By Will McGuirk

The community space at Kops, we have dubbed it the Upstairs Basement for good reason, has been going swimmingly and there is more on the way. I am still hoping to find someone or some crew willingly to collaborate with us on video shoots, they would be ones who see the value in what we are building and are ready to use the platform offered for their own elevation, but no one just yet.

In the meantime we have some pretty rad events coming up with Hamilton/Oshawa duo Two Strangers coming in Saturday Feb 29 at 4 p.m. Amy Pinkus and Nathan Rideout are Two Strangers. They just released their debut EP, ‘Accidental Happiness’, last month. The five songs are built on harmony and are about two strangers becoming friends, good friends. Opening will be Jenna Doe.

Earlier on Saturday at 1 p.m. we have DJ Darrin Be coming in to offer free classes on How to DJ. This was Darrin’s own suggestion and I am very grateful to him for seeing what it is we are trying to do, stepping forward and getting involved. Its all-ages so share the news and lets build the next generation of off the cuff wax spinners.

Sunday March 1 Oshawa Music Award nominee Skye Wallace is coming by for a session. Skye mixes her classical music training with punk ballads and folk melodies. Her self-titled album has been nominated in the 2020 Best Album category at the OMAs. Its a whole lot of hooks which call up some Big 90s pop spirituals from Sonic Youth, Big Wreck and Limblifter.