As I write this column, Culture Days has not yet happened, but by the time you read it Culture Days will be a glowing memory.
Don’t know if you know this but The Reminder staff works up to four days in advance. This little column has to be written by the Friday before it is published (I’m writing on Thursday September 28) so that your intrepid editor (Jonathon Naylor) can do his job and make sure it is newspaper-ready.
That may be more than you wanted to know about the newspaper business, but it just shows how hard people work to bring you everyday comforts.
I heard Raphael “The Hungarian Heartthrob” Saray on CFAR Radio this afternoon, plugging Culture Days and bragging that we would have the choice of 8,907 events to attend in Flin Flon. While that number was a little exaggerated, I’m certain that we will be number one in Canada again this year.
Bless Crystal Kolt and her amazing team for all the hard work they do to make sure we have an incredible cultural experience on the last weekend of September each year.
We actually have the Thanksgiving long weekend off from arts and cultural endeavours – you probably need it to recover – but the following week we kick into high gear once more with a show at Johnny’s Social Club on Sunday,
October 15.
The performer is Foonyap, a violin player originally from Calgary AB. She is an amazing musician and will be quite unlike anyone you have heard before.
I really wanted to draw comparisons to other awesome performers we have had recently. The closest I could come was Jaron Freeman Fox, a violinist who came via the Home Routes tour two years ago, but even Jaron is not a great comparison, as Foonyap is far more autobiographical in her music.
We have had some genius fiddle players here in the past, from Sierra Noble and her Métis style to Daniel Gervais, Canadian Grand Master Fiddler 2016 and his gypsy jazz.
Foonyap is different. Her online bio says, “Foonyap’s music is a deeply raw and unguarded reflection of her tumultuous journey to self-discovery. What it means to not only accept but to love oneself, to engage in the incredibly challenging experience of letting go of all the past’s preconceptions, to create a new space for learning and understanding. These are some of the complex themes captured in Foonyap’s boldly individual compositions.” See what I mean by personal?
She will be joined here by Hello Moth, also originally from Calgary, a singer/songwriter and electronica musician. He has been called, “the weirdest, most underrated, most original and unashamedly true-to-self performer” of the last few years.
This will be a truly memorable show and tickets are only $20 at The Orange Toad. A great big thanks to the newest member of the Antisocial Band line-up, Dean Martin, for introducing us to these performers.
Also on Sunday Oct.15, though in the afternoon, the NorVA Gallery will hold the Square Foot auction, its major fundraiser of the year.
You have likely had some opportunity to see the works at the exhibition during Culture Days. They are astonishing, beautiful and varied, representing the best our community of artists has to offer. There are over 90 pieces, all one square foot in size, and it is miraculous to see the level of creativity our visual artists bring to that small painting. In fact, they are not all paintings, so please don’t let me limit the artistic expressions!
The aforementioned Raphael Saray will be on hand as the auctioneer, so gear up for some fun. You can drop into the gallery during regular hours leading up to the auction to place a silent bid on the piece of your choice. Please come more than once to improve your chances of securing the best work of art.
On Friday and Saturday, Oct. 20 and 21, country singer and multi-instrumentalist Donny Parenteau, originally from Prince Albert, SK, takes the stage at Johnny’s Social Club.
Donny has played with some of the biggest names in country music – people like Charlie Daniels, Kenny Chesney, Reba McEntire and Shania Twain.
He has been nominated for a Juno Award, most recently in 2013, and has played all over the world.
Parenteau plays fiddle, mandolin and mandocaster (the electric version), harmonica, guitar and electric guitar. He has the reputation of a showman and has been plying his trade for many years, so we will be in good hands on these nights.
Tickets are available at The Orange Toad and you should try to get them early as the number of seats available has been reduced to 75 from 80. Greg East, co-proprietor of Johnny’s Social Club, says it will be much more comfortable. So consider yourselves warned for all future shows.
