The Pearl Company

Cottage Group Art Opening: Sunday, March 27, 2:00 to 4:00 pm. No admission fee. The Cottage Studio Artists present a show of their work in our second floor gallery. Come celebrate their success and the advent of spring!  Refreshments and conversation also free of charge.

The Cottage Studio is a non-profit group that gathers in a building beside St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church to produce art.  It is run a community of artists in order to support other artists.  Art supplies, studio space, and opportunities for showing their artwork are an integral part of the program.
The cottage was renovated and turned it into a gallery and a pleasant work environment for the artists to call their own through a grant from the Trillium Foundation.

In The Pearl’s theatre-in-the-round space: Two plays in two weeks! One (Living Tall) by acclaimed theatre artist and teacher, Ker Wells; the other (Darwinii: The Comeuppance of Man) by playwright Glen Berger and performer Brett Keyser.

DARWINII: The Comeuppance of Man: 2 PERFORMANCES ONLY: Friday and Saturday, March 25 & 26 at 7:30pm. $15 at the door. A once in a lifetime chance to see a swashbuckling, one-man “tour de farce” that deftly skewers everything you think you know about Darwin. A unique and imaginative trip ‘round Darwinism, deep time, evolution, and survival of the fittest that’s also serious fun. With Brett Keyser, writer, director, and performing artist.  It is a unique and imaginative trip ‘round Darwinism, deep time, evolution, and survival of the fittest that’s also serious fun.  Check out this great review! http://www.cleveland.com/onstage/index.ssf/2011/03/cleveland_public_theatre_darwi.html

Darwinii was conceived by playwright Glen Berger and writer-performer Brett Keyser. Darwinii was originally commissioned by the American Philosophical Society Museum. (more…)

Steve Brockley Band with Sarah Good: Saturday, March 26. 9:30pm. $10 tickets at the door/ $8 for Artists & Students.  “These are songs that other songwriters talk about, and musicians that other musicians talk about.”  Leon Power’s beats combined with Kevin Bertram’s double bass swagger make a low-down groove while Steve Brockley’s finger-picked electric guitar tactics and whiskey-blend vocals deliver some honest songs from the heart and guts.   “His album, crafted in the riff-filled, storytelling tradition of legends like Johnny Cash, is beyond his years.” www.myspace.com/stevebrockley
Sarah Good: With her beautiful voice and her musically adventurous soul, Sarah will take you unusual places with her sincere and soaring vocals.  We are always delighted to have Hamilton’s Sarah Good at The Pearl.

In The Pearl’s theatre-in-the-round space: Two plays in two weeks! One (Living Tall) by acclaimed theatre artist and teacher, Ker Wells; the other (Darwinii: The Comeuppance of Man) by playwright Glen Berger and performer Brett Keyser.

Living Tall: 2 PERFORMANCES ONLY: Friday and Saturday, March 18 & 19 at 7:30pm. $15 at the door. Acclaimed theatre artist and teacher, Ker Wells, presents this absurd comedy veering into existential crisis. Salesman Jeffrey Weaver’s presentation is going smoothly as he guides his audience through the steps of “Living Tall,” his high-octane and delightfully strange motivational program for increasing sales and earning respect in the business community. But Weaver can’t escape an incident that haunts him and threatens to knock him seriously off-message. “Killer-Funny…with a mind-blowing performance by the amazing Ker Wells…”

Living Tall is an original three-way creative collaboration between veteran theatre artists Ker Wells (performer) and Karin Randoja (Director), and Cleveland writer Michael Geither.

Ker Wells: A recent immigrant to Hamilton, Ker was a founding member of two of the companies at the forefront of Canadian physical and devised theatre: Primus Theatre (‘89 to ’97) and Number Eleven Theatre (‘98 to ’05). (more…)

Sly Violet: Friday, March 18: $10, $8 for student/artist.  Doors at 9, start 9:30pm. This husband and wife indie folk rock duo has been rockin their own musical trail for the past few years thru various venues, from festival stages, to pubs to coffee houses and cafes: they embrace them all with their passion for music.  Sly Violet is Violet Clarke on vocals, guitar & harmonica and Sly Boston on drums. The duo recently received a Barrie New Music Award for ‘Best Folk’ at the annual awards show in September.  Their sparse folk arrangements are built on acoustic guitar and her lovely harmonies, with ripples of piano and percussion on top.  It’s a wonderful blend of folk and acoustic soft rock.  Though Violet’s melancholy musings resemble Elliott Smith and Hayden, her voice has been compared to Joni Mitchell’s, her guitar style entrenches a touch of Dashboard Confessional and her pianist soul rivals Ben Folds. www.slyviolet.ca (more…)

REVWear 8th Annual Fashion Show: Saturday March 12th, and Sunday March 13th, 8:00pm. $12 @ revwear.ca. A fashion event unlike any other; all the clothes are made of reused materials, and contrary to the messages promoted by many fashion shows, the theme is Freedom From Oppression.  REVWear is an intense art experience that has woven reused, salvaged and found materials into a wearable story of fashion, dynamic performance, installations, multi-media, spoken word, music and dance. All help tell the stories of struggle for a better world.  www.revwear.ca

