Living Arts Centre

The '80s are back in vogue and that's good news for a Canadian band that was at the forefront of the new wave movement in its heyday.
The Spoons, formed in Burlington just over 30 years ago, come to the Living Arts Centre this Friday. It's one of many shows the band has done in the past few years since the music, style and culture of the '80s has become hip again, according to founding member Gordon Deppe.
"I think we've played more shows in the past two years than we did in the previous 15," Deppe, the band's guitarist and vocalist, told The News. "Since the retro thing happened, we've met so many bands and fans who said we were an influence for them."
The resurgence of the decade of excess even has the band talking about a new album.
"If you had asked me before Christmas, I would have said no," said Deppe, who lives in Oakville. "But you see the longevity of the '80s and I don't think it's just nostalgia. I think it's here to stay.
"We're writing (for it) now," he continued. "It was hard to get back into that Spoons frame of mind, but I've been possessed."
The current lineup of the band also includes founding member Sandy Horne on bass and vocals, longtime member Steve Kendry on drums and new addition Stephen Sweeney on keyboard.
The band released its first album, Stick Figure Neighbourhood, in 1981. However, its second album, Arias & Symphonies, released one year later, established the band's reputation.
The album spawned three Top-40 hits in Canada, including Nova Heart, Arias & Symphonies and Smiling in Winter. The band went on to release several more albums, including Talkback and Listen to the City.
It also released Unexpected Guest at a Cancelled Party, a compilation of unreleased material, in 2007.
Show time Friday is 8:30 p.m.
Tickets cost $28 to $45. Call 905-306-6000.

Young lady sings the blues. Budding jazz vocalist Nikki Yanofsky, who's still a teen, comes to the Living Arts Centre for a concert on Friday.
You can't put an age on talent.
Just ask Montreal singer Nikki Yanofsky. The teen, who blew away the audience during her debut concert at the 2006 Montreal Jazz Festival and has landed some sweet gigs over the last few years despite her relatively young age, is coming to the Living Arts Centre on Friday for a performance in Hammerson Hall.
Just 15 years old, Yanofsky has taken the musical world by storm.
Her debut album, 2008's Ella... Of Thee I Swing, garnered the youngster a pair of Juno Award nominations including New Artist of the Year and Vocal Jazz Album of the Year. The album, recorded during a live performance at the Place des Arts in Montreal, was a tribute to the music of the legendary Ella Fitzgerald.
However, her connection to Fitzgerald goes back a year earlier. In 2007, the singer joined music luminaries such as Etta James, Natalie Cole, Gladys Knight and Stevie Wonder, among others, on Verve Records' We All Love Ella: Celebrating the First Lady of Song album.
Yanofsky performed Airmail Special on the release. A snippet of her version can be heard by visiting www.nikkionline.ca.
She also recorded her take on Stompin' at the Savoy with Grammy Award-winning artists Herbie Hancock and Will.i.am for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's audio book, On the Shoulders of Giants. For the younger set who might not know who Etta James or Gladys Knight are, she also recorded the song Gotta Go My Own Way for the soundtrack to Disney's High School Musical 2.
She also appeared with hip-hop artist Wyclef Jean on PBS' The Electric Company and has been broadcast internationally on the channel's youth talent showcase From the Top.
The past year was also a big one for the teen. She was part of a Canadian Jazz Festival tour that included an outdoor concert celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Montreal International Jazz Festival. She also travelled to Japan and South Korea since the summer to perform.
The singer is working on her full-length album, New to Me, with Grammy Award-winning producer Phil Ramone. The album is slated for a spring release.
Yanofsky has performed at Carnegie Hall and The Kennedy Center.
Show time is 8 p.m.
Tickets start at $35. To purchase, call 905-306-6000.
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Standing up. Comic Debra DiGiovanni hosts a night of stand-up comedy at the Living Arts Centre on Thursday as part of the ALTdot Comedy Lounge event.

