Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Lucknow Sentinel, 2015-02-11, Page 22 Lucknow Sentinel • Wednesday, February 11, 2015 Submitted Singer/Songwriter Don Gammie, formerly of Lucknow, has just released his new single "I'm Right Here" on I -tunes. Gammie has already released one alternative country CD and is working on his second. The single was released on February 5, 2015. Local Boy makes Good on the Country Music Scene Valerie Gillies Editor, Lucknow Sentinel A couple of years ago, Don Gammie decided to attend an Open Mic Night in Edmonton, Alberta at a local pub. Little did he know that was his debut and which let to him meeting up with a producer, Laurence Pugh, who was excited about his singing. Don on the son of Bryan and Vana Gammie of Luc - know. He grew up in Luc - know during the fall and winter seasons. In spring and summer he lived in the Yukon where his dad was a foreman in a gold mining operation and his mother worked as a tour guide for Parks Canada. Gammie attended F. E. Madill Secondary School in Wingham, where he met his wife -to -be Trina. They both attended and graduated from Fanshawe College. Don's civil engineering diploma included a 2 -term work experience program that landed him a job as a civil engineer in Edmonton, Alberta. He has been there ever since, along with his wife Trina and his 2 boys Nick and Nathan. Don has performed at the Winstock Music Festival at Winfield, Alberta, where he was urged to check out LB's Pub Open Jam nights. While jamming at LB's Pub, record producer Laurence Pugh, who was playing lead guitar that night, was impressed with his natural tone and commented that, "as soon as Gammie started singing, everyone sat up and noticed." After Don made a second appearance at the Open Mic night, Pugh invited Gammie to record a couple of vocal demos at his studio. After a year of singing and recording, something he had never done before, his nine track CD "Drive Away" was released on October 15, 2014. A single from the CD "This Beer Ain't Gonna Drink Itself)" was also released and has seen play on several radio stations across Canada, including Owen Sound Country 93 who also did an interview. Don seems very humble about it all. From the time he was 8 years old Gammie took guitar lessons, but did not enjoy the experience. The songs being taught were bor- ing, such as "Kumbaya; so at age 15 he received his first electric guitar and in no time was playing AC/DC riffs. He has since gone back to his acoustic guitar and developed a feel for Country music. Don has joined up with a band called Blackwa- ter Crude and is enjoying playing music with his band - mates, Ray Blackmore and Travis Thornton. Listeners have compared Gammie's alternative country singing to such stars as Blake Shel- ton and Luke Bryon. Don says he enjoys just playing music, whether it is in front of a crowd or by himself in his basement. He takes his guitar everywhere and has stroked one thing off of his bucket list in hav- ing heard his own song on the radio. Don still attends the Open Mic Nights occasionally and has recently done some fun- draiser events in and around Edmonton, so music is a sta- ple of his everyday life. Don is currently working on a second CD and his producer has released some covers he has done on YouTube. His new single "I'm Right Here" was released February 5th on I -tunes. Keep up to date with Don and his music life on Facebook under Don Gammie, Musician. If anyone is interested in purchasing an autographed copy of the CD "Drive Away" you can e-mail HYPERLINK "mailto:v gammie@huron- tel.on.ca" v gammie@huron- tel.on.ca or call Vana and Bryan Gammie at 519-528- 2146 or Yvonne and Len Walters at 519-357-2324. They sell for $15 each. Let's support our local talent. New Website to help Residents Over 17,000 people join Duncan Hawthorne Prepare for Emergencies during Telephone Town Hall Bruce Power Submitted Bruce Power and a coali- tion of agencies and munici- palities with an interest in public safety have launched a new website to provide res- idents of Grey, Bruce and Huron counties with the information they need to prepare for emergencies. The website, www.bepre- paredgreybrucehuron.com, is an educational resource for the different types of emergencies all residents should be prepared for, and provides tips on what to do in the event of a fire, flood, tornado, winter storm or nuclear emergency. This is the latest in a series of emergency preparedness improvement initiatives Bruce Power has been involved in, including a pro- ject to enhance its off-site radiological monitoring net- work through the installa- tion of 44 gamma detectors located within the 10 km area surrounding the site. Bruce Power has also been working closely with the Office of the Ontario Fire Marshal and Emergency Management and the Municipality of Kincardine to further develop a plan to enhance public alerting in the region. In 2014, Bruce Power teamed with TELUS to support a successful, first - in -Canada cellular alerting test, which automatically sent a SMS text message to subscribers in the Kincar- dine area. Along with this effort, Bruce Power is planning to implement and expand the 'Alert FM' system in the region. Alert FM uses the subcarrier system of local participating FM radio sta- tions to send emergency messages to receivers. The receivers sound with an auditory warning and a mes- sage is broadcast on the screen to provide detailed response instructions. As previously communi- cated, Bruce Power is also working with the Municipal- ity of Kincardine, the Grey Bruce Health Unit and the Office of the Fire Marshal and Emergency Manage- ment with further enhance- ments to off-site response plans through the pre -distri- bution of Potassium Iodide (KI) tablets to all residents, businesses and institutions living within the 50 km radius of the Bruce Power site by the end of 2015. Fur- ther information will be pro- vided in the coming weeks. To learn more, visit www.bepreparedgrey- brucehuron.com. Bruce Power Submitted Duncan Hawthorne addressed a number of questions from members of the public during his sec- ond annual Telephone Town Hall on Tuesday night, January 27, 2015. The open forum featured about 20 questions regard- ing Bruce Power's future, possible refurbishment of Units 3-8, the cost of elec- tricity and its relation to Ontario's supply mix, Ontario Power Genera- tion's proposed deep geo- logical repository, planned maintenance outages in 2015, jobs, and many more. "The Telephone Town Hall is the best way I can reach thousands of Bruce, Grey and Huron county residents and engage them in conversation," Haw- thorne said, adding 17,000 people tuned in for the event. "We live in a com- munity that strongly sup- ports Bruce Power, but we will never pass up an opportunity to further edu- cate our population on the benefits of nuclear electric- ity production." During the Town Hall, three polling questions were provided to listeners. The results are: 1. 92% of listeners agreed or were undecided that Bruce Power communi- cates effectively with its surrounding communities. 2. 96% agreed or were undecided that Bruce Power operates its facilities safely. 3. 95% agreed or were undecided that Bruce Power takes utmost care for the environment as it oper- ates safely. "I thank everybody who took the time to join me on the annual Telephone Town Hall," Hawthorne said. "I enjoy speaking with members of the com- munity, hearing their questions and hopefully providing some insight along the way." To learn more about nuclear energy and Bruce Power, visit www.bruce- power.com, follow us on Facebook at www.face- book.com/BrucePower- NGS, on Twitter @Bruce_ Power and find us on Linkedln. Duncan Hawthorne's Town Hall is now available on our YouTube page. It can be listened to at http:// youtu.be/OFmzgPe41mQ?li st=PLqSJ7zA2bUGT211FV_ MWrkNTcI9V18ylj or more easily through our channel at www.youtube.com/ brucepower4you.