Chances are you have never been to an evening like this.  ‘Ten Artists. Ten Minutes. Ten Bucks. Inspiration included’. Sound too good to be true? Well, on May 24 Kelowna residents will have the chance to get more bang for a buck than seems even possible.  The event will take place at BO.TTEGA FARM INN 4485 Sallows Rd.and is part 3 of the TribeHouse Lille Gard Sessions which is a series of events leading up the Lille Gard Festival  on July 1^st weekend.

This fast paced evening will feature ten artists with a time limit of 10 minutes each to show their art. The event will have something for everyone and the line- up of ten minute artists is impressive;

Scotty Gamble ( one of the Okanagan’s premier drummers) will  present a drum solo,
Sandra Babbel – opera vocal presentation,
Nathan Hare – spoken word,
Martin Krátký- principal cellist for Kamloops Symphony Orchestra,
Katie Brennan – Visual Arts,
Dylan Ranney – sculpture,
twin brothers Bruce and Brian Wiebe – music and poetry,
Todd Ramsey – Animation,
Jackie Faulkner – Dance
Jesse Padgett – ventriloquism, comedy/banjo.

This is a rare opportunity to see and be inspired by a lot of artists in a short amount of time. Tickets are available online at http://www.tribehouse.org/2012/03/ten-ten-ten/

Seating is limited for Ten Ten Ten and you don’t need to be a math whiz to figure out that tickets will go fast for this event.

There are a pile of local (and international) artists coming to the local Lille Gard Festival June 30 – July 1. Still a couple more slots to fill but it’ll be an inspiring few days of music, arts, & speakers.

Dream Friends, Isbn w/ Little Jungles

Check out tunes on Bandcamp

By Darryl Sterdan, QMI Agency 
John Fogerty will cross Canada with a double-barreled Revival show this fall.

The legendary swamp-rocker’s upcoming 16-date tour – tellingly (if rather wordily) titled Wrote a Song for Everyone: John Fogerty Performs Live! The Albums of Creedence Clearwater Revival – will see the 66-year-old singer-guitarist performing CCR’s 1969 LP Bayou Country and 1970′s Cosmo’s Factory in their entirety on alternate nights, along with a second set of hits.

Fogerty’s trek kicks off Sept. 8 with a Cosmo’s performance in St. John’s and works its way west, wrapping up with a Bayou show in Victoria on Sept. 29. See below for a full list of dates, cities and venues, along with the featured album.

Tickets for most shows go on sale Friday May 4 or Saturday May 5 at Ticketmaster, and are priced between $20 and $70 before fees and taxes. In Toronto, tickets max out at $100. Willie Nelson’s son Lukas Nelson and his band The Promise of the Real are the opening act.

Fogerty’s vast catalog of hits includes CCR classics like Suzie Q, Proud Mary, Down on the Corner, Born on the Bayou, Have You Ever Seen the Rain and Fortunate Son, along with solo chart-toppers such as Rockin’ All Over the World, Old Man Down the Road, Rock and Roll Girls and Centerfield. His upcoming album – also titled Wrote a Song for Everyone and due this fall – will feature newly recorded versions of his oldies along with new songs, performed by Fogerty and a slate of guest stars.

Check out the Viridians!

More upcoming shows:

April 28th, Rumpus Room Dance Party @ Fernando’s Pub
May 5th, The Archers with Steph Macpherson
May 7th, Dream Friends, ISBN, Little Jungles 

WIN TICKETS: Said the Whale are playing a popular music festival this May.  What’s the name of the festival?  Be the first one to email me at jason.gonephishin(at)Gmail.com

Buy tickets for April 28th and April 29th shows at Habitat.

Tickets also available at Leo’s Video (2680 Pandosy St) & Mosaic Books (411 Bernard Avenue).

Said The Whale formed in 2007 as a collaboration between songwriters Ben Worcester and Tyler Bancroft. The pair’s debut EP, Taking Abalonia, featured sunny west coast indie pop, with breezy harmonies, shimmering guitars, and lyrical tributes to their home city of Vancouver. In 2008, the album was rereleased as Howe Sounds/Talking Abalonia, featuring seven additional tracks that stretched the band’s stylistic palate to include bubblegum folk “The Light Is You”, thundering hard rock “Last Tree Standing” and gentle ukulele ballads “The Real of It”.

After several personnel changes, the group settled upon a five-piece lineup that included bassist Peter Carruthers, drummer Spencer Schoening, and keyboardist Jaycelyn Brown. The quintet embarked upon a rigorous touring schedule, crossing Canada numerous times and landing high profile gigs at V-Fest 2008 in Calgary and the nationally televised Canada Day celebration on Parliament Hill.

Following the teaser EP New Brighton, all of the band’s efforts have culminated in the new full-length Little Mountain, out on March 6, 2012. Named after the band’s home neighbourhood in Vancouver, the 15 track collection was recorded at the city’s Blue Wave Productions studio by returning producer Tom Dobrzanski (The Zolas, We Are the City). The producer’s experience working on both of the band’s previous albums meant that he was able to help the Whales realize their clear vision for the project, which they fine-tuned during an extensive two-month pre-production period.

