Ian Lindsay & Associates: Ian Lindsay of Lindsay and Associates has played an active role in the local community since 1979. He has been with RE/MAX Vancouver Island's most advanced real estate business network since 1996, marketing and selling residential, rural, strata, recreational, investment, and project development real estate. Ian has received several awards recognizing his exceptional community commitment locally, as well as awards for outstanding performance and achievement from both RE/MAX International and the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board. You'll find true real estate professionals at ianlindsay.ca.

Rockin' Rhonda & The Blues Band: Here comes Peter, here comes Dave. Oh, listen! Bringing stories, making waves. No missing, spinning tales in the podcast cave. So much laughs and insights everywhere. Peter and Dave, they're on the mics. Alright, join the ride. It's gonna feel just right.

Peter McCully: Welcome to the Pulse Community Podcast. We appreciate you taking the time to check in and check out what we're featuring this week. But first, here's my co-host. He's my favorite former radio DJ named Dave. It's Dave Graham.

Dave Graham: Oh, thanks. But let's keep this moving, shall we? I have a list of things to do today, and co-hosting a podcast is just one of them. Without further ado, here's my co-host, Peter McCully. Yes, it's summertime and we're all busy, Dave.

Dave Graham: Can you maybe talk faster? Let's talk about who's on the show this week. Peter, go.

Peter McCully: Jesse Recalma will be one of the many artists whose work is being featured during the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere's 10 Amazing Places Project, which is being shown this summer at the McMillan Art Center. You'll be able to see Jesse carving on the weekend of July 19th.

Jesse Recalma: My intention is to carve a paddle 'cause I want to be able to do something that connects sea and land, and the paddle is kind of that perfect, almost bridge between sea and land. It's made of a tree, which is then used to influence and impact water in our relationship to the water. The ocean was our highway, and paddles are our tires. Some of our paddle designs were done so that they wouldn't harm any of the sea life. They were designed to be able to harm other humans at times if needed, but in terms of the way that the paddle shape goes into the water, it wouldn't affect the kelp beds. It wouldn't negatively impact the ecosystem because those things were such rich forms of life.

Dave Graham: Plus, we'll chat with blues musician Brandon Isaac, and we'll hear the title cut from his new album.

Brandon Isaac: "Walking with the Blues" is just really about my journey of music. As you said, I was listening to heavy metal early, but I was digging the blues out of it. For the last 37 years, I've been walking this journey with the blues. Not saying I've been depressed for 37 years—some people think the blues is a depressing thing. It's not. It's a celebration of life.

Dave Graham: Brandon will be part of the Parksville Museum concert series in Parksville Thursday, July 24th. The series, a fundraiser for the museum, wraps up at the end of July with the jazz show featuring the Victoria-based saxophonist and composer Andrew Greenwood and his quintet.

Peter McCully: Future guests to the Pulse Community Podcast include professional goaltender and Qualicum Beach native Connor Lacouvee, who has a hockey school for goalies.

Dave Graham: Dave and Kelly Hutchison talk about their first book. It's called "Vancouver Island: The Art of the Landscape," featuring decades worth of nature photography, intertwined with stories—stories behind the photos and stories of the island's history.

Peter McCully: We'll also hear from the Oceanside Community Safety Volunteers about an upcoming safety seminar for seniors. They cover everything from scams and environmental safety to crime prevention tips.

Dave Graham: Congratulations to Vanessa Foster of Coombs, winner of a double pass to Sun Fest.

Peter McCully: Hi Vanessa, it's Peter McCully calling from the Pulse Podcast. You had entered our contest to win a couple of tickets for a four-day pass for Sun Fest. I just wanted to let you know that we did draw your name and that you are a winner.

Vanessa Foster: Oh, amazing! Thank you.

Peter McCully: Have you been to Sun Fest before?

Vanessa Foster: I have.

Peter McCully: I noticed on your contest entry that you said you'd love Alan Jackson to come back again. Had you seen him the first time around?

Vanessa Foster: No, I missed him.

Peter McCully: Yeah. Bailey Zimmerman will be a good show though.

Vanessa Foster: Yeah, he will be. A friend of mine went to the concert—oh—when he was in Vancouver. Really good.

Peter McCully: Well, Vanessa, thank you very much for listening to The Pulse podcast and entering our contest. We'll get you squared away with some tickets for Sun Fest.

Vanessa Foster: Okay, thanks. Have a good day.

Peter McCully: We have another concert connection contest for you. We have a double pass to Beach Fest Rocks August 8th through 10th. Not only do you get access to great music in the Parksville Community Park for three days, you'll get two beach chairs, a cooler, and a $50 Smile Card from Thrifty Foods in Parksville. You can enter on our website at thepulsecommunity.ca or on our Facebook page, The Pulse Community. The draw is July 31st.

