The Pearl Company

The New Hamilton Blues Society: Saturday July 31, 8:00. $5 charge to cover expenses.  Blues Jam and Meeting.
The Society sees the blues genre of music to be an integral part of our community’s music scene. The mission is to: Discover, explore, and understand Hamilton Blues.  Provide a framework that promotes musical creativity specifically in the area of blues music.  Provide the community with the opportunity to gain an appreciation of and to learn more about the blues genre of music. To contribute more musical opportunities to enjoy the Blues.  Encourage the pursuit of individuality in musical taste.

Toby: Thursday, July 29. 8:00 $15 at the door, $10 artist/student:  Energetic, raw and feisty, Toby is a charismatic singer, songwriter and guitarist magically weaving together roots, rock and reggae.  Passionate and joyous on stage, Toby and her Australian band is pulling them in all over the world.  As a stand out performer with five Canadian tours up her sleeve, Toby also tours throughout Europe, America and Australian, playing major festivals, and performing her own headline shows. She wears her emotions, thoughts and adventures on her sleeve as clearly as the delighted smile she sports while playing. It’s the chemistry and connection that makes each performance so strikingly unique and deliciously unpredictable.  http://www.myspace.com/tobybeard

Serial-Numbers: Thursday, July 22. 8:00pm. $10. $7 student/artist: Opening  group, Toronto’s Slowly, Slowly. The Musique Actuelle group, Serial-Numbers is made up of nine passionate musicians from different regions of Ontario and Quebec devoted to creating and performing new original music. Negotiating between genres, the music brings together composed and improvised, traditional and contemporary, with influences of the east and the west. The current project is called “voices”. It is essentially a suite of songs put together to tell an overall narrative.  Their music is truly unique and original, rich in textural variety and sincere in content.
A new CD is due to be launched as Serial-Numbers heads out on their second summer tour across Ontario and Quebec.   www.myspace.com/serialnumbersmusic See also: www.myspace.com/slowlyslowly

Wednesday Night Showcase: Wednesday, July 21, 8:00pm, $10 at the door. The Wednesday Night Showcase is a venue for talented singer songwriters in Hamilton and surrounding areas. Hamilton is a hotbed of talent that often has a hard time highlighting their works; The Pearl Company is happy to provide the opportunity to turn up the volume and let these artists show what they can do. We are hoping to help develop new talent and to have more established musicians work with them while displaying their own talents. Some of the showcased artists will be headlined at the Pearl Company in a future date.  The showcase is a once-a-month feature.

Gabrielle Papillon with Jon Bryant: Friday, July 16. 8:00pm. $15 at the door, $10 artist/student: Gabrielle Papillon a singer-songwriter based out of Montreal with Halifax singer-songwriter Jon Bryant who plays regularly in Toronto, Seattle, and New York.  Both released albums within the past year. Gabrielle’s music is often about a feeling. Her muse is the amalgamation of people in her life, or an imaginary scenario. Above all she loves the journey of a song.  Jon has been featured on iTunes in their indie spotlight section and his single ‘Deaf’ has been the single of the week. His album was featured as the singer/songwriter album of 2009. www.myspace.com/jonbryantmusic

Rosie Burgess Trio: Thursday July 8.  8:00pm.  $15 at the door, $10 artist/student: This Australian group crosses borders armed with music, love, and a wicked sense of humor.
The Rosie Burgess Trio are a Melbourne based band, one of the many Australian groups crossing the Pacific to bring their brand of musical magic to North American audiences. The music is a blend of blues/ folk and gypsy styles, but it is their remarkable passion, love for their craft and incredible sense of humor that have ignited audiences from Wagga Wagga to Tacoma, from Adelaide to Philadelphia, from Alice Springs to Kansas City and Umundi to Ontario.
Quirky, lovable songs with grooving rhythms, infectious vocals and an electric violin that will have audiences erupting with delight.
“When you have heard Rosie perform, you’re sure to be tongue-tied trying to tell people how good she is…” says Dave Ritter, organiser of the Bruthen Festival of Blues and Arts.

