Warming up for Patrick Topping and Luton at Hangar, Belgrade 08.04.2023

DAKISSA - live set from Hangar, Belgrade [Lovefest]

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Lovefest will be returning to Cortes Island on August 12. 

“Lovefest just has its own momentum. It exists because the community wants it. There's nothing political about it. We get to enjoy some good music, have fun together and just be with each other as a community,” explained Rex Weyler, one of the key organizers. 
 
Today’s program consists of an interview with Rex, interspersed with songs from three of the acts coming to this year’s Lovefest. 
 We’ll start the music off with Adonis Peuentes, the first band that Rex mentioned in our interview.

 RW: “We have five years of experience, so we're getting a little better at it. We've got a great team. Soma Feldmar, Amy Robertson, Rick Bockner, myself and others are involved every year in putting it on. We have 50 volunteers, so all of that collected experience. Lonnie Taylor's been helping from day one and Dancing Wolf does the decoration. He's great at that.” 

 “We have the Community Action Bus, which we had last year for the first time ever and the Community Action Bus comes from Victoria.  It'll circle Cortes all day long, picking people up, bringing them and taking them home from the event. That really cuts down on the necessity for cars.”   

 “That's what I love about Lovefest. It's evolving in a really nice direction because people are having a good time and want to contribute. I think we do a better job every year.” 

“What's really special to me about this year is that we just have some great bands that have not been to Cortes yet.The Adonis Puentes Cuban band is going to be a killer.  A not new band that's not been here before is also the Unfaithful Servants from Victoria.” 
 
“Pierre Schreyer and Adam Dobray were here last year and they were just such a hit fiddle player and guitar player. They're just so good  and played great fiddle dance music. People loved them, wanted them back, so they're coming back.” 
 
 RW: Our friends from Quadra Island, Willow, are a wonderful singing group. They were here in 2019. I love them, they're just fantastic. 
 Then a lot of our local favourites: Josephine Simpson grew up here; Michael Keith; Jemma Hicken,  Wiley Ferguson will bring his band. Wiley, by the way, had one of his compositions accepted by the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.  Wiley's a great musician, great guitar player; Brenda Hanson is going to play. A new singer songwriter we've never had before. Marianne Grittani will be here. Many of the people on Cortes know Jesse Roy; Heather Wolfe and her band.

Crtes Currents

Better than ever: Lovefest 2023

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - It has been more than three years since I interviewed Willow about the release of their EP ‘The Southend.’

Maureen Fox explained, “it was right before COVID when we spoke.  We've had a bit of an adventure and then about a year later, Noel Maffin had to move to Gold River to be with  her family. So we were asked the beautiful Kelly Beamish to join us. Kelly brings this fabulous voice into the mix that has been really fun because her voice blends so well with ours.” 

Kelly Beamish: “Hi.” 

CC: When did you join Willow?  

Kelly: “2021 I think. Yeah, like March.” 
 They have only recorded one song.

Andrea Blaseckie explained, “I have a clip of ‘Joyful,’ which is the latest song that was recorded here on Quadra Island and it has all four of us in it.”
  (’Joyful’ is inserted in the podcast.)
 Andrea later emailed, “It's a song I wrote after I found a bag full of little notes that people had written to me for my 21st birthday. When I turned 21, I was travelling with an international performing group where I was mainly a backup singer. That morning we were enroute to Leipzig, Germany. The rest of the cast surprised me with this little bag full of birthday wishes and kind words and insights on how they saw me.” 
 “I hadn't seen that little bag of notes for over 25 years and I happened upon them at exactly the right time that I needed to find parts of myself that I had forgotten. It was a great reminder of the innocence and blind faith of my 21 year old experience, the hope that I saw within the world, the difference I believed we all could make, my growing sense of self confidence and self worth, my shyness and yet there I was travelling the world singing songs and performing to audiences anywhere from 25 to 30,000 people. Joyful was a song I wrote to my 21 year old self. To all of our 21 year old selves. To remind us all of who we may have been then and the threads of that version of ourselves that is still within us now.” 
 Maureen Fox explained, “It is on our agenda to get some really good recordings coming up. So you'll hopefully be hearing from us in that way not too long from now.” 
 To which Trinity Gogolin added, “We have a lot of new songs, at least 10.”

