2015 Festival Lineup

2015 Festival Lineup

Friday, June 12th – Sunday, June 21st

The Kingston Arts Council presents: INTERACT, the 2015 Juried Arts Salon

Community Gallery, The Tett Centre, 370 King Street West

10am-5pm, Mondays to Saturdays

Tickets: FREE

INTERACT with some of Kingston’s finest artists at the city’s new arts hub, The Tett Centre for Creativity & Learning: home to eight arts organizations, artists’ studios, and a variety of rental spaces, including the Malting Tower, rehearsal and multipurpose studios, and a community gallery.

Friday, June 12th

The City of Kingston presents Rockin’ the Square

Market Square @ 8pm

Tickets: FREE

HAWKSLEY WORKMAN

Hawksley Workman is not afraid to be strange. After over a decade in the business, this hyper-prolific, perpetually restless creative force continues to push the boundaries of experience and the heights of his successes well outside the comfort zone. ‘Old Cheetah’ ends a five-year hiatus from solo recordings.

PS I LOVE YOU

PS I Love You are a Canadian indie rock duo consisting of Paul Saulnier on vocals/guitar/bass pedals and Benjamin Nelson on drums. Saulnier and Nelson raised their band from Kingston’s lowest places, from bars and basements and late-night pits of the heart, above the swirling fug of death dreams and depression, until this two-piece rock’n’roll act was like a black and red corona setting St George’s aglow. ‘For Those Who Stay’ is the band’s third album, with a little more Iggy Pop, post-Stooges; some Bowie and a jolt of weird Canada.

Saturday, June 13th

Kingston Derby Girls presents: SCAR WARS

Memorial Center (303 York St.) @ 5:30pm

Tickets: http://kingstonderbygirls.com/events/

 

24th STREET WAILERS

Experienced, road-tested and tougher than a two by four, The 24th Street Wailers are five musicians who originally met in music school. Their major influence? The sounds from the freewheeling period in the ‘40s and ‘50s when the Blues gave birth to Rock and Roll in black communities in major American cities. 2012’s ‘Unshakeable’ reached Top 10 on the Roots Music Report  and carried the band even further — Dan Aykroyd’s House of Blues radio show called it “raw and authentically funky.”

KINGSTON DERBY GIRLS

Back in the fall of 2009, three fresh-faced girls (OK, three thirty-something mothers to eight young children between them) set out to join a roller derby league in Kingston. Much to their chagrin, no such group existed.

Not easily deterred, this plucky (and perhaps naïve) triumvirate set out to bring derby to Kingston, hoping for 15 to 20 skaters to join them to share the cost of renting a rink once or twice a week. Within three hours of registration, 66 brave women had signed up to become the inaugural members of the Kingston Derby Girls, Kingston’s first roller derby league, and sports and recreation haven’t been the same in this town since. KDG is now entering its fifth season, more than 50 skaters strong, with three teams jam-packed with talent, and we look forward to bringing our hometown the best summer of derby it’s seen yet!

Sunday, June 14th

Shadowbox Theatre presents: Shadow Puppetry and Found Orchestra

First Ave Public School (851 Ave) @ 2pm

Tickets: FREE

SHADOWBOX THEATRE

Shadowbox Theatre will perform a work of experimental choral shadow puppetry and found sound orchestra for audiences in Kingston, in June 2015. The project is a collaboration between Birdbone Theatre and the grade eight class of First Avenue Public School. It will draw inspiration from Bertold Brecht’s strory of Gallileo and archetypal characters from Aesop’s Fables to arrive at a never-before-seen-and-heard wild and holy artwork world of light and darkness and molten sound, palpitating in response to the local condition of this corner of the civilized world. The Shadowbox Theatre is supported in part by a City of Kingston Arts Fund project grant and in part by the First Avenue Public School.

Monday, June 15th 

DARN Kingston presents: Spencer Evans accompanying Charlie Chaplin’s The Floorwalk & special guest Danielle Lennon performs String Theory

The Screening Room @ 7pm

Tickets: $12 in Advance and $15 at the door

 

DANIELLE LENNON

Born and raised in Hamilton, Danielle Lennon began playing the recorder and reading music at the age of four, followed by piano lessons when she was seven and she took up the violin at the age of thirteen. She went on to study classical violin at Queen’s University. Her ability to flip the switch from classical to fiddle, show tunes and jazz was honed during her early years. Her first album STRING THEORY is an amalgamation of all of her musical experiences and is sure to capture the imaginations of listeners of all types.