Elizabeth Shepherd: Wednesday, June 23, 2 sets!! Advance Tickets: $20, Available at Dr. Disc or The Pearl Company. Showtime: 9pm, Doors: 8pm With Guest DJ: Afternoons In Stereo. Elizabeth Shepherd pushes the boundaries of what is considered conventional jazz, all the while creating a sound completely her own. From London to Tokyo, Elizabeth has captivated audiences and critics on both sides of the pond. Her Juno nominated debut album, ‘Start to Move’ continues to receive critical acclaim. Her latest album, ‘Heavy Falls the Night’, has been receiving critical acclaim across the country…  “…an exceedingly textured collection of story-driven tunes running the rhythmic gamut between thick and heady late night moods and high steppin’ dance floor fillers.” (Exclaim) “Shepherd’s music combines her husky vocals with intricate harmonies that avoid the traditional while pushing creative boundaries” (Eye Weekly’s Best Bet) http://www.elizabethshepherd.com/

Elizabeth has just been longlisted for the Polaris Music Prize!

Miss Emily Brown with Corwin Fox as Morlove: Saturday, June 26.  Doors at 7:30pm. Concert 8:00pm. $10 ($7 student/artist).  Local musician Matthew de Zoete opens.  Morlove is the banding together of songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Corwin Fox and folk-pop singer-songwriter Miss Emily Brown. Blending autoharp, banjo, guitar, mandolin and hushed vocal harmonies, this experimental folk band was born around the campfire of the 2007 Artswells Festival in Wells BC.
Pieces range from sparse, evocative folk-songs with quiet vocal harmonies and delicate strings to…. pulsing pianos and….banjos in unorthodox time signatures whispering the history of the 1930’s gold-rush town.  “The music is thick and lush, reminiscent of amped folk played through an ancient jukebox full of nickels.” (Emily Brown)
Matthew de Zoete: Take a dozen new songs, a whole lot of melody, and a tight touring band. Throw them together in an old barn turned studio, and you’ve got Matthew’s second album ‘Bottom of the World’. ” Fresh, conceptual pop-rock, containing the talent of a singer-songwriter wise beyond his years.” (Emily Utter)

The Undesirables: Saturday, June 19th, 2010 Doors: 7:30pm Show: 8:00 pm. $20.00 $15 (artist/student price) Reserve your seat; pay at the door. This is their 3rd visit to The Pearl and there is no doubt Corin Raymond and Sean Cotton will present an entertaining and beautifully harmonized show which will include both their own songs and some well-chosen covers; it will also include Corin’s insanely funny patter between songs, and Sean’s full-orchestra guitar. Their inspiration comes from roots / blues / folk / but as they put it: “we’re inspired by everyone who is honest and on fire, and who is saying something real and doing it with conviction and colour.”

Here’s a quote that Corin Raymond sent out this week: “In honour of the risk-taking Barbara and Gary do to make The Pearl Company so vital, The Undesirables’ll be taking a few risks of our own Saturday night. We’re gonna attempt a few things we’ve never done, we’re gonna inject new life into what’s familiar, and we’re gonna sweat and sing like you’ve come to expect…. The Pearl is the best place in Hamilton you could possibly catch us.”

“If you stumbled upon a tavern where Tom Waits, Ray Bradbury, Jim Morrison, and Charles Dickens were huddled in a corner exchanging stories, perhaps eavesdropping on them would give you a better idea of what to expect from this Toronto duo.” http://theundesirables.com

Faye Blais with Seth Anderson: Thursday, June 17. 8:00pm $15 at the door.  Hailing from Northern Ontario, Faye Blais delivers sweet melodies coupled with raw acoustics that swiftly turn into the sound-track of our lives.  With an equally delectable stage presence, Blais is a force to be reckoned with.  This indie-folk princess will win you over with her quick wit, spontaneity and subtle ability to stroke your soul in its warmest places.

