Town Of Brome Lake
a re-print from “The Record”
The time has come to stand up for what we believe in and start “movin’ on up to the eastside” of 305 Knowlton Road, in the Town of Brome Lake. To be more specific, where Valentine’s Restaurant used to be, right across from the post office. CIDI has been suffering from a lack of visibility and desperately needs attention.
Part of “being who we are” is to be noticed, and it doesn’t really happen when Radio Communautaire Missisquoi is hidden away in a basement. After all, we have to practice what we preach. As everyone knows by now, RCM`s mission statement is “Being Who We Are”, and it doesn’t bode well for us if we are hiding out in the shadows.
How about having a sign in front of our building, for a change, directing people’s attention to where we are located? It seems like a simple enough concept. So, what do we do with the newly acquired space?
a re-print from “The Record”
Is culture more than the subject of a juicy question asked by socially-conscious people, begging the finest prose, wearing down computer keyboards in search of the perfect answer, or is it simply what it is; a way of life? Culture to many is enigmatic and at the same time engaging, because it means so many different things.
Recently, as “an active artist in your community” and a member of Radio Communautaire Missisquoi, I was invited by the Town of Brome Lake to attend a special consultation meeting. The consensus around the town council’s table is that “culture refers to activities related to the creation, production, diffusion, consumption and preservation of cultural goods and services (Les Arts et La ville, 2009)”.
Here we go. To us “ordinary” people (politicians love to use this expression; e.g. ordinary Canadians), not predisposed to understanding what it is we are asked to pay taxes for, unconsciously provide the essence of culture; action.
a re-print from “The Record”
Stop! Pretending you’re somebody you’re not. Stop! Thinking you’ll become who you are by acting like someone else. Maybe that’s who you are. In which case continue being who you are. Confused?
“Stop!”, Radio Communautaire Missisquoi’s battle of the bands TV show which plays every week on Vox TV out of Granby, insists on young-budding and sometimes older-budding rock musicians to write their own songs if they want to be on the show. You won’t find musicians performing a song by Offspring for instance, but you might find an artist sounding like them. The challenge for regional artists is to create something musically their own.
Isn’t this what it’s all about when trying to build community? If people living in the Town of Brome Lake, for example, want to put on a music festival, should they spend thousands of dollars on great BIB (bigger is better) / internationally renowned talent thinking locals will pay the ticket price, or should they rely on good local artists to fill the bill? You all know what I think, but allow me to elaborate once again.
The current Around Town show is me interviewing Redmond Brouillette and Kieth Mizener, two senior citizens from the Town of Brome Lake with long memories.
Please listen to the show for an interesting walk through local history. And, if you have any comments or wish to add to the story of our lives please post them here.
I’ll be pleased to reply to your posts and answer any questions that you might have.
ouvrir la pleine capsule » Around Town with Dewey Durrell 09-02-14
