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Taken with instagram
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Feature | Up North Movie →
After a long wait, here is the Up North film in full, available to stream on the internet. Watch it, and hopefully you can learn a little bit from the wise voices we encountered on our journey from Edmonton to the end of the road in Northern Canada.
-
Video of the week: The Fight’s Take Back The City | Edmonton Journal →
Super cool! The video I made for the fight was chosen as the video of the month in the Edmonton Journal!
-
- Arrabio will be playing Solidarity Rock dates the next April 21 in Jatibonico with Cancerbero.
- May 3th in Trinidad as a wedding gift for our friend Darryl and his Leanne with the bands; Adictox, Akupunktura and Arrabio.
- May 10 in Sancti Spíritus at El Paso gallery as opening for the Solidarity Rock photo expo with 50 shoots taken by Sandy Phimister, Samuel Calvo, Aaron Bocanegra and Drew McIntosh.
-
SCRAPBOOKER - KRANG - CATGUT photos!
Hey everyone. Here are some photos from the Wunderbar last weekend. As I mentioned, we raised enough to send a sizeable shipment of gear to our friends in Cuba. Thanks for playing, hosting and attending. You’re all beautiful. Here are some B&W’s.
SCRAPBOOKER
KRANG
CATGUT
-
Solidarity Rock: Solidarity Rock Edmonton update! →
Solidarity Rock was born in Edmonton. We started with one show at the artery to raise a couple bucks to send a care package full of rocknroll implements to William and the crew in Sancti Spiritus, and has grown into a full on movement. Musicians, artists and other creative people across our city…
-
Solidarity Rock: Calgary recap! →
On March 24, we had the great pleasure of showing our photo show at House Gallery in Calgary and then spending the evening with Forbidden Dimension, The Vibrating Beds and Miesha and the Spanks! It was indeed a great evening, and as the Solidarity Rock project grows and comes to…
-
Rock 'n' Roll intervention helps Cuban musicians →
Rock ’n’ roll intervention helps Cuban musicians
The guitar player in Cuba band Arrabio poses with instruments donated by Alberta-based Solidarity Rock. Photo by Samuel Reina Calvo.
For the past five years Edmonton filmmaker and photographer Drew McIntosh has been staging what he calls a “rock ’n’ roll intervention” for the benefit of the young people of central Cuba.
He’s launched five punk rock tours through the region — featuring such western Canadian club bands as 7 and 7 is, Slates and Hang Loose from Edmonton, Kids on Fire from Winnipeg and Vancouver’s Vicious Cycles — something that was previously unheard of in that part of the world.
Perhaps more importantly, he’s worked hard to help central Cuba build up its own indie rock scene by donating instruments that were largely inaccessible to musicians in the restrictive communist country. Twenty electric guitars, a few drum kits, a couple of amps and assorted PA parts have gone a long way to helping develop a budding Cuban rock community.
All the while he and a group of fellow photographers have captured images from this mission, dubbed Solidarity Rock.
The best of those are on view Saturday at the House Gallery at 2607 35th St. S.W. The Solidarity Rock photo exhibition will be followed by a musical benefit at the Palomino Smokehouse that will feature popular Calgary acts Forbidden Dimension and Miesha Louie of Miesha and the Spanks, as well as Winnipeg’s the Vibrating Beds.
Proceeds from the show will be used to send another shipment of musical instruments into Cuba in April.
“This photography show highlights the first four years of the Solidarity Rock project in Cuba,” McIntosh says. “It captures the emergence of a real rock ‘n’ roll movement in a nation that was rooted in tradition.”
Adds the 32-year-old photographer: “Musicians from here have been able to do some interesting things in that country and we’ve been able to support the idea of free expression through art and creative interaction. I think it’s important to share these photos and this visual representation of what we’re doing in Cuba.”
McIntosh formed Solidarity Rock in 2007 when he accompanied the band 7 and 7 is to the central Cuban city of Sancti Spiritus, where friends had invited the group to play. McIntosh came to shoot a documentary of the adventure.
He was surprised to find that while there was a great desire for rock music among the region’s youth, they lacked the basic necessities needed to start local bands.
“Even things like guitar strings just weren’t available,” McIntosh says. Nor were microphones, cables and guitar picks.
“We put together a big care package with that stuff … and basically filled in the gaps with the things they needed,” he says. “And the idea of a touring band, going from one town to another for a show, that was a really big deal. Six or seven shows in a row was kind of beyond reach for what people could do… . They didn’t have access to a lot of infrastructure.”
Relationships were fostered during the first Solidarity Rock tour and a passion grew within McIntosh to build a music scene for the rock-deprived Cuban youth.
