Those who don’t know Newfoundland’s Hey Rosetta! are about to become a whole lot more familiar. The six-piece played its first gig in Halifax during the Juno showcases and is set for three more dates in the city within the next month. Momentum has been rising since the group formed last August, with the release of the orchestral rock act’s first record Plan Your Escape giving their Halifax fans something new this week: June 10 at Gus’ Pub.
“This whole year has been phenomenal,” says vocalist/pianist/guitarist Tim Baker (not to be confused with Matt Mays’s drummer Tim “Jim” Baker). “The attention has been growing, we just had our CD release the other night”—in St. John’s—“and like 600 people came out, we sold a crapload of records, it was really sweet.”
Hot-blooded, local rock act Folds of Policy provides the support and will unleash its anticipated sophomore effort once frontman Jon Landry returns from day job duties in Cape Breton, shilling premier Rodney MacDonald’s election promises.
Just press play
The Khyber Centre for the Arts is offering a unique approach to hearing the music that people in the local scene are listening to when they aren’t busy making it. The exhibit, titled Press Play and Record, features music recorded by scenesters on cassette tape.
“What we did was set up some benches kind of into a corner against the walls. We have some walkmans and a boombox,” says curator and CKDU programmer Francesca Tallone. “And all the tapes are in the walkmans and the boombox. We have one CD, actually. There are headphones, and you can just sit and listen!”
Among those recruited for the project were Jesse Dangerously, City Field’s Mitchell Wiebe, The Maynards’s Kristina Parlee, Jessica Whyte, Michael Catano of North of America, Stephen Kelly of The Just Barelys, Philip Clark and The Coast’s own Stephanie Johns (also of The Stolen Minks) and Tara Thorne.
“Jodi (McLaughlin, the director of the Khyber), and I just sat down and we tried to think of Halifax music, and who has been involved in the industry in Halifax for the past 10 or 15 years,” says Tallone. “We tried to get a diverse mix of men and women in the industry who play different kinds of music—we just contacted them to see if they were interested in participating.”
The exhibit is open to the public through July 4 on the third floor of the Khyber Arts Centre.
The Buck started here
Buck 65 is scheduled to make his return to Mount Uniacke on June 11 to receive the keys to the town where he spent his youth. Local warden John Patterson will present the artist—who has earned international acclaim for his unconventional style and personal brand of creativity—with the keys to the municipality in a ceremony at Mount Uniacke Estate Museum Park.
The alternative hip-hop icon’s first public appearance since stealing hosting duties from Pamela Anderson at the 2006 Juno Awards neatly coincides with the surfacing of some new material. Tracks from his lo-fi mixtape Strong Arm, and limited album release Pole-Axed, are now online. No word on whether any of the new songs will be released formally as part of an album.
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