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| Photo by Lance Anderson |
Published in Peterborough This Week
May 21, 2008
There's one thing in this world that soars over language and has the possibility to mean so much or so little.
Something that can evoke memories, whether good or bad.
Music it seems, for Drea Nasager, is a lifestlye. Whether sipping on a latte, speaking about her "kitten-like" pit bull or leaving home at age 14, there's this glowing optimism and passion and respect for experiences that have shaped who she is now.
That includes a respected musician who can capture an audience with a passionate live performance, something that really comes through on her latest album entitled Lively, which was recorded at The Rusty Snail on Hunter Street West.
“This is the album I've always wanted to make,” she says, adding that music, she feels, is her destiny.
“Writing and singing music is the only way I know how to interact with most of the world. Without it, I would die. What would I do? I wouldn't have made it."
“I started really young, just learning chords and then I started to learn two or three songs on three basic chords.”
Drea moved to Peterborough in 1999 to attend Trent University where she studied Native and women's studies on a scholarship. After moving here, she started performing live.
“I learned a lot, like not to put yourself down or to sit on a chair when you're performing...that just doesn't work for me.”
Drea says that she could spend a year perfecting a song but her spontaneous and quick songwriting isn't about perfection. It's about heart. While her songs are catchy, they don't lack depth. They sound like they're pouring straight out from her soul.
“She's killer and has such an amazing stage presence,” says Jill Staveley, a local musician and a host of The Pig's Ear's open mic.
“She knows how to perform and to be an artist. Some have great music but can't connect with an audience. She can do both."
Staveley adds Drea is always excited to perform and is a regular on open mic nights to show her support of other singers and musicians.
"I don't usually do covers because I can't connect emotionally," notes Drea.
"I always take a second to think about what I wrote and what kind of a place I was in at the time."
Three days after graduating from Trent in 2003, Drea and a friend hitchhiked to the Yukon.
"I always had a base here, though," she says of Peterborough.
"There's this constant young energy and beautiful stuff and culture."
While travel is a great inspiration for her songwriting, Drea splits her live performances between local and international venues. That has included an unexpected performance at a folk festival in Skagen, Denmark.
Drea went to Europe to visit family for an experience that, she says, changed her heart. A cousin told her about a music festival and after convincing her Dad, they were off in a really small rented car to a folk festival in Skagen.
“There was this horrible woman that was singing like Bette Midler. Anyway, I played and this guy comes over --his relative was putting on the festival -- and asked if I would want to play the next day.
“So I sleep in the car, with my Dad. The next day I found out I was playing for like 1,500 to 2,000 people in this traditional concert.”
In addition to having a tour manager there, Drea visits in the summer and is excited to be going back this year in August.
For more on Drea, log onto http://www.myspace.com/dreanasager
or www.sonicbids.com
There's nothing like that first sip.
For many, coffee in the morning is not a luxury it's an essential; much like toilet paper in the bathroom and air in your lungs, people rely on that first cup or the several that follow to perk up and function through a busy day.
But there's an evil that lurks when you buy that morning coffee and it's not the every-present caffeine addiction.
It's the paper cup.
"When you multiply the amount of coffee shops and coffee cups, the number of cars that line up in the drive-thru and idle while they wait, these things directly effect our natural environment, which in turn effects us as well," says Paula Anderson, manager of waste reduction programs for Peterborough Green-Up.
"A huge thing to remember is a travel mug. It doesn't take much to get in the habit. Just tell yourself 'if I forget my travel mug I don't get coffee today. You start to remember it pretty quickly." That's how Ms Anderson got into the re-usable mug habit five years ago, pointing out when she has her morning coffee it's in the same stainless steel mug she started with.
"The idea is to purchase one that you'll use for the rest of your life because of the resources used to make that kind of mug. Plastic ones hold the smell so they wont last for very long."
Although by first glance the styrofoam cups used at local Dreams of Beans cafe isn't the best option when it comes to recycling, Derek Delanaye, a senior staff member at the Hunter Street coffee shop, calls it an old wives tale.
"Our cups are 100 per cent recyclable styrofoam, which is much more environmentally-friendly than plastic, especially when you consider the dyes and plastic-lining in them," he says.
"We recycle absolutely everything, including the cups and we compost what we can, like coffee and filters. "
In fact, the shop has a group of patrons that save up all their coffee cups and bring them in to have them recycled.
Although an exact number of coffees sold isn't available, Mr. Delanaye says about 200 to 300 coffees per day cross the counter and while most are sold in styrofoam, they encourage the use of travel mugs by giving customers a small discount for using them.
