Post by TheKat on Nov 15, 2004 13:15:55 GMT -5
Here I found this...
www.mississauga.com/mi/businesstimes/mi/afterhours/story/2315632p-2682580c.html
for those of you who don't wanna click the link...
BUSINESS TIMES
Mississauga Business Times
Leask just following his 'Dreams'
Scottish born singer/songwriter caps great year with MAC award
Mike Beggs
Oct 30, 2004
When they handed out the hardware at the 10th annual Mississauga Arts Awards Gala & Silent Auction on October 20 at Hammerson Hall, the winner in the Established Performing Arts category was deserving to say the Leask.
David Leask, that is.
This Scottish/Canadian singer/songwriter has spent the past dozen years painstakingly pursuing stardom, since marrying and emigrating here from his native Edinburgh.
A Mississauga Arts Award (MAA) finalist last year, Leask won on the strength of his third CD "Tightrope Of Dreams" (a self-produced gem which showcases his talents in the Celtic pop realm), and first and second-place finishes in international songwriting contests.
"It feels good," he says. "This award means a lot because of the community recognition."
And with an MAA award comes a $1,000 cheque, no pittance for the indie recording artist.
Indeed, to make ends meet, Leask has become your, "man of many caps".
When not gigging (solo, or with his Celtic Players), he records, produces, and co-writes songs at his Jeddart Music home studio, and acts as a publisher of sorts - plus personally handling "all of the laborious administrative tasks that go with those things."
"Sometimes, I call it an affliction," he comments. "It's something where, you love it so much and you can't do anything else, and that means you have to suffer. It's a very tough business to be in. You have to enjoy the good things that happen along the way - like this award, or a good pub gig."
While he has played on many major bills - from the Owen Sound Folk Festival, to opening for ex-Water Boy star Mike Scott in Toronto, to showcasing at the Canadian Country Music Week in Edmonton this summer - local pub shows remain a staple of Leask's itinerary. He appears at the Rampant & Rose, 3200 Erin Mills Pkwy. on November 6.
"I sell CD's there, and it's a chance to connect with people. I play some originals in between the songs they want to hear," he says. "It's paying the bills, but I think it has other purposes, too."
Leask can tell you with authority that the first single from his disc, "Five Minutes" received airplay on approximately 30 of Canada's 86 country stations. Now, a followup single has been sent out.
"I'm tracking my own single and keeping in touch with radio programmers by e-mail, and striking up a rapport that way," he relates.
"The alternative is, you pay thousands of dollars for somebody else to do it."
Meanwhile, in the Emerging Performing Arts-Group category, Streetsville's Billy Talent added yet another feather to its cap - to go with its 2004 JUNO award for New Group of the Year, and the platinum-plus sales of its self-titled debut on Atlantic Records/Warner Music Canada.
Other Mississauga Arts Awards 2004 winners include: Julie Tausch, Emerging Literary Arts; Winston Hacking, Emerging Media Arts; the Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble, Established Performing Arts-Group; Shadia Simmons, Emerging Performing Arts; Sylvia Bartosik, Emerging Visual Arts; and Margaret Squire, Established Visual Arts.
Meanwhile, Peggy Hills-McGuire is the 2004 winnner of the Laurie Pallet Patron of the Arts Award for her 20-year-plus contribution to the local arts community - as a violinist, teacher, and most recently, artistic director of the Chamber Music Society of Mississauga.
The Awards night featured entertainment from several past MAC Award winners including jazz artists Anthony Bastianon, Denise Oucharek, and the Charles Cozens Trio, the Mississauga Youth Festival Choir, and comedian James Cunningham. Self-described "sitdown comic" Ray Jessel, and Toronto jazz diva Jackie Richardson played the post-show dessert reception, presented by AstraZeneca Canada.
Mississauga Arts Council communications coordinator Kay Matthews feels this Gala, "raised the bar completely" from previous MAA awards shows. And that's saying something.
"It was phenomenal," she says. 'To me it was world-class - and 90 per cent of the performers were from Mississauga. And, Rogers did a great job with the video aspect."
"Certainly the sponsors were happy, and they were very well featured."
