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!

Charly Chiarelli and the Sunnamabeaches: Sunday, March 25: 2:30.$15 door/$10 artists/students. Charly brings 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 may be one of the world’s most accomplished storytellers but he is also a songwriter and virtuoso harmonica player, so, it is no wonder that this collection of four notorious Hamiltonians have formed a band called the Sunamabeaches, named after the last play of his trilogy! Charly takes on the role of lead singer, harmonica player and at times will tell a story or two… Any one of the other musician’s may step up to the plate with a story, but the focus is on music,unique interpretations of jazz, blues, rock and Sicilian folk tunes – including some of Charly’s original tunes from his plays. There you have it, Hamilton’s own SUNAMABEACHES, a must see!

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To purchase tickets, please call or email or pay at the door. For PayPal purchases, please see below. Please print your receipt and bring as your ticket.

Ben Caplan & The Casual Smokers: Tuesday, March 20: 8:00.$15 door. $10 artists/students. Rugged, raspy, and roaring with charisma, Ben Caplan, former Hamiltonian, now living in Halifax, delivers it all from poetic ballads to frenetic gypsy anthems. He has just been handed the honour of playing the Canadian Music Week (CMW) Opening Night Gala in Toronto’s  CN Tower with one of Canada’s top songwriters and performers, Joel Plaskett!
It is not surprising that Ben has arrived at this current pinnacle with songs that have a depth and musicianship that combines expressive percussion, upright bass, violin, sax, clarinet, flute, with terrific use of call and response sing-along choruses. Caplan has marked his place in the Canadian music landscape with a growling spirit similar to that of Tom Waits while his use of gypsy-inspired strings, amid the sultry tones of clarinet and saxophone, sync beautifully with the energy of his live show.  The show is raging, strong, and exploratory; it’s the blues in Ben’s soul, pounding with the heart in your chest that makes Ben Caplan & The Casual Smokers a gotta-be-there kind of act. www.bencaplan.ca
Folk-indie Polish band Paula i Karol will open for Ben.  Inspired by Canadian kitchen parties, acoustic instrumentations, and music collectives, this new band is creating a buzz on the Warsaw scene and helping define the multinational nature of Polish and Canadian pop music.  “[They are] Poland’s new superheroes. Not the tight pants, fluttering cape kind. More like, come to our concert – we’ll break your heart, and then we’ll fix it up kind,” – The Guardian   www.paulaikarol.pl

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To purchase tickets, please call or email or pay at the door. For PayPal purchases, please see below.

SW Austin: Fresh New Work! Wednesday, March 21.  (7pm to 10pm) No Charge. Spring is in the air and with that,  FRESH NEW LIFE! SW Austin celebrates again by showcasing several NEW WORKS! -so new we wonder if the paint has even dried! Come and celebrate the NEW and enjoy LIVE JAZZ with the energetic fury of Errunriv (pron: river run)! Meet the artist, and connect in the Pearl’s wonderful historical environment.
A very exciting display of talent, SW Austin’s declared concern is the paint itself – the physicality of the paint, the traces from the movement of his brush. This is as important to the final picture as colour and shape. Steve Austin creates this new work through a layering and extracting process that results in a thick hide of paint on the canvas. The image is created when the artist scrapes paint away from the resulting strata, revealing in a picture that is neither landscape nor still life, nor pure abstraction, but a study in contrast. He now lives in Hamilton and is excited to show his new works for the first time in Hamilton at The Pearl Company. Runs through March 31st.  www.swaustinart.blogspot.com

Charly Chiarelli’s ‘Mangiacake!’ March 15–17 / 22–24. 8pm. $15 at the door/$10 students/artists. Charly Chiarelli is one of the world’s premiere storytellers, widely known for his trilogy of one-person plays. The 2nd, Mangiacake, addresses the difficult aspects of growing up as a newcomer to Canada, his return to Sicily, and his fight with cancer. Charly shows the funny side of it all with his own brand of Sicilian blues and his virtuoso harmonica playing.  Mangiacake (the Italian immigrant’s name for non-Italians) picks up where CuFu left off; young Charly enters Westdale High School where he concludes the road to success in Canada is assimilation. He decides to become a mangiacake and does his best to blend in – with mixed results. He runs for president of the student council using the slogan “put a wop on top!”.  He wins!
When, as an adult, Charly goes back to Sicily, he finds out what a ‘mangiacake’ he actually has become in this strange, magical land where his relatives are like characters out of myth. www.charlychiarelli.com
Charly has been inducted into the McMaster University Alumni Gallery of Fame – along with performance inductee notables like Martin Short and Eugene Levy, and astronaut, Roberta Bondar.
“Heart, humour and a generosity of spirit…” “Laugh-out-loud funny”…Toronto Star…

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To purchase tickets, please call or email or pay at the door. For PayPal purchases, please see below.

Kaleidoscope Brown:featuring Brownman Ali with ARECIBO: – Episode 8 of the Kaleidoscope Brown Series! Trumpet (Trinidad): With Paul Morrison – piano (Canada) Amhed Mitchel – drums (Cuba): Ben Miller – 6-string electric bass. Saturday, March 10. 8:00pm. $15 door. $10 artists/students. A brand new latin-jazz outfit delving deeply into both Cuban and Brazilian modern jazz traditions in the New York latin-jazz spirit of Jerry Gonzalez & The Fort Apache Band featuring some of Toronto’s most acclaimed jazz and latin music specialists. The group is named after the Arecibo radio telescope housed in Puerto Rico – the largest radio telescope in the world, responsible for the deepest exploration of space mankind has achieved to date.  http://arecibo.brownman.com Jazz writer Conrad Gayle writes: “Brownman Ali does it again as the great mastermind creating bands as vehicles for his creative output.  (more…)