Dave Graham: Don't dawdle. No dilly-dallying. No siree. There's no time to waste—enter the draw. Good luck to you. You know, one of the bands coming to town is one of the jewels in Canada's crown of rock and roll—members of Canada's Walk of Fame. They have sold millions of albums. They have Juno awards for Group and Album of the Year. One of their songs was featured as the official song during the final flight of the space shuttle Discovery. That song was "Spaceship Superstar." I am speaking of the group Prism. They've been knocking around for almost 50 years now. They're going to be just one of the many fabulous talents taking to our world-class outdoor stage.

Patrick Simpson: Hey Dave and Peter, it's Patrick from What's Cooking in Beautiful Qualicum Beach. On behalf of the Qualicum Beach Merchant Society, we want to invite you to enjoy live music around the village every Saturday this summer from 11:30 to 2:30. It's such a wonderful experience strolling our village streets and discovering all our fabulous boutique shops, cafes, and restaurants. And please don't forget about our annual Village Sidewalk Sale, happening on Saturday, July the 26th. Whether you're a tourist in your own town or a visiting guest, we can't wait to show off our beautiful Qualicum Beach Village. Thanks, guys. See you soon.

Thrifty Foods Parksville: At Thrifty Foods, we love to help nonprofits, charities, and schools. Our Thrifty Foods Smile Card bulk program allows organizations to immediately save up to 6% on the purchase of Smile Cards in bulk, allowing you to keep more money in your organization's pockets. Ask for details at Thrifty Foods in Parksville.

Windsor Plywood French Creek: The Pulse Community Podcast is brought to you in part by Windsor Plywood in French Creek, specializing in hard-to-source interior and exterior home finishing products, including flooring, doors and moldings, and exterior project materials such as yellow cedar. Windsor Plywood French Creek carries high-quality, responsibly sourced products and are committed to providing outstanding value and personalized one-on-one service to all of our customers: homeowners, do-it-yourselfers, renovators, builders, designers, craftsmen, and contractors. Regardless of the type or size of your project, Windsor can help you bring your vision to life from start to finish. Let Windsor Plywood and French Creek help you with your renovation, new build, or building project. Visit them online or call 752-3122.

Peter McCully: Dave, how was your sand sculpting lesson last weekend?

Dave Graham: Well, I aimed for a circus elephant, somehow created what looked like a melting ice cream cone.

Peter McCully: Abstract art is totally valid. The good news is that you can keep admiring the real masterpieces. The Circus by the Sea exhibition is open daily from 9:30 in the morning to 8:30 each evening.

Dave Graham: These sculptures are incredible. I voted for the dragon. Oh, was it a pretzel? Hard to tell with my artistic eye.

Peter McCully: You can cast your vote for the People's Choice Award. Plus, enjoy Vancouver Island's best local musicians at the Gazebo daily, and the Tim Hortons free Summer Concert series kicks off this Friday and Saturday from 6:30 to 8:30.

Dave Graham: Motown and rock will be just pouring off the stage this first weekend of the series. It's gonna be great. Bring a chair, bring a friend, and get ready to groove under the summer sky. Parksville Beach Festival—now I can make time for that. Details at parksvillebeachfest.ca. Of all the wonderful things to do during this summer, my time each year at Beach Fest is definitely top 10. Okay, top five. Maybe it's my favorite thing actually, aside from dancing in the rain with my lady. Still waiting for that sun shower, by the way. Okay, time's flying. Peter, what's next?

Peter McCully: Just a quick reminder about our newsletter. You can sign up on our website, and then we'll take care of reminding you about upcoming guests and contests. Go to thepulsecommunity.ca, click on the contact link.

Dave Graham: While you're there, maybe you have a story to share because that's what we're all about here at The Pulse Community. You can leave us a text or a voice message. Tell us about your summer adventure or upcoming big event or any kind of announcement you'd like to share.

Peter McCully: I'd like everyone to know that it's time for our first guest. Here's Marilyn.

Marilyn: In the Green Room is blues musician Brandon Isaac. His album "One Step Closer" was nominated for a Juno Award for Blues Album of the Year in 2024. He's toured for over 37 years, including 13 European tours, and is on an extensive tour of Western Canada that started and ends on Vancouver Island.

Peter McCully: Thanks for joining us on the podcast today, Brandon.

Brandon Isaac: Glad to be here, Peter. Thank you for having me, sir.

Peter McCully: You've earned the nickname "Yukon Slim." Can you tell us how that came about?

Brandon Isaac: Yeah, born and raised in Whitehorse, so that would be part of the thing right there. 145 pounds—you add it all up, you got a Yukon guy who weighs 150 wet. "Yukon Slim" comes to mind, and I got that handle from David "Hurricane" Hurl from San Francisco. Great blues player. He actually sang in a band I was in called The Twisters. Yeah, we toured a lot together, so he gave me that handle.

