The Burlington Sound of Music Free Festival Sunday June 11th, June 15th- 18th, 2017 and the Restorative Power of Meditation: Bridging Science and Spirituality June 14th, 2017 are Free to the Public, Drop in Events that are good for your Heart and Soul

Burlington Pier, Ontario, Canada, captured musical notes, uncoincidentally, during the Sound of Music Festival-Photo by Paula Erskine

The Burlington Sound of Music Festival 2017 draws over 200,000 music fans from every corner of the globe including our neighbors to the south. It is Canada’s largest outdoor music festival, and never disappoints. There are many ways to enjoy the many bands that play along Brant street, the Burlington City Hall and three stages in Spencer Smith Park on Lakeshore Road overlooking lake Ontario. Many people liken Burlington’s Lake Ontario to a feeling of being near the ocean somehow. So just what is there to discover in Burlington beginning June 14th, 2017? Let’s begin with the hypothesis…

Destiny is in your hands, photo by Paula Erskine, Spain.

Of course, this connection is interwoven with the truth found in Canada’s original inhabitants, which were aware of its power as far back as 10,000 years or so. Before 150 years of Canada, there was a land of ancient, wise people who lived sustainably, respectfully, passing down stories and traditions and living with gratitude.

White Pine Dancers Family and Friends will perform at the Burlington Citizenship Ceremony at 1:45pm and Burlington Sound of Music Festival 2017

Sunday June 11th the White Pine Dancers perform as a group of First Nations Family and friends who share their gifts of story, dance and song at 1:45pm at the Sound of Music Festival 2017. Open your hearts and show your love for Canada’s aboriginal nations.

They have a story to tell, one that we can feel through our natural connection to mother earth. I had the privilege of capturing the images of the White Pine Dancers below from a Crawford Lake event.

facebook.com/whitepinedancers

Before White Pine Dancers, Valley http://www.officialvalley.com/ will perform at 1:00pm and Killin’ Time Band at 3:15pm, http://www.killintimeband.com/,  on Sunday June 11th, 2017.In fact, a great way to enjoy the music festival is to go the website, listen to the lineup at https://soundofmusic.ca/

The website offers music samples from the artists, not all of which I have heard of, but that never stops me from checking out their videos, doing a bit of research and going with bands that inspire me to be a fan and supporting Canadian artists.

Who can forget Burlington’s prides and joys, The Spoons, http://www.spoonsmusic.com/  from the 80’s hitting the stage at 4:30pm, and Walk Off The Earth at 7:30pm. Who of my generation doesn’t remember their songs on the radio? Go Burlington, Go!

Incidentally, Walk Off The Earth made humble passengers on a wintry flight of mine last year, so I was able to express my fanship through trolley offerings aisle-side. Their cover tune of Gotye “Somebody I used to know” seen here made headlines when actor and musician Russell Crowe tweeted about their video of the whole band playing one guitar right here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGIiYejABSQ which landed them a guest spot on TV show Ellen. Check out their cover of Adele and they have incredible original songs. Please support them and put Burlington on the map again and again! https://www.facebook.com/walkofftheearth.

Inbetween those Burlingtonians on Sunday June 11th is Tebey at 6:00pm and you can listen to him here, and rocks country with a great voice http://tebeymusic.com/jealous-of-the-sun-official/.

Stay tuned for some more great music and good vibrations as we explore Burlington Sound of Music 2017 and I formulate my playlist for this year. The only negative thing I can say is that, there are sometimes several great acts playing at the same time, so I do make a music plan and prioritize my free concert repertoire.

Here are some great moments I captured on film in recent years at the Burlington Sound of Music Festival..

Artwork in Burlington on Brant street…above…glorious birch trees…

Sean McCann formerly of Great Big Sea, performed last year at Burlington City Hall and was oozing talent and goodness. He is a champion of his own demons.

 

 

 

http://www.seanmccannsings.com/, photo Paula Erskine

The Sheepdogs played opening night and absolutely rocked it at the Sound of Music Festival 2014. One of the best of 100 free concerts held in Burlington, Ontario. Photo by Paula Erskine, http://www.thesheepdogs.com/

Jarvis Church soul singing at Burlington’s Sound of Music Festival 2014. Photographed by Alexis Lagos of http://www.lacedupimagery.com, http://jarvischurch.ca/

http://www.jullyblack.com/ (Photo credit: Paula Erskine)

The Burlington Pier 2013 Debut, photo by Paula Erskine

See you in Burlington, where we share borders with Hamilton via this bridge, Oakville, Milton and Halton proper. Let’s not forget our neighbors on the other side of the lake, in the good old U.S. of A. who are always welcome. And to all the tourists world-wide, plan your vacation around this Free Concert Extravaganza in Burlington. Stay tuned for more on this event this week 2017.

