While I interviewed Rick Bockner last year, it was a musician’s story minus the music. So here it is again, with eight songs inserted into the audio. His musical roots go back to the McCarthy era, when the United States was purging itself of anything that could be labelled communist. Pete Seeger gave him tips on how to play the guitar. He was a member of the psychedelic rock band Mad River, which released two albums in San Francisco before it disbanded in 1969. On Cortes Island, he is somewhat of a musical icon. In addition to being a songwriter, he is one of the key organizers of Lovefest and the face of CKTZ’s Lip Syncs for the past decade. In this morning’s interview, Rick Bockner talks about paths of beauty.
According to the description on their website, the McKentys saga starts sounds on a steep snowy mountainside in the backwoods of British Columbia. Robert and Elizabeth had a small cabin, “many children of various sizes, a wood stove, a small battery-powered stereo system that sometimes worked, a mandolin, and several fiddles.” By the time they moved to Cortes, the Merry McKenty were on their way towards becoming a band.
As I was waiting for the ferry at Quathiaski Cove, my eyes were drawn to a trailer full of rough planking and an antique floating devise. They belonged to a BC Ferry captain from the Quadra to Cortes run. Randall Warnock spends a lot of time salvaging on British Columbia’s central coast.
Some progress was made at the June 27 Strathcona Regional District Board Meeting. When the bylaw for Cortes Island’s proposed Hall service tax finally passed, Chair Babchuk announced she wanted to do a happy dance. Cortes Island’s 2019 Advisory Planning Commission has finally been appointed. Frances Guthrie, Mike Manson, Carrie Saxifrage, Sam Mayer, Brittany Baxter, and Kristen Schofield-Sweet have all previously served on the APC. The bylaw for the proposed hall tax passed and, assuming that there are no hold-ups with the Ministry for Municipal Affairs, we are likely to see a referendum this fall, but the SRD has significant Cortes Issues to address.
