Ready to rock 'n' roll?
Published Tuesday November 3rd, 2009
On Saturday, you'll be able to step back in time, to the 1950s, as The New Brunswick Country Showcase presents a '50s rock 'n' roll show.
The artists will get into character to take people back to a time of poodle skirts, Buddy Holly, Bill Haley, Dion and the Belmonts and The Chiffons.
Tom Hoyt, who's produced this show over the past 15 years, says he loves the organization and creation of each production. Another rock 'n' roll show was done a couple of years ago and people have been asking to see another since then, Hoyt says.
This is no small undertaking because Hoyt insists on giving audiences a whole new experience each time they see a New Brunswick Country Showcase production.
"They're going to hear altogether different songs, a lot of different singers. They try and get into character as much as possible. There will be no end to the costumes. We are going to take people back in time to the late '50s."
If you decide to see this rock 'n' roll show, you can expect a take-off on American Bandstand and host Dick Clark. Fredericton Bandstand will be hosted by Hoyt who will portray a character called Stick Lark.
He will interview the performers who will all get into character as well.
Elvis tribute artist Mike Bravener will perform but don't expect him to appear as the king of rock 'n' roll. There's been too much Elvis in this city lately, Hoyt says.
"We may bring Elvis out in another show but for now it is time to give Elvis a rest."
Instead, Bravener will don horn-rimmed glasses and do a tribute to Buddy Holly, along with several other performers. And a girl-group called The Dixie Cups will sing The Chapel of Love.
Hoyt spends hours thinking about each show and all of the details that will make it a success.
"I don't want to blow our own horn, but we are good. We have a six-piece band and three backup singers and the artists."
It is a real labour of love. While The New Brunswick Country Showcase has corporate sponsorship, Hoyt puts some of his own money into this not-for-profit endeavour. Sometimes it's break-even. Other times, when the audience numbers are low, money is lost, he admits.
"It's a passion. I have always been involved in music. I was never a great singer or guitar player, but I am good at this."
The best feeling is when fans shake his hand and tell him how much they appreciate the showcase productions. When it comes to entertainment, he says, there is very little that comes to this city that is any better than what the local performers do on stage.
In September the showcase presented The Legends of Country Music. More than a variety show, this was a production with sets, costumes, and pictures in the background.
"When we went to Riverview, they could not believe that we were from the greater Fredericton area. They said 'It's the best show we have ever seen.'"
Hoyt says the '50s rock 'n' roll show will be performed at The Playhouse but it will not be presented elsewhere at this time.
Although Hoyt says in the future, he expects The New Brunswick Country Showcase will do less shows at The Playhouse and more performances on the road.
The showcase has been around for 56 years. The New Brunswick Country Showcase evolved out of what was, in 1953, called the Capital Co-op Jamboree. George (Bud) Brown, an announcer on Radio Atlantic CFNB, produced and hosted the show. It remained the top live country music radio stage show in Atlantic Canada for the next nine years.
Many well-known artists and groups received valuable stage and radio exposure on those broadcasts. In 1957 Brown took the show on the road. Over the next five years 4,000 artists from across the Maritimes performed on the Co-Op Jamboree.
When Brown left Fredericton in 1963 the show went into hiatus for nine years until Jim Burns, a former city councillor and country music performer, founded the Capital City Jamboree in 1982 at The Playhouse. It aired on ASN and featured local and national country music singers. In 1988 the show's name was changed to The New Brunswick Country Showcase.
Burns continued to produce and host the show until he passed it on to Kevin Neilson in 1992.
Neilson and his co-producer, Tom Hoyt, took the shows to Plaster Rock, Woodstock, Oromocto and Saint John as well as The Playhouse.
Over the years, performers including Joan Kennedy, Julian Austin and Chris Cummings and hundreds of local artists have performed in The New Brunswick Country Showcase.
Since the late 1990s, Hoyt has taken the lead role on each of these shows. Over the past 15 years, he says he and the others involved have tried to shake things up to keep things interesting.
For ticket information, contact The Playhouse.
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