While numerous solo artists and bands rode the synthesizer-driven pop music sound of the 1980s to great success — recently Musicfest-departed A Flock of Seagulls among them — few have defined it like Howard Jones.

From the moment he burst onto the contemporary music scene in 1983, Jones was hailed as a pioneer of synth-pop and become one of the decade’s top-selling artists.

Now, at age 63, the Southhampton, England native continues to influence a new generation of electronic and dance musicians. Still, it’s hit songs that the people want to hear and Jones will have that very well covered on Saturday, July 14th, when he performs with his electric band at Del Crary Park as Peterborough Musicfest’s 32nd season continues.

Admission to the 8 p.m. concert is free.

The eldest of four boys, Jones started piano lessons at age seven and never looked back. When he was a teenager, his family relocated to Canada which is where he joined his first band, a progressive rock group called Warrior. Eventually, he moved back to England where he played in a number of different groups in the 1970s before he began performing as a solo artist with synthesizers and drum machines.

In 1983, signed by Warner, Jones’ debut single “New Song” was a big hit, reaching number three on the British music charts and then zoomed into the Top 30 in the United States. It was included on his debut album Human’s Lib which was certified gold and platinum in several countries on the strength of additional hit singles “What Is Love?”, “Pearl In The Shell”, and “Hide And Seek”.

Eleven studio albums followed for Jones, the latest being Engage in 2015. In all, he had 10 top 40 hit singles in the UK between 1983 and 1986, including six which reached the top 10, as well as 15 top 40 hit singles internationally between 1983 and 1992.

In a 2017 interview with www.modernsynthpop.com, Jones explains how his music was influenced by the 1970s English progressive rock supergroup Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

VIDEO: “Things Can Only Get Better” – Howard Jones

“I’ve looked up to Keith Emerson since he was with The Nice, playing his Hammond L-100,” he says. “He was classically trained, as I was. He would take great classical music and give it a rock feel. You know, he was a keyboard front man, which is very unusual. Something like Jimi Hendrix, but with keyboards.

“When they formed ELP in 1970, I was at one of their first major gigs, which was the Isle of Wight Festival. Keith had the Moog modular synth on stage, and he used it for the first time, and the sound of it was just mind-blowing. He had a ribbon controller cable, which enabled him to bend the sound of that early synthesizer in some amazing ways. I also admired the fact that Keith was a showman; he had a sense of flair about him. He was definitely my biggest influence.”

With total album sales in excess of eight million — a milestone achieved with the help of a string of hit singles including “Like To Get To Know You Well”, “No One Is To Blame”, “Life In One Day”, “Things Can Only Get Better”, and “Look Mama” — Jones was, and remains, a favourite for a legion of loyal fans worldwide.

VIDEO: “What Is Love” – Howard Jones

His still memorable July 1985 Live Aid performance of “Hide And Seek” at Wembley Stadium only helped strengthened that following.

“I always thought that music was such a powerful thing,” Jones says. “”In a way, you have a direct route to the hearts of your listeners. Because I was aware of that, and how much music deeply affected me in my life, I wanted my music to really count. I wanted it to really reach people at a deep level.

“Life’s tough, you know. Things go wrong and the unexpected happens. I believe music can have the function of helping you get back up on your feet and start looking more positively toward the future. It’s also a matter of realizing that you can change certain things about your situation. I really wanted to incorporate that feeling into my music.”

VIDEO: “No One Is To Blame” – Howard Jones

Pushing the envelope musically has been at the heart of Jones’ success since day one.

“When I started, I wanted to do something different, using the technology of the day,” he says. “I found myself in a position where all of this new technology was exploding. You could go down to your local music store and buy some of it. I really wanted to use these new instruments and to use them in new ways.

“I’ve used that approach to keep myself motivated throughout my career. I’m always pushing forward, trying to get the most out of these tools that I can. I always want to be discovering new things, to do things in a new way.”

VIDEO: “New Song” – Howard Jones

Described by AllMusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine as “one of the defining figures of mid 1980s synth pop,” Jones has made it his mission to be a role model for music artists and he has some advice for those following in his footsteps.