Back in Canada after recording and touring throughout Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, and USA, she has been garnering much attention, including attention from CBC Radio, and 4 nominations at the 2010 Northern Ontario Music and Film Awards (Winner of “Best Vocal Performance”).  She is currently touring to promote her third album/DVD “Here in the Shade – A Night at Sing Sing”, “Young, edgy, and powerfully present, Faye Blais is continuing the thread started by Joni, picked up by Ani and fashioned by Feist.” – Eaglewood Folk Festival.  www.fayeblais.com)

She is backed up by the charming Seth Anderson (The Renegade Kid – http://www.myspace.com/sethandersonmusic) from the East Coast.  He has just returned from touring the UK.

Colleen Brown: Friday, June 11. 8:00, $15 at the door: The Pearl Company is delighted to present this recipient of the Alberta Emerging Artist Award and finalist in this year’s CBC Song Quest.  Multi- instrumentalist Brown has been called “a national treasure in the making.” She has steadily been gaining momentum since she first self-released “Foot In Heart” in 2008, with her songs featured in regular airplay on Rich Terfry’s Radio 2 program ‘Drive’. “[The album] sounds like some of the best music you heard on pop-radio back in the ’70s…I love this album,” says Terfry.
She has shared stages with a broad range of artists including Hawksley Workman, Frank Black,  Hey Rosetta, Danny Michel, The McDades, and Adam Gregory. Following a recent show  SEE Magazine’s Fish Griwkowsky said, ” There is a confidence about her new songs that’s actually scary, savaging the things we men do with a sarcastic lilt and an eager smile for the next round of battle.”  http://colleenbrownmusic.com
Colleen was to be joined by Maneli Jamal. He, however, has a wrist injury and is unable to play at this time.

The New Hamilton Blues Society: Sunday June 11, 7:00. $5 charge to cover expenses.  Blues Jam and Meeting.

The Society sees the blues genre of music to be an integral part of our community’s music scene. The mission is to: Discover, explore, and understand Hamilton Blues.  Provide a framework that promotes musical creativity specifically in the area of blues music.  Provide the community with the opportunity to gain an appreciation of and to learn more about the blues genre of music. To contribute more musical opportunities to enjoy the Blues.  Encourage the pursuit of individuality in musical taste.

Wednesday Night Showcase: June 16., 8:00pm, $10 at the door. The Wednesday Night Showcase is a venue for talented singer songwriters in Hamilton and surrounding areas. Hamilton is a hotbed of talent that has a hard time highlighting their works; The Pearl Company is happy to provide the opportunity to turn up the volume and let these artists show what they can do. We are hoping to help develop new talent and to have more established musicians work with them while displaying their own talents. Some of the showcased artists will be headlined at the Pearl Company in a future date. Whether you are jazz, rock, folk, blues or whatever, contact John Crawford or Mike Dufour through the Pearl Company and they will see about getting you on a show.   The showcase will start as a once-a-month feature.  This  Showcase will feature:
1. Pip 2. Jon Newton 3. John M.Crawford & Jose Batista 4. Kenny MacInnes

The Art of Paul Richard James (Main Gallery) and Claudette Losier (Side Gallery): Opening Saturday June 5, 2pm – 5pm. No charge.

Paul Richard James is a Welsh born painter living in Hamilton.   This man has a wildly unique array of approaches. His artwork is both traditional and radical in style and content. He works mostly with oil on canvas, including representational and abstract, figurative work, portraiture, political art, installation and some environmental art.   His goal is to create images that please the eye, the soul, and the conscience.  www.paulrichardjames.com

Claudette Losier has several different bodies of work: floral, the active life, transfer art.  Her paintings lean towards capturing strong contrast between lights and darks and complimentary colours while she abandons herself to patterns in nature. This show focuses on her use of various transfer art techniques. claudettelosier.artshamilton.ca

Pearl Company Gallery hours: 1 to 4, Wednesday through Sunday; 6 to 8 Thursday and Friday evenings. (Also by chance or appointment.)