The Pearl Company

Shari Vandermolen & David Brideau: Saturday May 5.  Doors: 7:30pm. Show: 8:00. Tickets: $20. Shari Vandermolen is a renowned vocalist and award-winning performer in Hamilton and the Greater Toronto Area who has been entertaining audiences for 15 years with her Quartet, Trio or 5-piece band Quarter to Nine.  She is also the lead vocalist for the 10-piece jazz combo SwingLine.  On May 5th Shari brings her powerful and impressive vocal stylings back to the Pearl Company for a more intimate evening of song with jazz guitarist David Brideau, James Gannett on bass and Vince Waters on drums.  “…hear Vandermolen make jelly of your emotions with her voice and her art… one example is Stormy Weather… I barely weathered that storm intact.”  – View Magazine
David Brideau is a Canadian jazz guitarist, composer, and teacher who has been an active musician for over 15 years. A Hamilton native, and honours graduate from the Mohawk Jazz program, David has played all around the GTA with his own group, the David Brideau Trio and Quartet, as well as being prominently featured in groups with Michael Morobito, Amber-Leigh Palka, and Lauren Perreira among others. He studied under jazz greats Bob Shields, Pat Collins, Kim Ratcliffe, and Mark Ucci and is currently continuing his studies at McMaster University. David often composes his own standards, and released the sold-out EP “Addicted To You” in 2016. He is a recipient of the Dave McMurdo Music Bursary, the Antony Roberts Music Bursary, and the Richard Newell Memorial Scholarship.
Ticets: https://www.ticketscene.ca/events/21098/

HELD OVER! Shelley Marshall Presents: The Award Winning Production “Hold Mommy’s Cigarette”: April 18 & 19. All One Woman’s story of an unfiltered life, written and performed by Shelley Marshall, directed by Linda Kash. It seems appropriate that world renowned Comedienne, Marshall would open her autobiographical One Woman Show in the city where the story and star were born. It took 10 years for Marshall to create this Play and it is the rewarding result of resilience, recovery, and reflection while exploring many genres of performance including elements of clown, stand up, improv, buffoon, and play. Shelley Marshall takes her audience many places; “I take them on an adventure, both emotionally and visually. There is no denying that my story is tragic, but it’s my story and time and writing without shame has been my comedic relief. ‘Hold Mommy’s Cigarette’ is not an exploitation of what has happened in my life, but rather, an acceptance of where it may lead. It is a dark comedy, a vulnerable piece about life, mental illness and survival.” Marshall reveals with a smile. She invites you to come to her show with an open mind and promises you’ll leave with a full heart. *Mature Content* http://www.holdmommyscigarette.com Tickets available at http://www.thepearlcompany.ca or 524-0606. Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1451939231706392/

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CHECK THE REVIEW FOR DEATH AND THE MAIDEN:
http://fringefestivalcommunityreviews.wordpress.com/2013/07/21/death-and-the-maiden/

Death and the Maiden: Written by Laurence Olivier Prize Winning playwright Ariel Dorfman. This is the fourth production that Nortesur has developed for the stage; chosen because it speaks passionately about current international events, it asks tough questions about forgiveness and the role of victims and perpetrators in transitory societies, and it is a local opportunity to see a truly amazing piece of theatre written by one of Latin America’s best contemporary playwrights.  It is raw, provocative, and driven by a cast of characters that are all-too-human. Performed, and designed by emerging professional artists from across the golden horseshoe and the GTA, it is an entertaining, insightful, and extraordinarily powerful piece that delivers an evening of truly engaging theatre.  Thurs.July 18@ 8:00pm, Fri.19@8:00pm, Sat.20@7:00pm, Tues.23@8:00pm, Wed.24@7:00pm, Thurs.25@8:00pm,  Fri.26@7:00pm, Sat.27@8:00pm

AND HERE’S  RIDERGIRL’S REVIEW :
http://fringefestivalcommunityreviews.wordpress.com/2013/07/22/ridergirl-second-review/

RiderGirl: Written and performed by Ottawa based actor and Saskatchewan native Colleen Sutton. Professional sports and
independent theatre meet head on in Tiger Town! This is the story of a young woman whose prairie roots and home team inspire her to get off the sidelines and get in the game of her life.  With the end zone in sight, she fights for every down, but fumbles when she tries to go it alone.  Her team is about to make it – can she do the same?  Come in your colours, GAME TIME is here!  Two?time Rideau award nominee Colleen Sutton will energize your inner fan!  “ **** ½ “The only reason I’ve withheld that last half?star is because I cannot in good conscience give 5 stars to a Rider fan. Other than that, the show was superb.” CBC Manitoba.   Note: Fri. 19 – 2 for 1.  Friday, July 19, 6:30; Saturday,  20, 9:00; Sunday,  21, 2:00; Tuesday,  6:30; Wednesday, 24, 9:00; Thursday,  25, 6:30; Friday,  26, 9:00; Saturday, 27, 2:00

