Profile: Todd MacLean

by Jane Ledwell

Todd MacLean (photo: Alanna Jankov) Everything in life is about community. It’s a continuous chain of community,” says Todd MacLean, whose community activities range from playing keyboards in the rock band English Words to writing about musical performances for The Guardian to working on his wife Savannah Belsher-MacLean’s fashion magazine, Panache. We are chatting on Victoria Row, a street that Todd’s brainchild, the Nigwek street festival for an organic PEI, will soon transform into a celebration of music and organic food under the banner that “something good is growing.”

Summerside

Home Routes House Concert Series 2010-2011 will take place at Warn House B&B, 330 Central St, in Summerside. Home Routes is about world-class musicians, known and unknown alike, performing complete concerts in the comfortable intimacy of private homes and other non-traditional spaces.

CD Launch

Devin Casario (photo: Sarah DeVenne) Fans of Mars Hill and front man Devin Casario—poet, songwriter and musician—can look forward to the launch of Casario’s latest project, Rooftops & Alleyways. A double album effort reflects Casario’s foray into solo song writing and is supported by way of his latest band and artistic tribe, The Illusion. Rooftops & Alleyways will be presented at Charlottetown’s The YLofts, on October 1. Doors open at 8:30 pm.

Second show added at Harbourfront

The Carlton Showband will be playing two shows at Summerside’s Harbourfront Theatre on September 13, having just added a matinee performance after the evening show quickly sold out.

“We’re very pleased to be able to offer the additional show,” says theatre manager Maurice Gallant. “Summerside is the group’s only stop on PEI on this reunion tour, and with the evening show filling so soon, we knew the only way to avoid disappointing the Island’s scores of Carlton Showband fans would be to add a matinee performance.

Del Barber

The Dunk - September 4
Baba’s Lounge - September 5

Del Barber Del Barber will perform two shows in September in PEI. September 4 he will be at the Dunk in Breadalbane and September 5 he will be in Charlottetown for an appearance at Baba’s with Meaghan Blanchard. These shows will be in support of his new album, Love Songs For The Last Twenty.

Third Annual Gene MacLellan Tribute Concert at Bonshaw Hall

Catherine MacLellan (photo: Patick-Nicols) The Bonshaw Hall’s most popular annual event returns on September 18—the date of the third Gene MacLellan Tribute Concert.

Participating in the concert this year will be Gene’s daughter Catherine MacLellan, now a recording star in her own right. Like her father, Catherine is quickly establishing herself as one of Canada’s leading singer-songwriters. This past year she brought out a highly successful new album, Water in the Ground, her third; and she was named winner of the Canadian Folk Music Award for solo performer of the year.