Producer Harrison and suite popper Arian Hill must have hooked their bedsits together with some cans and twine or maybe more likely Skype and synths bringing their in-my-room vibes together. But with anything it starts with a great track and Not Good Enough is a beaut.
What Does It Mean to be Normal? Dancyn Productions tackles mental illness
NEXT TO NORMAL, THE MUSICAL
DANCYN PRODUCTIONS
Produced by Zac Mansfield, Musical Direction by Diana Chappell, Stage Managed by Kit Bauldry, Choreographed and Directed by Joan Mansfield
By Paul Love
Mental illness is a topic that occasionally finds its way into musicals, sometimes in lighthearted, comedic takes like the Burt Bacharach 60s musical comedy Promises, Promises, or the more serious Lady in the Dark, created by Kurt Weill and Ira Gershwin in the early 1940s. Perhaps no show tackles mental illness quite as unflinchingly head-on as NEXT TO NORMAL, created in 2008 by Brian Yorkey (lyrics and original book) and Tom Kitt (music), and currently being staged by Oshawa’s Dancyn Productions. NEXT TO NORMAL explores the concept of what it means to be normal, whether being normal is a realistic goal, and the controversial ways modern medical practices help people to achieve the state of being “normal”, but with the sacrifice of their highest highs and lowest lows. The show certainly hit all the right notes with audiences—in its Broadway run in 2009, NEXT TO NORMAL was nominated for 11 Tony Awards, winning 3.
At the beginning, we are introduced to Diana Goodman, a loving wife and mother who we find out suffers from bipolar disorder, which she has been battling for over 16 years. She struggles to repair this disorder, which has greatly affected her family’s well-being. As Diana, Laura LeBreton McMinn presents a character that is warm and likeable; she draws us in and we can’t help but root for her. Diana is the heart and soul of this show, and we feel this through all of the powerful emotion, pain, and exhaustion that Ms. McMinn imbues her character with every moment she is onstage.
Diana’s son, Gabe, is portrayed by Conner Clarkin as a typical curfew-challenged 17-year-old. Mr. Clarkin infuses his early scenes with a gleeful abandon, and then, during his mother’s most difficult moments, shows a fear and sadness that tugs at our heartstrings.
Nicole Cann plays Diana’s daughter, Natalie, who is at times greatly affected by her mother’s disorder and its various treatments, all the while dealing with the travails of being a teenager. Ms. Cann’s Natalie is an anxious, quiet, loner on the surface, but it is through her powerful singing voice that Ms. Cann shows us the fire and anguish Natalie keeps bottled up inside. Natalie and her mom are often at odds with each other, and the two actors play off of each other well in these moments. Natalie finds the comfort she needs in the company of Henry (Robert Herr), a classmate who struggles to make a romantic connection with Natalie amidst her family’s turmoil. Mr. Herr and Ms. Cann share a sweet, believable chemistry in their scenes together.
The person trying to steer the ship through the rough waters of this family’s struggles is Dan—Diana’s husband. Daron Owen ably handles this role, portraying Dan as a calming presence with the right body language and a steady singing voice.
Bob Bauldry tackles the dual roles of Dr. Madden and Dr. Fine—the medical practitioners who attempt to alleviate the symptoms of Diana’s bipolar disorder through different medical practices, which sometimes seem to make matters worse.
Director Joan Mansfield’s set is appropriately cold, stark, and lacking in comfort, not only because this is a house where its occupants do little beyond the exhaustive battle of simply making it through each day, but also because it doubles as the spaces of Diana’s fractured, desolate mind. Zac Mansfield’s lighting design is most effective when it shifts—sometimes strongly—along with Diana’s mood changes.
Dancyn Productions’ NEXT TO NORMAL continues at The Dancyn Theatre, 681 Dnipro Boulevard, May 10th to 13th at 8 pm, with a 2 pm matinee on May 14th. Tickets are available at the door before each performance or visit their website for further information.
