Keep the date open
Second Wind hoping for good turnout at upcoming concert
When it comes to dates, Laura Mercer is very protective.
“I want people to know that Second Wind owns the winter and the summer solstice,” the co-conductor and founder of the Second Wind Community Concert Band said laughing. “Don’t schedule anything for then and come to our concerts. We want to sell out.”
While the group, founded in 1993, likes to perform in front of a crowd, Mercer has a deeper reason for wanting good ticket sales.
“Once we pay our expenses, the money goes to the music therapy program for Hospice Palliative Care Society of Cape Breton County.”
The group’s next event is its summer solstice concert on June 21. The last concert was on the winter solstice and performing on the seasonal change appears to be a good idea, Mercer adds.
“We’re trying to own some dates because there’s so much going on in Sydney at Christmastime and so much going on at this time of year,” she said. “So I came up with the idea to do the solstice because it’s a Wednesday. It worked at Christmastime. It was hard on me because it was four days before Christmas but if I can get my act together, I’ll do it because we had a lovely crowd and it was during the week.
“Now this is our second goaround — the longest day of the year concert and we’re hoping for the same and it’s good for the community band people — they’re so busy, they’re involved in so much so their weekends are just jampacked. So that’s the reason why we’re doing the solstice.”
Like the performers’ lives, this concert will also be jampacked.
“The first part of it, we’re going to say goodbye to spring and hello to summer and then we’re doing the music therapy stuff,” said Mercer. “Then we’re going to celebrate Canada and the whole thing about that is the fairly rich stories that came up in April — the twinning of the CBRM and the village in France that was flattened during the war and then rebuilt because of the Canadians fighting at Vimy. There’s a lot of stories around that I thought I would do that, plus Vera Lynn is 100 years old. We’re playing some Vera Lynn music.”
Then the group welcomes well-known bagpiper John Grant, who is the author of “As Ever,” a book of letters his grand-uncle wrote when stationed overseas during the First World War.
“He was a man in his late 20s, early 30s, so John is going to read a couple of the letters from him, including one from 1917, June 22,” she said. “I looked up to see when the summer solstice was in 1917 and lo and behold, wasn’t it Wednesday, June 21, 1917, and here we’re doing our concert 100 years later.”
Mercer said Grant owns a chanter that was initially part of a set of pipes that had been played at Vimy.
In addition, Linda Muise will sing and photographer Joe Sampson will have samples of his work on display while the music is being performed.
The last part of the concert will be devoted to summer fun.
The event will be held Wednesday, June 21, 7:30 p.m., at Cape Breton University’s Boardmore Playhouse with Steve Sutherland as host.
Tickets are $15 for adults and $2 for children. They are available at the Cape Breton Curiosity Shop and Mercer’s Service Centre on the Esplanade or from any band member. There will be a reception following the concert.