Soft Opening Podcast

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Soft Opening Podcast

Soft Opening is a podcast dedicated to mental health and tools and resources we all have to support our healing.

It's hosted by counsellor and life celebrant Catherine Skinner and recorded in the Niagara Region of Ontario, Canada

04/11/2025

In our latest episode, I have the pleasure of a deep dive with Maja Bannerman, a published writer, poet, songwriter and performance artist who lives here in the Niagara Region. Maja shares her passion for stepping into the lives of characters she creates to raise awareness, explore and process emotion, advocate, and tell story. We also talk about ancestors, the healing beauty of gratitude and simplicity, and the random surprises and serendipity of the universe.

You can find Maja's work here:

https://www.majabannerman.ca/

https://majabannerman.bandcamp.com/

Season one of Soft Opening is made possible with the support of the Niagara Falls Cultural Development Fund (Niagara Falls Culture Canada )

Co-Produced and Engineered By: Peter Haverkamp

Co-Produced and Hosted By: Catherine Skinner

You can find all of our episodes here https://www.softopening.org or anywhere you stream podcasts.

14/10/2025

Steve Goldberger is a Genie award winning bandleader, producer, songwriter, and musician whose career has spanned over 50 years. In this episode, Steve shares his Musical origins within his Jewish Culture, learning by watching his legendary bass playing uncle.

We also talk about his 2025 Autobiography In a Life, a wonderful collection of stories from the span of his musical career, full of personal photographs and rock and roll ephemera. There’s an album of original music with the same name.

Steve’s openness and curiosity guide his creative life where he’s formed countless Friendships, some of them decades long, and community built around music and collaboration.

Steve also talks about Humility and gratitude as tools for balance and values upon which to create a lifelong artistic career, and how writing has been a tool that to create meaning and perspective through life, especially during some close brushes with mortality.

Find Steve, his books, his music, and tickets to upcoming shows here:

https://www.stevegoldberger.com/

https://stevegoldberger.bandcamp.com/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/5ts4rYMKFVCAEoVbSvCyty

https://music.apple.com/us/artist/steve-goldberger/348745520

https://www.youtube.com/user/SteveGoldberger

Season one of Soft Opening is made possible with the support of the Niagara Falls Cultural Development Fund and in partnership with the Niagara Falls Community Health Centre

Co-Produced and Engineered By: Peter Haverkamp

Co-Produced and Hosted By: Catherine Skinner

03/10/2025

Carl David Onofrio , or C.D. as he is more commonly known, is a prolific Niagara Falls, Canada based poet, performer, and songwriter in his creative life and a spiritual care provider in his professional life. I’m a long-time admirer of both his written and musical work and was so excited to sit down with him. I’m equally excited to share the result with you. In this episode we talk about attention and intention, consumption and creation, flow experience as a tool for happiness, and C.D.’s tools for processing painful and difficult emotion.

Find Episode 12 of Soft Opening wherever you listen to podcasts!

You can find the music of C.D. Onofrio here:

https://cdonofrio.bandcamp.com/

A Sea of Gold and Burgundy:

https://aseaofgoldandburgundy1.bandcamp.com/

The Peace Projectors:

https://thepeaceprojectors.bandcamp.com/album/heart-to-heart

C.D.'s collections of poetry can be found here:

https://greybordersbooks.jigsy.com/carl-david-onofrio

Season one of Soft Opening is made possible with the support of the Niagara Falls Cultural Development Fund

Co-Produced and Engineered By: Peter Haverkamp

Co-Produced and Hosted By: Catherine Skinner

16/09/2025

Joe Lapinski is a songwriter, producer, performer, and soundscape designer based in St. Catharine’s, Ontario. His fourth full length album ‘New Day’ was released earlier in 2025 and we sit down to talk about music and mental health. This open-hearted conversation covers finding deep, lasting love, building a family, and confronting trauma to show up better for yourself and the people you love the most. Joe is integral to the arts scene here in the Region, and it was a real joy getting to know him and hear about his self care practice and his creative process. He also shares an amazing resource for mental health support for musicians at the end of the episode.

You can find Joe at https://joelapinski.ca/

And on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7znLCQibxksjYZ9rxT9fLE

Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/ca/artist/joe-lapinski/722296436

Bandcamp: https://joelapinski.bandcamp.com/

The Musician's Clinic of Canada: https://www.musiciansclinicsofcanada.com/

Season one of Soft Opening is made possible with the support of the Niagara Falls Cultural Development Fund.

Co-Produced and Engineered By: Peter Haverkamp

Co-Produced and Hosted By: Catherine Skinner

26/03/2025

I’m so excited to announce my new project, Soft Opening, a podcast about creativity and healing. Each episode will feature a talented artist speaking candidly about their creative process and how it has supported their mental health and healing.

We’ll also present a series of live performances celebrating the performance artists featured on the show, with a chance for the audience to ask their own questions about healing and creativity.

