The Pearl Company

Shelley Marshall Presents: The Award Winning Production “Hold Mommy’s Cigarette”: May 29/30/31 June 5/6/7 One Woman’s story of an unfiltered life, written and performed by Shelley Marshall, directed by Linda Kash. Renowned Comedienne, Marshall returns with 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: “I take you 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.” *Mature Content* http://www.holdmommyscigarette.com  Tickets available at http://www.ticketscene.ca/series/300/  Shelley’s message to supporters of The Pearl: Use the code bestlifeever to get $5 off or message me (Shelley) for FREE tickets to some performances paid for by Edgewood Health Network as part of the “Play it Forward” campaign to raise awareness for Mental Health and Addiction . This is my last showing in Hamilton and then I head off for a Canadian Tour. (Sunday Shows @ 2pm All Others @ 8pm)

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Elizabeth Shepherd & Quintet! Sunday, May 31. 8:00pm. Admission: $20.00. Elizabeth is the only jazz vocalist/pianist to ever have been long listed for the Polaris Prize – Canada’s most prestigious music prize. The three-time JUNO nominee has received widespread praise for her original compositions, and Elizabeth’s fifth album The Signal has almost universally been hailed as the best of her career. It has also showed up on a number of “Best of 2014? lists across North America. “One of the most creative, inventive, and delightful albums of the year.” The Voice. Elizabeth showcases her skills as an arranger and interpreter, breathing new life – and soul – into songs both familiar and forgotten. The Toronto-based soul-jazz innovator has previously released five 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) Listen: http://elizabethshepherd.com/home/music-player/

Roxanne Potvin & Band: Thursday, May 28. 8:00pm. $20/$15 Students/Seniors/Un(der)employed. There’s a new album in the works for Roxanne Potvin, the Montreal-based, bilingual, JUNO nominated singer-songwriter.  After a two-year hiatus from the road to learn the ropes of sound engineering, she’s picked up her notebook and guitar once again, and is working away at what will be her fifth full-length album. A spin through her discography will take you on a journey from blues, R & B, and folk (on JUNO nominated, Colin Linden produced, The Way it Feels), to bare-bones soul and pop (of No Love for the Poisonous) and the lush keyboard-laden, atmospheric folk and gnarly garage rock sounds (of Play). These days, she sums up her style as roots-pop.  Her new songs are intimate first person snapshots of life among friends and lovers (cyborgs in one instance!). With a JUNO nomination, seven Maple Blues awards nominations, international tours, major festival appearances, national television and radio appearances, Roxanne continues to carve her place in the Canadian roots music scene. She’s recorded with John Hiatt, Daniel Lanois, Colin Linden, Bruce Cockburn, done a duet with Colin James and has opened for John Hiatt, Blue Rodeo, the Neville Brothers among others. She plans to release her new album in early 2016. www.roxannepotvin.com  air! “A voice like melted butter on mashed potatoes.” – Rich Terfry (aka Buck 65), “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.” – Brad Wheeler, Globe and Mail. Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gfnb-7yev9E

Christopher Clause’s GRACENOTES Showcase: Saturday, May 23, 8 – 10 p.m. Admission is FREE, but donations will be accepted for the 2016 Debbie Clause Recording Fund at the door. The finalists of the first ever Debbie Clause Recording Fund (named in memory of local musician Christopher Clause’s beloved sister) is performing a showcase on Saturday. The winner of the event (the name will be picked at random that night by Debbie’s daughter, Hanna) will receive $4,000 to help fund their current musical project. The fund will be handed out every year to a deserving Hamilton musician or group looking for funding for their recorded works. Application forms will be available in August for the 2016 awards at www.gracenoteshamilton.com  (website will be up and running in July 2015) This FREE showcase is an early show so that you can enjoy all that the HMA has to offer this weekend 🙂 The initiative was created by FERMATA HAMILTON, now renamed as GRACENOTES as part of the ministry and benevolence of Graceworks Baptist Church.
The finalists for this year are (in alphabetical order): Jen Budd, Frank Koren, Josh Lamothe!

