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Rockin' Rhonda: Here comes Peter. Here comes Dave. Oh, listen. Bringing stories, making waves. No missing, spinning tales in the hot podcast cave. So laughs and insights everywhere. What a treat.

Peter McCully: This is the Pulse Community Podcast. Welcome back. I'm Peter McCully, and Vancouver Island is fully into summer mode. The ferry lineups are stretching, the campgrounds and beaches are busy, and every patio on the mid-island is doing a brisk business.

Dave Graham: And I'm Dave Graham. If we were on video, I'd be the bright red guy on the left.

Peter McCully: Yeah, Dave. You look like Larry the Lobster. What happened?

Dave Graham: I set up the hammock in the backyard, got a pillow and a beverage, you know, and a snack, some nice music, and then fell asleep. I wasn't wearing a hat or sunscreen. Well, you know the deal. Oh, then we had company. I got the barbecue going. We were having a great time, and I kinda forgot about the food for a little bit. It was really too bad. Nobody wanted their burgers extremely well done. Anyway, somehow it went straight downhill from there, so I've officially retired from barbecuing. No more. Finished. I mean, really, I mean it. I'm just not qualified.

Peter McCully: Well, Dave, you picked a bad week for it. Wednesday is National Hot Dog Day.

Dave Graham: Okay, I'm postponing my barbecue retirement. Oh, there's nothing like a quality dog fresh off the grill, but only hot dogs. They're so much more forgiving than burgers. And, oh, I heard Saturday's National Ice Cream Day, so meal planning just got a bit easier.

Peter McCully: Well, Dave, I don't believe ice cream has ever really counted as a proper meal.

Dave Graham: Don't you know, Peter, it's summer. The rules are out the window for the season. I'm pretty sure I read that somewhere, and I choose to interpret that as fact.

Peter McCully: Well, I'm not really sure how to respond to that, Dave, so we'll just get back to business here. Harry Manx is headed our way. He's a Canadian guitarist and Mohan Veena player who has spent decades fusing Delta blues with Hindustani classical music into a sound that critics call Mystic Sippy. Based on Salt Spring Island, Harry tours Vancouver Island in August.

Harry Manx: If I have any goal as far as delivering music, I want to inspire people. I want them to feel inspired emotionally mostly. I always feel like my music is aimed at the heart. I don't have any great wisdom to impart with words that I want them to think about. No, my music is all about hitting people in the heart, and they feel something sweet. If you drop a tear or two at my show, that's fine too. I see people do that. They're touched by the music. My music is a blend of blues and Indian influence, so there's something in it for most people.

Dave Graham: Hitting people in the heart with the Mohan Veena. Heh, I don't even know what half those words mean, but sign me up. That sounds like the kind of show where you leave a little different than when you walked in.

Peter McCully: Also this week, Jen Bate, the executive director of the Macmillan Arts Centre in Parksville. This summer brings the Parksville Wine Walk, new exhibits in the gallery, and the MAC's Creative Kids' Day camps.

Jen Bate: Sunday mornings, 9:30 to 1:30. Grab your basket and come to Parksville. There is no other farmers market on Sundays at all in Central Vancouver Island area. So some of the growers are Dashwood Farms. There's an amazing fellow, he's called- salted bread. He does this baguette. You have to see it. But it's fun. Once again, we'll have someone playing the piano. There might be somebody from VIU Master Gardeners program to do a little presentation on different things about gardening. And so it's not just picking up some great local food

Dave Graham: Any market with a guy called Salted Bread who sells baguettes while someone is playing the piano is a market worth checking out.

Peter McCully: And Kyle Gilson, an initial attack crew leader based out of the Errington Firebase, joins us. Kyle leads a four-person crew whose job is to reach a new wildfire fast and stop it in its tracks.

Dave Graham: That is a job description that makes my sunburn seem like a very minor inconvenience. Respect to those crews. We are very grateful for them.

Peter McCully: Debra Garrard of the Vancouver Island Master Gardeners Association will be making a return visit to the podcast to check in on how your garden grows.

Dave Graham: Award-winning comedian Brent Butt is touring Vancouver Island in September. The star of Corner Gas will drop by for a chat.

Cathy Burgess: Hello?

Peter McCully: Hi, is this Cathy Burgess?

Cathy Burgess: Yes, it is.

Peter McCully: Cathy Burgess, it's Peter McCully calling from The Pulse Community Podcast.

