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p2 0 weekender december 1 1 1993 a visit to the planet martini stella yeadon correspondent its a long solo flight from claremont to the planet marti ni but for martin richmond a former hamlet resident the musical journey has been a trip worth taking the planet martini is rich monds selfproduced debut cd released this november by the westcoast independent label nomad records although difficult to pigeon hole richmonds music- all selfcomposed under the name martini is an eclectic sampling of progressive guitar rock freely influenced by the style of contemporary music heavy weights like u2 peter gabriel and eddie vanhaleh now living in fulford harbor british columbia richmond recorded the cd from a studio in the home of his mother- another exclaremont resident and wellknown artist loraine sourcouf on the rebound from a stint with a band called bored of education richmond wanted to see what he could accom plish on his own so he traded in his less than adequate equipment and leased quality computerized instruments and sequencers and began to experiment with his own raw talent talking to the island resi dents many of them artist and musicians richmond was able to drum up enough interest in his project from established music pax christi chorale on stage dec 20 on monday dec 20 pax christi chorale will be appearing in noels with brass a special christmas concert of choral music to be held at parkview village auditorium at 730 pm the 40 voice choir is drawn from the mennonite and brethren in christ congregations throughout the greater toronto area it features several area performers including joe nighswander john harder eleanor nash and hugh lawrence all of whom are members of the rouge valley men nonite church pax christi chorale has been presenting two concerts annu ally since 1987 one in the spring and one in the fall and all members of the choir are volunteers with a strong commit ment to excellence in music the chorale had its beginnings in the toronto unity mennonite church where the congrega tion included some professional singers among them a soloist who has sung with the toronto mendelssohn choir you dont have to be a professional singer to join the choir however stressed nighswander the idea was to draw in people from other churches primarily mennonite and brethren in christ its totally volunteer and there are no auditions if you enjoy singing and want to work hard in a choir youre wel come to join the number of members has remained steady at between 35 and 45 since its inception he said nighswander and his wife started attending pax christi chorale concerts in the late 1980s i decided that once i retired from parkview village and had a little more time i would see if i could join the choir myself he performed with the ensemble for the first time in the spring of 1991 and has been a member ever since its a big commitment and something of a challenge he said but one he thoroughly enjoys nighswander invited the choir to appear at parkview vil lage earlier this year weve been practising for our decem ber concert since the second week of september pax christi chorale has performed at a variety of venues including the ontario bible college leaside united church and eglinton united church joining them for the christmas concert are john ford ba arct who is a professional conductor along with pianist christel wiens and toronto- based ensemble york brass among the beautiful music to be performed at parkview vil lage will be pachelbels magnificat in g pinkhams christmas cantata rutters candlelight carol and ave maria a selection of wellloved carols will also be featured and the audience will be invited to participate during part of the pro gram pax christi chorale is a member of the ontario choral federation and features mostly religious music from the clas sics and other sources tickets for noels with brass are 15 for adults and 10 for seniors and students they are avail able from the parkview village office at 12184 9th line or by calling 6401940 or 6401536 kate gilderdale music people it is true sometimes you do have to step back go away from home leave the familiar to see what you can accomplish as an individual said richmond in relating how he originally began the project by cutting demo tracks as a pitch to a record company like other musicians today richmond found solace and cre ative satisfaction in working on his own mixing his original instrumentals and vocals with technological precision richmond now 26 yearsold is an accomplished musician who was inspired to play the guitar at the age of twelve after hearing rock guitar guru van halen all i could think of then was yes this is style and how do i get to be that good said rich mond he found the answer in count less hours of practice and sever al failed attempts playing with in a band while a student at uxbridge secondary school richmond never stopped thinking about playing in front of an audience looking back im sure my par ents and teachers at the high school thought how is this kid going to wind up said rich mond recalling those failed efforts richmonds father wellknown uxbridge artist john richmond described one concert scheduled at the uxbridge legion as ill- fated martin and his friends were so eager to play anywhere they just booked a hall they never considered that most of the teens coming out to listen to the band would be under age and the legion staff would never let them into the place richmond worked on the music on planet martini martin richmond has released a selfproduced cd entitled the plan et martini almost as a building block pro cess id start by playing the guitar getting a hook in my head then going with it arid recording it right at the moment it felt right to me giv ing the music a live sponta neous feel although essentially a one- man studio project that sense of immediacy is evident in both the lyric and the music on the cd described by richmond as future rock the planet martini is avail able locally at radio shack its a dove photolceua bronkhorst shakespeare the magician entertained crowds including volunteer andrew walter during a per formance at angles eatery in stouffville on satur day the event was a breakfast with santa claus to help local residents prepare for the christmas season mvm