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The Winestock™ Music & Wine Festival, Morning Bay Vineyard's signature event, returns for its sixth annual show - the best yet.

Winestock Six Will Rock the Island Again, as Promised

Pender Island, BC--Morning Bay Vineyard today announced the final line-up for this year's Winestock Music Festival, to be held this year on Saturday, September 3 from noon 'til dusk.

Click here to buy tickets on-line

'We're very excited by this year's line-up,' said Morning Bay co-owner and festival director Barbara Reid. 'We've blended some newer musical elements with some old favourites. We think it's going to be the best yet!'

Headlining this year's programme is Gary Comeau and the Voodoo Allstars, a Vancouver band with deep southern roots. Gary himself plays guitar, mandolin, fiddle and piano in a crafted, high-energy New Orleans-style rockin' roods and blues. It's a musical style he's built from his own roots as a Nova Scotian Acadian. He's joined on guitar by Tim Hearsey, on bass by Rob Becker, and on percussion by Chris Nordquist.

Listen here for Gary & C takin' a walk down Easy Steet

Also new to this year's bill are The Masses*, another Vancouver band with a roots sound. Vocalist and harp player Bob Mercer (yes, that Bob Mercer who was once the editor of the Georgia Straight) fronts a four-man band that combines blues with R&B, Rock & Roll and Old School Country.

Listen to a sample of The Masses

And joining us for the first time are The Heel Diggers, a Pender Island country and western band featuring the great vocals of Kathy MacIntyre and Dave Dandeneau and some fine pickers from our own 'hood.

Listen to The Heel Diggers perform "I smell a rat"

Returning for his sixth Winestock, fresh from a successful European tour and with his latest hit, 'Anne Marie' climbing the indie charts in the USA, Dave Rave, formerly lead singer for Canada's pioneering punk band, Teenage Head, brings his distinctive, energetic brand of rock 'n' roll back to Winestock with The Dave Rave Group. Dave traditionally leads the now-infamous Winestock jam session that ends the night.

Listen to Dave sing the old Shaker's hit, "Out the Door,"

And we're also delighted to welcome back for his sixth Winestock, one of Vancouver's finest songwriters, Wyckham Porteous. Wyck's distinctive lyrics and folk-rock sound delighted Pender audiences at his solo house concert this summer.

Listen here to Wyckham's 1995 composition, "This Land"

And we're glad to welcome back our musical director, Simon Kendall, of Doug and the Slugs fame, whose keyboards will provide the backing for several of the bands.

Listen to music links here for samples of Simon's solo piano album "Voyages from the Left Coast

And don't forget there are food vendors and arts vendors on the site. We'll keep plenty of wine chilling. And bring your tent to sleep over in our oceanfront vineyard. Washroom facilities available. But you won't need a sleeping bag because you'll be dancing all night.

Make your travel arrangements through BC Ferries reservations here:

http://www.bcferries.com/bcftravelcentre

Travel is available on Pender with Pender Island Cab at:

http://penderislandcab.com/contact/

Click here to buy tickets on-line

Winestock's favourite punker, Dave Rave, (You Tube) agreed to return to Morning Bay's Winestock Music Festival for a precedent-setting sixth year.

Winestock is an all-day rock and roll festival at Morning Bay's oceanfront vineyard on Pender Island, BC. This year it's on Saturday, September 3.

Dave Rave is one of the iconic pioneers (Teenage Head, The Shakers) of the 1977 punk explosion still active, and creating as a band leader, producer, and songwriter. In the last 2 years he's been featured on a live radio broadcast on BBC Liverpool, headlined the legendary Cavern Club four times and continues to tour Europe and North America with a gig schedule that sees him on the road almost every day of the year.

2011 has brought him a Grammy nomination for his CD, Live With What You Know (Bongobeat) and his latest hit, "Anne Marie" (You Tube) is storming up the US charts and is currently #55 on the Hot 100 and #22 on the US Indie Chart. (Dave's website news)

Dave brings his own rare energy to evening-ending jams at Winestock with such fabulous musicians as David Gogo, Jim Byrnes and Ridley Bent.