Cathy Burgess: Hi, Peter. Nice to talk to you.

Peter McCully: Nice to talk to you, especially when I can give you something, like you won a contest.

Cathy Burgess: Ooh, what did I win?

Peter McCully: You won a weekend at the Parksville Community Park with, I don't know, probably 15 bands, a couple of comfy chairs, a cooler, and $100 from Thrifty Foods to fill the cooler.

Cathy Burgess: Oh my God, I love it.

Peter McCully: There certainly is a great lineup, as there is every year. We've got everything from Tom Petty and Roy Orbison, Linda Ronstadt through to The Stones, and of course, Parksville's own Zachary Stevenson.

Cathy Burgess: I listen to a lot of live music here, for sure, and I have my Rolling Stones T-shirt to wear. That's very cool. Thank you very much.

Beachfest: Parksville Beach Festival is in full swing, and it's everything you hoped for. The Beauties and Beasts Sand Sculpture Exhibition is open daily, 9:30 AM to 8:30 PM, and these masterpieces are absolutely breathtaking. Cast your vote for the People's Choice Award, and help support the community with a suggested $5 donation at the gate. Vancouver Island's best local musicians perform at the gazebo every day. And this weekend, the Tim Horton's Free Summer Concert Series kicks off Friday and Saturday, 6:30 to 8:30 PM at the Parksville Outdoor Theater. Free admission. Bring a chair, bring the family, and get ready for a summer evening you won't forget. The beach is calling. Answer it. Visit parksvillebeachfest.ca.

Marilyn: Ian Lindsay of Lindsay & 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.

Peter McCully: Hey, folks, our Blue Rodeo ticket giveaway is now open to enter. You can visit our website or our Facebook or Instagram pages to enter for a chance to win tickets, along with a couple of folding camp chairs and a $100 Thrifty Foods Smile card.

Dave Graham: Thanks a bunch to Thrifty Foods. Wow, they put the cherry on top of that prize package. It's the cheese on my dog, the sunscreen on... Oh, never mind.

Peter McCully: Let's get to our first guest, Dave. Here's Marilyn.

Marilyn: Jen Bate is the executive director of the McMillan Art Centre in Parksville, where she oversees a gallery, an art school, and a full calendar of community programming. This summer brings the Parksville Wine Walk, new exhibits in the gallery, and the MAX Creative Kids Studio running day camps all season.

Dave Graham: Welcome to the podcast today, Jen. Nice to see you again.

Jen Bate: Really great to be here with you, Dave. Thanks very much.

Dave Graham: We are, of course, at the McMillan Art Centre, a centre for so many things, and now the Art Centre box office is online, and it seems like more and more you are becoming source for tickets.

Jen Bate: I think we're like the mini Ticketmaster, and I'm gonna say of the island, 'cause we're actually just picked up some tickets for events that are happening in Langford now, too. So it started about six years ago, and yeah, we are the box office place to be. My background is theater. I've always been involved with a box office of some kind, whether or not it was with Echo Players or Barge to Broadway Theatre. Further, when I was in Hong Kong, and I ran an art centre there and developed my own box office ticketing system. Here at the MAC, we have a very good technician. His name is Ron Mahnke. He and I developed a box office program several years ago, I'm gonna say six years ago, and we started just doing ticketing. There was the conversation about this fabulous new outdoor theater that was being built in Parksville, and I happened to know Lloyd Derry and Cheryl Dill, and I said, "Hey, if you're looking for a box office, I think I know how to do that very well." Right. And that is now bringing in thousands of visitors to the MAC, which is what this is all about for me, providing a great service. Obviously, we set up a concert ticket centre at the venue, so people, folks that can't pick it up here can grab their ticket and go in the gate, and it's been a tremendous addition to the MAC.

Dave Graham: Another success story, the Wine Walk, having grown into a real signature summer event for downtown Parksville. 10 downtown host stops paired with BC wineries, craft brewery, a cidery, artisan spirits. What else can you tell us about that?