Arts Events
NEW ON:
Fri. May 5 - RMG Fridays @ the Robert McLaughlin Gallery, Oshawa
Sat. May 6 - Sun May 7 Scugog Studio Tour
Sat. May 6 - Ontario Philharmonic (Mozart) @ the Regent Theatre, Oshawa
Sat. May 6 - Stephanie Foden exhibit @ the Robert McLaughlin Gallery
Sat. May 6 - Doors Open Whitby
Sat. May 6 - County Pop Festival, @ the Crystal Palace, Picton, Prince Edward County
Sat. May 13 - 10th Annual Durham College Exhibition @ Station Gallery, Whitby
Sat. May 27 - Paul Sloggett exhibit @ the Hatch Gallery, Bloomfield, Price Edward County
Stephanie Foden - Party 2016
Photographer Stephanie Foden visualizes the viscosity of Brazil in new RMG/CONTACT exhibit
For Stephanie Foden photography is as much about the physical as the visual, as much about the space as it is the light, maybe more.
“I take photos of what I see trying to establish a visual sense of place,” says Foden.
For the past four years her place has been in Brazil documenting the ordinary lives of her extraordinary neighbours in the northeastern coastal state of Bahia and its capital Salvador.
Her debut solo show “Saudade da Bahia” currently on display at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery. The exhibit is part of the Scotiabank CONTACT photography festival taking place at various locations in Toronto and at satellite sites in the GTA.
After graduating from Journalism at Durham College Foden travelled solo to Bahia. She says her intention was to stay for a few weeks but the best laid plans etc.
“I was so compelled by the mystery and beauty of the region that I kept extending my stay. I extended is enough that I started to establish roots there and had no interest in leaving,” she says.
Stephanie Foden - Sao Joao 2016
She was inspired by the intense visuality of the culture around her, in particular the capital, Salvador, where 80 per cent of the people are of African descent, the legacy of the city’s position as the largest port on the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
“I just fell in love with Bahia and loved photographing there in general. I learned a lot. I didn’t decide I wanted to be a photographer until I was almost done college, so in a way living and photographing in Bahia was like an education for me. Bahia has such beautiful colour and light, so I really started to craft my aesthetic with that in mind. My work has a lot of deep bold colours and much of that was inspired by Bahia,” she says.
Foden’s photographs capture the easy flow of colours and cultures which move, as Leonard Cohen’s sang, like the shoreline and the sea. It is her bold approach to softness which has earned Foden many accolades including being selected by Photo Boite as one of their 30 Under 30 women photographers. She also won the American Experience category in the 14th annual Smithsonian Magazine photography contest for her portrait of a Native American family taken on commission for The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s initiative, The Development Set. In 2016 Her work won her the Emerging Photographer Award at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery’s annual fundraiser, RMG Exposed.
Saudade de Bahia continues until June 11 2017.
Photo - Foden Twitter
Oh Susanna - A Girl in Teen City - is your city a teen city?
Driving through a grey damp Shwacity today I was thinking about writing a play about a city with no teens, just old people in the old section of town and young families in the new subdivisions but no teens, not even twenty somethings, thirty somethings, forty somethings - they all move away and I though that would be a good place to set a story; a city creativity flees and then Oh Susanna is delivered to my inbox and it all falls into place.
Morris Lum, Untitled Diptych 1, 2017
Oshawa's culture inspires a novel and an art exhibit but are the portrayals accurate?
Guest column by Shannon Barill
Art in all its forms reflects the world we live in. It provides us with a narrative outside our own that expands who we are and what we’re capable of. It can also be a catalyst for change. I think Andrew F. Sullivan’s book, "Waste", and the new Robert McLaughlin Gallery exhibit, "Visitor Information", are the latest examples of art that will contribute to change for the better in our fair city.
Andrew F. Sullivan lived in Oshawa until his preteen years. He grew up hearing stories from the adults in his life who lived through the strange and tumultuous 80s era of this city. He took inspiration for the story that Waste tells from these tall tales. He also found insight in other cities like the east end of London, ON, where he did his undergrad.