Peter McCully: How long were The Twisters together?

Brandon Isaac: No, that's a good question. I was the second guitar player. I came in after their first album, so I would imagine The Twisters were probably happening for 15 years. I learned all the things. I learned how to play jump blues, how to tour, how to drink all night. I learned so many invaluable lessons from that band—mostly what I'm trying to fix.

Peter McCully: Now, you mentioned you grew up in Whitehorse, and your dad, Ed Isaac, was a musician. I understand he owned blues clubs. So what was it like having access to blues legends when they came to town, and how did that shape your interpretation of the music?

Brandon Isaac: We had a few different blues clubs over the years. Maybe we did it for about 16, 17 years of that. Yeah, so we would bring up all sorts of wonderful talent to the Yukon, and we'd bring them up for three weeks. You would play five nights a week for three weeks. You got to learn these people, and I was in the house band. I got to learn a whole lot of really cool music and charts and learn from the old masters, and it was invaluable. It was just fabulous to be able to have those people come to you for your education in the blues.

Peter McCully: You've been described as studying everybody in blues history, as you just mentioned. Who were some of those most influential discoveries along the way, and how did they influence your playing in particular?

Brandon Isaac: When you get into this music or any genre, I guess you start digging for all the gold. I don't know—Mance Lipscomb is a guy that's not as prominent a blues figure, but he's a big influence on me. It's just a simple form of Texas guitar playing—acoustic, really organic lyrics. He's a sharecropper. That's what he did. He made some records, but really, that was in between sharecropping. So just honest... for guys like that, I always like Kelly Joe Phelps—you're hip to Kelly Joe Phelps? That's slide on your knee. And so I play a lot of Weissenborn. So that's another guy that I'm in love with. Ronnie Earl, Willie King—that's Duke-Ellington-type of blues. He passed away a few years ago, but that was another great guy that I discovered. All these guys, you try to get what you can from 'em. You sit and play with the records and pick up a riff here and a riff there. And after 35 years of doing that, you seem to have your own sound. Almost... almost. I'm still working on that, Peter.

Peter McCully: Well, let's talk about that new album in just a few minutes, but I wanted to ask you about the privilege of playing with legends like Taj Mahal, Guy Davis, Jeff Healey. What did some of those collaborations teach you about the blues tradition?

Brandon Isaac: Every time you collaborate with somebody, it's not just you playing. It's not just them. So their sound will bend your sound. You will bend their sound. So it takes everybody out of their norm a little bit, and the music starts to be guided by a divine spirit. Something else is happening. It shifts, it pulls, it pushes. It's something that doesn't happen when you're playing solo. It's something that happens when you're playing with one or more people. Being able to play with those folks—yes, they are pulling you through time and space in directions you don't normally go, and you're hoping you're doing the same with them. So anytime you get to play with a real master, oh my God, damn, that pulls and pushes you in directions you've never taken. And of course, you're always learning chords and riffs and any advice you can get from these guys. You almost learn more when you're not holding a guitar.

Peter McCully: Siri was doing some reading on you, and she told me that your early musical interests included some heavy metal bands, which took me back to my teenage years: Led Zeppelin, Ozzy Osbourne, to name just a few.

Brandon Isaac: Love Black Sabbath. When you're a young kid—you know what it was like. You were in that era of fabulous rock music. I think they call that "light rock" now. We called it heavy metal in the day, but it's lost the term. That stuff is all rooted in the blues, and that stuff got me into the blues. You listen to Led Zeppelin and you want to know, "Wow, boy, do they ever write wonderful songs." And then you see it's written by Sonny Boy Williamson. "Who's he? He must be a rocking guy." No, he's not. He's an old blues guy from Helena, Arkansas. So you start to dig deeper. Down the road, you end up almost leaving Ozzy Osbourne behind and Led Zeppelin—never Led Zeppelin, but Ozzy, I don't listen to Ozzy too much anymore. I'm not opposed to it though. I still love Ozzy. All of these great old metal acts, they're all rooted so heavily in the blues that, yeah, they lead you down the road.

Peter McCully: Ozzy Osbourne just did his final concert just a few weeks ago at age 75.

Brandon Isaac: I saw that. I'm not sure if he knows that, but God bless Ozzy.

Peter McCully: You've been on the road for a long time, Brandon—37 years of touring, and you've been to Europe 13 times touring, which is remarkable in itself. What keeps the music fresh for you after all those years on the road?

Brandon Isaac: What keeps it fresh is quite often new material keeps it fresh. Meeting new people is always fabulous. I'm a people person. I want to meet people, and then I want to go home and hide in my house after meeting enough of them. But so meeting people, new songs, going to new areas, new countries, playing new clubs—all that stuff. You can even play a song you've played for 10 years, and when you have fresh ears and people that are excited about it, the music reinvents itself. It seems fresh even for the artist playing it. So, yeah.

