This Week In Art/Culture/Entertainment – Part Two
By John Swartz
The Orillia Silver Band has a concert Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. at the Opera House. Aside from experiencing the great musicianship of the band, they’re going a step further and having pianist Kyung-A Lee along for the show.
I’ve seen her perform. She has been the accompanist with the Cellar Singers and they gave her a slot to play without the choir. I don’t think anyone was prepared for what they heard. She’ll be playing Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini and Libertango by Astor Piazzolla. The OSB will accompany with arrangements by Neil Barlow.
The band will be playing music by Bach, Chopin, Gershwin and Verdi. You can get tickets online.
Boo
Derick Lehmann’s Big Event has three fundraising events lined up between now and Christmas. The most important one is always the most imminent, if you’re a kid, and with Halloween on the horizon, the Trunk or Treat event happening at ODAS Park needs your attention right now. It looks like they have enough people providing the trunk side (decorate the ride, have a trunk, give out candy), but there are still a few spots for the kids. You need to register online. It’s free, but they will take a donation to help cover expense (any money leftover will be donated to the Orillia Youth Centre. Do not wait, the only reason there are still some tickets is because they squeezed in a few more trunks, otherwise it would be sold out, so to speak.
While you are on their ticket webpage, you’ll notice there is a second Back To 90’s Video Dance Party Dec. 2 at ODAS Park. This one was overwhelmed with last minute attendees (all got in) and surprised Derick’s expectations. Then, Dec. 10 the return of the 9th Annual Ugly Sweater Bowling Party fundraiser for the Sharing Place Food Bank happens at Orillia Bowl.
Lightfoot Days
Two weekends form now the revived Lightfoot Days Festival is happening. If you were planning to take in the Classic Lightfoot Live at the Opera House, you should know they’ve sold 70% of the tickets. You can get yours online. As far as clone bands go, this one is worth seeing. As opposed to the others in it for the money, this crew actually has connections to Gord. Steve Eyers, bass, is Gord’s nephew. Erick Kidd took guitar lessons from Red Shea. Liz Anderson, keyboards, grew up surrounded by Gord’s music. The man doing all the singing, John Stinson, really didn’t even know just how closely he sang the tunes to the way Gord did, until it was pointed out to him by a certain writer. The drummer, Bruce Campbell, is an old friend of mine and is probably the best choice to be in this band.
Even Steven – Steve McEwen, who wrote I Used To Be A Country Singer, which Gord recorded; and Steve Eyers, are popular any time of the year. They’ll be at Lake Country Grill Nov. 4. Also (all dates Nov. 4, evening, unless otherwise noted) Sean Patrick will be playing at the Lone Wolf Café. Michael Martyn, Steve Porter, Scott Thompson, same crew from last summer’s Mariposa Folk Festival, will be at Picnic Nov.5 from 2 to 4 p.m. Dray Tony will be playing at Manticore Books from 4 to 6 p.m. Alleycats Music is having an Open Mic from 1 to 4 p.m. Don James will be at Mariposa Market from noon to 3 p.m. Michael Brown is at Apple Annie’s from noon to 3 p.m. Benj Rowland is at the Hog N’ Penny. Geoff Booth is at the Sunken Ship.
Mayor Don McIsaac will proclaim Gordon Lightfoot Day at 11 a.m. Nov. 4 at the Opera House. The Kiwanis Club is running an online and offline auction of an Epiphone Hummingbird guitar supplied by Gilbert Guitars and 112 Records and signed by Gord. The online part starts Oct. 28. Go here where, presumably the auction link will be posted. That part closes Nov.1 and reopens Nov. 4 where live bidders will jump into the fray.
Sunday Nov 5. St. Paul’s United Church is having a special service; Karen Hilfman Millson will be speaking about her relationship with Gord. Saturday at St. Paul’s take the tour of the church and hear recordings/interviews of Gord that have not been publicly played before.
The Shorts
- The Orillia Museum of Art and History has a fundraising concert Oct. 28 at St. Paul’s Centre. Top of the bill performers are Jacquie Dancyger Arnold and Hugh Coleman. Blair Bailey is the MC, and Ross Arnold, Laura Kelly and Gail Spencer are also performing. The first half of the concert is Classical music (Mozart, Chopin, Saint-Saens), the second Jazz (Lullaby of Birdland, Birth of the Blues). You can get tickets online.
