The Owl And The Pussy Cat

 

Jim Erkiletian and Jeannette Briere

 

 

 

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MArty Steele The Desert Fox

 

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Buskers Idol Is A Hit

 Well folks I never had a doubt that having a Buskers Idol competition would be a hit. Tom Lozza at The Red Martini Grill had the faith to make it happen.Some in Nanaimo think that buskers are nothing but panhandlers with a guitar in front of them, tonight proved that this is not the case. We had stiff competition with the Dragon Boat races, and I was a little worried for just a moment. We started the evening with Johnny James and myself doing some original tunes. Then in walked The Owl and The Pussy Cat and Emily Bourke. Emily is eighteen years old. She wowed us with Joni Mitchell, Fleetwood Mack and an amazing rendition of “Falling Slowly” from the movie “Once”, a great movie about busking on Grafton Street in Dublin. Next we heard from Banjo Jim and Jeanette, The Owl and The Pussy Cat. These two veteran performers plied us with the great ‘Its Good Luck to give Money to a Street Musician as well as a rendition of Jerry Paquette’s The Old Folksingers Home.Other performers followed. Nicole Kellington with some original tunes, Amy with some Jewel, Uncle Chubby with some soulful stuff, Kerry on banjo doing bluegrass, Flashback Freddie doing the Flashback and Marty Steele on piano.Every performer was dressed and fit to kill. The sound was mellow and easy to listen to. We had a sing along at the end of the night. I am thrilled! Buskers came out and showed their stuff, the audience listened and participated.It was a night of intimate performance by some really talented people. The next Busker idol is on July 25th at 6;00 pm. The Red Martini Grill will be our gracious hosts again.You haven’t seen busking until you check this out.