Peter McCully: With all that extensive touring experience, maybe you could give us a few memorable moments, some highlights.

Brandon Isaac: Oh my goodness. Where would one start on that? One that comes to mind is when I was on tour with Joe Louis Walker, who recently passed away. That was a memorable experience because Joe was a fascinating man. He was abusive, rude, sweet, wonderful. That was the best and the worst of times, as they say. I ended up leaving that tour in the middle of the night.

Peter McCully: You must have some favorite places to play.

Brandon Isaac: I do. Really, any place is awesome if you can just play some blues. I prefer smaller places. We've played everywhere from windmills in Netherlands, castles in Germany, massive theaters in China, juke joints in Mississippi. But I think I like my bedroom the best, or my little studio down here. Of course, you've gotta love and take all those experiences and cherish them, and they're all amazing. But when you're your freest and you're just sitting and there is no audience, this is probably my favorite venue—downstairs in the studio where you can experiment. There's no pressure. Nobody's listening. But yeah, we've played all over the world. It's not enough tropical places though. If anyone's listening and they're in Brazil, please give me a call.

Peter McCully: Let's back up, and you can tell me about playing in China.

Brandon Isaac: China is a real trip. I toured over in China a couple times, and massive theaters. We were playing as a trio. The drummer played a snare drum and a hi-hat. Upright bass and I played a guitar, so it was a really broken-down little act. And we would get on our tour bus, sometimes play two cities a day, two massive theaters a day, and they'd just drive you around and babysit the heck out of you. You got a whole bunch of handlers, and they ride you through anywhere from Nanjing, Beijing, Shanghai, and then a million little places that I don't even remember—little towns that they call it a little town, but there's 12 million people in it. So I've done that a couple times touring in China, and it's interesting. They have everything you could ever imagine for amps and all that, but when it comes to the show, it seems to have mostly light bulbs hanging in these theaters. They're not cuing into the lights yet. Everywhere we went, light bulbs.

Peter McCully: And there's a healthy appetite in China for the blues music?

Brandon Isaac: I'm not even sure if they knew what they were listening to. They just came out and saw a bunch of white guys playing some form of music, and they enjoyed it. I don't know if there's a big blues appetite in China, but they enjoyed what we were putting down musically.

Peter McCully: There certainly is a good blues appetite in Europe.

Brandon Isaac: Oh, they're crazy about the blues, and my goodness, they are. They're dangerous over there, man. They really learn this stuff almost heavier than North Americans, it seems. North Americans, of course, are innovators, but Europe, man—I mean, they really learn that stuff. They go full bore. The amazing blues scene they have right now in Europe...

Peter McCully: "Walking With the Blues" is your latest album, Brandon. You've called it your most straight-up blues record you've ever made. What drove you to strip things back to the essentials?

Brandon Isaac: I'm always rooted in the blues, and I'm always looking for different styles and researching those things. I was getting back to my roots with The Twisters and stuff, getting up more of an album like this, but I've never done one solo. I just wanted to do a real straight-up blues album. No excuses. This is straight-up blues. So that was my goal. I had so much fun doing it, Peter. It just felt right. Just before I called you, I was working on my new album. I know this one came out last week, but starting on the concept of my new record, and I want to go blues again. I might even break it down a little more blues even. I might drop the horn sections. But yes, I'm really digging this road, and I'm noticing at a lot of the blues festivals I'm playing these days, you're just not finding a lot of blues content at the blues fests, and it's discouraging to me. Often I'll find that I'm one of the only guys really playing a 1-4-5 progression. Everybody is playing a rock blues or a something blues, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. It's good to invent the blues and take it further. Robert Johnson wasn't just playing old riffs. Robert Johnson was an innovator who was ahead of his kind. We all want to sound like Robert Johnson. He wanted to sound like the future, and he was the future. So we have to keep in mind that Robert Johnson wasn't a traditionalist. He was striving for the new sounds. We should be doing that today. When people do that, I commend them. I don't want to do that so much—a little bit. I don't mind putting some samples and some drum beats, drum machines in and stuff like that even. Yeah, I just like the old traditional blues, and I'm trying to keep that art form alive. Then when I show up at a festival, that's what I deliver: blues.

Peter McCully: Can you describe the setup that you used for recording this current album? I understand it's live off the floor with minimal microphones and vintage gear. Perhaps you could explain to our listeners why that approach was important to capture the sound that you wanted to get.

