THE CELTIC CONNECTION • MARCH 1992
Page 9
Gentle, and Forceful, Songs by a Son of Belfast
By MARGIE RYDER
TORONTO — The album title Remember Me, is somewhat whimsical, since Johnnie Johnston has been performing in and around Toronto for over 20 years. It is his first recording venture in eight years and the collection of songs has a vaguely reminiscent thread.
Johnnie Johns ton hails from Belfast, where he first appeared on stage when he was nine years old. For a time, show business had to defer to schooling but in the late Fifties, Johnnie returned as "Johnnie Johnston and the Mid niters", and became the first local act to top a
MUSIC
variety bill at the legendary Grand Opera House in Belfast.
In the early Sixties, Johnnie launched cabaret in Ireland at the famous Club Orchid in Belfast. He became the resident performer, producer and emcee for three and a half years when he went on to open for Dermot O'Donnell at the Abercorn. In February 1970, after a highly successful engagement at the Piccadilly Line Club in Belfast, Johnnie emigrated to Canada.
In Toronto, Johnnie enjoyed a successful run at the Golden Nugget on Yonge Street and made nis Canadian theatre debut as the "Buttons" lead in Cinderella. The nightclub circuit beckoned and "Johnnie Johnston and the Shamrocks" was formed, a group consisting of Derry men Pat Halferty, Pat McCrossan and Mickey McFadden, Belfast's Billy Harper and, of course, Johnnie himself.
Successful tours and two albums followed but in 1974 Johnnie decided he had enough of the road and settled down in his home in Rexdale, where he still resides.
Ongoingappearances in many well-known Toronto venues have kept his name to the fore and without doubt he has proven his staying power.
Johnnie's most recent release, Remember Me, is pleasant and gentle listening. This album was engineered in Rob Hunter's fledgling Other Room Studio and runs over 60 minutes, with a wide selection of old favourites. On "I Heard the Bluebirds sing" Johnnie performs a duet with his daughter April and on side two, Johnnie's son Frank enriches the vocals in "Mississippi" a revival of the 1970's Pussycat hit.
The climax of the album "Tribute to James Young", appropriately narrated by a son of Belfast, is a forceful plea for an end to the fighting over differences in Ireland.
This track is as timely in today's fractured environment as it was in James Young's own day at the Group Theatre in Belfast.
Johnnie Johnston performs every Saturday night at the new Orchid Cabaret room at the Celebrity Inn in Toronto and, for those who cannot see his performance live, this release provides a pleasant evening of entertainment.
Irish Pipers Pack Pubs in Annual Tionol
By BOB CHESSELL
The Irish Pipers' Club held its 11th Annual Westcoast Tionol on February 14-16 in Seattle. Over 20
Fipers from Seattle, the San rancisco Bay Area and Los Angeles attended the workshops during the day and gave concerts in the evenings, packing pubs wherever they played.
Started 11 years ago by Dennis Brooks as a support group for Irish Pipers (a lonely occupation), hold ing workshops for making reeds out of cane and copper tubing and lending pipes to beginners, it now publishes a regular newsletter for members throughout the United States and Canada.
The West Coast Tionol alternates yearly between Seattle and San Francisco, during the American long weekend in February. This year, the club invited back Dennis Brooks, the feature piper who has been living in Ireland for the last four years. The audiences greatly enjoyed his playing as well as all the other participants. Over the years, the gatherings have become a focus for all otherlrish musicians and loversof traditionallrishmusic. Sessions for all musicians were held throughout various pubs, giving the general public an opportunity to enjoy them.
It was a great weekend, totally immersed in Irish culture. If any piper is interested in obtaining more information, the Irish Pipers' Club can be contacted at P.O. Box 31183, Seattle, Washington 98103-1183.
Dublin Mood on New Album
By MICHAEL HILL NEW YORK—Luka Bloom's debut album, Riverside, was recorded in New York and, in a way, it was about New York. On his new release, The Acoustic Motorbike, he returns home. It's as much a record about Dublin in 1991 as Riverside was about New York City, 1989. Luka decided to record the album in STS Studio, a funky three-story walk-up in a part of town called Temple Bar, a neighbourhood that has been called Dublin's Left Bank.
His utterly original reworking of L.L. Cool J's "I Need Love," blends New York and Dublin with, on the one hand, state-or-the-art drum machines and, on the other, his brother and esteemed Irish folk singer, Christy Moore, playing the traditional Bodhran. The Acoustic Motorbike features several other Irish musicians
The album is full of potent pop music fuelled by the imagination, played by hard-working human hands. It s like the story Luka tells in the title track: "The Acoustic Motorbike is a journey, but getting there is half the fun.
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Glass Artist's Work Honoured
Seamus McMahon's stained glass and crystal work, "Symmetry" which appeared on the cover of the November issue of The Celtic Connection, received a Jurors' "Honourable Mention" at the Images and Objects X 1992 Exhibition, organized by the West Vancouver Arts Council. Seamus studied stained glass techniques in 1991 under the tutelage of Robert MacFarlane, a noted glass artist and owner of The Glass House Studio in North Vancouver, B.C.
New Plays at Abbey
Conversations on a Homecoming by Tom Murphy has opened at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. A day later we saw a new play on emigration, on the Peacock stage at the Abbey.
TIM HUTCHINSON
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