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Bowie tribute at Oshawa Music Hall Jan 28
Ultimate Artists Live presents “Bowie Lives” the ultimate tribute to David Bowie. Michael Bell covers all of the late great artist, from Spiders to Scary Monsters.
Details here ->
Councillor Rick Kerr (centre front) and The Rose, a collaborative painting created at the launch of The Cycle.
Photo by Denise Wilkins
Call to artists: Oshawa councillor's 'The Cycle' event rotates on collaborative power
The "Hope" Cycle was spun into motion at a launch party held Saturday Jan 21 2017 at UOIT's Charles Street campus in downtown Oshawa. On March 25 the ground floor of the historic building will be taken over by the first rotation of The Cycle. It will feature collaborations by Oshawa/Durham based artists of all genres. The theme of the event is "Hope".
Kerr's vision, inspired by a trip to Florence Italy, is to see the collaborations continue on into the coming years, with events themed after the Seven Virtues; Faith, Hope, Charity, Fortitude, Temperance, Prudence and Justice.
Members of he Oshawa Art Association and the Living Room Art Community participated in the launch but the call is also being sent out to artists who were not present.
There is no budget for the event but artists will be allowed sell their work, and no commissions will be taken says Councillor Kerr. There is also no curation and no jury process to the work. The only limit seems to be the space itself, which lends itself to a long list of participants and collaborations.
Standing with Kerr for the launch were Oshawa Mayor John Henry, MPP Lorne Coe, MP Celina Caesar-Chavannes (Parliamentary Secretary to PM Justin Trudeau), MP Colin Carrie's Executive Assistant and the President of the UOIT Dr. Tim McTiernan.
Photo by Robert Bell
John England on the spring sea ice of Ekalugad Fiord, eastern Baffin Island, Nunavut, 1965. (Tim Sookocheff)
U of Alta professor John England's passion for Canada's north is inspirational
"I was just overwhelmed by the beauty, the silence, the timelessness... You first fall in love with the land, then you fall in love with the science." - John England
Driving home Thursday night (Jan 19) I randomly switched stations to CBC and Anna Marie Tremonti was on, always worth listening to but last night's interview which I have linked here, was with John England. He has been working in the Arctic for 50 years and has witnessed climate change first hand. He is professor emeritus at the University of Alberta and recently won the 2016 Weston Family for Lifetime Achievement in Northern Research.
But it is his deep love, his passion and knowledgable about his work in the North and the people who live there, that makes you stop, listen and maybe even take action. His passion is contagious.
It's Bell Rock, Laughed The Boy, its Bell Rock
Laughed The Boy will release their debut album, Here Is Fine, Feb 10. One of the tracks, "Bell Rock" is streaming on the SoundCloud. Its the second single; "Indifferent" was aired last year. The band have a deep sonic sensibility and a sense of context to their tunes. I'm digging it and looking forward to a listen of the Here Is Fine, although it may be so much more.
Barenaked Ladies at Mariposa 2017, joins headliners Bruce Cockburn, Matt Anderson
The Barenaked Ladies will take their acoustic hiphop and their list of pop hits to Mariposa 2017 joining previously announced headliners, the forthright folk of Bruce Cockburn and the soulful blues of Matt Anderson. Mariposa is always more than the sum of its acts however. More acts will be announced but get your tickets early, its Mariposa and Canada's 150 and that will add up to a very special celebration. Somewhere I'm guessing BNL will jam with Cockburn on Lovers in a Dangerous Time, guessing, but . . .
Buffy Sainte-Marie to receive Allan Waters Humanitarian award at Junos 2017
“The good news about the bad news is that more people understand now
To mark this occasion I am leaving an interview I had with Buffy last June, it ran in Winnipeg Metro.
On June 21, the Summer Solstice, Canadians will celebrate National Aboriginal Day even as many non-Aboriginals remain in the dark about their First Nations, Inuit and Metis neighbours. A recent survey by the Environics Institute and the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation found only about 40 per cent of non-Aboriginal Canadians even knew of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. One of the commission’s recommendations however was for increased education and the same survey found seventy per cent of participants were familiar with the residential school system. That increase in awareness is reason enough for award winning artist and activist Buffy Sainte-Marie to celebrate and headline a free festival at The Forks on June 25.
