A Christmas wedding

The 14th annual Fezziwig Family Christmas Frolic presents the best of community theatre, targeted directly at a family audience, from Nov. 20 to 22.

With a new script every year, the 2008 version ends with a romantic wedding.

Retired principal Ray Baltzer is once again playing the beloved Mr. Fezziwig, with Sherry Bishop as his wife. Acadia University theatre graduates Alan Slipp and Jamie Loughead Folks are also featured, along with Fredda McNally, Nicky Lannan, Thea Burton, Steve Melanson and Fezziwig newcomers Rosanne McClare, Jenn Moore and Ross Chapman. You can also expect Father Christmas (Jeff Cantwell) to put in an appearance.

The book is by Shelley Thompson with music and lyrics by her equally talented brother, Ross Thompson.

The show re-imagines characters from Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, with over 50 children and youth supporting an adult cast. The production will include some new Christmas music, as well as songs in a variety of styles.

Show time is 7 p.m., with a matinee Nov. 22 at 2 p.m.

Tickets are $10 for students /seniors and $12 for adult seats, available by phone at 902-697-2677 (credit cards only), Eos Fine Foods and Box of Delights (cash only) in Wolfville, Phinneys in Kentville or at the door.

Book talk at Berwick Library

Saturday, Nov. 22, at 3 p.m. Grafton author Thomas Schultze shares highlights, insights and images of his recently published work about 1800s painter Frances Anne Hopkins. All are welcome. For questions, please call 538-4030

Book launch

In the new novel by Wolfville writer Dian Day, Esa Withrod is a young woman struggling over recent events in her personal life—a failed first relationship and resulting pregnancy—as well as the legacy of her desolate upbringing.

Eccentric and enigmatic, Esa’s childhood

has prepared her to deal with the world with endurance and resilience, but not with joy.

The only bright spot in Esa’s childhood was the three months she spent in a house by the sea with her grandmother in the Maritimes when she was seven years old. Searching for that safe haven she knew as a child, Esa returns to her grandmother’s house to find that it is not possible to go back.

The Clock of Heaven is a compelling first novel by a writer who shows promise. “Dian Day writes as if her heart is on fire and the only way to quench it is to make beautiful sentences and lay them end

to end until she arrives at the truth. This story burrows into you and makes itself at home there. I couldn’t stop reading it, and I can’t shake Esa Withrod,” commented CBC broadcaster Stephanie Domet.

Inanna Publications will launch Day’s new novel

Thursday, Nov. 27, 7:30 p.m. at the Wolfville Memorial Library.

Day has been writing fiction and poetry all of her

life. After living in Ottawa for many years, she returned to Wolfville in May. She is at work

on her second novel.

Presenting song

The St. Mary's Concert Series is pleased to present the St. Mary's Singers (Beth Pineo, soprano; Phyllis Bennett, alto; David Sanford, tenor; Bill Perrot, bass) along with Judith Burdett, soprano, in concert, Saturday, Nov. 22, 7:30 p.m. at St. Mary's Anglican Church, Auburn.

Admission is $10 at the door. Please call 847-9056 or 847-9847 to reserve space in advance. Proceeds will go toward the St. Mary's Parish Hall oil spill expense repayment.

Documentary coming

Fundy Film Documentary series screens: Watchmaker (N.S. filmmaker short) with ‘Tis Autumn: The Search for Jackie Paris at 7 p.m.

Christopher Ball's mesmerizing animated short is set to the raucous music of Cape Breton's favourite party band, The Tom Fun Orchestra. This mix of painted, scratched and overexposed film delivers an energetic sensory experience.

The feature explores Jackie Paris (1926-2004) – the greatest jazz voice you’ve never heard. Raymond De Felitta’s documentary examines the amazing life of this unheralded cult jazz singer/guitarist while exploring the nature of “the artist” and constructing a cultural mystery: Why does a talent go from sensation to a footnote in a lifespan?

It will screen at the Al Whittle Theatre, Wolfville, Wed., Nov 19 at 7 p.m. Tickets at $8 are available 30 minutes before screening. www.fundyfilm.ca or 542-5157.

At Union St.

The final show for 2008 will be Witchitaw Saturday, Nov. 22 at 9 pm. Witchitaw is a newly formed band of experienced musicians from the Valley.

Four of the group’s members enjoyed a great deal of success for six years with the Canadian show-band, Country Generations. Brothers Jason and Jamie Spinney, keyboardist Frank Dobbin and bass player Terry Salsman, recorded four CDs in Nashville with Country Generations. They also toured Canada, the U.S.A, and even Australia in 2004.

As those successful tours came to a close the idea of the group Witchitaw was born. Guitarist Paul Browner joined the band in 2006, completing Witchitaw’s roster of musicians.

There is an edge to their music that is current yet their sound is unique.

Witchitaw manages to blend “new” country with a touch of blues and southern rock. Their live show comes out of the gate at a hundred miles an hour and maintains an unparalleled energy. Witchitaw live is not just a concert – it is a musical event.

We're planning a Saturday night Concert Series for 2009. Our plan is to bridge the gap between theatre and pub, and provide exceptional entertainment Concerts will begin at 9 p.m. Dave Gunning will be our first presentation on Jan. 31.

Fiddlestickers performing

Fiddler Samantha Robichaud from New Brunswick will be headlining at the Fiddlerstickers next concert in Wolfville on Friday, Nov. 28.

Tickets are available at Music Stop and Just Us Coffee. The Fiddlestickers are presenting two new exciting numbers with dance arranged by Canadian composer Dean Marshall. Other guests are Wolfville new up and upcoming group, The Hodders, Dance Acadia and Kimberly Holmes. All proceeds go to sending the Fiddlestickers to the Gaelic College for their March Break session to study.

The concert is set for 7 p.m. and tickets are $14

Coming up

Nov. 18-22

A Christmas Carol, AVM Morfee Centre, Greenwood, 7:30 p.m.

Nov. 20 – 22

Fezziwig Family Frolic, Festival Theatre, Wolfville 7 p.m. & Sat. 2 p.m.

Nov. 21, 21 & 29

A Dickens’ Christmas Carol, Christ Church Anglican hall, Berwick

Nov. 22

Art cards, Acadia University Art Gallery, Wolfville, 1-4 p.m.

Spinney Brothers, Horton High School, Greenwich

Until Nov. 23

George Walford’s Elemental, Harvest Gallery, Wolfville

Until Nov. 27

Erma Walker, Valley Regional Hospital Art Gallery, Kentville

Until Dec. 13

Lucky Stiff @ CentreStage Theatre, Kentville, 678-8040

Until Dec. 18

Sue & Nat Tileston exhibit, Ross Creek Centre for the Arts, near Canning