Rick Scott performs for the kids

Lively City column by Dan Hilborn
Published Nov. 6, 2004


One of Canada's best-known children's entertainers, Rick Scott, will be singing his heart out in support of the Down Syndrome Research Foundation when he performs at Willingdon Church this afternoon.

Scott, who combines wacky humour with a poignant human touch, is the winner of the 2004 National Association of Parenting Publications' Gold and Parents' Choice awards for his latest CD, The Five Elements.

The show takes place at 2 p.m., Nov. 6, at Willingdon Church, 4812 Willingdon Ave.

Tickets are $25 for a family of four, $10 for adults and $6 for children. The concert will also be presented at 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 7 at the St. James Hall, 3214 West 10th Ave., Vancouver.

SEE VIDEO POETRY

Susan Cormier of Burnaby will be highlighted at an evening of experimental art at the Pacific Cinematheque theatre on Thursday, Nov. 11.

See The Voice: An Evening of Visible Verse will combine film, video poetry and live performances.

Cormier, who will present a six-minute video poem, The Bleeding Place, is described on the website www.latchkey.net as a Metis artist who writes with "experience, hard earned wisdom and a bright, graceful defiance against the odds. There is a subtle rage here, but it is definitely not blind."

The evening features 16 different video poems and two live performances for a single ticket price of $8.50. Pacific Cinematheque is located at 1131 Howe St., Vancouver and tickets are available at the door or through 604-688-3456 (FILM).

NEW MUSIC WEST

A trio of Burnaby acts will be on stage when New Music West comes to town from Nov. 10 to 14.

World traveller and songwriter Carmelina Cupo, electrojazz funksters Fidgital, and experimental musicians Hejira are the local acts that will appear during the five-day festival.

Cupo, who just released her newest CD, I-5 Dreams, will be on stage Nov. 11 during a Nettwerk Records showcase featuring Cherry Bomb, E-Twinz, International Falls and Strada at the Red Room Nightclub, 398 Richards St.

Fidgital, winners of the 2004 Canadian Independent Music Award for favourite electronic artist/group, will open for Spoy and Bella on Nov. 10 at the Cellar, 1006 Granville.

Hejira, which plays a softer version of industrial music and is in the process of producing a full-length album, will open for Words Over Music, Bluechild, the Winks, and the Left on Nov. 11 at Morrisey Nightclub.

New Music West offers a variety of ticket packages ranging from $100 for a full conference pass, including keynote addresses by Terry McBride of Nettwerk Records and Burnaby Blues Festival headliner Colin James, down to $20 for a wristband that provides first-come, first-served access to more than 250 bands in 20 different venues.

For more information, visit the website www.newmusicwest.com or buy tickets from Ticketmaster at 604-280-4444.

IT'S AT THE METRO

Alison Schlamberger of Burnaby will play the lead role of Lady Sheila Boothroyd when Metro Theatre presents its 400th production, Lloyd George Knew My Father, from Nov. 4 to Dec. 6.

The play centres on an eccentric aristocratic English family and what happens when the local authorities decide to build a highway bypass on their ancestral lands.

The play features Gerard Ponsford as the doddering old husband, Steve Baumber as the nervous politician son, Rosalyn Winthur as the self-righteous daughter-in-law and Derek Moore as the vicar who is called in to help Lady Boothroyd.

Tickets to Lloyd George Knew My Father are $16 or $13 from the Metro Theatre, 1370 Southwest Marine Dr., Vancouver, or by calling 604-266-7191.

A PLAY FOR KIDS

Local day-care centres, preschools and primary classes are heading to the Shadbolt Centre this month for the "Come a' look a' see" project featuring the play The Wise Little King William.

The performances are Nov. 18 and 19 at 10 a.m. and are part of a North Shore Theatre for Children program that is trying to introduce theatre to young children across the region.

The play is suitable for any child aged three and up, and tickets are $5 apiece. For more information, contact Nora Linhart at 604- 986-7446 or e-mail jurajl@shaw.ca.

RENEWAL SONGS

Veterans will be admitted for free when Chor Leoni, the internationally acclaimed male choir featuring four voices from Burnaby, premieres works by local composers Larry Nickel and Stephen Chatman during two Renewal concerts on Remembrance Day.

The concerts will take place at 1 p.m. at West Vancouver United Church, 2062 Esquimalt Ave., and then at 8 p.m. at Vancouver's Christ Church Cathedral, 690 Burrard St.

General admission tickets are $22 adults or $18 students and seniors and can be purchased from Ticketmaster at 604-280-3311.

RADICAL TIME

Graduates of the BCIT digital arts program were basking in the bright lights and glitter at the Radical Entertainment video game studios in Vancouver last month.

Dozens of grads, their instructors and even family members were invited to an industry night at the game design company offices, and they were rewarded with lots of prizes and even a few job offers.

Several students from Burnaby, Heather Pringle, Mabel Chan and Summer Breeze Kent, were among the prize winners.

Radical Entertainment is best known for its Simpson's Hit and Run and Simpson's Road Rage games, both of which have sold over two million copies worldwide, and they are the largest employer of BCIT digital arts graduates.

Burnaby residents on staff at the company, which is located on the top floor of one of the newest office buildings in the new False Creek east neighbourhood, include Stephen O'Grady and Hironmoy Bhowmik.

DVD AVAILABLE

Broken Saints, the Sundance Film Festival award-winning digital animation saga created by Burnaby-based animation instructor Brooke Burgess, is now available as a DVD.

The four-disc, 16-hour set was unveiled Thursday at a gala CD release party at Atlantis Nightclub with music provided by Tobias Tinker, the Berlin-based composer of most of the music in the videos.

Burgess, an instructor at the Burnaby campus of the Art Institute of Vancouver, was inspired to create the digital comic book almost four years ago, after he spend six months travelling around the South Pacific Islands.

Watch for the anime-style video to hit stores in time for Christmas.