“The good news about the bad news is that more people understand now,” says Sainte-Marie from her home in Hawaii. “More people are aware now of what happened, and aware of the implications of what happened in the past to natives, aboriginal peoples. What I am celebrating is more people know now than knew fifty years ago when I was first talking about boarding schools and genocide.”
She will be talking further about boarding schools and genocide at the AGO Creative Minds Art and Social Justice event at Massey Hall in Toronto Sept. 20. This event will be livestreamed on CBC.ca. She will be also be performing at Hillside in Guelph July 24 with The Sadies whom Sainte-Marie first met at the Pyramid Cabaret on Fork Street. She says they were fans and asked her onstage to special guest on “Cod’ine”.
No Sadies but Buffy’s special guests at the Forks will be the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and conductor Alexander Micklethwate. It may shock purists of either tradition but reconciliation takes many forms.
“It might surprise an audience who thinks of me as a lesser musician, as a pop musician and they might think of orchestral music, in particular European classical music as being a higher type of music. I don’t rank any kind of music. I truly adore orchestral music. I was the little girl who lay down on the floor with my mother's vacuum pipes in my ears attached to the record player while I listened to Tchaikovsky, headphones before we had them,” she says.
Buffy Sainte-Marie listening to the Europeans even as the Europeans had taken away the voice of her people. It’s ironic but to reconcile truthfully people need to listen to each other. And when they do there’s no end of reasons to celebrate.
Sainte-Marie says Canadians can further celebrate the resonance the T.R.C. has in the United States and internationally, and the spotlight it puts on indigenous issues worldwide.
“I think all Canadians, of course we are heartbroken it ever happened, but we ought to be thrilled that the leadership that put Truth and Reconciliation on the map and in the headlines in Canada, are also impacting the countries to the south where it has not even been recognised yet. So thats a good thing, thats a good thing,” she says.
It’s a good thing both Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals have Buffy Sainte-Marie speaking up, singing out and walking us along the path of reconciliation.
I would also suggest you take the time to listen and view this remarkable event.
High school artists kicks off 2017 at Visual Arts Centre, opening Jan 29
Young artists from high schools right across Clarington will be on display at the VAC. The exhibit opens Jan 29 and runs until Feb 26.
Photo credit: Lindsay Duncan
Bill 'n Joel next up Massey Hall Apr 8, Lindsay May 3, with Mayhemingways
First and foremost who wouldn't want to roadtrip with their kid and secondly even more so if your kid is Joel Plaskett. Senior and Jr. are touring the cross-Canada with their joint album Solidarity dropping Feb 17 on Pher0mone Records. There are several Southern Ontario dates of course most notably at Massey Hall and in SlowCity's backyard, the town of Lindsay. The two will be supported by Peterborough's Mayhemingways on much of the tour.
You want it darker - The Sadies and Blue Rodeo Feb 11 at TCC in Oshawa
The Sadies are touring with pals Blue Rodeo, a tour which will bring them to Oshawa's Tribute Communities Centre on Feb. 11 2017. The Sadies have a new album, Northern Passages, dropping on Dine Alone the day before, Feb 10. They also play Massey Hall Feb 2. Pick that, pick the other, pick both, pick all, just pick The Sadies everytime you can.
Photo credit: Caroline Desilets
You want it darker - Timber Timbre new album due, new song Sewer Blues out
Timber Timbre sends best wishes to the dark monsters in your soul with Sincerely, Future Pollution, out on Arts & Crafts Apr 7 2017. TT's fancy turns to synths on this latest release., he moves deeper into the urban underworld previously looked at on Hot Dreams, moving away from the rural blackgrass of the earlier output. The video and new single "Sewer Blues" is available.
You want it darker - Lee Harvey Osmond at the Market Hall in Peterborough Jan 19
Lee Harvey Osmond - a combination, a culmination, little Junkhouse, little Blackie & the Rodeo Kings, beauty scars and blues bars - or Tom Wilson in all his vastness, plays the Market Hall Performing Centre in Peterborough Jan 19 2017.
Why you need Zakk Wylde in your life now
Like a lost prayer on a stormy day, like a simple man tied to a whipping post.