Jones Finds Her rhythm North
Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services
Fort Smith (Dec 18/00) - When Leslie-Anne Jones returned to her home town she charged right into the music scene.
"I was aware of the Electric Chair Skeletons, and I thought they were pretty good ... but they needed something," says Jones, a Fort Smith resident who had been attending university in Victoria, B.C. "They needed me."
She told the Skellies, which is what the bluesy band is called around town, they needed a female vocalist. She also told them she was going to be that vocalist.
The guys accepted her, she added.
Since joining the Skellies, Jones has played at a Halloween function, Folk on the Rocks in Yellowknife and the South Slave Friendship Festival in Fort Smith.
"I'm a real ham," she says.
"I didn't realize it, but I love being on stage. I don't feel nervous. And I love dressing up. I see myself as an entertainer. The guys want to play music and have a good time and I'm like, 'Let's put on a show!' I want to be right in your face."
Though she titters a bit at the spiritual tone of her statement, she says she sees it as part of a personal transition. "I'm coming into my own"
Inuvik-born, and Fort Smith-bred, the 28-year-old Jones really wants to start an all-chick band. But so far she's not been able to find a chick drummer and a chick bassist. But she has jammed with Veronica McNeil, another Fort Smith home-grown talent.
"Oh, and last year, I started tae kwon do," Jones says. "I've turned into a real jock. I did a couple of triathlons last summer. I play tennis. And I joined boxing in October."
Jones also has a radio show on CHFS, the local community radio station. She's taken up photography and caused quite the stir by posing nude for a still life art class.
"I like setting challenges for myself. I just schedule it and get into a rhythm. If it doesn't fit, I don't do it."
And singing full-time is something she has never considered.
"It would take such a level of commitment and dedication, I'd have to give up other things. That's my trouble. I'm interested in too many things to be focused on one. Maybe one of these days I'll settle down to something..."
Jones doesn't sound very convincing, but says living in the North has helped her tackle new things.
"I don't regret coming back. People think you're isolated, deprived, and it's just not like that. The Northwest Territories has unlimited potential.
"My mom wants me to move south. Why? We're in the best place. The North speaks to me."
Jones is now training for a boxing competition in March, a trip to England with her beloved grandmother in April, and a nine-week yoga instructor course in Victoria. Then it's back home. Maybe then she'll form that all-chick band.
