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!

Roxanne Potvin with Kim Wempe: Saturday, February 4: 8:00 pm $15 / $10 students/artists: With her new album “Play”, Potvin has achieved something that few artists ever succeed in doing – she’s expanded her style and grown as an artist while still keeping the grit and authenticity that is so appealing about her music. All blues and no play made for an unfulfilled Roxanne Potvin. Her smart and sassy new album Play, finds the Montreal-based artist pushing new buttons and continuing her evolution from a stylish, bluesy guitar slinger to a more tuneful pop-orientated performer, free-spirited and varied.  Steve Dawson who runs the Black Hen label out of Vancouver encouraged her in her decision to shift direction and helped her keep the songs on “Play” ambitious, while never losing the loose limbed joyful feeling that inspired them.  She says about her aggressive, energy-driven hooks of Play, “I had been listening to all different types of music and learning to approach writing as a discipline. I found myself going back to the Beatles and Beck.” Clearly Roxanne can rock with the best of them when she wants to. www.roxannepotvin.com Kim Wempe’s beautiful voice is haunting and smokey; some insist she is the child of Janis Joplin and sister of Adele but Wempe is out to blaze her own trail and leave a slew of dropped jaws in her wake. This may be because she is far from the fragile and sensitive singer songwriter; when she sings, her vibe is strong woman with the urge to move mountains! She has won both an East Coast Music Award and Music Nova Scotia Award  http://kimwempe.com

Kaleidoscope Brown: featuring BROWNMAN AKOUSTIC TRIO: (NYC style modern swing) Saturday, January 28. $15 door. $10 artists/students. With: Brownman Ali – trumpet: Soren Nissen – acoustic bass: Eric West – drums. Brownman has a frenetic international tour schedule (with musicians such as Paul Simon) and for January’s installment of KALEIDOSCOPE BROWN, the Toronto based Trinidadian-born multi-award winning jazz trumpeter brings the BROWNMAN AKOUSTIC TRIO to Pearl Company.  The trio serves up a night of 50’s & 60’s jazz a la Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Joe Henderson, Duke Ellington, Cole Porter, and more from the American jazz songbook.  Brownman is flanked by two of the most called upon young bassists and drummers in the Toronto jazz scene right now – both under 25 years old!  Be ready for fresh-faced and exciting new takes on the classic jazz lineage.
“Award winning Trinidadian born, New York schooled jazz trumpet player Brownman Ali leads this modern jazz trio through inspired arrangements of standards and choice originals.  The new generation of jazz.” – Jazzonline.com “Performing organic jazz in the classic trio or quartet setting, this unit strives to embody the jazz improvising spirit of the 60’s – communication.  Playing selections of standards linked together in one organic mish-mash of sonic goodness, this unit brings classic jazz themes and powerful Brownman compositions into the new millennium” – Jazz Journey, CHRY radio http://bat.brownman.com

Jonathan Byrd / Raghu Lokanathan / Corin Raymond: Friday, January 27. 7:30pm doors/8pm show, $20/$10 artists and students. Jonathan Byrd’s Cackalack is his first release since joining Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and Joni Mitchell on the Chicago Tribune’s list of the 50 most significant singer-songwriters of the last 50 years! “This rootsy North Carolinian may be the most buzzed-about new songwriter in folkdom. He displays John Prine’s gift for stark little songs that tell big, complex stories, Guy Clark’s lean melodicism, Lyle Lovett’s wry mischief, and Bill Morrissey’s knack for the revealing image.” — Scott Alarik, Boston Globe  “Sly, subversive and able to say more in two words than most other people can say in a novel….” Midwest Record. “Jonathan Byrd doesn’t sing songs; he sings truth.” – Performing Songwriter.  www.jonathanbyrd.com Raghu Lokanathan’s latest album, ‘Blue Girl’, takes bold risks and vividly spins the stories of characters that are as likable and warped and dignified and unlikely as the grinning man himself; clever, sympathetic songs that showed a dark, and darkly humorous, edge.  These are brilliant songs, grittier than before, with radical experiments in song structure and point-of-view that always sounded natural, even inevitable.  “He writes songs like they used to a long time ago.” Utah Phillips.  http://www.raghumusic.com Corin Raymond is the Toronto-based troubadour who is also half of the Undesirables and whose band, The Sundowners blew us all away when they played here last May; John Prine comparisons often come his way. Corin is a Pearl favourite; a wonderful, warm human being who specializes in bringing the best singer/songwriters he can find to wonderful, warm, welcoming places like The Pearl.  His own songwriting talent is impressive and if you have heard him live, you will know that his personality and performance charm, captivate, and thoroughly entertain.  He is also the guy whose play “Bookworm” was the audience favourite at last summer’s Hamilton Fringe Festival and the guy who is paying for his next two albums with Canadian Tire money!  See his (going viral) YouTube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9lVyhraw-A And Corin’s music:  https://www.facebook.com/CorinRaymondMusic