Kaytee
www.mississauga.com/mi/businesstimes/mi/afterhours/story/2315632p-2682580c.html
for those of you who don't wanna click the link...
BUSINESS TIMES
Mississauga Business Times
Leask just following his 'Dreams'
Scottish born singer/songwriter caps great year with MAC award
Mike Beggs
Oct 30, 2004
When they handed out the hardware at the 10th annual Mississauga Arts Awards Gala & Silent Auction on October 20 at Hammerson Hall, the winner in the Established Performing Arts category was deserving to say the Leask.
David Leask, that is.
This Scottish/Canadian singer/songwriter has spent the past dozen years painstakingly pursuing stardom, since marrying and emigrating here from his native Edinburgh.
A Mississauga Arts Award (MAA) finalist last year, Leask won on the strength of his third CD "Tightrope Of Dreams" (a self-produced gem which showcases his talents in the Celtic pop realm), and first and second-place finishes in international songwriting contests.
"It feels good," he says. "This award means a lot because of the community recognition."
And with an MAA award comes a $1,000 cheque, no pittance for the indie recording artist.
Indeed, to make ends meet, Leask has become your, "man of many caps".
When not gigging (solo, or with his Celtic Players), he records, produces, and co-writes songs at his Jeddart Music home studio, and acts as a publisher of sorts - plus personally handling "all of the laborious administrative tasks that go with those things."
"Sometimes, I call it an affliction," he comments. "It's something where, you love it so much and you can't do anything else, and that means you have to suffer. It's a very tough business to be in. You have to enjoy the good things that happen along the way - like this award, or a good pub gig."
While he has played on many major bills - from the Owen Sound Folk Festival, to opening for ex-Water Boy star Mike Scott in Toronto, to showcasing at the Canadian Country Music Week in Edmonton this summer - local pub shows remain a staple of Leask's itinerary. He appears at the Rampant & Rose, 3200 Erin Mills Pkwy. on November 6.
"I sell CD's there, and it's a chance to connect with people. I play some originals in between the songs they want to hear," he says. "It's paying the bills, but I think it has other purposes, too."
Leask can tell you with authority that the first single from his disc, "Five Minutes" received airplay on approximately 30 of Canada's 86 country stations. Now, a followup single has been sent out.
"I'm tracking my own single and keeping in touch with radio programmers by e-mail, and striking up a rapport that way," he relates.
"The alternative is, you pay thousands of dollars for somebody else to do it."
Meanwhile, in the Emerging Performing Arts-Group category, Streetsville's Billy Talent added yet another feather to its cap - to go with its 2004 JUNO award for New Group of the Year, and the platinum-plus sales of its self-titled debut on Atlantic Records/Warner Music Canada.
Other Mississauga Arts Awards 2004 winners include: Julie Tausch, Emerging Literary Arts; Winston Hacking, Emerging Media Arts; the Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble, Established Performing Arts-Group; Shadia Simmons, Emerging Performing Arts; Sylvia Bartosik, Emerging Visual Arts; and Margaret Squire, Established Visual Arts.
Meanwhile, Peggy Hills-McGuire is the 2004 winnner of the Laurie Pallet Patron of the Arts Award for her 20-year-plus contribution to the local arts community - as a violinist, teacher, and most recently, artistic director of the Chamber Music Society of Mississauga.
The Awards night featured entertainment from several past MAC Award winners including jazz artists Anthony Bastianon, Denise Oucharek, and the Charles Cozens Trio, the Mississauga Youth Festival Choir, and comedian James Cunningham. Self-described "sitdown comic" Ray Jessel, and Toronto jazz diva Jackie Richardson played the post-show dessert reception, presented by AstraZeneca Canada.
Mississauga Arts Council communications coordinator Kay Matthews feels this Gala, "raised the bar completely" from previous MAA awards shows. And that's saying something.
"It was phenomenal," she says. 'To me it was world-class - and 90 per cent of the performers were from Mississauga. And, Rogers did a great job with the video aspect."
"Certainly the sponsors were happy, and they were very well featured."
Kaytee
Lol
