Upper North Side Newsletter, October 2006

October 2006
Canadian News, Events and Culture in New York

Greetings from the Upper North Side, the virtual Canadian neighborhood in New York. For the latest updates on events, please visit our Upper North Side web site.

The Upper North Side is published by the Canadian Consulate General in New York.

If the rest of this message is unintelligible, please go to the Upper North Side web site at http://www.international.gc.ca/UpperNorthSide and change your e-mail delivery preference to Plain-Text.

`A fantasia of a double tale skimming through the art capitals of Europe with double muses, double love pursuits, double Raphaels, even double authors, a tale dripping with idealized romantic settings, mystery, art, and a touch of magic, The Sidewalk Artist will keep readers wondering what is real and what is artifice - as fine paintings always do.`
-Susan Vreeland, author of Girl in Hyacinth Blue

As part of this year`s New Yorker Festival, Canadian Malcolm Gladwell, a staff writer at The New Yorker and the author of bestsellers The Tipping Point and Blink, delivers another of his unique, thought-provoking talks.

Join Poets House and the Canadian Consulate as we celebrate Coach House Books` 40th Anniversary with an evening of poetry with Canadians Sina Queyras, Margaret Christakos, Stephen Cain, Angela Rawlings, and Jon Paul Fiorentino.

Join three Canadian authors for an evening of `Canadian Wilds and Beyond`. John Vaillant won the 2005 Governor General`s Award for The Golden Spruce, in which he chronicles the lives and not-quite-deaths of a sacred tree and the logger-turned-activist who felled it. With The Shark God (which won the 2005 Charles Taylor Prize), Charles Montgomery confronts the origins of myth and magic in a remote South Pacific archipelago. In Shadow of the Bear, Brian Payton recounts a personal search for the world`s eight remaining bear species across continents, cultures, and memory.

Canadian author Scott Griffin is well known for his successful businesses, as well as his philanthropy through the prestigious Griffin Poetry Prize. But many may not know the inspiring story of the two years he spent in Africa volunteering for the Flying Doctors Service, and how his life was changed forever.

`Scott Griffin is one of the great romantics.`
- Margaret Atwood

Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia brings a triple-bill celebration of the work of beloved author Leo Lionni, including three charming stories for small children. Swimmy, Frederick, and Inch by Inch use puppetry, innovative stage techniques, and original music to translate these award-winning tales from page to stage.

These performances are part of a nine-month American tour:

Saturday, October 7, 11 am & 1 pm
Irvington Town Hall
85 Main Street
Irvington, NY
(914) 591-6602

Sunday, October 8, 1 pm
Bay Street Theatre
Long Wharf
Sag Harbor, NY
(631) 725-9500

Saturday, October 14, 1:30 pm
Tribeca Performing Arts Center
199 Chambers Street
New York, NY
(212) 220-1460

Saturday & Sunday, October 21 & 22, 2 pm
New Jersey Performing Arts Center
Center Street
Newark, NJ
1-888-466-5722

Sunday, January 14, 3 pm
Performing Arts Center at Purchase College
735 Anderson Hill Road
Purchase, NY
(914) 251-6200

Saturday, January 20, 11 am
Symphony Space
2537 Broadway (at W. 95th Street)
New York, NY
(212) 864-5400

Sunday, March 4,
11 am & 2 pm
South Orange Performing Arts Center, NJ
(1 Trenchard Place behind Transit Platform)
(973) 275-1114

Canadian creators Yan Moore and Linda Schuyler bring us Degrassi: The Next Generation, a 30-minute television series that follows the lives of a group of high school students in Canada. The show deals with many issues familiar to teenagers, such as body image, grades, college, stress, and other challenges faced during teenage years. This award-winning series has received two International Emmy`s.

For up-to-date airtimes and more information, please visit: http://www.the-n.com/ntv/shows/index.php?id=67

Photo credit: Epitome Pictures Inc./The N

The IMPACT Festival, where culture and politics collide, brings to New York City national and international works in theater, film, dance, music, visual art, comedy, and debate with partners as diverse as The New York Public Library and The Apollo Theater.

The Peacekeepers, a film directed by Canadian filmmaker Paul Cowan, is a documentary about modern day peacekeepers on the front lines - and about what goes on behind the scenes at the United Nations. The screening will be preceded by two short films and a panel discussion on the topic of Northern Uganda beginning at 6 pm. No charge for ticket holders.

Canadian filmmaker Ron Mann ignites the screen with Tales of the Rat Fink, an animated documentary about Ed `Big Daddy` Roth: legendary artist and world`s greatest custom car builder, the creator of pop icon Rat Fink, and the force behind the hot rod/kustom kulture craze of the `60s.

The film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival 2006 and features the celebrity voice talents of John Goodman, Jay Leno, Tom Wolfe, Matt Groening, Brian Wilson, and many others. Soundtrack by the Canadian band The Sadies.

