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!

Elizabeth Shepherd: CONCERT CANCELLED DUE TO ILLNESS! Rescheduled to June 8. Friday, March 15. 8:00 pm. Admission: $20.00. CBC Radio will be here recording this concert for their “Canada Live” concert series! Elizabeth is the only jazz vocalist/pianist to ever have been long listed for the Polaris Prize – Canada’s most prestigious music prize. The two-time JUNO nominee has received widespread praise for her original compositions, but on her fourth album ‘Rewind’ Elizabeth showcases her skills as an arranger and interpreter, breathing new life – and soul – into songs both familiar and forgotten. Some of them are well-known standards; others are obscure songs or French tunes that Elizabeth heard and fell in love with when growing up in Paris.   The Toronto-based soul-jazz innovator has previously released three widely acclaimed records and toured extensively in North America, Europe and Japan. She has sold out legendary clubs from Tokyo to Detroit, and played festivals like Montreal and North Sea Jazz Festivals. www.elizabethshepherd.com “Stunning…. original and exciting” -Seattle Post (US) “Extraordinary talent” -RBBKulturradio (GER) “A hugely original musical mind at work” -Toronto Star (CAN)

Tannis Slimmon with Katherine Wheatley: Saturday, March 9. 8:00pm. Admission: $15.00/$10.00 students/artists. Tannis Slimmon has been performing, songwriting and recording for over 30 years, at one point as a member of the critically acclaimed Bird Sisters. Her exceptional voice “full of gentle grace and unobtrusive dignity” can be heard on more than 80 albums (including those by Willie P. Bennett, Valdy, and Rheostatics). Highly regarded for her compelling live performances, enchanting melodies, and strong lyrics, Tannis’ third album “In and Out of Harmony” is being featured at this album release concert. She will be joined by her talented partner /producer /co-writer /multi-instrumentalist Lewis Melville. “A breathtaking vocalist with a bright, angelic disposition, Slimmon is a favourite folk attraction whose harmonies are as warm as her smile.” – Exclaim www.tannis.ca
Katherine Wheatley tours as a solo singer-songwriter, she is a member of “Betty and The Bobs”, and she plays guitar in WendellFerguson’s band. Her music has been used for TV series, documentaries, and films. This geologist-turned-musician recently released her 3rd CD, “Landed”, a recording that reflects the grace, power and emotional impact of her live performance. “She turns pebbles of everyday life into dreamy mountains of song.” (The Toronto Star) www.katherinewheatley.com

Susie Arioli: Thursday, March 7, 8:00pm.  $20 advance/ $25 at the door. This Jazz vocalist from Montreal has six albums on her track record, three of which were Juno nominated, and all of which are bestselling jazz titles in Canada. Recognized for the gentle, warm voice that she brings to her authentic interpretations of jazz and blues numbers, the charming and talented Susie Arioli has carved out a solid reputation for herself in Canada and on the international scene enjoying an ever-widening popularity in France, Japan, and the U.S. On the heels of the success of her album, ‘Christmas Dreaming’ (a critically acclaimed disc, gone gold in Canada) she’s taken another step in her rich and inspired career with a new album appropriately titled ‘All the Way’. It finds her at the peak of her art, bringing her singular touch and finely modulated voice to thirteen songs from the enduring repertoire of the Great American Songbook. On this seventh studio recording, Arioli explores an emotional and vocal range that reaches further than ever and yet never strays from the unique sensibility that has captivated an ever-growing public for many years now. www.susiearioli.com “Intensely warm and supremely cool simultaneously – nice trick.” — Jamie O’Meara, Montreal Gazette “Susie is unerringly right in what she chooses to sing and unrivalled in how she sings it.” – Peter Goddard,Toronto Star.

Chloe Charles: Saturday, March 2: 8:00pm. Admission: $15.00/$10.00 students/artists. Glenn Macdonald opens for Chloe. (Glenn is a local songsmith/poet, and a riveting performer). The press have likened Chloe Charles to everyone from Björk to Billie Holiday, Amy Winehouse to Adele, Alicia Keys to Joni Mitchell. Her unfathomable range defies all straitjackets of classification. She sings with the voice of an angel; she’s a spellbindingly different singer-songwriter, a self-taught classical guitarist, and her blossoming career is about to go off the scales with the release her first full-length CD, Break The Balance. Charles reinvents every spoke on the songwriters’ wheel, then wraps them up in riveting choruses, with sumptuous strings and percussive precision.  “Julian Lennon’s stepsister sings unique and colourful songwriter-pop songs with an introverted beauty of surprising clarity.” Rolling Stone (Germany) “Somewhere Billie Holiday rests secure her work was not in vain.” ?Blue Indian, USA “Poised, charismatic and quirky…” National Post www.chloecharles.com