“That’s how this back and forth interaction started,” McIntosh says.
“It’s an interesting dynamic because when the (Communist) revolution happened the government tried to instil a uniform Cuban culture. Things like rock ’n’ roll were illegal.”
The fruits of Solidarity Rock’s mission can be seen in the photo exhibition, McIntosh says. The work of photographers Sandy Phimester, also from Edmonton, Aaron Bocanegra from Los Angeles, and Cuba’s own San Reina Calvo will also be featured.
Meanwhile, McIntosh continues to make big plans for Solidarity Rock. He hopes to bring a Cuban rock band called Arrabio to Canada in the near future and he’s taking a mobile recording studio to Cuba in the summer, intent on recording three albums of Canadian and Cuban collaborations.
“You see kids that were really young the first time we came there with a band, and they’ve learned that people can express themselves through their music and take the world in their hands and live the way they want to,” McIntosh says, explaining his motivation to make Solidarity Rock grow. “That’s a really powerful thing.”
Spotlight
The Solidarity Rock photo exhibition will be on view at the House Gallery (2607 35th St. S.W.) from 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday followed by a concert at the Palomino Smokehouse.
hmccoy@calgaryherald.com
Twitter@VanHeathen
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald(Source: CalgaryHerald.com)
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Solidarity Rock: Nurturing Guitar Diplomacy in Cuba →
Solidarity Rock: Nurturing Guitar Diplomacy in Cuba
A Cuban musician with equipment donated by Solidarity Rock. Photo by Samuel Rema Calvo.
An Edmonton-based non-profit group is using music to bridge the cultural and political divide between Cuba and its North American neighbours.
Solidarity Rock, an organization founded in 2007, raises money to purchase instruments, amps and recording equipment for musicians in Cuba’s burgeoning rock and punk scene.
A photography exhibit showcasing Solidarity Rock’s work in Cuba premieres Saturday, March 24 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at House Gallery (2607 35 St. S.W.).
Following the art show, there will be a musical benefit for Solidarity Rock at the Palomino (109 7 Ave. S.W.). The concert will feature performances by The Vibrating Beds, Forbidden Dimension and Miesha Louie.
Drew McIntosh, founder and director of Solidarity Rock, says the photography project fits with the organization’s goal of facilitating “cultural exchange” between Cuba, the United States and Canada.
“A lot of imagery out of Cuba shows a preconceived style. We wanted to show Cuba as it really is, through the eyes of the musicians who live and perform there,” McIntosh explains.
Members of the Winnipeg rock group Kids on Fire perform at a concert in Trinidad, Cuba. Photo by Sandy Phimester.
Solidarity Rock’s Work
Solidarity Rock has organized five rock tours in Cuba since 2007. The tours showcase western Canadian bands in partnership with local Cuban rockers.
The photography exhibit chronicles these tours through the eyes of four photographers: McIntosh and fellow Edmontonian Sandy Phimester, Aaron Bocaegra of Los Angles and Samuel Rema Calvo of Sancti Spiritus, Cuba.
Audience members await a performance by Edmonton band SLATES. Photo by Aaron Bocaegra.
Music is Political in Cuba
While the group has no political affiliations, McIntosh admits that playing rock music in Cuba is an inherently political act that defies authorities on both sides of the border.
Basic equipment like guitar strings and picks are hard to come by in Cuba due to the ongoing U.S. trade embargo against the country.
“[Cuban musicians are] used to living with shortages because of the embargo, so they improvise and MacGyver things however they can.” McIntosh notes. “Still, it’s better to have the real thing.”
Delivering these seemingly harmless items to Cubans is still technically illegal, at least for American citizens. That point was driven home after Bocanegra, a photography and art professor from Los Angeles, was arrested in March 2011 and charged with trading with the enemy for his work with Solidarity Rock. His case is still pending.
The Solidarity Rock Tour Bus. Photo by Sandy Phimester.The Cuban government also frequently harasses and arrests rock musicians, whose music is seen as seditious in the communist state.
The artists caught in between the “just want to have their music heard,” McIntosh says.
“Our concerts give artists from three countries that don’t often get to work together a chance to collaborate and produce something positive for everyone.”
For more information about Solidarity Rock’s work in Cuba, go to solidarityrock.tumblr.com.
Photo by Drew McIntosh.
AVENUE MAGAZINE CALGARY - March 23, 2012 -
The Vibrating Beds playing in Calgary at the Palomino in support of Solidarity Rock.
theSUNDIAL
Drew McIntosh Creative
The Sundial is a mechanism designed to cast a shadow.
