“Benjamin Darvill (born January 4, 1967), known by his stage name Son of Dave, is a Canadian musician and singer–songwriter, based in the United Kingdom. He was a member of Grammy award-nominated folk rock band Crash Test Dummies in which he played harmonica, mandolin, guitar and percussion before returning to his blues, Beat-Box and harmonica driven solo work in 2000.
SOD was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was inspired to learn the harmonica after hearing James Cotton and Sonny Terry play at the Winnipeg Folk Festival.” From wikipedia
“The buildings but have a history as connected as the buildings themselves. The Fortune Block is the one on the corner of Main Street and St. Mary’s Avenue, whereas the Macdonald Block is the addition a bit further down on Main Street.
In 1869, the Hudson’s Bay Company surrendered all but 450 acres of Rupert’s Land to the Dominion of Canada. The land that remained was laid out as a town they called “Selkirk” in 1872 and the first lots began to be auctioned off later that same year. It was through this auctioning off that Molyneux St. John purchased lots 19 and 20 for $1325 and $1750 respectively. With this purchase came the HBC’s condition that a structure with a minimum $2000 value be built within 18 months of the sale.
This condition was not met with either of the two properties, with both sitting undeveloped for a decade. A large number of lots in the area stayed vacant or had insubstantial frame buildings constructed due to the main business district remaining north of Portage Avenue – for many, Graham Avenue seemed too far away. However, the arrival of Winnipeg’s building boom in 1880-1884 put pressure on the properties that had not yet been developed.”
Read more at:
http://heritagewinnipeg.blogspot.com/2015/09/heritage-on-main-macdonald-and-fortune.html
