Turn on the lights

Local sensations Sparklesaurus had their album release show a couple of Saturdays back, and packed St. Alban's for it. They had a couple of fine opening acts to help them out: Ginny and Keturah Johnson (of Heavy Medicine Band), who kicked things off with a solo set.



Keturah sings!



And so on!



Looping pedal action!



On to Ginny. The first and only time I saw the band, it was just Leslie from Bonnie Doon and Kristy (also of Area Resident) playing at Pressed. They've been joined by a pair of drummers (apologies in advance for a lack of good photos of either Matt or Ben), Catriona Sturton on guitar, a vocalist/keyboardist/dancer and a theremin player. Here's Lesley, emerging from the crowd!



More Lesley!



Guitar action with Catriona!



Matt shows off his moves.



Extra Catriona!



Song-and-dance action with Lesley and Matt!



Bass action with Kristy!



Harmonica action!



More Matt and Lesley!



And so on!



Microphone-sharing action!



Catriona with whatever that is!



Theremin action with Jasmine!



Extra Jasmine!



Tiny keyboard action!



Ribboned action!



Sparklesaurus always put on a great set, and it was great to listen to some new songs from them. Here's Felicity and Colleen, sparkly as usual!



Keyboard action with Shamisa!



Colleen sings!



Guitar action with Felicity!



More Colleen!



Even more Felicity!



More Shamisa!



Brad hits! Yeah, not a good night for drummer photos ....



Shamisa sings!



A fun night!

Sugar and song

For the last day of Megaphono I headed over to Raw Sugar for some singer-songwriter action by Catriona Sturton, Jill Zmud and Kristina St-Pierre. I'm familiar with all three names, but hadn't had a chance to check any of them out live.

Kristina St-Pierre bills her sound as torch-folk; here she is with percussionist Simon Lachance.



More Simon!



Marion Kiss handles cello duties.



Kristine rocks the baby bump!



Simon takes a break while Kristine adds some harmonica.



Fisheye action!



On to Jill Zmud, who has a bluesier take on things, complete with backing singers for extra harmony. She recently released an album inspired by the work of her uncle Eddy Clynton, once a guitarist for Saskatoon's Witness, Inc. She found a reel-to-reel of his demos and put a couple of covers on her latest album, A Small Matter of Life and Death.



Also on hand, Jake Bryce of Fiftymen, Recoilers, etc.



Vocal action!



Extra Zmud!



More Jake!



Catriona comes up for some harmonica.



Jake works the slide, waits for his cue.



Gripping action!



Catriona Sturton was my favourite act of the afternoon; her ragged style makes me think of Julie Doiron and Carla Bozulich, two performers I'm very fond of.



Beastly harmonica action!



I think this was during a song about poutine.



Percussive action!



A nice way to spend an afternoon, and the daylight certainly helps with the photos at Raw Sugar.