Times, dates, and tickets are  on the Fringe website – www.hamiltonfringe.ca 

The Art Bus is Sponsored by Judy Marsales Real Estate Brokerage:

Last Art Bus for the Summer! Check out Hamilton’s unique and constantly evolving art scene! Call Barbara (905.524.0606) or email (info@thepearlcompany.ca) to reserve your seat. Next dates: Sept 6 & 20. Cost: $15/$10 students/artists. Group rates available.  Start: 6:30 from The Pearl.

• July 5: (L’Arche Gallery, Workers Arts & Heritage, Nathaniel Hughson, Book Club Gallery, Manta Gallery) This will be another varied and interesting trip with specially-opened galleries, and tours of places you have never been before!

Jon Brooks: Saturday, November 26; 8:00pm, $15 door/$10 artists/students. CD Release. A songwriter dedicated to uniting folk song tradition with today’s stories, with an honest, gritty delivery and straight-shooting songwriting which honours the tradition of folk music without the earnest format.  Jon’s music is featured on Neil Young’s Livingwithwartoday website and he recently won both the coveted Kerrville New Folk Competition in Texas, and the International Songwriting Competition (Folk category). Jon’s music mandate is unequivocal: “I’m not interested in ‘happy songs’ – I’ve chosen to write healing songs and, for that reason, I’m obliged to reveal a wound or two now and then.  I’m even less interested in writing unhappy songs:  I want to write hopeful songs, inspiring songs and I expect I owe today’s listener some hopeful argument – some legitimate reason – as to why we should believe our present world could be improved, or healed.”  His 4^th collection of songs, DELICATE CAGES searches the defining issues of our time and looks at them from the perspective of freedom and enslavement.  The message is delivered gradually and gently over 43 unwasted minutes.  The message: the opposite of love is not hate, but is in fact, fear. Whether about the times we live in, its past or its future promise, Brooks’ songs are underscored throughout by his gently weather-beaten voice, the singular beautiful sound of hand on guitar, and his uncanny ability to press his ear against the heartbeat and the soul of the times we live in – transforming, inspiring and uplifting us as we bear witness. http://www.jonbrooks.ca

The Jazz Connection Big Band w Paul Hoffert: Friday, November 25. Doors at8:30, jazz at 9:00 $15 at the door: The JCBB is a well established 17-piece jazz ensemble comprised of professional and semi-professional musicians from the Hamilton/Toronto area. They perform only the best modern big band charts from the books of Goodwin, Martin, Menza, Rich, Basie, and many other great contemporary composers. Jazz Connection’s approach is high energy, uncompromising, straight ahead jazz. They combine the highest level of musicianship with great charts in an entertaining show that engages both the jazz enthusiast and the casual listener equally. Once more into that cool space of surround sound big band music. http://www.jazzconnection.ca Withrenowned jazz pianist Paul Hoffert! Paul has the soul of an artist and the mind of a scientist. By the time he was twenty-six, Mr. Hoffert was an established jazz recording artist, television performer, off-Broadway musical author, film composer, and had studied mathematics and physics at the University of Toronto. He co-founded Lighthouse, a rock band that sold millions of records, and toured the world.  Hoffert has parallel achievements in science and technology; he writes best-selling books: he has received the Order of Canada, Canada’s highest honour; he is a Fine Arts Professor at York University, and he is coming to The Pearl!  www.paulhoffert.ca

Matthew Barber & Louise Burns: Thursday, November 24. Doors 7:30. Concert 8:00 $15 advance / $20 at door. Singer songwriter, Matthew Barber is a seasoned songwriter and performer with five albums, numerous tours across Canada and around the world, a handful of record deals, a Juno nomination, and an award-winning musical to his credit.  His latest album is a simple, honest pleasure.  He’ll bring it to The Pearl with old friends  Julian Brown on bass and Dean Stone on drums. Both Stone and Brown have played with Feist and Apostle of Hustle.  These shows will mark Barber’s first Canadian tour with a band in over 2 years. The new album is a disarmingly honest record of appealing simplicity.  Melodic instrumental hooks weave in and out of the  spare arrangements, providing an engaging musical setting for Barber’s signature vocals and neatly-packaged lyrical turns about love, lust, longing, disillusionment, injustice, hope and the modern experience.  http://matthewbarber.com Louise Burns, already an industry veteran at the age of 24, also has a new album.  She plays nearly every instrument on ‘Mellow Drama’; It’s a pure expression of musicality and talent, for which she made the Polaris Music Prize Long List.  Mellow Drama has an honest, confessional quality about it; listening to it is like stumbling across someone’s (incredibly relatable) diary. And Louise’s performances come straight from the heart.  Her influences include – Neil Young, Nick Cave, Johnny Cash and June Carter, Harry Nilsson, Sam Cooke – but never at the cost of her own voice.  http://louiseburnsmusic.com

