Music, plays, books, artwork and everything else Canadian should be celebrated
By
Mark Schadenberg
Everyone
has their favourite authors, but I believe in the year of Canada’s 150th birthday, it is more likely there will be an attempt to focus on things Canadian.
I’m
not just referring to books, but also music such as the great poetry lyrics of
Joni Mitchell or Leonard Cohen, and the countless number of CAN CON hits or
well respected performers over the years.
Music,
movies, books, art, and travelling around our country will all be popular in 2017.
The national parks, for example, will be crowded with free admission.
The
Woodstock Public Library (www.mywpl.ca) is also
concentrating on the promotion of Canadian writers with its series called 150
Canadian Authors.
Week
9 features Joan Clark, Edeet Ravel and Dionne Brand. The library on Hunter
Street is also printing weekly brochures to assist in highlighting their
‘authors of the week.’
Brand
is an interesting immigrant story as she is 64 and was born in Trinidad &
Tobago, but has been essentially Canadian since arriving to be a student at the
University of Toronto in her early 20’s.
Brand
is a poet and novelist, winning the Griffin Poetry Prize in 2011.
I
have always enjoyed writing, but have never attempted to write a novel or
concentrate on poetry.
The
Week 9 leaflet from the library describes the significance of her book At The
Full And Change Of The Moon as an in-depth look at life as a slave in Trinidad
in the 1820’s. I haven’t read the book, but in her on-line biography it’s
listed as fiction.
Clark,
meanwhile, is now 82, is a writer from the Maritimes, and received the Order of
Canada in 2010. Her background can be noted on-line as a writer with works based
in fiction, but stories which have evolved from children’s books to adult fare.
The book The Victory Of Geraldine Gull garnered her a nomination for a Governor
General’s Award in 1988.
It
doesn’t matter if it’s a celebration of writers, music, plays, television or
movies, I would expect anyone from coast-to-coast will be paying more attention
to Canadian talent in 2017.
When
you look at the list of Avril Lavigne, Nickelback, Alanis Morissette, Celine
Dion, Roch Voisine and Bryan Adams, they all seem yesteryear when you look at the amazing dominance
of today’s Canadian recording stars who are owning the worldwide charts such as
Drake, Justin Bieber, The Weeknd, Shawn Mendes and Allesia Cara.
My MAPL (CanCon designation) favourites – showing my age – include Ian Thomas, Gowan, Dan Hill, Burton
Cummings, Bruce Cockburn, the Rankin Family, and Sarah McLachlan.
WOODSTOCK’S
GOT TALENT
Talented singers and
performers from this area will be able to compete for a chance to perform in
Southside Park on Canada Day as winners of the Woodstock’s Got Talent contest.
Singers, but also musical groups, magicians, acrobats, comedians and dancers are eligible
to compete. If you want to participate the deadline is March 3. See the links below.
FIRST WORLD WAR
Currently featured at
the Woodstock Museum National Historic Site is an exhibit which recognizes both
Canada’s role in the First World War, but most certainly also Oxford’s story
within the Great War.
The exhibit
continues at the museum on Dundas Street until April 29 and then rotates through
other county museums such as Ingersoll May 6 – August 8, Annandale NHS in
Tillsonburg from Sept. 17 to Oct 29, and then the Norwich
Museum: Nov 4 to Dec 2nd.
I’ve written in the past about the terrific
efforts of Woodstock Museum curator Karen Houston, along with Scott Gillies at
the Ingersoll Cheese and Agricultural Museum, Deborah Dufton at the Norwich
Museum and others in a committee who have spent two years concentrating on
Canada’s and Oxford’s efforts in wartime.
THEATRE WOODSTOCK
The spirit of Confederation can also
be see on the stage at Theatre Woodstock as their next production of the season
is Willow Quartet by Canadian playwright Joan Burrows. Slated for March 31 – April
8, Willow Quartet will star Laurel Gillespie, Lisa Craig, Isaac Weir and Andrew
Norris. The one cast member I know is Andrew Norris, who has a real job or two,
including composing the What’s On Woodstock magazine.
In Willow Quartet the character Kim moves
back to her childhood home in the countryside and welcomes in a boarder who is a
musician.
Burrows is a retired dramatic arts
teacher and it’s fun to note her first play was called Staff Room. In a world
of academics – teachers and students – there are complex characters and
interesting storylines. Who would have thought?
Photo and Poster from: Theatre Woodstock website
Andrew Norris at a charity bbq / lawn sale
ART GALLERY
The Dr. Roberta Bondar photography exhibit continues until June at the Woodstock Art Gallery on Dundas Street. My family and I attended the opening reception and my daughter's Girl Guides troop had a private meeting with Roberta. The astronaut and Canadian icon Dr Bondar, and my wife, are both from Sault Ste. Marie, and when my wife was in Girl Guides she received a recognition award from Bondar, but I won't say how many years ago that was. Talk about anniversaries, 2017 marks 25 years since Bondar's flight on Space Shuttle Discovery.
Local content is also seen and enjoyed at the art gallery with Devona Paquette and Florence Carlyle featured. See: http://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/2017/02/14/late-local-artist-devona-paquettes-works-are-featured-in-an-upcoming-exhibit-at-the-woodstock-art-gallery
CONFEDERATION
Canada’s first prime minister was John
Eh! Macdonald, and 2017 (At least Ontario and eastward) is the year to remember
Confederation of 1867, and our past as Upper Canada and the evolution of our
great country.
Many historians truly believe our country
was established on the world stage in 1917 at Vimy Ridge. The 100th anniversary
for that First World War battle can be recognized on April 9. I will write
about that soon.
JOHN A MACDONALD
http://www.woodstocksentinelreview.com/2017/02/14/late-local-artist-devona-paquettes-works-are-featured-in-an-upcoming-exhibit-at-the-woodstock-art-gallery
Mark Schadenberg, Sales
Representative
Senior Real Estate Specialist
(SRES designation)
Royal LePage Triland Realty
Independently Owned & Operated, Brokerage
757 Dundas St, Woodstock
(519) 537-1553, cell or text
Email: mschadenberg@rogers.com
Twitter: markroyallepage
Facebook: Mark Schadenberg, Royal LePage Triland
Discussion . . . Direction . . . Determination . . .
Destination
No comments:
Post a Comment