Milestone Alert! This may be one of our regular posting days, but by no means is this just another regular day. Today is officially the ninth anniversary of Great Dark Wonder. It is truly hard to comprehend that nine whole years have passed since we decided to share our musical musings here in this little corner of cyberspace. The path taken has been a fun one – albeit with roadblocks and hurdles along the way (…cough, pandemic years, cough…) – and as always, we’re grateful to those of you who continue to ride this amazing journey with us.
This annual feature has often afforded me the opportunity to reflect on the past, and the journey to where we find ourselves today – but this time around, I propose we keep things short and sweet. Folks do not need to be reminded that we live and breathe music and the arts here at GDW. We have nine-year’s worth of content and coverage to tell you that… What I feel needs stated, however, is just how overwhelmed we are by the huge volume of submissions continuously sent our way for possible coverage. The music scene is thriving, and while our resources can only consider a small fraction of requests, our wheels are still spinning constantly here too. We’re like ducks on the water – calm and collected above the surface, but paddling furiously beneath to stay afloat.
It is no secret that we love traveling for live music experiences, and coverage of such adventures remains a high priority here at GDW. Sadly, we’re not quite back to the pre-pandemic pace that earned us ‘road warriors’ status – our cross-border adventures less frequent as we deal with the increased demands of our time by our paid employers (must pay those bills) and the higher costs of ‘vacationing.’ There are other factors too – the postponement of festivals we like to attend, and less opportunities to catch up with Canadian artists traveling to the US, thanks to exorbitant visa costs and the uncertainty of their issuance times and guarantees. This is not a dig at the artists – they are struggling to navigate a system designed to confuse and constrain them at every step. Some have been very vocal on social media about such unjust practices – and have our sympathies.
But even with the knowledge that our own travel and concert tallies remained relatively static compared to the previous year, we’re always curious to see just how much ground was covered over these past twelve months. I’m always eager to look back at our activities and share these statistics compiled between October 1, 2024, and today (previous year in parentheses for comparative purposes):
- Racking up plenty of miles/kilometers travels, we made the trek from our home in southern PA to Canada on 6 (6) occasions (we were actually Canada-bound back in February, until a sudden major winter storm in ON led to friends strongly encouraging us to turn back, which we begrudgingly did).
- During those 6 excursions we attended 10 (17) live music events across Ontario and Québec, in places such as Hamilton, Ottawa, Peterborough, Chelsea and Montréal.
- Equally happy to hit the road to support Canadian artists who ventured into our neck of the woods, we attended 8 (13) shows here in the US too, in PA, MD, and VA.
- Oh, and you’ve likely seen us post clips of shows featuring other artists too; we saw a total of 7 (7) ‘established’ non-Canadian acts in concert over the last twelve months.
This segment of our annual recap is always a great challenge – looking back over the last twelve months and selecting highlights from our own road trips and concert going adventures. Last year, we managed eight instances to celebrate eight years – can we go one better and find nine for year nine?
- Strolling to the merch table at a Sheepdogs show here in PA, wearing my vintage Sheepdogs t-shirt purchased from a show back before the pandemic, and having the merch clerk tell me that she always loved that design and wished they would reissue it.
- Not only catching up with Bywater Call twice here locally but chatting with Meghan Parnell and Dave Barnes about mutual Toronto friends, leading to Dave taking a selfie of us all together and texting it to those pals before hitting the stage.
- We love to surprise our music pals at their shows – and took pleasure in doing so twice with Julian Taylor. The priceless look on his face when he bumped into us outside Mills Hardware in Hamilton last November, and then again in the lobby at Jammin’ Java in VA back in May. Such a great artist and fabulous human being.
- Being gifted media passes to the 2025 Canadian Folk Music Awards – and while we were only able to attend the opening night in Gatineau, we caught up with so many great pals – Shawna Caspi, Melanie Brulée, Geneviève Racette, Lindsay Schindler, and Mimi O’Bonsawin, to name a few…
- Same night as above – our pal Melanie Brulée was the official presenter for the French Songwriter of the Year award, and during her address to the room, happened to announce: “I know people who came all the way from Pennsylvania because they are obsessed with French-Canadian music.” Thanks Melanie – we are a little crazy, but Francophone concerts just aren’t a thing down here in our rural part of PA.
- Putting a smile on another friend’s face the following night, as we made our first visit to Motel Chelsea in QC. Was wonderful to surprise Stephen Stanley – his infectious smile, then rushing over to hug us once we walked into this retro-themed room.
- More surprises – like seeing our friends Tim Allard and Chelsea McWilliams (The Redhill Valleys) at an intimate gig in the late spring. Nothing beats mile-wide smiles and hugs from pals not seen in a long time. “I had a feeling you guys would be here,” Chelsea shared. As if we’d stay away….
- Our second consecutive visit to the Francos de Montréal meant catching a show by GDW fave Thierry Larose (2xGDW Album of the Year Recipient). Once again, we willingly travel for our Québecois fix – these artists are unlikely to tour central PA.
- Back to those surprises – this time with a return to Motel Chelsea to catch up with Elliott BROOD. We caught up with Mark Sasso and Stephen Pitkin ‘in the crowd’ before the show, but when Casey Laforet took his spot and happened to look in our direction, the whole “Oh hey, hi Martin, oh wow,” was totally worth the days’ drive to be there.
Running and updating this little music blog of ours takes an incredible amount of time and effort, making it very important for us to acknowledge that it would likely be impossible to maintain the frequency and variety of our features without our amazing team of authors and contributors. To our featured authors – Steve, Douglas, Jess, Richard, Matt, and Ollie – we are ever-grateful for your dedication and support for the music and arts scene and are honored to have you join us here at GDW. To our occasional contributors – Louise and Craig – we value your input and ongoing support too.
And of course, to you – our readers – whether you have only recently discovered us or have been riding shotgun for many years, we thank you for your feedback, support, and friendships fostered along the way. Some of our closest friends grew from this mutual love of music. Some of these friends would probably make great team members too – if anybody out there holds a desire to scribble a few musings and fancies dabbling with a little music blogging, please reach out to us. Don’t be shy – we’re always happy to welcome folks wishing to share their passion for the music scene.
And there we have it! Nine years of GDW are in the books today! Let’s keep on spreading the word about great music and the fabulous live music adventures yet to come. Thanks again for taking this ride with us! Thoughts of entering our (gasp) tenth season might be initially met with palpitations, but how can we resist, knowing that another twelve months of great music is on the horizon.
See you out there on the road, at the music venues, the festivals, and in the record stores. Cheers, Salut, and Merci.
The British guy that crossed the ocean and crash landed in central Pennsylvania (to quote Greg Keelor, “And I wonder what am I doing here?”). As the youngest of four siblings, exposure to music from a very early age nurtured my passion and appreciation for many musical genres. Continuing to discover some amazingly diverse and talented musicians based in Canada, I gravitate to live music experiences and remain devoted to spreading the word about such a vibrant music scene.