“If you’re a young artist, it’s really important to try to do something new,” he says. “Draw influences from your heroes but don’t do the same thing as them. Break out on your own and show us something new. That’s one of the great things about young people. They’ve got a new vision. They don’t want to play by the rules. Anyone who’s trying to innovate, who’s trying things and breaking things, I’m right behind them.

“My definition of an artist is somebody who has a vision, and they use it — uncompromisingly. Don’t try to be like anyone else but try to bring out your own unique voice. I think that’s the level an artist should strive for. I really applaud people who do that.”

VIDEO: “Everlasting Love” – Howard Jones

VIDEO: “Hide & Seek” – Howard Jones

Peterborough Musicfest is presenting 18 free-admission concerts featuring a total of 20 acts during its 32nd season — each staged on Wednesday and Saturday nights at Del Crary Park.

Overseen by general manager Tracey Randall and staff, a board of directors, and numerous volunteers, Peterborough Musicfest’s stated mission is to “provide diverse, affordable live music to enrich cultural and economic prosperity in our community.”

For more information on this concert or the entire 2018 season, visit www.ptbomusicfest.ca or phone the Peterborough Musicfest office at 705-755-1111.

Last Thursday (July 5), I attended the opening night of Crow Hill: The Telephone Play at 4th Line Theatre in Millbrook, eager to review the revival of one of the theatre company’s most popular productions. For those of you who don’t already know, 4th Line Theatre stages its summer plays outdoors at the picturesque Winslow Farm in the rolling hills of Millbrook.

It was the final day of the brutal heat wave and a cold front was moving in that evening. As the audience settled into their seats and the play began, rumbles of thunder could be heard in the distance. We were about 20 minutes in, just getting introduced to the show’s primary characters, when 4th Line’s managing artistic director Kim Blackwell interrupted the show and advised the audience to return to their cars due to the threat of lightning. About 15 minutes later, as lightning flashed in the dark Millbrook sky, the show was cancelled.

It was the next day that I found out from 4th Line Theatre’s marketing director Caitlin McGill that this was only the second time in 27 seasons that an opening night was cancelled due to weather. The first time was in 2004 — for the opening night of the first revival of Crow Hill. Apparently lightning does strikes twice.

And indeed it does with this latest production of Crow Hill. Written by Ian McLachlan and 4th Line’s Creative Director Robert Winslow, the play was first staged in 1997, and revived again in 2004, making this its third incarnation.

Directed by Deb Williams, Crow Hill explores the nearly forgotten history of the independent phone companies created by country doctors throughout rural Ontario in the early 20th century.

Based heavily on stories and memories of Ona Gardner, a former switchboard operator who operated out of Garden Hill for over 30 years, Crow Hill also goes beyond the historical element of the tale to dives into an emotional story of love, loyalty, duty, and community.

The play is told through the words and memories of Alice Cameron (Sarah McNeilly). A strong willed and independent woman, a teenaged Alice goes to work as a switchboard operator for the lovable, if not slightly eccentric, Dr. Logie in 1937 when he creates his own telephone service to better communication with his patients and as a way to be contacted more quickly in medical emergencies.

With three telephone lines running from the fictional village of Crow Hill to nearby Millbrook, Peterborough, and Port Hope, Dr. Logie’s telephone service becomes a hub for the community, with Alice being the “ringmaster” of the party line.

Through Alice’s memories, a portrait of the community of Crow Hill is painted from 1937 to 1958 as family, friends, and neighbors go through good times and bad under the electric hum of Dr. Logie’s telephone wires.

An emotional tribute to the early days of phone service, Crow Hill is a nostalgic journey through small-town Ontario.

Now anyone who has ever seen Sarah McNeilly perform at The Theatre on King in downtown Peterborough knows what a gift she is to our local theatre community. However, she has found what could potentially be her greatest role to date as Alice Cameron.

Providing the voice for the show, audiences watch Alice transform from an 77-year-old woman into a 15-year-old girl and back again throughout the show. As the feisty and independent Alice, Sarah creates a multi-dimensional character who can go from the wide-eyed innocence of a naive girl to the wisdom of a woman who has seen and heard it all, with just a slight change in body language and voice work.

Through a combination of historical and gossipy storytelling, Alice becomes the connection point for the community and Sarah becomes the same for the audience. It is a remarkable and demanding role, and Sarah gives a performance filled with equal parts spunk and heart.