Several of the group promptly responded: “More than that”; “She's saying this year”; “last couple of months”; “in last year that we've started practicing.”
 
There are three opportunities to hear these new songs coming up.

Aug 5 - at the Southend Farm Winery Concert Series on Quadra Island
Aug 12 - at Lovefest on Cortes Island.
Aug 26 - at the Comox Valley Market Exhibition Grounds, Courtenay, BC

Cortes Currents

Willow: New Beginnings

Closing main set of LoveFest 2023. Thanks to all the beautiful souls who attended, made offerings, danced, laughed and made LoveFest this year so amazeballs. 

And extra special thanks to RAZL and Pixie for making it all happen!

1. Want you to Know by Sonny Fodea
2. Good Ol' Days - Radio Edit by Jay Vegas
3. Take It Off by FISHER, Aatig
4. Got Dat Booty - Original Mix by Block & Crown
5. Chromatic by Anti Up
6. Feel Alive (with Sky Blu of LMFAO) by TELYKast, Sky Blu
7. No Requests (Play Bad Bunny) by Landis, Grace Venes-Escaffi
8. This Track by Fab Massimo, Mike & Me
9. Come Back to Me by Deeper Purpose
10. Ride That Thang by Black V Neck, Craze
11. Shake It by Deeper Purpose
12. Gettin' Jiggy 2022 - Original Mix by Block & Crown, Jerry Davila, Francis Goodman
13. Humpty Times - Original Mix by Block & Crown
14. Time of The Season by Très Mortimer
15. You Are My Love by Jude & Frank, Cammora
16. Peanut Butter Jelly by Galantis
17. I Love You by FOREVER ‘99
18. Love - Ultimate Mix by John Lennon

Live At LoveFest, 7/22/23

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Four days until Lovefest, at Linnaea Farm on Saturday August 12. 

Rex Weyler has a couple of updates:  
 “One thing that's new is Amber from Klahoose is going to sing us a couple of songs early on in the show. The other thing, that I just heard from our community action bus driver. is that people can actually flag the bus down anywhere on the route between Manson's Hall, Gorge Hall, and Squirrel Cove Store during the day. If you go out on the road in front of your house or whatever, or walk along the road, you can flag down the bus.
 
The Lovefest bus will be making pick-ups at :
- Gorge Hall - 10:30 AM, 11:45 AM & 1:30 PM.
- The Squirrel Cove Store - 10:45 AM, 12:00 PM & 1:45 PM
= Mansons Hall -  11:15 AM, 12:30 PM & 2:15 PM
 
Rides leave Linnaea Farm that evening at 6:00, 8:00, and 9:45.

 “Also, we've got secure bike lockups, so if you ride your bike, that's cool.  Parking's limited at Linnaea. So we like people  to carpool, ride bikes, or take the bus. You can drive and park , but parking is limited along the road,” said Weyler.

 “Cora is going to do the kids' tent again. The kids tent was nice last year, because it's a place for kids to hang out if they want, play games,  dress up, do art and so forth .Of course, our kids can run around. We'd love to have families at the Lovefest. It's a family island community event, kids are welcome. There are family tickets available. If you don't have your family ticket,  they're still for sale at all the island stores, and tickets will be for sale at the Friday Market at Manson's this Friday and of course at the door.”
 
“Family tickets are great.  Two adults and just all the kids you can bring, so if neighbor kids want to tag along and stuff like that, that's okay. We don't quibble about that.” 
 
CC: Are there any other changes in the lineup? 

RW: No, I think I've published the show: Adonis Puentes, the Cuban band, really looking forward to them. Pierre Schreier and Adam Dobres, the fiddle player and guitar player,  were a big hit last year. They had everybody dancing and we love them so much we brought them back.  Willow, the harmony singers from Quadra Island, are coming back.  The Unfaithful Servants from Victoria, Josephine Simpson, who grew up here on Cortes.  
Wiley Ferguson, who played last year, and was a big hit. 
Heather Wolf's going to be here. Marianne Grittani, a Toronto singer who now lives on Salt Spring Island"

"There are a bunch of local favorites like: Michael Keith,  Jesse Roy, Ali and his sitar playing friend, Jemma Hicken, Brenda Hanson, Sachika and Dave Blinzinger, Amber from Klahoose, and Hazel Lennox, who's a singer, songwriter, storyteller." 

