The Pearl Company

Ben Caplan & The Casual Smokers: Saturday, September 17: 9:00.$15 door. $10 artists/students. Rugged, raspy, and roaring with charisma, former Hamiltonian, now Halifax’s Ben Caplan delivers it all from poetic ballads to frenetic gypsy anthems. There is a depth and musicianship to the songs. Expressive percussion, upright bass, violin, sax, clarinet, flute, and terrific use of call and response sing-along choruses all help Caplan & The Casual Smokers stand out from the masses.
In pace with gypsy-inspired strings, amid the sultry tones of clarinet and saxophone, Caplan has marked his place in the Canadian music landscape with a growling spirit similar to that of Tom Waits. His tours have extended throughout the Commonwealth, the energy of his live show an elegant cacophony gaining attention around the world. Breaking between guitar, banjo, piano, and melodica, Caplan’s stage show is reminiscent of a burly and bearded Freddy Mercury; a raging, strong, and exploratory songwriter, it’s the blues in his soul, pounding with the heart in your chest that makes Ben Caplan & The Casual Smokers an unmissable act. www.bencaplan.ca
This Just In!  Zachary Lucky will be joining Ben. “Lucky’s music is a fresh take on traditional folk; a melodic and usually acoustic affair, with an accent on storytelling and a sparse, folky atmosphere. This all combines to create an often minimal soundscape that evokes homespun imagery and the realism of emotion….” – Craig Silliphant
“Lucky’s music is as mature as his attitude — an easy on the ear, soft-spoken affair with a lyrical emphasis on storytelling, offered up through an understated vocal delivery that meshes well with his softly acoustic playing style.” – Planet S Magazine http://www.myspace.com/zacharylucky

Charly Chiarelli and the Sunnamabeaches: Friday, September 16: 8:00.$15 door. $10 artists/students. Charly comes to The Pearl with his close friends Venesio – aka Dennis – De Salvo (a manager at Hamilton’s Canadian Mental Health Association, on guitar) Ron Weihs (co-proprietor of Artword Artbar, on fiddle) and Gary Santucci (Pearl Company, on very classy guitar).  Charly has become internationally recognized as one of the world’s most accomplished storytellers – widely known for his two earlier one-person plays, Cu’Fu and Mangiacake, and now the new hit Sunamabeach, to complete the trilogy. Charly is also a songwriter and virtuoso harmonica player, so, it is no wonder that this collection of four notorious Hamiltonians went on to form a band called the Sunamabeaches! Charly takes on the role of lead singer, harmonica player and at times will tell a story or two… However, any one of the other musician’s may step up to the plate with a story. But make no mistake about it, the focus is on music. And the Sunamabeaches will regale you with unique interpretations of jazz, blues, rock and Sicilian folk tunes – including Charly’s original tunes from his plays (and beyond). Just in case you do not know this, Charly has been inducted into the McMaster University Alumni Hall of Fame, along with inductee notables like Martin Short, Dave Thomas and Eugene Levy!  There you have it, Hamilton’s own SUNAMABEACHES, a must see!

TIM HUS with his Travelin’ Band: Wednesday, September 14. $15 door. $10 artists/students. This is the hardest-working traveling band in western Canada. Rough, rowdy and a whole lot of fun. Endorsed by Ian Tyson, Stompin’ Tom and Corb Lund as “the real thing”, Tim has written some of Ian and Corb’s hits and is also with the legendary Stony Plains Records. Hus and his tougher-than-nails road band are on a cross-Canada tour — on his last two tours Tim and the band were Stompin’ Tom Connors’ backup group and opening artists. Fans can expect some Stompin’ Tom yarns, some seasoned old jokes, and a lot of hard-driving music. Tim’s latest Stony Plain album, Hockeytown, is as hard-edged a piece of Canadiana as you’ll ever find. It includes songs about the Red River flood in Winnipeg, Hank Snow, Saskatoon, the death of country music, fishing in the North Atlantic, Hamilton’s steel industry, and — of course — hockey. www.timhus.ca

Kaleidoscope Brown: featuring ALI BROTHERS with Brownman Ali: With electric trumpet: Marcus Ali – alto sax & EWI: Colin Kingsmore – drums: Ben Miller – 6-string electric bass. Saturday, September 10. $15 door. $10 artists/students.  The Ali Bros embody the essence of jazz improvisational ideology erupting against a backdrop of powerful urban grooves.  Funk, hip-hop, drum’n’bass, R’n’B all colliding with modern jazz textures. Conceived in the spirit of multi grammy winning outfit  “The Brecker Bros”, the ALI BROS embody the essence of jazz improvisational ideology erupting against a backdrop of powerful urban grooves. Latin, funk, hip-hop, drum’n’bass, R’n’B all colliding with modern jazz textures. Their uncanny musical relationship enhanced by blood, Brownman and Marcus Ali together form an incredibly synergistic, almost telepathic bond making them two of the most called upon horn men in the city. They have appeared side by side in countless horn sections in the Canadian professional music scene most notably as the backbone to the multi-award winning latin-jazz ensemble CRUZAO, Juno nominated reggae artist JASON WILSON, with reggathon superstar FITO BLANKO, modern house outfit FUNKY HI-LIFE, african masters RADIO NOMAD, urban songstress SHYANN, pop-rock sensation CROSSBAC, merengue specialists DOMINICANADA, Salsa powerhouse MARRON MATIZADO, Trinidadian Calypso group BACCHANAL ALL-STARS and far too many more to list here…” http://alibros.brownman.com

Read Toronto International Film festival review:

http://brownman.com/Interviews/2005-08-FilmFest/Mythology.html

An Evening with Sheila Gostick: Friday September 9, 8:00pm. $15 door. $10 artists/students. Sheila is the ultimate outsider artist; a legendary rebel comedian and song tosser. Direct from a G20 lockdown…. Banned in Toronto…. The word unique was made for this woman, the brilliant comic monologist that she is. Her delivery is a mix of fun and danger; `I’m not here to comfort, I’m here to afflict the comfortable’ she says.  “Traditional stand-up comics often relieve tension about social issues. Gostick’s mission is to crank it up, to be serious without being solemn, and to make people laugh a split second before they realize how subversive her stuff really is.” Robert Everett Green, Globe and Mail.  This woman is so subversive she does not have a website, email address or voicemail.  Sheila, can I come live with you?

Poor Angus: Thursday, September 8. 8:00pm. $15 door. $10 artists/students.  A Hamilton-based Celtic ensemble mixing the music of past and present with dynamic arrangements of traditional and original Scottish, Irish and East Coast pieces. They’ve shared the stage with the likes of Blue Rodeo, Kathleen Edwards, and The Proclaimers, Featuring Ross Griffiths’ masterful highland and uilleann piping and tin whistles, the virtuoso fiddling of Andrew Bryan, the warm voice and fingerstyle guitar of folk music veteran Scott Cameron Smith, the bodhran, guitar and mandolin of Brian LeBlanc, with bass and keyboard player DJ Moons.  Poor Angus is noted especially for their foot stomping vocal harmony. Their first album in 2007, won the Hamilton Music Award for Folk/Traditional Album of the Year; Their second album, “Prime Cuts”, also won the 2009 HMA for Folk/Traditional album of the Year! Greg Quill of the Toronto Star noted: ”Deftly executed instrumental ballads, jigs and reels….Cameron Smith’s “How Many Are The Days” and “Colleen” provide ample opportunity for this gifted writer and singer to prove his worth.” www.poorangus.com