19-year-old yo-yo champ will entertain in Lakeside Park.
RANGELEY – Rangeley Friends of the Arts has booked Maine’s Coos Canyon Band for an evening performance Tuesday, July 3, at Lakeside Park before a fireworks display.
Performing in the park at 5:30 p.m. will be 19-year-old Brandon Baines of Scarborough, one of Maine’s finest yo-yo champs. Trained by Jon Cahill in the art of juggling and circus arts since age 8, Baines has been dedicated to such skills for more than half of his life as a member of the Gym Dandies Children’s Circus.
His passions include yo-yoing, juggling,and playing with the diabolo. In 2005, he was selected by YoYoJam, a popular, international yo-yo company, to be a member of its sponsored team, featuring 35 of the best yo-yoers from all over the world.
Baines will also have regulation-style competitive yo-yo’s for sale and will offer a brief instruction session for children and interested adults.
The Coos Canyon Band will perform from 6 to 7 p.m. and again 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. The band comprises three guys – Dan Merrill, Barney Martin and Brian Johnson – with three guitars and a little help from today’s technology. Their sound varies from an acoustic James Taylor ballad to a ’70s Grand Funk rock tune.
From Yarmouth, Merrill has over the past 10-plus years added songwriting as well as producing to his singing and other artistic abilities. He was co-founder of the ’80s New England touring band Cornerstone, which opened concerts for Foghat, Marshall Tuckerand Jeff Healy. In 1987, he received the Maine Music Awards’ Male Vocalist of the Year distinction.
It was playing the guitar that first got Martin Barney, also a Maine native, interested in the arts as freshman in high school. He pursued theater in college and as part of his education received a bachelor of arts degree in theater performance. He has performed across the country and has opened for Livingston Taylor twice in his career. He has acted in numerous local and New England commercials (Megabucks, Hannaford, Handyman Tool Rental, AAA, for example) and landed roles in Fox’s “Murder in Small town X” and in “Liberty, Maine,” an independent feature starring Eric Close. In 2001 he joined forces with Randy Judkins and Steve Underwood to form The Maine Hysterical Society; and in 2004, he officially brought Coos Canyon into being.
Much of Johnson’s musical past was shared with Merrill because the two grew up together, attending the same schools starting in grade school. Johnson and Merrill were band mates as Merrill shifted gears in the ’90s to a more acoustic sound. They found they were able to connect as a duo to play the acoustic sounds – and still deliver rock with the growing technology in sequencing (the ability to create the rest of the band on a computer). Besides playing guitar and singing, Johnson has become a master at creating sequences.
Listeners are encouraged to bring chairs and blankets to the outdoor concert.
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