What’s New
Here you’ll find the latest additions. Comments are welcome at the bottom of each post.
RidgeRadio is back ! To tune in or to check the upcoming scheduled programs go here : RidgeRadio Player
SESSIONS
Musicians, writers, and storytellers in session with Wayne
ROSSLAND TALKING TOURS
Rossland voices, from today all the way back to the 1890s
CAMPFIRE SONGS
Wayne plays some old time songs, one voice and one guitar, live and unplugged, and then an old time radio play … nothing scheduled yet
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Just added to People on the Rossland Talking Tours page … Warren Crowe … some great stories by Warren, including one of the best descriptions I’ve heard of working in the Rossland mines.
Recently added to Businesses on the Rossland Talking Tours page … WKP&L Co … Jack McDonald’s recollections of growing up in the West Kootenay Power and Light Company
Recently added to Events on the Rossland Talking Tours page … Clementines Restaurant Gospel Choir at the Rossland Mountain Music Festival 1984 … great fun with the restaurant staff during the heyday of Clementines Restaurant. <> Last Train To Rossland … In 1966 Jack McDonald and his tape recorder rode the last train from Tadnac to the top of the line at the Wye above the Rossland Station, near the LaFond place, on the day they started removing track … Jack narrates the trip with train whistles and the thrum of the locomotive in the background … great nostalgia for anyone who remembers those sounds. And then Mayor Harry Lefevre talks about growing up with the trains at the Track Removal Ceremony. <> And recently added under People John Drake and Pat Williams <> Richie Mann <> Helen Dahlstrom - A Musical Life … Helen had a long and distinguished career in classical music. At the age of 16 she played the Schumann Concerto with the Regina Symphony Orchestra. She toured western Canada as an accompanist for John Goss in 1940. She played as a soloist on CBC radio. She taught piano, she conducted, she examined, she adjudicated, and she was involved in many groundbreaking undertakings in various professional associations. As a member of the BC Arts Council in the early 1960s, she planted the seed that later became The Knowledge Network. She was president of the Canadian Federation Of Music Teachers' Associations and as recognition of her service and contribution, was made a lifetime Honorary President … the only other honorary president is the ceremonial position bestowed on whoever is the current Governor-General of Canada. As president of CMFTA she started Canada Music Week. She was always curious and always interesting. I was fortunate to spend three hours with Helen over two sessions in August and October of 2008, at her home in Rossland. We talked about teaching, conducting, the brain, harmony and counterpoint, examining, adjudicating, musicianship, choirs, and more. She was 91 at the time.
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Just added to the Songs Of Rossland project … WolfSong … a memorable night on Record Ridge skiing the Field Of Dreams under a full moon … also Ghost Cat Of Plewman Basin … In 1947 Chick Jones & Jim Douglas were cutting trees on the top of Red Mt for the first ski run, when a Mitchel Bomber crashed in Plewman Basin, killing everyone aboard. You can hear Jim Douglas tell the story of that day on the Rossland Talking Tour page. The Ghost Cat in the song was a big white cat I saw a few times in winters years ago in Plewman Basin. It looked like it was about 150 lbs, so too big for a lynx but had no tail. It also had a smaller head relative to it’s body size than a lynx, more like a cougar, and definitely cougar sized. I remember sitting with Audrey and Richie Mann at their place one time … Audrey had seen the cat as well, and Richie figured it was likely he was a cougar who had lost his tail. I originally wrote and recorded the song in 2001 in 4/4 time. I think now it feels more like a 3/4 time song so I’ve reworked it.
Songs Of Rossland
Just added to the Live and Unplugged project … Elizabth Cotten’s Freight Train, perhaps the most famous train song of all. These are songs from the Sessions broadcasts and the Campfire Songs broadcasts … Wayne playing live, one guitar and one vocal, unedited. You can find it on the RidgeRadio Sessions Archive page. The direct link is here : Live and Unplugged 2022
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Just added on the Kootenay Storytellers page …
Corky Evans, from the Word Of Mouth festival. Corky talks about his friend Bob Cunningham (2005) and the history of logging in the Slocan Valley from the very beginning, how the valley went from 17 sawmills and 38 logging companies to 1 (2008)
Barry Gray, also from the Word Of Mouth festival, with stories of John Kirkup from his time in Rossland (2006). And also Barry’s story Down From The Mountains (2008).
Carolyn McTaggart, also from Word Of Mouth, with the story of Jenny Wren and the Christmas To Remember (2005). Also stories of John Kirkup from his time before Rossland (2006). And also her story Runaway (2008).
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I’m looking for information on these two photos. I know nothing about them. The landscape in the first one looks like it could be Christina Lake, although the landscape would fit anywhere in the Kootenays. I’m told the architecture is very typical of buildings throughout BC that were originally built as hospitals. If they look at all familiar, please email me.
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The latest addition to the Rossland Talking Tours page. Recorded and filmed live on stage at the Miners Hall in Rossland BC on the 3rd of January 2004. Booty Griffiths tells the story of The Jeldness Tea Party and Wayne plays the song. Here’s the direct link :
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Gary Little will be back with the sequel to his book To Hell and Back. You can hear the session for his first book here :
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The second annual live Christmas Day concert can now be found on the Yuletide page. My musical guests were Roelof Helberg, Gabe Mann, and Jack McDonald. My spoken word guests, with some great Christmas stories, were Edward Davies from Rossland, Christina Myers from Vancouver, Gary Little from Vancouver, Ivo Cargnelli from Halfmoon Bay, and my wife Irene. And I’m looking for stories for the concert next Christmas Day, so if anyone has a story please contact me !
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