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North Island Concert Society presents: Roots & Grooves rocks out Civic Centre in Port Hardy

Roots & Grooves (Rick Scott and Nico Rhodes) put on an exceptional show Saturday, Feb. 16 at the Civic Centre in Port Hardy. Roots & Grooves features a “smorgasboard of roots, blues, jazz and humour” and they definitely did not disappoint the crowd of roughly 80 people who came out to enjoy the show.
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TYSON WHITNEY PHOTOS Roots & Grooves (Rick Scott and Nico Rhodes) performed at the Civic Centre in Port Hardy on Saturday, Feb. 16 as part of the North Island Concert Society’s 2019 season lineup.

Roots & Grooves (Rick Scott and Nico Rhodes) put on an exceptional show Saturday, Feb. 16 at the Civic Centre in Port Hardy. Roots & Grooves features a “smorgasboard of roots, blues, jazz and humour” and they definitely did not disappoint the crowd of roughly 80 people who came out to enjoy the show.

About Rick Scott & Nico Rhodes

At 29, Nico Rhodes is in constant demand as arranger and musical director for long run stage shows, with 25 musicals to his credit. Son of chanteuse Joelle Rabu and theatre technician Dusty Rhodes, Nico’s childhood soundtrack was Bach, Piaf and Rick Scott. When he was 8, he wrote Rick a fan letter. Age 23 he arranged Rick’s music for 47 musicians and children’s choir in a concert called My Symphony which became the Vancouver Island Symphony’s most popular education show, since performed for over 10,000 children.

Thus began Roots & Grooves, when Rick and Nico discovered that despite their diverse ages and musical backgrounds they share an irrepressible musical groove. From jamming for fun in Rick’s living room in their first year, they went on to play 40 concerts and record an eponymous CD. Nico says, “Playing with my childhood hero is more fun than I ever could imagine, we shake each other up and the audience gets to come along for the ride.” In April Nico will be honoured with the City of Nanaimo’s Young Emerging Leader Award. In 2020 the Firehall Theatre will premiere his original musical written in collaboration with Sara-Jeanne Hosie.

Since pioneering rogue folk with iconic BC trio Pied Pumkin, Rick Scott has enjoyed a long and varied careen as a singer, songwriter, actor and raconteur. He has performed in 9 countries and released 19 recordings honoured with 3 Juno nominations, Parents’ Choice, Western Canadian and Canadian Folk Music Awards. He’s Goodwill Ambassador for the Down Syndrome Research Foundation, curator of the Protection Island Museum and Canada’s leading proponent of Appalachian mountain dulcimer. Rick is currently obsessed with making and playing lamellaphones (thumb pianos) and has returned to the craft of building dulcimers. Last year he was honoured with Nanaimo’s Excellence in Culture Award. Rick says “Nico Rhodes is on fire! Not since the Pumkin have I experienced such unfettered creativity.”

- North Island Gazette staff

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Tyson Whitney

About the Author: Tyson Whitney

I have been working in the community newspaper business for nearly a decade, all of those years with Black Press Media.
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