Free summer music series continue across the Coast this weekend. In Gibsons, guitar and percussion superstar Celso Machado plays at the harbour gazebo on Friday at 7 p.m. On Saturday at Winegarden Park, the Holly Hawks perform at 4:30 p.m., followed by The Empty Streets at 6:30 p.m.
In Roberts Creek, this week’s Slow Sunday (starting at noon with affable emcee Steven Schwabl) starts with the Beachcombers Ukulele Group Singers (BUGS) serenading the grassy expanse behind the community library. The lineup continues at 12:30 with Back Porch Reunion (Dale Stavroff and Al Burns playing bluesy ukulele and percussion), 1 with Sonic Crush (Sharon Tron, ukulele/vocals; Dallas Greive, guitar/vocals; Martin Nemcovsky, bass guitar; and Blake McAndless, drums), 1:45 with the family duet of Don and Jack (John and Jack Davis) playing jazz guitar and sax, and 2:20 with Brazilian virtuoso Celso Machado.
Artisans and musicians blend in Sechelt
The Hackett Park Artisan Fair, an annual gathering of local and regional vendors, has been an annual tradition on the Coast for 37 years. Organizers expect close to 5,000 visitors primed to discover exhibitors who are jury-selected based on craftsmanship and originality.
The fair takes place at the same time as the Festival of the Written Arts, just steps away at the Rockwood Centre.
The Artisan Fair will take place in the lower field of Hackett Park, and include live music presented by Rogue Fest.
Saturday at 9:30 a.m., Lesley Japa Morgan will lead morning yoga followed by a traditional welcome from kwayimin (Andy) Johnson. Francis Baptiste performs indie rock from 10:45 until 11:40, when the Billy Hillpickers take the stage with their irrepressible brand of acoustic roots, bluegrass and folk. Singer-songwriter Jess Hart appears at 12:35 p.m., playing alternative folk and fusion. The afternoon lineup kicks off with Sam Pulpo at 1:30 p.m. (funk, latin, and afrobeat) followed by The Zummers (indie folk and rock) at 2:30 p.m.
On Sunday, Morgan returns for more yoga at 9:30 a.m. Jennifer Mauel plays folk and pop and 10:30, with Mr. Music performing reggae and afrobeat at 11:30. Tyler Bartfai shares folk, rock and blues stylings at 12:30 p.m., with two Sunshine Coast classics as the finale: Marketplace (horn-driven fusion jazz with a message) at 1:30 p.m., and Ben Arsenault’s classic country music at 2:30.
All’s fair in love and books
While the Sunshine Coast Festival of the Performing Arts takes place at the Rockwood Centre, this weekend the Sunshine Coast Writers and Editors Society will hold a book and art fair at nearby St. Hilda’s Anglican Church.
Thirteen local authors will be onsite, ready to sign and sell recently-published works.
“Wander over to St. Hilda’s and chat with us,” said Jan DeGrass. DeGrass’s first novel, Jazz With Ella (a tale of love and opportunism during the Cold War), is back in print and will be on sale at the church hall. “Buy a book or two and spend an hour or so in the bibliophiles’ heaven known as a book fair,” DeGrass added.
Chamber music makes waves in Pender
Two dazzling quartets are on the program for the Mid-Summer Chamber Music Weekend, an initiative of the Pender Harbour Music Society.
On Saturday, Aug. 23, the Venner Quartet plays at the Pender Harbour Music School at 2 p.m. Venner means “friends” in Norwegian, and the quartet thrums with amity: Joan Blackman (violin), Paule Prefontaine (violin), David Stewart (viola), and Amy Laing (cello). Prefontaine and Stewart spent two decades playing music together in Norway.
On Sunday, Aug. 24, The Four Jays perform at the same venue, starting at 2 p.m. The group features Joan Blackman (violin) with colleagues Jodi Proznick (double bass), Julia Nolan (saxophone) and Jane Hayes (piano). The foursome will collaborate in a relaxed concert of treasures frequently performed by acclaimed musicians.
Tickets for the Mid-Summer Chamber Music Weekend are available online at penderharbourmusic.ca.
Black and white and read all over
The latest editions of the Sunshine Coast’s most outrageous broadsheet, Coast Confidential, have been appearing at public venues from Sechelt to Gibsons. The freely distributed fictional newspaper is a project of Gibsons author P.J. Reece, whose book Coast Confidential tells the story of a small-town journalist with an appetite for outrageous scandal.
The breaking news in Reece’s latest issues includes: “Mayor’s cat leaves him for another man!”, “Rare bird sighting sparks Tweet storm”, and “Roberts Creek cries bum deal as toilet paper trials begin.”
Reece will be among local authors selling books at St. Hilda’s this weekend, and will likely have copies of his gazette to share.
To share details of upcoming events, personalities and cultural developments on the Sunshine Coast, email [email protected].