Brandon Isaac: When I listen to productions, you can really tell what year, pretty much, it's recorded in. When the seventies hit, they all of a sudden stuck microphones on every single drum. I am not really into those productions. I like the old days when you had one microphone and a 30-piece band, and they would say, "Uh, second trumpet, move up one foot. You're too quiet." And, "The trombone, step back two feet, you're overbearing and turn a bit to the left. Now when you play a solo, vote, turn to the right and take a step forward." It was a whole choreographed dance to record 30 people on one microphone. Nowadays, we use 30 microphones on one person. Maybe that's an exaggeration, but to get that old sound, you want to use minimal microphones. I think it's more organic. You don't have six ears—each ear on a different drum and one on the bass. And how many ears does a person have? Two. Two mics would do it. Now I'm probably using five or six or seven mics, but minimal mics so that the drums sound like they're in a room. Everything sounds like it's in a room together. And that's the idea—just keeping it really simple.

Peter McCully: Tell us about the title track, "Walking With the Blues," which speaks about the blues being a companion down a long, hard road.

Brandon Isaac: "Walking with the Blues" is just really about my journey of music. As you said, I was listening to heavy metal early, but I was digging the blues out of it. For the last 37 years, I've been walking this journey with the blues. Not saying I've been depressed for 37 years. Some people think the blues is a depressing thing. It's not. It's a celebration of life.

Peter McCully: Brandon, you've mentioned a couple of times that you've been doing this for 37 years. How have you seen the Canadian blues scene change during that period of time?

Brandon Isaac: It's pretty tricky to get gigs these days. I don't know what... I talked to some guys that are older than I am, a little generation before me of the blues in Vancouver in this area. They were all playing seven nights a week. It's pretty hard to play blues seven days a week now. I wouldn't want to. For starters, I like to play it seven days a month, so there's not as much work. Of course, there's a lot more musicians out there, it seems, with YouTube and all this stuff. I even see dogs on YouTube that can play better than me. One black lab in particular—I hate that dog. He's out in New Mexico.

Peter McCully: That might be AI, you know?

Brandon Isaac: Oh no, this dog actually plays slide, I swear. Gigs are hard to find. There's a new site in Vancouver—it's called showhub.com, for just Vancouver venues and musicians. There are 700 true artists in Vancouver looking for a gig. That's a lot when there's not that many venues. So many have closed down, and I've seen a lot more artists.

Peter McCully: Having said all that, what advice would you give to young musicians trying to find their voice in the blues and in the music scene in general?

Brandon Isaac: Again, you have to be a little bit crazy to get into it. It's like a song I wrote years ago called "I Should Have Listened To My Mother." My dad is a full-time musician. I grew up my whole life playing in my dad's band, so it was hard for them to tell me not to play music for a living. They did. They said, "Please, son, anything but music." They're proud of me and they're happy how well I'm doing in the business. But starting out in this business is tricky. So for kids starting out today, I would say don't just start playing your guitar. Start singing too right away. I see so many kids have a really good grip on their instrument, but they aren't singing yet, and that's a complete waste of time. The sooner you start singing, the better. I was a horrible singer when I started. I couldn't sing at all, and I'm getting it now. I'm slowly but surely working on it. I mostly bark, groan, and moan, but that's what I do.

Peter McCully: It sounds pretty good to me. I know it sounds pretty good to your audiences because you have an ability to connect with audiences and make them part of the show. Perhaps you could talk about your philosophy on audience engagement.

Brandon Isaac: First of all, I'd like to look good on a stage—that's out of respect for the audience. They come to these shows, they pay money, they come to see a show, and there was a guy wearing ripped cutoff jeans and a t-shirt, and there's nothing wrong with that, but you ain't gonna catch me doing it. First of all, respect the audience. They're there—without them, you're nobody. So I like to wear nice clothes. When I get on a stage and have fun with an audience, like the first thing I like to do is maybe make a fool of myself, and I'm very good at that, Peter. I don't take myself that seriously. The music I take very seriously. So if you can get them laughing and having fun... I played a festival yesterday afternoon, and when I finished, I was standing backwards looking underneath my legs at the audience. I thought that was a nice shot, and they laugh and go, "What an idiot." And they're having fun, and it lets their guard down, and they can relax and just enjoy. So you have fun. You crack jokes, you communicate with the audience. I like to talk to people in the audience. Break that wall down in between you and them. Often there's a big wall between the audience and the artist. The artist is terrified. He is up there and hardly moves sometimes. And so bust that wall down. Make sure that those people are in on the act. If they say something, talk to them. Engage.

Peter McCully: Folks will certainly have a chance to interact with you over the next few months as your 2025 tour is on now until the late fall, and you are everywhere from Vancouver Island through to the prairies and back.

Brandon Isaac: Yeah, it looks like a pretty good summer. I'm really excited about it, and I get to talk to folks like you who do the second half of the heavy load—delivering this music to the people's ears. Thank you, Peter. We need you, and I appreciate what you do. We're a team, sir.