A collection of hot comics will try to provide a respite from the bitterly cold weather we've been experiencing during a performance on Thursday at the Living Arts Centre.
Comic Debra DiGiovanni will serve as the host and the evening will feature comedians Alan Park and Nathan Macintosh performing as part of the ALTdot Comedy Lounge. It takes place in the RBC Theatre.
DiGiovanni has made a name for herself in comedy circles and many will recognize her from her regular appearances on MuchMusic's Video on Trial program. Her self-deprecating style of humour seems to be a hit with audiences and her fans, garnering her a 2009 Canadian Comedy Award for Best Female Comedian.
Shortly after getting into the business, she was named Canada's Best New Stand Up in 2002 and followed it up with the Best Female Comedian award in 2007, her first of two wins of that award.
DiGiovanni, who comes across as sweet and likeable even when she's ripping horrible music videos through her MuchMusic gig, taped her first gala at Montreal's Just For Laughs Festival in 2007. She's also performed at the Halifax, Winnipeg, Sudbury, Moncton and St. John's comedy festivals and was part of the Girls Night Out tour a couple years back.
She's also appeared on NBC's Last Comic Standing, making the top eight before being bounced. She has taped a pair of Comedy Now! specials and also hosted the 2009 Cream of Comedy awards show.
DiGiovanni appeared in a Toronto production of The Nutcracker over the holidays and has a regular spot on the CBC radio show The Debaters. In the fall, she was named the winner of a Gemini Award for Best Individual Comedy Performance.
Park, meanwhile, is described as a cross between a stand-up comic and a satirist. He had a regular role on CBC's Air Farce, has appeared on CBC's Comics and the Comedy Network and also won the Western Canada Just for Laughs Comedy Competition.
Macintosh, a Halifax native, had a pretty successful 2009, winning a Canadian Comedy Award, being invited to perform at the Halifax Comedy Festival, and taping an episode of The Debaters. He won the Tim Sims Encouragement Fund Award in 2007 and produced an original short for the Comedy Network called The Coffee Shop. He has also appeared on Much Music's Stars Gone Wild.
The comedy series happens the second Thursday of each month until April.
Some of the language in the show may offend.
Show time is 8:30 p.m.
Tickets cost $18-$25. To purchase, call 905-306-6000.
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In the Spotlight. Emily Osment belts out one of her songs to the thrill of screaming fans Saturday night in Hammerson Hall at the Living Arts Centre. Osment stars as Lilly Truscott in the very popular Hannah Montana television series and movies. Photo by Steven Der-Garabedian

Forget Hannah Montana, Emily Osment was here.
Osment, 17, star of the popular Hannah Montana television series, wowed the Mississauga crowd last night when she performed at the Living Arts Centre.
Rather than being content playing the second fiddle, Osment proved to her audience that her vocal prowess is just as strong as her acting capabilities.
The teen sensation appeared in Mississauga as part of a four-city Canadian tour in support of her debut album, All the Right Wrongs.
Since its release, the album has already spawned the hit single All The Way Up.
"It's my first album so I want so much out of it. I want to cram everything I've been doing for the past 17 years into it," Osment said in press material promoting the album.
Osment has a background in music and has recorded songs such as I Don't Think About It and If I Didn't Have You, which she recorded with Hannah Montana co-star Mitchel Musso.
Joining Osment on the tour is Canadian artist Jesse Labelle. Labelle recently released a four-song digital EP called Perfect Accident and will be releasing a full-length debut album in early 2010 on Wax Records.

Shen Yun Performing Arts will present a series of shows at the Living Arts Centre from Jan. 22-23

Expect a smorgasbord of colourful visuals and eye-popping performances when a Chinese dance and music company brings an expansive live show to the Living Arts Centre later this month.
Shen Yun Performing Arts will present three shows on Jan. 22-23 in Hammerson Hall as part of the group's worldwide tour. Tickets are currently on sale.
Performers resplendent in colourful costumes will present examples of classical Chinese dance, ethnic and folk dances and story-based dances. According to the show's website, the audience can expect "grand imperial processions to legions of thunderous drums with gorgeously costumed dancers moving in stunning synchronized patterns."
The folk dances will showcase the many ethnic groups living near and within China. Expect to see dances from "the plains of Tibet, the shores of a Dai village or the sprawling plains of Mongolia."
The stories told through dance "embody the most exalted virtues of Chinese civilization and convey a message or moral that is still relevant today."
The music will be provided by the Shen Yun Performing Arts Orchestra, using both traditional Chinese and Western instruments. The 40-plus member band will be accompanied singers and solo instrumentalists.
Adding to the overall visual package are the backdrops, many of which are animated. The costumes worn by the performers are both traditional and contemporary.
"We're thrilled to be able to bring such a high-calibre show here," said organizer Michael Cui.
Tickets cost $35-$120
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Brampton's Anne Parker, manager of corporate sales at Mississauga's Living Arts Centre, will be the subject of a film that explores her battle with breast and ovarian cancer

