Richard Florida is the author of a number of books which all boil down to the idea that place matters.
People used to move to where the jobs are but now jobs move to where the people are. A city's ability to attract those people and thus those jobs forms the basis of Florida's theory of a Creative Economy.
Jeff Leech is a local musician and artist. He has been documenting his fellow musicians in oils. I saw his work initially on the walls of the Velvet Elvis in '07. I thought more folks should see them so I e-mailed the Robert McLaughlin Gallery. No go there.
At a FitzAllsorts I organized in J. P. Fitzpatricks, Erin Dunne Michel, of the Durham West Arts Centre, heard Jeff Leech sing. Erin was showing Station Gallery curator Olex Wlasenko's work at the DWAC gallery in Pickering. I suggested we add music to the opening. Erin agreed. I asked Jeff to play plus others. That was last summer's Nucleus. As I had hoped, Jeff met Olex.
Fast forward to now; Olex has curated a show titled Emergence. (four D.R. artists -- Daniel Glassford, Michelle McGeean, Amanda White and Jeff Leech) which opens tomorrow, June 6. It will be the debut of the complete 24 portraits by Jeff.
His work is a truly wonderful document of a time and community completely our own. I'd still like to see the Robert McLaughlin at least purchase the series.
Such is the basis, I think, of Florida's Creative Economy. It's thinking and re-thinking. It's using locally owned, locally sourced, a Local First policy at City Hall and other public institutions to attract and keep the creative types.
It's not enough to build houses for art and performance. We must build houses for the artists and performers, too.
Station Gallery will host an after-party titled Ctrl Zed. Jackie Game and Patrick Dorie are scheduled to play on the outside deck.
Slowly, we are pulling all those desperate threads together, inviting more and more into our incredible community of artists. Emergence is well titled. I think this will be the key event in the development of Durham's creative economy. It's an opening in so many ways.
Review
Still Jimmie
Shotgun Jimmie
Youve Changed Records
I listened to this on the GO from TO. It took me to Ajax ... funny, really, as Shotgun is from Ajax. Then he was Jim Kilpatrick. Now he's a chart topper with a band that includes members of Attack In Black and a label that includes Baby Eagle, who also runs with the Constantines.
The record is a record of tales he tells of the trails he's taken since moving from the passenger seat of life into the driver's. Road stories and thoughts in simple prose and Neil Young Sleeps With Angels melodies.
As he travels cross country from Sackville to Dawson City and in between, Shotgun worries about those who worry about him; he asks who makes the coffee on Valentine's Day; he treats us to a treatise on Rock 'n Roll and the affable Jimmie offers lessons for life... Thread water and home grown love.
Shotgun is the guru of SappyFest in Sackville. The festival runs July 31 to Aug. 2 this year and Wintersleep, Detroyer, Women, Ladyhawk and the D'Urbervilles are among those scheduled.
Shotgun Jimmie will play the Groove Lounge June 5 with Sunbear, Dan Brooks, Bootleg Glory and Volcano Playground.
William McGuirk is a freelance writer and longtime Oshawa resident. He can be contacted at
wmacg@yahoo.com.
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