Upper North Side Newsletter, November 2006

November 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.

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A psychological thriller written by author and emergency room physician Dan Kalla of Vancouver. When a psychiatrist is called to evaluate the gruesome murder of his former friend and mentor, Stanley Kolberg, an anger-management specialist, he has no idea that before he finds the killer, he will need to investigate Kolberg`s dark secrets and the apparent suicide of one of his own patients.

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

`A clever twist on an otherwise familiar tale.`
- Kirkus Reviews

In November, Russell Banks, Jhumpa Lahiri, Michael Ondaatje, Edward Hirsch, and Roger Angell will gather at Symphony Space to celebrate and read from the works of Canadian-born author Mavis Gallant. Gallant currently lives in Paris and will make a rare New York appearance at the event. A master of the short story, Gallant has published over 100 stories in The New Yorker, the third-most in the magazine`s history. The best of her stories are collected in two volumes: Paris Stories, selected and introduced by fellow Canadian Michael Ondaatje, and Varieties of Exile, selected and introduced by novelist Russell Banks.

Canadian author Nathalie Stephens writes at the border between languages: in her case, English and French. In this talk, she draws out the literary and philosophical matter situated there, addressing questions of translatability, displacement, desire. Nathalie Stephens writes l`entre-genre in English and French. She is the author of a dozen books, most recently Touch To Affliction, Je Nathanaël, and Paper City. Having spent most of her life in Canada and France, she currently lives in Chicago, where she teaches at the School of the Art Institute.

Nathalie is also reading with Canadian poet Sina Queyras at Pete`s Candy Store, 709 Lorimer Street in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, on Friday, November 3, at 7 pm. For more info. please visit: www.petescandystore.com/bigpoetry/index.html

Rattling Books presents new CanLit Audio releases: Margot Dionne reads from Montreal Stories by Mavis Gallant, whom Harper`s calls `one of our era`s masters of the short story,` followed by upstart Joel Thomas Hynes reading from his novel Down to the Dirt, a dark but humorous tale told with the famous storytelling charm of rural Newfoundland.

Acclaimed Canadian author Lisa Moore reads from her novel Alligator, which won the Commonwealth Prize for Fiction. A starred review in Publishers Weekly said Alligator `does for Newfoundland what Empire Falls did for dying small-town Maine and The Sportswriter did for suburban New Jersey.`

Lisa Moore will also read on Monday, November 20, at 7 pm, at Barnes & Noble, 33 E. 17th Street, (212) 253-0810.

In The Very Hungry Caterpillar & Other Favourites, Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia adapts a selection of Eric Carle`s beloved stories. The production has delighted close to a million young spectators on three continents.

Performances include:

Wednesday, November 29, 5 pm
Wilkins Theatre, Central Campus
Kean University
1000 Morris Street, Union NJ
(908) 737-7469

Saturday, December 2, 11 am & 2 pm
Symphony Space
2537 Broadway at W. 95th Street
(212) 864-5400

Saturday, December 9, 11 am
Rochambeau School Theatre
228 Fisher Avenue
White Plains, NY
(914) 761-7463

As part of the first annual Latin Cultural Week in NY, the Canadian dance company Dance Anonymous brings to life provocative imagery and celebrates the cultural riches of Latin America through music, dance, video, storytelling, moving sculpture, and visual art. Featuring award-winning and groundbreaking international artists who have worked with the likes of Cirque du Soleil, Celine Dion, and others, Dance Anonymous will transform time and space and create a magical journey through dynamite dancing in a spectacular stage production. For more information, please visit: www.danceanonymous.com

`Theatrically impressive`
- New York Times

Canadian filmmaker Deepa Mehta`s Hindi-language drama Water is Canada`s contender for best foreign-language film at the 79th annual Academy Awards. Water is the story of a young widow in 1930s India, starring Canadian actor Lisa Ray and John Abraham, and is released by Fox Searchlight Pictures. Please contact theater for up-to-date screening schedule.

For more information, please visit: http://www2.foxsearchlight.com/water/

`A triumph!`
- Richard Corliss, Time

Design television programming will take an extraordinary new direction with the premiere of House & Home with Lynda Reeves, a new series on HGTV. With a ground-breaking format, featuring hot design debates from inside the walls of House & Home magazine and tours of the most interesting homes in North America, this is clearly not another make-over show. Design Maven Lynda Reeves is one of Canada`s leading personalities in the fields of interior design, decorating, and lifestyle trends.