Jenn Grant with Amelia Curran: Tuesday, November 22. Doors 7:30. Concert 8:00 $15/$18 at door. Jenn Grant, an East Coast Music Award winner for Best New Artist, rose to attention with her intuitive songcraft and with her jazzy, Feist-influenced folk/pop. She’s a fine arts graduate with a voice like brushstrokes on a canvas. Her latest album, Honeymoon Punch, is a frisky concoction of spirited, synth-sweetened songs balanced with muted, natural elements; it drives the dark clouds away. Jenn and her album Honeymoon Punch are nominated for Female Recording Artist of the Year, SOCAN Songwriter of the Year, Recording of the Year, Video of the Year (“Getcha Good”), and Bell Alliant Entertainer of the Year at the Music Nova Scotia Awards www.jenngrant.com Amelia Curran: With a number of East Coast Music Award nominations and an extensive discography, over the past two years she has returned to Newfoundland to record with Don Ellis in various caverns in St. John’s, the city of legends, For Curran St. John’s captures the essence of her inner huntress. A songwriter by trade, but a writer at heart, Curran believes language is everything. She describes the craft of song-writing as an act of “expressing the inexpressible, …. describing the indescribable.” www.ameliacurran.com

Ben Caplan & The Casual Smokers with Charlotte Cornfield: Saturday, November 19: 8:00. $15 door. $10 artists/students. (Charlotte and Ben have just received a “Best Bet” from Graham Rockingham at the Spec!) Rugged, raspy, and roaring with charisma, former Hamiltonian, now living in Halifax, Ben Caplan delivers it all from poetic ballads to frenetic gypsy anthems.  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 the 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 gaining attention around the world. www.bencaplan.ca Charlotte Cornfield writes some of the most emotionally raw, beautiful songs this country has heard in years. She has mastered her potent blend of soulful vocals and stylish guitar playing; (The Montreal Mirror has named her “The next it-girl of folk-rock.”). Her pop sensibility makes her tunes catchier than the new Justin Bieber single, always in the most surprising of ways. “Cornfield’s got something luminous about her,”: Maisonneuve Magazine. Seeing her perform or listening to her recordings, it’s hard to miss. Her latest album, ‘Two Horses’, just released, is a fleshed-out, conceptual tour de force, reflecting the duality of Cornfield’s musical influences: the deep lyricism and raw emotion of Mitchell, Dylan, and Young, mixed with the intense energy and hookiness of late-70’s New York rock and roll. www.charlottecornfield.com

In the Pearl Company Gallery: The Waterfall Show. Opening November 18. 7:00 – 10:00. Our unique
geography surrounds us with waterfalls; Artists find them irresistible! Paintings, sketches and photographs: The Tiger Group, Michael Babyn, John Davies, Rob Laffier. Also showing: Private Collection Sale: Prints, lithographs, some originals, featuring such well-known names as Benjamin Chee Chee, Ken Danby, James Fraser.  No charge. Through December.

Cam Penner: Thursday, November 17: 8:00. $15 door. $10 artists/students. In a complicated world, Cam Penner finds beauty in simplicity, with an honest, spare approach to folk music that is refreshing in an age filled with so much insincerity and irony. Singing uncompromising songs about redemption and truth, his is a voice for the disenfranchised, a storyteller for those who never reach their destination. Penner’s fiercely personal lyrics are complemented by a gentle acoustic guitar style, and the defiant heroes of his songs are weary, but they are never defeated. His new album, Gypsy Summer is full of hope. It’s full of love. It’s electrifying and provoking. It’s full of everything we should be looking for, not only musically, but in life.  Cam has shared stages with Richard Thompson, Fred Eaglesmith, Blue Rodeo, Blackie & the Rodeo Kings, John Prine, Glen Campbell, and Lyle Lovett.  http://www.campenner.com