect almost all do the same thing…
"Does the Kingston Blues Fest have a problem with being 'rained out'?" Yes, if it rains they run the risk of not getting an audience. Torrential downpour on one night would be be the end of the world though, as Blues Fest runs over several days. Homegrown is one night only, so rain would spell disaster if they moved outside. And just to be clear, I don't think they need to.
Not to mention Blues Fest also runs in bars. In fact, the majority of the music is played indoors as the city noise by-law requires outdoor music to end early.
I agree with Harvey that if we didn't have the bars, we wouldn't have a venue so why not let it be a win-win situation? One thing I would like to see change is if they could offer more to those who are volunteering and performing. I've done both and a a performer, I got one free drink and as a volunteer I got a voucher for 15% off for food at places that weren't venues…so I'd have to make the trip to take advantage. If I'm volunteering at Brandees, I'm not going to walk to the Pita Pit to get my discount. How about at least 2 drinks and half off apps or something so that we're at least still buying food where we're volunteering?
I also found the control at the door fairly lax this year. I walked into both Zappas and The Toucan (the first at 10:30pm and the second at 11:30pm) and wasn't asked about my bracelet at either venue. I saw lots of people at both venues who weren't wearing bracelets. The organizers can't be everywhere at once so it would be nice to see the bars step up and be a bit more strict about who comes and goes during the festival. Other than that, I say let them sit back and reap some of the benefits of this great fundraiser. It couldn't be done without them.
Bars and restaurants offer their venues for free. The cost of setting up outdoor stages and blocking off streets is huge. And yes, sometimes Blues Fest does get rained out.
Great point by Blue about Entertainers and Volunteers recieving more for their efforts.
Seems people here on this forum think the bars are absolutely nessesary – then they really should kick in more than one free beer and a stage while they put hundreds, if not thousands into their own pockets..why can't they give whatever they make to the charities above what an average Saturday night would be for them?
Either that, or pay the bands.. When I played music for a living, I wouldn't play for 'free' unless it was clear that all Stakeholders were donating their time and money to the cause.. then again, this Festival seems less about raising money for meaningful causes, and more about providing exposure to amateur musicians and making bar and club owners smile!