This Week In Art/Culture/Entertainment
By John Swartz
Friday night Lighthouse is playing at the Opera House. What can I say about this band that hasn’t been said before by me and hundreds of others?
They were founded by Ronn (Skip) Prokop and Paul Hoffert, originally with a horn and a string section. They busted out of the gate dominating radio and touring the world playing their music.
Not many know Skip’s real name, or he spelled it with two Ns. Ronn was a drum corps guy, the section leader of the Toronto Optimists back in the early 60s (a position I would hold in the 00s in the alumni corps). He also wrote some of the drumline’s music wile a member of the corps. Hanging out with all those horn tooters and being exposed to music by Stan Kenton, Woody Hermann, Basie, Rich and all the rest had its effect on the songs he wrote, in an era when rock was all the rage, and the style combining jazz and rock the band played. You can tell the big band jazz influence most notably on Sunny Days.
1969 was a wonderful year. That was when we all heard Lighthouse, Chicago, Blood Sweat and Tears and Tower of Power at the same time, bands which would all become legendary. Three of those bands are still going, and like Chicago and Tower of Power, Lighthouse hasn’t lost a thing. They still deliver a great performance.
Paul is leading the band now, and almost all of the current members have been in Lighthouse for 20 years or more. The newest member of the band is drummer Paul Delong, last seen in Orillia as part of Brass Transit. The band keeps a regular rehearsal schedule and performs often, so their chops are in shape.
You can still get tickets (18 left on the main floor and some good still in the balcony) online.
Youth Centre Concert Series
Friday night a series of fundraising concerts for the Orillia Youth Centre starts at Creative Nomad Studios. A duo, Andrew Alli (harmonica) and Josh Small (guitar), are going to play some gritty hill country blues and The Griddle pickers are going to play some music that leans into bluegrass. Sam Johnston will also be playing.
Bella Frances swaps out with the Griddle Pickers for an afternoon gig Saturday at Creativ Nomad and in the evening Alli and Small will open for the great Ronnie Douglas Blues Band.
One of the things youth center director Kevin Gangloff has wanted to do is bring live music performance back to the youth center. There really hasn’t been any since the pandemic. So, Sunday afternoon Sammy and Bella will play a gig there.
Next weekend Roger Harvey opens for Matchedash Parish at St. Paul’s Centre. This is going to be huge because it will be the first time anyone hears the music from the Parish’s new album. This is Lance Anderson’s band and it has a powerhouse line up of musicians involved, so many they have to slide the tables together at dinnertime. You all saw them at the Mariposa Folk Festival year before last. Matt Weidinger is part of the band and he’s been part of several of Lance’s tribute bands. He’ll be back November 23 for his own concert at the Opera House too.
The fantastic Skye Wallace will team up with Roger for a concert in the late afternoon September 29. There are other concerts further out you’ll want to make sure to see. You can get tickets for the immediate concerts and the others online.
Attention Art Weirdos
You know who you are. Arts Orillia has something different for you. Next week they have a series of events they are presenting under the banner, Future Fest.
One of those happens September 26 at the Opera House, which in itself is two events. First up is an exhibit of art with film, drawings, paintings and augmented reality by artists Emma Lee Fleury, Gail Root, Sean Rees. It’s called Your World Soon.
The next is a program that is dance, but, as I’m told, is not dance. Hard Wire is created by Emma Kerson and Jane-Alison McKinney who have toured this production across the country (Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa). They are also known as Bare Nerve. Interestingly much of the choreography was created here in Orillia last year during Arts Orillia’s residency program.
That performance is preceded by a short film by T.M. Glass called Plantasia. Someone figured out how to translate a plant’s electromagnetic vibrations into sound and Bob Ezrin (yes, that Bob Ezrin) wrote music based on those sounds and Glass did the video part. You can get tickets here.
The Future Fest series was created to examine climate change as artists see it. Arts Orillia is working with Sustainable Orillia on this project.
The week starts with Bob McDonald, Monday September 23 at St. Paul’s Centre. The CBC Quirks and Quarks host (and Orillia Hall of Famer) has a new book, The Future is Now, which will be the foundation of his lecture. The book is about using existing technology to fight climate change. You can get tickets here.
September 25 at St. Paul’s they have something called Tall (Third Age Learning Lakehead) Talks happening. This is with 4 local experts who each get 15 minutes on their subjects; Kate Hilliard on art, Jacob Kearey Moreland on food literacy, Sean Rees on AI as a creative tool, and choreographer Heidi Strauss on human behavior. This one is pay what you can at the door.