But while Alice may seem to be the central character in the show, Crow Hill is really about Dr. Logie, played by Robert Winslow. There is no denying that Robert is a master of his craft, and he gives 4th Line audiences another memorable character in Dr. Logie.

Motivated by kindness and a true love for his community, Dr. Logie is an idealist who is committed to the care and welfare of the people within his community. A bit of a romantic, and a slight eccentric, Dr. Logie brings Crow Hill into the future with the creation of the phone service.

However, as time goes on, we find that Dr. Logie is also a man who is set in his ways and resists advancement, especially when he feels it will be at the expense of his patients and friends. A man of strong moral standing, in many ways Dr. Logie is the heart of the show, with the emotional crux being the tender friendship between him and Alice. Together, Robert and Sarah have a wonderful and warm chemistry that makes this production glow.

Of course it takes a complete company of actors to make an entire community in a 4th Line play, and there are many wonderful little character pieces in Crow Hill created by a cast ranging from small children to seasoned performers.

Large character players include Kait Dueck as line repair woman Grace Dyson, who not only becomes the object of Dr. Logie’s affections but also an unconventional rival for Alice, and Courtenay Stevens with an animated performance as sales man Ed Milton, who becomes not only the comic foil but also a voice for progress.

Other smaller character standouts include Mark Hiscox as Crow Hill’s fire marshal Lorne Ferguson and Lorna Green as the mysterious Granny Troll. The standout character performance goes to Mark Kreder in the role of Alice’s twin brother Hugh, whose storyline focuses on his battle with post-traumatic stress disorder after coming home from World War II. Mark and Robert have some incredible scenes together in the second act of the play, revealing the horrors of the war and bringing dramatic substance to what is primarily a light-hearted production.

With all 4th Line Theatre shows, it’s always the little unique touches that make the productions so memorable. From the unique sets and the creative use of the full performance space, to the fascinating authentic antiques used in the production (including Dr. Logic driving onto the set in a classic car), Deb Williams and her company creates a world filled with nostalgic warmth.

There is a reason that Crow Hill has proved to be so popular with audiences that 4th Line would bring it back to the stage for the third time. It’s a show filled with emotional depth, endearing characters, and just a slight touch of heart-wrenching romance.

But despite its share of dramatic moments of tragedy, Crow Hill never engulfs itself fully into darkness. Instead, it creates a longing for a different time — a time before cell phones, texting, and voice mail.

It brings back the days when everybody in a community knew everyone’s name and everyone’s business. It brings the heart back into telecommunications and a human factor back to the telephone. Crow Hill is a true winner, and potentially the most beautiful show I’ve seen so far this year.

Crow Hill: The Telephone Play runs from Tuesdays to Saturdays until July 28th at the Winslow Farm in Millbrook, with an additional performance on Monday, July 23rd. Shows start at 6 p.m. Tickets are $38 for adults and $32 for youth and can be purchased by phone at 705-932-4445, online at www.4thlinetheatre.on.ca or at 4th Line Theatre box office in Millbrook at 4 Tupper Street and in Peterborough at the Peterborough Museum and Archives at 300 Hunter Street East.

This weekend, local theatre collective Art for Awareness presents the original work One Earth outdoors at Rotary Park in Peterborough. A multimedia performance fusing dance, music, art, and storytelling, One Earth explores the spiritual and emotional connection between humanity and nature through an artistic journey of the four elements: fire, air, earth, and water.

Produced by local visual artist and musician Blake Richardson and choreographer Rachel Bemrose, One Earth has been years in development, with Blake and Rachel talking about the concept as far back as 2013 when the pair worked together on Erasing the Stigma, a dance production dealing with mental health.

“After we did Erasing the Stigma, Rachel and I started talking about doing a production about the environment,” Blake recalls.

“We wanted to explore how a relationship with nature benefits health, and alternatively how a disconnect can have its own repercussions. So when the seed started to be planted for One Earth, Rachel got a grant through Public Energy to do Dusk Dances in 2016.

“Rachel was able to workshop one of the ideas for One Earth, and she asked me to write the music for that. It was a great experience for us, and it gave us the opportunity to see what it was like to put on a production outdoors.”