Jen Bate: I can tell you, you're gonna have a great time, first of all. VIP event, you show up early, you get a sparkling wine or cider reception with the producers, no less. You're gonna get your food and snacks in your own charcuterie board in a box. You get a commemorative corkscrew, and you get one hour early access to the shops. There might be some special gifts and surprises as well. There is a designated driver ticket this year, and they have access to the whole event. You just don't get drink tokens. But you get a special wristband, and there's also zero-proof tasting. 'Cause I know with our experience with the Parksville Beer Festival, for example, more and more people are not drinking alcohol. They still want to participate. I do know that Phillips Brewery has an excellent no-alcohol product, and more and more of the wineries and cideries around the island and craft breweries are providing a non-alcohol offering.

Dave Graham: And how does an event like this benefit the MAC, and for that matter, downtown businesses?

Jen Bate: I've done several events now with Theresa, the wonderful ED of the Parksville Downtown Business Association, and we both feel that there is more that we can do to bring people into the downtown area. That's her mandate, and she and I get along like a house on fire. We produced together the amazing Art Race last year in downtown. Then, of course, this Wine Walk is the same thing. Do something that folks can stroll around the downtown area. What's better, enjoying a glass of wine and walking around on a nice summer night? It's hard to convince folks that there's anything up in Parksville that's not across the road in that beautiful park. We try, and we talk about it often. How do we bring people into the downtown business area? Stay open late. The restaurants that are there are fantastic. I was just at Trio the other day. Oh my gosh. That's what it's all about, bringing people into downtown. The benefits are obviously the businesses that are gonna stay open. Folks get to know more of the businesses that are downtown that they might not have even realized that was there. It's a great idea.

Dave Graham: Are there other highlights for the upcoming summer that, you're excited to talk about?

Jen Bate: Oh, man. Summer is different from the rest of the year. Summer for us is all about visitors and our community members bringing their summer visitors. Every year, you may know that I create a big exhibition in our large gallery. This year is no different. We're featuring the amazing pastel work of Joan Larson. Joan, you might recall, was invited by the RCMP to paint the musical ride. She does pastel impressions of horses that'll knock your socks off. Joan has created a body of work called Viva Canada, and it celebrates and remembers her journey across Canada by train with her mother. It's a nostalgic, sometimes sad, sometimes uplifting, and certainly inspiring series of work all across the country. So you start in Vancouver, and as you walk your way around the concert gallery, you end up in Nova Scotia, of course. So we have created a train for Joan, just because we can. We are installing a train in the concert gallery this next week and turning that experience of being in a train. It starts being in a train station, so there's gonna be an old ticket wicket window. There's gonna be some memorabilia from a lot of our friends that collect train stuff. And then, of course, we're gonna do a display about McLean Mill, that beautiful historical site in Port Alberni. So in addition to that, of course, exhibits. We're featuring Claudia Lohman and the amazing Grant Leer, and Grant is gonna join us in August. And he's already putting the word out, and there's a bit of a buzz 'cause he's a superstar.

Dave Graham: How does an artist end up showing here? What's the process?

Jen Bate: We really love getting exhibit applications. We have an online exhibit application form on our website, www.mcmillanartscenter.com. It's an online submission, so we're inviting you to tell us about yourself, upload some JPEG images of your work. We do get several hundred applications every year. At the end of April this year, we cut it off and have now set the season for all of 2027. We're accepting applications for 2028. It's pretty cool.

Dave Graham: How about the Creative Kids Program? What do you wanna say about that?

Jen Bate: First of all, I'd like to just recognize a shout-out to Alex Carr, a young, very energetic mum and plein air painter, and she's an instructor here, and she is the coordinator of the Creative Kids Program. She's taken what was not a sleepy program, but you know, we put on kids programs in the summer, 'cause we all do, and it's now a week-long camp every week during the summer months. It's also an under five program once a week in the summer. She gets called by groups like the Girl Guides to provide programming for their groups, and so she's now got a staff of very young, creative, great art instructors. So she's turned this whole program on its ear. This summer we're featuring Cat Kearns, that very well-known local artist. She's gonna be the head instructor all summer long, so kids are gonna be able to come down and do everything. There's a comic games week, there's a beach week, there's a garden week, and of course, half of their classes hopefully will be in our beautiful MAC community garden.

Dave Graham: As I walked here for our conversation today, I was listening to this beautiful piano music coming out of the garden, and I peered over the railing and there was this child playing. But what a musician. I mean, honestly, a teenager, if not younger. Just an unexpected treat.

