Entertainment

Beach entertainer Patti Loach will be joining well-known mezzo-soprano, and radio host Jean Stilwell in What Was I Saying?, two shows only: Oct. 12, at 7:15 p.m. and 13, at 2 p.m., at the Young Centre Theatre, in the Distillery District. This is part of the fifth annual Cabaret Festival. This 60-minute cabaret show will feature Loach and Stilwell trading stories and singing songs about what it’s like to be a “woman of certain age.” Motherhood and mortgages, happiness and heartaches, passions and delusions, and many other trials and tribulations will be addressed.
Music will include songs by Leslie Arden, Irving Berlin, Georges Bizet, Frederic Chopin, Stephen Sondheim and Kurt Weill. Joining the duo on trumpet will be Patti’s husband, John Loach.
Patti (pattiloach.com) has been involved in jazz, theatre and classical music for many years. She studied at the Royal Conservatory of Music and the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto. Stilwell (jeanstilwell.com) is well-known for her renditions of Carmen, and is one of the morning hosts on Zoomer Radio.
Tickets to What Was I Saying? are $20 in advance, and $25 at the door, $15 for students. They are available by calling the Young Centre Box Office at 416-866-8666, or online at globalcabaret.ca.
Patti will also be performing with actor-singer Brad Hampton when they present The Picture of Happiness, Oct. 19 and 20, at 8 p.m., at the Gallery Fontana Swing, The Wrigley Lofts, 245 Carlaw Ave.
The Picture of Happiness tells the story of an old photo that Brad’s character found in his grandmother’s basement many years previous. It is a photo, taken just before the Second World War, of two men sharing a picnic together. Figuring out that one of the men in the photo is probably his grandfather, Brad asks his grandmother about the other man.
“We don’t talk about it,” she says. “We never talk about it.” Years later Brad brings up the photo to his mother in conversation. Together they make the connection between Brad’s grandfather, the photo, and Brad’s life today. The Picture of Happiness is touching, funny, and full of wonderful music by such composers as Mancini, Rogers and Hammerstein, Johnny Mercer, and more.
Hampton (bradhampton.ca) is an actor most recently seen in RBC Avion television commercials. The Picture of Happiness is directed by Rae Ellen Brodie. For more info visit thepictureofhappiness.com.
Tickets to The Picture of Happiness are $35 for adults, $30 for seniors and students, and are available in advance through the website above.
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The Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra (SPO) kicks off its 33rd season with a special concert, and a move to a new auditorium.
Trumpets to the Fore will feature father and son trumpet duo Barton and Steve Woomert, under the direction of guest conductor Sheldon Bair. Barton Woomert has been the Associate Principal Trumpet with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (TSO) since 1982, and teaches trumpet at the University of Toronto. Steve is a student on the Artist Diploma program at the Glenn Gould School on a Chancellor’s Scholarship. Bair is the founder and director of the Susquehanna Symphony Orchestra in Maryland, now in its 36th season.
“Scarborough Philharmonic Orchestra concerts have a wonderful environment where the performers have a passion for the great orchestral music they are performing,” said Royer. “There is the tradition of the audience and orchestra mingling during intermissions and after concerts.”
Because of cost increases, the SPO has moved its concerts to the Salvation Army Citadel, 2012 Lawrence Ave. E., at Warden. Parking is free and the concert hall is wheelchair accessible. Tickets are available in packages which include all six concerts in the season, or individually per concert. They can be purchased by calling 416-429-0007, or online at spo@spo.ca. For more information on this or other upcoming concerts in the series visit spo.ca.
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Kingston Road United Church, 975 Kingston Rd., presents a special concert featuring four beautiful young cellists who call themselves Lush. The concert takes place at the church October 14, at 1:30 p.m.
Lush will be playing music from around the world, including music from China, the Middle East, Israel, France, and South America, as well as a medley of Beatles tunes, Pete Townsend, and Van Morrison. Tickets are $20 for adults, and $10 for seniors and students. Children under 12 are free.
For more information call Kingston Road United Church at 416-699-6091, or visit kruc.ca.
The church is also presenting a special evening entitled Celebrate and Support Queer and Trans Youth in our Community,  Oct. 16, from 7 to 9 p.m. There will be a screening of a film recently shown at the Vancouver Film Fest called What I LOVE About Being Queer, “a candid and raw look at queerness.” Filmmaker Vivek Shraya will be on hand to discuss his “intimate, yet humourous approach” to the topic. A question and answer session will follow. Also on hand for the evening will be two people who are trans, a public health person, a chaplain from the University of Toronto, and an expert from the Kid’s Help Line. All will be speaking about and giving support to queer and trans youth in the community.
Admission is free, and all are welcome. For more information call 416-699-6091, or visit kruc.ca.
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Acoustic Harvest, in conjunction with Patio Records, presents the Second Annual Healing Garden Music Fest Benefit Concert, Oct. 20, at 8 p.m., at St. Nicholas Church, 1512 Kingston Rd. The concert features Nashville recording star Irene Kelley with Scott Neubert (irenekelley.com); The Laws, a husband and wife folk/country duo (thelaws.ca); John Prince along with Bruce McDaniel; and special guest Don Reed.
Proceeds from this special concert go towards the establishing and maintaining of garden patios – healing gardens – in hospitals across Ontario, to provide comfort to patients undergoing the rigors of cancer treatments. The first Mary Eagan Garden in Canada was established at the Richard and Annette Bloch Cancer Survivor’s Park in Ottawa in 2008. Since then there have been other gardens created in Ottawa and Renfrew. The Acoustic Harvest concerts are to provide funds for a Healing Garden in the GTA.
Tickets are $22 for adults, and $20 for seniors and students in advance; $25 at the door. For more information, or to order tickets call 416-264-2235, or visit acousticharvest.ca, or patiorecords.com.
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Singer-songwriter Peter Verity will be appearing every Tuesday at the Black Swan, 154 Danforth Ave., from 9 p.m. until 1 a.m. He is working on a new recording and is using this gig to showcase the new tunes that will be on it. You can also hear old favourites from his two previous CDs High Flyer, and Sometimes a Journey.
Peter is a generous stage performer so you can expect many musical friends to drop by to jam, or perform some of their own material with Peter accompanying them. For more information call Peter at 416-423-1952, or visit him online at peterverity.com.
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Relish Bar & Grill, 2152 Danforth Ave., has just released its fall line-up of musicians. New Music Night is every Saturday from 9:30 until 11:30. Monique Barry will take the stage Oct. 13; with Buff Justice Oct. 20; LINDY on Oct. 27; Max Brand & Billy Zaa will be appearing Nov. 3; and Alun Piggins on Nov. 10.
Every Wednesday night from 7:30 to 9:30, listen to jazz by The BTB’s. And there is Stir It Up Sundays, an open mic night, Sunday evenings from 10 p.m. until 2 a.m.
On Oct. 31 there will be a special Halloween party featuring The Troolblazers beginning at 9:30 p.m. There is never a cover at Relish Bar & Grill. For more information call 416-425-4664, or visit relishbarandgrill.com.
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Naomi, a 17-year-old Beach singer-songwriter, has released a video of her single Burning Down, the first release from an upcoming self-titled CD. You can find it on YouTube. The interesting feature about this video is that it was shot entirely in the Beach. Naomi’s CD is being produced by another Beach business, pWp Productions.

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