NEVER THOUGHT I'd see the day when an acoustic guitar would stand in for bagpipes, successful- | ly at that.... North Vancouver has spawned a musical group called Spirit of the West that speaks to my con- dition, I have to say. Call it Primal Gaelic therapy, Celtic Canuck madness or rogue Neo- Ethnic, but I love it. Don’t know what Robbie Burns would think, mind you. Or for that matter Mary, Queen of Scots, Certainly I've no right to speak for the entire Hunter clan, but I do believe that the spirit of the Highlands has been trans- posed and translated into an in- digenous Western Canadian rock n’ roll version of traditional Old World Celtic music. { It’s true. I went down to the Savoy in Gastown one night a while ago and accidentally GEOFF WHITE 984-9711 (Office) 986-9711 (Res) . MARKETING 4 - Wednesday, October 21, 1987 - North Shore News ob ® strictly personal ® stumbled across Spirit of the West doing some of their best — and angriest and most haunting — pieces. Using instruments like flutes and whistles, brass and bones, a mandoijin ard such exotic in- struments as a bouzouki and a bodhran, along with the usual array of electronic gadgets, the trio pretty well knocked me out of my seat — which of course in itself means nothing since I was sitting in front of a speaker. But they gave me something I'd never had before: a peculiarly Canadian sort of way of feeling my Celtic half-roots. These guys were dressed up semi-punk, with the wildman lead singer, John Mann, looking like a survivor from a Grade B post-apocalypse road warrior flick. His cowboy boots threatened to buckle the stage as he tore around, doing his gonzo android rock star routine, having a great At ‘Sussex’: we believe very strongly in our team approach to selling your real estate. A team working together is a powerful force; one that can achieve the best results in the most efficient way possible. 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Well manag- ed & conveniently located complex with pool & sauna. Try 10% down & $900/mo. You can’t even ‘rent’ for that. $108,900. - SPACE IS NOW AVAILABLE TO ADVERTISE YOUR PROPERTY IN MY NEXT COLUMN. Sussex Group - Geoff A. White Realty Ltd. - 984-9715 (Office) Vaca NORTH VANCOUVER 251-1116 986-9711 (Res.) This W's For You WEST VANCOUVER 926-5541 old time. Energy? Whew! Jt blew down from these guys like shrieking clansmen charging with their broadswords whirling. It wasn’t just that they were playing music to us, they were attucking our senses. I like it when musicians do that. When [ sit down to listen, I’ve handed them the moment, and if they don’t go for it with gusto, everybody’s time is being wasted. One of the boys, Geoff Kelly, was born in Galloway and didn’t emigrate to Canada until 1967, so he’s got his entire Old World repertoire intact. The other two, Jay Knutson and John Mann, are local boys, 1 presume second or third-generation Celts. As a_ third-generation half- Scotsman myself, i’m a natural sucker for the flavor of their music. The sentiment is pure lost-clansmen-in-a-far-flung- corner-of-a-changed-world, if J may so put it. — In the strange, crazy cacophony of Celtic music, there’s a weirdly-exciting cadence that tickles up and down my spine, making the hair on the back of my neck stand up, if it’s done right. Don’t get me wrong. These boys aren’t standing there in kilts, playing ethnic. Proto- punkoid Mann has got earrings and the stuff they sing is blatant- ly radical. Among their songs were The Profiteers and Room Without a View, which castigate the greedy hotel owners who were turfing out poverty cases just before Ex- po to upgrade their rooms and jack up the price. There was another great anti- poverty piece: called I’m All Right, Jack. Made you feel guil- ty as hell just having a credit card. Best of all 1 enjoyed the pow- erful, anthem-quality This Land Is Native Land, which takes up the Indian land claims cause and blends it with ecology in a way so to drive any neo-conservative in- sane. It’s quite unsparingly leftwing and street-rebel material, but sung with such spit and passion and sweat that | wanted to jump up and wave a fist in the air, even | if | happen to know a guy who owns hotels and can explain how tough it is. But what really stirred the genes were the pieces where I could hear the bagpipes calling from electronic glen to glen and down the computerized moun- tainside, distorted and twisted by the invention of modern acoustical systems, and therefore possibly more maddening than ever, if you can imagine such a thing. Yes, it does strange things to your head. It certainly did to mine. I was amazed at the range of emotional responses these three musicians could elicit by blasting out cer- tain instinctively Celtic vibra- tions. Hey! Don’t laugh! I’m trying on my semi-ethnic minority iden- tity. It’s legal. And it’s great. to hear music that does part of the job‘for me. I can close my eyes, listen, and imagine myself marching across a distant battlefield, slaying without pity. Oh, we were a bloody lot, we were! Weren’t we? MORE CONVENIENCE HAS TAKEN OFF TO VICTORIA New Schedule now in place! a DOWNTOWN VANCOUVER TO DOWNTOWN VICTORIA. Now 24 Flights per day! (Monday - Friday) Coming Socn. November 2nd we inaugurate another route to give your ie schedule an added lift. Scheduled Jet Helicopter service from the VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT’S NEW HELIPORT TERMINAL TO DOWNTOWN VICTORIA. That's another 14 flights per day! (Monday - Friday) Our Royal Service includes: Complimentary shuttle bus Complimentary coffee For Reservations call your travel agent or Helijet Reservations I vancouver 273-1414 PORT OF VANCOUVER i) Stagus AELIPOR: DOANIOWN VANCOUVER i ——— a era Helijet ays Vancouver International Airport VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT ° ELEY AIRWAYS @& HELIPORT Reservac DRI-10129 Pre-reserved taxi or limousine Convenient connecting flights Interline baggage service Competitively Priced $ at only Victoria 382-6222 Downtown Victoria By EOIN ATURE OOWNIOWN cn