This week in Art/Culture/Entertainment
By John Swartz
It’s not exactly The Boys Are Back In Town, because there are girls in Alex, but the party at Brewery Bay Food Company St. Patrick’s Day promises to be fun starting at 7 p.m. Sunday.
Alex has played this gig for so many years it’s hard to say how long it’s been. Everyone has a good time, on stage and off. That could be the reason no one remembers how many years they’ve honoured St. Patrick.
The Brownstone also does a St. Patrick’s Day party every year. Sunday starting at 3 p.m. Alex Rabbitson, Mike Vandyk and Jimmy Johnson will entertain, and it’s the debut of Space Quaker. I have no idea.
Lake Country Grill has their party a day early. Saturday night Charlotte and The Dirty Cowboys celebrate St. Paddy’s Day starting at 9 p.m.
A Little Music, A Little Dance
The Orillia Concert Band is at St. Paul’s Centre Mar. 23. Dancers from Tapps Performing Arts are their guests in The Spirit of the Dance.
The run order for the concert has Mambo (from West Side Story), Maynard Madness (Maynard Ferguson medley), the King of Swing (Benny Goodman medley), the Waltz from Swan Lake, and music from La La Land.
Get tickets at the door, $15, $10 for students, $5 for kids 5 to 12, princesses and princes free, and there’s a family price of $30 (two adults and as many kids you can get in the Chevy Bolt).
Youth Centre Fundraiser
Tickets are moving for Lance Anderson’s Orillia Youth Centre benefit concert May 3 at St. Paul’s Centre. He’s got Russ Boswell and Quisha Wint along to entertain.
Eclectic Café is cooking the 3 course meal based on Nelson Bell’s favourite foods – pizza, lasagna and chocolate cake. Of course with tickets at $150 each, it will gourmet.
The money raised will go toward the Valis Sound Studio Fund. Nelson Bell died last summer and he was very active at the Youth Centre, had a dream to be a rap artist and wished there was a recording studio in Orillia teens like him could use.
Seating is in the round at tables and you can get tickets at Alleycats Music or online.
The youth center also has urban dance workshops with Tessa Kuz Mar. 24 and 26. They are sponsored by the Orillia Centre for Arts & Culture. Sign up the youth center.
OMAH Fundraiser
The Orillia Museum of Art and History’s 2nd annual Mariposa Gala is Apr. 27 and there were only 200 tickets available went they went on sale. There’s about 50 gone already.
It’s at Lakehead University and Andre Derrick from Vineland Estates Winery will be there again for the wine tasting part of the night. The Jazz Byrds will do the music part and several local restaurants have finger foods.
Last year Dave Beckett slapped together a painting during the course of the evening. There are times I wish I could slap anything together, even dinner, as well as he does. Tony Bianco is going to paint this year.
The event raised $20,000 last year to support OMAH’s outreach partnerships and education opportunities for students heading toward post-secondary arts programs.
On March 20, the history speaker’s night guest is Rachel McMillan who will speak about Lucy Maud Montgomery’s Muskoka: Exploring the Local Regions that Inspired Her Life and Work.” It’s at 7:30 p.m. OHMA also has 4 exhibits to check out. The Student art show is over next week and Kelli Dove’s work takes its place. The rest all change in April.
Also at OMAH, March 20 is World Storytelling Day and Storytelling Orillia is having their monthly event on the 23rd (something about Orillia time was mentioned). Sophy Cooper and Sue Charters are going to tell Scottish stories and Alan Cooper is going to provide some music, on the bagpipes. A group called Second Fiddle – Margaret Pomeroy (keyboard), Katrina Gilbert (fiddle) and Katy Gillett (Bodhran) – will also be playing some music, but not quite as pleasing as Alan’s I think. Admission is $10 and some of the proceeds go to OMAH.
The Shorts
* David Bowie wrote the words, Freddy Mercury the music, and they recorded Under Pressure in one night. Then they went for pizza, so the story goes. You’ve got about that much time to put a song together, record it on video and submit it to dougieo40@hotmail.com for the Washago Song Writing Contest. The deadline is Friday. Write a song about Washago, record it on video by Mar. 15, 2019. There are prizes, $500 for the winner. The top ten get to perform their entry at the Washago Community Centre March 31.
* In the Arts District, Lee Contemporary, Tango Artspace, Hibernation Art have works by many and Peter Street Fine Arts is featuring Peter Fyfe’s stuff this month. Bakes by the Lake (next to the Brownstone) has art by Marley Scholte, hanging around; She’s Kirty’s sister and mixes the paint with plaster to create some different effects.
* The Jubilee Chorale donated $1,000 from their December concert to St. David Anglican/Lutheran Church programs. Their next concert is June 2 at Westmount United Church.
* The folks at St. Paul’s are doing Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat Apr. 3 to 6, with a matinee on the 6th, and you can do dinner before the show for $25. Tickets are $25, $15 for children under 16, with a group rate available. Get them at the church office Mondays through Thursdays, or at the Bird House downtown. The show on the 3rd is pay what you can.
* Tiffin’s Creative Centre is re-imagining a section of their store as a gallery. They are planning a show, Dawning of a Bright New Day – the Art of Grace to open April 3 and would like artists interested in participating to call them at 705-325-7205.
* The Roots North Music Festival main stage performance schedule is out. On April 26 it starts with Arianna Gillis, then Rose Cousins and Ron Sexsmith closes out the night. April 27 its VK, Alysha Brilla and The Weather Station. Both nights you can check out the art market when doors open at 6 p.m. at St. Paul’s Centre. A weekend pass is $45 and you can get them online or at Alleycats Music.
* Betty and the Bob’s are coming March 30. The band is made up of misfits from other bands – Wendell Ferguson, Rich Greenspoon (Njacko Backo), David Matheson (Moxy Früvous), Soozi Schlanger (Swamperella), Suzie Vinnick, Katherine Wheatley and David Woodhead (Stan Rogers, Valdy and Loreena McKennitt)- no Betty, no Bob. Get tickets online. You won’t need a ticket for the annual audition concert at the Mariposa Inn April 14. Plan for the whole afternoon of new music.
* The Opera House is going to be busy in April. Mariposa Arts Theater is in for a couple weeks starting Apr. 4 with Alan Ayckbourn’s Living Together. They have a weekly film festival featuring the best car chase movies (Vanishing Point, Bullitt, the French Connection) starting Apr. 9. Tickets for Matt Andersen and The Mellotones went on sale last week and there aren’t many left.
* Coming up… The Brownstone Cafe has Claire Coupland & DRFTR playing Thursday night; the Coyote Kids are in Friday; Cedar and Pine has a CD release party Saturday night… Lake Country Grill has Steph Dunn in Mar. 13 and 20… the Geneva has the Polyester Slackers playing a fundraiser for Mariposa House Hospice Mar. 30 (tickets at 705-326-3595, 705-329-0202 or Electronic Lifestyles); Outside I’m a Giant is in Mar. 22; Run Rabbit Run (another great band) is in Mar. 23 with Parham’s Cross… Mariposa Arts Theatre’s film night at the Galaxy Wednesday Mar. 20 has The Grizzlies at 4 and 7 p.m.
(Image by Magicksupply/Pixabay, Photos by Swartz – SUNonline/Orillia)