Ambre McLean & Tara Holloway: Friday, March 1: 8:00. Admission: $15.00/$10.00 students/artists. It’s a Whirlwind Tour and they’re coming to Hamilton! Ambre McLean (Busted Flat Records) “Ambre’s voice, is an instrument itself: gorgeous, sometimes with a rich, bluesy feel, other times a sweet mellow sound, alternatively soft and ferocious, always carrying these tunes straight to your musical heart.?” (David Yazbeck, CKCU FM).  It doesn’t take long for her talent to make her seem larger than life, filling the room with the kind of songs that make you remember lost loves and abandoned dreams. www.ambremclean.com And Tara Holloway (Light Organ Records) Somewhere in the sonic vicinity of Liz Phair and Susan Tedeschi lie the tunes of Tara Holloway, whose debut Sins to Confess exhales and thrashes in equal measure. But whether Holloway belts or bawls, rocks or ruminates, the blues is ever present, and she’s at her best whenshe sets foot into its darker haunts. www.taraholloway.com They will be joined by Steve Vincent (Busted Flat Records, The Baudelaires), also a member of the Ragged Bankers.

The Pearl Music Collective Presents: Spanjazz!: An evening of Original Jazz Compositions: Saturday, February 23. 9:00pm. $15.00/$10.00 students/artists. Inspired by world beat rhythms and composed by Gary Santucci; with Jordan Abraham – Keyboards; Steve Wilson –Drums; Sal Roselli- Saxophone; Troy Dowding – Trumpet; Clark Johnston – Bass; Gary Santucci – Guitar. The Pearl Music Collective encourages the creation, performance and presentation of new instrumental music drawn from the influences of Jazz, Classical and World Beat Music. Post performance reception to celebrate the launching of this new initiative!

Barney Bentall with Eric Reed: Friday, February 22, 8:00pm. $15 at the door.  Eric Reed will join Barney on guitar, mandolin and vocals. Vancouver-­based Barney Bentall has been creating music since 1978.  In the late eighties, Bentall formed The Legendary Hearts  and their self-­titled debut reached Platinum status in Canada, featured three hit singles, and garnered a Juno Award. During the past decade Bentall has transformed personally and musically to emerge as one of Canada’s prolific folk/roots singer/songwriters. His new studio album titled Flesh & Bone, is a collection of elevens songs produced by Bentall himself. Influenced by an array of genres from folk to roots, blues-­rock to pop, and even a hint of Celtic, the album reflects Canada from coast to coast. Flesh & Bone is haunting and beautiful with vocals that are pure, truthful and full of emotion. Bentall’s lyrics and melodies marry well together, woven with a storytelling quality that transcends generations. The leader of Barney Bentall and The Legendary Hearts is still at the top of his game; he delivers proof that he is a Canadian musician who has paid his dues and deserves the recognition he receives from the music industry, his followers, listeners and peers. www.barneybentall.com

Keeping the Dream Alive! Support The Pearl! Saturday, February 16. 7:00p.m. Give What You Wish. (From a Toonie to a Tune.)  To the numerous well-wishers and supporters who sent love and offers of help, who passed on their dismay, distress and outrage and who have asked us what they can do, we have never needed your support more. This particular event, being pulled together by ‘Allies of The Pearl’, will be a mini-support-and-funds-raiser to help us get past both the trauma of the horrendous events last week (we need lots of hugs and hand-holding…), and to help get our feet back under us financially. Feb.16th was to be DJ (former VJ) Michael Williams’ Dance Party and Michael has graciously agreed to still be here with the dance music, but this is the only possible date we have until the end of March and we need to use it. Much will be added over the next while; art, music and contributions of… (do you have something you would like to share?) If Gary can manage it, he too will play. We would normally have food, but we are looking for help with that as well. It would be great to have a potluck!  We are inviting all who can to drop by for 5 minutes, an hour, the entire evening, just to show your support and concern for a plight that was as bizarre as it was violent.

