This Week In Art/Culture/Entertainment
By John Swartz
Well, summer is here. The heat, real heat, not Alabama heat, but enough to break a sweat standing still, arrived here and we are at the weekend of the first big public party (as opposed to the many, mostly private, unorganized parties of Victoria Day) when music breaks out everywhere followed by booms in the night (not the kind like in Iran, but you know what I mean).
We’ll get to what’s on shortly, but first I’d like to tell you about Friday night’s Orillia Youth Centre’s fundraiser at Quayle’s Brewery with the Ronnie Douglas Blues Band and our friends from Virginia, Andrew Alli and Josh Small.
Oddly, this is my first time out to Quayle’s. They have a really nice facility out there on Oro-Medonte Line 12 near Mt. St. Louis Road. The concert was sold out and 150 people were thoroughly entertained.
Andrew and Josh missed their connecting flight in New York City and then learn about traffic on the 400 on a holiday weekend. They were not here in time to start the show. However, Ronnie’s band broke their performance into two parts, playing for about 30 minutes to start and then coming back to pulverize the audience with some smoking blues.
Andrew and Josh then took the stage, Andrew plays harp, Josh plays guitar, and both sing. If you’ve ever seen a video of a bunch of musicians sitting on a porch at a cabin in the woods playing blues, then you know how this performance went. Except, both are virtuoso musicians, great singers, and have a soul stirring repertoire.
They weren’t as loud as Ronnie’s band, but loud enough. This kind of forced the audience to listen more intently and to be amazed by what Andrew and Josh were doing.
By the time Andrew and Josh were close to ending their set Mother Nature provided a stunning light show. We all saw the dark clouds moving in, but the amount of rain failed to match the frequency of the lightning.
I think this was the biggest and best collection of really great musicians gathered together for one night that we’ve had in a long time. Each person, including drummer Dave Hewitt, could perform solo and people would be entertained.
Andrew and Josh are part of the lineup that will play at a youth center concert being held in someone’s backyard Saturday afternoon. Also on the bill is Sean Patrick, Rebekah Hawker and James Gray. Rebekah has a new EP out called Quit My Habit. I think it’s a really good recording and since this concert is sold out you can listen (and/or buy) to her album on her Bandcamp page and watch the video on her YouTube page.
Sunday afternoon Brassworks anchors a concert at the Salvation Army Citadel at 2:30 p.m. and they are being joined by the Orillia Secondary School traditional jazz band (Dixieland, they are really good), the 4th Street Jazz Project and guest Alex Dean.
Brassworks will play music by Stevie Wonder, Glenn Miller and a piece composed by Buddy Rich bandmember, Bob Mintzer. Abby Howard will be singing the Stevie Wonder tune, Love’s In Need of Love Today.
The OSS band won a gold medal at this year’s Musicfest national competition and will do four tunes. The 4th Street Jazz Project will also play tunes by Stevie Wonder and Mintzer. Actually, half their set is by Wonder; they’re doing Sir Duke.
The concert is a fundraiser for the Orillia Pregnancy Resource Centre.
Canada Day
Some people will have the good fortune to engineer a really long holiday weekend, I’m certainly going to try, because Canada Day is on Tuesday. The midway opens Saturday and will be open for the duration. Well, not past midnight or before breakfast. The inflatable, “watch yes mom,” as your kid leaps and bounces right off the castle, collection of bouncy things is free on Canada Day from 11 a..m. To 4 p.m.
Note to the wise, parking is going to be a pain and Jarvis Street is closed because right now it resembles the Oregon Trail. Here’s the rundown of the day:
- Breakfast is an 8, the Wheelie Great Parade is at 10:30 – registration at 10
- The big kids parade is at noon.
- The beer garden opens at 11.
- Cake is at 2:15
- Fireworks are at 9:45.
Music at the Aqua Theatre starts at 11 with the Sandra Good Band. Ohelia plays at 2: 15, The Amazing Frank Clarkson Magic Show happens at 4, Samantha Windover plays at 5:30, and The Narrows do the run-up to the fireworks starting at 7:30.
While the fireworks are happening 89.1 Max FM will be playing music by Canadian musicians. Bring something to listen to it on, and in this case, only, play at so your neighbours can hear.
After that you only have two days to rest before the Mariposa Folk Festival starts. I’ll have more about the Festival next week, just know this year’s festival might have the largest number of people from Orillia, performing at it. Tickets are still on sale and you get them online. This is important, kids 12 and under get in free when they are with a ticketholder. I can’t think of a better way to introduce live music to your kids, or for them to be exposed to some really great musicians, and still have fun when they get bored. That’s because the festival, especially during the daytime on Saturday and Sunday, has things for them to do. The amount of children I see at the festival each year is about equal to a small army – that’s in numbers, and height.
The Shorts
- Congrats to Natalie Sue who won the 2025 Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour last weekend for her book, I Hope This Finds You Well. Along with a real medal, she got $25,000, which is almost enough to start thinking about a down payment on a house – or something resembling a house. It’s her first book and there were 67 titles entered into the competition.
- The 47th annual Orillia Scottish Festival is July 18, but now is the time to get tickets for the Friday night Ceilidh at the legion with Fully Licensed (Cyndi Devereux, John Mac Donald, Sean Patrick, Don Wood) supplying the music.
- The Orillia Museum Of Art And History has the 28th annual International Women’s Day Show in the main floor gallery. also see Orillia: Then And Now a collection of historical photos of Orillia landmarks and buildings contrasted with recent photos of the same by Samantha Vessios; and don’t miss two exhibits related to Gordon Lightfoot – a permanent exhibit of their acquisitions of items from Gordon Lightfoot’s estate, Gordon Lightfoot: Turning Back The Pages, and an exhibit of photos taken over the years by Edwin Gailits (1970s era) and, Deb Halbot, at the Mariposa Folk Festival called Voices Through Time: A Mariposa Journey; now is the best time to get tickets for OMAH’s Music For The Museum event, November 1; Jacquie Dancyger Arnold, Hugh Coleman, Ross Arnold, Blair Bailey, Laura Kelly, and Gail Spencer are performing… Cloud Gallery’s has their group show, My Happy Place, up to see…Hibernation Arts has lots of new work and the featured artist this month is David Crighton… Peter Street Fine Arts has photos by Mike Bailey featured this month (some fantasic shots taken in Africa)
- Quayle’s Brewery has a slate of afternoon and then evening gigs on the holiday weekend, Rebekah Hawker/Michael Schultz play the 29th, Johnny Tooncie/Darcy Windover the 30th, Upbeat Groove goes it alone on the 1st… the Hog ‘N Penny has an afternoon jam session every Sunday with Sean Patrick and others.
(Photos by Swartz – SUNonline/Orillia and Images Supplied) Main: Brassworks
