Wednesday 2 October 2013
Timbre! Choir of Port Alberni announces concert season
Timbre! Choir with musical director
Patricia Miller will present two concerts this season. Both concerts will held in the new ADSS Theatre on Roger Street.
The first, titled A Christmas Celebration, will take place on Sunday, December 15 at 2:30 pm and will feature a diverse selection of seasonal music. The concert has traditionally been one of the Alberni Valley’s most popular musical events of the holiday season. Those wishing to attend are encouraged to purchase their tickets in advance.
Piano accompanist for A Christmas Celebration will be Vancouver pianist Sarah Hagen. Hagen is a sought-after soloist and chamber musician who has performed in concerts across Canada as well as in the United States, France, Italy, Germany and Sweden. Closer to home, she has been on faculty at the Comox Valley Youth Music Centre for over 10 years and is also well-known for her intimate lecture recitals in smaller venues such as the lobbies of Nanaimo’s Port Theatre and the Sid Williams’ Theatre in Courtenay. Audiences learn what inspires and drives each composer. They also gain insight into the pianist's perspective and enjoy a discussion over a cup of tea or a glass of wine. Sarah promotes a relatively informal ambiance, providing opportunity to ask questions, or voice opinions if one so desires!
This year, musical director Patricia Miller has chosen a potpourri of both old and new carols. Excerpts from Messiah by Handel will hold their traditional place in the program alongside such new compositions as Benjamin Britten's A New Year Carol and songs by the famous British composer, John Rutter. On the lighter side there will a special guest appearance by the Russell Cripps Vocal Quartet from Vancouver who will perform the Drifters’ doo-wop version of White Christmas.
Tickets will be available beginning in early November at Rollin Arts Centre, Echo Centre, Somass Drugs, Salmonberry’s and at the door. Ticket prices are Adults and Seniors $15, Children and Students $5. Ticket reservations: For those not living in Port Alberni who would like to attend this concert please send a cheque made out to Timbre! c/o Barry Miller, 6601 Golden Eagle Way, Nanaimo, BC, V9V 1P8. Your reserved ticket can be picked up at the box office on the day of the performance. For further information check out Timbre!’s website at www.timbrechoir.com.
Timbre! - A Christmas Celebration
ADSS Theatre in Port Alberni
Sunday, December 15 at 2:30 pm
Advance Tickets on sale during November at the regular outlets and at the door (if available). Concert capacity is limited to 500 seats.
Patrons are encouraged to buy their tickets in advance.
Adults and Seniors $15, Children and students $5
Friday 13 September 2013
September Sunrise
Every so often one is in the right place at the right time. Last week after attending the opening of the Alberni District Fall Fair, I returned to our Sproat Lake home just as the sun was setting. I scooted down the hill to our float and snapped the photo above. I found the moment to be purely magical.
Martin Mars may have made its last bomb run
An Alberni Valley icon, the Mars Water Bomber stationed at Sproat Lake likely has fought its last fire in the province. The BC Government (Forest Ministry) will not renew the contract with Coulson Flying Tankers for next year, saying the aircraft is too old. The Mars is the world's largest water bomber and those in the know say the aircraft should remain as one of the many tools that can be used to fight forest fires.
Admittedly hundreds of folks in the Alberni Valley have an emotional attachment to the Martin Mars and hope other contracts can be found to keep the huge aircraft flying from its Sproat Lake base. In the past the Martin Mars has fought fires in California and in Mexico.
The photo above I took last week just before the Mars was pulled up on shore after the BC government fire fighting contract for the summer ended.
This shot shows our grandchildren Nathan and Matthew boarding past the aircraft in mid-August.
The photo above is by Susan Quinn of the Alberni Valley News and shows the Martin Mars Water Bomber releasing a load over the Alberni Inlet as a display for passengers aboard a cruise ship visiting Port Alberni.
Last Night of the Proms played Nanaimo’s Galaxy Theatre
The New York born conductor Marin Alsop leads the BBC Orchestra in concert at the annual Last Night of the Proms. The concert beamed from London’s Royal Albert Hall was watched by upwards of 40-million people the world over.
American soprano Joyce DiDonato was the crowd’s favourite soloist, singing a stunning set of opera arias. And what would any Kansas born singer do for an encore? Somewhere Over the Rainbow of course.