Joanna Chapman-Smith: Thursday, January 26, 8:00pm. $15 door/$10 artists/students: (No, she is not Hamilton’s infamous Joanna of Chapman Books!) She is, however, the winner of the 2010 Independent Music Award for best acoustic song, and has played to strong reviews in concerts and festivals from Australia to Denmark.  Her critically acclaimed release CONTRARIES has received airplay in more than fifteen countries. A well-nurtured thirst for new cultural experiences is unmistakable in Joanna’s music; in addition to jazz, folk and classical, her songs also show the influence of many other musical forms, from klezmer and Balkan choral music to tango and flamenco.  She is a skilled guitarist, pianist, and clarinetist, but her live shows also feature other, less conventional instruments, many of her own creation. These elements all help distinguish Joanna from other talented young singer-songwriters, but what truly sets her apart is the voice.  It’s an extraordinary instrument, crystalline and strong, which Joanna guides effortlessly through a nearly four-octave range. “The slinky-voiced Canadian whose arch acoustic musings and fondness for the accordion come laced with a hint of Parisian cafes and East European Klezmer music.” – Q MAGAZINE “Her voice exudes a warmth, charm and occasional vulnerability that easily brings you under her spell.” – BLUESBUNNY, “Chapman-Smith has a supple and finely-nuanced voice and writes with the ear of a poet.” – GEORGIA STRAIGHT  www.joannacs.com

Jacam Manricks Trio: Sunday, January 22. 8:00. $20 at the door. Jazz saxophonist/composer Jacam Manricks and his ensemble of internationally renowned Jazz artists are touring Canada in promotion of Jacam’s current album release ‘Trigonometry’ (Positone Records).  The tour will feature Jacam’s highly acclaimed compositions performed by a world-class ensemble including Canadian drummer Ernesto Cervini (Joe Lovano, Clark Terry & Benny Golson), Jim Vivian on bass (Dave Liebman, Kenny Wheeler & John Abercrombie) and Manricks on saxophone. As a saxophonist and woodwind player, Jacam has performed and/or recorded with some of the most prestigious international artists of our time, including Ray Charles, Jeff ‘Tain’ Watts, and the Queensland Symphony. He is a popular figure on the New York contemporary jazz scene and has released two highly acclaimed albums receiving outstanding reviews from international music magazines and newspapers. “(Manricks) does for jazz what author Walt Whitman did for existentialism, he gives the genre meaning that people can relate to and apply to their own lives.” –Jazz Times  “(Manricks is) A composer beyond the confines of genre perception…mellifluous…meditative…beautifully contoured…An impressive collection of pieces” – DownBeat Magazine  ‘Superb saxophone work, intellectually stimulating writing and ingeniously dovetailed rhythmic lines are the three sides that form the musical shape on ‘Trigonometry.’ – All About Jazz-New York   www.jacammanricks.com