For more information, please visit: www.talesoftheratfink.com.

Canadian directors Evan Beloff and Frederic Bohbot bring us the story of Adalbert Lallier, an upstanding Canadian citizen and economics professor, who kept a shocking secret for fifty-five years - he had been a member of the Waffen SS during World War II. In 2000, he went public and returned to Germany to testify at a war crimes trial against his former lieutenant, Julius Viel. This provocative documentary follows Lallier from his initial disclosure to his testimony at the Viel trial, tackling issues of morality, forgiveness, responsibility, and punishment.

There will be a post-screening discussion with directors, Evan Beloff and Frederic Bohbot, and Nazi hunter Steven Rambam, who is featured in the film.

The Hamptons International Film Festival is committed to exhibiting films that express fresh voices and differing global perspectives with the hope that these programs will enlighten audiences, provide invaluable exposure for filmmakers, and present inspired entertainment for all.

This year, Canadian films programmed include: No Past To Speak Of by Jeremy Gans and What Remains of Us by François Prévost and Hugo Latulippe. Please check website for up-to-date Canadian film screenings information.

The Dahesh Museum of Art and MUSE Film & Television present highlights of the 24th Montreal International Festival of Films on Art (FIFA) - the only North American film festival devoted exclusively to the arts. Thirteen films and videos from several countries will be presented, including explorations of painting, sculpture, architecture, design, crafts, fashion, decorative arts, museology, restoration, photography, cinema, literature, dance, music, and theater. For more information, please visit: www.daheshmuseum.org/publicprograms_events/filmfest_fifa.html.

Anthology Film Archives continues to host a showcase of highlights from the Images Festival in Toronto during a seven-month screening series (September to March) of rarely seen Canadian films and videos. Many of the works to be screened will be New York City and U.S. premieres. Under-recognized Canadian media artists will be spotlighted in both solo programs (including Richard Fung, Barbara Sternberg, John Porter, Robert Lee, Philip Hoffman, and this month Leslie Peters), as well as in survey collections of short film and video that pull out thematic elements (including landscape, hand-made works, personal histories, emigration, relations with the U.S.) from the history of artist film and video in Canada.

October 27
Selected works by Leslie Peters (Post-screening Q&A; with Leslie Peters)

October 28
Lisa Steele`s The Ballad of Dan Peoples (1976, 8 minutes, video)
Zachary Longboy`s The Stone Show (1999, 9 minutes, video)
Raphael Bendahan`s Le Jardin (Du Paradis)/The Garden (1982, 20 minutes, 16mm)
Mary J. Daniel`s Confessions of a Compulsive Archvist (2004, 7 minutes, video)
Alexandra Grimanis`s Mothers of Me (1999, 15 minutes, 16mm)
Robert Cowan`s Remembrance and Goodbye (1968, 9 minutes, 16mm)
Mike Hoolboom`s Jack (2002, 15 minutes, 16mm)

Jane Jacobs`s ideas redefined urban planning and her hometowns of New York and Toronto are among many cities that continue to feel the impact of her writings. The Canadian Consulate General, the American Planning Association`s New York Metro Chapter, and New York University will hold a discussion panel event exploring the importance, meaning, and influence of her work.

Panelists include Paul Bedford, former Chief City Planner of Toronto; Lisa Rochon, Architecture Critic for the Globe and Mail; Paul Goldberger, Architecture Critic for The New Yorker; Raymond Gastil, Director, Manhattan Office, Department of City Planning; and Eugénie Birch, Professor and Chair, Department of City and Regional Planning, University of Pennsylvania, and former New York City Planning Commissioner.

Free and open to the public. Please RSVP to (212) 596-1679 or uppernorthside@international.gc.ca.

There will be a wealth of Canadian talent represented this fall at the New York City Opera. Tenor John Tessier returns to the Opera to sing the role of Nemorino in the first cast of The Elixir of Love, Donizetti`s male twist on the Cinderella story. Countertenor Matthew White, who made his City Opera debut singing Medoro in the company`s spring 2005 production of Handel`s Orlando, will tackle Handel again, singing the role of Athamas in Semele. Soprano Nathalie Paulin will understudy the great Elizabeth Futral in the title role of Semele. And, finally, British-born Canadian resident Tim Albery directs the company`s production Cosi fan Tutte.

Please visit www.nycopera.com for details on performance dates and times.

Pictured: John Tessier.

Montreal`s Stars, one of three bands featured at the Canadian Consulate General`s 2005 `Canada Day` show at Celebrate Brooklyn!, are pop purists with a blue streak. Stars vocalist Amy Millan recently released her first solo album, Honey from the Tombs, featuring 12 songs written between 1993 and 2000, writing that predates her work with Stars and fellow Canadian indie-rock favorite Broken Social Scene. Her solo work is a departure from the textured sounds of Stars and BSS, exploring instead folk and rural traditions in an Americana vein.