Jen Bate: You gotta have a public piano if you're gonna have a garden space that's open to the public year-round. That piano, by the way, folks, you gotta come and see it, 'cause it was painted by Cat Kearns, that same amazing artist. So it's a beautifully painted piano. It's available for people to just come up and play. Sometimes it's less inspiring music as little ones are banging on it, but most of the time it's just people that'll go and play, and we listen every day to music. It's wonderful.

Dave Graham: How about the farmers market just outside your door? What do you have to say about that?

Jen Bate: Shout out again. Dan Larocque is the steward of that garden. His organization is the Parksville-Qualicum Fruit Tree Association. The garden is now three years old. You wouldn't believe it because there's a mass of people that go there all the time. Dan is all about self-sufficient food production, so he'll teach you all about hydroponics. He's got a gorgeous greenhouse located on the site. He's opened up the very first and only Parksville Farmers Market. Sunday mornings, 9:30 to 1:30, grab your basket and come to Parksville. There is no other farmers market on Sundays at all in the central Vancouver Island area. So some of the growers are Dashwood Farms. There's an amazing fellow, he's called Salted Bread. He does this baguette. You have to see it. But it's fun. Once again, we'll have someone playing the piano. This weekend, like other weekends, there might be somebody from VIU Master Gardeners program to do a little presentation on different things about gardening. And so it's not just picking up some great local food. I always pick up my lunch every Sunday. But it's also learning about gardening, hydroponics. Someone's playing the piano. Kids are running around in the garden. It's probably one of the nicest places on Earth.

Dave Graham: Sounds pretty idyllic. Anything else you wanna talk about while we have a chance?

Jen Bate: I think I've probably taken up an awful lot of your time. Come out to the MAC, folks. This art centre is your art centre. It's our community celebrating everything: art, music. There's people here that come to meditate. We have art therapy in the garden. It's a really special place. It's been around a long time. 1913 it was built, and this beautiful old schoolhouse is just at its best when it's full of people. So come on down. Bring your summer visitors. Sign your little ones up for Creative Kids classes. Look at plein air watercolor classes, and be a part of this growing, vibrant community

Peter McCully: Thanks to Jen Bate for joining us. The McMillan Art Centre continues to be a hub of creativity in Parksville, and with the Wine Walk and the Creative Kids camps this summer, there's something for everyone. You'll find links and event details in our story notes at thepulsecommunity.ca. Here at The Pulse

Dave Graham: World Headquarters, change is our middle name, and so we have recently added podcast links to our website. That means you get to access other Vancouver Island podcasts. Oh, we've also added Vancouver Island webcam links to the website. Otherwise, you can find us on Apple, Amazon, iHeart, Spotify, TikTok, and YouTube, plus Facebook and Instagram.

Peter McCully: And if you have someone in mind that you think we should be talking to, then please speak to us. You can reach us and leave us a voice or text message. Head to our website and click on the contact link. You'll find us at thepulsecommunity.ca.

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.

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Dave Graham: Hey, Peter, do you, have any moisturizer on you?

Peter McCully: No, Dave. Is it for your sunburn?

Dave Graham: Well, I started the day with a full container, and it's now empty, and I'm feeling, full body chafing right now.

Peter McCully: Well, what can I say, Dave? It'll pass. Cowboy up. Let's get to our next guest in the meantime. Here's Marilyn.

Marilyn: Harry Manx is a Canadian guitarist and Mohan Veena player who has spent decades fusing Delta blues with Hindustani classical music into a sound critics call Mystic Sippy. Based on Salt Spring Island, he's earned seven Maple Blues awards and six Juno nominations. His new album, Falling Upwards, arrives this summer as he tours Vancouver Island in August.

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

Harry Manx: Oh, my pleasure. It's great to be here.

Peter McCully: Now, you were born on the Isle of Man and left when you were about six years old. Do you have any memory of living on the island at all?

Harry Manx: Yeah, a little bit. One thing that sticks in my mind is the motorcycle races, because they're world-famous, and I used to see them. They used to go by our house, and that was always a big thrill every summer. My grandfather built the house we lived in there in Douglas, and my mother grew up there. I remember the plane flight over to Canada. As soon as we got to Montreal, I jumped out and escaped. They couldn't find me in the airport for a while. That's how much I loved being here.

Peter McCully: And here you are all those years later, living on yet another island.

Harry Manx: Yeah. Salt Spring Island's about the same size as the Isle of Man. Maybe a little smaller, but yeah, I guess I'm an islander.

