This Week In Art/Culture/Entertainment
By John Swartz
The fire downtown was devastating to several arts related businesses. I count comic books and fashion as artistic expressions, so while most may not see it right away, I view the business losses as completely against arts commerce.
It wasn’t just the businesses lost, so many artists had their first studios away from home in the building at one time or other. Even though most people are feeling the physical loss, for others it’s the loss of more than 5 decades of memories of the time they spent there that must be recognized.
Molly Farquharson had previously planned an Artists Swap and Meet at her Hibernation Arts gallery for Saturday February 1 from 2 to 4 p.m. These kinds of things are intended for artists to gaze over their studios and grab that thing they thought they needed, but haven’t used, and swap it with something another artist has they also thought they needed but never, or hardly used. The idea is to trade, but sometimes people sell their offloads when they have something someone else wants, but the other party has nothing you want.
It is turning into a gathering to commiserate and share ideas how to move forward as a community post the fire. There also will be a donation aspect to fund something beneficial to all in the Arts District.
Hibernation’s Guest Wall is offered to any artist who had their studio in the burned out building for the month of February. It will be a group show of sorts.
One of the businesses affected is Three Birds Salon. They had an event, the Saturday Night Drag Disco, organized for February 24 at Couchiching Craft Brewing. It’s till happening and tickets are $25 and you can get them by sending a note by way of their Facebook page.
Three Birds owner, Kendra Vanderwerf, is also going to organize an event as a fundraiser for those affected by the fire in the spring.
That Was Different
Last Saturday night’s gig with The Big Bad Jug Band and Space Quaker at Couchiching Craft Brewing was a great way to start the New Year.
The jug band started the show. Their music is different, the instrumentation is more typical of what was available to play with in poorer mountain communities of the American South back in the day when the genre developed than is available today.
The main melodic components then were the banjo (Sean Patrick) and fiddle (Jessica Martin). The washtub bass gives way to an acoustic bass (Christ Lamont), Nate Robertson sticks to the traditional percussion components of the era, though at this gig he was limited by the amount of space available to a washboard.
Jim Fitzgerald did the singing, harp and jug playing. The jug functions a as a kind of didgeridoo, not in timber or range, but as trap/amplifier for wind blown into it.
The band plays all their own material and the ones I know best were present. You can find some of their tunes here, and watch their videos here. They opened with Don’t Touch My Stuff, which many of the full house audience seemed to know. The songs are lyrically social commentary or observations written and sung in a sardonic manner.
Their newest video, Grocery Wars, was available just this week and Jim introduced it as being about how it is to pay with money we don’t have for the food we need, while Galen Weston gets his food with money he doesn’t need. While the band has something to say about many things, they will make you laugh when they make the point.
Next up, Space Quaker, was as different from the jug band as can be, and as different from most other bands from Orillia as can be. Most of the music they played was instrumental, which normally most audiences would not pay attention to very much unless the songs were well-known covers and these guys play their own tunes.
But they did it, people paid attention and didn’t start talking to the point of making it hard to hear the band and applauding as each tune ended. Some people even got up and danced a few times. You know you’re doing something right when people get up to dance.
That happened because this band can groove. Alex Rabbitson (bass), Robert Redwood (drums) and Nate Robertson (percussion/congas) supplied the rhythm for people to move with and Mike Davies (guitar) and Mike Smit (keyboards) the melodies.
Mike played several keyboards all night and even Alex had some keyboards to play. I found the construction of the tunes to be pretty complex and original. That said there were times I had thought’s like ‘this is similar to something I’d expect from Pink Floyd,’ or once in a while from Graham Central Station, maybe Santana.
A couple times I thought, ‘this is so good, if they had someone to write some lyrics and a melody to lay on top of this it wouldn’t just be great it could be fantastically great.’
The night closed off with the only covers they do, Gary Numan’s Cars, and XTC’s Helicopter, which should also give an indication where the band is at with the kind of music they make.
The bottom line is they are making music very much unlike all the other bands from here I’ve seen and they are doing it very well.