"We charge for the price of a medium size when they're using a travel mug bigger than our large," says Mr. Delanaye.
Locally-owned coffee shops aren't the only ones offering incentives.
"We offer a discount for any travel mug, not just the Tim Hortons' ones," says Rachel Douglas,
spokesperson for Tim Hortons, which currently has 13 locations in Peterborough.
"That takes 10 cents off the price of your coffee, so especially if you're buying coffee daily, that money adds up. Also a travel mug keeps it hotter for longer."
Ms Douglas says Tim Hortons tries to encourage environmentally-friendly behavior through an in-store recycling program that separate glass, plastics, bottles and cans.
"We also have 'don't litter' messages on all of the cups," Ms Douglas points out."Our cups are made of compostable and recyclable material. They don't break-down as quickly as food
does but they do break-down."
While it's safe to assume Timmies sells a lot of coffee, Ms Douglas says the actual amount cannot be disclosed for competitive reasons.
Although recycling coffee cups has been a bit of a grey area in the past, according to Virginia Swinson, waste reduction officer for Peterborough's waste division, it's recently been brought into the open.
Sort of.
"Officially, we've been sneaking the word out for the past few years, but we really didn't start accepting them until spring of this year," she says.
"(Before that) if they got into the blue box we would accept them.
"At this point it's all new territory. I don't know any municipalities that are doing this."
Guilt-free coffee is the way to go
Published in Peterborough This Week
July 25, 2008
 | |
| Photo by Lance Anderson |
There's nothing like that first sip.
For many, coffee in the morning is not a luxury it's an essential; much like toilet paper in the bathroom and air in your lungs, people rely on that first cup or the several that follow to perk up and function through a busy day.
But there's an evil that lurks when you buy that morning coffee and it's not the every-present caffeine addiction.
It's the paper cup.
"When you multiply the amount of coffee shops and coffee cups, the number of cars that line up in the drive-thru and idle while they wait, these things directly effect our natural environment, which in turn effects us as well," says Paula Anderson, manager of waste reduction programs for Peterborough Green-Up.
"A huge thing to remember is a travel mug. It doesn't take much to get in the habit. Just tell yourself 'if I forget my travel mug I don't get coffee today. You start to remember it pretty quickly." That's how Ms Anderson got into the re-usable mug habit five years ago, pointing out when she has her morning coffee it's in the same stainless steel mug she started with.
"The idea is to purchase one that you'll use for the rest of your life because of the resources used to make that kind of mug. Plastic ones hold the smell so they wont last for very long."
Although by first glance the styrofoam cups used at local Dreams of Beans cafe isn't the best option when it comes to recycling, Derek Delanaye, a senior staff member at the Hunter Street coffee shop, calls it an old wives tale.
"Our cups are 100 per cent recyclable styrofoam, which is much more environmentally-friendly than plastic, especially when you consider the dyes and plastic-lining in them," he says.
"We recycle absolutely everything, including the cups and we compost what we can, like coffee and filters. "
In fact, the shop has a group of patrons that save up all their coffee cups and bring them in to have them recycled.
Although an exact number of coffees sold isn't available, Mr. Delanaye says about 200 to 300 coffees per day cross the counter and while most are sold in styrofoam, they encourage the use of travel mugs by giving customers a small discount for using them.
"We charge for the price of a medium size when they're using a travel mug bigger than our large," says Mr. Delanaye.
Locally-owned coffee shops aren't the only ones offering incentives.
"We offer a discount for any travel mug, not just the Tim Hortons' ones," says Rachel Douglas,
spokesperson for Tim Hortons, which currently has 13 locations in Peterborough.
"That takes 10 cents off the price of your coffee, so especially if you're buying coffee daily, that money adds up. Also a travel mug keeps it hotter for longer."
Ms Douglas says Tim Hortons tries to encourage environmentally-friendly behavior through an in-store recycling program that separate glass, plastics, bottles and cans.
"We also have 'don't litter' messages on all of the cups," Ms Douglas points out."Our cups are made of compostable and recyclable material. They don't break-down as quickly as food
does but they do break-down."
While it's safe to assume Timmies sells a lot of coffee, Ms Douglas says the actual amount cannot be disclosed for competitive reasons.
Although recycling coffee cups has been a bit of a grey area in the past, according to Virginia Swinson, waste reduction officer for Peterborough's waste division, it's recently been brought into the open.
Sort of.
"Officially, we've been sneaking the word out for the past few years, but we really didn't start accepting them until spring of this year," she says.
"(Before that) if they got into the blue box we would accept them.
"At this point it's all new territory. I don't know any municipalities that are doing this."
