Ten minute tea with Afternoon Tea. Spend ten minutes with Afternoon Tea. In the time it takes to boil one kettle, and let one cup of tea steep, we will have your daily art + music fix covered. Take your afternoon tea break with our Afternoon Tea curators. Need an extra lump of sugar? One more sip? If you have five minutes more, we have one more hit.
Today’s tea + soundtrack + visuals curated by Marshall Dane.
Canadian singer-songwriter Marshall Dane is a natural born storyteller whose journey has been shaped by a life full of victories and setbacks. He doesn’t shy away from sharing his vulnerabilities and emotions, making him and his music both relatable and heartfelt. His unique blend of country, rock and singer-songwriter has, to date, earned him five nominations for Male Artist of the Year at the Country Music Association of Ontario awards.
What sets Marshall apart is his use of American Sign Language (ASL) to communicate with the Deaf community. As the son of a minister, he was raised with a strong sense of compassion and inclusivity. Since learning ASL in 2017, he has been incorporating the language into his performances to break down barriers and make his music accessible.
He co-wrote his new single, “No Need To Speak,” with award-winning singer-songwriter Rosanne Baker Thornley (RBT). “The motive was my appreciation, understanding and conviction that we don’t need words to understand each other. We just need to pay attention, use our eyes, our hearts,” says Marshall. “If there’s someone you love and you need them to know how strongly you feel, that they can count on you in that moment, this song will support you.”
Stream + share “No Need To Speak” now.
Watch + share the official video with ASL interpretation:
THE SONG – Kenny Rogers – The Gambler
My grandma lived in an old apartment building.
For the summer when I was 14, I would drive my bicycle to her place each morning during the week at 7:30am.
Unbeknownst to my mama, I wasn’t going there for grandma.…I was going so I could be there when the lifeguard opened the pool….she was 27.
I’d stay there all day, even when it was freezing, just to hang out with her. She would listen to different music…one artist named Christa Berg….who, as a young man, I thought the artist sounded a lot like a guy…until later in life I heard of Chris De Burgh.
Each day, when she closed the pool at 6pm…I’d go up to my grandmas apartment. I’d go up to the 17th floor and make my way to the back bedroom where she had pink, plush carpeting installed.
She had a General Electric record player and 5 albums.
Bing Crosby’s Greatest Hits, Johnny Denver’s Greatest Hits Vol 1 and 2, Peter, Paul and Mary…and my absolute all time favourite record…Kenny Rogers – 20 Greatest Hits.
I knew every song, with the skips.
Listening over and over to this record I learned what it was like to ‘fall into a song’…I could picture the drive past the Lucky Star and finding out that Scarlett wasn’t there…or to see the giant man in the mirror as Lucille explains how she’s done with trying to fix her relationship….at 14, I felt their experiences.
The song on the record that always stuck with me the most was The Gambler. At my young age, I had no idea it was a ‘big hit’….I just knew that the character in the song had so much on his mind that he didn’t care where he went…he just had to go somewhere even if it was nowhere bound.
I can still hear my grandma telling me “He’s going to Dover cuz going nowhere doesn’t make sense”…but to me, as a young man who had lived a full life by 14…this made total sense….leaving without a destination just to get somewhere else, other than where you are. I appreciated the guts that it would take and the courage to answer an inner calling to leave and forge a new path.
Looking back at my life now…I could see myself in that character…very much…and the choices I faced as I got older, solidified that I’m similar to the man I pictured in the song.
THE PICTURE – SABLE ISLAND
In 2017 I travelled to Sable Island..the mystical land of the horses, spoken about in Farley Mowat and Margaret Attwood books. I was hired as an artist/performer as well as an expedition guide. In 2017 Sable Island, governed and protected by Parks Canada, located 200 kms off the East Coast of Canada, a sandbar in the middle of the Atlantic, was opened up for a brief period, to host guests to walk amongst the horses in this wild and beautifully untouched location. I was hired by an expedition team to partake in bringing 60 guests to this spot. The likes of which included Alex Trebek (2 years before his passing) and his wife, the gentleman that invented the first word processor for Bill Gates and a few more affluent folks that could afford the price tag.