The Shorts
- Because of the fire, OMAH moved the opening reception for three new exhibits from Jan. 25 to Feb. 1 from 1 to 3 p.m.; the shows are: Four Seasons in Orillia , Nathalie Bertin’s Loup Garou and Mocassins, and Harley Duck’s Behold A Man Who Is A Bean… Hibernation Arts is featuring Rodney Frost’s fabric creations and there’s some new stuff from the other artists… Cloud Gallery is featuring the work of Patricia Clemmens in their Collection Corner…. Peter Street Fine Arts still has some pieces form their 6X6 show available, and there are many new pieces hanging around from the other artists who show there.
- The City of Orillia is adding Friday nights to the Music in the Park summer series of concerts. They are looking for musicians, artists and vendors for the Friday night gigs. Each week will feature a different genre (in order, Rock, Jazz and Blues, Country, Alternative, Electronic/Dance, Youth and last an open mic). You can find application forms here.
- Mariposa Arts Theatre is doing the comedy, The Thanksgiving Play, Feb. 6 to 16 at the Opera House. The play, with a small cast (Ashley Legeda, Caitlin Robson, Jack Quail and Peter Merkle), is about a group of theatre people trying to develop a play about the first Thanksgiving while trying to be culturally sensitive, but without a clue about Native culture. I’m sure you can see already the pitfalls of that. There will be an opening reception and Q & A with the cast after the Feb. 8 show, and a Q&A after the Feb. 15 performance. There also is original art by Windigo Army in a silent auction happening the length of the play’s run in the Green Room. You can get tickets online. Their next film night is Feb. 12 at the Galaxy with Treasure. They have Good One playing Feb. 26. You can get tickets ($10, $5 for students) at the door; showtimes are 4 and 7 p.m.
- The Gojijing Friendship Circle and St. Paul’s Centre has an evening of song and story called The Fire Still Burns Feb. 8. Music is by J.D. Crosstown, Guy Monague and Jakob Pearce and John Rice is the storyteller. Jeff Monague is the emcee. Admission is free, but donations are accepted.
- North Simcoe Arts have a series of dates every quarter for their Art and Culture Roundtables. The first is Feb. 20 at Creative Nomad Studios. They are inviting representatives from area arts groups to attend. You can drop a note to communications@NorthSimcoeArts.ca that you are going.
- The Mariposa Folk Festival’s 13th annual Gospel and Blues concert is Feb. 22 at the Opera House. There are a few tickets left on the main floor of Gord’s Room and the balcony is filling in. Lance Anderson orchestrates the affair and the band includes Jimmy Bowskill, Brittany Brooks, Emily, Selena Evangeline, Gary Craig, Roger Williams and Andrew Craig. Tickets are also on sale for the Mariposa-in-Concert spring show March 15 at St. Paul’s Centre with Amanda Rheaume and School House,
- Arts Orillia has Black in Canada performed by Shameka Blake, Artists in Motion and Ty the Poetess happening Feb. 28 at the Opera House. It’s an evening of dance, song and spoken word celebrating Black communities. Get tickets online.
- The second annual Acoustics for Green Haven Shelter for Women happens March 1 at Couchiching Craft Brewing. Bleeker, Alex Kaye Black, and Mel and Dan Bazinet are performing. Get tickets online.
- Fridge-A-Palooza: A Rock N Roll Benefit Show For The St. Paul’s Food Pantry/Fridge happens at St. Paul’s Centre March 22. Music is by the Terry Collins Band, Kasey Kohring, and Tangents. It’s an all ages show, so no alcohol. Tickets are $15 at the door, or $10 in advance.
- Ticket for the Saturday, March 29 performance of the Orillia Youth Centre’s fundraising concert with Tim Barry, Billy the Kid and Nixon Boyd at the youth center are sold out, but there are still some left for the Friday Creative Nomad Studios gig left. The same is the case for the Ben Nichols, Spencer Burton and Rebekah Hawker gig March 7 and 8. Get tickets online
- Quayle’s Brewery has Ron Whitman in Feb. 8; Jamie Drake host an open mic Feb. 20; they have a comedy show Feb.. 21.… the Hog ‘N Penny has a revolving cast of characters lead by Sean Patrick playing music every Saturday evening… the ANAF Club has an open mic Feb. 9 at 2 p.m.; Outcast plays Jan. 18… Samantha Windover has a show on Valentine’s Day at the Washago Lions Hall; email washagolions@gmail.com or call 705-323-3383 for tickets ($15).
(Photos by Swartz – SUNonline/Orillia and Images Supplied) Main: What’s left of the Streets Alive Letters post fire.
