Caledon Talent rocked the Toby

Stephen King once said “Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.” And it was evident that hard work is a regular part of life for the fabulous folks who took to the stage last Tuesday night at “Tunes at the Toby”. And talent is clearly the result.

Initially created as a small fundraiser that would do “double-duty” by also raising awareness for the quantity and quality of talent we have in Caledon, it grew in the last few days before the event until, as they say, “we jammed the place”.

And that wasn’t the only jammin’ going on. The place was jumping when Roman Kuchirka (harmonica), Don Breithaupt (piano), and Robbie Bardos (guitar) jammed and again when the wonderfully skilful Bob Parkins tickled the ivories too. The entire audience hung on every note as Dawn Rego and her flute lifted our hearts with Memory and then again as Jenn Yates took us back to the sixties with The Sound of Silence on piano. Connor Leary treated us with a clarinet piece he wrote himself, with Mike Foley accompanying on piano.

Caledon actor and author Andrew Welch tickled our funny bones with his comedic monologues and Bob Parker went back to the ivories to accompany the sultry voice of Stephanie Oakley, as did the amazing young Cam Breithaupt. Meg Wilkinson and Frank Miklos, both well known Bolton musicians, were stellar as usual and the gifted Michelle Woodhouse, a past Caledon Idol winner, had us all swaying to the beat of Tongue-tied. 

The big surprise of the night was when friends and campaign supporters Diane Tolstoy and Stan Janes offered to retrieve Stan’s guitar from their car and then wowed us with 2 great numbers. The tune At Last will now have a special place in my heart forever.

Even Toby Jug owner Scott Mooney couldn’t resist jumping on stage and belting out a couple of tunes, including Pink Floyd’s Comfortably Numb, with one of his house bands Klutch.

Local girls’ vocal group Sugar Babies, although short two members, rose to the challenge and did a beautiful job with numbers like Mama Mia, Put Your Records On and We Are Family. And Bolton band Ascentric capped off a perfect night with half an hour of original progressive rock music that absolutely shook the house.

It was an evening filled with friendship, fun and community spirit, and everyone went away with a new appreciation for Caledon talent. Thank you to the Toby Jug staff who handled the crowd with ease. A special thank you to Laurie and Mark Oakley of Oakley Audio for donating their time, as did local photographer-extraordinaire David Walker who captured many of those amazing moments in pictures. You’ll find lots of them shortly on my FaceBook page.

And lastly a huge thank-you, and congratulations, to every performer and every guest who made it a night to remember. I have no doubt we’ll do it again!