{"id":18093,"date":"2017-08-17T11:30:54","date_gmt":"2017-08-17T15:30:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=18093"},"modified":"2017-08-17T11:30:54","modified_gmt":"2017-08-17T15:30:54","slug":"harlequin-brings-the-soundtrack-of-our-lives-to-ribfest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/harlequin-brings-the-soundtrack-of-our-lives-to-ribfest\/","title":{"rendered":"Harlequin brings \u201cthe soundtrack of our lives\u201d to Ribfest"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

It has been over 40 years since singer and guitarist George Belanger jumped at an opportunity to join a fledgling band and, over that time, he and Harlequin have criss-crossed North America, building up a staggering fan base.
\nSome musicians itch for a change after four decades on the road, but each fan encounter fuels the passions which lie deep within the classic Winnipeg band.
\n\u201cI got stopped by a guy who had seen us a few years back who was coming to see our show and he was just thrilled to death,\u201d says Mr. Belanger ahead a sound check this past weekend in British Columbia where the band headlined a medical marijuana festival. \u201cHe told me, \u2018You are the soundtrack of my life,\u2019 and it is quite uplifting to hear people talk to you like that.\u201d
\nUplifting is a common thread in Mr. Belanger\u2019s life tapestry.
\nAs a youngster, he was groomed for the priesthood, serving as an altar boy before dipping a toe into the seminary.
\n\u201cIt was very noble calling,\u201d he says, noting his initial goal was missionary work and helping people. \u201cChurch was my first stage. As an altar boy, you were kind of the centre of attention and the priest was the real rock star. He did great things for the people, uplifted them, and helped them, but then I discovered music was very much the same thing.\u201d
\nHe was raised with the sounds of Ray Charles, Nat King Cole and the Mills Brothers, firm favourites of his fathers, bouncing off the walls of his home. He saw how happy these performers made his father and, when Belanger himself saw bands like the Beatles on TV, he experienced a similar high.
\n\u201cOnce I found music, I discovered it was almost the same [as church],\u201d he recalls.
\nAfter seeing his first live concert, he got on the bus and told his friend that that was what he was going to do.
\n\u201cOne thing led to another and here I am at my age still doing it \u2013 it\u2019s crazy,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen I went up on stage, people would tell me, \u2018I was having a really shitty day and you guys took me out of it for an hour and a half there and I really appreciate it.\u2019 I thought, that\u2019s a pretty good calling and I\u2019ll stick with this one \u2013 and I don\u2019t have to be celibate, either!\u201d
\nOne of his first musical gigs was with a band called Next, which had secured a recording contract with Warner Brothers Canada, but an opportunity with an up-and-coming band in need of a singer-songwriter soon presented itself.
\nThe band in question was looking for someone not only to write the songs, but someone to sing them.
\nHe was told he could fly out to Toronto to audition and seized the chance, but shortly after arrival he was actually whisked off to Kirkland Lake.
\n\u201cThey were playing this typical small-town big ole\u2019 hotel,\u201d Mr. Belanger recalls. \u201cIt was the fall, and there was hockey going on. We sat down in one of those crummy rooms and [founding member bassist] Ralph James and I realised he was focused like a bullet. He had a plan and really had a charm about him and I knew he was going somewhere. Right then and there I thought I would hitch my wagon to this guy because in other bands I was always the leader, the frontman who had to do everything and I suffered from migraines. Just being the singer\/songwriter sounded great.\u201d
\nThey had their first rehearsal in that big ole\u2019 hotel and in the middle of their set, a hunter, dressed in head to toe camouflage gear walked in, parked himself in front of the hockey game on TV, but was distracted by the band. As luck would have it, this apparently everyday hunter was actually an agent with ties to the likes of John Lennon and Aerosmith, and the rest was a road paved with hits, accolades, and fans.
\n\u201cPeople want to hear the soundtrack of their lives,\u201d says Mr. Belanger of the concert experience. \u201cThere are seven or eight songs in our repertoire that they have to hear and if you don\u2019t play them there will be a riot! You play those songs, intersperse them with new stuff, change a few things around here and there, but we try to give them what they want. It works to our mutual benefit because we get a lot out of it and so do they \u2013 that is how we roll.
\n\u201cI am hoping they show up in droves and ready to rock because we still have a lot of energy, we still love to play, and we like to meet the people we met many years ago. We\u2019ve been getting emails saying, \u2018We\u2019re so excited you\u2019re coming to Aurora. We haven\u2019t seen you since you were playing high schools.\u2019 Now these people are in their fifties and they are recalling their high school days. It is pretty thrilling to believe they still remember, still care, and still want to see you. I\u2019ve got the best job in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harlequin headlines next week\u2019s Aurora Ribfest along with David Wilcox. Harlequin will take the stage Friday, August 25 at 9 p.m., with Wilcox following the next evening at the same time. Admission is free, age of majority past 8 p.m. Ribfest will take place August 25 \u2013 27 at Machell Park. (2A Aurora Heights Drive, Aurora).<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It has been over 40 years since singer and guitarist George Belanger jumped at an opportunity to join a fledgling band and, over that time, he and Harlequin have criss-crossed North America, building up a staggering fan base.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18093","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-4HP","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-29 13:59:56","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18093","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18093\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}