“I woke up on like a carpeted bathroom floor and I was like I’m… I’m in east London. I don’t know where, but I’m in east London,” he said in an interview. He thinks there are a lot of cities with similar elements to that, like Belleville and Kingston he says.
Sullivan researched his book by reading the police blotters from all the Oshawa newspapers for the entire 80’s. “. . . a lot of the crazy stuff that happened . . . I just condensed it in 3 months. Like a lot of the stuff did happen It just didn’t happen to those people in that short amount of time,” he says.
Although reception to the book has been mixed, especially by those who lived in Oshawa during that time, this story, in my opinion, details why Oshawa culture developed as it did. It relates the heartbreak, the abandonment of its people by those in power and how generations of classism can seep deep into the heart of a society and corrupt it.
Sullivan’s rendering of this period of Oshawa history is akin to a surreal “David Lynch nightmare version” but all good literature requires poetic license. His ability to draw the reader in with his grotesque tableaus is subtle and a great example of literary psychology. The imagery however, is not subtle at all. It’s in your face so much you can smell the piss and shit that his characters wade through.
At a time when Oshawa is experiencing upheaval, a story such as Waste can provide us an understanding of how our city got where we are and how we can change for the better.
Another telling of the story of Oshawa is being told at the Robert McLaughlin Gallery. To celebrate its 50th year anniversary five artists were commissioned by the RMG to produce a project that “grapples with the shifting nature of Oshawa’s social, economic and technological fabric.” according to the exhibit's literature. The exhibit runs from April 29th to September 19th. You will see and hear the story of Oshawa, told through the experiences of its people, and interpreted by the artists.
Martie Giefert, UOIT Sound Room, 2016
Lise Beaudry, Michèle Pearson Clarke, Martie Giefert, Morris Lum, and Jeff Thomas are all Ontario-based artists. Each artist has created an exhibit that tell an Oshawa story through their eyes, using photography or film. The stories share much of our history, some known and some not. They explore the impact of GM, technology, and institutions like Durham College, UOIT and Lakeridge Health. A peak into our city’s history through the eyes of outsiders will help us see just how far we’ve come as a community and where we can go from here.
Oshawa has been painted with a black brush for good reason. The city’s pain has been prolonged needlessly. The fault for this lies not with its people however but with leaders and decisions makers. They are the ones who charted our journey. Many opportunities exist for healthy growth and progress which any resourceful leader could take advantage of. But apathy is apparent at the top still. Regardless, we have several beacons of hope throughout the city. Many members in our community have decided to take it upon themselves to lead their neighbours and even the community at large in positive change.
Sullivan's novel, set as it is in the 80s, shows us just how far we have come along this path of positivity. RMG’s exhibit will also place the city's shadowy past in a better light. Change will come by way of the arts and artists can inspire us to be the change Oshawa needs.
Shannon Barill is a self-described learner, researcher, educator, library Fangirl and lover of music, art, books, science, tech and humans.
Chastity offers helping hand to Frontenac Youth Services Apr 28 in Ajax
Chastity and Nicole Dollanganger will headline a concert for the Frontenac Youth Services at 89 Commercial Avenue in Ajax, ON, on Friday Apr 28 2017.
Chastity (Brandon Williams) says the concert is intended to raise awareness and money for Frontenac which serves youth in Durham Region facing psychiatric and behavioural battles.
“I hope to be in action for mental health. I want to feel healthy, I want my friends, my local community to feel healthy,” says Williams, “Going to punk shows has felt like sanctuary for me. I have felt on the fringe, and I felt at home at shows. There is a need in this community, for young people here, to have a safe space to go.”
Punk has served the Whitby-raised Williams well, and his star as they say is on the rise. He just finished a tour with Fucked Up and heads out across the States in June with METZ. A new record is being finished in the interim.
SPUNK and Poor You are also on the all ages bill. Doors open at 7 p.m. and it’s PWYC.