Flying Oil
I’ve been worried for many years about a full tank of furnace oil that was located behind a shop on our Sproat Lake property. The previous owner had heated the shop with an oil furnace that was now beyond repair. I’ve had recurring nightmares of the tank rusting through and causing an oil spill into the lake. I needed to get rid of it. But how, it being located in a remote area down a steep hill. I phoned Soup Campbell, a fellow Industrial Heritage member. Soup said “no problem”. Backing his crane gingerly down the hill, he lifted the tank over the shop roof. The oil will be burnt as fuel in APR’s steam locomotive #7.
Saturday 31 August 2013
My ebooks make for speedy reading
As a gangly teen of 14 in the Alberni Valley, I had a high school teacher by the name of Dick Lawson who insisted I seek out the local regional library during the upcoming summer months and check out some books. Come fall I was to report back on what I’d read. The event was a game changer in my life. Reading became a passion.
These days I read almost all my books on an Apple iPad. Not having to lug around a ton of hard cover books, I find a real perk. The other is the iPad remembers exactly where I stop reading.
This summer I’ve read a score of books
both light and heavy, including Conrad Black’s Flight of the Eagle, …and Furthermore by the iconic British actress Judy Dench, Robert Edsels’ two volumns Monuments Men and Saving Italy weaving a fascinating tale of how the allies recovered billions of dollars worth of art stolen by the Nazis in World War II and My Way by Vegas crooner Paul Anka.
Political reads were The Inconvenient Indian by Thomas King, The Art of the Impossible – Dave Barrett and the NDP in Power 1972-1975, William Manchester and Paul Reid’s tome The Last Lion - Winston Churchill’s war years and beyond and Ken Campbell’s Selling the Dream – How Hockey Parents and their kids are paying the price for our national obsession.
Added to the list were a number of books about my passion for railways – Around India on 80 Trains, Train Travels via Pullman, The Great Railroad Revolution, yet another about Russia’s The Trans-Siberian and Waiting on a Train.
Currently I’m reading Stuart Isacoff’s A Natural History of the Piano: The Instrument, the Music, the Musicians - from Mozart to Modern Jazz and Everything in Between. I thought I knew a great deal about the piano. However this read is proving otherwise. For instance I was not aware the Steinway Piano Company of New York had hundreds of small pianos built in their factory that could be parachuted into the front lines during WWII to entertain the troops. Other nuggets of information include a story about Franz Liszt purposely fainting into the arms of a page-turner in order to spark an entire concert hall into hysterics. A Natural History of the Piano is loaded with similar oddities and insights. The chapter on the rise of the digital piano sparked a number of personal memories.
Early in my music career I played many weddings, service club events and suchlike on weekends. The downside as a keyboard player was I had to play on whatever instrument the hotel management or hall committee considered to be an acceptable piano. An old musician’s joke I remember went something like this. Hotel manager to a pianist complaining about the establishment’s horrible piano – “What do you mean the piano is no good, I had it painted last week.” Pedals that didn’t work, ivories missing from keys exposing slivery wood, broken strings - I’m certain I played on some of the worst pianos anywhere. One I played had actually been swamped by the tidal wave that rolled up the Alberni Inlet in the spring of 1964. The piano had been dried out and considered playable by the hotel’s convention room manager. The fact that scads of keys constantly stuck down didn’t seem to trouble them at all, only the piano player who was trying to make music on the beast.
Finally, in the late 60’s I’d had enough. I acquired my first electric piano. Although cumbersome, Bill Cave our band’s trumpet playing leader of The Cavemen, built a bulky fold-out plywood box with casters so I could lug it around to gigs. I don’t recall the piano’s brand name but the instrument turned out to be somewhat of a lemon. The technology had hammers hitting small steel reeds. The sound produced was picked up by a small microphone that in turn was plugged into an amplifier speaker. Unfortunately, the thin steel reeds went out of tune quite quickly and one had to adjust them by shaving off bits of metal to sharpen the pitch or add a tiny blob of solder to flatten it, a finicky time consuming process.
My next digital piano was an Italian brand introduced in 1970 called the Farfisa Professional Piano. Compared to my first electric piano, the Farfisa was a Cadillac. I loved the instrument and used it for a number of years (photo below)
My next digital piano was an Italian brand introduced in 1970 called the Farfisa Professional Piano. Compared to my first electric piano, the Farfisa was a Cadillac. I loved the instrument and used it for a number of years (photo below).
Next came the world of Yamaha and the weighted touch sensitive models that had the feel of an acoustic piano plus an array of onboard instrumental sounds. Although rudimentary at first, one could plug the Yamaha pianos into a personal computer and produce printed music.