- St. Paul’s Centre has a couple of concerts happening with Sloan’s Chris Murphy Nov. 16 and the Skydiggers Dec. 14 for a Christmas concert. You can find tickets for all those online.
- The Opera House has several events on the menu; It’s about the music and the journey. Carl played in bands that opened for Judas Priest and Iron Maiden and is best known being a member of April Wine, Coney Hatch and The Guess Who. There will be a story to read about Carl you can read here; see a documentary called Four Feet Up: A Documentary Screening and Childhood Poverty and Panel Discussion; Second City follows up Oct. 25 with a fundraiser for Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital Foundation show; The Family Crow: A Murder Mystery a puppet comedy/mystery show by Adam Francis Proulx is in Oct. 26; Oct. 27 magicians Ted and Marion Outerbridge bring their show Mysteries of the Keyhole House to town; Zachary Lucky with Richard Inman Oct. 29. You can get tickets for any of those shows online.
- The Leacock Museum’s Fall High Tea event was so popular last year, they’re doing it again. It’s an afternoon thing, arrive between 2 and 3 p.m. and you get all the tea in China you can handle, plus some finger food and a tour of the house. You can get tickets for several dates between Oct. 19 and Oct. 28 online. They also have Ghost Walks Oct. 21, 22, 27, and 28 at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. Get those tickets here.
- Tangents is organizing a Halloween concert/fundraiser for the Comfie Cat Shelter at St. Paul’s Centre; joining them are Dead Beyond Fear and Get ‘N Dirty. Its Oct. 28 at 12:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 for this all-ages event and you can get them online; the music is metal and there will be vendors and grub. Wear your costume.
- The Orillia Concert Association has an inflation proof, deal of the century – season passes for all 5 concerts are still only $90. They are available online. The Stratton Soloists ensemble opens the series Oct. 29, pianist Daniel Vnukowski performs Nov. 26, the Chris Robinson / Will Davis Quartet plays Jan. 28, James Campbell and Angela Park perform March 24, and Ensemble Vivant closes the series May 5.
- Mariposa has Lance Anderson recreating the 60 in 60 concert he did at last year’s Mariposa Folk Festival on Nov. 18 at the Opera House; it’s been expanded to a 90 minute show and Matt Weidinger, Quisha Wint, Selena Evangeline Mike Daley (guitar, mandolin, vocals), Wayne Deadder (guitar and vocals) Russ Boswell (bass) Bucky Berger (drums) will be performing with tickets online.
- The Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital Foundation annual gala is Nov. 18 at Casino Rama. The event is moving into the Entertainment Centre, so there’s more room for more people. It’s in there because the entertainment is Cirque Under the Stars. There is an online auction tied to the fundraiser (wait until Nov. 10 to bid). Tickets are available online.
- Cloud Gallery has the first of their fall series of exhibits up. Each show will run two weeks with opening night receptions (6 to 9 p.m.). First is Lori Meeboer and Jennifer Woodburn; next is Julie Veenstra (November 4); Patricia Clemmens has her work up November 25 (all artists in the gallery) and December 9 it’s a group show with many of the artists represented by the gallery in attendance; look for a story about the success of the gallery and these artists this week… The Orillia Museum of Art and History also has three new exhibits 50 Years Of Mariposa Arts Theatre, A Close up on Carmichael (showcasing OMAH’s collection of related items) and Jennifer Zardo’s Home Sweet Home; meanwhile in the basement see The Orillia Police And The Sir Sam Steele Memorial Building; the monthly Speaker’s Night returns – live, not on Zoom – Nov.1 with Margaret Pomeroy talking about Quilting Through the Ages, register to attend online… St. Paul’s Centre has the Call to Action 83 Art Project in the Ogimaa Miskwaaki Gallery… Hibernation Arts’s guest artist for October is Ashley Gringhuis and she’ll be at the gallery Oct. 7 from 1 to 3 p.m.
- Quayle’s Brewery has Rebekah Hawker in to play Oct. 22; James Gray is in Oct. 26; Ron Whitman Oct. 27; My Missing Piece Oct. 28 and Steph Dunn Oct. 29… Couchiching Craft Brewing has Stephan Bernard in Oct. 22; Even Steven plays Oct. 27; they have a Halloween Party Oct. 28; Ronnie Douglas is in Nov. 3.
(Photos by Swartz – SUNonline/Orillia and Images Supplied) Main: The Orillia Silver Band with pianist Kyung-A Lee are in concert Sunday afternoon at the Opera House
