Arts Scene

BY WENDY ELLIOTT

welliott@kentvilleadvertiser.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

Audra and the Elliotts

On Saturday, May 31 at the Al Whittle Theatre in Wolfville, Audra and The Elliotts will perform. Their “Swing into Spring Concert” tour will include a donation from ticket sales to Silent Witness Nova Scotia.

After their successful Marigold Cultural Center performance in Truro, demand for this group is growing. Audra Raulyns and The Elliotts joined forces in last fall and this is their first tour.

In 2007, Music Nova Scotia nominated singer/ songwriter Audra Raulyns, for Country Recording Artist of the Year, for her CD All That.

“I am so grateful to have The Elliotts working with me,” she said. Raulyns constantly praises the Economy, N.S. award-winning family ensemble.

No wonder, since Carl Elliott, the String Swing patriarch, is ECMA Lifetime Achievement Award winner and Nova Scotia Country Music Hall of Fame Inductee. His two multi-award-winning and multi-instrumentalist sons, Bill and Mike, are always beside him, nudging him on.

“The Elliotts are Nova Scotia’s best keep musical secret,” declares veteran guitar tech Harland Suttis. The Elliotts each play five instruments and show their versatility in an energetic and entertaining performance.

A dollar from every ticket and CD sold will go to the organization Silent Witness Nova Scotia and community businesses have the opportunity to become Silent Witness Community Partners. www.silentwitnessnovascotia.org

Ticket price is $20 in advance or $25 at the door. The tour includes a music workshop in the afternoon and a full evening performance. Tickets are available at
Cochrane Pharmacy, Wolfville, 542-3624
or 542-5790.

At the market

On May 31 at the Wolfville Farm Market, Stable Country ‘Unplugged’ will play an easygoing mix of bluegrass, old-time and classic country songs. They have been performing in a number of Annapolis Valley venues including the Kings Arms Pub, Union St. Cafe and many Valley-area variety shows.

Wendell Pineo provides the bottom end on upright ‘dog’ bass and brings over 40 years of country and bluegrass experience to the stage. Matthew Lunn continues to build an audience for his outstanding vocals and rhythm guitar playing, and boasts over 25 years’ experience in the country and bluegrass field. Glen Parker kicks in with lead and harmony vocals as well as lead guitar. He’s a veteran of more than four decades in the music industry playing guitar with various pop, country and bluegrass bands both here and in Alberta.

Old-style country

The annual Wilf Carter and Old-Time Country Night takes place May 31, 7 p.m., at the Lions Hall in Canning.

The concert will feature yodeling singer Andy Bowes from Carlton Place, Ont. He has appeared many times on the Canning stage and his yodeling style and interpretation of Wilf Carter's music is always popular.

Apart from being a star performer in his own right, Andy is sought as an opening act for top-line country music stars, including Stompin' Tom Connors. He is looking forward to returning to Canning and performing with Nova Scotia musicians Floyd Spicer and Keith DeLong.

Also appearing onstage are some of Nova Scotia's well-known musicians. Johnny Gold has delighted audiences with his great vocal styling of country music for many years, and later this year he will be inducted into the Nova Scotia Country Music Hall of Fame.

Valley Thunder, an instrumental and vocal group from Hantsport, will bring their special blend of bluegrass and gospel harmony. Caroll Edwards will round out the program with some of Wilf’s original songs.

The concert is a Fieldwood Heritage Society fundraiser for the Wilf Carter Room at the Canning Library and Heritage Centre. Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets are $10, available at the door and at Cochrane's Pharmacy in Canning and Wolfville.

Thom’s coming

Winner of the 2008 Canadian Maple Blues Award for New Artist of the Year and the 2008 East Coast Music Award for Blues Recording of the Year, Thom Swift will perform in support of his debut solo CD Into the Dirt at Berwick’s Union Street Café Saturday, May 31 at 9 p.m.

Released nationally in 2007, Into the Dirt also garnered Swift the 2008 CBC Galaxie Rising Star Award. The album was recorded in Halifax with producer/engineer Charles Austin. Swift and Austin co-produced the album’s 10 original songs, which feature him on acoustic and resonator guitars, banjo and mandolin.

The album delivers a distinctive blend of folk, blues, country and rag style music.

Alongside his solo career, Swift is a member of the 2007 Canadian Maple Blues Award-winning and East Coast Music Award-winning group Hot Toddy.

Tickets for the show are $10 in advance and $12 at the door. They can be purchased at the Union Street Café or by calling (902) 538-7787.

For more information on Thom Swift visit: www.thomswift.com.

Young Valley voices

The Annapolis Valley Honour Choir's year-end concert, “Watching the Apples Grow”, will be held at Acadia University's Manning Memorial Chapel June 1 at 3 p.m.

A freewill offering is requested toward the choir's trip to Europe this summer. The choir is currently preparing for a performance tour to Paris and Prague in July.

On screen

Fundy Film’s summer series films will start with a screening of The Counterfeiters. In 1936, the Nazis set up the largest counterfeiting operation in history to wreck the Allies’ economies.

Salomon Sorowitsch is hand-picked to lead a secret forgery unit in a Nazi concentration camp. Despite the privileged life his team receives, “Sally” must eventually choose between collaboration or sabotage. The film won a Best Foreign Film Oscar.

It will screen at the Al Whittle Theatre, Wolfville, Sunday, June 1 at 8 p.m. Tickets ($8) are available 30 minutes before screening. www.fundyfilm.ca or 542-5157.

Mermaid returns

Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia’s acclaimed production of The Very Hungry Caterpillar and other Eric Carle favourites will take the stage at the Mermaid Imperial Performing Arts Centre in Windsor Thursday, May 29 at 6:30 p.m.

Featuring innovative black light puppetry, the show will return from a five-month cross-country tour just in time to participate in the Apple Blossom Festival.

Mermaid’s “mix and match” collection of Eric Carle’s beloved stories has delighted well over a million young spectators on three continents.

Tickets are available in advance from Mermaid Theatre, Gerrish Street, Windsor, or at the door. Admission is $10 for adults and $8 for seniors and children.

Coming up

May 27

Seniors dance, New Minas fire hall

June 1

Trinitarian choir, St. John’s Church, Port Williams

June 7

Night Kitchen, Al Whittle Theatre, Wolfville 8 p.m.

June 8

Jan Coates, Heather Price and Julie Heyer, Irving Centre, Wolfville 3 p.m.

Until June 22

Tony Myers’ exhibition, Ross Creek Centre for the Arts near Canning

Until June 30

Acadia Print Series’ from the permanent collection, Acadia Art Gallery, Wolfville