By 2004, the traditional piano world universally felt a collective shudder. For the first time, digital pianos had outsold the acoustic version. By 2008, in the United States, 70 percent of all new piano purchases were electric keyboards. Why has the upstart digital piano encroached on the 300-year reign of the traditional acoustic piano to such a degree? As I alluded to above, the digital piano has a number of advantages over its elder sibling. Digital pianos are maintenance-free and don’t need to be tuned. If you want to practice at night, which I do whenever I have a show coming up, one just plugs in a set of earphones and goes at it. And the biggest advantage of all, you don’t need a couple of gorillas with a transport truck to move them.
However, having said all that, my affection for the acoustic piano (especially if it’s a well seasoned grand) has never waned. The same holds true for my wife Pat who teaches classical piano to some very talented students. No matter what anyone says, a digital piano will never be as good as a well-cared for acoustic piano.
Today I own two digital pianos, a Yamaha and a Roland and enjoy playing both. Each are midi linked to an Apple computer on which I do all my scoring, printing out the individual transposed instrumental parts whenever needed.
A Natural History of the Piano is a must read for anyone interested in pianos. Although I’m only part way through the tome, every finger tap on the iPad turns the page to another entertaining episode about an instrument that ever since I was 6 years old, has been a constant companion.
Unloved gulls bomb capital city
Recently Pat and I were staying at a downtown hotel in Victoria. The room had a view of sorts, mainly of the surrounding rooftops of a dozen or so two-story buildings. Peering downward from our window revealed a disgusting sight. The sidewalks, store awnings and nearby rooftops were plastered with the slimy white streaks of seagull droppings. A day later while walking at street level, a cruise ship tourist in front of me received a direct hit on her forehead, unloaded by one of the winged critters. Yuk!
I recall as a youngster in the 1940’s seeing colourful posters aboard the CPR Steamships that plied the ferry routes between Vancouver Island and the mainland, encouraging tourists to “Follow the Birds to Victoria.” Not so these days. The Victoria Chamber of Commerce is keen to find a way to discourage the hordes of scavenging gulls from using the capital city’s downtown core as a rookery to hatch their young.
Photo: Mother Seagull teaching two of her four chicks how to fly
According to the Victoria Colonist newspaper, a recovery in the bald eagle population is responsible. Gulls have traditionally nested on small islands along the Oak Bay waterfront. But as eagle numbers expand, these sites have become prime hunting grounds. So most of the gulls are now living a refugee existence, perched atop inner city hotels and apartment buildings.
Seagulls, at least in Victoria, have joined the growing list of intrusive species (including the likes of deer and rabbits) that owing to their cuteness prevent community leaders from even suggesting a gull cull. However, Pat says I must confess to spending several hours watching the baby seagulls (called chicks) being taught how to fly by their anxious parents. It seemed the teaching technique consisted mainly of demonstrations which implied "Do what I do. It's easy." After many flops, the baby gulls eventually caught on and used their wings for something other than stepping on and tripping over. Cuteness aside, presently in Victoria it’s the rising seagull population that rates as public enemy #1.
At our home in Nanaimo, we have a couple of rabbits that are tearing our lawn to pieces. I’ve decided my only hope to save the lawn is to try trapping them and transfer the fuzzy critters to another area about two miles away that contains I would guess, well over 200 of the exiled varmints. Although we sometimes have a suburban deer approach our front door, they don’t seem to partially like the greenery we have planted in our borders so their nuisance level remains tolerable. However, some of them seem to have a taste for Bach and Beethoven and occasionally place their noses against Pat’s studio window when she’s teaching.
Summer has left the building
The cool rains of the past week have convinced me summer is swiftly fleeing our west coast climes. Backing that up was the appearance of Halloween trappings in a number of stores. Actually I’ve been contemplating the arrival of autumn ever since the June solstice. Playing a summer musical in Qualicum, the band always took an intermission break at exactly the same time every evening. Day by day the sun had dropped ever lower on the horizon whenever we stepped outside from backstage into the parking lot.
A small part of me seems to die every fall when the leaves begin to fall from the maple and alders and their branches suddenly lay naked against the wind and increasing cold. I think my annual Labour Day doldrums stem from 35 autumns of school openings. Don’t get me wrong. I loved teaching. It was having to abruptly accelerate from O to 145 mph during the first week back-to-school that took a toll on my psyche not to mention the annual teacher-bashing rhetoric from provincial politicians geared to win the hearts and minds of those who believed teachers only worked a 5 to 6 hour day.