There I was…in this magical place, with people whose pocket book was far deeper than my humble musician lifestyle could ever afford, and yet I was there.
For 3 days I drove a zodiac back n forth between our small ship and Sable Island. I took the photo above on the first day.
I recall being on the first zodiac to go meet the Canadian Guard, the only full time resident on the island…and as we passed through the layer of fog that surrounds the island and keeps it hidden from passing ships, the seals came out to greet us in myriads…swimming all around us.
As we moved closer to shore you could see the horses running along the horizon.
For 3 days I watched as the horses grazed on SandWart (a small grass that grows in sand)…walked gently over the seals as they lay in the hundreds across the beach. They were fit, beautiful and nature was balanced.
The first major impact this expedition had on me was that I stopped eating meat almost immediately…not on purpose at first…but upon arriving back to Ontario and ordering chicken wings….I looked at the chicken…remembered how the horses could’ve attacked the seals for their meat at any moment, but rather fed on the vegetation…and were all the better for it…and I couldn’t pick up the chicken wings from that point on…I’ve never eaten meat, with the exception of a piece of Caribou freshly caught and cut while in the north Arctic from my Inuit guide, ever since.
The second major impact was this: why I learned Sign Language.
On our very last night near Sable Island, as we started to sail back to mainland Canada…we had a dinner…and I was sitting with Alex, his wife..the computer dude, a very wealthy man that paid big money to sit next to Alex..and the wealthy mans female guest.
During dinner, each person at the table told their story… of their life and journey that brought them here. Alex’s was fantastical and unreal…the word processor guy was just as wild…but it was the woman sitting next to me that had the story that would change my life forever.
Upon it being her turn to tell her events..she replied “ you don’t want to hear my story..it’s not that exciting…not like the rest of you”….however after some coaxing, she started…” I used to be a competitive skier…but then I broke both my legs and my career was over..So I decided to become a doctor who helps injured athletes. In my 3rd year of University, my girlfriend offered me a summer job at a junior school she worked at…I took her up on the invite and on day one, we both arrived at the school, met the Principal, and he assigned us our rooms and said I’ll see you at noon for lunch.
After she went to her room, she immediately went back to see the Principal and mentioned he must’ve made a mistake, as the room he assigned her had ten 8 year old Deaf children.
The Principal assured her that unfortunately he didn’t have an actual class for her to teach, but in the meantime, these kids needed to be babysat as they’re getting into trouble. She replied with “They’re getting into trouble because no one can communicate with them…I don’t speak Sign Language, does any one else here?” He replied “We don’t unfortunately have anyone who speaks ASL nor do the parents of these children know ASL.
That’s when the woman changed her life once again…changed the trajectory of hers and those 10 children…and unbeknownst to her…mine.
She explained that she quite Doctor University studies and enrolled in Gaudette University…Americas Largest Centre For Deaf Education…She learned History, Mathematics, Science, Geography all in ASL, American Sign Language, allthewhile travelling back n forth to teach the children what she had learned…
Her story ended by saying that 4 days before we reached Sable Island, she received an email from one of her students who had just turned 24 years old…and got her Masters.
I was crying uncontrollably by the time her story finished.
Within 1 week of arriving back in Ontario I was enrolled in ASL classes. Within 2 weeks of being home, I had my first class.
I’m still an ASL student, have completed as many online courses and curriculums they offer, and have the blessing of the Deaf community in my world now.
Sable Island…it’s magic is real. Its power is like no other.
I cry every time I tell this story. I have tears right now filling my eyes again. This woman changed my life…and I don’t even know her name…she’ll never know how inspiring she is.
THE TEA – MAGIC TEA
This is my secret tea recipe for healing colds, sore throats and congestion.
I received it from an Indian woman I encountered one evening walking through my town. It was a random, chance meeting.
She spoke of vibrations and healing plants…then proceeded to tell me to drink this tea she made.
Ingredients:
Boiled black tea
Two cloves
1/2 cinnamon stick
Ginger root
Cardamom
Organic honey
I make this every winter when the cold season starts….sometimes if I get a summer cold, I make a batch on the stove as well.
Enjoy.
Tea + Me 