Mr. H Presents Reflections on 2015

After missing nearly a year and a half of Mr. H Presents – kept alive by my friends, Dean and Emma Peckford – I hit the frozen ground running in 2015. I re-started the monthly Open Stage for the Underage at Brewed on Bernard, hit up the Pasadena Winter Festival again, had another Make Music Happen Conference, and got back to where it all started, with the fifth End of Exams Jam. I also marked the end of the summer with a beachside show, the Back To School Special. Throw in a couple special shows at schools in Corner Brook and Deer Lake, and the final tally for 2015 is 17 events!

Hundreds of people came to our shows and saw more than forty young performers take the stage; with so many of our original group moving away in the past year, we got to see a number of new performers, many playing to an audience for the first time. In May, a full slate of 25 aspiring songwriters attended the Make Music Happen Conference, four of whom traveled from the Clarenville area! With a touch of bittersweetness, we outgrew our beloved Brewed on Bernard, and moved the Open Stage to Swirsky’s this fall.

I don’t do any of this alone, so I need to give some thanks. Firstly, thanks to Dean and Emma for keeping Mr. H Presents going in my absence. Secondly, Dave Connors has been my right hand man this year, bringing his talents and his expertise with him, and helping me relax at shows. Michael Moulton, Max Simms, and Michael McDonald have also stepped up to provide tech support this year, if Dave couldn’t make it.

I am extremely grateful to our main sponsors, Corner Brook’s three music stores – Gary Bennett Music, HM Audio, and Village Music – who contributed equipment so Mr. H could have a dedicated sound system this year.

Thanks to Brewed Awakening, for continued support – they have been with us since the beginning. Thanks also to Cole Clark Guitars, the City of Corner Brook, Rotary Arts Centre, SM Consulting, and MusicNL. I’m grateful to the host venues as well: Brewed on Bernard, Corner Brook Regional High School, Elwood Regional High School, Lillian’s Eats & Drinks, Oasis Grillhouse, and, the new home of the Open Stage for the Underage, Swirsky’s on Broadway.

Thanks to members of the press for continued coverage of the great stuff our students are doing (ie: Tom Cochrane, Wendy Woodland, and a number of folks at The Western Star). 

Finally, thanks to all of you: the performers, the cheerers, the social media-posters, and the parents, who make all the hard work worthwhile.

So what’s up for 2016? More. More of doing whatever I can do to have young people experience live music in positive ways, in positive settings.

More making music happen.