Brad Curtin and company present a multimedia one-man play reflecting on the Walkerton tragedy:

Through the use of characters, masks, sound, and the integration of creative set and prop pieces, WATER illustrates how the people of Walkerton and the area were impacted by the tragic events of May 2000 and how many are still affected today. The play loosely follows the story of a fictional young boy named Jason and his family, as well as a host of other characters, each one sharing their own personal stories and experiences.
[ via Curtin Players: Water ]

"Water" premiered earlier this month at the Victoria Jubilee Hall in Walkerton where the show is in preparation for a June tour that will open at the Hamilton Fringe Festival then on to Ottawa, Thunderbay and across the prairies. 10% of the proceeds from the tour will go to the Ryan's Well Foundations.

Novelist, writer, tram historian, urban planner and environmental activist, James Bow is the only person I know who knows Dr. Who personally, and if that bit of fictional reality isn't enough, he also makes his home in the quaint rurality of Clarksbury, Ontario ...

Clarksbury, Ontario doesn't really exist (at least, not so far as I know). If it did, it would be a small town the size of Wiarton located on the shores of Georgian Bay, roughly where Lion's Head resides. As you can see from the websites linked on the left, Clarksbury's residents are an ecclectic bunch, very interested in railroads and transit, and boasting a substantial artistic community.

[ via Clarksbury Home Page ]

Well folks,  I am not from the area but I did spend a summer coming to Sauble almost every weekend that I could get away.    I hope to come back some day.  

I thought I'd post on the arts because I am involved in the Orpheus Choir of Toronto; we are performing a wonderful Christmas Concert this coming weekend, the 18th.   It's a bit of a drive from up in the Bruce...maybe some of you will venture down for the weekend!   http://www.orpheus.on.ca

I am also into Genealogy ~ here is a link to my homepage .  I am actively looking for relatives with the following last names:

Hartley, Plumridge, Walker, Hingley > on my husband's side

White, Hebblethwaite, Smith, Braun, Giesbrecht > on my side

This past summer I participated in The Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation's Weekend to End Breast Cancer, it is a 60km walk; and together with 4,654 other participants, we raised a whopping 14.7 million dollars!!  It was a very exciting, challenging, and moving time.  My contribution was about 3K, which I raised mostly by holding a benefit concert.   I am planning on doing it all again next year ~ here's a link to my page for 2005!!  Kira's WTEBC page    I know this disease is among many that should have substantial support for research to end it forever, but this is where my heart feels I must focus and do as much as I can.  

Maybe old news, but following on the theme of history and it's the long weekend and a good time to feel just a little nostalgic -- here's yet another great music resource in the opus of sites from the only optometrist I'd trust with an axe, Steve Briggs brings us some blasts from the past in a series of Owen Sounder articles written by guitarist Al Walker: If you want to know who's who here in the local music scene, from Rembrants to Tombstones, Fromager to Jensen (hmmm ...

Safety glasses for protecting the white-footed mouse; Italian mineral water for the masked puddle frog; life insurance and annuities for eleven species of fauna on five continents ...

This could only be the product of Bill Burns and his Safety Gear Museum and if you really care about wildlife -- and I mean really care -- then you're in luck because a world-class exhibit of Burns' best work is on display at the Tom Thompson until October 31, a wild assortment of extreme environmental ideas from the other side of the fence ...
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I've lived in this province for 30 years, but I don't think I will ever understand Ontarians. These are a people who will gladly pay double-digit ticket prices to sit in the evening bug-ridden rain to see a festival stage show, yet only two will show up at Jazzmyns to take in the free Tuesday night Irish sessions featuring many of the same internationally renouned musicians and the music in its natural habitat.

Go figure :) A single lonely festival ticket costs about par with a fresh pint every single week for a year, and the pub is dry, bug-free, and you're right there, in the midst of it, living life with no mediating digital mega-soundsystem, just the room, the music, good friends and you. Precious at twice the price, but these Ontarians, well, seems they'd rather keep a good safe distance. Don't want to get too close y'know, on account-a, well, like ...

Maybe it's like going to see the lions: they don't want to mingle with the pride, it just seems a much better and more prudent idea to see them at the zoo.

Or on the telly.
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I hope everyone can attend the silent auction June 5th at Wiarton high, the entertainment will be great and the music will be provided by Derrick and Jorya Long, and our very own Gary and May will be performing, I have performed quite a few times with the Daddios at these types of functions and not only is it fun, but you will be entertained.I plan to be there!Mark your calendar!
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The second annual Lions Pub Jam was, by all accounts, a roaring success. There were kids running amok, moms with new babies, hockey fans watching the game, folks just taking it in over a few brew, and at least two dozen musicians who all turned up on the mid-afternoon jam date.

Ok, maybe it wasn't any roaring economic success but on Groundhog Day that's not really the point --- as we all know, the value we get from community-building mid-winter events like this can't be entered in the ledger books; the jam probably went a little into the red, but as a place for neighbours to meet and mingle and share a few tunes, it was unparallelled.

Kudos and praise to the Wiarton Lions and to Karen Holgate and May Ip for hosting a wonderful afternoon of music, poems and songs; this is what Groundhog Day is all about!

[ Source: The Prognosticator Online: Lionism makes it happen ]

Looking for a friendly spot to warm up in the mid day Sunday of the Groundhog festival weekend? Songwriters Karen Holgate and May Ip say pack up a few songs, stories, poems or whatever, grab that old guitar and drop by the Wiarton Lions Sunday pub for their Home Made Jam:

Through the years of its becoming more and more a commercial tourism event, the festival has moved away from the grassroot. We hope to create something like the Wake Up Willie parties in the old days.

The jamming is happening in the upstairs multi-purpose room of Wiarton Arena from 2 to 4pm. Join in the singing, watch the hockey from the press-box view, meetup with your friends or just hang around and keep warm. Admission is "a song" and there is a cash bar; all proceeds from the bar go to support local Lions projects.

[ Source: Just Us: Home made jam ]