Still, I wouldn’t have traded my profession as a school music teacher for anything else. By the end of October the students were starting to sound great and my favorite time of the year was when the Christmas concert season loomed on the horizon. Beyond that were the festival competitions and the nonstop fundraising for upcoming band trips. From selling truckloads of citrus fruit to chocolate bars, from taking orders for Christmas Poinsettias to scourging the town on bottle drives, we did it all. As always summer returned. My inner cruise control was once again set to O, knowing full well in 8 weeks the annual back-to-school ritual would begin all over again.
Saturday 27 July 2013
You gotta see this show!
For seven summers I’ve performed in the orchestra for the Bard 2 Broadway Society in Oceanside, the last four as the company’s musical director. The B2B organization is a dedicated group of talented folks who’ve been performing their productions in the Parksville/Qualicum area for 13 seasons.
The first shows I played for B2B were held in a large tent in downtown Qualicum Beach. Rainy nights could be challenging. During some performances, leaks in the tent fabric above the orchestra pit had me spreading a plastic sheet over my digital piano wondering if I could be electrocuted at any moment.
When the tent finally succumbed to the ravages of time and weather, the company moved indoors, first to the Parksville Civic Centre for several seasons, returning three years ago to Qualicum’s Village Theatre.
Just over a year ago, B2B’s vocal director Hilary Whelton mentioned to me she’d seen a Broadway Show called The Drowsy Chaperone while on a visit to New York and wanted to do it.
I’d never heard of the show so I googled uTube and viewed most of the production’s musical numbers online. Then I read in the Victoria Colonist that a local theatre group was performing The Drowsy Chaperone in the capital city. I drove down to catch a matinee performance and found the show an absolute hoot. I jumped at the chance to do it this summer with Bard 2 Broadway in Qualicum.
PHOTO - I direct The Drowsy Chaperone band backstage by watching the actors on a television screen set next to my keyboard. We all stay in time using earphones. Playing with me are six superb musicians: Larry Miller (Flute/Clarinet/Alto Sax), Rob Alsop (Flute/Clarinet/Alto Sax), Darren Nilsson(Trombone), Michael Irvin (Trumpet), Andrew Cullen (Bass) and Michael Wright (Drums).
At this writing we are halfway through the run and the show has been selling out on a nightly basis so I encourage you to book tickets in advance by phoning 250-752-4470. Shows remaining for The Drowsy Chaperone are: July 30, 31, Aug 5, 6, 7, 10, 11, 14 & 17. Remaining in repertory, other B2B plays this season include Sexy Laundry and Little Woman. Check www.b2btheatre.com for dates. All shows 7:30 pm except Sunday matinees at 2 pm.
The Drowsy Chaperone - Review by Neil Horner (Parksville/Qualicum News)
There was nobody even close to nodding off Thursday night when Bard to Broadway presented their production of the multiple Tony Award-winning play, The Drowsy Chaperone.
There’s a good reason for that. The action on stage at the Village Theatre in Qualicum Beach was far too entertaining and the laughter was far too loud — not to mention the furious applause after many of the numbers.
It’s tough to pick a highlight from this thoroughly entertaining show. Was it Adolpho, the romantic buffoon, ably played by Rob Atkinson? Quite possibly, if you listen to the chatter from the crowd during intermission.
But Jessica Atkinson absolutely sparkled as Janet Van De Graaff and Marilyn Holt was no slouch either in her role as the Drowsy Chaperone. Then again, Rhyan Cayen as Trix the Aviatrix, Paul Churchill as Underling and Jenny Atkinson as Mrs. Tottendale all played their supporting roles with flair and Bard to Broadway veteran Gary Brown carried the show in fine form as the man in the chair.
In fact, there were no weaklings in the cast at all, from the pastry chef/gangsters to the chorus girls.
Speaking of the chorus girls, the dance numbers were a delight. In the case of the routine Don’t Want to Show off No More, it was acrobatic and an accident waiting to happen, bordering on dangerous. Bravo! Was this an opening night? You wouldn’t know it.
The costumes were great, the staging was fine, but what’s really important is the laughter. I’ve been to some comedies that didn’t elicit a smirk or a grin, but The Drowsy Chaperone was not one of these. I laughed long, loud and often — as did the rest of the packed house. At the closing curtain, the audience gave the cast a standing ovation that was richly deserved.
It’s unfortunate that the human anatomy only allows me to give this show two thumbs up, but I can assure you they are way, way up. If you want an evening of top-flight and some serious belly laughs, snatch up some tickets to this show. Trust me, you won’t be disappointed. What fun!
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