Musical artists Andrew Bate and Matthew Lovegrove performed an hour-long set of meditative melodies on Sept. 1 during an open-air concert in the Oxygen Trail Forest on the slopes of Mount Elphinstone. The event was organized by the Living Forest Institute to draw public attention to the neighbouring Water Protection Forest that was recently sold to a logging company by BC Timber Sales.
Nearly 50 spectators hiked for 20 minutes through the brush to reach the moss-lined natural amphitheatre where Bate and Lovegrove blended acoustic guitar, deftly-harmonized vocals and looped electronic textures.
Actors, playwright read Off the Page
The Off the Page play-reading series — founded by onetime Granthams Landing literary giant David King and now led by Peter Hill, Pamela Girone, and Anthony Paré — picks up again this month with the start of a new season.
Peter Hill’s play 1983 — a Merman I should turn to be will be dramatized by readers Melissah Charboneau, Steve Schwabl, Lisa Furfado and Justin Huston at the Heritage Playhouse in Gibsons on Sept. 22.
Hill is a retired English teacher who taught literature and creative writing in Vancouver over three decades. During his teaching career, Hill was the co-director of a number of Shakespeare’s plays and wrote several of his own, but never had the opportunity to present them in public.
Upon retirement, he moved to Gibsons and formed a musical duo with David King called Foolish Man.
The plot (and title) of the upcoming reading is inspired by Jimi Hendrix’s 1983 –– a merman I should turn to be, composed a year before his death in 1970. In the song, Hendrix imagines escaping the materialistic and mechanical world by walking into the sea.
Hill’s take on 1983 is a comedy about Cameron, an ex-hippie and now small-time coke dealer who wants to commemorate Hendrix’s song by performing it at midnight in English Bay. After a punk arrives on the scene and makes fun of Cameron’s idea, a New Age love child calls on the spiritual realm to intervene. Meanwhile, Cameron’s girlfriend just wants him to join the real world. “The play shows us the past we thought we’d left behind that lives with us still,” observed Hill.
Admission to the Sept. 22 reading (which starts at 1 p.m.) is by donation with cash at the door.
Standing for industrial heritage
Heritage BC this week announced the completion of its province-wide Industrial Heritage Map. Based on community-submitted historic sites, the interactive online map identifies and “tells the stories” of 76 significant industrial sites across the province. The resource is designed to help trace the historic industrial activities that impacted livelihoods, community growth, economy, and the environment of the province.
Communities, organizations and individuals province-wide were encouraged to submit information on industrial heritage sites that played an important role in their community or the province.
“We were very happy with the support and enthusiasm we heard from across the province in the nomination process. The number and diversity of nominations clearly show the impact that industry has had on communities all over the province,” said Kirstin Clausen, executive director of Heritage BC.
The web-based map was unveiled during an online launch party on Aug. 28, with attendees from more than 60 communities across the province joining the virtual event.
A single site from the southern Sunshine Coast appears on the map: Port Mellon, listed only as a “company town” with a paucity of corroborating details. In point of fact, the riverside locale named for Captain Henry Mellon after his founding of the British Columbia Wood Pulp & Paper Company in 1908 is today classified as an unincorporated populated place by the Gazetteer of British Columbia.
Last year, the Gibsons Landing Heritage Society received funding from the BC Heritage Legacy Fund for two forthcoming projects that will provide a more comprehensive view of local history. In the works are a website to bring awareness to heritage assets and interest in the Town of Gibsons, and much-needed research and updates to the Gibsons heritage inventory (originally published in 2006).
The Industrial Heritage Map can be browsed online at heritagebc.ca/cultural-maps/industrial-heritage-places.
Culture Days need more Coast
BC Culture Days is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year with hundreds of free and pay-what-you-can arts and culture events across the province from Sept. 20 to Oct. 13.
“This year’s theme of interculturalism is all about celebrating and honouring the connections between diverse people, groups, and cultures,” said BC Culture Days program director Nazanin Shoja. “Through our events’ offerings of creative experiences, we hope to foster a sense of community and appreciation of our cultural intersections.”
The program is administered by the Greater Vancouver Society to Bridge Arts and Community with funding from the provincial and federal governments and other partners.
As the Coast Reporter went to press this week, Culture Days listings for the Sunshine Coast were conspicuously void. Enthusiastic organizers can add their happenings to the list of 500 other provincial hotspots — and benefit from the resulting publicity — by visiting culturedays.ca.
Songs for summer’s end rescheduled
The highly-anticipated recital by operatic soprano Teresa Sedlmair (and pianist Tom Kellough) that appeared in the Aug. 9 edition of the Coast Reporter has been rescheduled until Friday, Sept. 13 — owing to a chest cold with no regard for German lieder music. The concert will now take place at 7 p.m. on Sept. 13 at St. John’s United Church in Davis Bay. Printed tickets ($25) can be purchased in advance from the Sechelt Visitor Centre on Teredo Street.
