Ste-Anne welcomes summer with music festival
You can sympathize with the people of St-Lambert who want those big concerts over on Jean-Drapeau Island to dip the decibels a bit. Even behind closed windows, St-Lambert citizens can hear what the performers over on the neighbouring island are yelling at their crowds. And the bass notes are like agitated heartbeats. No, if you want some peace in StLambert on summer weekends, you can’t get it in St-Lambert. You have to go somewhere else for it.
We used to get similar complaints at town hall in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue from neighbours on Ile-Perrot about the din of the music coming in waves across the water from Ste-Anne bars. This was back in the old days of the big bars and big bashes. When Quai Sera was perched up there at one end of the boardwalk like a galleon in a Disney movie. In fact, with the accumulated noises of those massive passing oil-tanker trains, steady truck traffic roaring along the highway and five big bars booming out the sounds of the times, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue must have been a very noisy place.
Now, we just have the trains and the highways.
There will be no noise issues arising from this summer’s Festival of Boardwalk musical concerts. And there will be no complaints from neighbouring islands, promises Doug Miller, who as Productions Douglas W. Miller organizes and co-ordinates the musicians for Ste-Anne’s eight-week festival of summer concerts.
I was seated on the new bench and bump out in front of the guitar shop on Ste-Anne Street, which is just where you’d expect to catch up with this busy and successful music promoter and guitar teacher. The celebrated guitarist Kelly Watling is just behind us at the door into the guitar shop, which is a sort of local musical Mecca.
Ste-Anne is a very musical town. Miller goes on in his official enthusiastic promoter voice. I am trying to take notes on the colourful and glossy municipal program, “Festivals, Shows, Animation and Events Summer 2014 — Free.” The range of activities on offer is impressive. I can’t keep up with Miller rattling on about the musicians playing this summer. He rushes on to talk about his concert series at the Legion, which is a beautiful setting looking out over the lake. There seems to be no limit to his enthusiasm for music and musical events. “Ste-Anne is a musician’s town,” Miller insists.
There are many professional and semiprofessional musicians living in the town. Several of the headlining musicians playing this summer are residents in the old town. Why do you think that is, I ask?
Of course. You don’t need a car to live here. You can walk to our grocery store and get buses and trains for downtown Montreal. And there is a cluster of musicians to inspire you. There is a musical community to sit in on, to jam with.
So, how many people are coming out to these concerts on the boardwalk? How many people make the effort to come out on the Boardwalk on Wednesday evenings throughout the summer at 7.30 p.m. for a couple of hours of blues or jazz or whatever? Does the town collaborate with the promoter? Is there enough money in the budget to attract good musicians? Is it hard to find good musicians willing to play in this small outdoor venue?
After more than 30 years learning, teaching and organizing in the West Island music business, Miller is very happy with this summer’s concerts and with the way the town helps to organize the events. He is very happy with the political commitment to music on the boardwalk. There are more than 500 people dropping in to the concerts and, if it rains, 200 have even gone over to Harpell Hall for indoor performances. Musicians line up for this gig. They love playing this site. This is confirmed by Kelly Watling who will himself be performing July 2 with Pedro Ullman playing his Hammond B3 organ.
If I could read my notes, I could tell you all about the musical personalities who will be entertaining us on the boardwalk this summer, but I think it better if you just come and find out. Bring a garden chair. You might also want to have a look at this very catching pamphlet issued by the town. You can write to loisirs@sadb.qc.ca or check it out at www.sadb.qc.ca.