Arts Scene

BY WENDY ELLIOTT

The Advertiser

NovaNewsNow.com

Quite a year

In the last several months, the Spinney Brothers Bluegrass Band has crossed Canada, performed in Nashville, Tennessee and was crowned Eastern Canadian Bluegrass Band of the year. Band members are hopeful that bluegrass music fans are eagerly awaiting Sunday, Oct. 28 and the fourth annual Bluegrass in The Valley Concert at Horton High School.

This popular local band has been busy this year. The Spinneys have been to western Canada three times, Manitoba, Ontario, Massachusetts, Ohio, Indiana and Missouri. This is in addition to their busy Atlantic Canadian schedule, which included a concert date in May with the legendary Ricky Skaggs of the Grand Ole Opry.

Not about to rest on their laurels, the upcoming months will see them off to Quebec, Arizona, New York and Texas. Rick Spinney says, in addition, the band will head into the recording studio to begin work on their latest and a much-anticipated CD.

There have been many highlights for the Spinney Brothers in the past 12 months, but perhaps the biggest was being invited by the International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) to perform at the World of Bluegrass in Nashville. The Spinneys represented Canada as only one of just 13 acts chosen as showcase artists.

As Rick said in a recent interview, “we love traditional bluegrass music and want to take our music to as many people as we can. We’re absolutely thrilled to have been given so many great opportunities.”

At the ECBMA’s in Truro last October, the Spinney Brothers took home five awards, including Band of the Year, Recording of the Year (“Here at the Cross”), Male Vocalist of the Year (Allan Spinney), Banjo Player of the Year (Rick Spinney), and Individual Entertainer of the Year (Rick Spinney). The band was nominated for an unprecedented 10 awards at the 2007 ceremony.

Joining the Spinney Brothers on their Oct. 28 show will be Janet McGarry and Wildwood from Prince Edward Island. McGarry is a long-time fan favorite on the Atlantic Canadian bluegrass circuit and the current reigning ECBMA’s Female Vocalist of the Year. Joining McGarry will be her husband Serge Bernard along with the Annapolis Valley’s own Roxeen and Ryan Roberts.

Tickets for the Spinney Brothers fourth annual Bluegrass in The Valley concert can be purchased at CD Plus in the County Fair Mall, New Minas at $12.50. Showtime is 2 p.m.

At Ross Creek

Among the workshops coming up at the Ross Creek Centre for the Arts is a drama one starting Sunday, Oct. 28.

Running from 1–4 p.m., the sessions will taught by an accomplished professional actor. This course is designed for fun and skill development.The focus will be on improv, scene study, playwrighting and working on a piece for performance at the Centre in the new year.

Audition techniques will be touched on, highlighting the skill of telling a story through a character. It includes one-day trip into Halifax to tour galleries and see a production. A follow-up program begins in January to focus on the specifics of auditions.

In Berwick

Next week, PEI's Nudie and the Turks make a special trip off the Island for your listening pleasure. Formed in the spring of 2005, Nudie and the Turks took their vision first to the streets, busking anywhere and everywhere. This lead to an East Coast Music Awards showcase.

After playing the clubs and a six-month residency at the infamous Elm Avenue Social Club, they decided to follow Willie Nelson's Maritime Tour in 2006, busking for the people going in then playing a show in each city.

The seed of the idea came from them doing the same at a George Jones show, where they met George backstage and had his fiddle player sit in out front. His wise advice was "do what's in your heart and good things will happen to you."

Four shows into the 10-city tour, Billy English (Willie's percussionist/drummer) joined them, playing snare drum. Then they got on the bus, hung out with band and crew and were asked to play the end of tour party in St. John's. As well as seeing a few shows backstage, an invitation was extended to come to Texas to play Poodie Locke's (Willie's tour manager of 30-plus years) club outside Austin.

Since then they continue to keep busy playing the Maritimes, Ontario, Quebec and Arizona. This year they’re touring Canada and the U.S. as well as releasing a follow-up to their debut release. Tickets are $8 and the band starts at 9 p.m. at the Union St. Café.

One-woman show

Niagara Falls actor and writer Maja Bannerman will be in Wolfville Oct. 24 to perform at the curling club due to the strike at Acadia University.

She will present her one-person show, which consists of character vignettes, monologues, poems and songs. Bannerman looks at social issues and creates performance art.

This event, sponsored by The League of Canadian Poets and the Canada Council for the Arts, will take place at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 24.

Will proceed

The Acadia Performing Arts Series presentation of Red Priest, an extraordinary English baroque ensemble, will proceed as scheduled despite the labour unrest at Acadia University.

Red Priest will perform “Nightmare in Venice – A Baroque Halloween Fantasy” at Festival Theatre in Wolfville Wednesday, Oct. 24 at 8 p.m.

Performing Arts subscribers will be pleased to learn that the violinist for Red Priest’s Atlantic Canadian tour will be Nova Scotia’s own David Greenberg, who gave such a delightful performance with Symphony Nova Scotia to close last season.

In Greenwich

Greenwich artist Mary McMillan is holding her seventh annual exhibition and sale Saturday, Oct. 27. It will be at 49 Birch Dr. from 1-5 p.m.

Coming up

Oct. 23

El Viento Flamenco, Evergreen Theatre, East Margaretsville

Oct. 24

Red Priest, Acadia Performing Arts, Festival Theatre, Wolfville, 8 p.m.

Until Oct. 26

Christine Ross exhibit, Ross Creek Art Gallery, near Canning

Nov. 10 – 11

Ron James, Festival Theatre, Wolfville, 8 p.m.

Nov. 27

Jimmy Rankin and Nathan Wiley, Festival Theatre, Wolfville