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Music fest plays into second year

PORT HARDY—A year ago, local promotor Dave Stevenson put together the first music festival on North Vancouver Island.

PORT HARDY—A year ago, local promotor Dave Stevenson put together the first music festival on North Vancouver Island.

It won’t be the last.

Stevenson announced this week the Second Annual TriPort Music Festival will take place Aug. 4 at Cluxewe Resort, featuring the Vancouver-based big band Ten Souljers and musician/comedian Kenny Shaw, who will double as master of ceremonies.

The festival, presented by Centerpiece Productions with assistance from the North Island Concert Society, will run from noon to 8 p.m.

Other acts include the local rockers Jam Shack Araknids and the Victoria-based blues quartet Michigan Curve. Michigan Curve’s newest member is guitarist/sax player Andre Kaufmann, who recently relocated from the North Island after appearing in the inaugural festival with Swing Shift.

“We have a blues and R&B theme this year,” said Stevenson, who said he will announce other bands as they are confirmed.

Ten Souljers is billed as an “event” band, which boasts three vocalists and a full horn section in addition to the guitars, keyboard and drums. Primarily a cover band, Ten Souljers works from a vast playlist that includes works by artists from Aretha Franklin and James Brown to the Black Eyed Peas and Lady Gaga.

Shaw is a veteran songwriter/guitarist/humorist in demand as an opening act and at corporate functions. He broke into the business as a country artist, but his uncanny gift of mimicry allows him to riff as everyone from Bob Dylan to Bob Marley to Mr. Magoo. The MC role should prove perfectly suited to Shaw’s sketch-based songcrafting as he moves on and off the stage between other acts.

Tickets for the daylong festival will be $20, with children under three years of age admitted free. Additional details, including ticket outlets and other acts, will be released as they become available, Stevenson said.