Rant Maggie Rant: Friday, March 11. Concert at 8:30pm. $18 advance/$22 at the door. This brilliant band combines traditional elements with a contemporary approach to deliver an exotic blend of new and old; that’s what Celtic music is built on, this exciting evolution of the genre. Don’t miss “Rant Maggie Rant” to get you in that St. Patty’s Day mood, with a hot show you won’t soon forget!  Traditional tunes played straight up or yielding to the influences of world rhythms; reels with a touch of Appalachian Swing, jigs driven by Latin hand percussion, slow ballads as they’ve been played for centuries; they will take you on a journey charted through the past, to new compositions of the present, passing by the shores of the seven Celtic nations on their way.

“Rant Maggie Rant exudes a style and brand of Celtic entertainment that is both new and old. Their showmanship, and delivery combined with their diversity of traditional sound coupled with upbeat and unexpected blends, makes them a welcome addition to any musical line up….”  Maggie Durocher, Windsor Celtic Festival.    www.myspace.com/rantmaggierant Tickets can be purchased at www.ticketscene.ca or call The Pearl: 905 524-0606

Barney Bentall: Tuesday, March 8, 8:00pm. $20 at the door. $15 artist/student. During the past decade Barney Bentall has transformed personally and musically to emerge as one of Canada’s prolific folk/roots singer/songwriters. His sixth studio album, The Inside Passage, paints portions of a life’s journey and shows that the leader of Barney Bentall and The Legendary Hearts is still at the top of his game; he certainly delivers proof that he is Canadian musician who has paid his dues and dually deserves recognition by the music industry, his followers, listeners and peers, especially  If you’re a fan of artists like Bruce Springsteen’s, Fred Eaglesmith, or Bruce Cockburn. www.barneybentall.com

Mark Berube and The Patriotic Few: Friday, March 4, 8:00pm., $12 at the door. $10 artist/student. When recorded by the CBC for Canada Live, Mark was compared to a “young Leonard Cohen” for his lyrical brevity and craftsmanship.  www.markberube.com Mark’s new album, June In Siberia sees a departure for Mark and The Patriotic Few (Kristina Koropecki on cello, Patrick Dugas on drums, and Amélie Mandeville on bass) The overall result is a striking and unique blend of indie chamber-folk. At a sold out show at La Cigalle in Paris, Mark sold out of albums both nights and was touted by the French press as “a very strong and promising artist …equally charming behind the piano or a cappella” Not to be missed! Here’s a link to Mark’s latest review: http://exclaim.ca/Reviews/SoulFunkAndWorld/mark_berube_patriotic_few-june_in_siberia

The Art Bus is Sponsored by Judy Marsales Real Estate

• March 4: First stop will be Gallery on the Bay (Tibor Nyilasi), then we’ll be giving riders the treat of traveling to Dundas to see the Carnegie’s temporary digs and the ultra-cool studios of the artists who inhabit the Oddfellows Hall. Then off to the Sunrise Gallery finishing up at Gallery 435.
• March 11: We start with the Ottawa Street Stroll where we will find AllSorts Gallery, Earls Court Gallery and Under the Moon. Then to the James North Art Crawl with its multitude of artists studios and galleries.  We’ll finish the tour at Hamilton’s original Studio Gallery with the fabulous Tiger Group.

•    Starting at 6:30 from The Pearl Company, 16 Steven Street and King William.
•    Please reserve a spot beforehand via email or phone, and purchase your trip ($15.00) when you arrive.
•    We finish back at The Pearl for an après-tour wind-down which can include a tour of the building and usually a taste of whatever event is happening on the theatre floor.

If you have any questions or to reserve a seat, either call or email Barbara Milne (905 524-0606), barbaramilne@cogeco.ca

Jean-Paul de Roover: Thursday, March 3: 8:00pm., $15 at the door. $10 artist/student. J-P plays loops and sings, creating a full band sound all by himself.   www.jeanpaulderoover.com With an innovative approach to music, Jean-Paul De Roover is much more than a solo artist. Accompanied by live looping, guitars and a voice used as an instrument, this ‘sonic architect’ builds his songs from foundation to facade before your very eyes. Beginning with dead silence, his performance could lead anywhere: With lyrical content that can be brutally honest, or lovingly truthful, one thing is certain: the originality and creativity of his timeless performances shines through to every listener.

John Mann: Mister Mann. Wednesday, March 2, 8:00pm., $20 at the door.  A solo project of Spirit of the West’s front man and songwriter John Mann who is returning to his stripped down Alt-folk roots. www.johnmann.ca Mann pens beautiful melodies with emotionally honest lyrics that capture the intimate moments of his hometown of Vancouver, its occupants, the fragile details of their dysfunctional love and the loss of a city’s innocence. John Mann is also an actor of stage, film and television and currently can be seen on the CBC TV drama Intelligence, as CSIS Director, James Mallaby. Really looking forward to this show!