Perth lost a wonderful Lady recently when Selina Doreen “Mitch” Mitchell moved on to the great dance hall in the sky. I was honoured to be invited by her daughter, our own deputy mayor Wendy Laut to attend the wonderful memorial service she’d arranged as per requests from her mom. It was held at the Legion and we were welcomed into the hall by none other than the Brian Downey Big Band, their 15 piece configuration. Wendy sang a couple of her mom’s favourites with the band. Following the service we danced to Mitch’s life, just as she wanted, continuing to tell stories of our memories of her. I had danced with Mitch many times at events at the Legion in the past so it brought back great memories for me of this great music lover.
As Tim Roberts, lead sax player reminded us, funerals are to celebrate a life and in this New Orleans style, we certainly did so for Mitch. It’s one thing to enjoy music, but when you’re married to it, … well, it’s a completely different level of commitment and dedication. Mitch met and married Bus Mitchell, a big band drummer. They secretly married January 1st 1937 in Ottawa after a New Years gig he was playing there. I say “secretly” because her family didn’t feel a musician was a secure partner for their daughter but they survived. After being on the road for many years, living often in a small trailer, they settled in Bridgenorth, north of Peterborough where they developed and ran a summer cabin resort Holiday Haven and Bus continued playing, often on the road for weeks at a time.
After selling the camp, they moved to closer to Peterborough and after Bus died she moved to Perth in 1981. Her friendly spirit and put her in a special place in the hearts of most she met. I remember reminiscing many times about the clubs Bus had played at in and around Toronto and area. I’d been in some of them before most large dance halls evolved into other things. Music was always part of her life and Wendy and family did a wonderful job honouring Mitch the way she wanted it. I know those that attended left with good feelings and great music in their hearts. Well done Wendy. We’ll remember “Musical Mitch”.
We hear music on the radio every day and we take it fore granted where and how it all came together. My brother Drew turned me on to “Fly Like An Eagle – 30th Anniversary Edition by The Steve Miller Band. By viewing the accompanying DVD biography I learned so much more about this amazing musician. His father was a pathologist who owned an early reel to reel tape recorder and took it to record, with their permission, Les Paul and Mary Ford, who became best friends of Steve’s parents. Steve went on to gain complete control of his musical projects from Capitol Records that, at the time, was unheard of in the musical world. He literally arrived at Capitol and delivered the tape of Fly Like An Eagle as well as 2 slides, one of the front cover and one of the back… an enjoyable story. If you like Steve Miller’s music, I encourage you to find the time to enjoy this little bit of history.
Lots of great live music coming our way. On Saturday Feb 3rd, Music on McLean presents Girls With Glasses, four wonderful solo performers who come together to share their stylish mixings for us. Call 613-267-7902 to reserve seating.
On February 9th Elphin’s own guitar stylist, Joey Wright (Sarah Harmer, Jenny Whiteley, etc.) releases his latest cd, Jalopy at MERA. Jesse Zubot (Zubot &Dawson, Great Uncles of the Revolution) will be playin’ fiddle, Dan Whiteley will star on mandolin and Joe Phillips will play bass. Tickets are at Shadaowfax 613-267-6817 and at the door - $20.00. Call 613-278-0689 to reserve or check availablity. www.blackhenmusic.com.
Folk Upstairs are hosting a concert on March 2nd at PDCI as a fundraiser for PDCI band trip to Nova Scotia. The group is Cadence, an amazing multiple Juno nominated quartet who sing a cappella style. You’ll love ‘em and let’s support our own local musicians.
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