Jazz For Joe: Totally Shameless Plug #0006
Radio personality, singer, friend, and Meafordite, Vickie van Dyke, so moved by the story of Beautiful Joe and the namesake Meaford, Ontario park has decided to use the powers of her personality and celebrity to raise money, and awareness of, the Beautiful Joe Park and Beautiful Joe Heritage Society.
With the help of local venues (i.e. McGinty's), and Vickie's Smooth Jazz friends, the year ahead will feature many musical events connected to this charitable endeavour. Tickets will be available for individual shows or a series pass.
So, for all you animal and jazz lovers, why not consider it a warmhearted excuse to escape the city heat this summer, and take in some smooth jazz and cool waters of Georgian Bay. Your heart and soul will undoubtably benefit from the experience.
But why listen to me rant on .....here's all the details, as per the Meaford Independent....
Thursday, 15 March 2012 08:35 Staff Life & Leisure - Arts & Culture
The first show takes place Sunday April 22 and features 2010 Smooth Jazz Guitarist of the Year Rob Tardik, 2010 Smooth Jazz Wind Instrumentalist of the Year Carson Freeman on sax, multi-award winning keyboardist Davor Jordanovski and special guest vocalist (and proud Meafordite) Vickie van Dyke.
As a dog owner and daily park user, Van Dyke has been instrumental in putting the series together.
"I love Beautiful Joe Park and wow, the story is heart-breaking and heart-lifting at the same time. I also love contemporary jazz - - energetic, uptempo, R&B style jazz, as well as standards and new jazz-ish music, and I really wanted to bring some of my friends to Meaford to show off their talents. This fundraising concert series is a chance to do both and raise funds for a cause very dear to my heart. It's also a chance to put Meaford on the map with a world-class tourist destination," says Van Dyke.
The story of Beautiful Joe does indeed tug at the heart. In 1892 while visiting her brother in Meaford, author Margaret Marshall Saunders heard of a dog that was rescued by Walter Moore, the father of her sister-in-law Louise Moore. This inspired her to write the story of Beautiful Joe, a fictionalized biography of a Meaford area dog rescued from a brutal owner who had chopped off his ears and tail. In her book, the Moore family became the Morris family and, because women authors were not popular at the time, Saunders disguised her sex, using her middle name Marshall. She also relocated the story to a small town in Maine to win a literary contest sponsored by the American Humane Education Society.
The book was first published in 1893 and quickly became the first Canadian book to sell more than a million copies. By 1900, over 800,000 copies had been sold in the U.S., 40,000 in Canada and 100,000 in the United Kingdom. By the 1930's world wide sales were over 7 million copies.
Beautiful Joe's impact – from both the story and the park - has been far-reaching, as evidenced by Toronto blogger Dave Hingsburger's personal account:
“I had never heard of the story but I immediately was moved. Eric, our little dog, was an abused dog who rescued us. I choked with emotion at Joe's rescue and foamed in anger at his past abuse. We went to the memorial park and found a statue there in Beautiful Joe's honour. The artist captured Joe lying down with his head raised looking into the distance. His ears, mutilated, his spirit unwounded.
“I didn't expect to be so moved. But then I remembered only weeks ago doing a consultation with a woman with a disability who had lived a life of rape and violence. I remembered a young boy with intellectual disability, eyes burned out with cigarettes. I remembered measuring a bruise and documenting it onto a report.
“Joe, like all these, was given to care to others.
“Joe, like all these, was vulnerable to the temper of another.
“Joe, like all these, felt all that was done.
“I got out of my wheelchair to make my way, with assistance, to the statue. I ran my hand gently over that dog's head. I touched at his ears. Felt the jagged remains. And was reminded, again, of my responsibility. Reminded again of the depth of human depravity. Of the creativity of cruelty. I prayed that Joe had forgiven us, we humans, for what we had done to him.
“I prayed that we humans would find in Joe a reminder of what it means to survive.”
“I didn't expect to be so moved. But then I remembered only weeks ago doing a consultation with a woman with a disability who had lived a life of rape and violence. I remembered a young boy with intellectual disability, eyes burned out with cigarettes. I remembered measuring a bruise and documenting it onto a report.
“Joe, like all these, was given to care to others.
“Joe, like all these, was vulnerable to the temper of another.
“Joe, like all these, felt all that was done.
“I got out of my wheelchair to make my way, with assistance, to the statue. I ran my hand gently over that dog's head. I touched at his ears. Felt the jagged remains. And was reminded, again, of my responsibility. Reminded again of the depth of human depravity. Of the creativity of cruelty. I prayed that Joe had forgiven us, we humans, for what we had done to him.
“I prayed that we humans would find in Joe a reminder of what it means to survive.”
There is always magic to be found in Beautiful Joe Park. Waters gushing in the Big Head River, trails meandering through towering trees, memorials to beloved pets, a tribute (and an actual piece of one of the towers) to the fallen service dogs of 9/11. The story of Beautiful Joe is destined to live on in future generations - in 1994, the Beautiful Joe Heritage Society was formed to honour the life and story of Beautiful Joe and the literary and humane achievements of Margaret Marshall Saunders.
The funds raised from Jazz For Joe will help to establish an international tourist attraction and heritage site that promotes the ethics and values of the Beautiful Joe.
Tickets are $20 per show or the complete series for $90 and available at SiSi Trattoria and The Mill Cafe (Thornbury), Fotos & Flowers, Solitudes Spa and Tanning Salon and McGinty's in Meaford.
Concerts will take place bi-monthly and upcoming acts include Chris Smith (June 24), Wendy Lands (Oct 21), Vickie van Dyke (in the park weather permitting Aug 26)) and a special Christmas show on December 9.
For more info, contact vickie@vickievandyke.com
Labels: Beautiful Joe, Meaford, Vickie van Dyke
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