SPENCER EVANS

Accompanying Charlie Chaplin’s The Floor Walker,Spencer plays piano, clarinet, accordion, sings, dances, prances and has been a professional musician for the past 15 years. He has played Bermuda to Bosnia, New Orleans to the North Pole, and has recorded and toured with The Cowboy Junkies, Sarah Harmer and Pat Temple, and has performed with Jeff Healey, Dan Aykroyd, Willie P. Bennett, Jack Mahieu, Alex Pangman, Maria Muldaur, and Toronto’s Swing Gang, among countless others. Spencer has appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, CBC Radio’s The Vinyl Café with Stuart McLean, MUCHmusic and CMT.

Tuesday, June 16th

Kingston Stilters presents: A Stilt Walking Workshop

Skeleton Park (backup @ Boys & Girls Club on Bagot) @ 6:30pm

Tickets: $15, registration through info@artskingston.ca

KINGSTON STILTERS

Laura is the artistic director of the Ottawa Stilters Union. Laura’s background includes a three-year performance apprenticeship with Primus Theatre in Winnipeg from 1994-1997. With Primus director Richard Fowler, Laura participated in a three-summer community play project, C’era una voltain Montagna… in Nocelle, a village in southern Italy, and created a bilingual English/Italian performance, Una donna che conosco/A Woman I Know, with Italian actress Alessandra di Castri, directed by Fowler. Laura also did a two-year stint as a therapeutic clown with Dr. Clown! in Montréal, working in hospitals and extended care facilities, visiting with and playing with hospitalized children and adults. She is currently Dr Right of the bilingual therapeutic clown duo Clown Tendresse/Clown Therapy, based in Ottawa-Gatineau

Wednesday, June 17th

Salon Theatre presents: Grave Admission

Middle of Skeleton Park @ 7pm & 9pm

Tickets: FREE admission, donations warmly accepted!

Space is limited to 25 people per show. Please email production@salontheatre.cato pre-book your spot or call 613-767-8178

SALON THEATRE

Set in 1850’s Kingston, two gravediggers are sent under orders from the local Reverend to dig up a freshly buried body in order to have it reinterred at another cemetery. Upon completing their macabre task, it becomes clear that they are part of a gruesome plot much bigger than they imagined. An extorted Reverend, a troubled daughter, a sinister visitor, and two hapless gravediggers take you on a evening adventure full of comedy, drama, and music as they unearth skeletons from the past.  A departure from SALON’s work on Sir John A. Macdonald, this show is the precursor to a future theatre series about the historical St. Andrew’s church.

SALON Theatre is a Kingston Ontario-based interdisciplinary, charitable organization working at the intersection of history, heritage and the arts. Using theatre, music and digital media the team creates original theatre that balances humour and education. The group holds to the rule that history, and the people who make it, are always up for review.

 

Thursday, June 18th

Kingston Writersfest, KCHC and Kingston National Aboriginal Day Committee presents:

A Literary Reading by Lee Maracle w/ Traditional Big Drum Soaring Eagler

Kingston Community Health Centre (263 Weller Ave.) @ 6pm

Tickets: By donation

LEE MARACLE  

Lee Maracle is a member of the Sto:Lo nation. She was born in Vancouver and grew up on the North Shore. She is the author of the critically acclaimed novels Ravensong and Daughters Are Forever. Her novel for young adults, Will’s Garden was well-received and is taught in schools. She has also published on book of poetry, Bent Box, and a work of creative non-fiction, I Am Woman. She is the co-editor of a number of anthologies, including the award winning anthology My Home As I Remember and Telling It: Women and Language across Culture. Her work has been published in anthologies and scholarly journals worldwide.

The mother of four and grandmother of seven, Maracle is currently an instructor at the University of Toronto, the Traditional Teacher for First Nation’s House, and instructor with the Centre for Indigenous Theatre and the S.A.G.E. (Support for Aboriginal Graduate Education). She is also a writing instructor at the Banff Centre for the Arts.

Thursday, June 18th

The Screening Room presents: The Festival Express Screening 

The Screening Room @ 7pm

Tickets: $10 general admission / $8 seniors / $6 students

FESTIVAL EXPRESS MOVIE SCREENING

Documentary about the 1970 Canadian rock festival train tour featuring The Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin and The Band. Cameraman Clarke Mackey will be in attendance to share stories from the film shoot.