Peter McCully: I've read that your parents were very hardworking immigrants to Canada, and you've said that books and music weren't really part of the household growing up. You had three brothers who were mostly outdoors all the time. So where does the music come from for Harry?

Harry Manx: Like all kids, I played hockey. We all played hockey, three other brothers. There came an age when hockey gets a bit rough, and that's in your teens when guys start to express themself a little physical. And that's when I bowed out. I said, "Not for me," and I started hanging around the pool hall and learned to smoke cigarettes and drink a little bit, and I became a bit of a degenerate, and a big part of that is music. So that was the one thing I felt that was my refuge, music. I bought records, and I dug into the music. I became homeless pretty early on when I was 15. I ended up knocking on the door of a band that lived outside our town on a farmhouse. They'd just moved there. I knocked on the door and said, "Could I be a roadie?" And surprisingly enough, they said, "Sure, man. Come on in." That was where I got in the music world.

Peter McCully: So you started at 15 and ended up working sound at The El Mocambo in Toronto.

Harry Manx: Yeah, by the time I was, like, 18, I was working there. And the last thing I did as a roadie was a tour with Rush. I was doing stage monitors. Originally, I worked with Crowbar, a band in the '70s that was quite popular here in Canada. And then when they disbanded, some of us started a sound company, sound and lights. Band Aid it was called. And we got some good gigs. We toured with Jeff Beck. We did a Rush tour, and all that kind of was enough rock and roll for me. I started to get a headache. I thought, "I'm gonna buy an acoustic guitar and learn to play myself."

Peter McCully: Working sound with all those groups and at The El Mocambo, you would've crossed paths with some blues legends that passed through Toronto. Perhaps you have a story or two for us.

Harry Manx: Totally. I saw Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Hound Dog Taylor, Koko Taylor, all these guys. It wasn't a great time in my life. I was drinking a little too much and might've been taking something else. John Hammond was playing that weekend. The sound was terrible. I was the sound guy. He complained to the management about the sound guy. So sure enough, after John's gig, I got fired. And it's a crazy thing 'cause years later I was in New York City playing at a festival, and John was playing there, too, and we were backstage, and we were hanging out, and I told him the story. I said, "Man, you got me fired." He says, "No, that wasn't me." But I said, "Look, I'm not angry. I'm happy. That was the greatest thing 'cause the day after that I decided I should get serious about playing the guitar."

Peter McCully: I asked Sari about you, and she tells me you left Toronto to busk in Europe in the late '70s?

Harry Manx: That's right. My brother had gone on ahead of me, was living in London. I came over and, just passed through. I went to India, and then I stayed there like a year. And then I came back to London, and I didn't have a job, and by then he was living in Paris, so I joined him, and we started playing on the streets. I played the mandolin, he played the guitar, and we played on the trains. We played in the cafes. We did whatever we could. We, we'd barely make enough to pay our hotel room we shared and have something to eat. But it was a start.

Peter McCully: Were you singing, or was this instrumental?

Harry Manx: It was mostly instrumental. I started singing when I knew enough on the guitar to start playing on my own on the street, and then I would just sing all day. I was probably pretty terrible, but that's the great thing about the street. You're free to do as you like. It's a good place to kinda learn your craft, in a way.

Peter McCully: You said you busked with your brother. Did he pursue a music career as well?

Harry Manx: Yeah, to this very day. He plays guitar in Germany. He never came back. He's been there since the '70s. His partner is a cabaret artist, and the two of them, they play theaters, and my brother is the band, basically. Plays guitar like me, plays slide. They're very successful. He's still doing it good. I always tell him, "You play like crap." It's not true, 'cause he's even playing guitar on my new album.

Peter McCully: We'll talk about that shortly. I wanted to ask you, after being in Europe and busking, you moved to Japan, halfway across the world. You performed and lived there for 10 years?

Harry Manx: Yeah. I met a Japanese woman at an ashram in India, and she was from Tokyo. I'd been living in Germany till then, and I decided to move. We got together and decided to move to Japan. We got married. So I was working on the streets originally, playing my one-man band with a drum on my back, making good money. On a good day, I'd be making $1,000, honestly. Then I started working with agencies. I covered every town in Japan over those 10 years, I swear to God. Along the way, I started sitting down, playing a lap slide. Because if you're a foreigner in Japan, there's not a lot of foreigners you can find to hang out with, so I was pretty isolated to where I lived. So I just practiced all day. I decided this is the time I should practice. No social life, so I practiced four hours a day, and I started to see some progress.

