life with more cowbell

The weather is decidedly glum, but I’m feeling good today. Inspired. And I blame Shannon Butcher and Ross MacIntyre – and their fabulous new CD How Sweet It Is.

Shannon and Ross have known each other since they were in high school at Cawthra Park School for the Arts, and were inspired (and encouraged by producer Marc Rogers) to do a vocal/bass duo project while working on Shannon’s first CD Words We Both Could Say. How Sweet It Is, showcasing some of the duo’s favourite tunes, was launched at the Heliconian Club last night in the club’s hall (the building used to be a church), a space that has “slammin’” acoustics (as Shannon remarked), complete with a cash bar and Halloween treats. There was also an awesome cake to celebrate the event, including a stack of actual-sized How Sweet It Is CD covers (the cover design features a tandem bike) made from icing!

Shannon’s voice was crystal-clear beautiful, and Ross’s hands boogied masterfully over those strings – and when he switched to the five-string electric, it sounded like he was playing both guitar and bass. An incredibly soulful, and playful, performance (and who knew that Shannon could do such a great Christopher Walken impersonation!). They played for about an hour and a half solid, mostly tunes from the new CD, tracks that included some of my favourite songs – and bands – from the 80s: Here Comes the Rain Again (Eurhythmics), Message in a Bottle (The Police) and a song that was made into one of the best music videos of all time, Take On Me (A-Ha). Remember this…?

Shannon also did a lovely rendition of I Think It’s Gonna Rain Today (also on the CD), which I remember Bette Midler singing in the movie Beaches, but I had no idea it was by Randy Newman. (I’ve been holding a bit of a grudge against Newman since Short People.) They did some tunes not included on the current recording as well – it was great fun when Shannon pulled out her ukulele (named Shelly) to join Ross (I can’t for the life of me recall on what song – I’ll see if Kira recalls and come back with an update). And hearing her sing Cloudburst totally gave me a flashback to Lynda Carter’s concert TV special (here’s that clip – the vid quality isn’t great, but she has an awesome set of pipes):

Yep, that’s Lynda Carter, who was Wonder Woman on T.V. in the mid- to late 70s. I know! And, yes, I seem to have an endless supply of pop triva bouncing around in my noggin.

In addition to the amazing performance, the audience was packed and included some familiar faces: my pal Kira Callahan (who joined me for the event), theatre pals Whitney Barris (who was working at the box office and, like Shannon, also a recent-ish mommy) and Blake Thorne, and jazz pianist Mark Kieswetter (who I’ve heard play with Shannon and Kira). A great evening of music and positive energy; it was all I could do to not sing along – and it was a relief when Shannon invited the audience to join in on the final refrain of Here Comes the Sun.

Big fun times with Shannon and Ross, and in a great concert space. For info on the Heliconian Club, visit their website:  http://www.heliconianclub.org/

Missed the CD launch? No worries, you can purchase How Sweet It Is online at: http://www.shannonbutcher.com/howsweet.html

And here are the duo’s respective websites: Shannon is at http://www.shannonbutcher.com/ and Ross can be found at http://www.rossmacintyre.com/

I don’t know about you, but hearing such sounds makes me want to make music too.