The 29th Annual Margaret Mead Film Festival spotlights the work of author and award-winning Canadian filmmaker Bonnie Sherr Klein, who gained international acclaim as a member of the Women`s Unit of the National Film Board of Canada. The U.S. premiere of her groundbreaking film Shameless: The Art of Disability will be followed by a discussion with the filmmaker as well as with scholars and activists in the field of women`s studies. Please visit website for up-to-date screening schedule and information.

The Museum of Modern Art presents the New York premiere of a set of new 35mm prints featuring the pioneering works of Norman McLaren, one of the most renowned filmmakers in the history of Canadian cinema and a pioneer in both animation and filmmaking.

Arranged by the National Film Board of Canada where the artist spent his forty-year career, this eleven-film program, presented on the occasion of a new DVD set of McLaren`s complete works, emphasizes the imagination, vitality, and astonishing versatility of the artist`s animation. The program includes Opening Speech, Stars and Stripes, Hen Hop, Begone Dull Care, A Chairy Tale, Lines Horizontal, Blinkity Blank, La Merle, Neighbors, Synchromy, and Pas de Deux. Organized by Laurence Kardish, Senior Curator, Department of Film and Media.

King Reign, one of a new generation of internationally recognized Canadian hip-hop artists, will appear as part of a special showcase evening of eight acts at New York`s elegant Canal Room. King Reign is a member of renowned Toronto rap group BrassMunk. This performance is part of the annual CMJ Music Marathon.

Don`t miss this rare opportunity to see two great rock bands from Halifax as part of the same New York bill of fare. Matt Mays & El Torpedo storm into town to herald the release of the band`s upcoming new album, When the Angels Make Contact, and Wintersleep will sample highlights from its moody, beautiful self-titled debut. These performances are part of the annual CMJ Music Marathon.

Edmonton`s electro-rock dance band, Shout Out Out Out Out, returns to New York with its battery of Casios, samplers, and sequencers. Despite its `electro` leanings, the band manages to write `songs that actually resonate beyond their dance-floor intentions` (Now Magazine). This performance is part of the annual CMJ Music Marathon.

Winnipeg`s self-professed `mod soul` band, Novillero, will play songs from their recently released sophomore album, Aim Right for the Holes in Their Lives (Mint Records). The Globe and Mail called it `one of the year`s best Canadian albums.` This performance is part of the annual CMJ Music Marathon.

Leahy is a Canadian powerhouse of eight musical brothers and sisters, a whirlwind triple-threat of fiddle-driven music, dance, and vocals augmented by keyboards and percussion. With multiple Juno awards (Canada`s Grammys) to their credit, Leahy presents music that combines the influence of their Irish and Scottish roots with their inherent desire to traverse the musical map.

Downtown New York jazz musician John Medeski (whose surname makes up one third of the incredible Medeski, Martin and Wood) meets Montreal turntablist Kid Koala. A meeting of the minds and two surprisingly compatible musical sensibilities. This performance is part of the annual CMJ Music Marathon.

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.` This performance is part of the annual CMJ Music Marathon.

Canada`s Cadence Weapon, who released `one of the year`s most unusual and satisfying hip-hop records` (Chart Magazine), kicks off this incredible evening of music at the Mercury Lounge.

Fronted by the daughter of North America`s first female alligator wrestler (seriously!), Montreal`s Land of Talk has staked its claim as the latest in a long line of bands to join what has become known as the Canadian indie-rock invasion. These performances are part of the annual CMJ Music Marathon.

Taking a brief break from the trio format that graces Bruxin`, his new CD of originals, Canadian jazz pianist John Stetch (a veteran of the Canadian Consulate General`s Upper North Side Canadian Music Series at Joe`s Pub) returns to the solo format for this New York appearance. The evening will be a retrospective of his widely acclaimed solo trilogy of Ukranianism, Standards, and Exponentially Monk.

The Old Soul`s self-titled debut album will be released stateside in early 2007 by Friendly Fire Recordings. This performance is part of the annual CMJ Music Marathon.