Canada`s grande dame of folk-blues, Penny Lang returns to New York`s Living Room, this time accompanied by Canadian blues guitarist Rick Fines. Six years ago, Lang was sidelined by a stroke, but with Stone + Sand + Sea + Sky, her latest release, she has fashioned a bold comeback. Ottawa Xpress describes the album as `a spare and sublime collection of late-night, back-porch roots lullabies.`

Canadian singer-songwriter Garnet Rogers has established himself as one of the major folk music talents of our time. With his smooth, dark baritone, incredible range, and artful phrasing, Rogers sings extraordinary songs about `everyday` people and the small triumphs that inform their lives. He is the younger brother of the legendary Stan Rogers, who died tragically in a fire on an airplane at Cincinnati, Ohio, airport in 1983.

As part of this year`s New Yorker Festival, Vancouver pure-pop collective The New Pornographers engage in a `conversation with music` with the writer of  The New Yorker`s Financial Page, James Surowiecki.

Mozart saved some of his most sublime music for Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), his personal favorite and final opera. Julie Taymor`s dazzling production features Canadian soprano Isabel Bayrakdarian as Princess Pamina and baritone Nathan Gunn as Papageno, the bird catcher. Starting December 29, Bayrakdarian and Gunn will return in an English-language, abridged version produced especially for the holiday season.

Ontario natives and kings of `surf twang`, The Sadies return to New York on the heels of their recently released two-disc live set, In Concert, Volume 1. As they did at the Canadian Consulate General`s 2005 `Canada Day` show at Celebrate Brooklyn!, this charismatic live band will unleash its genre-bending songbook with furious energy, this time in the intimate confines of Joe`s Pub. Prepare for a rare combination of rockabilly, surf-pop, country, and whatever else the band feels like throwing into its wondrous musical stew.

Later the same evening, at 11:30 pm, The Sadies will join sometimes-musical-partner Jon Spencer for his Heavy Trash show (also featuring Matt Verta-Ray).

He trick-or-treated at Liberace`s house and was Bob Hope`s favorite altar boy. Alone, these anecdotes go well with a fistful of peanuts at a cocktail party. But also consider that this Canadian-born singer/songwriter co-wrote the longest-running song on the Billboard Top 100, had a debut solo album that earned three-and-a-half stars in Rolling Stone, and was awarded the title of `San Diego`s Most Influential Artist of the Decade` at the San Diego Music Awards. What you end up with is one of the most engaging, twisted, and prolific ex-pat Canadian songwriters of our time: Steve Poltz.

Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Poltz later moved to the United States, but tonight Steve celebrates his dual-citizenship with two shows under the Canadian Consulate General`s Upper North Side Canadian Music Series banner.

Canadian tenor Ben Heppner takes a break from performances of Idomeneo at the Met for this recital (part of the 2006-07 George London Foundation season at the Morgan Library & Museum`s Gilder Lehrman Hall) with young American soprano Wendy Bryn Harmer and accompanist Craig Rutenberg.

Acclaimed soprano Nathalie Paulin will be the featured guest artist in the Allen Room, Manhattan`s newest and most glittering music room (and home to Jazz at Lincoln Center) in a performance with The New York Collegium, the distinguished period instrument ensemble conducted by Andrew Parrott. The program, which also features tenor Marc Molomot, will focus on the music of Jean-Baptiste Lully, the official composer to Louis XIV.

This Canadian band, whose `sound clash` is a mix of modern urban influences and classic reggae fundamentals, won last year`s Juno for Best New Artist. On October 16, they open for Flogging Molly. Also with Zox.

New York-based Toronto native Melissa Stylianou is `the sort of warm, open, and secure [jazz] singer for whom style is a means not an end,` according to Mark Miller of Canada`s Globe and Mail. Her recently released album, Sliding Down, which consists of original pieces, pop songs, and standards, features an incredible line-up of Canadian musicians, including Kevin Breit, Alan Hetherington, Kim Ratcliffe, Rob Piltch, and Jamie Reynolds. Reynolds (piano) and Chris Lightcap (bass) will join Stylianou for her debut at one of New York`s finest jazz venues.

Esquire magazine recently hailed Canadian rocker Sam Roberts as the most exciting frontman in rock, and they just might be right. Montreal`s Roberts and his long-time band - they performed a blistering set as part of the Canadian Consulate General`s 2004 `Canada Day` show at Central Park`s SummerStage - rolls into town on the heels of rave reviews for his second full-length album, Chemical City. Roberts opens for singer-songwriter Ben Kweller.