Jean-Paul de Roover with Wax Mannequin: Friday, March 9. 8:30 door; 9:00 show. $10 door. $5 artists/students. Jean-Paul de Roover is much more than just a one man band, this ‘sonic architect’ builds songs through live looping, combining rock, folk, electronica and a capella into his own well constructed hook-filled post-pop. The originality and creativity of his time-less performances shines through to every listener. http://www.jeanpaulderoover.com
Wax Mannequin: “Part wandering minstrel, part rock animal, Wax Mannequin combines a fine sense of prog-rock parody with intense sincerity and lyrical smarts. He will indoctrinate you with chilling harmonies, absurd lyrics and the almighty power of the guitar http://www.waxmannequin.com

Jay Aymar: Thursday, March 8, 8:00pm. $15 at the door / $10 artist/student.  “Not just another singer-songwriter, Jay Aymar has both the storytelling gift and a natural musicality.  His muse takes him to unusual places and unexpected perspectives, and his music is brains and heart in equal measure. His most famous song, “My Cherry Coloured Rose,” (covered by the Legendary Ian Tyson) is unlike any other you’ve ever heard.  The man may have greatness in him.  We’ll all have to watch.” (Jerome Clark, author, songwriter, music critic – Rambles Magazine)
Jay Aymar counts scores of industry insiders as fans and has been slowly building a size-able fan base throughout North America. Known for writing stories about every people living everyday lives, Jay have been singing these songs at folk clubs, theatres and house concerts across the country – performing over 200 concerts per year. A 2010 Canadian Folk Music Award nominee in the Emerging Artist category, Aymar is certainly one to watch! www.jayaymar.com

Corin Raymond: Bookworm / Morgan Jones Phillips: Emergency Monologues:A mind-boggling, spirit-warming double-bill! Friday/Saturday, March 2 / 3. 8:00pm. $20 at the door/$10 students/artists.

BOOKWORM: This captivating one man show debuted to rave reviews at the Hamilton Fringe Festival in July 2011. It is the story of Corin’s own big, brilliant, beautiful book-life, told masterfully and with gripping sincerity. If you are an educator, book lover, storyteller, or someone whose heart beats a little faster when you take in wonderfully written words or a really great tale, this show will inspire, delight and move you! “Corin Raymond declares in his show “A good book has a soul”. This play has a gigantic soul that everyone should experience…Corin is a masterful storyteller… [The play] is an absolute marvel.” Ryan Trepanier. Read the reviews:  http://artword.net/Fringe_Reviews/?p=104

EMERGENCY MONOLOGUES: is part stand-up comedy and part storytelling about being a paramedic in Toronto. Morgan Jones Phillips won the NOW Audience Choice Award at the Summerworks Theatre Festival in 2008 and played here at The Staircase recently to sold-out crowds. “Phillips [has an] easy and unaffected knack for telling funny as hell stories about crime scenes and head-on collisions.” Sean Davidson (EYE WEEKLY) “Side-splittingly hilarious view into the world of Paramedicine” Jason Ng (FNG) “Morgan Jones Phillips is a consummate story-teller – filling in the small details of each scenario as skillfully as a master-weaver entwines a rich tapestry.” Luc Iogna (Director) www.emergencymonologues.com

SW Austin: Recent Work. Opening in The Pearl Gallery Thursday, March 1.  (7pm to 10pm). SW Austin’s declared concern is the paint itself – the physicality of the paint, the traces from the movement of his brush. This is as important to the final picture as colour and shape. Steve Austin creates this new work through a layering and extracting process that results in a thick hide of paint on the canvas. The image is created when the artist scrapes paint away from the resulting strata, revealing in a picture that is neither landscape nor still life, nor pure abstraction, but a study in contrast. He now lives in Hamilton and is excited to show this new work for the first time in Hamilton at The Pearl Company. Runs through March 31st.  swaustinart.blogspot.com

Mark Berube and The Patriotic Few: Wednesday, February 29, 8:00pm., $15 at the door. $10 artist/student. When recorded by the CBC for Canada Live, Mark (formerly of the Fugitives with C.R. Avery!) was compared to a “young Leonard Cohen” for his lyrical brevity and craftsmanship.    Mark’s latest 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) honing in on the impressive vocal and instrumental strengths of each member.  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!”  “One of the best of the year…folk music without going on about it. Rare and raw and perfect. ” Edmonton Sun “.  A song-writing stunner. ” Grant Laurence, CBC Radio 3. I am adding my praise to the above.  I have been raving about last year’s concert to all who will listen since I heard Mark and the band last year. Mind-boggling virtuosity springs to mind; he was excellent as a musician, as a poet, and as an individual.  www.markberube.com

Kaleidoscope Brown Series Episode 7: featuring the BROWNMAN ELECTRYC TRIO (Trumpet. Bass. Drums.): Saturday, February 25. 8:00pm. $15 / $10 artists/students. ”Acclaimed trumpeter Brownman Ali’s ELECTRYC TRIO” captures the essence of the later years of Miles Davis’ life, his electric period, interpreted as only Brownman can do! The award-winning and internationally acclaimed BROWNMAN ELECTRYC TRIO, about which JazzOnline.com writes: “Brownman’s eclectically powerful electrified trio captures the essence of the later years in Miles Davis’ life, his electric period, however, without imitation. Brownman’s ELECTRYC TRIO is uniquely his own, yet echoes with the sounds of ‘Bitches Brew’ and ‘In a Silent Way’ right down to Miles’ use of electronics while still managing to stay grounded in the sounds of today. Clearly paying apt tribute to Brownman’s NYC mentor Randy Brecker, they are a truly impressive and energized modern jazz outfit.” http://brownman.com