`The creative force behind The Old Soul is Toronto`s Luca Maoloni, and if you were to MRI his mind you`d see an imagination lobe that throbbed and glowed. On a debut LP that is both carefree and considered, various styles and influences are detected, including Brian Wilson and the big indie pop of Broken Social Scene.`
- Globe and Mail

With the laddies in the `Ladies enjoying rave reviews for their most recent album, the melodic and surprisingly sophisticated Barenaked Ladies Are Me, New York audiences can expect another in a long line of expert and exuberant performances.

Winnipeg`s The Duhks return to New York with a critically acclaimed new album (Migrations) and a fresh take on their delicious blend of soul, gospel, North American folk, Brazilian samba, old-timey country, zydeco, and Irish dance music.

`With each release, this Canadian quintet`s adventurous, energetic eclecticism sounds more like a signature fusion...`
- Don McLeese, amazon.com

In town to perform as vocalists and house band for Delirium, the live music concert from Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil, Gaïa - Montreal`s premier Brazilian band - presents the depth of Brazilian and Peruvian beats, late-night funk, soul-stirring vocals, and a touch of rock, jazz, and savvy electronica.

This year`s Northeast Regional Folk Alliance Conference (NERFA) in Monticello, NY, will feature a number of Canadian artists, each showcasing their unique musical approach to the broad designation of `folk`.

On the main stage, the following Canadian acts are scheduled: Quebecois traditionalist Reveillons! will showcase on Friday at 8:35 pm; The McDades, whose Celtic-rooted music fuses the spontaneity of jazz improvisation and infectious global rhythms, will showcase on Saturday at 8:35 pm; and musical storyteller Maria Dunn will showcase on Saturday at 8:55 pm.

Elsewhere during the weekend, on alternative stages, the conference will showcase two extraordinary talents from Atlantic Canada - Duane Andrews (guitarist) and Dan McKinnon (singer-songwriter).

The shambolic beauty of The Hidden Cameras` orchestral rock is comparable to fellow Torontonians, Broken Social Scene, in its ambition and scope. Their new album, Awoo, `gets better with every listen,` according to amazon.com`s Mike McGonigal, who calls it `a stunner.` With Spiral Beach.

This extraordinary Australian-Canadian performer returns to New York hot on the heels of the release of Food in the Belly, his most recent album. Recorded in a `secluded Canadian retreat,` the collection features Rudd`s typically lucid poetry set in musical arrangements that are uncluttered and that reflect the world he has witnessed along the way on his extraordinary musical journey. From his bare soles on a wooden resonator box to the breath-humming in his didgeridoos, Rudd`s work resonates from the ground up and the inside out.

Amy Millan (one of the lead vocalists for Montreal indie sensation, Stars) recently brought her solo performance to Joe`s Pub at the Public Theater for two sold-out shows. In November, she moves into a bigger room, Bowery Ballroom, but brings back more of the same - the gentle alt-country that characterizes her debut solo album, Honey from the Tombs.

The 92nd Street Y, in association with the International Center of Photography, presents Children of a Vanished World, an event that features large-scale projections of Roman Vishniac`s photographs of the Jewish shtetlekh (small villages) of Eastern Europe, photographs taken between 1935 and 1938. The projections will be accompanied by Yiddish folk songs performed by soprano and tenor voices, cello, clarinet, piano, and spoken word. Toronto`s Judy Kopelow will direct and narrate the performance, and much of the evening`s musical talent hails from Canada. The performance honors the vanished children of the Holocaust, and is produced in collaboration with the photographer`s daughter, Mara Vishniac Kohn.

Melodia Women`s Choir, an ensemble of 32 female singers and instrumentalists, will perform several premieres, including one piece each by Canadian composers Stephen Hatfield and Sid Robinovitch.

Pictured:  Stephen Hatfield

Sunday, November 19, 1 pm
Iridium
1650 Broadway (at W. 52nd Street)
(212) 582-2121
www.iridiumjazzclub.com

Tuesday, November 21, 9:45 pm
The Metropolitan Room
34 W. 22nd Street
(212) 206-0440
www.metropolitanroom.com

Canadian chanteuse Adi Braun, whose sultry interpretations of standards, new and old, mix the jazz and cabaret traditions to delicious effect, appears as part of Barry Levitt`s Vocal Jazz Brunch on November 19, and then, two nights later, appears in a new setting with New York`s Tedd Firth Trio in the elegant confines of the Metropolitan Room. Braun`s sophomore release, The Rules of the Game, has garnered consistent raves since its release last year. She is blessed with `a sense of timing Swiss watchmakers would envy,` according to Toronto`s Now Magazine.