Special benefit performance of Izad Etemadi’s LOVE WITH LEILA:  Thursday, May 21, 7:30pm. TICKETS: $20 Available online in advance from Fringe: (See below.) Join us for an evening of outstanding entertainment, laughter, and an uproariously good time, all in support of the HAMILTON FRINGE FESTIVAL!  Fans of the Fringe? You will not want to miss this special intimate performance with Izad Etemedi, a Fringe darling whose shows played to sold-out audiences at the 2013 and 2014 festivals. The evening will also feature light refreshments, raffle prizes, and a chance to mingle with Hamilton Fringe’s staff and board as we share details on the 2015 festival and events. We are very pleased to bring you a Fringe Favourite, Unveiled Production’s LOVE WITH LEILA! BEST OF HAMILTON 2014 and Hamilton Fringe Festival Critics Choice 2013 and 2014 by View Magazine. You can also check out Leila on YouTube with her brand new web series!
Uproariously funny, infectiously upbeat and irresistibly compelling”  – Raise The Hammer
CLICK HERE TO BOOK YOUR TICKETS! https://www.vendini.com/ticket-software.html?t=tix&e=cf3ee07e9ed2b3aeeea4abf3a690eeb4

ZULA PRESENTS: REMPIS/JOHNSTON/OCHS Trio: Wednesday, May 20, 8:30 pm. $15/12 Students/Seniors/Un(der)employed. Chicago saxophonist, free-jazz titan Dave Rempis is joined on tour by two Bay Area greats; composer, trumpeter Darren Johnston and ROVA Saxophone Quartet stalwart, saxophonist Larry Ochs. This free-improvising trio came together in the fall of 2011, when Rempis journeyed to the West Coast to discover his compatriots on the Bay Area improv-ing scene. Trumpeter Johnston, suggested this trio lineup for a performance at Oakland’s Uptown Nightclub. From the first few notes, that initial meeting flowed comfortably, yet in totally unexpected ways, with all three making logical structural decisions that gave their improvisations the feel of through-composed pieces. Eager to continue developing this language that the three later came to dub “invisible architecture,” Rempis made a follow-up trip for a studio recording session. Spectral, the first document of their work, shows an improvising trio playing out an audible game of chess. Not satisfied with simply existing in the moment, these three combine sensibilities to look many moves ahead, setting each other up time and again to capitalize on structural possibilities that give rare and meaningful form to an otherwise very spontaneous music. www.aerophonicrecords.com/rempisjohnstonochs-spectral    http://zulapresents.org/

Rae Billing & The Unpayables: Saturday, May 16. 8:00pm. $20 Advance / $25 Door. Rae Billing’s voice and lyrics create a touchstone that is unique on the Canadian landscape. Her voice has been described as “shiver-inducing,” “honest and pure, assured and desperate at the same time.” And her lyrics and music have been lauded as “full of wide open spaces and bittersweet emotions,” “handled with gutsy femininity.”  Rae’s show will focus on her fourth alt-country album, the fluid, passionate, and critically acclaimed, Walls & Fences. The album was chosen by respected Penguin Eggs Magazine as the top pick for April 2014 and has just been nominated in the Hamilton Music Awards for best alt-country album.
Working with the multi-talented Unpayables, Matt Coleman on violin/fiddle, Andrew Aldridge on electric guitar, K. Michael Hickey on electric and upright bass, Nick Burson on drums, plus the talents of Ed Roth on accordian and organ, producer Michael J. Birthelmer on piano and guitars, and Wayne Krawchuk on backups.
“There is a depth to her songs few contemporaries have yet to hone.” Jason MacNeil, All Music Guide.  Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkI7OvCupvs    www.raebilling.com

