John Kavanagh, 1960 - 2009

Who around here wasn’t touched by his music? The first time I saw him play was at the CD release concert for Jack McDonald’s “Domestic Acoustic”. John Kavanagh was a band leader at the Flower Cart’s  jam dance events. On the ukulele he played jazz, Mozart and everything in between. Being a popular session musician, he played bass for John Tetrault and viola da gamba for Hope Gillis. On  countless CD’s he can be heard playing guitar, ukulele and other instruments. He recently toured the New England States with an international ukulele caravan and was part of Heather Kelday’s Mud Creek Symphonic. Together with his son Andy he performed in the Deep Roots Jam Dance and other prominent ensembles. With his life partner Mary he founded the hugely successful Valley Ukulele Group, an ensemble of ukulele players and students. This is barely the tip of the iceberg. Google for “Kavanagh Ukulele”.

On Saturday, June 13, in the early afternoon, friends of John Kavanagh will gather at the Ross Creek Centre for the Arts for a memorial concert. Many valley artists will perform. We will hear music composed in celebration of John’s life and music which we associate with John’s memory. Check the event listings for details or contact Maurice Gave.

What’s this REALLY about? Air waves, like water and air, belong to our planetary karmic collective. I don’t want broadcasting totally controlled by the likes of monsanto, coca cola and noranda….

For me, it’s not necessarily about jobs. The folks at CBC, of course, deserve to keep theirs. They’ve done a much better job at providing access to the air waves than many of the private broadcasting outfits.

I Think, Néstlé sees it like this: “If most of the planets water ain’t polluted, how can you sell “clean” water?”. We aught to kick the advertisers out of CBC and the public air waves and fund, via taxes, a national broadcasting system which gives equitable access to people. That costs way less than waging war with the same money.

Please sign the petition below. It may help.

Save Canada’s Public Broadcasting.