Saturday night at the P.G. Playhouse might well have been the most significant event in Prince George music history.
It was called The First Waltz, in homage to the famed concert The Last Waltz held on Nov. 26, 1976 in San Francisco during which The Band backed up a who's who of pop music's biggest names in a night of diminished egos and inflated music appreciation.
In this modern day version, Black Spruce Bog - a group that bears striking similarities to The Band - backed up a who's who of Prince George pop music's biggest names. From the moment the first VIP was called on stage, veteran singer-songwriter Murray Gable of The Pucks, a weird smirk of surreal satisfaction got slapped on everyone's face. The room was instantly aware that this night was unlike any other in the history of this city.
One by one, the special guests took their turn pounding out a couple of their own original songs: Kym Gouchie, Britt Meierhofer, Scott Dunbar, Marcel Gagnon, Naomi Kavka, Raghu Lokanathan, Jeremy Stewart, Corbin Spensley, Nathen Kelly, then all of them at once for a finale led by Gable doing his song The River all about Prince George itself. And the sold-out crowd sang along in top voice.
The fact 15 performers from this city (BSB is comprised of Jeremy Pahl, Spencer Hammond, Amy Blanding, Danny Bell and Eric Wynleau) could string together a full night of top-quality material, including a 100 per cent Prince George encore that also had strong crowd recognition is the clearest indication possible of this city's culture station in life.
Prince George has arrived, and it got here all under its own power. There were no big record companies feeding money into the local music scene, no industry crutch to prop local musicians up. In fact, our best and brightest have always been required to leave to get anywhere in the music world and largely not return. Gable and his mates in The Pucks (Lloyd Larsen and Cindy Marcotte) were the first to live here, work here, raise their families here, and still attain a national musical reputation, so it was absolutely fitting that he be the honorary figurehead for the evening.
Marcel Gagnon was next, in our musical history, to fully reside here and score national acclaim. Gagnon did it in another genre of music, too. It all proved that The Pucks were no fluke. Now, it's habitual. Any one of those artists on that stage Saturday night could do a coast-to-coast tour and get winning headlines along the way. In fact, some have.
It would take a whole book to describe the swagger, the generosity, the artistry of each performer in turn, and that was counterpoint to the whole event anyway. This night was all about cooperation, about mutual support and peer appreciation. It was about the way this city has fostered, nurtured, and coaxed into life - like tiny sparks to a blazing fire - our own music culture. The fact there were these players on that stage, and an eager audience devouring every last note, was the symbiotic relationship that allowed them all to happen in one place on one night.
The hottest thought that emerged in the room, as the audience milked the moment for all it was worth, was all the other artists who could also have been on that stage.
Perhaps there might be another? A second waltz?
