Events Calendar

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Agenda

Sep

20

Fri
1. Suzie Vinnick – Sept. 20/2013 @ MacLaren Arts Centre
  8:00 pm – 10:30 pm
  
  The Barrie Folk Society is happy to present Suzie Vinnick as part of their 2013 BarrieFolk for Folks concert series at the MacLaren.
  After winning numerous awards for playing, singing and writing the blues, Suzie Vinnick has finally put out a blues album under her own name. She has been into the blues since her teens, and has been a perennial nominee and six-time winner of the Canadian Maple Blues awards for her work with such blues players as Rick Fines. And while she has three previous critically-acclaimed folk-roots albums under her belt, including one that earned her a 2009 Juno nomination, this is her first solo outing as a blues artist.
  
  Me ’n’ Mabel is an intimate collection of 14 tunes that Suzie has been performing in solo shows over the years, some she has written over the past few years that hadn’t found the right home yet and a brand-spanking new song she co-wrote with Rita Chiarelli.
  Not surprisingly, the spotlight is on Suzie’s voice. Blessed with a huge range, she can go from a sweet whisper to a growl in a heartbeat. Her singing expresses all the emotions covered in the emotional blues lexicon. She can be sexy, humorous, struttin’ her stuff, sassy or heartbroken. With her impeccable sense of dynamics, Suzie’s voice commands attention.
  
  And while Suzie’s voice has received rave reviews from the likes of Gordon Lightfoot to Stuart McLean, her guitar playing on this disc will surprise even some of her longtime fans. Her percussive playing has the feel that elevates a blues song from the mundane to the sublime, a sense of both melody and rhythm you can’t learn at school. And all those years of thumping bass help Suzie establish a strong groove without a rhythm section.
  
  Tickets $20 or buy a series ticket for $75 ($65 if you’re a BFS member). Tickets will be available soon!
  
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Oct

4

Fri
1. Mike Stevens – Oct. 4/2013 @ MacLaren Arts Centre
  8:00 pm – 10:30 pm
  
  Mike Stevens will be the BarrieFolk for Folks October featured performer at the MacLaren Art Centre. At a very early age Mike found an harmonica. Living in Sarnia, Ontario you couldn’t help but hear the sounds of Motown and the Blues coming in over the airwaves from Detroit. At 16 years old something snapped and Mike started to practice up to 12 hours a day. Creating and refining a very original and often copied style of playing.
  Mike was awarded the Entertainer of the Year award at the Central Canadian Bluegrass Awards from 1990 to 1996 and was in fact retired from the category after six consistent years of achieving this award.
  
  From 1999 until the present time Mike has been going into some of the most troubled communities across Canada playing music for native youth and bringing other artists into these communities to share art with youth. He is the founder of ArtsCan Circle, a non-profit organization dedicated to giving Youth at Risk a voice through music and the arts.
  
  In 2002 Mike was awarded the YMCA Peace Medallion for his work with at risk youth. From Asia to the North Pole; Europe to the Middle East; Mike continues to bring his music and life experience to the worlds stage.
  
  Mike continues to play many styles of music incorporating all of his influences and experience. These may be solo shows involving cutting edge looping with mouth percussion creating otherworldly sound paintings. His music is always evolving and reflects all of his influences. It’s always pushing the envelope while respecting the past.
  
  Tickets are $20; $75 for the series ($65 for BFS members). Tickets will be available soon.
  
  A portion of the proceeds from this concert will benefit ArtsCan Circle.
  
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