MINDEMOYA—The musical comedy trio The Arrogant Worms hold a near-and-dear place in the hearts of Manitoulin Islanders, having immortalized the Island resort Gordon’s Park, which once featured a trail featuring mounted animals along its length, in one of the group’s songs ‘Mounted Animal Nature Trail.’ Michael McCormick, a member of that irreverent troupe has recently settled on Manitoulin Island and held a free-will house concert at the Mindemoya home of Dale and Holly Scott.
Although the concert may have featured an Arrogant Worm, and some of their music was presented, the performance was a piano recital in which Mr. McCormick had the opportunity to showcase his ivory tinkling skills before a live audience. Mr. McCormick is normally to be seen wielding guitar in hand as he performs (lately including stints with Manitoulin choral groups such as The Island Singers), but recently Mr. McCormick decided to undertake his Royal Conservancy Grade 9 exam at the piano.
He was aided in his quest to attain that considerable achievement by the tutelage of Ms. Scott and Jane Best, both accomplished at the keys themselves. As the evening progressed, Mr. McCormick delivered several classical pieces, leavened with some of the comedy troupe’s extensive catalogue, that undoubtedly made his mentors proud. Among the classical offerings were J. S. Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in C minor, Joesph Haydn’s Sonata in D and Edvard Grieg’s Notturno; Op. 54 No. 4.
Oddly, the aforementioned ode to stuffed Manitoulin wildlife did not make the cut, but this was most likely due to the fact that the live performance of that piece is best experienced while the performers are better able to free their hands. Mr. McCormick’s own creations such as ‘I am Cow (Hear Me Moo),’ ‘Cross Border Shopping,’ ‘Quarantine’ and, by request, ‘Rocks and Trees’ did make the cut, however.
An eclectic number of cover songs, including pieces by Jim Croce (‘Bad Bad Leroy Brown’), John Lennon (‘All You Need is Love’), Robbie Robertson (‘The Weight’), Jimmy Buffet (‘Margaritaville’), Billy Joel (‘This Night’) and Oscar Peterson (‘Hymn to Freedom’) interspersed the performance, providing something for just about everyone—including a hilarious ‘freestyle’ middle-aged guy rap to start the evening out.
Throughout the performance Mr. McCormick provided ample proof of why he and his colleagues in the comedy trio have remained a fixture on the Canadian music scene for over three decades. During the performance Mr. McCormick enlightened those present as to how the Arrogant Worms came upon their name—involving a number of jugs of draft and the zeitgeist of the times for juxtaposed paired names (The Tragically Hip was apparently already spoken for).
Following the performance (played on the Scott’s beautiful baby grand), the guests (who counted among their number several accomplished Island musicians in their own right) were invited for light refreshments that included a pair of trifles, artisanal bread and cookies made by the hand of Rose Diebolt of ‘Rose’s Recipes’).
