The Pearl Company

Jazz Connection Big Band: Friday, March 26.  Doors at 7:30, jazz at 8:00 $15 at the door: Made up of talented musicians from all over southwestern Ontario, The Jazz Connection Big Band is a 20-piece band dedicated to playing great, straight-ahead jazz.  The JCBB are gaining a bigger audience every time they play here and have put together a spectacular new program.  Carrying us once again into the cool space of surround sound big band music! http://www.jazzconnection.ca

Tom Savage Duo: Thursday, March 25: 7:30pm. $10 at the door.  This Kingston, Ontario songwriter, has quietly become one of the more productive songwriters in Canada. With the release of his third album in four years, Savage continues to think outside-the-box.  He powers his way through a selection of bluegrass inflected foot-stompers, melancholy ballads, and traditional-style country twangers. The new release, The County Line, is a continuation of the defiant, individualistic road-weary music that he made with his last album,. With this release, Savage replicates the live bar-room feel that lends itself well to his music, which is somewhere between Bruce Springsteen and Guitar Town-era Steve Earle. Tom is currently on tour to promote this new album.   www.tomsavage.ca

Fields of Gold:  Callie Archer: The Pearl Gallery at the Lincoln Alexander Centre.  Opening Thursday, March 18. 5:30 to 9:00pm. No charge.  Callie travels the world for adventure and inspiration. Painting with watercolour and acrylic, Archer says she is attracted to landscape because it is magic. A colourist with a loosely representational style, she is particularly sensitive to the shapes and textures of mountains and bodies of water, capturing the light, the calm and the ambiance.

The Lincoln Alexander Centre at 150 King St E., between Catherine and Mary Streets,  is the former Odeon Hyland, beautifully renovated and attached to the Crowne Plaza.  While visiting the gallery, you are also offered a tour of the Centre.

“The Storyteller’s Tale”: Saturday March 20. 7:30 pm. $15 at the door. Freefall Writing Workshops (www.freefallwriting.com) and The Pearl Company present British storyteller Geoff Mead with Canadian musician Jaron Freeman-Fox (violinist and Indian music aficionado) one week prior to their featured performance at the Toronto Storytelling Festival.  Join us to celebrate World Storytelling Day with this never-to-be-forgotten evening of enchantment. The Storyteller’s Tale is a stirring tale of banditry, betrayal, unlikely friendship, storytelling and dangerous love set in 18th century India. A storyteller and the beautiful young wife of a cruel and powerful warlord exchange stories as they meet, fall in love and part.  Based on the novella The Storyteller’s Tale by Omair Ahmad.  This 2-hour performance marks the story’s Canadian Premiere.  All proceeds donated to Indian charities, by arrangement with the author.   Celebrated in the UK as a master storyteller, Geoff Mead performs traditional stories, runs story-based workshops and teaches storytelling in the UK, Spain, Canada and Japan.  Reserve your seat.  Reception to follow.

Dala: Friday, March 19. Doors at 7:30, show at 8:00. $15 advance, $20 at the door.  ”Their harmonies just give you goose bumps.” This acoustic duo from Toronto is made up of Sheila Carabine and Amanda Walther who tie pop sensibility, sublime singing and spacious arrangements into the irresistible knot of Dala.  Self-described as on the “poppier side of folk and the folkier side of pop,” they weave beautiful flights of melody and harmony, reminiscent of the Everly Brothers and Emmylou Harris.  They are also consummate comediennes, keeping us thoroughly entertained between their exquisite songs.  It seems they are selling out wherever they play in the U.S; they are actually playing the New Orleans Jazz Festival with singers such as Aretha Franklin in April!  Shall we show them they are equally appreciated here?  Hmmm?  www.dalagirls.com

Spanjazz@ThePearl: Post Art Bus / James North Art Crawl. Friday, March 12. 10:00pm start time. $10 at the door.  Join “Spanjazz”, Ron Palangio, Jordan Abraham, and Gary Santucci for a special kind of jazz sound.

