5 minute read
Friday March
by Craig Bakay C harlottetown’s Rachel Beck is a former teacher who is obviously an attentive student herself.
Area music fans might remember her playing Blue Skies a couple of years ago as The Beck Sisters with her sister Amie but last Saturday night with her band Alicia Toner (fiddle/vocals), Kerine Bouchard (cello/vocals), Robin Ettles (bass) and Nick Coltas-Clarke (drums), she was a more pop-rock person than the folksy Beck Sisters.
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Beck played an assortment of her own songs, including most of her latest CD Stronger Than You Know as well as some of her older work like Warrior (the video of which features one of her daughters). And listening to her music, you can’t help feeling there’s a little bit of Carole King and/or Joni Mitchell in there. And there is. “There’s a bit of throwback in there,” she said. “The songs have a poppy beat and they’re short (2-3-minute average) — more radio-friendly than a lot of music these days.” Beck acknowledged the King and Mitchell influences, along with Annie Lennox, Fleetwood Mac and Sarah McLachlan but there’s also another one.
“My dad used to play in bands around military bases,” she said. “He was big into rock’n’roll, Clapton and Rolling Stones.
“So I used to listen to what he listened to.”
Just a bit of trivia for the fans — the people she jumps off a bridge with in the video Hearts On Fire aren’t musicians.
“They teacher friends of mine,” she said. “And we’re all wearing wet suits under our clothes.
“That water was like 4 degrees.” Toner opened the show with her guitarplayer fiancee Greg Gale and showed she can not only belt out a song with the best of them, she’s one kick-ass fiddle player as well.
Beck and her band made the Sharbot Lake stop in between performances at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa and Hamilton. She’s currently on tour all over Ontario before heading out west and then back home to the Maritimes.
Rachel Beck and her band lit up The Crossing Pub in Sharbot Lake Saturday night.
Volunteers Bring Back Swans by Gray Merriam M any folks in eastern Ontario have seen very huge white birds either flying or on the water. Those really huge white birds are Trumpeter Swans.
The last Trumpeter in Ontario was shot at Long Point in 1932. In 1988 Harry Lumsden, took on recovery of Trumpeters as a retirement project. You might have known Harry when he worked for Lands and Forests in Tweed.
Trumpeters were not wiped out in B.C. so 23 eggs were obtained and hatched in Ontario. Harry Lumsden found 23 volunteers who agreed to shelter and feed those hatchlings in eastern Ontario until they matured. From this effort 540 Trumpeters were released. The Ontario Trumpeter Swan Restoration Group was formed (ww.trumpeterswansociety.org/file) and by 2010, there were about 1000 Trumpeters in the wilds of eastern Ontario. Some swans have nested and raised young. We commonly see the grayish young in late summer. Trumpeter Swans are the largest swans in the world with wingspans reaching 8 feet. Trumpeters may be the heaviest bird capable of flight. They build huge nests, up to 3 metres across. Often they nest on top of old beaver lodges.
Trumpeter Swans do not migrate south. They flock in open water on the lower Great Lakes and on open rivers. On Lake Ontario they are in mixed flocks that include Tundra Swans and Mute Swans. Tundra Swans are native but nest only in the north. We see them as migrants. They are distinguished from the Trumpeters by a variable yellow patch between the bill and the eye and slightly smaller size. Mute Swans are invasive, non-natives that have escaped from swan flocks in urban areas that were imported from Europe. They have a red and black or yellow bill. They have bred widely and their population is increasing rapidly. They compete with Trumpeter Swans for nesting habitat.
Trumpeter Swans are grand birds to see, especially when they take off and spread those huge wings over you. They can be seen on the Salmon River and on McGowan's Lake. At summer's end, large numbers occur on the Crowe River near Marmora, on Consecon Lake in Prince Edward County, in Lake Ontario off Kingston and in lesser numbers in breeding habitat in the inland rivers andlakeland across eastern Ontario. Thanks to many volunteers and Harry Lumsden our swans are back as one of our most valuable natural riches.
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North & Central Frontenac 2019 Recreation Guide
A publication of the Frontenac News with financial assistance from the Townships of North & Central Frontenac.
The advertising deadline for the 2020 Central and North Frontenac and Addington Highlands Recreation and Activity Guide is fast approaching. The guides will be distributed through insertion in the Frontenac News in April and will also be available throughout the region at retail outlets this summer. Advertising opportunities starting at $120.00 + HST ; call 613-279-3150 or email us at info@frontenacnews.ca for further details.
Deadline: March 6, 2020
International Women's Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The Frontenac News invites women business operators to advertise their businesses on March 12 2020, giving them an opportunity to tell the public about themselves and what they have to offer. Each 1/8 page ad will include a photo, write up (and logo if applicable). Cost $120.00. The deadline for this feature is Friday March 6, 2019. Call 613-279-3150 or email info@ frontenacnews.ca today!
