It turns out that it takes a village not just to raise a child but also to produce a book.

Well, some books.

A case in point is the new book that Jesse Francis and I have been working on over the past couple of years, entitled Ancient Land, New Land. It will be coming out in another few months from Acorn Books.

As a final review stage before handing the manuscript over to Lee Ellen Pottie for editing, Jesse and I shared the manuscript with a dozen individuals who are knowledgeable about different aspects of PEI history and culture today. Those individuals were Georges Arsenault, Edward MacDonald, Earle Lockerby, Tammy MacDonald, Julie Pellesier-Lush, Karen Jans. Jenene Wooldridge, Barb MacDonald, Aaron Waddell, Don MacKenzie, Tracey Cutcliffe, and Helen Kristmanson. Their feedback was invaluable, and greatly improved the book that is soon to be.

Of course, any errors or deficiencies that remain in the book belong exclusively to Jesse and me.

Once Lee Ellen Pottie has completed her editing, the document and image package will move on to award-winning designer Stéphane Breton to come up with the look and lay-out. Included in the mix will be several brand-new illustrations created specifically for this book by Christopher Hoyt.

As I said, it takes a village.

https://1drv.ms/u/s!AsCUFrOUbooKg0K8QVoJyjpHzho8?e=27bSZq

There was a time when Anne Murray was not an international singing star. She was a great local talent—appearing on several Nova Scotia TV shows—but as yet not known beyond the Maritimes.

Here is a recording from 1968, with Frank MacKay and the Lincolns performing a well-known hit. Anne Murray and Karen Oxley were the back-up singers.

I copy below a posting I came across today on Rob Smith’s Facebook page. It pretty much speaks for itself.

“Have another book recommendation. Not a political book, just a real fun book though a few political are mentioned just in fun ways. The book is “The Kings of Friday Night–The Lincolns,” by A. J. B. Johnston. It’s the wonderful story of The Lincolns, the great Truro band that played a significant role in the lives of folks like me who came into adulthood in the late 50s and 60s. The Lincolns were about the same age (16 to 25) as we high school and university kids in Truro. Their Friday night dances in the basement of I G A store on the corner of Pleasant and Prince Streets were the biggest event in our you g Truro lives. Their grasp of Rock N Roll and Rhythm and Blues was extraordinary. I couldn’t dance really, but I tried, but spent much of my Friday nights across the street at George’s Restaurant sipping Coca Cola and talking to my friends as they came across the street for a break from the dance, or sitting out in a 59 Dodge and later a 64 Plymouth Fury with Ralph and George Carter and various young ladies who would come out of the dance and join us. I knew nearly everybody mentioned in this book, and the memories it brought back to me are truly great. It’s a superb story of a wonderful group of guys in a changing world in my old hometown. And they brought positive change to that old town too. Just a great story relevant especially, but not only to us older folks. A tremendous read.”

As I think I have said before, no book I have ever written has generated the affection and deeply felt connections that Kings of Friday Night has done.
Thanks, Rob Smith.

Tomorrow (March 6) marks the second anniversary of the passing of Frank MacKay.
I’m sharing the video below once more, this time as a Celebration of Life for Frank.
Hope you are able to take a moment (well, 4 mins 47 secs) to think back on what a remarkable person and performer he was.

We are coming up on the second anniversary of the passing of Frank MacKay. It was March 6, 2019, and I recall vividly that I was in a Charlottetown hotel when I heard the news. It came to me as a phone call from Eleanor Norrie, wife of original Lincoln drummer Rod Norrie.

Anyone who ever knew Frank, even if only at a distance as a legendary singer or stage performer, was shocked. The man was larger than life in everything he did. When he sang, he gave it everything—heart and soul—and thousands responded to him at every show or dance.

There are innumerable ways to remember Frank, and watching him sing on the YouTube video (Kings of Friday Night: The Lincolns) found elsewhere on this site is certainly one I recommend.

Less well known is Frank’s charitable side. In his will, he left a large sum for the homeless shelter in Dartmouth that renamed its facility Frank MacKay House after its benefactor.

We miss you and remember you, Frank.

Like a lot of people during the pandemic, I’ve been getting rid of some stuff. Most is not worth talking about, but this 19th-century pewter mug (with a glass bottom) is different.

I was sent it many years ago by someone in Ontario whose name I no longer recall. At the time, I was living in Cape Breton and working at the Fortress of Louisbourg. The gentleman in question somehow came across my name and obtained my phone number. Maybe he had visited the Fortress and heard me give a talk? Or someone recommended me to him?

In any case, he told me on the phone that he wanted the mug to return to Nova Scotia (from whence it had come). Had he inherited it? Purchased it? If he told me 25 years ago, I no longer remember those details. What I do know for sure is that he said the mug belonged to one George J. Drillio who was a contemporary and friend of the renowned 19th-century politician Joseph Howe. Wanting to see it back in NS, the gentleman asked if I would accept it. I said I would, and not long after the mug arrived in the mail.

For the next 25 years it was on shelves, first in Sydney and then in Halifax.

Yesterday, following an exchange of emails, I handed the mug over to Lisa Bowers of the Nova Scotia Museum. Lisa said that the NSM collection did not have anything of that kind in their collection and that Drillio had been a Halifax alderman back in the 1800s.So, I handed the glass-bottomed, inscribed pewter mug over to Lisa and signed the necessary form.

So, now the NSM has the mug, which is a much better place for it than any shelf of mine.