The lead singer of the Halifax Wharf Rats looks down at the crowd of dancers in front of the stage and asks, How many of you are from the East Coast?
Nearly every arm goes up as quickly as the cheer of acknowledgment that, although they are a long, long way from home, tonight they can burrow a little closer to their roots.
Its the inaugural East Coast Kitchen Party at the Portside Pub. The owner of the ship-styled Gastown restaurant is Mark Brand, who is from Halifax, as is Ash McLeod, his director of marketing. The Portsides manager is Andrew Flynn, a Newfoundlander.
Were always pretty festive, McLeod says as the Halifax Wharf Rats sing Now Im a broken man on a Halifax pier, the last of Barretts privateers and the crowd sings along as if they too were homesick 18th century sailors.
A fancy name for a kitchen party is a céilidh (pronounced cailey.) Kitchen parties are picking up the phone and saying, Hey, boys, were having a kitchen party and may five people come, maybe 20, and maybe your mother is telling you to go to another kitchen party, Ash says with a laugh.
Hosting a monthly kitchen party at the Portside is a lot less expensive than a plane ticket home. McLeod says theres a brotherhood or sisterhood between East Coasters that draws them together and then, in Maritime fashion, invites everyone else to join in the fun.
Michelle Carlisle, the lead singer of the Halifax Wharf Rats is, oddly enough, from Saskatchewan. Her parents are from England, however, and prairie people are similar to East Coasters theyll feed you and love you. And then theyll sing.
If you want a test of how important music is to Maritime culture, try to think of a British Columbian song that everyone can sing. What song do Ontarians sing when they all get together? But put East Coasters in a room together and they probably all know the words to Fare Thee Well to Nova Scotia or Ise the By.
Dont worry if you go to a kitchen party and dont know the words to the songs. East Coasters are a friendly lot and will be more than happy to show you how to feel part of the clan.
Portside Pub plans to host the next East Coast Kitchen Party on August 21.