Held Together by a Thread: Opening Saturday, March 13 through April 29, 7pm – 11:00pm.  A group show featuring the works of Kareem Abbas, Amanda McCavour, Laura Sorbara, Stephanie Hansen. Curated by Stephanie Hansen. This show has everything!  Amanda’s displays are installation works made entirely of thread, Kareem impresses us with brilliant Canadian landscapes painted with the fresh eyes of an Iraqui immigrant, Laura presents us with strong visual imagery work using wool from a sheep she sheared herself (!), and Stephanie Hansen offers up several dress forms worked in mixed media.  The variety and display promises a dazzling evening you should not miss!

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

Jean-Paul de Roover with City of Glass: Wednesday, March 10.  Doors at 7:30, show at 8:00. $10 at the door. Here’s David Kidney’s review of Jean Paul’s previous show at The Pearl: “J-P plays loops, which means he creates a full band sound all by himself. Whether he begins with a riff, a beat, a bassline, even a vocal he then adds the missing pieces together like a jigsaw puzzle until finally the whole is revealed…. He is a sensitive singer with a flexible voice laying down harmonies and background sounds (including percussive noises) with an ease and facility that is amazing to watch/hear…. He begins with melodic ideas, even when constructing the abstract experimental pieces. He add words as an afterthought, and yet the words he adds are filled with ideas, he is a thinker, having just completed his Master’s in Sociology.  Sociology? That’s right, and it’s a perfect fit for his songs about life, death, love, loss and all that…. Even his CD package Windows and Doors breaks through! It folds out to become a little house.  Keep your eyes out for De Roover appearing near you.” City of Glass specialize in pop rock that goes from catchy and hip-shaking to heart-on-the-sleeve emotional. Using clean riffs, synthscapes and snappy beats their fresh and dynamic songs are instantly moving.

Cinema Insieme presents Open City [Roma, Citta Aperta] dir. Roberto Rossellini (1945)  Monday, March 8 at 7:00 p.m.- WWII during the 9 month Nazi occupation of Rome in 1943 – The Fascist dictatorship has begun its fall, although many sympathizers still remain. The Nazis have occupied several Italian cities and areas. The Italian Resistance movement is carrying out a clandestine battle against the Nazis, as they did against the Fascist dictatorship. Based on real life events, this landmark film focuses on the hardships and struggles of ordinary people and their fight for freedom. Rome, Open City, considered the mother of the Neo-realist film movement, ushered in a new film style that influenced audiences and directors throughout the world.

March 5:  We will start with the Lincoln Alexander Centre, then to Gallery on the Bay, transit gallery and a Locke Street Stroll, and off to Dundas for the Carnegie Gallery and the Oddfellows Hall of Galleries and Studios.

March 12:  This second Friday we will be catching the action on both Ottawa Street (Earls Court Gallery and Under the Moon) and the James North Crawl, finishing up with the Tiger Group Studio Gallery. We are also fitting in the shows at Arts Hamilton and the Intolerant Gallery.

Starting at 6:30 from The Pearl Company at 16 Steven Street and King William.
Please reserve a spot beforehand via email or phone, and purchase your trip ($15.00) when you arrive.
Finishing up at The Pearl for an après-tour wind-down which includes a tour of the building often with music from Gary Santucci or whatever event is happening on the theatre floor.

The Pearl Gallery @ The Lincoln Alexander Centre: Friday March 5 6:00pm – 9:00pm. Featuring the Works of Colombian Artist Gerardo Mansang; Acrylics on Canvas – Rich in colour and symbolism.  The Lincoln Alexander Centre Art Bus @ 6:45pm.  Concert in the Gallery 8:00pm – 9:00pm: Guitar Duo- Santucci & Doumas. Come out and see the Lincoln Alexander Centre, Hamilton’s newest Artistic and Cultural Venue.   Join us for a “stellar art’s evening”.  Free admission.   The Lincoln Alexander Centre is at: 150 King Street East between Catherine & Mary. That’s not all! The evening will continue back at the Pearl Company…………… Admission $10:00 @ The Pearl: Guitar Concert Part 2: 10:30 pm. Gary Santucci: Original Compositions for Solo Guitar.
Film Presentation 11:00pm:  “Still Bill”: A Documentary/Biography of Singer Songwriter Bill Withers, (Ain’t No Sunshine, Lean on Me etc.) You will laugh, you will cry. Not to be missed!