alex.browne@peacearchnews.com
Concerts at the Pier
Popular singer/songwriter (and recent arrival to South Surrey) Daniel Wesley will be the headliner for the first of the free TD Concerts at the Pier series, this Friday (July 9, 7-10 p.m. at the RE/MAX Sea Stage beside White Rock Museum and Archives on Marine Drive).
Also showcased are Vancouver-based pop band The Katherines. Frontwoman and principal songwriter Kate Kurdyak is joined by sister Lauren and Kaitlyn Hansen-Boucher in a band that mixes elements of rock, R&B and dance music to create a signature sound (featured in their debut album To Bring You My Heart).
Opening act is Switch To Black, led by local guitarist/singer, and 2014 Diamond on the Rock winner, Curtis Heimburger, who – with bandmates Adam Keane (drums) and Slade Brown (bass) – graduated from Elgin Park Secondary in June.
The series will continue on Saturday nights throughout July and August as the city and the White Rock Business Improvement Association present a second year of concerts geared to building the city’s reputation as a destination for live music fans.
Thanks to sponsorship from the TD Bank Group, the series will offer six evenings with name headliners from the BC music scene, plus rising local acts and a few international artists, in open-air performances.
Saturday, July 16, there’ll be a change of venue to the Five Corners business district as the series highlights the Tour de White Rock event, with performances by Twin River and the Moulettes starting at 8 p.m. (following the criterium race).
On July 23, the series returns to Marine Drive (and the regular 7 p.m. starting time) with Beyond The Eyes, Field Study and The Washboard Union; followed on Aug. 6 by CBC Music Searchlight winner Desiree Dawson and Ava Carich, Jordan Klassen, and Dustin Bentall & The Smokes.
On Aug. 13 opening acts Sean & The Strangers and Joshua Hyslop will lead into headliner Dave Jacobs-Strain; and the series wraps Aug. 20 with Richard Tichelman, JP Maurice and Harry Manx.
Blue Frog
The music continues this Friday and Saturday at White Rock’s Blue Frog Studios with the venue’s fifth annual Blues BBQ Bash – featuring the Wes Mackey Band (July 8) and The Cooler Kings (July 9).
It’s ironic that chicken is on the menu for Mackey’s set – his first gig, some 50 years ago in Augusta, Ga., netted him just 50 cents and a chicken sandwich.
Since then his powerful guitar and singing have taken him far from dusty honky tonks in the south to premier concert and festival stages around the world, and prestigious gigs as backup musician to the likes of Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Reed and Stevie Wonder.
Dynamic local-based eight-piece R & B band The Cooler Kings features the vocal talents of Willy Ward and singer/violinist Renee Dora Cook, plus the horn section of Ward and Elliott Clarkson, the two keyboards of Bill Brooks and Jim Widdifield, and the rhythm section of guitarist Leonard Bodin, bassist Paulo Silva and drummer Paul Sorbara.
Doors open at 6 p.m. each evening with the barbecue fired up at 6:30 p.m. and the music kicking in at 8 p.m.
The venue is located at 1328 Johnston Rd.; tickets are available at 604-542-3055 or through www.bluefrogstudios.ca
Barrymore’s Ghost
Actor John Cousins (featured in last season’s White Rock Players Club production I Hate Hamlet) will be revisiting familiar territory – and a celebrated, larger-than-life theatrical scoundrel – with Barrymore’s Ghost (Coast Capital Playhouse, July 13-23).
Produced by The Page Theatre, Jason Miller’s play – directed by Dale Kelly – finds the legendary John Barrymore (Cousins) as a spectre haunting a present-day theatre in the midst of rehearsals.
As Barrymore himself relates, the ‘great profile’ – who many had hailed as the finest classical actor of his generation – is in purgatory as punishment for abandoning the theatre and squandering his talents in pursuit of fame, greed and dissipation.
The playhouse is located at 1532 Johnston Rd.
Tickets (previews July 13-14, $10; all other nights $15, are available at the boxoffice, 604-536-7535 or online at www.whiterockplayers.ca/tickets
Fibre art
Work by fibre artist Thelma Newbury is featured throughout July at the Arnold Mikelson Mind and Matter Gallery, 13743 16 Ave.
Always involved in creative crafts, including sewing, knitting and crocheting, Vancouver-born Newbury is now a full-time artist after retirement from a career in accountancy.
Working primarily in fabrics and fibres, her stylized representational compositions – on subjects that include landscapes and birds (ranging from cardinals to the mythic phoenix) – are celebrations of vibrant colour.
The gallery is open daily from noon to 6 p.m.
For more information, call 604-536-6460 or visit mindandmatterart.com
Body Parts
The ever-interesting, challenging and dynamic painting of local legend Elizabeth Hollick will be showcased until July 20 at Semiahmoo Arts’ Turnbull Gallery at the South Surrey Recreation and Arts Centre, 14601 20 Ave.
Titled Body Parts In Unexpected Places, the new show is inspired by the artist’s health-motivated ruminations on human anatomy – which, with typical unconventionality, she relates to physical features of the geography of South Surrey and White Rock.
The artist will also be in attendance at the gallery each Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Pop-Up art
The Uptown Art Affair will take over the City of White Rock’s Pop-Up Town space, at 1459B Johnston Rd., from July 6-28.
Among the assemblage of talents will be artists-in-residence Sherron Fairbairn and Georgina Johnstone; photographers Geoff Milne and Joci Sirak; balloon and party embellishment artist Heather Crawford; and singer-songwriter Ron Fairbairn (with guest guitarist Craig McGregor).
The tenure will also include a workshop by artist Jess Rice on creating a leather-bound journal.
Opening reception is tonight (Wednesday) from 7 to 9 p.m.
For information, visit www.facebook.com/uptownartaffairwhiterock/
Trad jazz
The White Rock Traditional Jazz Society house band Red Beans & Rice – led by Ocean Park-based cornetist/leader Rice Honeywell – is keeping Club 240 (the Royal Canadian Legion Crescent Branch) jumping with a summer series for listeners and dancers, 2 to 5 p.m. each Sunday during the society’s hiatus.
Red Beans & Rice includes regular sidemen Ray Batten (trombone and vocals), Gerry Green (reeds), Peg Thomson (piano), Don Ogilvie (guitar), Casey Tolhurst (bass) and Scott Robertson (drums).
Admission to the Sunday shows is $10 for WRTJS and Legion members, $12 for everybody else.
The venue is located at 2643 128 St.
Swing City
Peninsula-based band Swing City – in partnership with Legion 240 Crescent Branch – is presenting a series of summer dances for ballroom enthusiasts.
Upcoming dates are July 22, Aug. 12 and Aug. 26 from 7:30 to 10:30 p.m. Swing City boasts a wide repertoire of fox trots, waltzes and Latin numbers. Admission (at the door) is $15 per couple and $8 for single participants. The venue is located at 2643 128 St.
Lisa Brokop
Surrey-raised country songbird Lisa Brokop returns to her roots for an intimate show at White Rock’s Blue Frog Studios, July 22 at 7 p.m.
The Nashville-based singer-songwriter will revisit favourites from her 25-year career, plus songs from her most recent show, The Patsy Cline Project.
Tickets are available at 604-542-3055 or through www.bluefrogstudios.ca
