Wishing I had put this in the last column but...Mike Spencer, manager of NorVA Centre and Gallery is offering a short course, Intro to Pottery, on five Tuesday evenings that actually began Jan. 23 and run each week, through Feb. 20. Students will also become members of the Flin Flon Pottery Club, which has space with wheels and equipment like a slab roller for hand building with clay, in the basement of the community hall. This kind of activity along with the growth of the Pottery Club is one more way of showcasing the arts and culture scene in our communities to the rest of the world.
Johnny’s Social Club will be active again on the weekend of Feb. 2 and 3 when Wood ‘n’ Wire presents “Swingin’ ‘50’s Night” produced by Trevor Gordon Sytnick. The newest iteration of the band is now called “Jumpin’ Johnny’s Social Club Band” and features Craig Bancroft, Joanna Dauk, Trevor Gordon, Anna Harrison, Kevin Imrie, Kristin Imrie, Kim Jones, Mark Kolt and Lane Laderoute. Don’t you just love how the fabulous musicians of Flin Flon can come together in such a variety of combinations and give us something completely different and unique?
On Feb. 8 and 9 Home Routes presents Del Barber with Grant Siemens at 19 Hemlock Drive on Thursday and 183 Murton Blvd on Friday. Del Barber is a Winnipeg alt country performer whose list of influences sounds exactly like my record (yeah, they are all CDs now) collection. Do ya think I’m excited? He is an exceptional songwriter and a fine guitarist. He released an album in 2016 called “The Puck Drops Here” with a band called “The Noregretskys” so as you might imagine, he has a little something for everyone in his repertoire. He was nominated for a Juno for “Prairieography” which is an astonishingly good record. Everyone should try to get out to hear him. I know an editor who is really excited to have dinner with him while he is in Flin Flon so there may be a review following!
Grant Siemens has shared billing and he is no slouch in his own right. He has backed up Corb Lund, Romi Mays and Doc Walker on national tours and has played with former visitors to Flin Flon, like Scott Nolan, Jaxon Haldane and Quinton Blair. He plays guitar, lap steel, dobro, mandolin and banjo. Almost sounds like these young men should move here, doesn’t it? Contact the hosts at [email protected] for Thursday’s show or [email protected] for Friday’s performance. The cost is only $20 and you may bring anything you wish to eat or drink.
To finish off this wonderful weekend, Courtney Campbell, Flin Flon’s librarian, presents a fundraising social event to benefit the Centennial Library. The Mix is providing the music but will have many musical friends to entertain you throughout the evening. This happens at the R.H. Channing Auditorium and many people are contributing food and dessert to the party so get your taste buds revved up! We really need to maintain our library and help it to grow so please come out and pony up $40 to help.
I almost never write reviews because by the time you read them, the show is gone and will likely never come again but I am making an exception for the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre production, “Come From Away.” Forty lucky Flin Flonners, Creightonites and Denare Beachians, along with four folks from The Pas were wined and dined all the way to Winnipeg to see this incredible production, it was so brilliant, it’s hard to describe. Twelve actors and an incredible Celtic band told the story of Gander, NL’s response to the 9/11 disaster and it was magnificent. Tears were quickly followed by laughter throughout the audience for the full hour and 45 minutes of running time and the audience leapt to its feet as one as it ended. It was funny and deep and meaningful and tragic, everything a story should be, yet it was based on true events and real people. It was colossal and deserves every accolade it has received, up to and including the Tony. Thank you to Crystal Kolt, Susan Power and the Flin Flon Arts Council for taking the chance and buying 40 tickets so early on that we ended up in the best seats in the house. It is the kind of musical you want to see again and again.