 

 

 

 

 

Friday, June 19th

The Tett Center presents: Daybreaker Dance Party w/ DJ Bluestocking

The Malting Tower, The Tett Centre @ 6:30am ending at 8:30am

Tickets: By Donation

DAYBREAKER DANCE PARTY w/ DJ BLUESTOCKING

Daybreaker Dance Party intends toward creating an inclusive and inspired community dance space where will our individual rhythms will collide like fireworks on the sky of the dancefloor.  Come dressed to express, and ready to groove. This early morning dance party will be sure to start your day off right, and give all of us a space to connect.

 

Modern Fuel presents: echolocation, with performances by David Parker and Jane Kirby

Modern Fuel Artist-Run Centre, The Tett Centre @ 7pm  

Tickets: FREE

ECHOLOCATION

echolocation is an ongoing collaborative project between David Parker and Jane Kirby exploring the intersection of the body, movement, sound and technology. Inspired by animals who use sounds to determine their location and guide their movements, the series of pieces uses digital media components to explore questions of spectacle, intimacy with the audience, and embodied reception beyond the visual in circus work. Sensors on the dancer’s body manipulate sound parameters to create a musical composition created by aerial and contortion-based movement, eliminating barriers between the kinetic, sonic and visual. This performance will include selected work from the echolocation series.

The artists wish to thank Modern Fuel Artist-Run Centre in Kingston and the Ontario Arts Council’s Multi and Inter-Arts program for their support in developing the project.

 

The City of Kingston and Country 93.5 presents a Hometown Country Celebration

The Grand Theatre @ 7:30pm, doors @ 6:30pm

Tickets: http://kingstongrand.ca/

ABBY STEWART

Abby may be young, but she has accomplished so much in such a short period. From sharing the stage for a duet with Dean Brody, opening for Hunter Hayes on his Canadian tour or completing a set at some of Canada’s biggest music festivals, her star is on the rise. Her versatility and passion for music shines through whether she’s belting out one of her radio friendly originals, a Taylor Swift or Band Perry lyric or turns back the clock to a Dolly Parton, Anne Murray or Buck Owens classic.

Ambush

Ambush, “Canada’s Rockin’ Country Band” has been delivering their own brand of high-octane country music since 1993. The trio of Mark McDonell, Kris Lafontaine, and Tom VanCoughnett are a dynamic group of performers who share an unprecedented combination of talent, experience, and contagious enthusiasm.Famous for their live shows, Ambush has built an intensely loyal fan base in Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec. The Ambush Army is a quarter of a million fans strong and still growing! Performing to captivate crowds of all ages.

 

THE ABRAMS BROTHERS

The Abrams Brothers are a Canadian band composed of fourth-generation musicians John Abrams and James Abrams. Their music is a combination of bluegrass, country, and folk-rock[1] with story-telling lyrics[2] that has been called “newgrass.”[3] They have performed with acts such as John Hammond, Feist, and Dean Brody.

Saturday, June 20th

Family Games & Activites

Skeleton Park ALL DAY!

Tickets: Free

BOXTOPIA

Krista Dalby of Small Pond Arts presents Boxtopia, a creative cardboard kingdom for kids! Children of all ages are encouraged to interact with and decorate the installation throughout the festival.

 

MILE MURTANOVSKI

Milé Murtanovski is co-director of Small Pond Arts, a gallery and artist residency centre in Prince Edward County. He’s been entertaining crowds with his stiltwalking antics for the last eight years, but when he comes down to earth his main focus is painting. Milé has been painting for over 25 years and his artwork has been exhibited in numerous solo and group shows in Canada and the United States, and many of his paintings are in public and private collections around the world.

  • Website: murtanovski.blogspot.com

Saturday June 20th

The Porch Jazz Parade
Around Skeleton Park from Noon-4pm

Tickets: Free

SKELETON BONES

Noon @ Boys and Girls Club, 559 Bagot Street

The “Skeleton Bones” are a Kingston-based group of four trombones. Made up of Taylor Donaldson, Andy Sparling, John Palmer and Sylvain Gagnon, the quartet has a broad repertoire of jazz, classical and popular music, including many original arrangements written especially for the group! The Skeleton Bones have performed in Kingston and the surrounding area since 2008, for Music In The Park concerts, educational events, private functions, and for music festivals, and the group is happy to be part of this year’s Skeleton Park Arts Festival!