 “It's going to be a great show, One thing I want to say is thanks to CKTZ Radio.  CKTZ has just been so helpful to us and has supported us through the years and is supporting us again this year. 
 
“As well as Linnaea Farm, bless their hearts. They make this space available every year and we really appreciate the community at Linnaea Farm for doing that. Klahoose has always been very supportive and Tideline has been supportive.” 

 “Lovefest is really a full community event. It's quite amazing the number of people that come together to make this happen every year, but it's fun. It's one great summer day.

Last Minute updates from Lovefest

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - I can’t take too much heat anymore and had to pack it in by 4:30, but it was already apparent that this year’s Lovefest was another success. 
 How does a little music festival on a remote island consistently draw crowds larger than the entire adult population?  
 Singer/songwriter Denise Wolda gave a partial answer to this during a totally unrelated interview a few days ago: 
 “ I wanted to talk a little about the current musical scene on Cortes. This is a very different community than when I moved here 30 years ago. There were always musicians on the island, but the getting together and the sense of there actually being a Cortes Island musical scene did not exist, as far as I'm concerned, until Rex Weyler and Rick Bockner did the initial and maybe the bulk of the work to get this ball rolling. Lovefest has been so important and the beautiful Hollyhock Lodge coffeehouse that happens over the winter, which gives us a place to be musicians in the wintertime as well.”
 Cortes Island’s first Lovesfest, in 2017, was a celebration of the 50 years since the ‘Summer of Love’ in Haight Ashbury. 
 Lovefest became an annual event. 
 “It's one of the few events where the entire community comes and joins in one place. It's a really special thing for that,” said Radio Sean.
 Hugh Barton agreed, “It's just a great sense of community.  So many people come out to set up and organize it all. We get these fabulous musicians from off Island as well.”
 David Rousseau elaborated, “Lovefest is Cortes Island distilled into a one day event, that's why. When I first came here 50 years ago, I admired the old timers, I respected the old timers, I learned a lot from the old timers. Now we're the old timers and the vintage is about, what, 1969, right? And here we are.” 

David has been a prominent voice on the island for so long that it is hard to think of him as anything but a Cortes resident, but he now lives in Comox. 

Namchi is another Cortes resident who has moved off island. She lives in the Comox Valley during the school year, but returns to Cortes every summer. Namchi was also one of the dancers in Meinje’s Dream Caravan during the first Lovefest and has come to every Lovefest since then.

“Lovefest seems like a fun melting pot of many generations and different types of people,” she said.

Why is Lovefest such an ongoing success

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Behind Lovefest’s ongoing success, and the success of so many festivals and community events around the province, is a dedicated corps of volunteers. 
 
According to Amy Robertson, who oversaw this part of the festival, “We had about 60 volunteers this year. They were doing everything from making sure that  parking is safe out on the road and that the blue bus has a good place to park. Volunteers sell tickets, help the vendors and they're setting up. They do a lot of decoration for this event, help promote it, sell T- shirts, and just ensure that everybody has a good, safe time.”

Behind the scenes: The 60 heroes of Lovefest

Layzie @ Lovefest 2021

A live set to celebrate the love of a couple wonderful humans at the post-wedding party. Big love to Lori and Ash! Hope you find your way back to Canada soon! Had so much fun putting this together - hope you like listening to it as much as I enjoyed playing it! 

Tiny Bubbles

Roy L Hales/ Cortes Currents - Ben Coey is co-producing this year’s Lovefest, which returns to Linnaea Farm on Saturday August 19th.  

“Rex, Amy and Rick have been running and producing the festival for a number of years. They've  decided that they need to have a bit of a break from doing it. I've worked with Rex on a number of projects previously.  He asked me if I liked to get involved and help out with co-producing and I said, ‘yeah, sure,’” Coey explained.

“I'm good friends with Rex I've toured for many years as a drummer in a band with a Rex's son, Jack. I've always loved coming to Lovefest. I played it a couple of times and I'm spending more time up in Cortes. I'm gradually moving up here and this is a nice way to just get involved with the community.”

Cortes Currents: Tell us about this year’s Lovefest

“It's going to be the same vibe as previous years. It's just going to be about nice folks having a good time: good tunes, good crafts, lots of blankets, good food, hanging out all day and into the evening. It's very much about just having fun and just enjoying each other.”