-
Taken with instagram
-
Feature | Up North Movie →
After a long wait, here is the Up North film in full, available to stream on the internet. Watch it, and hopefully you can learn a little bit from the wise voices we encountered on our journey from Edmonton to the end of the road in Northern Canada.
-
Video of the week: The Fight’s Take Back The City | Edmonton Journal →
Super cool! The video I made for the fight was chosen as the video of the month in the Edmonton Journal!
-
- Arrabio will be playing Solidarity Rock dates the next April 21 in Jatibonico with Cancerbero.
- May 3th in Trinidad as a wedding gift for our friend Darryl and his Leanne with the bands; Adictox, Akupunktura and Arrabio.
- May 10 in Sancti Spíritus at El Paso gallery as opening for the Solidarity Rock photo expo with 50 shoots taken by Sandy Phimister, Samuel Calvo, Aaron Bocanegra and Drew McIntosh.
-
SCRAPBOOKER - KRANG - CATGUT photos!
Hey everyone. Here are some photos from the Wunderbar last weekend. As I mentioned, we raised enough to send a sizeable shipment of gear to our friends in Cuba. Thanks for playing, hosting and attending. You’re all beautiful. Here are some B&W’s.
SCRAPBOOKER
KRANG
CATGUT
-
Solidarity Rock: Solidarity Rock Edmonton update! →
Solidarity Rock was born in Edmonton. We started with one show at the artery to raise a couple bucks to send a care package full of rocknroll implements to William and the crew in Sancti Spiritus, and has grown into a full on movement. Musicians, artists and other creative people across our city…
-
Solidarity Rock: Calgary recap! →
On March 24, we had the great pleasure of showing our photo show at House Gallery in Calgary and then spending the evening with Forbidden Dimension, The Vibrating Beds and Miesha and the Spanks! It was indeed a great evening, and as the Solidarity Rock project grows and comes to…
-
Rock 'n' Roll intervention helps Cuban musicians →
Rock ’n’ roll intervention helps Cuban musicians
The guitar player in Cuba band Arrabio poses with instruments donated by Alberta-based Solidarity Rock. Photo by Samuel Reina Calvo.
For the past five years Edmonton filmmaker and photographer Drew McIntosh has been staging what he calls a “rock ’n’ roll intervention” for the benefit of the young people of central Cuba.
He’s launched five punk rock tours through the region — featuring such western Canadian club bands as 7 and 7 is, Slates and Hang Loose from Edmonton, Kids on Fire from Winnipeg and Vancouver’s Vicious Cycles — something that was previously unheard of in that part of the world.
Perhaps more importantly, he’s worked hard to help central Cuba build up its own indie rock scene by donating instruments that were largely inaccessible to musicians in the restrictive communist country. Twenty electric guitars, a few drum kits, a couple of amps and assorted PA parts have gone a long way to helping develop a budding Cuban rock community.
All the while he and a group of fellow photographers have captured images from this mission, dubbed Solidarity Rock.
The best of those are on view Saturday at the House Gallery at 2607 35th St. S.W. The Solidarity Rock photo exhibition will be followed by a musical benefit at the Palomino Smokehouse that will feature popular Calgary acts Forbidden Dimension and Miesha Louie of Miesha and the Spanks, as well as Winnipeg’s the Vibrating Beds.
Proceeds from the show will be used to send another shipment of musical instruments into Cuba in April.
“This photography show highlights the first four years of the Solidarity Rock project in Cuba,” McIntosh says. “It captures the emergence of a real rock ‘n’ roll movement in a nation that was rooted in tradition.”
Adds the 32-year-old photographer: “Musicians from here have been able to do some interesting things in that country and we’ve been able to support the idea of free expression through art and creative interaction. I think it’s important to share these photos and this visual representation of what we’re doing in Cuba.”
McIntosh formed Solidarity Rock in 2007 when he accompanied the band 7 and 7 is to the central Cuban city of Sancti Spiritus, where friends had invited the group to play. McIntosh came to shoot a documentary of the adventure.
He was surprised to find that while there was a great desire for rock music among the region’s youth, they lacked the basic necessities needed to start local bands.
“Even things like guitar strings just weren’t available,” McIntosh says. Nor were microphones, cables and guitar picks.
“We put together a big care package with that stuff … and basically filled in the gaps with the things they needed,” he says. “And the idea of a touring band, going from one town to another for a show, that was a really big deal. Six or seven shows in a row was kind of beyond reach for what people could do… . They didn’t have access to a lot of infrastructure.”
