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Dateline: Powell River News-Thursday, October 15, 1970

River pop scene

It was a pretty heavy weekend. Friday night's Jimi Hendrix Memorial Jam Session at the Crypt was an event to remember. It took a while for the session to get off the ground, but once it did it just kept getting higher and higher.

All the musicians who performed and those who were present and didn't perform but who would have if there was more time deserve a lot of credit for getting out and performing free. There were about 125 people crowded into the coffee house.

Music is what makes a jam session and there was enough music and music makers to satisfy any appetite. Among the musicians taking part were (not in any order) Ron Campbell, Ron Irving, Dave Cowan, Snuffy Ladret, Mike Kennedy, Greg Patrucco, Dennis Edmondson, Danny Richards, Ian Orchitwa, Brian Eccles, Bruce Grove, Tom Hoehn, and Ellwyn Danyluk.

The music was what might be termed commercially acceptable jamming. Most of the people there really enjoyed themselves and all the musicians I talked to had overwhelmingly favorable comments. My own opinion? I had a blast.

The jam session saw the debut of the Mike Kennedy Blues Band. Since Mike split with the Crystal Ship (now Aries) to persue his blues interests, he's more free to persue his personal tastes.

He gave an example when he and the band (Greg Patrucco on drums, Dennis Edmondson on rhythm guitar and looking for a bass player) played on original untitled suite which sounded all the world like primitive free-form jazz. It was good. Mike told me the suite was first written at “Ron Campbell's birthday party.” Since then it has been added to, subtracted from, expanded, contracted and still unfinished. After the jam session, Mike wrote a first part for it. He explained to what each part of the suite meant but I am not going to pass it on. Make your own visions. It's a symphony, if you're looking for a name.

Dwight Hall will get it again this weekend as the Crypt presents its Charity Dance. Three local acts will be volunteering their talents with all the proceeds going to Artaban.

Playing this weekend dance will be The Hamburgers. According to that master of mis-information, Hamburger is Aries new name. This is not so. Hamburger are a Powell River group consisting of Sam Hurrie and Chuck Dalzell from Lipdust and Rod Willen and Danny O'Byrne. Danny will be playing bass, Rod drums, Chuck will play thythm and Sam will play lead as if you didn't know.

How did they get the name Hamburger? Rod Willen said, “I don't know but I don't relish the idea. What did I ever do to you?

Also on the bill are the Mike Kennedy Blues Band. In Mike's band (It's not really called the Mike Kennedy Blues Band, but at this writing they hadn't settled on a name so that one's as good as any) are Dennis Edmondson on electric 12 string, Greg Patrucco on drums, Mike Egberts on bass and, oddly enough Mike Kennedy on lead. I've listened to these guys play together quite a bit over the past little wild and I know they won't be a disappointment. They have a lot of versatility in the material they do.

Between the bands, the folk trio from Max Cameron will perform. They really went over well when they played at the coffee house two weeks ago and are gaining a little following of their own. They also don't have a name yet.

According to Hamburger (no relation) they will be performing on the floor. The reason for this according to Rod Willen who asked to remain anonymous, is to create a more together feeling between the performers and the audience; emphasis on communication. Good idea.

The dance will feature its own light show also under the direction of Bruce Grete (Captain Candlepower.) The dance should be one of the best dances Powell River has seen for a while.

Doors open and 9 p.m. and the affair runs 'til midnight. Admission is $1. It's for a good cause.

Elke Robitaille

Copied with permission from The Powell River News 2001

Elke Robitaille is purposely working her way towards being a star like Sarah McLachlan or Jewel. She's won lots of local awards and soon she's off to try her luck at the semi-finals of the PNE talent contest and other venues.

Starting when Robitaille was three years old, her parents noticed that she lined up her dolls as an audience, introduced herself and made up songs to sing to them. Two years later she was still doing it, so they enrolled her in a pre-school choir at the Academy of Music where she learned to play the xylophone and sing doh, ray, mi. From there she graduated to the Academy's apprentice choir where she learned to sing real songs. Two years later, she joined the Academy's Girl's Choir and then spent a year with the Academy Singers before dropping out to concentrate on independent singing. In school, however, she always joined the choir, as it gave her a chance to sing. She's greatly enjoyed singing under Peter Taylor at Max Cameron and won the Junior Choral Proficiency Award this year.

While still in grade 1, she gave her first public performance at the Powell River Music Festival singing a song about butterflies.

"Even though I always liked the spotlight, I was very scared." She said. She won first place in her category. At age eight, she began individual voice lessons with Mrs. Hoekstra and learned to breathe properly. "In through the nose and out through the mouth, but retain it in the diaphragm," said Robitaille. "It's especially important for the long phrases of Mozart and Bach."

She learned to sing three octaves of scales and arpeggios and studied songs to sing at the Music Festival, which she entered each year.

As she progressed through different stages of her vocal career, she went through a series of music teachers for different levels ending with Steve Price, a private vocal instructor at the Academy of Music who also teaches choir at Brooks. Each year she competed in the music festival, usually placing in the top three in her category. "I never came home empty handed" she said. In 1996, Price trained her to enter six categories at the festival: sacred, secular, Broadway, lieder, jazz, and duets. She earned seconds in vocal jazz, secular and lieder duet, which she performed with Tyler Cheetham. She also came first in monologue.

Her monologue success came as a result of attending Backstage 98, a short course in acting put on by the Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design in Vancouver. Following it, she played the lead in Theatre Now's production of Aladdin and two parts in the Internaut which went to the Regional Zone Festival in Victoria.

At the last two Kathaumixws she has entered the solo competitions but not placed. "I liked the chance to compete" she said. "It was a fun experience which I plan to repeat next year."

Recently she has learned to accompany herself on the guitar. Initially her father, who plays the instrument, taught her and then she took a year of lessons with Bob Drage.

"Once you play an instrument you are more capable of writing your own songs.", she said. "That's my goal. I want to be like Jewel and Sarah McLachlan. I've never been interested in the piano, but the guitar you can take anywhere-even camping."

Her first public performance with her guitar came at last year's Powell River talent festival. "I got to sing a contemporary song. It was 'Who Will Save Your Soul' by Jewel and I won first place." Later, she sang a couple of songs at the Blackberry Festival street party.

This year she's been asked to sing from 6:30-7:pm at the opening ceremonies of Sea Fair and plans to do five songs.

"It's nice to be able to sing without competing against friends." she says.

This year, she won first place in the PNE talent search with a song she wrote herself called "Return to Me". It will take her to the semi-finals in Vancouver. If she's successful there, she will go on to the Nationals back east. The large audience scares her as she's only sung to about six hundred people so far and there will be double that at the fair along with a TV crew and talent scouts who could provide a chance to record.

It's all about being in the right place at the right time," She says, "so talent scouts are scary" She's afraid that her song will be too long.

"It lasts 3 minutes 56 seconds, but if you're over four minutes even by one second, you're disqualified." She says. "I'm trying o shorten it and hoping I'll play faster if I'm nervous."

In the fall, she plans to use the $150 music scholarship she won at Max Cameron this year to help produce a demo CD which will help her audition for events like the Sechelt Sunfest and the Powell River Folkfest. She's already been booked to sing on cruise ships when they overnight here in September.

The future looks bright. By the time she's 20, she will be able to tell whether her voice is going to be a soprano or an alto. At present she sings mezzo soprano and tries to keep her range as wide as possible. When she leaves school, she plans to take some of the excellent music courses at Douglas College while gaining experience playing in cafes, busking or whatever.

"Music is what I love the most. I can't see doing anything else", she says.