It wasn’t enough to get the man behind Musicfest on the Tidemark Theatre board of directors.
Nope. They always want more when they find out you’re a musician.
But that’s okay with Doug Cox, the long-standing artistic director and executive producer of the super-popular Comox Valley Musicfest.
“Campbell River is just an extension of our audience,” says Cox during a recent phone interview.
Cox is now on the board of directors for the Tidemark Theatre Society and his involvement is already benefiting the pink downtown landmark.
On May 22, Cox and musical director Daniel Lapp – formerly of Spirit of the West – are bringing their buddies, a who’s who of Victoria musical talent, to the Tidemark Stage in a show called “Back to the Garden.”
“I’m really excited about our partnership with the Tidemark and this upcoming show,” says Cox. “It’s going to be a real variety of music.”
Lapp is the musical director for this roots music collaboration featuring a “West Coast bouillabaisse” of performers with the likes of Mae Moore, 54-40 frontman Neil Osborne, fiddler Ivonne Hernandez and more.
“Daniel is getting everyone to submit songs. We have a band and a bunch of front people,” Cox says. “I looking forward to playing with Rick May who’s played bass for Michael Jackson, Devo and Rikie Lee Jones.”
Anything could happen on stage that night, adds Cox who describes the West Coast sound as, “a melting pot for roots, folk, blues, swing, indie, honky tonk and alt-country.”
Here’s the full lineup of performers:
- Adam Dobres (guitars/houseband)
- Carolyn Mark (voice, guitar)
- Daniel Lapp (fiddle, horn, voice, mandolin, piano/houseband)
- Danuel Tate (keyboards/houseband)
- Doug Cox (slide guitar/dobro etc.)
- Ivonne Hernandez (fiddle)
- Jamie Troy (drums/houseband, bagpipes)
- Mae Moore (voice, guitar)
- Neil Osborne (voice, guitar)
- Oliver Swain (banjo, bass, voice)
- Rick May (bass/houseband)
- Tickets to Back to the Garden are $32 available at the Tidemark box office or by calling 250-287-7465.
- Doors open at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 22, with the show starting at 8 p.m. This is a licensed event and all patrons must be 19 and older.