Peter McCully: I have to ask you about the one-man band gig. So you had a drum, a guitar, perhaps a harmonica?

Harry Manx: All of that, plus the drums are hooked up to your feet, a drum and a hi-hat going through the middle of the drum. You get paid for the effort more than the music, I'm sure. 'Cause you're standing there sweating your ass off. Summers in Tokyo's were no joy. You're trying to sing, play guitar, and drums all... Ah, it's crazy how hard it is. I still do that today. When I play my gigs, I sit down, and I'm actually playing the drums with my feet still and playing the guitar. That's the evolution of that one-man band.

Peter McCully: You play the Mohan Veena, which is a 20-string instrument invented by the fellow that taught it to you, Vishwa Mohan Bhatt And for listeners who've never seen one, how would you describe it, and what does it do that a guitar can't?

Harry Manx: You know, the string arrangement is the same as the sitar. It's an instrument from India for those who don't know, and a sitar has about 20 strings. It'll have eight strings on the top level, then it'll have a level below that, 'cause the strings are elevated at the top. A level below that with another 12 sympathetic strings. Sympathetic, when you play the top strings, the bottom strings, they sing by themselves 'cause it's the same amplitude, which means vibrations moving together. It lies in my lap, this guitar, and I play it with a steel bar, much like an Hawaiian style guitar, right? It's basically for playing ragas, Indian classical music. Now ragas don't have a lot of chord changes. They're usually in one chord, and it's all about melody and rhythm. So it's built for that, but I've bent the rules and I manage to coax some blues tunes out of the instrument, as well as playing introductions from ragas. I studied the ragas for five years in Rajasthan, so I, I know the basics of Indian music. I don't play a full Indian music piece because I find Westerners are not that interested. If I was to thinking I wanna show off, I might try it, but really I wanna play music that people enjoy. So I just do little snippets of it. I flavor my blues with some Indian stuff, and I think that people like it in small amounts. They like it just like that, a taste or a flavor of India.

Peter McCully: Your sound has been coined Mystic Sippy blues, meeting Indian classical music. When you're writing a new song, which side shows up first?

Harry Manx: You know, I've been here since 2000 in Canada, so my Indian influence is waning. It shows up on the new album, but not as much as it used to. I don't write songs with that in mind. I write more bluesy, folky songs now, and when I wanna flavor them with a solo, I'll play Indian style solos because an Indian style solo means it's all about how you approach the note. That's a whole science in Indian music, whether you approach it from another note or directly or however you approach. So when I play it in Indian style, the whole song starts to take an Eastern flavor. And on this latest recording, I have actually musicians from India and Nepal playing on the record, and they play beautiful violins. One plays a violin, the other plays a surbahar, which is like a bass sitar I have a great love for the music. I'm not really a musician that can play an evening of Indian classical music. That's something like if you've studied it five years, you're just beginning. It takes 20 years before you become masterful at that. I just bring enough of the flavor that it, it feels East.

Peter McCully: Now, you bought five of those Mohan Vinas before you left India, and gave away three over the years. Who did you give them to, and why?

Harry Manx: Well, I gave one to Jerry Douglas, you know, the kind of the world's best dobro player. I met him at a festival. I might have been drinking a little too much with some of my buddies there. I saw Jerry, and I was just way too friendly, and I opened my big mouth and said, "I'll get you a Mohan Vina. No problem. I'll ship..." So the next day I woke up and I said, "Did I tell him?" My buddies were saying, "Yeah, you told him you were gonna give him one for free." So I got home and I packed it up and sent it off to him. I gave one to my brother in Germany, and he plays it in his show. He's a quite a good musician. Don't tell him I said that. And then one, I think I'd sold one when I arrived in Canada, 'cause I was desperately broke. I'd just come from living overseas, and I didn't have two nickels to rub together, so I sold one of them, and that kept me going a little while till I could get rich and famous.

Peter McCully: Didn't you have one stolen at an airport?

Harry Manx: Yes, and it came back. I still have that one. That's the one I play still. That's my main baby. I got that in the early '90s. It got stolen briefly for two weeks, but because it's such a weird instrument, there was no way they could sell it or doing it, and they caught the guy at the airport doing the same thing, stealing people's stuff. He told them where it was, and they said they would reduce his sentence if he brought the guitar back. It became quite a big story, eh? Like 5 million people on my Facebook sending messages that they were looking for it. They were looking for it in Sweden and New Zealand. I told very clearly that I'd lost it in Chicago, but nonetheless, people all over the world were eager to help.