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JASON WILSON: PERENNIALS with special guest ADREAN FARRUGIA: Friday, May 15. 8:00pm $20/$15 students/seniors/income-challenged. A night of reggae jazz and piano magic!  Two-time Juno Award nominee, Canadian Reggae Music Award winner and acclaimed Canadian historian Dr. Jason Wilson has written a new suite of compositions specially designed for intimate environs. Perennials (2015) articulates Wilson’s self-styled reggae-impressionism: a sound where reggae is freely brushed – not strictly detailed – allowing space on the canvass for inspirations as divergent as Thelonious Monk and Scottish pibroch to come through. Wilson is joined by a couple of Jason Wilson Band mainstays as well as some other talented friends. The result is one of the best efforts yet from Canada’s reggae visionary. For this special concert, Perennials will be joined by one of Canada’s finest and most stylistically diverse piano masters, Adrean Farrugia, who will open the show with a solo set and then join Perennials for several songs. http://jasonwilsonmusic.com/  Preview the new Perennials video ‘Gertrude/Epistrophy’ here: https://vimeo.com/102270424

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THE HAMILTON FULL BAWDY COMEDY SHOW! VEGAS! Saturday, May 9. The doors open at 7:15PM, and the event will get underway around 8:00PM. Admission: $20 advance $25 at door. SHE’S BACK! Shelley Marshall, HAMILTON’S OWN world-renowned Comedienne for her One Woman Show “Hold Mommy’s Cigarette” brings us her production of the edgy and irreverent FULL BAWDY COMEDY SHOW with hosts, Erin & Nara. The FBCS is an always-SOLD-OUT vaudevillian variety show that celebrates the diversity of comedy through Music, Burlesque, Stand-up, Circus and more! Featuring original material from the funniest and raciest Stars this country (and beyond) has to offer. The Hamilton Full Bawdy Comedy Show Vegas! line-up includes Shelley Marshall and Robin Benedict and Erin and Nara and Morgan Joy and Andrea Murray and Kitty Litteur. Come with an open mind and you’ll leave with a Full Heart! Adult Content.
Advance tickets will be available on Ticketscene until May 9, 5:59 PM unless the event sells out earlier. See more at: http://www.ticketscene.ca/events/12972/#sthash.enxsjAdR.dpuf  www.shelleymarshall.com   Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=omL9gW9h04g   Email Shelley for advance reservations and seating at: shelley@shelleymarshall.com

Big Johnny Blue & Strange Cargo Celebrate the Blues! Saturday, May 2, 8:00pm, $15 / $10 students/seniors/wage-challenged….  Like the blues?  You’ll love them John Crawford style.  Big Johnny Blue is John M. Crawford, Hamilton guitarist, multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter and founding member of The Hamilton Blues Society. He has written hundreds of songs, and played with countless local musicians over the years. He is committed to supporting local music and musicians, especially by supporting efforts to tell the story of Hamilton’s blues history, and the power of music to improve the life of every man. These guys rock;  Code Red Blues all ’round! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XE8p_zRZeIs&index=1&list=PLB3320D903F7A1FCE   https://www.facebook.com/bigjohnnyblueandstrangecargo/

Ian Andrews & The Smokin’ Scoundrels: Friday May 1, at 8pm Tickets: $20. Blistering Blues! Join us for an incredible concert experience, the music of Ian Andrews & The Smokin’ Scoundrels will be heard in fine form “in one of Hamilton’s greatest venues”. Featuring Rick Donaldson and Alan Duffy as the remedy rhythm section for the evening. We all know and love the groove this team can do. Also joining The Smokin’ Scoundrels for this evening is the mighty Mike Almas on second guitar and the blistering Bill Holinaty on tenor/baritone sax and bass clarinet. Get your tickets as soon as possible as seating for this concert will go fast.   “We are very much looking forward to sharing this experience with Hamilton. Thank you for all of your support Hamilton.” Ian  Andrews:  https://www.facebook.com/IanAndrewsandTheSmokinScoundrels
Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z-awXYJjok&feature=youtu.be

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/