Grant Lawrence is gathering some friends for an evening of stories and songs at the Heritage Playhouse in Gibsons May 10.
The author and broadcaster has been presenting Grant Lawrence and Friends: An Evening of Stories and Songs around B.C. for about two years now, but this will be his first show on the Sunshine Coast.
Lawrence said it’s taken some time to coordinate the logistics for back-to-back shows in Gibsons and Powell River and, in an interview for Coast Reporter Radio, he said he’s looking forward to finally being on stage in Gibsons.
“Gibsons is really important to me because of The Beachcombers legacy. Pretty much everything I write, every story I tell is influenced by The Beachcombers and that very awesome look at West Coast life.”
Lawrence also said the structure of the show, weaving live music with storytelling, owes a lot to another important influence, the late Stuart McLean, who hosted the long-running CBC Radio program Vinyl Café.
“I love the model of the Vinyl Café. My wife Jill [Barber] was very good friends with Stuart, and Stuart became a bit of a mentor to me. I love that story, song, story, song rhythm, I love the variety show aspect of it and the pacing,” Lawrence said.
Lawrence said he hasn’t finalized which stories he’ll present at the Gibsons show, but they’ll likely feature selections from his books Adventures in Solitude, The Lonely End of the Rink, and Dirty Windshields and his popular CBC serials, including The Cougar Lady Chronicles.
He said the audience reaction to The Cougar Lady Chronicles has been, in at least one way, uniquely West Coast. The stories were about Powell River area resident Nancy Crowther, Cougar Nancy, but a lot of people thought they were about someone from their hometown, like Sechelt’s Bergie Solberg.
“What I realized is that if there’s a pioneer woman of that era in the 20th century, single, and they have livestock, inevitably they’re going to end up having to deal with cougars. They end up knocking them off with their rifles and they instantly become a cougar lady.”
The musicians Lawrence will be performing with are Juno Award winners Kathryn Calder from the New Pornographers and Jay Malinowski of Bedouin Soundclash, and Silas White.
White, best known on the Coast for his work in local politics and as a publisher, is a singer-songwriter and also the editor of Lawrence’s books.
Lawrence calls White “a good friend of mine who I’ve been working with now for a decade,” but joked that he’s looking forward to turning the tables a bit.
“Now I get to edit him. I get to say, ‘Two songs, Silas – that’s it,’ or whatever the case may be. I’m looking forward to that greatly.”
Tickets are $25, available at MELOmania, Strait Music, Laedeli Gifts, Reasons To Live, and www.Share-There.com.
You can hear Grant Lawrence’s interview on Coast Reporter Radio episode 145, on www.coastreporter.net/audio
