Page 10 - January 2012 Issue 1

My name is Rob Atkins, I have worked as an occasional freelance journalist in the past, sung and played bass in bands of various genres over the years, and ama published songwriter and poet.
I am the father of Helena Mace, who presents Radiodowntown’s Country Music Show. Helena is also a singer, songwriter,and musician in her own right, she has four albums to her credit (those of you who’ve read the notes on her CDs may have spotted that I wrote three of hertracks).
Although I was born in London (UK not Ontario) most of my life has been spent on the Isle of Wight, a small island off the south coast of England. The Wight has always had a reputation for being the haunt of artists, writers, poets, philosophers, and mystics. Tennyson lived here, as did J.B. Priestley, Swinburne,and Stacpoole. Turner painted here, Keats and Longfellow holidayed here, and authors, thinkers, and dreamers, diverse as Charles Dickens, D.H. Lawrence, KarlMarx, and David Icke, cultivated their ideas, inspirations, and theories, withinthese acres.
In 1968, the Island hosted the first of its three vanguard rock festivals. Dylan broke a three year self-imposed exile to play the 69 event, and in August 1970, Hendrix performed his magnificent swansong here -just weeks before his untimely death. The festivals are now an annual feature of
It Runs in the Family
By Rob Atkins
Island life. Various mini-festivals highlightingrock, folk, jazz, and blues idioms also occur throughout the summer.The Island music scene has always been a vibrant and multi-genre one.
Homegrown talent making an impact beyond our shores includes fifties balladeer, Craig Douglas, Mark King, singer/bassist with Level 42, and session guitarist, SnowyWhite, (who cut his teeth with local bands before moving on to Thin Lizzy andPink Floyd). In his formative years, another local prodigy, the late Anthony Minghella, played keyboards in Island combos.These snippets are some of stories I look forward to exploring with you -in greater detail- during the months ahead.
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