Here is the full line-up:

Gary Comeau and the Voodoo Allstars

The Masses

Heel Diggers

Dave Rave

Wyckham Porteous

You can reserve Winestock tickets anytime. Rustic camping with access to washrooms is $10 per tent per night. Bring your own water and power.

Over 250 avid rock music fans gathered at Morning Bay's oceanfront vineyard in 2010 to celebrate independent rock music and wine on September 4. And they weren't disappointed.

"We were very excited about the fifth-annual Winestock™, and we expect the sixth annual festival to be even better" says Morning Bay's Barbara Reid, the musical director of the festival. "It surpassed our expectations for attendance, the music was the best ever, and for the first time the majority of the people attending were Penderites!"

Mark Foley, Rick McMullen, Dave Rave, Terry Bramhall, Keith Watt and Barb Reid at Winestock 2010 (Photo by Peggy Nicholson).

Long-time Winestocker Leslie Alexander with her new duo partner Jenny Allen opened the show under stunning sunny skies early Saturday afternoon with their eclectic country-folk music. Energetic and musically-gifted, the two women got the crowd engaged and rocking. The stage was set for another great concert.

Wyckham Porteous of Vancouver has played at all five Winestocks, and this time was perhaps his best performance. His four-piece band kept the energy up as Wyckham worked through his original compositions. The crowd was starting to move.

Carolyn Mark and the New Best Friends really moved things to the next level. Featuring Pender's own Daniel Lapp on fiddle, Carolyn's country-punk show featured seven musicians on stage, feather-boa draped microphones, and Carolyn's own distinctive musical style. A crowd favourite was "How can you love a man who drinks white wine". Several men in the crowd could be seen sidling up to the wine bar and switching their white for red.

Also a five-time Winestocker, Dave Rave brought a four-piece band this year, featuring Pender's own Rick McMullen of Big House Voodoo on drums, who sat in at the last moment and performed admirably without rehearsal. Dave really got the crowd dancing with his engaging punk energy, featuring his own compositions "Rock the Party," and "Let's Shake." When Dave was done, everyone was rockin' and shakin'.

The stage was set for the headliner, David Gogo of Nanaimo, and he didn't disappoint. His searing guitar scorched the forest around the clearing, and his two-piece back up band kept up a compelling beat. The audience was mesmerized by Gogo's program of blues standards and original compositions. He is clearly one of Canada's best guitarists.

Closing the show was Pender's own, Big House Voodoo and they met the high musical standards set by the previous acts brilliantly. Featuring their new 3-piece horn section, Voodoo launched into a fabulous program of rhythm and blues standards, and by now almost everyone was dancing in the forest clearing.

But the night was not done. After Voodoo, a group of musicians mounted the stage under the stars and began a blistering 75-minute jam that featured Dave Rave's energetic direction, David Gogo's brilliant guitar leads, and Wyckham Porteous's growling Dylan-esque vocals, singing standards that had the crowd on its feet demanding more.

Of course the night was not done when the amplified music was over. After a midnight dinner, the musicians grabbed their acoustic guitars and repaired to the back porch, where they played Beatles standards until 3 in the morning. As I said, you HAD to be there.

Next year's Winestock™ takes place on Labour Day Saturday, September 3, 2011. With each passing year the gathering gets better. Watch this website for announcements.

Follow Winestock on the website or on Facebook for an update.

Tickets $35 pp are also available at the retail vendors below, or can be purchased directly online with our secure checkout system. (see How To Get To Winestock™ in a new window)

JOIN OUR WINE CASE CLUB AND GET ADDITIONAL BENEFITS!

In Vancouver at Dr. Vigari's Gallery,  (604) 255-9513 at 1312 Commercial Dr

In Victoria at Classic Guitars on Fort, 250-389-6029, 828 Fort Street

In Victoria at The Strath Wine Merchants, 919 Douglas in Victoria

On Pender Island at Talisman Books and Gallery, 250-629-6944, Driftwood Centre, and at Medicine Beach Fine Wines, 250-629-2024

To see video of the 2008 Winestock™, check out this link: at YouTube