Big thanks go to the City of Niagara Falls and the Niagara Falls Cultural Development Fund for their support for Soft Opening , as well as our venue sponsor and our community partner

My co-producer and engineer for this podcast is my brilliant partner

If you’re a working artist (in any discipline) living in the Niagara Region and would like to be a guest on the podcast, please use the link in my bio or DM me.

18/03/2025

Hello lovers and dreamers. 🌈✨
It’s been a long while but we have big news for you.
Stay tuned for an announcement later this week. The hearts and minds that brought you LitCab have a new project to share with you all.

10/11/2022

ARTIST PROFILE:

Spending the better part of a decade frequenting tourist traps and hole-in-the-walls, Katey Gatta cut her teeth sneaking her songs in amongst those of her contemporaries. Known for her wistful, smoky voice that envelopes a time capsule of influences, she's been known to evoke salty tears + bloody bar fights alike. Performing under the moniker Sleepy Jean, she released her first extended play Idle Hands midsummer 2021, with a brand new long play slated for release in the fall of 2023.

Come and be enchanted by Katey at the November 12th season finale of LitCab. Tickets on sale now.

LitCab is Niagara’s only literary cabaret, showcasing the original work of Niagara songwriters and wordsmiths.

We’re made possible by the support of

09/11/2022

ARTIST PROFILE

THUNDERCLAP! is a singer/ songwriter/ performer originally from the niagara region. His music’s been played on various radio stations around the globe, and has performed live hundreds of times all over North America and Europe.

These days, a car and a guitar keeps him light and fancy free - THUNDERCLAP is a man alone and a band that can't break up. He believes that the intimate dynamics of the voice can be lost in band situations and the bravery needed to take a stage alone heightens the vulnarability with the performer 'thus' a more emotional repor with an audience can be established. This type of performing can be just as potent when performed on the streets, which THUNDERCLAP does regularly, he likes to term it as 'guerilla folkestry' or himself as a "guerilla folk poet'.

The strength of this performers originality was honed as a practicing method actor. His approach is honesty without a preconceived outcome, a pinch of poetic justice, a grand gesture or two and voila! one hell of a strange, operatic minstrel that will leave you scratching your head.

Catch the magic of Thunderclap at the finale of LitCab on November 12th.

LitCab is possible thanks to the support of and is held at the uniquely charming .cataract

08/11/2022

ARTIST PROFILE:

David Tyrell, better known as Dablock, is a seasoned literary artist who fancies his hand at poetry with a proficiency in jazz infused instrumental creation. When he's not spending time with his daughter playing video games and/ or getting roasted he enjoys making news more than he does watching it. A two time Niagara Music Awards nominee and the recipient of the Diamond Tier Reader's Choice Award for best studio in 2021 Dablock aims to edutain and sustain his pace in the game. Aside from his musical acumen, Dablock is the founder and owner of Culcha Shock magazine, which just celebrated its serving anniversary and is the zine for those unseen in the scene. For more of the latest from the soon to be greatest check out sharetheshock.ca

(Photo by )

Catch the soul-stirring words of Dablock at the LitCab finale on November 12th. Tickets are on sale now.

LitCab is Niagara’s own literary cabaret, featuring the original music and words of artists from all over the Niagara region.

With thanks to the support of and to our partners and .cataract

07/11/2022

An excerpt from Paris-Move (Paris, France):

"Let's clear up a misunderstanding from the outset: as talented as he turns out (and indeed he is), the young singer-songwriter Chris Madronich (of whom Gravely James is therefore the pseudonym) is not strictly speaking bluesman, in the commonly accepted sense, but more the heir to a more than secular tradition: a songster. More in the line of Leadbelly, Big Joe Wiliams, Bukka White, Ramblin 'Jack Elliott, Mississippi John Hurt, Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston, Dave Van Ronk, Sonny Terry, Townes Van Zandt and Pete Seeger than that of Big Bill Broonzy, Howlin 'Wolf or Muddy Waters, Gravely James proves to be an expert in the art of trousseau of these tales which one can imagine that they belong to an immemorial heritage, whereas they are indeed of his pen."

Gravely James was a finalist in the Canadian Songwriting Competition and a Finalist in The Toronto Blues Societies "Talent Search" in 2018.

Catch Gravely James at the Nov 12th finale of LitCab. Seating is limited and tickets are on sale now.

(LitCab is presented with the support of and in partnership with and .cataract)

05/11/2022

ARTIST PROFILEa.s.__official

Hailey Shepstone (J.A.S.) is grade 12 senior at Saint Michael Catholic Secondary School. She is 17 years old and has been doing open mics since July which led to a few gigs. With the help of people like Victor Morgado and Ryan Lunn, this singer/songwriter has started to make a name for themselves in the music community. Her stage name stands for “Just Another Stranger” which is derived from her favourite book quote, “He knew the dream chose the dreamer, not the other way around,” (Strange The Dreamer - Laini Taylor). On top of writing and playing music, she is also a collector of a variety of things, enjoys the outdoors, and participating in various clubs inside and outside of school.

We’re very excited to bring you original music from J.A.S at the November 12th finale of LitCab.

(With thanks for the support of )

Address

4317 Queen St

L2E 2K9

Website

http://www.softopening.org/

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