This Week In Art/Culture/Entertainment
By John Swartz
Saturday, September 26 at 7 p.m. at the legion Nate Mills headlines a show that also includes Dylan Court, Dogmouth, Ellie and Wm. Matt Miller. This is the first chance to hear Nate do songs from his solo album, Amigo Drive, which you can listen to, or buy on Bandcamp.
The six songs on it are different than the kind of thing you’d expect if it was a Run With the Kittens disc (Nate’s band). It’s slightly more subdued and more personal, yet the sound still incorporates a range of sounds which colour the backing tracks, some of which you’d be able to identify the instruments used, some are more of – what the heck was that sound?
The thing that separates Nate’s music from others is excellent songwriting skills and excellent orchestration. Each song sounds familiar in style, yet doesn’t go where you expect it to. This is the kind of thing you put on at the end of the day to unwind, not early in the evening to rev up as you would with RWTK fare.
Admission is only $15 at the door and Tyler Grace will also be showing some his videos. You might recall Tyler and Nate are the ones behind The Orillia Song, which is nearing its 20th anniversary.
Jazz Fest
It’s almost October and that means it’s almost time for the Orillia Jazz Festival. Once again it is under the stewardship of Arts Orillia and has two programs happening October 16 and 17.
The Friday night program at the Opera House features new
music created by students mentored by Alondra Vega, Jacob Thompson and Cole
Mendez. Students performing their work are Cassia Stoodley, Alida Tomasini, Nico
Christie and Daniel Fronte.
Guitarist James Brown and bassist Clark Johnston will do a set after the students. Nate Robertson will then be the entertainment at the after concert party. You can get tickets online
Saturday night’s show is also at the Opera House and it’s with Jane Bunnett and Maqueque, Jane’s band is all Cuban and all female playing contemporary Jazz with Afro-Cuban rhythms. The program also features Cuban dancer Melissa Noventa. You can also get tickets online.
Arts Orillia also had a program running this week. Choreographer Alyssa Martin and Rock Bottom Movement spent this week at the Orillia Opera House for Arts Orillia’s Dance and Design residency. They are working on their show, Landslide, to get it ready for its premier October 24 and 25 at the Fall For Dance North Festival in Toronto. The company also spent time during the week visiting schools sharing their expertise with students.
Lightfoot Festival
The end of October is time for the 4th installment of the Lightfoot Days Festival. New this year is a Youth Singing Competition. This is happening in the spirit of Gord’s early years when he had support and opportunities to perform long before he could ever get into the Pav to perform.
The competition is open to anyone under 18. You can sing any of Gord’s tunes. You must have your own accompaniment. The Lightfoot Band are the judges. You will get to perform Saturday at Quayle’s Brewery during the afternoon festival program too.
Go to the festival’s registration page, scroll down to the bottom and you will see three white boxes that look like they have text. Those are supposed to open up to PDFs you can fill out, but they don’t. I’d copy each image to a picture viewer, blow them up if you have to and print them. The festival people are working on correcting this.
There are prizes and contestants will get to meet the band members. The competition is from 1 to 4 p.m. at Creative Nomad Studios. Tickets for spectators are available online.
Students also are getting a break on ticket prices for the Lightfoot Band’s performance Oct. 29 at the Opera House, $18. Tickets are available online. Hurry, there are only 80 tickets left.
Friday night at Creative Nomad, Choir Revolution will be in to lead a sing-a-long of Gord’s music. Tickets are available online. There will be video shot and posted online, so comb your hair, put on a clean shirt and brush your teeth. There will also be performances by selected artists.
Saturday afternoon things shift to Qualye’s Brewery where things start with a showing of, a documentary by John Corcoran. This was shown last year and it follows a group touring the U.K. alongside Gord and company during his first performance tour in the U.K. in 30 years. It also has interviews with band members and Gord.
Then it’s time for more music by Don James and Jack Nicolle, The High Steppin’ Strutters, Samantha Windover, and Mauck (as in Andy) and Martin (his guitar), plus the winners of the student competition and some cake. You can get tickets online.
Culture Days
Last week I made a mistake. I said the Culture Days October 2 event was at Creative Nomad Studios, which is where it happened last year. It is in fact happening at the Orillia Public Library. There’s a lot going on with it, so here’s the rundown:
- Creative Youth Lab: Explore animation, 3D modelling and digital collage with Arts Orillia from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
- Something From Home: Explore an exhibition featuring visual representations of what home means to Lakehead University’s international students from 6 to 8:30 p.m.
- Bookmarks & Buttons: Create a custom bookmark or button using materials from the Orillia Public Library’s Makerspace from 6 to 8:30 p.m.
- Mosaic Mural: View a community mosaic mural created by North Simcoe Arts and community members from 6 to 8:30 p.m.
- Opening remarks will take place at 6:30 p.m.