 

SHEESHAM & LOTUS & SON

1pm @ 530 Bagot Street

Sheesham and Lotus and Son have established themselves as an act that has it all, combining astounding musicianship and fearless grooves with a show that is dynamic and entertaining. At the core of the show is a repertoire based on their love of the American fiddle tune, joyously played with banjo and before long, a startling array of traditional and non-trad instruments make appearances. Tunes played on jaw-harps, gourd banjos and homemade instruments like the Contrabass HarmoniPhonium add depth and absurdity to their amazing sound, as they sing into their patented Sepia-phonic Mono-phone, an acoustical filter into which they project their voices in stupefying harmonies, while playing ragtime and blues in pleasing mono-phonic delivery.

BLUE SWING JAZZ QUARTET

2pm @ 121 Raglan street

Brant has been a steady working musician for more than forty years playing in various bands first in Ottawa and then later in Kingston. The common element in all his music is ‘swing’. “If it ain’t got that, it don’t mean a thing.” Born in Windsor, Sam’s family moved to Israel when he was 10. There, he studied piano and later on, the saxophone. Sam has been playing Jazz and blues in clubs and festivals all over the world for 25 years. Val has a passion for jazz that dates back to her early days with the busking duo Deuce.  She also has s a long musical history in the folk, blues, a cappella swing, and Motown  traditions.

 

 

JONAH CRISTALL-CLARKE

3pm @ 13 Redan Street

Jonah Cristall-Clarke is a Canadian-born jazz pianist, composer, and arranger based in London, UK. In 2008 he became a member of the Toronto Jazz Orchestra. Over the years Jonah has performed alongside Canadian jazz notables Dave Young, Terry Clarke, Chase Sanborn, Henry Heillig, and Brian Barlow.  Jonah will be performing with local musicians Paul Clifford on bass and Rich Bannard on drums.

THE SOUL REBELS

4pm @ Skeleton Park Main Stage

The Soul Rebels started with an idea – to expand upon the pop music they loved on the radio and the New Orleans brass band tradition they grew up on. They took that tradition and blended funk and soul with elements of hip hop, jazz and rock. The band has settled on an eight-piece lineup that can be heard on their international debut release Unlock Your Mind. The Soul Rebels built a career around an eclectic live show that harnesses the power of horns and drums in the party like atmosphere of a dance club.

Saturday June 20th

Skeleton Park Mainstage

10am-8pm

Tickets: Free

LUTHER WRIGHT (emcee)

Luther Wright has been writing, recording and performing music for over 20 years now. He is currently recording a new album produced by Chris Brown (Bourbon Tabernacle Choir/Chris Brown & Kate Femner) and touring steadily around North America as well as producing music locally and presenting shows when the feeling is right.

 

 

 

 

 

GARY RASPBERRY & The Woodshed Orchestra 

10am @ mainstage

Philosopher. Poet. Imagination Consultant. Musician. Artist. Educator. Insecure Extrovert. Reluctant Enthusiast. Risk-taker. Scaredy Cat. Small animal with fast metabolism. A Connector-of-Dots: I Bring People & Ideas together.

 

SWEET JETS

Noon @ mainstage

Colin and Paul came together like a pre-historic mucous eventually emerging triumphantly from the dark deep delving depths of their basement, bathed in a shimmering light from the heavens, throwing back their heads, beating their chests and at the tops of their lungs crying, “ϟ W E E T J E T ϟ!!!!!!” Day or Night, House Party or Bar, you never know where these oh so sweet jets may turn up. jams play bas.

D’HARMO

1pm @ mainstage

D’Harmo is strictly composed of harmonica players. This type of band rarely seen and heard truly offers a one-of-a-kind show. D’Harmo performs an original roster of songs composed by its members and played using various types of harmonicas.

OH SUSANNA

2pm @ mainstage

Suzie Ungerleider began performing as Oh Susanna in the mid-1990s, crafting a persona that matched the timeless qualities of her music, sounds that drew from the deep well of early 20th Century folk, country and blues, yet rooted in her finely-honed storytelling skills. This Canadian songstress has a voice that can pierce a heart of stone. Her superbly crafted songs often tell stories of troubled souls who rebel against their circumstances to attain a quiet dignity

THE SOUL REBELS

4pm @ mainstage

The Soul Rebels started with an idea – to expand upon the pop music they loved on the radio and the New Orleans brass band tradition they grew up on. They took that tradition and blended funk and soul with elements of hip hop, jazz and rock. The band has settled on an eight-piece lineup that can be heard on their international debut release Unlock Your Mind. The Soul Rebels built a career around an eclectic live show that harnesses the power of horns and drums in the party like atmosphere of a dance club.

