Lakeshore Advance, 2011-10-12, Page 2626 Lakeshore Advance • Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Forest teen records ode
to Chilean miners
Cathy Dobson
OMI Agency
FOREST — Megan General is her
name for now.
But the 17 -year-old Lambton teen
aspires to be a famous singer and
actress known by only one name:
Elequen.
"I've always dreamed of having one
name, and Megan is so common," she
said.
Her mom Paula General cooked up
"Elequen',' apparently out of the blue.
"She Just really liked how it sounded
and it grew on nye too;" Megan said.
Since she was a small girl, she's taken
dance lessons, had paid modeling
assignments and written music.
By age 12, Megan had composed
more than 50 original songs. Last year,
one of her songs was critiqued by a
panel of Canadian music professionals
including songwriter Dan 11111 and
singer Emm Gryner, another Forest
native.
It was called "Little White Butterfly," a
tribute to the 33 men trapped under-
ground for 69 days in a Chilean mine.
"I watched their rescue on television
and I started to cry;' said Megan, who is
in Grade 12 at North Lambton Second-
ary School. 1 went downstairs and
wrote the song. What they went through
really means a lot to me."
After hearing news reports that the
tniners stopped to look at a
white butterfly moments before the
shaft collapsed, Megan was over-
whelmed by the sense that the butterfly
had saved their lives.
If they hadn't stopped to enjoy it, the
miners may have been buried alive, she
said.
About a month after the rescue,
Megan recorded the song at a studio in
Toronto owned by her voice coach Ryan
Luchuck.
She describes her style as "jazz with a
pop rock feel:'
This week, almost a year after the
miners safely reached the surface, the
song will be posted on Mmes.
It's already been on YouTube and
caught the attention of a group from Las
Vegas that has created a ceramic mural
commemorating the rescue. When the
mural is unveiled later this month, the
Chilean Consul has requested permis-
sion to play "Little White Butterfly"
In the coming months, Megan plans
to have her song translated into Span-
ish so she can re-record it for the
miners.
"It's really important to me that they
hear it," she saki.
There are plans to send the mural
from Las Vegas to Chile where another
unveiling will take place next August,
this time with Megan's song playing in
Spanish.
Lambton Fall
CO6'611'4' Fes
vat
October 15 & 16, 2011
10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
OVER 100 CRAFTSPEOPLE - Two Locations!
Also Featuring:
• The) Pon Pal Trawling Art Exhibit -eighty-three
pictures created by youth from Haidimand County &
Six Nations of the Grand River Territory.
* Thedford Fall Fantasia
• P,olnoottla Holiday Shopping ToW Northville/Port Franks
COUNTY OP
t,/1NMTON
Lambton Heritage Museum & Legacy Recreation Centre
8 km south of Grand Bend 16 Allen Street
on Hwy 21 519 243-2800 Thedford, ON NOM 2N0
WWw.Iclmg.org
ABCA
Collector to Collector Woodland Reflection Art Auction
Tom Prout, General Manager and Secretary Treasurer of Ausable Bayfield Conservation, accepts a donation from
collector Ted Jones. This donation is a limited -edition Robert Bateman print called 'White -Tailed Deer through
the Birches; hand -signed by the artist. The donation will go to the one -time -only art auction with a twist called
Collector to Collector Woodland Reflection Art Auction in support of a planned new Commemorative Woods
Woodland Reflect Shelter pavilion along the South Huron Trail. The art event, hosted by the Ausable Bayfield
Conservation Foundation and local donors, will be heli at Ironwood Goff Club just east of Exeter on Thursday,
November 24. This print will be one of 100 quality art items available at the event.
Kinelo 1 heatre
Forest
"ABDUCTION"
Rating: PG (Violence, Language May Offnd)
October 14, 15, 16 a 15th
Starring: Taylor Lautner,
Lily Collins, Slgoumsy Wsaysr
sr: *ION
BRANCH 498, GRAND BEND
BINGO Thesday - 7pm
MEAT DRAWS
Friday - 5pm-7pm
ENTERTAINMENT
Saturday, October 15" 3-6pm
"D.J. BARRY SHEPPARD"
"You're only a stranger here once."
EVERYONE WELCOME
HALL RENTALS
CaII: Sharon 519-238-6865
A.
DON'T
FORGET
Test your smoke alarms once a month
and change the batteries at (east once a year.
(t)
mho, of th. l ii Marshal ?I)11
.T
Open House For f" '
",Moble Guest iou"
October t stn - t o -s
76893 Morrison Road. Clinton Area
Late 1800's Home Renovated
Por you to enjoy a country stay
Open all year round. Sleeps 9
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