HomeMy WebLinkAboutHuron Expositor, 2016-11-16, Page 88 Huron Expositor • Wednesday, November 16, 2016
Award winning Canadian country singers will have Seaforth plotted in their GPS
The 13th Annual Canadian
Christmas Tour will be at the Legion
to help with library repair costs
Shaun Gregory
Huron Expositor
The days are winding
down for the start of the
13th Annual Canadian
Christmas Tour, which
begins in Seaforth; the
charitable expedition
traveling concert will fea-
ture some of the most sea-
soned country singers in
the nation including
award winners Thomas
Wade, Jamie Warren and
23 -year-old female new
comer Jessie T.
This year as usual with
every year, it's shepherded
by it's founder, multiple
Canadian Country Music
Association award winner,
Sean Hogan. This specific
musical collaboration has
raised nearly $200,000 which
has gone towards offerings
connected to hospital foun-
dations, cancer -research (fit-
ting since Hogan is a cancer
survivor), service groups,
children in third -world
countries as well as numer-
ous others connected to vol-
unteered assemblages.
Hogan also noted that
they've donated more than a
1000 pounds of food and
thousands of dollars to food
banks.
Hogan was inspired by the
1984 chart -topping hit, Do
They Know It's Christmas -
composed by Bob Geldof
and Midge Ure and per-
formed by Band Aid, a super
group compiled of the era's
most successful British
artists.
Shadowing the polarizing
UK song, Hogan reached out
to well-known award win-
ning Canadian country art-
ists and they then created a
track of their own titled, It's
Christmas Time. Currently
the video version is available
on YouTube, which at the
moment has almost 10,000
views.
ACCT is making Seaforth
the first stop on the tour and
Hogan promises an enter-
taining evening for all, with
the first half of the show a
compilation of country
music followed by the sec-
ond set of the performance
dedicated to being "entirely
Christmas." All those who
attend can expect an acous-
tic "unplugged" perfor-
mance. Not following his
usual protocol, Hogan
admitted to going on a gam-
ble in terms of payment,
something he rarely does.
However since the pro-
ceeds of this event will be
put towards the region's
efforts to raise some of the
$275,000 in repairs needed
for the local library. Hogan
admitted to being more than
willing to take the chance in
something he refers to as a
worthy cause.
"Most of these shows are
generally bought, this is a
risk I'm taking with this
show," explained Hogan, 51,
in the office of the Expositor
last week.
"I'm hoping we can get
people out so we can cover
the costs. Most shows are
purchased, and then the
groups use the profits for
their own charity.
Originating in B.C., he
made the countrywide trek
in a Chevrolet Uplander for
this "special event." After
leaving Seaforth he and the
crew of artists will play 17
additional shows from here
in Ontario all the way back to
the west coast on Vancouver
Island.
Hogan told the Expositor
this traveling lifestyle in
music has taken him all over
the country for the past 23
years. "There are good years
and bad years, sometimes
you don't make more money
than you put out."
To increase his odds of
making a profit in the busi-
ness, his first eight years
starting in 1996, he helped
with his own branding by
personally calling radio sta-
tions. However Hogan says,
with CD sales declining by
the day worldwide, "unless
they are hard core fans"
besides touring, this is
essential for him to make a
living. It's a time consuming
exertion and it comes with
benefits but he must keep at
it vigorously.
"Hey I've got a new sin-
gle, would you listen to it
and consider it for your
radio station," Hogan
enquired to potential buy-
ers. "You can't take offense
if they say 'you know we lis-
tened and we're going to
pass on this one:'
He added, nonetheless
over time you hopefully win
them over. Which he did
with his newest double cd -
Best of Collection, Notewor-
thy, one of the two disc
titled, Volume Sun is entirely
top -20 and top -10 hits from
the past 20 years that he
wrote himself.
In Canada, Hogan said
there are roughly 90 coun-
try radio stations com-
pared to 2200-2300 in the
U.S., this gives him a lot of
leeway to succeed and
leads to his name being
passed on, which eventu-
ally creates a buzz in the
music industry.
"When you start to
develop a relationship they
want to hear the next one, it
Shaun Gregory
Sean Hogan, 51, is putting together a Christmas concert at the Seaforth Legion this Saturday.
Proceeds will go towards some of the $275,000 worth of repairs needed for the Seaforth library.
can get to the point where
you are an automatic add,"
Hogan stated while saying
this exact way of self -adver-
tisement has landed him to
have his songs aired on the
CKNX radio station.
CKNX Program, music
Director and D.J. John Mar-
shall will be there as well to
MC the fund raising concert
this Saturday night.
Realizing his surroundings
in Seaforth are rural he went
on to say music is, "kind of
like farming, you sow the
seeds of your work and you
hope to harvest some good
crops."
"At the best of time, it's the
songs on the radio (that) one
has written that make a dif-
ference, when you have writ-
ten the songs, and own the
publishing you can possibly
make some money:'
At the moment, Hogan is
staying with his sister,
Loretta Hogan -Andrew, who
suggested the idea of a show
in Seaforth to help out with
the library.
The live Christmas concert
will be held on November 19
at 8 p.m. at the Seaforth
Legion. Tickets are $25.
Justin Hines, 1999 Ontario
Junior Citizen, Stouffville, ON
Help us celebrate the junior citizens who make our communities better.
Do you know someone age 6-17 who is involved in worthwhile community
service, is contributing while living with a limitation, has performed a heroic
act, demonstrates individual excellence, or is going above and beyond to help
others? If so, nominate them for a 2016 Junior Citizen Award today!
Nomination forms are available from this newspaper, and the Ontario
Community Newspapers Association at www.ocna.org or 416-923-7724 ext. 4439.
Sponsored by:
ONTARIO
JUNIOR CITIZEN
AWARDS