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I think over the past while we've discussed a number of issues that are pretty pertinent to the local music scene in Cape Breton on this message board. Many of the initiatives that have been discussed on the board would be considerably easier to accomplish given some support from our Provincial Government. I think that it's arguable that cblocals is representative of a certain demographic within Cape Breton, one that can be described as having an interest in traditional and non-traditional music and culture. I would like to invite any of the candidates running to join cblocals and discuss their views of the importance of music and culture in Cape Breton and how it is relevant to the users of this board and members of this community. I would love to hear their ideas on how their Government could help to create rehearsal spaces for Cape Breton musicians. I invite them to discuss how they could help us to build the infrastructure necessary to nurture the abundance of upcoming musician in Cape Breton, grow the number of exporting artists and ultimately strengthen our music industry.

Albert Lionais

This is an absolutely fantastic idea, Albert. Have you e-mailed any of the candidates with a link to the thread?

This would be awesome, but I doubt politicians will really do anything about this. We have the Rankins, the Barra's, and Minglewood... plus, something like this is always privately owned and operated. I think a government grant to help with the cost of such expenses as building materials and labor might be less frustrating than getting a politician to embrace the rock/punk/metal community.

For any politician to ignore the young arts community would be a pretty brave(dumb) move.

I totally agree, but to further clarify.........

An election is right around the corner, so this is when they'll be more than open to listen to what you have to say. Once the votes are cast, let's see how much actually gets DONE! It would be all to simple for X politician to put our minds at ease with the awesome future they will bring if they get elected. I know we can't really notice, but we're in a economic recession. And that fact alone should indicate that budgets are gonna be perhaps smaller than previous years, and I bet you the young arts community is gonna be taking a HUGE step behind seniors, health care, and education spending.

Something else to look at, would be to bring up the fact there is no place for musicians (who don't OWN a house) to play with other musicians. I doubt they will change noise laws, but even if they opened a music orientated "community center", it would at least be a place to turn your volume button passed 2, and collaborate with other musicians.

Also, as a side note, if the jam space I'm gonna be in come July does well, dude running our place, may look into opening a second location.... probably in Sydney. So an entrepreneur will probably come to our rescue, long before any politician does.

Cape Breton doesn't have a whole lot to be proud of... We've got the Cabot Trail, the Fortress of Louisbourg, and our ridiculous abundance of arts, culture, and sub-culture. I think it would be in political interest to put some effort into working with the good things we have going for us. I'd wager that people in our general age group who DON'T vote are having an impact on the decisions of politicians who decide to cater to senior citizens instead of the youth.

Everybody from age 18-30 who complains about lack of funding for arts should vote! This would prove that the youth are around to support politicians who actually care about us losing one of Cape Breton's strongest muscles. Anybody notice a pattern? Seniors vote, and our government caters to them hand and foot.

Step one to getting anything from a politician is letting them know you need it. People should bring this up to the candidates running in their areas. Candidates don't know what we need. It's our duty to let them know.

This is a great idea. The thread itself would need to be heavily moderated as no one wanting to get elected would probably post if they weren't garunteed relative immunity from anonymous cblocals insults.

Another idea would be putting together a questionaire that can be emailed out and posted here.

I think that sorta thing comes with the territory of being a public figure.....

.... and are you asking the message board to not insult/criticize people? I doubt it would happen. A new user list would need to be created with the real names of the individuals wanting to seriously participate. And after that, an "invite only" or restricted thread that only said users can post on.....everyone can view, just only certain users can post.

....it doesn't sound that complicated actually, I just don't know if that's something that can be done.

I condone the idea of putting together ideas in the next 2-3 days, having someone collate them in letter form and then sending that letter to each representative of all of the Cape Breton Districts. Then post it to the front of the corepage and keep it there until the election is over.

Areas of concern that I would consider valid (some of which has already been touched upon here):

-- development of jam spaces
-- development of community halls for all ages shows
-- small funding and/or venue space for workshops to teach teens about putting togethers shows and art events
-- The establishment of a "one stop shop" for young, inexperienced members of the scene to go to to learn how to get donations, sponsorships, etc. for their shows


BMN

This idea is getting better all the time. we can collect the e-mail addresses and mass e-mail the Cape Breton candidates. We can come up with a list of questions pertaining to the local arts and entertainment, complie them in an e-mail, then post responses on the board.

Let's come up with some questions.

Personally, I'd really like to see them come here and discuss these issues. I don't think it should be closed thread or debate. I'd like as many people as possible to get involved. I think everyone has a right to voice their opinions and this is a great medium for that. I spoke with Wendy Bergfeldt at the CBC just a little while ago and she's going to help get the word out. I'd urge everyone to keep this thread respectful, I think some good things could come of it.

As for the candidates, I challenge them to make promises and I challenge them to keep them.

Christ, if they managed to do that list alone, the scene would be 10 times better than it is now. If anything, this is a great starting point, however, you'd be looking at two new constructed buildings/locations, at least. This is where I get skeptical.....

maybe to take things one step further, does anyone have good suggestions for possible locations? Any places that are already constructed, that are for sale and just in need of renovations?

Old Ron May Pontiac, that green building on the corner of George and Prince, JASPER'S, Chandler's. There's really no problem with a lack of space, just a lack of everything else.

I gave Wayne Mckay a link and told him to do a little word-diddy. There's a campaign event at the moment....