This Week In Art/Culture/Entertainment
By John Swartz
Jim Johnston of the Doug Trucker Band is behind a fundraiser to buy 15 Fender acoustic guitars and then donate them to Patrick Fogarty Catholic Secondary so students don’t have to play air guitar. The fundraiser is Saturday at the Geneva and tickets are $10 in advance at Gilbert Guitars or Alleycats, $15 at the door.
Danny Webster is opening the show and he’s got some good, new tunes to perform. Bleeker is next and their new album is out in the fall, but they’ll be performing some of the stuff from that.
Taylor Perkins told me the band (with Cole Perkins, Mike Vandyk and Chris Dimas) has been rehearsing all week for this gig and some others coming up shortly. The big news he had was they have added Ayden Miller playing keyboards for their gigs. Aiden is formerly of Aurora Blue. He’s studying at Fanshawe College and just got the Sony/ATV songwriter scholarship award in the Music Industry Arts program.
The Doug Trucker Band is last. I heard them at the Washago song contest in March after they had a several year hiatus and they sounded really good. I had forgotten how good their tunes were and I think when you hear them again you’ll feel the same.
Leacock Children’s Day
Hey kids, this is where you get to earn a chance to win some stuff. Saturday the Leacock Museum has their annual Children’s Day, called Off The Shelf this year. The theme is Roald Dahl stories (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, etc.) I haven’t read his books, but something about the title, The Twits, is appealing.
Anyway, there are 30 Golden Tickets available to be found and if you go to the museum’s facebook page and read the clues you can visit the places downtown and get a ticket, which you can turn in Saturday at the event for a prize bag (I think there will be chocolate in the bag). When you figure out from the clues on the facebook page, go to the location and ask for your Golden Ticket. You only have two days to do it. Tickets are limited to 30 in number, so figure out more than one clue in case the place has run out.
You can dress up as a character from any of the stories. There are games to play. One is chase the ducks, another fight with the geese (don’t do that, those are jokes for your parents). Tim Greenwood will be telling adapted stories from The Twits (Scheer and Ford?)and Orillia Public Library staff will be on hand with some fun stuff to do.
Over the years there have hundreds of kids attending the children’s day event. Trix’s Bistro will be open with a kids menu. It’s from 1 to 4 p.m. and admission is $5 per kid.
And, I didn’t get to last weekend’s boat show at the Leacock Museum, but Jenny Martynyshyn told me Sunday was very successful for turnout, and the Kehoe and Shilling families had a reunion on the grounds so the place was packed.
Arty Stuff
Lee Contemporary has an exhibit of paper creations by Ronald Rregamey up until August 3. Hibernation Art has work by Lise Rowlandson up for the rest of the month.
OMAH has an exhibit called Project Voyager by Victoria Ward and Gary Blundell who documented in art their travels paralleling Champlain and threw in some memories of the Apollo moon landing in 1969 for good measure.
OMAH also has a new exhibit of work by Melody Madden and also has a storytelling night July 28 called Dangerous Dames. It’s about women standing up for themselves and the environment. Tickets are $15 for those who aren’t member of OMAH yet, less if you are, and you can call 705-326-2159 to get them.
Peter Street Fine Art has the work of Myra and Lori Korkola and Karen Hudgin featured.
The Shorts
* Next up for summer theater at the Opera House is The Gentleman Clothier by by Norm Foster, so you know it will be funny, or should be. The review will be posted tomorrow. Also at the Opera House, Duck Soup Productions has Annie every Tuesday at 7 p.m.
* For what it’s worth, over all the years I’ve been to the Scottish Festival, I never had a chance to hear Tom Leadbeater sing – and he’s been at all of them. I hung around long enough Saturday to get the chance and I now know why he keeps being brought back to entertain – he’s really good. Great voice, good choice of tunes, not all of them Celtic. The one that sticks in the random access memory is a version of Anne Murray’s Snowbird.
* Craig Cardiff is returning for what is becoming an annual boat cruise on the Island Princess featuring his music. It’s September 1 and the boat loads at 5:30 p.m., it will not be leaving at 6:01 p.m. but at 6, so don’t be late. Tickets are $35. If you wait, it will be $45 at the dock, but that’s not really a plan is it? Kids under 112 are free with an adult.
* Coming up… the Hog ‘N Penny has Darrin Davis in Friday; Alexandria Taylor is in Saturday night… the Brownstone has Pride Night happening Thursday evening; Craig Robertson is in Friday; Weekend at Ramona’s plays Saturday; Hubbards hustlers play Wednesday July 31… the Sunday evening band concert at the Aqua Theatre is with the Skyliners Big Band at 6:30 p.m. … the chamber of commerce’s next Summer Concert Series at the Port of Orillia is July 27 with Dav and the Crash Monkey Mob 6 p.m. … the concert series at the Bandstand in Couchiching Beach Park July 24 has the Tradesmen and Straits playing at 6:30 p.m.; ; Charlotte and the Dirty Cowboys are up August 7… the next Movies in the Park at the Aqua Theatre has the 19796 version of A Star is Born August 7 when the sun goes down.
(Main photo, Bleeker, by Tim Kehoe, others by Swartz – SUNonline/Orillia)
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