In honour of the two Independence Days celebrated just days apart (i.e., Canada Day on July 1st and the Fourth of July), here a couple of photos from Sunfest 2017 that seem relevant to the subject:
Second-generation reggae musician Ziggy Marley
At first glance, it might seem odd that the oldest son of reggae legend Bob Marley would be wearing the Stars and Stripes in concert. But Ziggy, whose hits include “True To Myself”, has demonstrated an independent streak in recent years. In addition to living in the States (in Beverly Hills, CA), I suspect the attraction for Ziggy to this particular shirt was the quote “Land of the Free” from “The Star-Spangled Banner”, since freedom is a lyrical theme that is highlighted in a number of his recent songs.
Loverboy front-man Mike Reno
In addition to The Strumbellas on Day 1 of the festival, America’s northern neighbour was also represented at Sunfest by ’80s pop-rock band Loverboy on the afternoon of Day 4. This group is best known for its hit single “Working for the Weekend”, and the Canadian colloquialism for a long weekend is a “2-4 weekend”, a reference to the number of beers in a case (i.e., 24), so presumably Canadians work even harder for those weekends. This year, Canada Day fell on a Saturday but was observed on the following Monday, so the 150th anniversary of Canada’s independence was indeed celebrated with a proper 2-4 weekend. Loverboy would have it no other way.
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