September 28 there are two things happening at the Orillia Recreation Centre. One is Postcards to the Future, an art project you can contribute to by making art or writing something on a card (leaf) that will become part of a tree. The other is You Are Swimming Here, an interactive wayfinding mission created by Heidi Strauss and Luke Garwood. If you have an iPhone or iPad there’s an app that you can use for this event and you can download it here.
You could get a pass good for all events here.
Silver Band And The Not So Silver Band
Surprise, surprise. So I walked into St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church last Saturday night expecting to see a few dozen chairs lined up for the Orillia Silver Band and saw only 5 chairs.
I didn’t interpret, ‘members of the band,’ from the emails as being not the whole thing.
Conductor, Neil Barlow, wasn’t even going to be out front waving his arms around because he was going to occupy one of those chairs playing cornet. The other musicians from the OSB were, on flute/piccolo – Karen Richards, on clarinet/saxophone – Kim Barlow, on trombone – Howard Lee and on drums Mike Smit.
That’s not all the musicians involved with the concert. Pianist Kyung-A Lee and guitarist Patrick Ramirez along with singer Parres Allen rounded out the dance card.
Guitarist? Nobody said anything about a guitarist. It turns out this concert played in Huntsville a couple months ago and Ramirez was part of that, but was unsure if he could do this concert and was left off the itinerary. So, surprise!
He did Rodrigo’s Adagio from Concierto de Aranjuez . This was originally written for guitar and orchestra, but here it was guitar, piano and cornet. I have to say as soon as he was introduced and brought on stage, my first thought was, ‘he’s going to play Concierto de Aranjuez. What else is a Spanish guitarist going to play? It’s one of my favourites and I obviously was not disappointed. Kyung-A Lee covered the orchestra parts and Neil played the familiar melody, which has to be done by a trumpet, or cornet in this case, or the piece just doesn’t work.
My first thought on arrival was, how is Rhapsody in Blue going to work without at least 30 or 40 musicians? This was the signature tune of the evening. As it turned out, it worked out very well. Neil wrote the arrangement and he covered all the parts with just five voices and the piano. There were moments when he managed to arrange the music so it sounded like a full band.
Of course the piece, which is kind of a concerto, is built around the piano, and George Gershwin was no slouch as playing (and improvising as the piano parts were originally done). Of course the piano parts you hear today, regardless of who is playing it, are the parts written in ink, after the fact back in 1924 on the night of its premiere.
I’ve heard Rhapsody many times (most recently live with Jacquie Dancyger Arnold – who was sin the audience and the Orillia Wind Ensemble a few years ago, and I have two or three recordings of it too.
Kyung-A Lee opened with two solo pieces by Rachmaninoff and Bach. I was sitting close by and I have very rudimentary piano skills, so watching her hands flying around the keyboard and not missing notes was baffling.
The second half opened with a great rendition of Vince Guaraldi’s Linus and Lucy. We’ve heard this done many times here in Orillia, so everyone was familiar with the tune. Then, Neil said it’s time for more Bach, except it quickly turned into Whiter Shade of Pale. Parres killed on this one. He also sang Feelin’ Good from the musical Roar of the Greasepaint in the first half. Those are two contrasting pieces that showed how skilled Parres is at singing.
So, this was far from what I expected, though great musicianship was not in question, and I’m glad I got to witness it.
The Shorts
- The Arts District galleries have a Art Hop from 1 to 4 p.m. Sept. 21.
- There are only about 30 spots for Trunkers left and registration for the 5th annual Trunk Or Treat Halloween fundraiser for the Orillia Youth Centre is open. You can get tickets online for your kids starting Oct. 1. The date of the event is Saturday October 26 and it’s at ODAS Park.
- St. Paul’s is doing Anne of Green Gables next April, but auditions start Sept. 20. See all the details here.
- Mariposa Arts Film Night is starting again. All shows (4 and 7 p.m.) are at the Galaxy. Wilfred Buck plays Sept. 25; Crossing plays Oct. 4. Ticket prices have dropped to $10 this year, and students pay $5 – at the door.
- Brent Mayhew has a piano recital happening Sept. 28 at 2 p.m. He’ll play pieces by Grieg and Liszt. It’s a house concert and you’ll get directions when you get tickets, which you can do by calling texting 705-326-6999, or by emailing brentmayhew@rogers.com
- The City is hosting Culture Days this year at the Orillia Recreation Centre Sept. 28. The day starts at 9:30 and Arts Orillia, Georgian College, the Orillia and Area Black Community Association, ODAC, OMAH and the Orillia Native Women’s Group are participating.
- The Sharing Place Food Centre has their 2nd annual Harvest Hoedown happening Sept. 27 at ODAS Park. The band is Muskoka River. You can get tickets online.
