Ashley MacIsaac: Dancing on Bank Street...

[fajrdrako]

I was just listening to a concert by Ashley MacIsaac, in the street a couple of blocks from my place.

This was part of a day-long celebration called Dancing in the Street, sponsored by the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation. Bank Street - the main street running north/south through Ottawa - has been blocked off in the Glebe all day, for concerts and musicians. The pubs and restaurants in the area extended their patios into the street and are doing a great business. People are milling about and dancing - not as many as you'd think, but Ashley MacIsaac drew a sizeable crowd. There was a large, well-equipped stage in the middle of Bank St. near First Avenue.

It was fun watching the crowd - a woman dancing with a toddler in her arms, a little girl in a bouncy pink jacket; people walking with their dogs, and the dogs obviously enjoying the music. Strange, too, to see Bank Street on a summer night with no traffic. The only wheeled vehicles I saw were a baby stroller and a rickshaw.

I like his music; I was really enjoying it, and yes, I was dancing in the street. He introduced his base guitarist, Wolverine - and Wolverine held up his hands as if extending claws. The next song he performed was called Captain American.



The man is gay and he's into comic books. It seems inevitable that I'd like his music. He mentioned Canadian Idol several times - is he connected with the show, or is he just a fan?

Funny how he looks different in every picture I've seen of him, and looked different again in person. I'd wished he was wearing a kilt. But then, I always wish men would wear kilts.

He mentioned on stage that he's been married exactly six months now - it's his half-year anniversary today. Congratulations to him! ...And looking up the news item of his wedding, I found this amusing CBC article in which he planned a huge gay wedding in Alberta in order to thumb his nose at the anti-gay-marriage contingent of Alberta. Yes, I like this man.

Comments

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

Oh my goodness, I'd almost forgotten about him! I know he was in the news a lot a few years ago as being a big party boy always in trouble (of course that's what gets covered, rather than the musical talent), so how lovely that he's found someone to have fun with.

And great that he put on such a cool show for you guys! There's just never enough dancing in the streets so we do have to get all we can. :-)

I nearly fell over reading in his wikipedia article that he's related to Jack White from White Stripes! XD XD XD

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

a big party boy always in trouble (of course that's what gets covered, rather than the musical talent)

Yes - I'm not sure how well he handled all that, but I do think that once the media had a handle on attacking him, their attacks were mostly unfair and unwarranted - maybe even unconsciously homophobic. I think the world at large didn't know how to understand his style of irony.

I agree: there's never enough dancing in the streets. Least of all in Ottawa, where we're all so middle-class and mild-mannered. I'd love to see more of that. Especially in my neighbourhood!

[teenygozer.livejournal.com]

I love me some Ashley MacIsaac and own every CD he's ever made, even ones he only makes a guest-fiddle appearance on, but a lot of his problems are of his own making. Many years he's played the role of a rebel w/o a clue, and he used to love to piss off anyone who agreed with him or showed approval towards him, not just people who censured him. Seriously: he was out & loud & proud about it, and he *did* have some problems at one point with a homophobic mainstream press, so the liberal and gay press backed him up, praising him and promoting him like crazy... whereupon he started giving chipper interviews about how neat Boy Love was, bragging that all his lovers were underage. This caused the liberal & gay press to distance themselves from him. He was considered the next thing to a posterboy for NAMBLA for a while there and lost his contract with the mainstream record company he was with at the time because of it. This was about the time he gave a concert totally drugged and/or boozed-out, and spent about 45 minutes hurling drunken, racist insults at the audience. This was a guy who for some reason couldn't handle success, and needed to be on the outs, a loner, an outsider. This adorably rebellious attitude would have amused me a lot more if he wasn't shtupping the very young fans, and if his last couple of CDs weren't so crappy. Oh, yeah; it kinda upset me that he seemed to be burning his wee little talented brain out by slow degrees. I am overjoyed to hear that the guy seems to be growing up a bit these days, and that he has is in a stable relationship, married to a guy who doesn't look like he's 15 or something.

Did you read some of the letters below the article about the wedding you linked to? I'm sure they'll catch some flak for it, but it's high time they showed some positive visibility for the LGBT community....even if it is Ashley McIssac, I'm willing to live with that. I find that very telling about how even pro-LGBT people view the guy!

He is, in my opinion, at this best when he melds rock with that wonderful fiddlework he does -- nobody can mix the two styles like he can. Unfortunately, (also just my opinion), he seems to listen to people who tell him he should be doing rock w/o the fiddles or any ethnic influence, then he listens to people who tell him to just do the old-fashioned jigs and such, without sullying the purity of that style with a rock sensibility. I love the mixed-style songs best. I'm looking forward to his next CD, I hope it's listenable, unlike "Pride"!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes, I agree that he made a lot of big mistakes, and showed colossally bad judgment - possibly due to drug problems? (I'm not saying that's an excuse, just an exacerbation.) I haven't heard "Pride" - I'm sorry to hear it's not up to par. And though I think musical experimentation is good, it's as a rock-fiddler I like his music best.

Since there was absolutely nothing objectionable about his concert on Saturday, and I enjoyed the music, I'm inclined to forgive him for the rockier bits of his past and look forward to what he might do musically now.

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Reactions:

I like Ashley MacIsaac more and more!

and...

You danced on Bank Street to this man's music! Oh, God. I am so jealous. So wonderful.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yes. I hope they do that again. Especially if they do it in the Glebe. It's a great idea.