Club 240
Crescent Legion’s Club 240 (2643 128 St.) is the location for Friday-night dances organized by the Semiahmoo Music Consortium, along with other special events throughout the year on Saturday nights, as well as a regular Wednesday night bluegrass jam.
Consortium shows continue this Friday (March 1) with rock and soul revue band David Wills and the Dynamics.
With five singers, a red-hot rhythm section and a sizzling horn section, the band is known for delivering high-energy dance music, featuring classic R & B hits from the 60’s 70’s and 80’s, and some of today’s retro soul thrown in for good measure.
Tickets for Friday-night dances are on sale at www.brownpapertickets.com and at the legion box office (604-535-1043), which is open daily from 4-9 p.m.
For more, visit www.club240.ca
Branch 8 music
The White Rock Legion (Branch 8) presents bands and musical entertainers every Friday and Saturday, from 7-11 p.m., Howlin’ Tuesdays blues, rock and country with Cold Water and the Bootleggers, and Country Sunday live entertainment Sundays from 3-7 p.m., interspersed with other presentations, along with specials from MacKarino’s Kitchen (open Wednesday through Sunday from noon).
The legion’s regular weekend schedule continues with Beach Patrol (March 1 and 2), Long Run Trio (March 8 and 9) and Nasty Habits (March 15 and 16).
The legion is at 2290 152 St. and, on Fridays and Saturdays, is open from noon to 1 a.m. Visit legion8whiterock.ca or call 604-531-2422.
Staged reading
Peninsula Productions presents a staged reading of Margaret Edson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama Wit this Sunday (March 3) at the company’s newly-reconfigured black-box theatre space in Centennial Park, 14600 North Bluff Rd.
Performances of the 20 year-old play, directed by well-known Vancouver director Alan Brodie, are at 2:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.
An expert on the work of 17th-century British poet John Donne, university professor Vivian has spent her adult life contemplating religion and death as literary motifs. Facing death on a personal level, she reflects on her life and work. Through flashbacks, the audience sees her relive her experiences as a daughter, a student and a patient.
“The power of Wit is still undeniable,” says Brodie.
“With charming theatricality and heart, the play questions what it means to be human. With less than two hours to live, Vivian Bearing reflects on her life’s journey and discovers that her humanity is defined by more than her intellect.”
The show features Alexis Kellum-Creer, Val Dearden, William Weigler, Hunter Golden, Britt Bailey, Taylor Long, Ashley Chodat, Yukon de Leeuw, and Brett Willis.
For tickets ($20) visit www.brownpapertickets.com or peninsulaproductions.org
Blue Frog Studios
White Rock’s Blue Frog Studios continues to provide an intimate venue for up-close concerts by national and international touring acts, as well as local and B.C.-based artists
While the show by Canadian pop and alternative rock legends The Philosopher Kings, originally scheduled for tonight (Feb. 27) has been postponed to May 6 (all tickets for the original show will be honoured) there are plenty of other acts waiting in the wings in the interim.
Among them is a concert by Canada’s “Ice Queen of the Blues”, guitarist and singer Sue Foley (March 7); a concert with harmonica virtuoso – and international champion – Carlos del Junco (March 9); and what promises to be an extraordinary evening of next-level a cappella by vocal group Countermeasure (March 10).
For tickets and information, visit bluefrogstudios.ca or call 604-542-3055.
Encore concerts
Encore Peninsula Concerts, co-sponsored by the City of White Rock, continues Sunday afternoon concerts at its new venue – Mount Olive Lutheran Church (2350 148 St.)
This Sunday (March 3, 3 p.m.) it’s a special presentation, Spring Harmonies, bringing together the Rimsky Korsakov String Quartet of Russia, Macedonian oboist Gordana Josifova-Nedelkovska and Vancouver-based violinist Robert Rozek for a program of double concerti and more – including the Baroque and post-Baroque music of Bach, Haydn and Mozart.
The 2019 Piano Fest – selected by its artistic director, concert pianist Eugene Skovorodnikov – continues April 7 with masterworks for piano duo by Skovorodnikov and Anna Vavilova (April 7) and an all-Chopin program by acclaimed Italian pianist Achille Gallo (April 28).
