Look what Terry Sheehan wants to bring to the Sault

"Is this for real?" a clearly skeptical Ward 1 Councillor Steve Butland asked at one point during last night's City Council meeting.

But Butland's Ward 2 counterpart Terry Sheehan is dead serious about getting the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) to build a permanent home for the Canadian Music Hall of Fame here in Sault Ste. Marie.

Last night, Sheehan got the go-ahead to lead a committee that will investigate the Sault's chances of becoming the new capital of Canada's music industry.

CARAS is the outfit that produces the annual Juno awards.

Since 1998, the academy has maintained a 'virtual' Canadian Music Hall of Fame on its website.

Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians are there.

So are Neil Young, Leonard Cohen, The Band, Joni Mitchell, Hank Snow, Anne Murray, Oscar Petersen, Bruce Cockburn, Daniel Lanois and Tom Cochrane.

On June 14, CARAS announced that it's seeking proposals from communities and/or individuals interested in building and hosting a permanent bricks-and-mortar home for the hall.

And Sheehan would like it to be here.

He points out that Sault Ste. Marie is already home to the Northern Ontario Country Music Hall of Fame and the Great Northern Opry, and that we're at the hub of the Great Lakes in the centre of Canada.

"This new Canadian Music Hall of Fame could be a profitable and unique tourist destination for Sault Ste. Marie," Sheehan says.

Mayor Rowswell has appointed him to chair a committee that will seek federal, provincial and private-sector partners to help prepare an expression of interest and preliminary concept plan to meet CARAS' initial deadline of September 15.

Final proposals, including any additional information sought by CARAS, are due on December 15.

The academy wants to see a Hall of Fame building between 35,000 and 70,000 square feet.

"The academy will approve all aspects of the building as well as its operations," CARAS says in its website.

"On-going exhibit updates will be very important. Applicants will be responsible for facility financing, with no academy contribution, and will be expected to pay an initial license fee plus ongoing royalties to the academy.

"In return, the Academy will assist in promotion as well as acquiring and clearing exhibits."

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