Dave Graham: Thanks to Brandon Isaac for being part of the Pulse Community. Brandon will be participating in the Parksville Museum series on Thursday, July 24th.

Peter McCully: The museum has done well to design a series of programs and events to attract old and young alike, and we try to do the same in our own way. We have fresh news stories for kids coming out regularly.

Dave Graham: We call them SKU Kid stories. They don't take too long. You know, we're all busy. The latest in our series featuring Gracie the Eskimo dog involves a visit to the dentist. Hey, doesn't that sound like fun?

Peter McCully: And then there's The Mellow Submarine. Their latest story involves Captain Dave and his first mate, Larry the Lobster, having a magical day visiting Beach Fest. Find the SKU kids stories at skukids.com: Apple, Spotify, iHeart, Buzzsprout, Amazon, and YouTube.

Ian Lindsay & Associates: Ian Lindsay of Lindsay and Associates has played an active role in the local community since 1979. He has been with RE/MAX Vancouver Island's most advanced real estate business network since 1996, marketing and selling residential, rural, strata, recreational, investment, and project development real estate. Ian has received several awards recognizing his exceptional community commitment locally, as well as awards for outstanding performance and achievement from both RE/MAX International and the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board. You'll find true real estate professionals at ianlindsay.ca.

Beach Fest: The magic is happening now. Parksville Beach Festival is in full swing with the incredible Circus by the Sea Sand Sculpture Exhibition open daily from 9:30 AM to 8:30 PM. These jaw-dropping masterpieces are absolutely breathtaking. Cast your vote for the People's Choice Award. Enjoy Vancouver Island's best local musicians at the Gazebo daily. Plus, the Tim Hortons free summer concert series kicks off this Friday and Saturday, 6:30-8:30 PM at the Parksville Outdoor Theater. Bring a chair, bring a friend, and get ready to groove under the summer sky. Suggested $5 donation supports our community. Parksville Beach Festival—pure summer magic. Visit parksvillebeachfest.ca.

Dave Graham: Peter, you know, Beach Fest will be over all too soon again. Make plans, everybody. Don't let time get away from you. Seize the day and all of that good stuff. The sand sculptures will remain in place until Sunday, August 17th.

Peter McCully: In the interest of moving on, Dave, let's get Marilyn to bring on our next guest.

Marilyn: Qualicum First Nation artist Jesse Recalma is a self-taught carver and also devotes his time to painting, digital design, and indigenous languages. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and Liberal Studies.

Peter McCully: Jesse, welcome to the podcast today.

Jesse Recalma: Yeah, thanks for having me.

Peter McCully: You wear many hats. You're a teacher, carver, community educator. How do those roles interact with each other on a daily basis in your work?

Jesse Recalma: Sometimes it's almost easier to say how they don't. There's just so much intertwining in terms of how... like a lot of my work as an educator, it is doing language work. So I feel a lot of those aspects of learning language, teaching language influence aspects of my art and carving and painting. Along with the language research is historical research that influences both of those things. Say when you're studying like some historical documents and you find references to pieces of art that were historically done, that become a bit of an inspiration to the creation of new art, new pieces. I almost feel like I couldn't do one of those things without also at the same time doing the other things.

Peter McCully: As a self-taught artist, what drew you initially to carving, and how has that relationship with the medium evolved over the years?

Jesse Recalma: So what started off was I'd found a carving knife in my late grandfather's desk drawer and asked him if I could have it, just 'cause it seemed like maybe I might try this out. Maybe this is something I could do. So I put it to use. I kind of learned how to sharpen it. He was a woodwork teacher, and he was a drum maker, and he was a painter, but he never really got into carving. Some people thought he did, but he never did get into carving really. I think he tried a little bit, but it wasn't his thing. I had taken up that tool and put it to use and then learned that, okay, I need to start to get a few more tools in my toolkit. So rather than where some people do a formal mentorship with a senior artist, someone who's done a lot of work before, I didn't do a formal mentorship, so I almost say it's incorrect to say I'm a self-taught artist. Just the difference is I did a lot more things on my own and didn't do a formal mentorship, but there were still a lot of people that I had went and visited and talked to and learned bits and pieces of information from.

Peter McCully: You've spoken in the past about the importance of understanding trees before working with wood. Can you walk us through how you approach selecting and preparing materials in this day and age compared to hundreds of years ago or a couple hundred years ago even?