Up Close and Personal at Burlington Sound of Music’s Grand Finale 2016

The Mohrs singer channeled Janis Joplin and the whole band was incredible. See and hear them here, they will knock you out of the park! http://themohrsband.com/home. Jackie Mohr fronts the band and has music running through her veins. Coolest chic EVER.http://www.newcanadianmusic.ca/releases/p/perfectly-sane-single/the-mohrs/2014-03-26

Unlike the local newspaper, I am not focused on the numbers that attended the free music festival. 200,000 fans is not too shabby over the course of 5 days. If you ask anyone how successful it was, just ask its fans! The atmosphere was so positive, so groovy, like minded music fans saw the Sound of Music Festival as a chance to celebrate Canadian music, show our appreciation for artists trying to change the world, one guitar strum at a time. Yes there was a heat warning. Did we find shade? Yes marvelous shade under the cherry trees, under canopies, at the city hall there were plenty of shady spots too.

The best part was getting up close and personal with the artists. Sean McCann formerly of Great Big Sea took fan photos after his set, and I was not more than 10 feet in front of the stage, sitting comfortably, with no one blocking my view.

Many of the acts were easily accessible, and for a few minutes here and there, you could approach the stage, take your awesome close up photos, get shooed out for not having a press pass, claim innocence, back out towards the gate and retreat victoriously to the shady trees at your leisure with smart phone photos galore. With the breeze coming off the lake, it was totally do-able.

The Mohrs offered original music, with lyrics reflecting modern poetry, like “nobody perfectly sane would want to be with you…” Super catchy, and we’ve all crossed paths with someone in our lives that fits just that bill. Which makes it so much fun to sing along and nod, yes, we love this song! We were very impressed with their energy and charisma and solid talent. Great to see you all perform in Burlington!

Jordan Haller performed on Brant street on Sunday and was very impressive. http://www.jordanhaller.com/#music-section (below, bottom, second from left). Definitely talented. Even a non-tween can appreciate his original music and pop-vibe. The Lighthouse (bottom center picture) may surprise you when you realize you grew up with their songs being played on your parents radio, their fan base was huge on the OLG stage and you can reminisce and enjoy their music here…http://www.lighthouserockson.com/history.html. They relive their glory days these days performing much to the delight of their appreciative fans.

Junkhouse https://www.facebook.com/JUNKHOUSEHAMILTON a band that has performed all over the world, showed that we were truly heart and soul, rock and roll. It was great to hear them praise Hamilton, just across the bridge, and tell their story about their humble beginnings. You see, Hamilton and Burlington are neighbors. We share the same air, the same Lake Ontario, we share the Royal Botanical Gardens, we share a love for music. Russ Wilson on bass below…

Not only is Junkhouse cool, interesting, and talented in an off the beaten track kind of way, lead singer Tom Wilson has that “smart kind of funny because it’s true”, story-telling personality. Unbelievably true! I laughed my head off at those inbetween song stories. Best part is, this is a cool guy with tons of presence, that actually cares not only about his fans, but about the world. Hamilton’s The Red Hill Valley http://theredhillvalleys.com/ fans below, attended the Junkhouse show which was fantastic. I happened to meet lead singer in a guitar shop in Oakville, then I see these fans sporting the t-shirt. That is a good enough reason to mention them in this Hamilton home grown section of talent. A victory for one Hamilton band can pave the way for more steel town talent to take on the world. http://theredhillvalleys.com/music

Tom Wilson of Junkhouse did not depart the stage without leaving a lasting impression by addressing the crowd to be proud of who they are, where they came from, about being nicer and more patient with the people we share this planet with, and that he had faith that this world can and will be a better place to live for all of us if we just start with that. Benevolence becomes Junkhouse, thank you for that.

The Burlington Sound of Music was a first hand experience of artistic musical expressions. As each artist took each fan into their confidence, they drew us closer. Many of the musicians understood that they had a medium to bring people together beyond language borders by entering through each and every one of our hearts.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0de2W97x_Yg, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-FuQ0h0zPo That you did, Junkhouse, keep shining.