Well, okay, not really Stan Rogers, but the next next thing.
On Saturday afternoon there was a showing of the documentary One Warm Line: The Legacy of Stan Rogers at Cinematheque. It was part of the Canadian Folk Music Awards programming around town. Four of the people who knew Rogers best were there to celebrate: his wife Ariel, son Nathan and Rogers' musical friend and guitar maker Grit Laskin and his producer Paul Mills. Each performed a couple of tunes and shared some great stories about the legend.
A story I liked was about Barret's Privateers and how it was written in just 25 minutes ! A kitchen party broke into a sea-shanty session. Tired of having to sit back and sing-along with the choruses, Rogers disappeared upstairs and returned a few minutes later, with pen and paper in hand, and a shanty of his own !
Rogers died in an airplane fire at the age of 33 and Canada lost one of her great voices. Covering his death, a Canadian Press story quoted Rogers as saying "I want to reflect my times and leave something behind the world can look at 100 years from now".
Well, just 27 years later, a theatre full of people gathered on a cold, wintry afternoon to listen to his music and sing-along the choruses of Northwest Passage and Mary Ellen Carter. You can't get much more 'Canadiana' than that ! I think another 75 years from now you will find people doing the same !
Nathan Rogers, is a singer/songwriter in his own right, nominated for best contemporary artist of the year. He has certainly inherited his father's great baritone and can do a powerful cover of Stan's tunes. Listening to some of his original music, he certainly inherited his father's gift for telling a great story.
 |
| Nov. 6, 1981 Winnipeg Free Press |
A couple of Rogers family notes:
- There is a new CD coming soon from Fogarty's Cove Music. A digitally remastered Very Best of Stan Rogers.
2 comments:
Darn! I would have loved to be there! Sounds like it was a very special evening.
Er, afternoon. :)
Post a Comment