Peter McCully: There's a story out there about you covering a Bruce Springsteen song on a four-string cigar box guitar with almost no notice, and afterwards Springsteen himself coming backstage and saying, "Watching Harry play tonight, I feel like I learned something new."

Harry Manx: That's what he told me. I had this really terrible cigar box I bought off a guy in Memphis that was making them out of broomsticks and actual cigar boxes, and it sort of stayed in tune. I thought it was good enough for what I wanted. So I got invited to this guitar festival in New York City, and I didn't know what kind of event it was, so I learned one of Bruce's songs. It turns out it was like 5,000 people there, and he was sitting right in the front row, and I saw him there, and I pretty much felt like crapping in my pants right there, honestly. But I played my song. I gave it everything I had. It was very different than the rest of the people playing songs much like he played them with their guitars and many voices. I was just sitting there alone with this little cigar box thing, and, but he seemed to like it. He came backstage and said that to me, and then he also said, "Come upstairs. There's a bar. Me and Patty, we're going for a drink. Why don't you join us?" I was like, "Okay." I was Bruce'd out of my mind. We sat there for a half an hour, 45 minutes, and he was genuinely interested in my little career. He said, "Yeah, I'm also a solo artist." I said, "Yeah, I heard about that." No, he's a down-to-earth person, and you can really have a conversation with him.

Peter McCully: Harry, your new album, which is coming out later in the summer, is called Falling Upwards. Where did the title come from?

Harry Manx: Over the years, I made 20 albums, but in the last five years I haven't felt the drive. You know, there came the pandemic and all that too, and I just felt like I'd already said what I needed to say, or maybe said too much already. So there was nothing left. And it was a kind of falling out of it all. But then some inspiration started to spark up, and I started to feel alive with the music again. And then it was like, okay, yeah, I'm falling, but not down particularly. And the songs came back, and then when I was thinking about a title, I thought, okay.

Peter McCully: There's a song that I know that you do live that I haven't seen on an album yet. I just wondered if it might be on the new album. It's called Ruben's Train. Is that the old folk standard or an original that just shares the name?

Harry Manx: It's from the Appalachian Mountains. Didn't make the album. I took so long to make this record. I definitely didn't wanna rush myself. So I recorded quite a few songs, and then at some point I realized it's not up to what I want, or the standard or for whatever reason. So I would leave it out, and I would try another one. And I kept doing this and refining the songs. That's why I feel like with this recording, it's the best effort I could come up with, or maybe ever come up with, 'cause I took so long and refined it so much. But it's funny about Ruben's Train, I learned that song when I was a teenager. When I was 17, I lived with a woman in Toronto for two years who became quite a famous actress. Beverly D'Angelo was her name. She was in all the, Vacation films. She was from Appalachia. She was from Ohio. She taught me that song, and I still play it.

Peter McCully: Tell us about the first single, which is being released, called Pork Pie Turban.

Harry Manx: Yeah, it's a play on words 'cause I quote the melody Pork Pie Hat, a great classic jazz song. So I quote the melody, but I also play a raga, the notes of a raga during this song. That's where the turban part comes in. It's great that I'm joined by Steve Mariner on this album. Steve Mariner's a wonderful harmonica player, guitarist, singer out of Toronto. He's a guy that started working with me when he was 16, and worked with me, like, 10 years on the road, and now he's a real seasoned player in his late 30s. He's one of the greatest blues players we have in Canada.

Peter McCully: He is showing up everywhere right now.

Harry Manx: Yeah, he's been with Colin James' band for the last 10 years or so, too, as well as doing his own band, Monkey Junk, and a solo career. Another one out of Ontario, Jimmy Bowskill. These young guys can play any instrument. Like Steve, I was in the studio with him working on this record last summer, and he played keyboards, he played bass, he played drums, he played harmonica, he played guitar, and not just fooling around. He plays them all. He could work any one of those instruments in the industry. Me, I had to crawl out of this huge hole of to become knowledgeable and competent at my thing, you know? And for a lot of us, it's just a lot of more sweat.