Relationships were fostered during the first Solidarity Rock tour and a passion grew within McIntosh to build a music scene for the rock-deprived Cuban youth.
“That’s how this back and forth interaction started,” McIntosh says.
“It’s an interesting dynamic because when the (Communist) revolution happened the government tried to instil a uniform Cuban culture. Things like rock ’n’ roll were illegal.”
The fruits of Solidarity Rock’s mission can be seen in the photo exhibition, McIntosh says. The work of photographers Sandy Phimester, also from Edmonton, Aaron Bocanegra from Los Angeles, and Cuba’s own San Reina Calvo will also be featured.
Meanwhile, McIntosh continues to make big plans for Solidarity Rock. He hopes to bring a Cuban rock band called Arrabio to Canada in the near future and he’s taking a mobile recording studio to Cuba in the summer, intent on recording three albums of Canadian and Cuban collaborations.
“You see kids that were really young the first time we came there with a band, and they’ve learned that people can express themselves through their music and take the world in their hands and live the way they want to,” McIntosh says, explaining his motivation to make Solidarity Rock grow. “That’s a really powerful thing.”
Spotlight
The Solidarity Rock photo exhibition will be on view at the House Gallery (2607 35th St. S.W.) from 5 to 9 p.m. Saturday followed by a concert at the Palomino Smokehouse.
hmccoy@calgaryherald.com
Twitter@VanHeathen
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald(Source: CalgaryHerald.com)
-
Solidarity Rock: Nurturing Guitar Diplomacy in Cuba →
Solidarity Rock: Nurturing Guitar Diplomacy in Cuba
A Cuban musician with equipment donated by Solidarity Rock. Photo by Samuel Rema Calvo.
An Edmonton-based non-profit group is using music to bridge the cultural and political divide between Cuba and its North American neighbours.
Solidarity Rock, an organization founded in 2007, raises money to purchase instruments, amps and recording equipment for musicians in Cuba’s burgeoning rock and punk scene.
A photography exhibit showcasing Solidarity Rock’s work in Cuba premieres Saturday, March 24 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at House Gallery (2607 35 St. S.W.).
Following the art show, there will be a musical benefit for Solidarity Rock at the Palomino (109 7 Ave. S.W.). The concert will feature performances by The Vibrating Beds, Forbidden Dimension and Miesha Louie.
Drew McIntosh, founder and director of Solidarity Rock, says the photography project fits with the organization’s goal of facilitating “cultural exchange” between Cuba, the United States and Canada.
“A lot of imagery out of Cuba shows a preconceived style. We wanted to show Cuba as it really is, through the eyes of the musicians who live and perform there,” McIntosh explains.
Members of the Winnipeg rock group Kids on Fire perform at a concert in Trinidad, Cuba. Photo by Sandy Phimester.
Solidarity Rock’s Work
Solidarity Rock has organized five rock tours in Cuba since 2007. The tours showcase western Canadian bands in partnership with local Cuban rockers.
The photography exhibit chronicles these tours through the eyes of four photographers: McIntosh and fellow Edmontonian Sandy Phimester, Aaron Bocaegra of Los Angles and Samuel Rema Calvo of Sancti Spiritus, Cuba.
Audience members await a performance by Edmonton band SLATES. Photo by Aaron Bocaegra.
Music is Political in Cuba
While the group has no political affiliations, McIntosh admits that playing rock music in Cuba is an inherently political act that defies authorities on both sides of the border.
Basic equipment like guitar strings and picks are hard to come by in Cuba due to the ongoing U.S. trade embargo against the country.
“[Cuban musicians are] used to living with shortages because of the embargo, so they improvise and MacGyver things however they can.” McIntosh notes. “Still, it’s better to have the real thing.”
Delivering these seemingly harmless items to Cubans is still technically illegal, at least for American citizens. That point was driven home after Bocanegra, a photography and art professor from Los Angeles, was arrested in March 2011 and charged with trading with the enemy for his work with Solidarity Rock. His case is still pending.
The Solidarity Rock Tour Bus. Photo by Sandy Phimester.The Cuban government also frequently harasses and arrests rock musicians, whose music is seen as seditious in the communist state.
The artists caught in between the “just want to have their music heard,” McIntosh says.
“Our concerts give artists from three countries that don’t often get to work together a chance to collaborate and produce something positive for everyone.”
For more information about Solidarity Rock’s work in Cuba, go to solidarityrock.tumblr.com.
Photo by Drew McIntosh.
AVENUE MAGAZINE CALGARY - March 23, 2012 -
The Vibrating Beds playing in Calgary at the Palomino in support of Solidarity Rock.