"KEWS photo Witice Wakssfiekd NORTH VANCOUVER’S john McLachlan recently opened a new folk deb on Lonsdale Avenue. The local folkie hopes the club will broaden the vasiety of folk music being offered focally. McLachlan packing up and heading to Bogota JOHN MCLACHLAN’S reputation as a West Coast singer- songwriter is taking him to strange places these days. The iatest twist in the local folkie’s career involves a trip sxaith of the border to Bogota, Colum- bia, where he’s been invited to perform at, of all things, a West Coast food festival by Canada’s External Affairs department. “i sounds crazy but I'm going to be playing on the 23rd floor of the BogotaHilton in a French res- taurant,”’ McLachlan says laughing, amused by the absurdity of the adventure. As someone who the sound of West Coast folk music, McLachlan is an obvious choice. Decked out in straight-legged jeans and donning a bolo tie, McLachlan sings sentimental songs about West Coast fishermen and tales of Canadian mining in the EVELYN JACOB feature writer His coastal references — “‘ar- butus trees, oak trees, and the breeze off the ocean’’ — reflect McLachlan’s deep love of the West Coast landscape. “Canadian singers and song- writers have much more sense of Place and far more references to the country we live in — the mountains, nature, the prairies — compared with American folk which tends to more urban,” says McLachlan, who lives at his parent’s home in North Van- couver. The son of a freelance artist, McLachlan, 28, has the gentle manner of a teddy bear. He speaks softly, pausing to consider each For the last decade, he has been involved in the B.C. foik scene, getting his start locally at the North Shore Folk Club in Presentation House’s Anne MacDonald Hall. Before that he played trumpet for his high schoo! band. “always wanted to play puitar,” recalls McLachlan, and in is teens got hooked on record- ings ot Gordon Lightfoot and Bob Dylan. Whz:: he began playing profes- sicnally he discovered that one of the biggest problems for folkies was finding a venue to play origi- nal music. McLachlan has since solved that problem for himself by opening his own folk club. Last month The Scandalous Folk Club opened on Lonsdale Avenue in North Vancouver. “We wanted something with a different focus from the present Folk Club which offers more tradi- tional music,” says McLachlan, who hopes the club will broaden the variety of folk music currently being offered. So far, the club has featured emerging Ontario folk singer Eileen McGann and jazz musicians Tom Hazlitt and Michael Guild. Local performers — Holly Arn- tzen, Rachel Page and Edith Wallace, are future attractions, along with blue grass country band Los Trios. McLachlan is hopeful that the club will be given a boost by the current resurgence of folk music, which has been helped by singers like Michelle Shocked, Tracy Chapman and Suzanne Vega. “Music doesn’t have to be heavily produced to make it on the radio — something simple can work now.” He is also involved with the Acoustic Connection, a non-profit folk network which helps put ar- tists in touch with each other across the country. One of the goals of the society is to help Canadian folk singers feel more united, says McLachlan. “Before this, all of us felt isolated, each one working in- dependently. Now there are more contacts — you feel like you‘re part of a community instead of banging your head against a wall." Seymour Gallery hosts dinner THE SEYMOUR Art Gallery is holding its second an- nual fundraising dinner and dance on March 25. The dinner, held at the Seymour Golf and Country Club, is designed to raise money for the gallery, which encourages student art through an annual Deep Cove area tri-school exhibit. The gallery also presents a scholarship donation to a Seycove com- munity school art student each year. Tickets are $27 each and may be obtained by phoning 929-7981, or by dropping by the gallery, located at 1204 Caledonia Ave., North Vancouver. Centenmal © weli balanced fe in icHal NA TURAL ELEMENTS Wed., March 29, 1989 at 7:30 pm. Folk singing with a Celtic influence! Tickets are $7.00 Adults, $5.00 for Seniors and Students, available ai recCentre Lonsdale, 23rd & Lonsdale in North Vancouver, by phoning 987-PLAY, VTC 280-4444 or al the door one hour before showtime. THE SPORTS NETWORK Sizzling Competition and Specte cular Feats! Hockey, foothall, basketball, baseball PLUS golf, terns, boxing, tack & field, fgure = a Surprise Your Eyes! 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