Peter McCully: That's Harry Manx with Pork Pie Turban from his new album, which is being released this summer. Harry, after all your years traveling, you talked about Europe and Japan, India. I know you've been to Brazil. Yeah. What's different about making music on Vancouver Island compared to everywhere else you've lived?

Harry Manx: During the pandemic, I built a studio on my property. It's just a wonderful thing to be able to walk over there and create something. Originally, I was going to studios. I went to Randy Bachman's studio for my first three albums. I worked in studios, Toronto and everywhere, but it's real nice to work at home and to work at your own pace. I love being here in Canada. I came here after many years of living in very populated places, India, Tokyo, Europe, and I just have such a great appreciation for the nature and the ease it is to be, to move around in this country, and the state of mind of the people. I, I'm really in, in tune with being here in Canada. It's hard to think about going anywhere else really.

Peter McCully: And you've got a busy summer lined up with appearances on Vancouver Island throughout the Gulf Islands, and I wondered if someone's never heard a note of your music before, and they're going to be coming to one of those shows, what would you like them to walk away feeling?

Harry Manx: If I have any goal, as far as delivering music, I want to inspire people. I want them to feel inspired emotionally mostly. I always feel like my music is aimed at the heart. I don't have any great wisdom to impart with words that I want them to think about. No, my music is all about hitting people in the heart, and they feel something sweet. If you drop a tear or two at my show, that's fine too. I see people do that. They're touched by the music. My music is a blend of blues and Indian influence, so there's something in it for most people. They can find themselves in the music. That's what I would hope. I wrote a line in a new song that, to never let your sorrow lead the way. Already I've seen people come up to the merch desk after the show saying, "Which is that song with don't let your sorrow lead the..." You know, what we say as artists really can impact people and really does affect their being. I take that as a great responsibility. I never want to go down the road of trying to impress or let my ego run the show. No, I want people to come out of there feeling good and fulfilled and inspired.

Dave Graham: Harry Manx. What a conversation. Seven Maple Blues awards, six Juno nominations, and a brand new album called Falling Upwards. I love that title. Look for his Vancouver Island tour dates in our story notes at thepulsecommunity.ca.

Peter McCully: We release a new story for the kids every week in our Skookum Kids Stories, and each new story comes with coloring pages. There's the Mellow Submarine with Captain Dave and his first mate, Larry the Lobster. And in this week's episode of Peter and Gracie, the Eskimo Dog, Peter and Gracie look for things to do on summer vacation.

Dave Graham: Looking for things to do in summer. Now, that's relatable content for kids and adults alike. I have something to do right now. It's practicing being as still as possible.

Peter McCully: Then, Dave, we have our Radio Archaeology radio series. These are classic radio episodes of Dragnet with Sergeant Joe Friday and Gunsmoke with Marshal Matt Dillon.

Dave Graham: Just a quick suggestion for the full enjoyment of those old radio programs, lights off, headphones on. I speak from experience. The Pulse Community also includes a resilience project with Cindy Thompson of Parksville, as she brings us thought-provoking stories of survival and growth. This week, Cindy is joined by Karen Alcantara, who speaks about her journey from self-proclaimed ghetto girl to emotional support worker, drawing on her teenage experience with gang life to explore what was missing for her.

Peter McCully: Also this week, another edition of Too Old or Movie Gold. It's been 31 years since Stargate sent Kurt Russell and James Spader through an ancient portal to a desert planet ruled by a false god. And the Too Old or Movie Gold podcast crew just rewatched it to find out if it has aged as well as the concept deserves.

Dave Graham: You'll find these podcasts and more at thepulsecommunity.ca. And while you're there, sign up for our weekly newsletter. It'll keep you up to date on the latest podcasts, guests, and contests.

Peter McCully: And as far as contests go, we wish you good luck with the Blue Rodeo prize package giveaway.

Dave Graham: It is going to be the biggest musical event this area has ever seen, and you could be there with your free tickets and the folding camp chairs and the Thrifty Foods Smile card. Oh, might I suggest you get a few containers of sunscreen. And ice cream, since it doesn't count during the summer.

Peter McCully: We can't say that, Dave. Fat and calories count every day of the year.

Dave Graham: La, la, la, la, la. I'm not listening. Okay, now I'm going to need help getting up and out of here, Peter. Full body chafing, remember? I'm just not sure how you're going to do this without touching me.

Rockin' Rhonda & The Uptown 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. All right, join the ride. It's gonna feel just right.