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Glass Onion Folk Club

With John Gardiner

Well-kept secret gaining popularity in Wallaceburg

Friday, August 30, 2002

Harry Manx Michael Pickett and Michael Jerome Brown

When the Wallaceburg & District Council for the Arts sponsored the first show in the Glass Onion Folk Club series eight years ago, there were some raised eyebrows. After all, that first show drew a mere 30 patrons and attendance has dipped even lower for some shows.

But organizers of the Glass Onion have persisted, bringing some of the finest blues and folk musicians in Canada to Wallaceburg for performances, and, finally, the word has started to get out about one of Southwestern Ontario's best-kept secrets.

This past season, the Glass Onion sold out its final four shows, packing in over 100 blues fans to the Jeanne Gordon Theatre for the Rick Fines Trio, then following that with three successful house concerts, featuring award-winning blues artists Harry Manx and Michael Pickett, and up-and-coming female vocalist Suzie Vinnick.

During its run, the Glass Onion has featured a who's who of Canadian folk and blues. David Essig, David Bradstreet, Willie P. Bennett, Cedric Smith, Penny Lang, Tamarack, Tanglefoot, Quartette and many others have made the journey to Wallaceburg to perform for the ever-growing audiences.

"It's been a real labour of love," said organizer John Gardiner of the Walllaceburg Arts Council. "I'm a big fan of live blues music and there's no place locally that features it on any kind of a regular basis. That's where the inspiration for the Glass Onion came from - to create a first-rate venue for blues and folk right here in Wallaceburg."

Glass Onion shows are normally held at the 120-seat Jeanne Gordon Theatre, an intimate and comfortable venue where performers rave about the wonderful acoustics. Shows feature a cash bar operated by the Oak's Inn, a candlelight atmosphere and cabaret seating.

This past season, for the first time, the Arts Council experimented with house concerts and were extremely pleased with the response. Three shows were sold-out with a minimum of advertising and patrons were thrilled with the intimate setting and tremendous performers.

"We decided to try the house concerts as a way of introducing performers who were new to our audience," explained Gardiner. "We still have trouble selling 100 tickets to the theatre for musicians who aren't known by local fans. It's my hope that once people see the quality of the acts we've brought in that word will spread and we can move the shows to the theatre for a return visit by the performer."

Only one show has been booked so far for the 2002-03 season, but that will be a real treat for area blues fans. Outstanding blues guitarist Michael Jerome Brown will visit with Michael Pickett, who wowed a house concert crowd this past year, on Sunday, October 6 at the Jeanne Gordon Theatre. Tickets will be available after Labour Day by calling 627-5978.



John Gardiner is a 25-year-veteran of the community newspaper business, but he is also a prolific writer of moralistic short fiction he refers to as "emotional thoughtscapes" or "adult fables". Samples of his fiction can be found at:

He has also produced a noteworthy piece of humanist philosophy which can be found at: http://www.xs4all.nl/~aboiten/ad502.htm He welcomes comments on his work.