Small Sins (formerly the Ladies and Gentlemen), led by Toronto`s Thomas D`Arcy, recently released its self-titled U.S. debut on Astralwerks Records. Among the rave reviews that the album has garnered to date is one from Spin Magazine, excerpted here: `The Canadian singer/producer`s debut as Small Sins is a well-crafted pleasure, with the warm analog fuzzies keeping even the songs about junkie girls afloat.` With The Kooks.

The Banff Centre, a globally respected arts, cultural, and educational institution and conference facility that was founded in 1933, celebrates its illustrious alumni with an Americas Society `Salon` on October 24. The performance will feature Ottawa-born violinist Barry Shiffman (co-founder of Canada`s St. Lawrence String Quartet), the Jupiter String Quartet (winner of the 8th Banff International String Quartet Competition), cellist Paul Katz (co-founder of the Cleveland String Quartet), and pianist John Hall.

Pictured: Barry Shiffman.

Canada`s St. Lawrence String Quartet returns to Carnegie Hall as part of the venue`s Quartets Plus series. The program on this night will include: Haydn`s String Quartet in G Major, Op. 77, No.1; R. Murray Schafer`s String Quartet No. 3; and Ravel`s String Quartet in F Major. With over 1600 performances in the past sixteen years, the St. Lawrence String Quartet has established itself among the world-class chamber ensembles of its generation.

The Canadian Association of New York invites you to attend a cocktail reception to meet fellow alumni from Canadian universities. With close to 400 people attending last year, this is one of the biggest events of the year for alums of Canadian schools, and the perfect chance to gather with friends to eat, drink, and share fond memories.

For more information, and to purchase tickets, please visit www.canadianassociationny.org.

The event that the Ottawa Citizen has called `the Olympics of motivational events` is coming to New York in October and this time features an impressive array of speakers from the worlds of business, sports, politics, and the arts. The all-day event includes addresses from former U.S. President Bill Clinton, cyclist extraordinaire Lance Armstrong (pictured), long-time Disney chief Michael Eisner, and founder and Chairman of Mandalay Entertainment Peter Guber, among others. The Power Within is a Toronto-based company that produces ongoing motivational and training programs for the general public and corporations.

The Nibbler, written and performed by New Yorker cartoonist Victoria Roberts, is directed by Canadian theater producer and director Louise Fagan. The sets and costumes are designed by Canadian Bonnie Deakin.

`Looking a bit like Dame Edna`s daintier sister...Roberts`s Nona is a compelling, oddly credible character.`
- New York Times

`...for us in her audience, she [becomes] a lens through which we can see ourselves - and be amused.`
- O Magazine

Brooklyn-based Montreal native Fabienne Lasserre makes her solo exhibition debut in New York at Chelsea`s Virgil de Voldere Gallery.

Pictured is Lasserre`s Head I, 2005.

Brooklyn-based Montreal native Gabriel Jones`s debut solo show in New York will inaugurate Priska C. Juschka Fine Art`s second gallery space with Somewhere on Time 06.

In his photographs, Jones constructs scenarios that are enigmatic and anonymous, while attempting to prompt self-reflection and fire the imaginations of his audience.

Montreal sculptor Philippe Coudari creates angular, powerful, dynamic figures out of bronze. Though fascinated by the human form, Coudari rarely uses a live model, relying instead on memory and intuition.

His work is on display as part of the Subjective Elements show running at Agora Gallery`s Chelsea space through October 18.

The digital paintings of Canadian Sydney Drum will be seen this fall in a solo exhibition at New York`s 55 Mercer Gallery. These works explore the intersections of painting, digital media, photography, and other sources. Some panels are hand-painted (a labor-intensive, low-tech method); others use digital technology to examine how this technology has changed the way we view painting and the world around us (an emphatically high-tech process).

Michaël Amy, in the exhibition essay, writes that `Sydney Drum confronts tradition and innovation all at once.` Drum`s works remind us that `life is so complex that there can be no single response to it.`

This solo show featuring the work of Quebecois artist Jocelyn Fiset is called Nomadisme Protecteur or `A Protective Dome for Humankind`. FusionArts Museum, home to this show, prides itself on exclusively showing `fusion art`, which the gallery defines as `art that combines various disciplines such as painting, sculpture, video projection, light, sound, and movement.`

Pictured is Fiset`s Nomadisme Protecteur (Bush).

Kamloops, British Columbia native Stefan Fiedorowicz`s contemporary oil paintings feature abstract compositions and vivid colors, occasionally calling to mind stained glass.

His work will be on display as part of the Primary Phrasing show running at Agora Gallery`s SoHo space beginning October 13.

Le site web Upper North Side est publié à l'intention du public américain par le Consulat général du Canada à New York. Tous les renseignements que renferme le présent site web étaient jugés exacts au moment de la publication. Certaines manifestations risquent d'être modifiées sans préavis.