6 April 2008 -
Canadian folk-rock icon Bruce Cockburn will perform at a June benefit
concert for jailed Algonquin activist Bob Lovelace.
Cockburn, who has a home in the area, will be the headline act at the
Artists for Bob concert June 14 at Sydenham Street United Church.
Co-organizer Ellen Hamilton, who runs Kingston's Leopard Frog music-
recording studio, said she and a handful of others in the local music
industry asked Cockburn to perform because they thought it was a cause he
might support.
"He has consistently spoken up for what's right and just and he seems quite
interested in social justice," she said. "We also know he lives in the
area."
Tickets, which will cost $30, will begin selling Monday through the Grand
Theatre, Brian's Record Option, Novel Idea and other retailers.
Also playing Artists for Bob will be three-time Juno Award-winning
Aboriginal recording artist Susan Aglukark, legendary Sharbot Lake-area
guitarist Joey Wright, and Unity and the Algonquin Drummers.
"We're also close to getting two other famous artists in Canada, but can't
release [names] yet because we're still negotiating with them," Hamilton
said.
The organizers came together after Lovelace was imprisoned Feb. 15 for six
months for refusing to obey a judge's order to stop blocking uranium
exploration north of Sharbot Lake.
Lovelace, a father of two adopted young children and a Queen's University
lecturer, was also fined $25,000.
Like many others, Hamilton said she was watching the story about the uranium
protest from the sidelines until Lovelace was jailed for protesting
peacefully.
"This sentencing of Bob Lovelace, it was a wake-up call for some of us," she
said.
~ from The Whig, Posted By Frank Armstrong.
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