- The Leacock Museum has a new exhibit, Monster, She Wrote: The Women Who Pioneered Horror and Speculative Fiction and has a Ghost Walk happening opening day, Oct. 5, at 7:30 p.m. The walks will also happen Oct. 18, 19, 25 and 26. You can get tickets online. The museum also has author Jeremy John (Robert’s Hill (or the time I pooped my snowsuit) and other Christmas stories, as well as The Strange Grave of Mikey Dunbar, and other stories to make you poop your pants reading from his work Sept. 22 at 1 and 3 p.m.
- Downtown Orillia is putting on a parade. The Monster March is Oct. 26 at 11 a.m. Anyone can enter, but you have to dress up, or if you are like me, come as you are. This one is going up the hill on Mississaga Street. There will be Trick or Treating for the kids at some downtown businesses after the parade.
- There are a few other gigs at the Opera House to be aware of. Mariposa Arts Theatre is doing Gypsy in November, which has Josh Halbot directing for the first time. Get tickets here. Second City is coming Oct. 4 (tickets) and guitarist Johannes Linstead has a concert Oct. 18 (many tunes and albums on various Billboard charts over the years – tickets).
- You can get tickets now for the Mariposa Folk Festival’s Mariposa-In-Concert event Nov. 23 at the Opera House with Matt Weidinger’s Van Morrison show. Matt is a member of Matchedash Parish and has appeared in many of Lance Anderson’s tribute show bands.
- Congratulations to Evelyn Pollack. Her book, Is Life A Tossed Salad? Is on the shortlist for the CBC’s 2024 CBC Nonfiction Prize . There were 1,400 submissions for the $6,000 prize. The winner is selected Sept.26.
- Bonnie Milne has a new tune, Eloquence, she recorded at St. Paul’s Center (by Nixon Boyd) with Dave Hewitt, Alyssa Wright, and Dawn Ellis playing along. You can hear it here. It was #3 on a classical chart in the U.K. at the end of August. Zachary Lucky also has new music to hear. You can listen to Ramblin’ Kind here.
- The Orillia Museum of Art and History has Jeanette Luchese’s solo show, The Process Informs Me: Contemporary Abstract Frescoes; Stacey Tyrell’s Backra Bluid photography exhibit; Pawtraits and Reflections Of Our Roots Orillia From 3,000 BCE To 2024; OMAH’s annual gala is Jan. 18 and is also their 25th anniversary party; it’s at Hawk Ridge and the keynote speaker is Adam Shoalts; get tickets online; OMAH and the Orillia Animal Centre of the Ontario SPCA and Humane Society are running a fundraiser for the OSPCA; taking a page from Pawprints, bring your pet to OMAH September 21 from 1 to 4 p.m. for your own photo… St. Paul’s Centre has the Call to Action 83 Art Project in the Ogimaa Miskwaaki Gallery… Hibernation Arts has a display of the art chosen for Sustainable Orillia’s annual calendar… Cloud Gallery still has their Great Big Show up… ODAC artists have a new show in the Green Room at the Opera House.
- If you missed The Bowie Lives, which played here a year ago, they have a couple of shows nearby you can catch. They are in Barrie Sept. 21 (tickets) and in Midland Nov. 24 (tickets).
- Couchiching Craft Brewing has Tamica and Cotton are in Sept. 20; Brian John Harwood plays Sept. 21; Jeremiah Hill Sept. 22; the Boomer Babies play Rocktoberfest Sept. 27… Quayle’s Brewery has Meredith Warboys playing Sept. 20; Ron Whitman Sept. 21; Vince Therien (early) and James gray (late afternoon Sept. 22; and Matt Playne Sept. 26 … The Hog ‘N Penny has Jakob Pearce and Dave Hewitt playing Sept. 20; an Open Mic Sunday afternoons with Sean Patrick, Michael Martyn John MacDonald, Jessica Martin and whoever else shows up… St. Paul’s Pub Night returns Sept. 28 with Upbeat Groove playing; $10 at the door… the Orillia Big Band plays dance music for a fundraiser for food programs at St. James’ Anglican Church Oct. 5, email orilliabigband@gmail.com for tickets… Vitalogy plays at St. Paul’s Centre Oct. 26 (tickets)… Even Steven plays the Blue Moon Junction Sept. 21… Winnie Brave (Amy and Brad McIsaac), have been out west for a few years and they are going to be playing a gig in Gravenhurst at The Oar Sept. 26… The Off Cuts play St. Louis Bar and Grill Sept. 20 and the Sunken Ship Sept. 21.
(Photos by Swartz – SUNonline/Orillia and Images Supplied) Main: Lighthouse plays the Opera House September 20.