 

FRED EAGLESMITH

5pm @ mainstage

Eaglesmith is a veteran of the music industry and at the same time is about as far away from actually participating in today’s music industry as one could be. Never operating within anyone’s boundaries, he continues to set the standard for independent artists everywhere. While blazing his own often colourful path he has avoided most of the traps and pitfalls of his peers, his career reads like a manual on how to succeed in music today without trying to fit into the traditional business models.

THE SOULJAZZ ORCHESTRA

6pm @ mainstage

Canada’s hardest-working combo, the Souljazz Orchestra, have been perfecting their signature sound for over a dozen years now: a percussive explosion of Soul, Jazz, Afro, Latin and Caribbean rhythms, driven by majestic horn-drenched melodies, all backed by an arsenal of overheated primitive keyboards.

KINETIQ CREW

6pm @ mainstage

KinetiQ Crew is Kingston’s best breakers/bboys/”breakdancers”. They represent Hip Hop to the fullest, and share knowledge through workshops and our classes. Practicing day and night for shows (ok, maybe not that often) and always want to push themselves. As a university club, they also promote excellent time management skills, and coincidentally they attract some of the brightest minds at Queen’s University.

 

 

 

 

 

THE LEMON BUCKET ORKESTRA

7pm @ mainstage

The Lemon Bucket Orkestra is Canada’s only balkan-klezmer-gypsy-party-punk-super-band. Born on the streets of Toronto as a busking band in 2010, the original quartet of guerrilla-folk troubadours quickly amassed a battalion of troops armed with brass and bows and started touring the world. LBO has been nominated for several awards, heralded as ground-breaking by international media, and has performed at international festivals across the globe, but their greatest achievement is their ability to embody the dynamic space between “home” and “exotic” and to welcome audiences into the celebration of that space.

Saturday June 20th

Centre-Culturel Frontenac (sidestage)

Skeleton Park Noon-3pm

Tickets: free

 

KINGS DON TAIKI & KYOKO OGADA

11am @ sidestage

Kyoko Ogoda hails from Shizuoka, Japan. She started playing the piano with her mother Tomoko Ogoda at the age of 3. She attended the University of Toronto from 2003-2006 where she studied percussion with Robin Engelman and Russell Hartenberger of Nexus, and marimba with Beverly Johnston. During her time in Toronto, Kyoko was also a member of the Japanese taiko drumming group Nagata Shachu and toured Canada, the US, and Italy with them. Since moving to Kingston, Kyoko has performed for the Live at the Live @ Your Library jazz series, L.C.V.I, Frontenac Public School, Kingston Multicultural Arts Festival, St. George’s Cathedral Advent Series, Kingston Homegrown Live, and Studio 22. She currently teaches Japanese taiko drumming at Next Church.

TIP YOUNG COMPANY PRESENTS ROSE’S CLOTHES  

1pm @ sidestage

A magically interactive comedy for kids, Rose’s Clothes is the Thousand Island Playhouse Young Company travelling production. Rose is having a bad day. First she gets in trouble from her mother, then her teacher, and even her father. They all want her to take more responsibility but Rose wishes somebody would just do everything for her. Then she discovers the secret locked in her Grandmother’s big trunk: magical clothes allowing her to speak to the generations of women who came before her! At first it seems like all her problems are solved, but quickly things spiral out of control. Can the audience help Rose by using their imagination…and by wearing the magic clothes themselves? A playful tale about messing up, dressing up and growing up.

TREEBOT

noon @ sidestage

Appearing on Earth with no knowledge of itself or where it came from, the Treebot knew only of it’s purpose: To assume the appearance of the dominant life form and impart wisdom to the lower life forms through sound, music and emotion. Originally the Treebot assumed the form of humans, but then realized it’s mistake when it observed humans worshipping a higher form: Screens. Whether it was for Televisions, computers, smartphones or flatscreens, humans gathered alone or in groups to worship and receive wisdom from these higher beings, sometimes for hours at a time. The Treebot is wandering the earth searching for humans to move through music and sound. Sometimes it performs human songs, sometimes it performs with humans. Sometimes it performs it’s own strange compositions and other times it simply improvises and creates sonic beauty for humans right there on the spot.”

