Harvey Reid to play at Cooper's Glen Music Festival
The Cooper’s Glen Music Festival is being put on by the Great Lakes Acoustic Music Association Friday and Saturday in the Radisson Hotel in downtown Kalamazoo. Regional musicians Who Hit John, and Seth Bernard and May Erlewine will perform and conduct workshops, as will touring acts Bua (boo-ah), The Gibson Brothers, and Peter Ostroushko. Lorraine Caron has this report about Harvey Reid, a troubadour from Maine, who will play at the festival Saturday night.
Harvey Reid plays guitar, slide guitar, 12-string guitar, dobro, 6-string banjo, and autoharp. He specializes in traditional tunes and writes modern folk and blues for his own label Woodpecker Records. He’s been making a living at it for his entire adult life.
[Harvey Reid] “I don’t have a great musical biography. After 40 years of obsessive playing of music I still don’t know why I do it or where the energy came from. I’ve never stopped. I’ve played in the streets and then graduated to playing indoors. I’ve played venues from elegant restaurants to bars where people were punching each other. I’ve played with some bands, but, really I’ve always gravitated toward a sound I can produce on my own. The year I made my first recording was 1982, the same year that Michael Jackson’s Thriller came out and the same year that Madonna released her first record. At that time it wasn’t an option for musicians like me to be anything but “underground.” Major record labels were letting Bonnie Raitt and Paul Simon go. John Prine lost his record label. It was obvious if they couldn’t make it commercially, there was no chance for lesser-known troubadours like me.”
[Lorraine Caron]: "When did you start Woodpecker?"
[Harvey Reid] “1982. Now, some people think that I was maybe the first guy to start an indy record label. I’m finding out I was something of a pioneer that way.”
In spite of his dissatisfaction with the mainstream music industry, Harvey Reid is a great believer in the power of music. He calls it one of the most tangible forms of magic.
[Harvey Reid] “The music business is falling apart and the corporate model of marketing and ramming it down people’s throats is unraveling. But, the actual power of music to enthrall people is never going to go away. There’s a giant group of people who are really hungry for good music. And, it’s out there. It’s just not that easy for people to find.”
Reid may never become a household name, like acoustic musician as Alison Krauss, but living the life of a traveling troubadour suits him and pays the bills.
[Harvey Reid] "I’ve never done anything else. I’ve never driven an ambulance or had another role in society. But, it all makes more sense to me the longer I do it, which makes up for the fact that I don’t drive a new car. But, I own a house. I’m a middle-class artist and that’s a nice way to live.”
Harvey Reid lives with his family in Maine. He’ll perform for the Cooper’s Glen Music Festival Saturday evening at the Kalamazoo Radisson.
Dog trainer trains animals for Hollywood
This Chevy Volt commercial has been airing on the Fox News network and other cable channels for a few weeks. You can hear famous Michigan actor Tim Allen in the voiceover. But there are two other actors in the commercial you may not recognize: Cole and Toula, Hollywood animal trainer Christine Mahaney’s pets, chase after the half-assembled cars.
Mahaney has trained animals for movies like Public Enemies, Youth In Revolt, Cedar Rapids, and even the computer generated film Gnomeo & Juliet. Most were filmed, at least in part, here in Michigan.
Mahaney spends most of her time as a private dog trainer in Kalamazoo, where she works with dog owners like Linda Alling. She has spent only three sessions with Alling’s dog, Timmy, but Alling says he has shown drastic improvement.
[Linda Alling] ”He used to jump on top of me and he was in my face, literally in my face. He would claw at my face and I ended up with bruises, claw marks. And now he sleeps at the foot of the bed. He’s much more respectful.”
Mahaney says, whether she is training an animal at someone’s home or on a movie set, it’s all about building a bond between the person and the animal. Mahaney’s dog Toula plays the main character’s pet in the movie Quad. Quad, is about a wealthy business man who gets into an accident, paralyzing him from the neck down. The to-be-released comedic drama is based on a true story of a quadriplegic in Michigan. Mahaney says it was very important for Tula and actor Aaron Paul to be comfortable around each other before filming.
[Christine Mahaney]“We spent the whole day together for Tula and Aaron to develop a relationship. Because of the role that she played with him, that was his private dog in the movie, and you needed it to be believable on the monitor. You needed it to be believable that this dog was devoted to him and would do anything for him.”
Mahaney has trained all kinds of animals for film: dogs, rats, chickens, and even a six-point buck. She says almost all of the animals you see in movies have some kind of training before they work with a set trainer. But getting the animals to act on cue can take weeks of work. Mahaney says that was the case when she trained cockroaches for the movie Vamps, which will be released in theaters this year.
[Christine Mahaney] “You cool them down in an iced area with cloth over it and what it does is it slows their metabolism down so it keeps them from moving so fast. That’s a good instance where maybe the cockroach scene was just one tiny scene. It might be three seconds, it might be thirty seconds, it might be 90 seconds, but what goes into that scene is days. It could be weeks. I mean I’ve trained rats for a movie Have A Little Faith on the Hallmark Channel. Now the rats didn’t make the final cut, but I prepped those rats for 12 days for one scene.”
Mahaney says one of the most rewarding things about her job is helping people to get over their fears and learn to understand animals better.
[Christine Mahaney] “I remember having to teach the little girl in Flipped how to pick up a chicken. And chickens flap, I mean they can be pretty active, especially when they don’t want to be restrained or picked up. So I can remember going through and just having her pet the chicken and actually ‘Ok, I’m going to pick it up and you watch,’ and then having her do it. And having this young actor be so proud of herself cause ‘Oh my God, I picked up the chicken!’ She got over her fear, which was very good to see. If I can leave an imprint on somebody like that, like ‘Hey, animals are a good thing and a positive thing,’ I’m always happy."
For more information about Christine Mahaney's dog training business, What A Dog, click here.
Other Events:
Early risers might enjoy Birds & Coffee at the Kellogg Bird Sanctuary from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m on Wednesday, February 8th. You can have a cup of certified bird-friendly coffee while bird watching.
After birdwatching, you can see the coffeehouse performance of Walkin' Cane at 11am at Kellogg Community College in Battle Creek. Austin "Walkin' Cane" Charanghat is a blues singer and songwriter. The performance will be held in KCC's Student Center.
Tired of churning your garden's compost pile? Come hear about the benefit of worms at Binder Park Zoo at 7 p.m. Speaker Dan Terrill of Flowerfield Enterprise will talk about how worms can make the most of your compost.
The Kalamazoo Public Library is offering an Intro to Beekeeping class this Wednesday at 7 p.m. Bee expert Dr. Larry Conner will be speaking about the basics of keeping bees.
Western Michigan University's Western Wind Quartet will be performing in the Dalton Center Recital Hall at WMU at 7:30 p.m. The quartet will be playing compilations by Franz Danzi, Richard Adams, Paul Hidemirth, and others. A pre-concert talk will be held at 7 p.m.
Artist Susan Teague will have her exhibit “Colors of Life” on display at WMU starting Thursday. You can come meet Teague on Thursday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. The exhibit will be open until March 12th.
Glean Infusion will be playing at Bell’s Eccentric Café Thursday night at 9:30 p.m. Their music is a blend of jazz and progressive styles.