With Blake writing the music for the production, as well as featuring his unique artistic approach that fuses together art and nature, much of the body of One Earth is being developed this week through a dance intensive organized by Rachel.

Art for Awareness hired four dance instructors and choreographers — Kelsi Blashko, Sierra Richardson, Oliver Moriarty, and Eryn Masterson — to construct the piece with a group of 15 young local dancers in an intensive week of training and performance — leading up to the live debut of One Earth on Friday evening.

“As we were growing the idea Blake mentioned, he had been bringing his daughter Sierra to dance intensives,” Rachel says. “She’s gone to the Quinte Ballet School and Contours in Toronto, and I was thinking that it’s too bad that there is not something like that more local.

“So Blake came up with the idea that we should put on a dance intensive ourselves. I loved where this was going, so we’ve created our own dance intensive for the week. We’ve hired the four instructors for the week, and the kids will be focusing on dance technique throughout the day.

“The students will be coming into the studio and taking ballet and contemporary technique, and classes in improve and other stage work. The four instructors will be teaching the students, and then they’ll be also performing in the show as well.”

As part of One Earth, Blake will also take part through his spoken word piece titled “The Origin of Art.” Blake finds his inspiration in nature, where he works in a unique discipline that mixes together photography and drawing by discovering the natural imagery found within landscapes.

“I’ve been a professional visual artist for over thirty five years, and I’ve stumbled across a unique form of visual art which I first started in my last year at Sheridan College,” he explains. “I work with imagery that emulates through trees and clouds and rocks. I was photographing nature through a course I was doing, and I began to notice different imagery in the trees and clouds, so I worked with mediums on top of the photos to define what I saw.”

VIDEO: “Passage” by Blake Richarson (photographed at French River Provincial Park)

Passage

A post shared by Blake Richardson (@blakerichardson1312) on Mar 16, 2018 at 11:13am PDT

From that discovery, Blake began thinking about how the origins of art came from the Earth.

“When you go back to the very first art that man created, which was cave art, it could have very well been inspired by the same way that I create my art,” he says.

“There had to be a realization that an image could represent something. That could have started with building fire in caves, and then the shadows were on the cave walls and art became a way to communicate those visions.

“Stories came to evolve from those visions, which become the birth of mythology. So that always gets me thinking about what this image holds for me, and I search for mythology that connects to what I’m seeing.”

Blake also explains that he has a personal connection to the location chosen for the performance of One Earth, as much of his artistic inspiration comes from searching the rock beds of Rotary Park for imagery.

“I go to Rotary Park for inspiration for my art,” Blake says.

“From where the dam closes, the area becomes a river of rock, and I find myself going there to find a lot of my stones. Dusk Dances was right there in that same space, and since it didn’t come back we figured it just makes sense to bring One Earth to that space.”

Rachel, along with Blake and the rest of the company presenting One Earth, hopes to create a memorable and positive experience that will connect the audience to the magic of nature, and potentially help them find a new relationship with the Earth.

“We want to present an immersive experience and an appreciation for our environment and our land,” Rachel says. “What I love about what Blake has created is that it’s not sensationalist and doesn’t have negative undertone to it. It’s very hopeful and he wants us to embrace nature and learn to love it.”

Blake agrees, explaining that One Earth is a way to build bridges between cultures through the natural world that connects all of us together.

“We can find unity through that one source of inspiration,” he says. “We are all connected. We’ll bring people out to a natural space and evoke a memorable and lasting meaningful impression. We want to present something that stays people.”

One Earth will be performed on Friday, July 13th and Saturday, July 14th at Rotary Park in Peterborough, near the London Street footbridge. Performances start at 7 p.m., with art displays and public workshops beginning at 6 p.m. A rain date has been set up for 2 p.m. on Sunday, July 15th.

There is a suggested donation of $5, but each performance is pay what you can.

For those who have ever pondered the fate of 1980s new wave and synth-pop sensation A Flock of Seagulls: hair today, gone tomorrow doesn’t cut it.

In fact, the opposite is true. While the band members’ bizarrely teased hairstyles are long gone — three of the four founding members are now bald — the band is still very much with us, as will be evidenced on Wednesday, July 11th at Del Crary Park as Peterborough Musicfest presents A Flock of Seagulls featuring co-founder Mike Score. Admission to the 8 p.m. concert, sponsored by kawarthaNOW.com, is free.