While a number of acts have yet to be confirmed, Coey was able to release a partial list of performers. 

“We have a few special feature acts who are going to be coming through, quite a lot locals also:

“Johny Hanuse is going to be playing a set this year, 
and the McKentys (the Awakeneers).
Nicole Demers, 
Six Foot Johnson, who’ve been promising to get to the frestival for a number of years. They’re a really great on-island band led by Greg Osoba. 
Heather Wolf, 
Michael Keith,
Rick Scott is going to be doing a kid’s set, as well as an adult set. 
Doc Fingers, who is a wonderful blues pianist. 
We’re going to have a very special set from Ann Mortifee, who's going to be playing a catalog of some of her greatest hits. 
If you were there at the lasy Lovefest, we had a terrific Cuban band playing. Adonis Puentes are returning to Cortes and will finish the night off.

“Early bird tickets for the festival are on sale now.  You can pick those up at the Friday market.  Myself and Rex we'll usually be there and we're taking cash.”  

They are also for sale at the Co-op, Cortes Market, Squirrel Cove General, and the Gorge Store.

Adult - $40
Family - $80
Under 18 - $30

Getting Ready for Love Fest 2024

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10. Above & Beyond - Alone Tonight (Disciples Of Sound & Kid Lopez Instrumental)

09. Above & Beyond - Alone Tonight (Disciples Of Sound & Kid Lopez Mix)

08. Above & Beyond - Alone Tonight (Ronski Speed Dub Mix)

05. Above & Beyond - Alone Tonight (Matthew Dekay Dub)

04. Above & Beyond - Alone Tonight (Matthew Dekay Remix)

03. Above & Beyond - Alone Tonight (Above & Beyond's Nasty Dub)

Cortes Currents is a news platform that asks what's current in Cortes and the Discovery Islands. Web articles & radio podcasts: Cortes Island, Quadra Island, Discovery Islands, Campbell River: news, lifestyle, local politics, affordable housing, economy, food security, health, ferries, tourism, history,  culture, environmental issues, sustainable forestry, oyster farming, the arts, First Nations, energy, climate change, overshoot

Producer/DJ from Serbia.
Cool guy, with mediocre music production.
Booking: layzie.official@gmail.com 
Promos: layzie.official@gmail.com

Keeping the dancefloor light on their feet like bubbles in the bottle, Poppa Champagne wants to keep you wiggling all night! Bringing an eclectic selection of house to the mix, he’ll take you on a wine tour through different vintages and genres. Bass, tech, acid, disco, funky house tracks will keep you grooving through the party with a nostalgic twist to keep you excited for what’s coming next! An Ontarion who fell in love with the nature and party culture of the west coast, Poppa Champagne wants to bring that love to the dancefloor every time he plays!

Dakissa got hooked on electronic music and the dance floor after he had discovered clubs in Hong Kong and India while he was living there. Having returned back to Serbia, Dakissa won the Let’s Mix it DJ competition in the summer of 2021 which jumpstarted his DJ career. He is a charismatic DJ with precise mixing skills and a passion for house music which shaped his style into deep, tech, and minimal genres. His sets are slick and powerful. He shared the DJ booth with mighty names such as Seth Troxler, Patrick Topping Loco Dice, Joseph Capriati, Kollektiv Turmstrasse, Âme, William Djoko, and more. Some of the events and clubs he performed at include the Lovefest, EXIT, Central Dance Event, Matinee Festival, Vibe Festival, 20/44, Club Kult, Club Tunnel, and many others.

LAZAR spins a full spectrum of sound and rhythm to get you into your dancing groove, taking it down and through a kaleidoscope of genres—from House, Soul, Hip-Hop, Jazz, Disco, R&B and Blues--bringing it all alongside of Progressive, Deep House, New Orleans influenced funk, some occasional sprinkles of classic rock and much more. 

It's all about frequency and it's all connected. 

One Love.

Pro photographer, videographer, writer, DJ and native New Yorker, currently residing in Reno, Nevada. Former A&R man for the Island Def Jam Music Group, Elektra Records and EMI Records in the 90's and 00's. (It's been quite a journey.) For gigs and events, email: ben@benlazar.com. 

If you enjoy what you hear, please like and repost! Thank you!

"There are simply two kinds of music. Good music, and the other kind." -- Duke Ellington

New tracks tagged #lovefest