- The Threads That Bind Us: Enjoy a mini fashion walk featuring Afro-Caribbean styles and stories, presented by the Orillia & Area Black Community Association, from 6:50 to 7:05 p.m.
- Season Sneak Peek: Enjoy a monologue from Macbeth and a song from Hedwig and the Angry Inch, presented by Mariposa Arts Theatre, from 7:10 to 7:25 p.m.
- Stories and Open Mic: Experience personal stories, spoken word, music, dance, art and more from 7:40 to 8:30 p.m.
Last year’s storytelling event won a Spotlight Award for Best Participatory Program from Culture Days Ontario. You need to register to tell a story and you can do that online. Admission to the event is free.
The Shorts
- Congratulations to Dan Austin, who has been writing new band music at a quick pace. Many of those pieces have been chosen for performance at school band festivals in Canada and the U.S. His, To Change A Life, has been chosen to be performed on Sunday on Parliament Hill in Ottawa as part of the Canadian Police and Peace Officer Memorial Service. It was written in memory of Suds Sutherland and will be performed by the Ceremonial Band of the Waterloo Region Police Service.
- Sept. 28 there will be a screening of Gord Downie’s The Secret Path at the Opera House at 7 p.m. This is the story Chanie Wenjack, a 12-year-old boy who died on Oct. 22, 1966, while attempting to walk over 400 miles home after escaping from the Cecilia Jeffrey Indian Residential School in Kenora, Ont. The United Way is presenting the film and you can get tickets online.
- Won’t Be Denied is celebrating a year of existence with a concert at St. Paul’s Centre Oct. 3. The all ages show is at 6 p.m. and admission is $20, or pay what you can. Others performing are Single Wound, Klobber, Heat, Consuming Misery, Runick and Vile Decree.
- If you missed it, the story about the donation of items from Gord’s estate is here. The pic is of the original recording made by his school principal of Gord singing Irish Lullaby.
- The Orillia Concert Association has their season lined up. the Toronto Brass Quintet performs Oct. 25 at the Opera House; the Toronto Concert Orchestra is in Jan. 17 at St. Paul’s Centre; Payadora plays March 14 at the Opera House; and Spirit 20 performs Apr. 18 at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian. All show times are 2:30 p.m. You can get tickets ($90, best deal in town) online, and there’s a lower price ($30) for students of all types up to grad school. It says nothing about reform school.
- Mariposa House Hospice has a fundraiser happening at Braestone Farm with Kelly Davies and the Devin Cuddy Band playing Oct. 25. Email autumnconcert@mariposahousehospice.com for tickets.
- The 7th annual Trunk or Treat is happening Oct. 24 at ODAS Park. Registration for those bringing their trunks is open now online. Tickets are available at the same URL starting Oct. 5. This is a fundraiser for the Orillia Youth Centre.
- Nominations for the annual Art and Culture Awards (November 25 at Creative Nomad Studios) are now open and you can find nomination forms now online.
- Bleeker’s new Album, Elephant, has been out for a couple weeks. You can get a copy on their website. They have a bunch of videos on thier Youtube page to check out. They will also be opening for The Trews at Casino Rama for a Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital Foundation fundraiser in October. You can get tickets for that show here. The foundation is also running a 50/50 draw in conjunction with the concert and you can get a ticket online.
- Paso Por Paso has a fundraiser with comedian Martha Chaves Sept. 27 at St. Paul’s Centre. This comes with a light lunch. The show is at 3 p.m. and all proceeds go to supporting Maya communities in Guatemala. Call 705-955-7760 for tickets.
- The Orillia Museum of Art and History has the annual Franklin Carmichael landscape show, Tradition Transformed opening Sept. 26 at 1 p.m.; they will also open a collection of art from the museum’s holding called Chasing the Light and Homegrown; The Story of Orillia at the same time; don’t forget to see the permanent exhibit of Gordon Lightfoot’s personal effects… Cloud Gallery hasHolly Ann Friesen in for a meet and greet Sept. 19 from noon to 2 p.m.; and Mark and Blake Fletcher just announced they bought Butter Gallery in Collingwood, adding 45 more artists to their catalogue. … Peter Street Fine Arts had a collection of work from the Bayside Artists up this month.
- Quayles has Kyle Wauchope playing Sept. 26; Darcy Windover is in Sept. 27; a comedy night with Chris Robinson, Patrick Hakeem, Kyle Patan, and Daniel Shaw is Oct. 3… The Hog ‘N Penny has No Great Mischief playing Sept. 26; and a jam Sunday afternoons… the ANAF club has the Rick Robichaud Band playing Sept. 26… Studabakers has live music Thursday nights… Kensingtons has an open mic every Tuesday evening.
(Photos by Swartz – SUNonline/Orillia and Images Supplied)