“Tom is amazing to work with because he’s a friend and in the studio he becomes like the sixth member of the band,” explains singer-guitarist Bancroft. “He knows how we operate and he knows how to make us perform our best, and is able to capture it on record.”

Some cool shows happening on Friday night, and don’t forget, Saturday is Record Store Day.  Check out Milkcrate Records and Underground Music!

Windborn Live Filming – The Old Bike Shop Cafe
BLACKIE and the RODEO KINGS – Okanagan Mission Hall
Malibu Knights w/ Devon Coyote – Doc Willoughby’s Downtown Pub
Bass Heaven – French Cultural Centre
the ROWDYMEN @ The Minstrel Cafe
THE BOOTLEGGER’S BALL W/ DREAMLAND BAND + DJ BOWIE – Habitat
Ken McCoy – 97 Street Pub
WHISKY DICK’S 420 Bash! at Grateful Fed
Radio Lifeline - O’Flannigans Pub
Downlink & Calvertron – Level Nightclub
SAPPHIRE PRESENTS SCRATCH BASTID WITH DJ SWAT – Sapphire Nightclub
The Connectors Live – Dakodas Sports Pub
Diamond Road – Creekside Pub and Grill
Blue City – Pheasant & Quail Pub

And for listings for shows in the North and South Okanagan, check out this great site –http://oook.ca/ (Facebook Page)

Plays Vernon concert on April 28; Kelowna on May 3

(April 13, 2012 – Winnipeg, Manitoba) For the seventh time in two years, 23-year-old songwriter James Struthers will head out on a Canadian tour. But this tour is a little different. People are already familiar with his music thanks to some serious radio airplay.

James Struthers’ 50-plus date national tour stretches from Vancouver Island to Halifax. The Vernon & Kelowna concert dates are as follows:

Saturday Apr. 28 @ 7 pm   Gallery Vertigo, Vernon, BC    Tickets $10 in advance; $15 at door
Thursday May 3 @ 7 pm   Bicycle Cafe, Kelowna, BC    Tickets $7 at door

After being selected as the Bell Media Emerging Artist for April 2012, James’ new tune What Are We Waiting For went into rotation on Bell Media and CHUM radio stations across the country. All of a sudden, James’ Facebook profile was flooded with comments like, “Hey there rock star! Heard a plug for you on the radio in Vancouver this morning. ‘James Struthers is the next rising star’…Niiiice!!!! ” And, “James! You were just on the radio in Burlington!! Amazing to hear you on the radio!! ”

James, in his typical modest style, responded to the so-called “inflated comments” – but the radio charts prove his success. Prior to releasing What Are We Waiting For, James released a holiday-themed single, Blue Christmas, which hit the Top Ten in the national Adult Contemporary radio charts.  Struthers’ cover version of the song popularized by Elvis Presley, peaked at #8 in December 2011, putting the Winnipeg musician in the radio charting ranks of artists like Jason Mraz, John Mayer and Jack Johnson – musicians James is often compared to.

Then, there are the YouTube fans that are drawn to James’ music. James’ recent video for his Transformers-inspired, self-written song You, Me and Optimus Prime has almost 200,000 YouTube views. The video was also recently featured by famed radio host Alan Cross, and gadget news site, Gizmodo (one of the Top 50 most visited websites in the world).

With his deep blue eyes, disarming smile and cool, calm demeanor, James Struthers may be a 23-year-old heartthrob; but his allure goes far beyond the sightlines. He’s also an incredibly gifted songwriter and guitarist with a soulful voice and a young, aspiring business man with relentless, DIY work ethic.

“Nothing worth doing in life comes easy, but it doesn’t feel like work to me,” says Struthers. “I feel very lucky that I’ve found what I love in life, and even more lucky that I wake up every morning and get to do it.”

James has released two EPs and four music videos in less than two years. James is managed by Western Canadian Music Awards “Producer of the Year” Arun Chaturvedi.

To learn more about James Struthers, please visit:

http://www.jamesstruthers.com

https://www.facebook.com/jamesstruthersfans

For the blues, rock and reggae inspired sounds of Edmonton basedSTONE IRIS, there’s just no replacing that feeling of commiseration and unity that comes from a group of friends gathered around at the stage, soaking up the night together and raising a glass to good times.

It’s exactly that kind of feeling thatSTONE IRIS taps into on their newly recorded EP, “Illuminations”, which is set for release on Tuesday, May 15, 2012. Like a lost night in a smoky bar, its songs feel easy to slip into and even easier to get lost in, using laid-back but propulsive grooves to create a mood that feels at once nostalgic and promising, familiar enough to get your guard down but restless enough to let you know that the best times are on their way. It builds off their previous releases,2011 twin-EPs The Boo Box and Serene Machine, the 2010 Silhouettes EP and 2008 debut Ezperanza, by revealing a band that is at once more assured and more expansive than it’s ever been.