Facebook www.facebook.com/treebot

 

ERIKA LAMON

2pm @ sidestage

Franco-ontarienne, Erika Lamon est étudiante en littérature anglaise et française à l’université Queen’s.Son goût pour l’aventure l’amène à passer sa première année universitaire au Bader International Study Centre de Queens en Angleterre, elle a fait partie de la chorale Chamber Choir, chorale dirigée par des chefs d’orchestre de l’université de Cambridge. Pour la cérémonie de fin de semestre, elle a par ailleurs été sélectionnée pour jouer sa chanson originale, New City. La musique et l’écriture demeurent la grande passion de sa vie. Ses cours de danse, de piano, de guitare et de chant font en sorte qu’elle performe lors de nombreux évènements communautaires et scolaires dans la région de Brockville. Déjà récipiendaire de concours d’un concours de composition musicale en 2011 (ORMTA), elle rêve d’être écrivaine pour jeunes adultes et d’écrire sa propre musique afin de promouvoir la musique franco-ontarienne.

 

D’HARMO

3pm @ sidestage

D’Harmo is strictly composed of harmonica players. This type of band rarely seen and heard truly offers a one-of-a-kind show. D’Harmo performs an original roster of songs composed by its members and played using various types of harmonicas.

Saturday June 20th

Dancin’ in the Streets

Street Party from the Sleepless Goat to the Toucan (downtown Kingston) 8pm-midnight

Tickets: free

 

THE LEMON BUCKET ORKESTRA

7pm @ mainstage

The Lemon Bucket Orkestra is Canada’s only balkan-klezmer-gypsy-party-punk-super-band. Born on the streets of Toronto as a busking band in 2010, the original quartet of guerrilla-folk troubadours quickly amassed a battalion of troops armed with brass and bows and started touring the world. LBO has been nominated for several awards, heralded as ground-breaking by international media, and has performed at international festivals across the globe, but their greatest achievement is their ability to embody the dynamic space between “home” and “exotic” and to welcome audiences into the celebration of that space.

D’HARMO

8:30pm @ The Sleepless Goat

D’Harmo is strictly composed of harmonica players. This type of band rarely seen and heard truly offers a one-of-a-kind show. D’Harmo performs an original roster of songs composed by its members and played using various types of harmonicas.

SHEESHAM & LOTUS & SON

9:30pm @ The Sleepless Goat

Sheesham and Lotus and Son have established themselves as an act that has it all, combining astounding musicianship and fearless grooves with a show that is dynamic and entertaining. At the core of the show is a repertoire based on their love of the American fiddle tune, joyously played with banjo and before long, a startling array of traditional and non-trad instruments make appearances. Tunes played on jaw-harps, gourd banjos and homemade instruments like the Contrabass HarmoniPhonium add depth and absurdity to their amazing sound, as they sing into their patented Sepia-phonic Mono-phone, an acoustical filter into which they project their voices in stupefying harmonies, while playing ragtime and blues in pleasing mono-phonic delivery.

WOODSHED ORCHESTRA

PARADE TO DOWNTOWN @ 8pm

The Woodshed Orchestra is a multi-headed celebration emancipation experience. With a five-piece horn section and full-ensemble vocals, this is not your everyday bar-band. It is a funky, uplifting, joyful ride every time. The Woodshed Orchestra was founded in 2005 by Dave Clark in order to celebrate friendship and love through music. Clark called upon some of the finest folks he knew from Toronto, Montreal and St. Catharine’s to make the gumbo boil and the people dance.

THE SILVER HEARTS

11:30pm @ The Toucan

Ensconced as the house band at the ancient, ramshackle tavern The Montreal House, the original duo of Charlie Glasspool and Trevor “Tiny” Davis attracted old friends and grew from a duo, to a quintet, to an anarchic horde of over a dozen players and singers, bringing a dark, absurdist edge to their reworkings of blues, country and tin-pan-alley music, and tore into originals, standards and contemporary covers with equal ferocity and grim glee. Veterans of Peterborough’s folk, hard rock and experimental music scenes of the 1990s, epic three-set shows turned the band into a powerhouse, loose-but-tight ensemble of archindividuals, and put the pressure on the band to master such arcane instruments as sousaphone and theremin and to always learn or write more timeless songs to fill out the set.