Blues party to mark Pop the Gator anniversary @THEMUSEUM

Posted on January 30, 2014 by Chris

 

http://www.therecord.com/whatson-story/4341177-blues-party-to-mark-pop-the-gator-anniversary/

By Robert Reid

Pop the Gator is back — finally.

At least for one night.

Glenn Smith, the impresario who operated the popular blues club, is hosting Pop the Gator’s 25th Anniversary Party.

The event takes place at Themuseum on March 1 — a quarter century to the exact date it opened.

“A day hasn’t gone by in the past 25 years when someone hasn’t asked me about Pop the Gator,” confides Smith, who now operates Ethel’s Lounge, in Uptown Waterloo.

“This should fill the void for all the people who have been bugging me,” he adds with a chuckle.

Pop the Gator is the closest thing to an urban myth in the local arts community.

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Focus on feeling music, not just hearing it

Posted on January 29, 2014 by Chris

http://www.therecord.com/whatson-story/4341138-focus-on-feeling-music-not-just-hearing-it/

By  Valerie Hill

KITCHENER — When Meaghan Johnson opened Queen Street Yoga studio in 2005, she could hardly imagine that her insight into how the human mind and body work together in harmony would eventually lead her down the street, on the stage with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony.

“Working with the symphony, people keep referring to me as an artist,” said Johnson who will be a guest performer at the Conrad Centre for the Performing Arts, Feb. 7 and 8, in a unique concert entitled Sound in Motion: Music & Mindfulness. The concert is part of the innovative and imaginative Intersections series lead by Edwin Outwater and featuring oboist Brian Seaton. Johnson’s job will be to walk the audience through some guided exercises intended to help them not just hear the music, but feel it in their head, their belly and their heart.

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Pete Seeger, folk pioneer and activist, dies at 94

Posted on January 29, 2014 by Chris

http://www.therecord.com/whatson-story/4337922-pete-seeger-folk-pioneer-and-activist-dies-at-94/

Pete Seeger, a rail-thin, banjo-picking troubadour who sang for migrant workers, college students and star-struck presidents in a career that spanned seven decades, has died. He was 94.

Seeger’s grandson, Kitama Cahill-Jackson, said he died peacefully in his sleep at New York Presbyterian Hospital, where he had been for six days.

Seeger remained active almost until the end, marching in the Occupy Wall Street protest of 2011 and singing Woody Guthrie’s This Land Is Your Land with Bruce Springsteen in 2009 in the Obama inauguration.

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Boathouse process a bust Published on November 21st, 2013

Posted on November 22, 2013 by Chris

http://www.kitchenerpost.ca/opinion/boathouse-process-a-bust/

Editorial

The City of Kitchener now finds itself with one lone proposal for a restaurant and music venue in Victoria Park at the boathouse.

The Boathouse in its former incarnation was a bustling and beloved business for years, when it was run by Kevin Doyle.

But with a small, outdated kitchen, a public washroom and high utility costs, it wasn’t financially viable for Doyle to continue running it the way he had.

So the city, in all its wisdom, turfed him out. Surely, someone would come along with money and vision and turn the space into a vibrant music venue once again.
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Glenn Smith, Danny Michel withdraw proposal over “unacceptable risk”

Posted on November 19, 2013 by Chris

http://www.kitchenerpost.ca/

By Heather Abrey, Kitchener Post staff

Only one bid to run the boathouse in Victoria Park remains after Glenn Smith, owner of Ethel’s Lounge, and Danny Michel, a local musician, announced on Monday that they are withdrawing their proposal.

“We’ve tried to imagine what the community is hoping for, what the city is looking for, and our vision and goal for the venue,” reads a post on their Facebook page, The Jubilee Music Hall — the name they had planned for the venue.

“That, on top of large and seriously needed renovations, means we feel it is not possible to move forward without a level of risk that would be unacceptable for all of us.”
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Boathouse bidders revealed

Posted on October 29, 2013 by Chris

 http://www.therecord.com/news-story/4179917-boathouse-bidders-revealed/

By Paige Desmond

 

KITCHENER — City staff publicly released the names of groups and individuals bidding to operate the Victoria Park Boathouse after a council vote Monday.

Coun.  brought a motion requesting release of the information, after staff refused to do so in recent weeks.

Much of the information was out in the community through unofficial means.

“All sorts of things can be out there, but until it’s officially stated by the city that’s not the official list,” Vrbanovic said.

The city is in the midst of a two-part process to find a new operator for the popular local music venue after terminating an agreement in mid-September with the former operator due to utility arrears.

Staff said that when council approved a report in September outlining the process to find a new operator, there was no direction to make candidates public.

Six groups and individuals have made bids for the Boathouse.

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