Gary Santucci Solo & Pearl Review Re-View: Saturday, January 21, 8:00pm. $15 door/$10 artists/students – For Concert and Reception: (free Pearl Review as part of package.) Response was so good that if you missed The Pearl Review kick-off last week, we’re doing it again this Saturday with a concert thrown in. Come on by! We’ll start the evening with an intimate evening of guitar music: Classical guitar, World Music, and original compositions from Gary Santucci. (Trained in Spain [and Canada] and playing his unique brand of flamenco and world music for over 30 years, he has become a consummate musician whose repertoire spans numerous genres.  Among his awards is Best Classical Musician 1982 [Hamilton Wentworth Council of the Arts],  The City of Hamilton Arts Award for Music 2004, and together with Barbara Milne, The City of Hamilton Arts Award 2008 for Lifetime Achievement.)
After the concert: 10:00pm. No charge; except you have to buy a newspaper….  We’ll adjourn to the loft to celebrate The Pearl Review Quarterly: This packed first issue of 76 pages for $2.95 is filled with compelling, inquiring, diverse opinions, photo essays and stories.  Come join the party; purchase a copy; become a Patron subscriber.  Special patron subscriber packages include Art Bus Certificates, discounts on Pearl Company events and Pearl District products, and a free Gary Santucci CD. We will have Food and Refreshments available.

BEETLEBARROW Books Presents: A Japanese Bookbinding Workshop: Saturday, January 14: 9:00a.m. – 4:00p.m. $60. Want to meet fellow bookbinders? Looking for a great way to spend a Saturday? Join local artists Chandra Rice and Lindsay Slavin and learn how to bind your own books using ancient Japanese techniques and modern tricks of the trade.  Go home with a beautiful hardcover book you’ve made from start to finish. You’ll be making a large, hardcover, Japanese Stab book.  For $60, Lindsay and Chandra will provide all the materials and tools.  They will even feed you a delicious home-made lunch.  All skill levels are welcome and make to look good. Sign up with a friend, or come and make new friends! Workshops will be happening monthly: January 14, February 18, March 17, and May 12.
Chandra Rice is a maker; most herself when making something with her hands.  She’s been a teacher, a researcher and a Jill-of-many-trades.  Lindsay Slavin’s studio is ready to make books, photographs, paintings, quilts, drawings which all play very nicely together.  To register or for information email makers@beetlebarrow.ca www.beetlebarrow.ca

Pearl Review Launch: Saturday, January 14. Open House! The Pearl Review Quarterly Lifts off from the Loft on Saturday beginning @ 8:00pm.  A packed first issue of 76 pages for $2.95.  Compelling, inquiring diverse opinions, Photo Essays and Stories.  Join the party; purchase a copy; become a Patron subscriber.  Special patron subscriber packages include Art Bus Certificates, discounts on Pearl Company events and Pearl District products, and a free Gary Santucci CD. (If you are already a subscriber, come by and get your copy and your package!)  Food and refreshments available.

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

First 2 Fridays of every month! (Except January when it is only the second Friday…) Check out an art scene which changes every single month and which will leave you breathless!
Seats available for upcoming buses.  Next dates: February 3 & 10.

January 13: We will start with a stroll down Ottawa Street – Earls Court Gallery, Under the Moon, Allsorts Gallery, and Sketch Gallery .  We will then head to the James North Art Crawl with its blocks and blocks of studios, galleries, eclectic shops, music  & more… Finishing up at the inimitable Tiger Group Studio Gallery; more great art and refreshments!

Andy White: Thursday, January 12. 8:00pm. $15 door/$10 artists/students: White has earned a global following for blending folk and pop stylings with a poet’s sensibility. Working with the great names of Irish music – Sinead O’Connor, Van Morrison – and writing with the likes of Peter Gabriel and Neil and Tim Finn, Andy has won Ireland’s top songwriting awards and toured the world many times over. This singer-songwriter carries a 12-string guitar under his arm and wears his particular brand of Irish charm on his sleeve. With the political edge of Billy Bragg, the romance of David Gray and the Celtic lyricism of the Waterboys, Andy is a fully paid up ‘21st Century Troubadour’ (and that’s also the title of his first book, recently published in Ireland to rave reviews).
Belfast born and raised, Andy’s latest release ‘Songwriter’ is his tenth studio album. Released on Floating World in Europe and slated for release by Judy Collins’ Wildflower Records in North America later in 2011, it was recorded in Vancouver with members of the Be Good Tanyas, Neko Case’s band, and features special guests Allison Russell from Po’ Girl on vocals and Radoslav Lorkovic on piano.
As well as touring ‘Songwriter’ and his second book ‘21st Century Troubadour’ (Lagan Press), Andy is preparing for the release of the eponymous debut album from Fearing & White, his collaboration with Canadian singer-songwriter Stephen Fearing.  www.andywhite.com