The Pearl Company

Haiti Media Telethon in support the two public hospitals in Haiti with which St Joseph’s Hospital is affiliated. One is still standing but overwhelmed with patients and lack of supplies. The other is rubble. St Joseph’s Health System has established a fund through which 100% of donations will go to provide medical supplies for the Haitian people. The Haiti Media Telethon will go live on Cable 14 on Tuesday, January 26 from 6:00am to 10:00 pm with constant support from CHCH. Please help the besieged population of Haiti. There are numerous events throughout Hamilton; let us do what we can in whatever ways we can.  Gary Santucci is one of the co-chairs of this event.

Italian Film Night: Monday, January 25, 7:00 p.m. $10 at the door. Cinema Insieme presents “THE LAST KISS” “L’ultimo bacio” directed by Gabriele Muccino. Film is in Italian with English subtitles. The Last Kiss (2001) focuses on relationships in today’s society, from the 29 year-olds who fear commitment and responsibility, to the 50 year-olds who fear aging. With its multiple storylines and some amazing performances, the film creates a vivid and colourful fresco of modern Italian life.

Mary M. Cushnie-Mansour: Sunday, January 31 at 2:00. Mary will be launching two new poetry books “Shattered”  and “Memories”. She will be reading selections from them as well as from her collection of short stories. “From the Heart”, which was released in May 2009.  Mary is a freelance creative writer who was born in Stoney Creek.  She now resides in Brantford.

Jay Linden With Special Guest Colin Linden, Jan 30: Part of The Southern Ontario “Under the Radar” Mini Tour.  Saturday, January 30 8:00pm. $20.  Call for tickets 905 524-0606

Jay Linden has been around, off and on, for a very long time. Jay is a legend (1 inch = 1/2 mile) of 40 years standing and some other years of sitting around. He’s unabashedly acoustic, unabashedly folk rooted. His musical trail comes up from Woody, Pete, Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family, through Dylan, Johnny Cash and the 50s folk scare and through contemporaries like Townes, Willie P, Dolly Parton, Dave Carter and more. He writes and sings memorable folk songs and plays a lot of fretted and stringy things.

Concert: Jacob Moon: Jan 29  at 8:00. ($15 advance, $20 at the door) Moon has been very busy recording and touring all over Canada and into the United States. His passionate vocals and inspired lyrics are given flight by his total command of the guitar, which at times sounds like an entire orchestra, owing to his use of the ‘JamMan’, a live looping device that allows him to more fully realize his onstage ambitions as a solo artist.  A musical high wire act without a net!
CD Release of “Maybe Sunshine” – A new studio mini-album with a new sound. Inspired by Moon’s travels, and shot through with optimism, these songs shine.. Balancing between songs of hope, joy, and wonder and those that reflect the dark realities of  our world today, “Maybe Sunshine” offers an artful response to the matters of the heart and soul that we all wrestle with.
“Every once in a while a voice just leaps out at you…and that’s what happened when we heard Jacob Moon” – Shelagh Rogers, CBC

Opening January 22: The Streets of Hamilton: 7:00 pm start time. Featuring Sylvia Simpson, Gord Leverton, Rod Paget, Rob Laffier, John Stirling and Eric Ranveau…. Hamilton as you have never seen it before! The gritty made beautiful.  The beautiful made riveting (and sometimes gritty…).  Our Hamilton.

Banned From Heaven: Starting at 9:00: In conjunction with “The Streets of Hamilton”.  Playing together since the Sixties (in various incarnations), their style of music is somewhere between Blues, Punk Zydeco, or Jug Rock. It’s lots of fun and a wild ride. $5 donation at the door

The Hamilton Philharmonic: What Next? Festival has some events at The Pearl:
Saturday, January 23, 10:00 pm: Late Night Electroacoustic: A show unlike any you’ve seen, with music by Steve Reich, the premiere of a new work by Sergio Barroso, and grooves by American laptop virtuoso/DJ/composer Jeremy Flower.
Sunday, January 24, 1:00 pm: Music and the Mind: Panel Discussion: As science probes deeper into the secrets of the human mind, it has become clear that music plays a central role in our intellectual and emotional development. Groundbreaking studies at McMaster University have provided surprising insights into how we respond to harmony, melody, and dissonance.
Sunday January 24 3:00pm. Canada in the World: Chamber Concert. Music by Ravi Shankar, Elma Miller, Paula Matthusen, Scott Good, and a horn trio by Gary Kulesha commissioned for James Sommerville.
See www.whatnextfestival.com for ticket information and more events.

Carmen…?: Playing January 8 and 9, 15 and 16, 2010 at 8:00. Tickets $15. A tragic-comedy dance theatre presentation based on Bizet’s Carmen.  Sergiy Shvydkyy, an internationally renowned avant-garde dancer, mime-actor, choreographer, and leading figure in contemporary performance arts in the Ukraine brings his unique choreographic vision, to The Pearl Company. He does this with a fresh imagining of the famous story of love and betrayal, Carmen, unique in both its dance style and its interpretation of the tale. Emanuela Dussin, a graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City, brings the fire and beauty of flamenco to the stage. And then, of course, Gary Santucci has found himself willingly drawn into Shvydkyy‘s world where the musician not only performs the music but is a character within the production.  Not the same old Carmen! Time has changed her, you will love her more than ever? Reserve your seat! Call 905-524-0606. (more…)

Introducing the Lincoln Alexander Centre Art Bus! As of January, the new Lincoln Alexander Centre, a 350-seat theatre at The Hamilton Plaza Hotel will lend its name and some serious support to the bus not to mention cross-pollination between our two theatres. I am delighted to have the help and if the bus has to be something other than Barbara’s Bus, what better name to share than Lincoln Alexander’s!
January 1: No bus on the first Friday of this month.
January 8: The plan is to take in the action on Ottawa Street (Earls Court Gallery, Under the Moon), the James North Art Crawl (many, many galleries and events!) and the Tiger Group Studio Gallery (five artists in one large studio/gallery)  (more…)