alex.browne@peacearchnews.com
Drawing On Life
The arts collective Drawing On Life – which has been meeting at the Ocean Park Community Hall for the last three decades for weekly sketching sessions from live models – will be sharing both its work and its process at the City of White Rock’s PopUptown Gallery for over a month, starting with an opening reception tonight (Wednesday) 7-9 p.m.
Figurative To Final: Figure Drawing’s Influence On Work In Other Media runs until May 13 at the art space, at 1459B JohnstonRd.
The group exhibit is presented in two parts: The Human Form (April 5-23), a collection of depictions of the human figure – in contexts ranging from landscapes to portraiture and abstract work based on life drawing; and Artist’s Choice (April 26-May 13), described as “a diverse collection of individual work by group members.”
The exhibit, open 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday, will also be complemented by a number of free ‘hands-on’activities each Saturday, with no registration required.
Open Life Drawing (April 8, 1-4 p.m.) invites the public to join group members in a typical session working with a clothedmodel; Life Drawing with Claire Moore (April 15, 1-4 p.m.) will be another clothed model session facilitated by Moore, a well-known artist and passionate advocate of life drawing; while Open Life Drawing (April 22, 1-4 p.m.) offers an opportunity tosketch costumed model – and also well-known multi-media artist – Elizabeth Carefoot.
Portrait Painting with Veronica Davies (Saturday, April 29, 1-4 p.m.) offers the public to observe, or even participate in, athree-hour oil portrait session; while Coloured Pencil with Deborah Strong (May 5 1-3 p.m.) is a workshop demonstrating a number of techniques with wax-based pencils, led by Strong, a specialist in sketching animals and birds and hand-paintedsilk.
Micah Barnes
Canadian singer Micah Barnes – last seen on the Semiahmoo Peninsula as a member of a cappella act The Nylons in a concertlast year at Blue Frog Studios – is back at the venue as a solo artist this Thursday, April 6 at 7 p.m.
Co-presented by Rock.It Boy Entertainment, Barnes is appearing as part of a national tour supporting his recent New York Stories album (the first single, New York Story, reached the top of the jazz charts in both Canada and the U.S. and also gleanedhim a Toronto Indie Awards win as best jazz act).
A popular singer and songwriter on the Queen Street scene in Toronto, the sophisticated vocalist first won fame in the city’s cabarets and jazz clubs, before recording with The Nylons launched him on the international scene, resulting in a solo careerin the U.S.
New York Stories, part of Barnes’ current return to jazz-oriented roots, pays tribute to the fabled ‘Big Apple’ by tapping intothe rhythms of the famed Cotton Club, the Apollo Theatre, Broadway and the composing geniuses of Tin Pan Alley.
The venue is located at 1328 Johnston Rd.; tickets ($38.50) are available at 604-542-3055, or to check showtimes or book seats online – or for information on other Blue Frog shows – visit www.bluefrogstudios.ca
1920s dance party
Fans of Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries and Downton Abbey can cut a rug Roaring Twenties-style when Alexander Browne and his Boulevardiers (yes, that’s me) play for dancing at the Crescent Legion Branch’s Club 240 April 6 at 7:30 p.m.
Using authentic arrangements from the devil-may-care ‘vo-do-de-o-do’ era of flappers and bootleg gin, the eight-pieceband features the leader on vocal refrains – evoking the megaphone crooning style of an early inspiration, singingidol/bandleader Rudy Vallee, who Browne had the chance to meet and get to know when just beginning his own musical career.
The band’s playlist, including such classics as Charleston, The Sheik of Araby, It Had To Be You, Let’s Do It, Let’s Fall In Love and Crazy Words, Crazy Tune – with a few romantic waltzes and latin novelties thrown in for good measure – has lately been augmented by a collection of vintage orchestrations belonging to the late Canadian composer Anita Sleeman, which have been generously donated by her daughter Cindy, in the interests of keeping the music alive to be experienced by newgenerations.
The venue is located at 2643 128 St.; doors are at 7 p.m. and admission is $20 at the door.
The dress-to-impress event is also all-ages, with $10 admission for students 18 and under (provided they remain on the dance floor side of the premises).
Live at Club 240
The Gale Force Blues Band is ready to blow down the house at Crescent Legion Branch 240 this Friday (April 7), starting at 8 p.m.
The rocking seven piece band is led by Howlin’ Jon Gale on guitar and vocals, backed up by guitarist/vocalists WayneMarston and Craig Faulkner, Elliott Clarkson on sax, Doc Sawyer on keys, Ron Vandergaag on bass, Elena TambalenaButler on percussion and Maury Zumm on drums.
The show is part of the ongoing Semiahmoo Musical Consortium series – strengthening the branch’s ‘Club 240’ brand as adance-oriented venue for multiple genres of music – which presents live bands for dancing every Friday at 8 p.m. (doors openat 7 p.m.), except for special legion events and holidays.
Club 240 is located at 2643 128 St. Doors open each dance night at 7 p.m., with the music starting at 8 p.m.
Tickets ($20) are available at the door, at the legion (604-535-1043) from 3-9 p.m. daily, or brownpapertickets.ca
Mud Bay Blues
Iconic Semiahmoo Peninsula music makers The Mud Bay Blues Band – whose most recent album, Colebrook Road, continues to get radio and internet air-time and positive mentions from DJs – are gearing up to celebrate four decades of playing withnew tunes and a forthcoming album.
In the interim, fans of the “Legendary Kings of Saturday Night” can enjoy their ‘home-cooking’ blues style Saturday, April 8 at 8 p.m. at Club 240, 2643 128 St. Tickets are $20 at the door; for more, call 604-535-1080.
Trad Jazz
The White Rock Traditional Jazz Society’s season of regular Sunday afternoon dances continues this week (April 9), 2-5 p.m.,at Club 240 (the Royal Canadian Legion Crescent Branch) at 2643 128 St.
Featured band is Seattle’s Uptown Lowdown. Upcoming bands are trumpeter Bonnie Northgraves’ Four (April 16), houseband Red Beans and Rice (April 23) and Jack Ray’s Milk Crate Jazz Band (April 30).
Admission is $10 for WRTJS members, $12 for everybody else; tickets are available from 604-591-7275.
For more, visit www.whiterockjazz.ca
