Buskers/comedy festival
The second annual Buskers Festival – coming to White Rock’s Five Corners neighbourhood this Saturday (Sept. 28) – has been enhanced to include a major evening focus on comedy.
Now dubbed the White Rock 5 Corners Buskers & Comedy Festival, the event – presented by the city and the White Rock BIA – features family-friendly street performers from noon to around 4:30 p.m., from the vicinity of White Rock Playhouse down the hill to Pacific Avenue. But ticketed evening performances by some of the region’s funniest comedy acts – at various venues in the neighborhood – are aimed specifically at grown-ups.
At Laura’s Coffee Corner (15259 Pacific Ave.) at 7 p.m., White Rock’s own comedian/comedy therapist Lizzie Allan, with guests, will dispense her dry take on contemporary issues.
Meanwhile Hillcrest Bakery & Deli (15231 Thrift Ave.) will feature national touring headliner and club and crowd favourite Sunee Dhaliwal (7 p.m.), and The Drama Class (101 -15240 Thrift Ave.) will offer an 8 p.m. ticketed improv jam teaming the award-winning Fictionals Comedy Co. with the studio’s resident improv performers and selected audience members.
Islands Cafe (1237 Johnston Rd.) is to feature a 9 p.m. session with Vancouver’s Charlie Demers, a nationally-touring comedian who’s also a regular on CBC Radio One’s The Debaters, while 3 Dogs Brewing (1515 Johnston Rd.) will host an after-party – from 9 p.m. – highlighted by surprise appearances (after 11 p.m.) by some of the festival performers.
Free street-busking performances (donated contributions gratefully accepted) will include one-man soul and blues band Matt Hoyles; 12-year-old guitar prodigy Hunter J and The Jets; and the duo Mandy and Dane, revisiting jazz standards, Broadway musical numbers and ‘Great American Songbook’ tunes.
Other musical street performances are to include solo pianist Eamonn Morris, with arrangements of songs by The Beatles, Elton John and Queen; blues, folk and soul from singer-songwriter Norine Braun; and organ-grinder Ingmar Krause, playing music ranging from Mozart to One Republic.
At the rainbow crosswalk at Five Corners, students of the Vancouver Circus School will demonstrate juggling, stilt-walking and more, while favourites Korki and the Raincoast Clown Troupe will offer balloon-twisting, funny faces and comedy magic.
Other performers include world-class magician John Ha, and the Crescent Choir (at Saltaire Plaza, just east of Thrift Avenue and Johnston Road), and, at The Drama Class, a free session of improv fun and theatre games, from 4 p.m., will be led by the studio’s resident troupe of comedians.
For tickets, and more information on the shows, visit www.5cornersfestival.com
Peninsula Art Tour
The 10th annual Peninsula Art Tour will be held this weekend (Sept. 28-29) offering an opportunity to meet and see work by talented visual artists living and/or working in White Rock and South Surrey – some of whom are new to the tour this year.
The tour – featuring some 32 artists – is to include 22 separate locations open between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. both days.
Some artists will be sharing their spaces with fellow artists who have smaller studios or work spaces which are not easily accessible to the public, and a wide variety of media will be represented, including oil, acrylic, watercolour, mixed media, jewelry, ceramics, mosaic, glass-work, sculpture and turned wood (and many of the works will be for sale).
Featured artists are Nicole Carrie, Jess Rice, Jeanette Jarville, Mac Grieve, Nicoletta Baumeister, Sid Samphire, Lisa Samphire, Adele Samphire, Lee Caufield, Lori Chalmers, Audrey Bakewell, Bruce Kleeberger, Irma Bijdemast, Angelo Morrissey, Daniel Strathdee, Gabrielle Strauss, David Klassen, Connie Glover, Colleen M. Lumb, Doris Anderson, John Wright, Richard Schmid, Emily Vincent, Alyson Thorpe, Thomas Anderson, Gail Nesimiuk, Georgina Johnstone, Sandra Tomchuk, Joanne Carter, Gary McDonald, Sylvie Peltier (Esspé) and Peter Klemm.
To learn more about each artist and for a map showing all the locations, visit www. peninsulaarttour.com
White Rock Concerts
First presentation of White Rock Concerts 63rd season will be this Friday (Sept. 27) – and subscribers should note the new starting time of 7:30 p.m. – at White Rock Baptist Church, 1657 140 St.
Internationally-known prize-winning cellist Colin Carr and the John Avison Chamber Orchestra will present cello masterworks of Haydn and Bach, including Haydn’s beloved D major Concerto.
While the concert is only open to members – and memberships are sold out for this season of the highly in-demand series – White Rock Concerts president John Leighton says those placing their names on the waiting list now should be assured of a membership for next year.
For more information, visit www.whiterockconcerts.com
Outside The Box
The first ‘biennale’ version of the Outside The Box festival – celebrating the potential of art that utilizes fibres of all kinds as both material and inspiration – continues until Sept. 30 at multiple venues, inviting White Rock and South Surrey residents to “stretch your imagination.”
Venues this year include White Rock Library (15342 Buena Vista Ave.), The Arnold Mikelson Mind and Matter Gallery (13743 16 Ave.) and White Rock Museum and Archives (14970 Marine Dr.).
The event, which will now take place every two years, includes art exhibitions, demonstrations and displays highlighting “fun in fibre,” with paint, thread and much more, with the motto “anything fibre goes.”
Among attractions are guest artists and demonstrations at White Rock Library – including the Semiahmoo Magic series of paintings created by Outside The Box artistic director Alicia M.B. Ballard and work by painter Kat Siemens – as well as a Needle Nuts Fabric Arts demonstration Friday (Sept. 27) from 1-4 p.m. and by the Peace Arch Weavers and Spinners on Monday (Sept. 30) from 1:30- 4 p.m.
It is also be Outside The Box month throughout September at the Mind and Matter Gallery, in which owner Mary Mikelson will highlight various gallery artists who work with fibre materials.
Club 240
Crescent Legion’s Club 240 (2643 128 St.) is the location for regular Live at Club 240 Friday-night dances, with a variety of bands presented by the Total Music Group (formerly Semiahmoo Music Consortium), along with other special Saturday events throughout the year and a regular Wednesday bluegrass jam.
Coming up on the Friday night schedule at Club 240 are Big City Soul (Oct. 4) and the Gale Force Blues Piggies with special guest Randy Oxford (Oct. 18).
Tickets ($20) are on sale online at www.brownpapertickets.com and also at the legion box office (604-535-1043), which is open daily from 4-9 p.m.
Blue Frog Studios
Heading into fall, there’s a busy schedule planned for music fans at White Rock’s Blue Frog Studios, the city’s intimate venue for up-close concerts by national and international touring acts, as well as local and B.C.-based artists.
Talented reedman/flautist Tom Keenlyside, returning with the Latin rhythms of Music Brasiliera this Thursday (Sept. 26); while The Authentics (Oct. 5), will feature a veritable who’s who of Vancouver music scene talent from the last five decades: Al Harlow (Prism), Ab Bryant (Prism, Chilliwack, the Headpins), John Hall (Prism, Seeds of Time) and Rocket Norton (the Rocket Norton Band, Prism, Seeds of Time).
For more, visit bluefrogstudios.ca or call 604-542-3055.