Making dinner and breakfast for an overnight guest you've never met and inviting as many as 45 other people into your house may not sound like a great night to some, but for Tim and Jean Cameron, volunteers hosts of the Thompson concerts on the Home Routes circuit, the experience is second to none.
"I really like sitting down and talking with them just to learn their life on the road and it is unique," says Tim Cameron, who usually takes the day of a concert off work so he can move out some furniture and whip up dinner for the travelling musicians, who may be satisfied with something as simple as pork and beans. "They're definitely not picky people. It's certainly not a burden on us."
The 2014-15 Home Routes concert series kicks off Sept. 23 in Thompson, when Morgan Davis, a Nova Scotia resident and Juno award-winner originally from Detroit, brings his brand of blues to Northern Manitoba. Two more concerts follow in October and November and then resume in February following a holiday break.
The Camerons were Home Routes hosts in Ashern for three years before coming to Thompson, and they picked up the hosting duties for the series - now in its sixth year in Thompson - when they moved north, since they didn't know anybody and knew from Ashern, where they had as many as 50 or 60 people in the audience for some concerts, that it was a great way to meet people. The biggest crowd they've had in Thompson was 45 people, and the smallest about 22. As residents of a mobile home, the Camerons know how to move the furniture out and pack the patrons in.
"It's a very intimate atmosphere, that's for sure," says Tim Cameron. "Our turnout has been really, really good."
Tickets for the concerts are $20 and all the money goes to the performers, many of whom would never pass through Thompson without the concert series, which also makes stops in The Pas, does two shows in Flin Flon and, for the first time this season, in Cranberry Portage.
"The calibre that the Home Routes people bring is just amazing," said Tim Cameron, with some performers leaving audiences in stitches and others touching their emotional core. "Some people have almost made you cry."
In addition to the music, which is generally the performers' own original material, audience members also get the chance to hear the stories behind the songs and have a glimpse of the artist as a person, as well as being active participants.
"Most of the time they tell their own story," Tim Cameron says. "They'll get you singing. They love to meet people."
Each concert in the series takes place on a different day of the week. There are no concerts on Mondays.
"It works good," said Tim Cameron. "It's well planned out."
Shows start at 7:30 p.m., though there have been a few instances when the performers and hosts were wondering if anyone would show up, until they actually did. For more information, search for the HomeRoutes House Concerts Thompson Borealis Trail group on Facebook, email the Camerons at [email protected] or give them a call at 204-677-3574. And if you've never attended a house concert, Tim Cameron says you don't know what you're missing.
"It's unique," he said. "If you come with an open mind you're going to experience something."