FB Event page ->
West Hammock as the boys of Summer, new video for Anchors
Cottage life as the subject for West Hammock's video for the track 'Anchors". Who wouldn't want to hang with this lot, looks like fun and the track is a piano pusher with a little bit of The Beatles' "I've Got a Feeling" surfacing.
County Pop in Picton P.E. May 6, community and music
Prince Edward County springs into the music festival season with County Pop May 6 at the Crystal Palace in Picton. The indoor all day all-ages fest featuring Joel and Bill Plaskett, Terra Lightfoot and The Weather Station, is lead by Dave Ullrich who also organizes the Sandbanks Festival in mid-September.
"The spring fest idea was to kick off the summer season of music and County art. It makes a nice counter balance to Sandbanks Music at the very tail end of summer," says Ullrich who was in the Inbreds with Mike O'Neill, they were part of the Cancon indie wave of the 90s. The Inbreds will reunite to play Sandbanks. Great Lake Swimmers, By Divine Right and The Lonely Parade are also on that bill.
The Festival's mandate says the organizers "believe that the Spring season is when the County ‘pops’ and this event kicks off the celebration of the natural beauty of the County." The festival prioritizes promoting the County's original music, arts, lifestyle, economy and environment and will donate one dollar from every ticket to the Prince Edward Learning Centre.
For those making the trip to PE and wanting to stay over, there is camping at Quintes Isle but for the less hardy, Ullrich recommends the June Hotel, sounds warm and with the Plasketts onstage you know the sounds will be warmer too. Good because I'm done with this winter, its as cold as Kelowna handclap.
For more details on either fest check the websites, COUNTY POP and SANDBANKS FESTIVAL
CMW picks for Saturday Apr 22: Daniel Romano, You've Changed Records, Zoobombs
The prolific Daniel Romano is quickly becoming a one man Sadies, with his masterful mash-up of surf, punk, spaghetti western swing, country and his own name for it all mosey. His new record "Modern Pressure" will be out May 19 on You've Changed Records in Canada, New West elsewhere. It follows fast on the well-shod heels of his 2016 Mosey, a gem of a disc. Daniel is performing as part of his house label's showcase at the Longboat Hall. Partner, Shotgun Jimmie are also on the bill. Plan to be there.
and who can resist The Zoobombs . . . at the Silver Dollar. . . at 3 AM!!! Whut? Yes SURPRISE!!! They're playing with Japanese Breakfast and it or may not include donuts.
CMW picks for Friday Apr 21: Dine Alone showcase, plus Crown Lands, Peregrine Falls
CMW rolls on . . .
Quite the showcase at Lee's Palace tonight, with The Sadies and The Dandy Warhols. Its a safe bet for fast times.
Crown Lands are a couple of rock happy kats who have their Rush and Led Zep patches worn proudly on their sleeves. Its the heart of their rock 'n roll. Plus its loud. These two are the one to watch out for. They're at the Hard Rock with Bloody Diamonds.
If you plan the night right you can close up with Peregrine Falls at the Monarch. These global citizens pull their sound from all aspects of their heritage, and occasionally may be known to back up Dan Mangan. Plus if you missed Walrus last night at the Shoe, you get another run at them opening.
CMW picks for Thursday Apr 20, BEYRIES, Charlotte Cornfield and Tanya Tagaq
CMW takes over TO this week, building up to an overflow of gigs, showcases, comedy, seminars, talks, awards, its all happening and somewhat overwhelming but we do the heavy lifting for you folks (you're welcome) and here's some thoughts if you're about this eve.
Beyries is just an incredible modern singer/songwriter and would be pick number one for me - she is at the Supermarket for the Bonsound Showcase
Singer/songwriter Charlotte Cornfield is also one to take note. Incredible smart songwriting with an eye on being a more beat Leonard Cohen. Charlotte is at the Baby G
Wildlife is on with Matt Mays at Lee's Palace - rare show for the East coast country rock, he’s been quiet and missed. Wildlife are a severely underrated band who deserve more attention for their timely anthemic pop songs.
