Even though it’s a debut, Mississauga-raised singer/songwriter Glenn Williams (BFA Spec. Hons. ’83, BA ’91, MA ’98) calls his CD, Vestiges, a retrospective, wrote The Mississauga News July 29.
The recently released 11-song collection spans three-plus decades of the guitar and piano player’s career. It’s a compilation of all original classic acoustic guitar songs.
The 57-year-old Mimico-born and Mississauga-raised Williams says, “This is really a best-of. I produced it myself so I could have artistic freedom. It came at the right time because I have the material.”
For Williams, the production of the CD is not a commercial endeavour, but a vehicle to connect with others who share similar philosophies, he said. Music is a process of self-discovery and self-expression. It’s a form of catharsis for Williams. “Another influence for me is nature, on a subliminal level…the sound of water, walking on the beach, any sort of meditative behaviour.”
Williams enrolled in York University’s music program in 1979 and completed a bachelor of fine arts degree in 1983. After graduating, he taught piano and performed on occasion as a solo artist.
York dance team to appear at new South Asian event
Masala! Mehndi! Masti!, the free popular festival that celebrates South Asian culture, arts and entertainment, now in its ninth year, is planning to hold a new festival during the snows, to chase those winter blues away, wrote Brampton’s South Asian Focus July 29.
Titled Winterfest, the festival will be held Feb. 19 to 21, 2010, at the Harbourfront Centre. The festival is the largest North American event celebrating South Asian culture, at its peak attracting as many as 100,000 visitors.
Featured entertainers at this summer’s festival included Sampradaya Dance Creations and Menaka Thakkar Dance Company; vocalists Vikas Khanna, Mirwais Andalib and Jonita Gandhi; classical musicians Toronto Brothers and Amrit Arya; and dance teams from York University and the University of Toronto.
Reggae star offers his prescription for healing
Roy “Gramps” Morgan hopes his debut solo album, 2 Sides of My Heart: Vol. 1, will be the healing that reggae music needs, wrote the Toronto Star July 30.
Tracks from his debut album, scheduled to drop Aug. 4, have cracked singles charts in places as disparate as Florida and Italy. The lead single Wash the Tears is a hit in Jamaica and climbed to No. 1 for four weeks on the York University radio station CHRY 105.5 FM but has yet to make a breakthrough on mainstream radio here.
Hamilton Ticats game a homecoming for BC Lions’ Yurichuk
This is the game James Yurichuk has had circled on his calendar since the day he was drafted by the BC Lions, wrote Canwest News Service July 29 in a story about his first game in his hometown of Hamilton. Yurichuk’s father once played for defensive coordinator Mike Benevides at York University.