Free Music events around the corner… Parks Alive, Music in the Park and more!

Kelowna’s Parks Alive program will be kicking off soon, providing free live music all over town, most nights of the week. The Friday/Saturday night Theme Nights will be taking place in Kerry Park again this year! First event is the “Tuesday Community Concert” on July 3rd, finishing with “Summer’s End” Theme Weekend on September 1st

In West Kelowna, a cool new event every Friday – Music in the Park on Old Okanagan Highway.

Oh, and don’t forget – Celebrate Canada Day – Kelowna 2012. The list of performers will be posted soon!

30th Annual Summerland Action Festival, 3 Day (Free) Family Event & Music Festival

June 1, 2, 3rd 2012
The 30th Annual Summerland Action Festival, 3 Day (Free) Family Event & Music Festival, features an 80’s theme with a wide variety of musical artists, international recording artists, top tribute acts featuring songs of Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, Motley Crue, plus Top BC Okanagan/Interior Recording Artists, Bands & Indie Artists

“Where were you in 82” is the theme for an incredible weekend of Family Fun, Entertainment, Great Music, Baseball Tournament, Children’s Carnival, Fireworks and Triathlon.

Henry Small (Prism, Burton Cummings Band, John Entwistle Band (the Who) plus Aerosmith Rocks, The Led Zepplin Show, Worms Hate Rain, Forever Young, will be performing with top Okanagan bands Random Act, Scissor Kick, Donovan Sweet, Blue Healer, Hotsands Beach, Pink Torpedo, Crazy Hearts Blue Grass Band, plus Finalists from KIDS HAVE TALENT 2012 Contest, (Beamer Wigley, The Shags – (Derek Rush, Evan Aasen, Ryan Boesel) Jesse Mast, Megan Abel) and popular youth performers Mariah, Tiana Ferlizza, including Summerland School of Dance.

The 3 day Summerland Action Festival is a popular annual Okanagan community event, that is free for the public to attend, and includes a 3 day Music Festival in Summerland City Park, Beverage Garden, Fireworks, Baseball Tournament with 70 teams, Giants Head Run & Man of Steel Triathlon, Children’s Carnival, Parade, Street Hoops, Vendors, Pancake Breakfasts and many fun family activities!

Summerland City Park Main Stage

2012 PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

Friday June 1, 2012 (Opening Festivities, Beverage Garden and Rock’n Good Times)
6:00 Hotsands Beach (Recording Artist R & B & retro rock)
7:15 Scissor Kick (retro-rock and recording artists)
8:00 Worms Hate Rain (Hits & Retro rock)
9:00 The Led Zeppelin Show (Led Zepplin tribute act)
10:20 Fireworks Display

Saturday June 2, 2012 (Youth, Teen & Family Day)
11:00 Tina Ferlizza (popular Summerland youth performer)
11:30 Mariah (popular Summerland youth performer)
12:00 Finalists from KIDS HAVE TALENT 2012 Contest,
1:30 Summerland Showcase (TBA)
1:40 Donovan Sweet (80s theme, Rhythm & Blues & Retro Hits,)
2:30 Crazy Hearts Blue Grass Band
3:30 Pink Torpedo (80s Tribute Act – Hits, Classic & Retro Rock)
4:30 Random Act (R&B 80s Funk Hits & disco Hits) –
5:50 Henry Small (International Recording Artist, Prism, Burton Cummings Band, John Entwistle Band)

Sunday June 3, 2012 (Feature Acts and Awards Ceremonies)
11:30 Summerland School of Dance
12:10 Blue Healer (Classic Rock & Retro Hits, Guess Who, Santana)
1:15 Forever Young – Neil Young Tribute
2:40 Worms Hate Rain (Popular Hits, Classic Rock, Country Rock, R&B)
4:00 Aerosmith Rocks (award winning Aerosmith tribute act)

Ten Times the Creativity for Ten Bucks.

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 1st 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.

John Fogerty in Kelowna, Sept. 27th – performing CCR album at Prospera Place

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.

Ticket Giveaway: Said the Whale, Sunday April 29th (all ages) show

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 Mountainout 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.”