Founded close to 40 years ago by Score in Liverpool, England — his brother Ali along with Frank Maudsley and Paul Reynolds formed was is still referred to as the band’s classic lineup — A Flock of Seagulls capitalized on the video-fueled New Wave pop music explosion of the early 1980s.

Come 1982, with the single “I Ran (So Far Away)” a worldwide hit, the band’s strange name — inspired by a lyric from the 1978 song “Toiler on the Sea” by The Stranglers and the book Jonathan Livingston Seagull — was on the lips of pop music fans around the globe.

“We wanted to be very sonic with great highs and lows; be rocky yet robotic,” recalls Score in a January 2018 interview with www.crypticrock.com.

“We wanted to be diverse like The Beatles but recognizable as our own band. We had loads of ideas — a lot that didn’t work out but paved the way for other songs, and some songs just wrote themselves. We certainly didn’t want to sound like other bands yet we took influences from them.”

“I Ran (So Far Away)” from the band’s self-titled debut album remains the song A Flock of Seagull is best known for, but Score et al’s success was heightened by the subsequent singles “Space Age Love Song” and “Wishing (If I Had A Photograph Of You)” — both released in 1982 — and 1984’s “The More You Live, The More You Love”. Sandwiched in between was “D.N.A.”, an instrumental track that won a Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.

VIDEO: “I Ran” – A Flock of Seagulls

VIDEO: “Space Age Love Song” – A Flock of Seagulls

“During the 1980s, band life was pretty hectic,” Score says. “Touring was real fun but really exhausting — flying, driving, interviews, meeting people. Writing new songs, all in a big blur. In short, it was brilliant.”

Brilliant but short-lived. After the band’s second album Listen, subsequent studio releases The Story Of A Young Heart (1984), Dream Come True (1986), and The Light At The End Of The World (1996) failed to produce any hit singles. Despite that, A Flock of Seagulls — with personnel moving in and out of the band except for Mike Score — continued to tour, the success of the band’s heyday years still resonating with fans.

2018 has seen a renaissance of sorts for A Flock Of Seagulls with the release of Ascension, the first studio record since 1984 featuring the original line-up of the band, with Mike Score reunited with the other three original members (Ali Score, Frank Maudsley, and Paul Reynolds) to re-record the band’s more notable songs — this time with the backing of the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra.

VIDEO: “Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You)” – A Flock of Seagulls

VIDEO: “The More You Live, The More You Love” – A Flock of Seagulls

“Being in a band that has been in the past very successful is like being given the key to the door of heaven,” Score says. “In the beginning, it was a labor of love. We rehearsed non-stop just for our own amusement and we lived in a Seagulls cocoon, if you like, writing our own songs in our own way. We knew we were not like any other band we had seen. We were better. Well, different at least.”

While the four original members of the band have re-united to record the new album, Score says there are no plans for the band to get back together for a tour (the touring line-up of the band is currently Mike Score with Kevin Rankin, Lucio Rubino, Joe and Rodriguez).

“Over the years I have been able to play shows and write my own songs. I write just for me and always managed to enjoy. Band life, it hasn’t always been perfect, but it survives. I’m not really what I would call a musician, I’m more of a songwriter ideas kind of guy. I don’t even think I’m an artist. As I tell people, I just enjoy playing about with synths and guitars. I don’t practice and I don’t think about it too much. I do it when I feel like doing it.”

Score adds he is heartened by the following the band still enjoys.

“The last few years there has been a renewed interest in 1980s music, which is great for all of us from that era. I think it shows that it was a real musical era, not just hair and glitter. It was fun and people want fun back in their life.”

VIDEO: “Space Age Love Song” – A Flock Of Seagulls with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra)

Peterborough Musicfest is presenting 18 free-admission concerts featuring a total of 20 acts during its 32nd season — each staged on Wednesday and Saturday nights at Del Crary Park.

Overseen by general manager Tracey Randall and staff, a board of directors, and numerous volunteers, Peterborough Musicfest’s stated mission is to “provide diverse, affordable live music to enrich cultural and economic prosperity in our community.”

For more information on this concert or the entire 2018 season, visit www.ptbomusicfest.ca or phone the Peterborough Musicfest office at 705-755-1111.