Six Shooter Records' showcase is another settle in for the night with the hear me roar Tanya Tagaq and the quiet strength of Amelia Curran. All on at the Phoenix.
54-40 from No Man's land to Hall of Fame at CMW Indies Awards: Slowcity.ca chats with Neil Osborne
There is a case to be made 54-40 kickstarted the Canada’s indie scene. Seems right so, that the band, emerging from Vancouver in the early 80s with a sound akin to The Smiths or Echo and the Bunnymen, have been inducted into the Indies Hall of Fame Wednesday Apr 19 2017, at the Phoenix Concert Hall in Toronto. Or it could be just me.
My journey into the Canadian indie music scene began when the first record I bought upon arrival as an immigrant in 1984 was the Green Album from 54-40. I had no idea who they were. I was interested in hearing tunes from my adopted country. I went to the slim section of Canadian Music at Star Records and bought it.
I only had the one record so I played it a lot. I still do. It is still a brilliant album, so brilliant it encouraged me to concentrate on Canadian musicians ever since. So y’all can blame Neil Osborne and Brad Merritt for my continuous annoyance of your ears with suggestions about acts, local and national.
But it wasn’t called Indie back then. It was alternative or post-punk. 54-40 lead man Neil Osborne says they called it “underground music.” They drew from their Vancouver scene kin, the likes of DOA and Art Bergman but the Rockies created a barrier that saw Vancity pair up with Washington state bands more so than their eastern Canadian peers. The border was irrelevant to music but fairly important to the band itself; 54-40 refers to a historic border dispute between the two North American nations.
“Brad came up with the name,” says Osborne, “We met in Grade 11. I had just moved from Edmonton and he had lived all though the States. His dad got transferred everywhere. My dad got transferred, he was Federal Government. I lived coast to coast, I was in a different school almost every year. We started up a friendship and we were in Tsawwassen - if you go south of Vancouver to where you take the ferry over to Vancouver Island, it’s a little peninsula but because of the 49th Parallel, which slices right across, there’s a little tip you would think is in Canada but it’s actually the States. Its called Point Roberts, and it is surrounded by water and Canada. The pilots call it Point Bob. Thats where we met and we were writing songs and we lived right there on the border and we were history guys and he came up with that name. I was like, I don’t know’ but we stuck with it.”
54-40 have stuck with it for over three decades, 13 albums, several comps and ZERO JUNOS! Being overlooked by the Canadian Music Industry, well, you can’t get anymore indie that I think. Throughout it all the Osborne and Merritt remain steadfast with an easy gauge to measure success.
“We always had this thing that if we had a gig and we can tell people where our next gig was we were in good shape. So far still after 36 years we can do that. We can tell people where we are playing next,” says Osborne.
After their initial gigs in Vancouver on the cusp of the 80’s the next gigs came from further afield and further south.
“We made a record 'Set The Fire', and we started to branch out. There was a scene that expanded down from Vancouver to Seattle. It was easier for us to go to Seattle at that time than to Calgary or Edmonton or anywhere else in Canada for that matter. Then from Seattle we got friends in Portland and San Francisco and Los Angeles. We got gigs and we had the album out and we were playing around, got down to LA, sleeping on floors mostly, opening for bands who came up opening for us in halls, and then they'd say come down to Portland and open for us," says Osborne.
"We got to know these bands and gravitated towards a more melodic sound. . . such as the Fastbacks out of Seattle. We learned how to write music better. I think that's how the Green record moved away from the harder edge. We were all set to release that record on our own and we started getting attention from labels in the States, it was kinda overwhelming to be honest. Ultimately Warners signed us and wanted it remixed. You have to remember at that time a band like ours would not be played on the radio, could not play in nightclubs, it just wasn’t done. Even though we weren’t punk rock. We were in no man’s land. . .”
54-40, straddling the no man’s land between Canada and the States, straddling the border between indie and industry, a neither/nor group, singular in their sound, who as their new single sings, “Keep On Walking” will keep going at least until the next gig.
FOR ED.