This coming Friday there are some great local shows for you to check out. First, we have the Green Fools Studio (2404 Erlton Road SW) performance of Once Upon an Atom Bomb. This original puppet and physical theatre musical that incorporates puppets, music and video animation is the story of a young girl’s world is being sucked into a black hole. With the pressure of the atomic age and her nuclear family gone terribly wrong, she makes a quantum leap and finds herself inside the universe of her own mind.
There is also the option of heading over to Beat Niq (811 1st St. SW, lower level) for the Ray Charles Tribute Band. The Tribute Orchestra is a 10-piece ensemble featuring Grammy award winner Donald Ray Johnson and former Ray Charles bassist John Gray. Donald Ray Johnson has spent a lifetime dedicated to music. After some 40 years, this Texas-born bluesman is still going strong.
Mother nature is still holding strong to winter, thus it seems fitting to catch a show Saturday evening for the Inglewood Bleak Midwinter Film Festival, a grassroots event started by Inglewood-based animators Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis.
Taking place at Lantern Community Church (1401 10th Ave. S.E.), Saturday’s show is Wiebo’s War, a Canadian film about a community located in Northern Alberta in the 1990s. Natural gas wells were drilled near the home of Reverend Wiebo Ludwig and his clan in Alberta. Soon after, livestock began to die, and the Christian community started experiencing health problems, including a series of miscarriages. After five years of being ignored by the oil and gas industry, Ludwig decided to fight for his land and his family’s survival.
After the show we suggest walking over to Without Papers Pizza (1216 9th Ave SE) for some tasty thin-crust creations.
More interested in checking out some live music? The Calgary Folk Music Festival is bringing Calgarians Buffy Sainte-Marie with Ghostkeeper. She’s a life-long community catalyst, one-woman revolution and prodigious songwriter whose powerful pen has spanned decades and genres. Live, her wonderful songs, including the timeless, profound ‘60s anti-war anthem “Universal Soldier,” blockbuster ‘80s ballad “Up Where We Belong” and incendiary ‘90s protest song “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee” will be delivered with traditional Aboriginal melodies, blues, country and electric guitar-driven rock beats.
Another musical option for the evening is The Grant Thornton Chairman Series – Swingin’ Sinatra with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO). Listen to Steve Lippia’s uncanny ability to capture the essence of the legendary Frank Sinatra and create an unforgettable evening featuring hits like New York, New York, Fly Me to the Moon, My Way and more.
The CPO is also hosting an official after party at Teatro, so get out your fedora and spin the roulette wheel as we relive the days of the Rat Pack in classic Vegas style. Take your symphonic experience from an evening at the concert hall to a night out on the town. Embrace your sense of adventure with champagne, dancing and a few surprises along the way.