A school assignment that is actually enjoyable to complete is a rarity. Even rarer is the project that continues to evolve well past the final deadline (and not because it’s overdue).

Kevin McLean has turned a class project into a labour of love. Nearly a year after completing the Introduction to Oral History course offered at the University of Winnipeg, McLean, 26, is putting the finishing touches on his project and presenting it to the public within the very building that he chose to document.

“I’ve dubbed it the people’s history (of the club),” McLean says regarding his historical collage based on the origins of Winnipeg’s famed roots venue The Times Change(d) High and Lonesome Club.

“I wasn’t around for the beginnings (of the St. Mary Avenue bar), so I interviewed those that were. I went straight to the source.”

“The source” includes the Times Change(d) owner, John Scoles, and the bands and artists that evolved within the bar’s four walls.

McLean initially attended the University of Manitoba as a music performance student, but has changed his focus and may now graduate with a bachelor of music history, thanks to all of the research he has compiled over the past year.

Stemming from the course he took last fall, and with the help of Dr. Nolan Riley and the U of W Oral History Centre, McLean began documenting the history of something that has not been recorded before.

“I’m a musician first, so I thought I would record the history of Winnipeg’s music scene,” says McLean, who performs with SubCity and The Paperbacks.

I admit to McLean that I had a hard time finding concrete information about the Times Change(d) online while prepping for our conversation. He says this is exactly why he chose this venue for his project.

“There is no definitive ‘start’ of the Times, even from Scoles,” he says.

Instead, the place now known as the Times Change(d) has a convoluted past that involves previous owners, a neighbouring blues bar and no parentheses.

McLean’s multimedia presentation will feature interviews from many of the musical acts that got their start in the Times Change(d)’s neighbour The Blue Note Café, which counts well-known Winnipeg artists Romi Mayes, Scott Nolan, The Perpetrators and the D.Rangers among them.

When its doors closed, they made the natural move two doors down to the Times Change(d).

Attendees are guaranteed to hear many great stories about the roots club’s past, including its wild connection to the Titanic and how their anniversaries line up, as well as the first-hand encounters of the people involved with the development of the establishment.

Coupled with McLean’s own narration and background visuals, the evening is sure to be fleshed out by the presence of the guest of honour, the club itself.

“When they’re hearing about the decorations they’ll be able to look around and have their own first-hand encounter,” says McLean.

While this may sound like a lot of work for one person, McLean loves it.

“Friends have pointed out it’s been as long as a master’s, but I’ve been having too much fun.”

Published in Volume 66, Number 6 of The Uniter (October 5, 2011)