The Canadian Association of New York (CANY) invites you to attend its annual Maple Leaf Ball on Friday, November 17, at Gotham Hall in New York City. Lloyd Robertson, Chief News Anchor and Senior News Editor of CTV News, will be the guest of honor. Mr. Robertson will also receive the 2006 Arts and Letters Award. Proceeds from this event will go to charities supported by the Canadian Association of New York Foundation. Please visit CANY`s website for a list of such charities and to purchase tickets.

December 7, 7:30 am
The Yale Club, Trumbull Room
50 Vanderbilt Avenue
(between E. 44th and E. 45th Streets)

Come to the next Borders Breakfast session featuring Murray Smith, Alberta`s official representative to the United States and former Alberta Minister of Energy. He will provide a Canadian energy update with a focus on the situation in Alberta.

Canada is the leading supplier of oil, natural gas, and electricity to the United States. As a reliable and secure energy source, Canada contributes to American economic security. Investment in Alberta`s energy sector has surged over the last three years and oil production continues to expand.

It`s definitely not your typical boy-meets-girl-meets-demon comedy. Filled with show-stopping dance numbers, eye-popping action, and side-splitting humor, Evil Dead: The Musical is the can`t-miss surprise of the theater season. Like the Broadway smash The Drowsy Chaperone, this show was written by a team of Canadians. Christopher Bond, Frank Cipolla, George Reinblatt, and Melissa Morris collaborated on the score, with Reinblatt also contributing Book and Lyrics.

For deeply discounted tickets, visit www.theatermania.com (offer ends December 3).

`It`s part Rocky Horror Show and part Little Shop of Horrors, with a distinct twist of its own.`
-Variety

New World Theatre is staging one of the most acclaimed Canadian plays of the past 25 years. The Crackwalker, directed by Robert Zick Jr., is a plunge into Kingston, Ontario`s underworld of drugs, sex, mental illness, and murder, where four local down-and-outs struggle to live, to love, and to make a better world for themselves with tragic results. Judith Thompson`s first play is a visceral exploration of the ugly realities of society`s castaways.

Created and directed by Michel Lemieux and Victor Pilon, Delirium is a multifaceted event of unprecedented proportions featuring remixed music from previous Cirque du Soleil productions. Driven by an urban tribal beat with awe-inspiring visuals, musicians, singers, and dancers will transform Madison Square Garden into a joyous frenzy.

Canadian actor, director, singer, and producer Christian Campbell plays the role of Pip in a stage adaptation of Charles Dickens`s Great Expectations at the Lucille Lortel Theatre this fall.

With Emmy award-winning credits, including his performance in Mary Jane/Mary Jane, Campbell is also known for his role as Bobby Warner in All My Children; Peter Webster, the eldest son to the Reverend Daniel Webster and his wife Judith, in NBC`s series The Book of Daniel; and Too Smooth, which Campbell co-produced and co-starred in, alongside his younger sister, Neve Campbell.

The Locus Theatre Company`s inaugural production will be award-winning Canadian playwright George F. Walker`s The End of Civilization. The play, set in a stark hotel room, examines the outcome of a society pushed to its limits. Walker is one of Canada`s most popular and prolific playwrights.

Allegedly intrigued by the theatrical potential of lantern light, the cutting-edge technology of his time, Shakespeare would no doubt be fascinated with the digital magic of Montreal-based 4D art`s award-winning La Tempête, a decidedly contemporary take on the Bard`s The Tempest.

Vancouver`s Jeff Ladouceur returns to ZieherSmith for his second solo exhibition in New York. The show, entitled Idiot Wind, features twenty-four new drawings, a separate suite of works on antique paper, and a view of the artist`s sketchbooks. Embodying the artist`s distinctive mix of melancholy and humor, the new works are as devastating and enchanting as ever.

ItuKiagâtta! (`How it amazes us!` in the Labrador Inuktitut dialect) features ninety-one of the finest stone, bone, and ivory sculptures from TD Bank Financial Group`s Inuit Art Collection. The works represent an early, vital period in the development of Inuit art.

With soft hues and gentle, undulating patterns, Jan Wheeler captures the motion and nuance of the natural world. Rather than focus on copious detail, Wheeler instead uses the play of wind and sunlight to direct the focus of her paintings.

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