Jesse Recalma: Compared to hundreds of years ago or a couple hundred years ago even, we don't have the same sort of access to the materials that, say, my great-grandparents would've had. In a way, we take what we can get, but it's knowing that there's a structure of each grain of a piece of wood that is going to influence how the carving comes out. And so we, for the most part, aim to have the clearest vertical grain piece of wood. Sometimes we need different parts of the wood to do what we want, but it's knowing how these grains kind of work together that is going to help your designs and styles come out of the wood. So sometimes when I get a new piece of wood, I sit with it for a little bit. I might have a design idea in my head already, but sometimes when I go to put the design on the wood, I have to make changes and adaptations based on the grain. It's almost like what the wood wants. What the wood wants to be. What the wood wants to be. I was told before that a tree's been sitting there for 500, 600 years, has had a lot of time to think about what it wants to be. So you're just helping it now.

Peter McCully: Would you be using trees that you actually fell, or would this be lumber purchased somewhere else?

Jesse Recalma: Lumber purchased somewhere else. The access to carving materials isn't nearly as accessible for us as it had been for artists back in the sixties and seventies where people were artists and loggers who could do the work. I wish I had that kind of knowledge and access, but there's just been such a... on top of that, such a decimation of old growth. For stuff you don't like hearing where old growth goes, like in fence posts, you think, "Oh, that could have been something so much nicer than a fence post."

Peter McCully: What does contemporary Coast Salish art mean to you, and how are you helping to expand its definition?

Jesse Recalma: Contemporary Coast Salish art—that's something that has really grown a lot since the late eighties, early nineties. You have like different generations of artists who have taken that design style and allowed it to grow into the contemporary artists that we see now. Some artists in a way like always practiced Salish art based on the stuff that they knew and what they had learned. Simon Charlie has always really used his knowledge of older pieces to create the stuff that he did, but he also worked with the Hunt family when they were down in Victoria at the Mungo Martin House to adapt his technique and skill. But he used his own designs from what he recalled and knew. And then you have other really headlining artists like Susan Point and the late Charles Elliott and Rod Modeste and Floyd Joseph, who really studied older pieces in museums that were from the early 1900s and older to really refine a more contemporary Salish style. And then you have kind of the next generation of Salish artists like Les Lee, Sam Mars, and brothers Luke and John, Andy Everson, who's more known for his Kwakwaka'wakw art. But he also has done a lot of Salish stuff before. And so they've all taken pieces that have been reflective of their history and identity and re-adapted them into new visions. So we're kind of like the next generations of artists who are really kind of creating and reinterpreting contemporary being like current generation. Looking at Charles Elliott's son, who does a lot of really amazing work, and James Harry over in Squamish, and my partner as well, Ocean Hyland, who really weaves in a lot of language and botanicals into a lot of her styles, but also has like a lot of influence from weaving into her designs. We're just kind of a few of the people who really aim to reinterpret things and make things accessible for upcoming generations.

Peter McCully: You created the totem pole in the Qualicum Beach waterfront area, which is spectacular. You can't go anywhere without people talking about it. Can you tell us about the project and how it connects the community's relationship with the water and the traditional territory?

Jesse Recalma: That was a really fascinating project to be a part of. It's not something that you see done a lot. James Harry is one of the other people I know who's done stuff like that over in North Vancouver and West Vancouver. And so I reached out to him just for a few technicality questions and logistical questions. It was working with Oliver Watson with the town who made sure to reach out. 'Cause at first we were looking at finalizing a design, looking at how are we gonna create this? Because it's such a different medium than just kind of carving or sculpting. It's looking at how we're going to bend this metal without breaking and almost focusing more on silhouette of the art and the structural integrity of the metal. And I talked to my dad a lot about kind of what he thought of ideas. He shares some of his insight just 'cause he's an old guy. He's been around for a bit, and sometimes he talks like he doesn't really know things, but then you just ask the right questions, and turns out he knows quite a bit. I settled on wanting to reference the themes of the Simon Charlie pole that was previously there. The nest stands at the Qualicum Beach Museum. I wanted to use that for reference of the figures that are seen on there—being an eagle on the top and a bear on the bottom. So it was part of the route of totems in the sixties that had a bunch of artists essentially do the same animals up and down the coast from Victoria all the way up to, I think it was even up to Haida Gwaii or Prince Rupert, just as a tourist thing. Like, "Go check out the coast and see all these guys make these poles." Not many of them are still standing. Quite a few of them have had restoration work. Simon Charlie's was touted as having one of the most unique styles of the poles where he decided to not just do like an eagle and the way people usually see an eagle, but he actually sculpted this eagle and did it so intricately. It's also one of the ones that's in the best condition of all of those ones from the sixties. I wanted to pay homage to that because being able to hold that space, like Simon Charlie talked about having roots around here as somebody else who has roots here, wanted to kind of pay tribute to that.

Peter McCully: Jesse, the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere's 10 Amazing Places Project, which is being shown this summer at the McMillan Arts Center in Parksville, aims to connect people with nature and inspire conservation. You will be there on the weekend of July 19th, demonstrating your carving process. What can folks expect to see when they drop by to watch Jesse in action?

