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Nanaimo’s Summertime Blues festival returns to Maffeo Sutton Park

This year’s event will be heavy on local talent, including guitarist Mark Crissinger
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Photo courtesy Mark Crissinger Local blues guitarist Mark Crissinger and his band will perform at Summertime Blues on Aug. 26.

When Mark Crissinger and his band take to the stage on the final night of Summertime Blues, the Vancouver Island guitarist will be pelting the hometown crowd with some new musical ideas he’s been cooking up.

“We’ve been working on sort of a little bit more genre bending-type of stuff that’s mixing, I’d say, country blues, bluegrass and acoustic blues, but we’re electrifying it in an attempt to achieve sort of a blues boogaloo boogie,” he said with a laugh.

“I’ve already been playing some of the new songs, I even have a new French song that we’ve been playing for folks, so a few of the songs people will recognize and then I’m going to get a few surprises going on.”

This will be Crissinger and company’s fourth appearance at the blues festival, which runs from Aug. 23 at 26 at Maffeo Sutton Park. This year’s event is heavy on Island talent.

“This year we tried to get the best that we could from the bands who are local to the Island,” noted Brian Whitty one of the board directors, of the Nanaimo Blues Society.

Crissinger said he looks forward to the friendly vibe as expects to run into some Island contemporaries he hasn’t seen in a while. He said it’s like a “summer party” for musicians.

“It’s going to be particularly fun because we all know each other but we don’t get much of a chance to hang out because of course we’re always all playing most evenings. So it’s a rare opportunity for us all to be together in one place and performing for the audience we love,” he said.

With so many of his fellow artists in attendance, Crissinger said he hopes to get some professional feedback on the new sounds he’s working on. Those sounds will form the basis of Crissinger’s next album with his band, but they’re are still in the writing stage and Crissinger said he’s in no hurry to hit the studio.

He’s also curious to see how the audience responds.

“If they’re just standing there kind of staring at you, you might not be achieving the goal of entertaining people,” he laughed.

Crissinger added that in music there is a purpose beyond getting people on their feet: Making an artistic statement.

“It’s interesting. Sometimes you’re under a lot of pressure to constantly be making people dance or try and influence people to dance to your music, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re achieving a goal of being an artist,” he said.

“When you’re constantly concerning yourself with the audience reaction it’s good to get feedback but you also have to stay focussed with what you’re trying to do and say as an artist.”

WHAT’S ON … Summertime Blues takes place at Maffeo Sutton Park from Aug. 23 to 26. $44.99 day passes, $114.99 weekend passes. More information and tickets at www.nanaimobluesfestival.com.



arts@nanaimobulletin.com

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Local blues guitarist Mark Crissinger and his band will perform at Summertime Blues on Aug. 26. (Photo courtesy Mark Crissinger)