Tickets for the Spring Harmonies recital are $35 ($25 students and seniors). Tickets for Piano Fest 2019 performances are $25 each ($22 for students and seniors). All concerts are at 3 p.m.
Traditional jazz
White Rock Traditional Jazz Society’s regular series of 2-5 p.m. Sunday dances to live New Orleans and Chicago jazz and small-band swing continues most weekends at Crescent Legion Branch’s Club 240.
This Sunday (March 3), music is by the newly-formed White Rock Rhythm Kings, followed on March 10 by reedman Gerry Green‘s Crescent City Jazzers (featuring Jim Armstrong on trumpet and trombone); on March 17 by muted cornet/trumpet ace Leigh Smith‘s Maple Leaf Jazz Band and on March 24 by the powerhouse bluesy trumpet and vocal stylings of Bonnie Northgraves with her Jazz Chickens.
The venue is at 2643 128 St.; admission is $10 at the door (WRTJS members); $12 (non-members) and $6 (students with ID).
Beer and blues
White Rock Beach Beer Company (15181 Russell Ave.) – recently named South Surrey and White Rock Chamber of Commerce small business of the year – continues to offer occasional live entertainment Sunday afternoons at 1 p.m.
Coming up this Sunday, March 3, is music by the Don Jones Quartet. For more information, call 604-319-4378.
Bingo for arts
Bingo may not be considered an arts activity, per se, but Penmar Community Arts Society’s weekly bingo – coming to Star of the Sea Community Centre starting Wednesday, March 6 – will raise money to continue to plan events and concerts on the Semiahmoo Peninsula.
So say organizers David Geertz and Dione Costanzo who note the society was founded as a national arts charity dedicated to developing entertainment programs for communities outside of major metropolitan areas, with a mission to pay artists a fair, living wage.
For the last year the organization has been focused on producing live music programming in the Flamingo Hotel in Whalley to revitalize the neighborhood prior to current redevelopment.
Now back with a renewed Peninsula focus, the organization will raise funds by presenting bingo every Wednesday at the centre (5262 Pacific Ave.).
Doors open at 5 p.m., early bird games run to 6 p.m. and regular games start at 7 p.m.
Fen photography
Four Seasons at the Fen, a show of photography by Barbara Cooper, runs until March 20 at South Surrey Recreation and Arts Centre’s Turnbull Gallery.
Inspired by the Serpentine Fen – and Vivaldi’s composition The Four Seasons – well known local photographer and arts advocate Cooper took a series of photographs over the space of one calendar year.
The resulting images capture the fen in transition from spring to summer, fall to winter, informed by Cooper’s keen eye for composition and sense of place.
Opening reception will be on Thursday, Feb. 21 at 7 p.m. at the gallery, at 14601 20 Ave.
In conjunction with the show, Semiahmoo Arts is also offering a series of interactive educational, cultural and family events.
Coming up will be a free guided walk of the fen March 2 at 9 a.m. with Liz Walker of the White Rock and Surrey Naturalists; a poetry-writing workshop March 2 (1:30 p.m.) at the gallery, Writing The Rhythms of Nature, with Heidi Greco ($20 for Semiahmoo Arts members, $25 for non-members); and a free talk The Birds, The Fen and The Pacific Flyway (March 5, 7 p.m. at the gallery) with naturalist author Anne Murray and conservationist Matt Christensen.
For full details, visit semiahmooarts.com
Pier show
The White Rock Youth Ambassador program, the City of White Rock, White Rock Museum and Archives and the Semiahmoo Rotary Club are co-presenting the current exhibit Our Pier: A Retrospective at the Landmark Pop- Uptown Gallery at Central Plaza.
The display of historical photos has been gathered from the city’s archives by Hugh Ellenwood – along with paintings by Elizabeth Hollick, Lisa Westendorf, Mark Lesack and Sandra Tomchuk, and others selected from the city’s collection of work by late painter Voja Morosan.
Sale of reproductions of the photos and paintings is aimed at helping to raise money for extra refurbishment of the city’s storm-damaged pier once it is restored.
The show runs until March 23 at the gallery, 15140 North Bluff Rd.
Opening hours are Thursday and Friday, 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