Jesse Recalma: A lot of wood chips. My intention is to carve a paddle. 'Cause I want to be able to do something that connects sea and land, and the paddle is kind of that perfect, almost bridge between sea and land. It's made of a tree, which is then used to influence and impact water in our relationship to the water. The ocean was our highway, and paddles are our tires. And some of our paddle designs were done so that they wouldn't harm any of the sea life. They were designed to be able to harm other humans at times if needed, but in terms of the way that the paddle shape goes into the water, it wouldn't affect the kelp beds. It wouldn't negatively impact the ecosystem because those things were such rich forms of life. And then so many parts of our beaches and our ocean fronts no longer have kelp forests just because we haven't been able to look after them. The diversity of sea life isn't nearly what it used to be even 30 years ago. There's such a disconnect between resource and resource harvesting that the people who run DFO and Forestries say they're having consideration for these populations, but you don't see that. You don't see that work come out in their work. Understanding how important it is to look after these things is very significant. And sometimes I even think about five years ago at the beginning of COVID, when there were so few people who were actually leaving the house, and I'd walk down at our campsite and just see how thriving everything was. You could actually see the wildflowers, you could see all of the birds coming around. And as much as I kind of appreciate what it does for our community, it made me really appreciate more how we had unbothered access to so much of our resources. 'Cause there's things that we have—they're not considered endangered plants, but they're just being taken out. Like when I look at our soapberry plants, we don't have places where we can go and harvest them easily 'cause they all get cut down so we can clear out a big empty lot that's gonna sit empty until someone decides they need an empty lot in 10 years. And in that time, we're losing more and more of our resources that we had relationships with. So it's stuff like that I want to be considerate of in my art.

Peter McCully: You speak very passionately of your love for the environment. So what does it mean to you to be part of this collective? There's over 30 artists who are all interpreting the same amazing places—there's 10 of them—through their different mediums.

Jesse Recalma: It's seeing how the diversity of people who are able to have these expressions in different ways, and I feel that there's so many aspects of advocacy for environmental awareness and understanding of relationships that art's always a constant. Sometimes the stereotypes of, "Oh, who needs art? We don't need art," but it's like we do. Like there's a beautification that comes just through that process and to get to see people coming together to create these works to highlight the importance of our relationships with these resources. It's also inspiring to know that it's not just our people who are looking to make sure these things are looked after. It's these other people who have different media who are finding ways to express.

Peter McCully: What do you hope visitors take away from experiencing all this work at The Amazing Places exhibition, both yours and the other artists, about the relationship with the natural world around us?

Jesse Recalma: I definitely hope that there's a heightened understanding of what it means to be interacting with the place where we live. There's so much of an exploitative mindset that you kind of see in people that the world's there for us to consume, but it's not just a take relationship we gotta be having with stuff. It's gotta be a give-and-take relationship that we have with everything. And my hope is that they were able to find ways to see how that can be done. When you think of things like where people just tear up so many forest beds to have like a dirt bike trail, berries and plants end up being destroyed in that just in that process. Hopefully people understand why they don't want dogs on the beach at certain times of the year. They see it more than just kind of like their entitlement—they should be able to walk their dog on the beach if they want. There's a reason that these things interact with everything else so that we can continue to exist. We're not living in a healthy relationship with where we live.

Peter McCully: Jesse, thanks for your time. We're going to look for you through the flying wood chips at the MAC.

Jesse Recalma: Look forward to making them.

Dave Graham: Jesse Recalma will be one of the many artists whose work is being featured in the Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere's 10 Amazing Places Project, which is being shown this summer at the McMillan Art Center. You'll be able to see Jesse actually in action carving on the weekend of July 19th. I want to thank also the McMillan Art Center, Jen in particular, for letting us in to attend the opening reception of the show. It is an impressive show.

Peter McCully: Amazing places include Rathtrevor Beach, Cameron Lake, Little Qualicum Falls, and Cathedral Grove. The artworks are in steel, fabric, weaving, oils, glass, and more. It's on display to the end of August. Look at the time, Dave. Looks like we've come to the end of another episode.

Dave Graham: Yes, Peter. Let's keep up the pace—places to go, my friend. People to see.

Peter McCully: Like Mabel in the cafeteria.

Dave Graham: Oh, hey. Yeah. Does she do takeout?

Peter McCully: You won't believe what she can do with two minutes and a microwave.

Rockin' Rhonda & The Blues Band: Here comes Peter, here comes Dave. Oh, listen! Bringing stories, making waves. No missing, spinning tales in the podcast cave. So to speak. Laughs and insights everywhere. What a treat! Peter and Dave, they're on the mics. Alright, join the ride. It's gonna feel just right.