7:30 p.m.
Tickets: $20; Ages 18 and under $5 for this show only! Note that there is $1.50 surcharge for each online ticket order. ADVANCE TICKET SALES END AT 3 P.M. DAY OF SHOW. ALL ADVANCE TICKET ORDERS ARE PICKED UP AT THE DOOR THE NIGHT OF THE SHOW. ADVANCE TICKETS ARE NOT MAILED. Tickets will be available at the door the night of the show. Note that we only accept checks and cash at the door. Doors open at 6:45.
Ariana Gillis is the best new emerging artist anywhere, PERIOD!” – Dave Marsh, best-selling author, former music journalist for Rolling Stone & Creem magazines, and host of Sirius Radio’s Kick Out the Jams.
Not every young Canadian singer-songwriter gets to launch her CD with a live appearance on the US satellite station Sirius XM. The show was hosted by Dave Marsh, author of more than 25 books on rock and roll and known as the “dean of American rock writers” who admits to being her biggest fan.
But that’s how Ariana Gillis , from St. Catharines, Ontario — who turned 21 earlier this year — began to premiere her second album, Forget Me Not. Earlier, Marsh had played a track — “John and the Monster” — from an advance copy of the CD; one response was a phone call from an enthusiastic listener who wanted to know more about the unusual song, and the singer. The mystery caller was Elton John’s lyricist and songwriting partner Bernie Taupin.
Later, he wrote to the young singer’s father, musician and producer David Gillis: “I’m staggered by how good she is. There is not much that impresses me these days but after hearing her available tracks I can honestly say she’s the single most exciting thing I’ve heard in a very long time.”
Forget Me Not, like her first CD, To Make It Make Sense, is a collection of Ariana’s original songs. “Original” not only indicates that she wrote or co-wrote all the songs, but that the subjects are unusual. Not many artists (regardless of their age) write songs about creatures in a lake with healing powers, people in adjacent graves chatting with each other, the annual slaughter of dolphins in a cove in Japan, or young sailors forced to walk the plank.
Chosen as Young Performer of the Year at the 2009 Canadian Folk Music Awards, she is fulfilling the promise many people have seen since she put out her first EP when she was 17.
Unusually, her chief collaborator is her father, David Gillis, himself an award-winning guitarist with his own solo career. He produced the new CD, co-wrote several of the songs, and plays banjo and/or guitar on every track.
Over the last few years I have had the opportunity to hear and observe Ariana Gillis perform in several varied venues — a showcase of young artists at the OCFF conference, an intimate nightclub, a folk festival workshop stage. I’ve been in this business for well over 35 years and consider myself a pretty good judge of talent…. she’s got it all!” – Wendell Ferguson
Victoria Vox
Imaging hearing Sweet’s “Ballroom Blitz,” Elton John’s “Bennie & the Jets,” Talking Heads’ “Psycho Killer” or Buddy Holly’s “Everyday” on the ukelele. You just might at a Victoria Vox concert. Eclectic, upbeat and clever, Victoria, has been warming the hearts of her audience across the United States, Canada, Australia and Europe. Her songs are honest, moving, but also light-hearted. Vox earned a degree in songwriting from the Berklee College of Music and has become known among the ukulele community for her refreshingly modern and rhythmic ukulele technique. Her songs have been featured on NPR, television and in independent films. Vox is a First Place award winner for her french tune, “C’est Noyé” in the International Acoustic Music Awards. She has been included in Relix Magazine and Washington D.C.’s City’s Best lists of artists to watch and is a multi WAMA (Washington D.C. Area Music Award) winner for her 2010 release Exact Change and for her work as a Folk-Contemporary vocalist. Also, Vox appeared on the Jay Leno Show to demonstrate her perfected mouth trumpet! Originally from Green Bay, WI, Vox now lives in Baltimore and performs 125+ shows a year. www.victoriavox.com
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