It's no surprise that Toronto's David Celia has an irresistible attraction to Kingston. Here, and on Wolfe Island specifically, the alt-folk singer-songwriter—who's played alongside Canadian legends Ian & Sylvia Tyson and performed at global festivals like Glastonbury—has seemingly found his tribe.

And at least one family member, too.

Celia's son Lucas, a bassist, is currently in his final year of Civil Engineering at Queen's University, where he's also the captain of the men's rowing team.

Undoubtedly, Celia's been drawn to the hive of musical activity centred around Hotel Wolfe Island, as nurtured by resident beekeeper and Toronto ex-pat, Hugh Christopher Brown, though he also cites Kingston's The Tragically Hip and Luther Wright & The Wrongs as influences.

Later this year, Celia will embark on two-and-a-half month tour of Europe and U.K. where he'll perform once again at the Glastonbury Festival. But before he does, he'll be bringing his act, David Celia & Co., to Kingston for a very special performance, thanks to some serendipitous connections.

"Years ago, I got in touch with Chris Brown in New York while he was living there and building a scene. He eventually booked me at Hotel Wolfe Island," Celia explained to Kingston Live in an interview. "The sound engineer [at Hotel Wolfe Island] that night happened to be someone I met two decades ago when he ran [The Old Railway] venue in Birmingham, England," said Celia of his reunion with Kingston's Trevor Johnson, a.k.a. Buck Roswell of Roswell Rehearsals. "We hit it off again, which led me to booking a show [in Kingston] with Trevor on sound."

The upcoming Kingston performance, scheduled for March 2 at Blu Martini, will see Celia joined on stage—for the first time ever—by sons Lucas (19) and Marcus Celia (22).

"We'll be playing my songs that they grew up on. The three of us get along like friends or bandmates. We agree on a lot, musically, and just enjoy being able to perform live together," Celia described.

It was Celia's repeat performances at Hotel Wolfe Island that recently re-ignited Lucas' love of the bass. "Lucas used to play music quite a bit when he was younger and even had a groovy Toronto based band called Negative Zero," recalled Celia, whose older son, Marcus, is full-time enrolled in Humber College's music program in Toronto. "He only just picked up the guitar for the first time in 2020. He took a few lessons from me and very quickly started writing his own tunes. They always blow me away. I’m a true fan."

Rounding out Celia's company at Blu Martini on March 2 will be Brantford-based percussionist Cliff Rutherford, as well as Wolfe Island's exceptionally talented multi-instrumentalist, Chris Brown, playing in Celia's words, "Mystery keyboards."

As for the performance itself, Celia says to expect, "...a fun night of songs, vocal harmonies and good vibes. I cover so many different styles of music, yet they tie in together well. It’s not your usual band, but it’ll feel familiar.

The March 2 show at Blu Martini is set to commence around 9 pm with a performance by Kingston post-grunge and psych-rock royalty, Paper Bag Princes, their last of the school year.

Tickets are $10 each, and will be available for purchase at the door. web link Posted: Feb 22, 2024