Over the years we have put our heads and our hearts on the line. We have insisted on keeping a wonderful, ambiance-laden structure that seems to have been built for powerful acoustics and warm gatherings, and the dream has been to keep it as a voice for the arts! The Pearl Company has filled a number of necessary roles in its neighbourhood and its community. It is a stage for budding, mid, and realized talent in the music, theatre and visual arts fields; it is a place for community gatherings and celebrations; it fosters numbers of creative undertakings from gutsy new ideas to rehearsal space to festivals.  And, it could be so much more!

There is another simple answer if you can’t make it on the 16th: Continue to support by coming to events; tell your friends, your neighbours, your co-workers.  Thank you so much. Hope to see you soon, Barbara and Gary

Dean Hollin; “Love and the G.A.S.”: Friday, February 15. 8:00pm. $15 / $10 students/artists.  We love Dean’s sparkling “Musical Biographies” of beloved songwriters of the past!  And for this performance he celebrates the music of the Great American Songbook which is chock full of songs celebrating that sentiment of the season – “LOVE”.  So, for this, the month of love, Dean Hollin brings us his latest program — “LOVE and the GAS”.  Love, realized…Love, lost…Love, imagined…Love, suggested…Love, gleefully expressed — all sorts of love will grace this lovely program.  Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, George & Ira Gershwin, Rodgers &Hart, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Harold Arlen, Hoagy Carmichael — they’ll all be part of the evening — all that talent and a bunch more!  We’ll chat…we’ll sing…a casual, musical and informative evening to be had by all!  He’ll be accompanied by Michael Barber who worked at The Stratford Festival this past season, as Musical Director/Conductor for “42ND STREET” starring Cynthia Dale. “Hollin’s warm, smoky voice and his exquisite charm and enthusiasm radiate affection for his material and his audience” Gary Smith, Spectator.  http://www.deanhollin.com

See the “The Plays” tab for all the information re what’s playing!

Week One:

Thursday, Jan. 31   7:30 pm – Actionable: Bob Wiseman
Thursday, Jan. 31   9:00 pm – Trashmen’s Dilemma: New Fangled Stages 
Friday, Feb. 1   7:30 pm – 11 Times: Krista McNaughton
Friday, Feb. 1  9:00 pm – Actionable: Bob Wiseman
Saturday, Feb. 2   7:30 pm – Trashmen’s Dilemma: New Fangled Stages
Saturday, Feb. 2   9:00 pm – 11 Times: Krista McNaughton

Week Two:

Thursday, Feb. 7   7:30 pm – Trashmen’s Dilemma: New Fangled Stages
Thursday, Feb. 7   9:00 pm – 11 Times: Krista McNaughton
Friday, Feb. 8  7:30 pm – 11 Times: Krista McNaughton
Friday, Feb. 8  9:00 pm –  Actionable: Bob Wiseman
Saturday, Feb. 9  7:30 pm –   Actionable: Bob Wiseman
Saturday, Feb. 9   9:00 pm –  Trashmen’s Dilemma: New Fangled Stages

“Eclecticism”: Five Diverse Women: Opening Saturday, January 26 @ 7:00 ‘til 9. No charge. Grace Loney, Sandi Ewasiuk; Renate Min-Oo; Callie Archer, Ruby Lockett. These talented local women have it all.  Colour, texture, variety; it’s a visual feast of acrylic, encaustic, fabric, found objects, decoupage. Grace Loney uses acrylic, oil pastel, water colour, and painterly mixed media to create depth in abstract expression. Her paintings are intuitive and alive with colour and rhythm. http://www.graceloneystudio.com; Sandee Ewasiuk specializes in exploring everyday scenes turning them upside down, backwards and sideways. Vibrant reds, yellows, and blues are used to create tongue in cheek landscapes populated by puckered lips and gravity-defying hair where fantasy and reality merge. http://www.s-ewasiuk.ca; Renate Min-Oo is an award winning textile artist who combines geometric forms, colours, contrast and different fabrics to create new designs. As an equally accomplished potter she also brings Raku and textile together to enhance and complete her highly original works. http://www.renate.ca Callie Archer paints with watercolour and acrylic; she’s a colourist with a loosely representational style, who is particularly sensitive to the shapes and textures of landscape, capturing the light, the calm and the ambiance. Ruby Lockett is a local landscape artist painting in acrylic and specializing in waterfalls; her work pulls the viewer directly into the composition.

Opening followed at 9:00 by “Down The Rhodes“ A musical and visual tribute to the Fender Rhodes electric piano.