Anne Parker, one of the first women to undergo genetic testing for the breast cancer gene, has survived cancer three times.
Now Hollywood has come calling on the 58-year-old Brampton resident and manager of corporate sales at Mississauga's Living Arts Centre, whose loss of her mother and sister to the disease led her to suspect a defect in her family gene pool long before scientists found it.
Parker's battle against breast and ovarian cancer will be the subject of a movie from the same producer and cinematographer who made the Oscar-winning film Monster.
The independent film, Decoding Annie Parker, is supposed to begin shooting this March in Vancouver. It tells Parker's story, as well as the tale of Mary-Claire King, an American geneticist who spent years hunting for the genes she believed might be responsible for breast and ovarian cancer.
Steven Bernstein, who will make his directing debut, said: "It's a matter of faith. Anne had the ability to look into the future and keep believing in her survival, and if she just hung in she'd come to an understanding of things."
King was also sustained by faith, he said. "She spent 15 years of her life trying to prove something that people said wasn't provable and she succeeded."
Parker was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 1980, at 29. She had lost her mother to the same disease when she was 13; her sister, who also had ovarian cancer, died when she was 27. For years, Parker said, she had asked for mammograms but was told, "I didn't need one; that there was no reason to believe that just because my mother and my sister died from the disease I was going to get it."
She was always compulsively checking her breasts.
Others thought she was a hypochondriac. It would be years before science isolated the genes involved, but "there was a voice in my head telling me the likelihood that my breast cancer diagnosis had to be somehow connected to some kind of flaw in our gene pool."
Parker's left breast was removed. She had chemotherapy.
When she was 38, she got ovarian cancer. She had her ovaries removed and more chemotherapy.
She survived. Still, she had no idea why she kept getting cancer.
In October 1994, the gene BRAC-1 was found; the following year BRAC-2. These genes are responsible for causing 5 per cent of all breast cancers and 10 per cent of all ovarian cancers. Suddenly, Parker realized she might have an answer.
She was tested in 1996, and was featured in a Star story about genetic testing.
Parker wanted women around the world to know their outcomes could change by being tested, so she wrote an as yet unpublished book – now the basis for the film's script – about her ordeal. Four years ago, a tumour was found behind Parker's liver. It was removed and chemotherapy followed.
Today, Parker is an advocate for genetic testing, and recommends it to anyone who has breast cancer in his or her family.
"I have come to the conclusion cancer is my life," she said. "I had to make the decision for the world, for other women. I want other people to know."

Emily Osment
from Disney's Hannah Montana First Canadian Tour
Saturday, January 9 2010 7 PM
Hammerson Hall
Tickets: All Seats: $25

Wind-Up Entertainment recording artist Emily Osment is set to kick off the New Year with a 4 city Canadian concert tour. Driven by heavy play of her highly successful video "All The Way Up", the rising star's brand new EP All The Right Wrongs has been a fixture on the sales charts since it's debut in October. Emily's portrayal of Lilly Truscott in the highly successful Hannah Montana franchise has made her a household name among Canadian youth. Her fans will now have the opportunity to see her perform live and in concert as she continues to build on her success in the musical arena.

Joining Emily on her tour will be Wax Records recording artist Jesse Labelle. Having just released a 4 song digital EP, Perfect Accident, that debuted in the Top 20 on the iTunes Top Sellers Album charts, this up and coming singer/songwriter has been turning heads with his heartfelt pop songs! Jesse's first single and title track "Perfect Accident" is already making waves at radio across the country. The video for the single has just been completed and will be released mid December. Jesse's debut full length album, produced by Dave Thomson (Lights) is set for release early in 2010 on Wax Records. Expect to hear much more from this promising Canadian artist!
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