What’s up: Shrugging Doctor, Adèle M. Wilding, BPM at WAG, The Trews, Sue Gordon & Aliana Au

Shrugging Doctor turns two… and nine

Shrugging Doctor Beverage Company, 483 Berry St.
Saturday, 4-10 p.m.
Free

Shrugging Doctor Beverage Company, a Winnipeg-based producer of wine, cider, mead and refreshment beverages (think hard ciders, vodka sodas, canned sangria and the like) marks two anniversaries in one on Saturday, and want you to come raise a glass of one of the aforementioned beverages in celebration.

The upstart drinks producer started out as a business in January 2017 on Brooklyn Street, and in 2024 moved into its current location on Berry Street, which has greater capacity, as well as the “Doctor’s Lounge,” a tasting room built from the ground up. It also tends Manitoba’s only vineyard, in the Pembina Valley, producing grapes that go into wine.

This weekend’s festivities kick off Saturday at 4 p.m. — thirsty Winnipeggers can try flights of wines (grape-based and otherwise), enjoy a cocktail, or test drive Shrugging Doctor’s range of non-alcoholic options alongside its in-house food options. Live music gets started at 7 p.m., and there’s no charge for admission.

— Ben Sigurdson

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Steal Away: Songs of Hope and Resilience

Crescent Arts Centre, 525 Wardlaw Ave.
Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
Tickets $20 at eventbrite.com

Join award-winning singer-songwriter and music educator Adèle M. Wilding and her “dream team” of local artists as she presents a program of spiritual music with jazz, blues, gospel and soul influences.

A part of Black History Month celebrations, Wilding is joined by pianist Grant Simpson, bassist Karl Kohut, Monica Jones on saxophone, and percussionist and guest vocalist Jennifer Hanson for an evening of music-making and joyful celebration.

Wilding has performed in venues and festivals on both sides of the Atlantic and collaborated with some of the country’s finest jazz, blues, soul and gospel artists.

The classically trained pianist honed her skills singing in small town choirs in rural Manitoba.

— AV Kitching

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BPM X WAG-QAUMAJUQ

Winnipeg Art Gallery, 300 Memorial Blvd.
Friday, 7:30 p.m.
Free

While well known for its classical and jazz concerts and Nuit Blanche dance parties, the Winnipeg Art Gallery is also becoming one of the city’s premier spots year-round for alternative pop shows.

There’s the new WAG Wednesday Nights concerts, which so far have featured local luminaries Rayannah and Begonia. And then there’s BPM X WAG-QAUMAJUQ, organized with Manitoba Music. Every few months, it fills the WAG’s colourfully lit Tyndall limestone Main Hall with the sounds of local hip hop, Afrobeats and R&B.

This edition, which coincides with Black History Month, features Afrobeats/R&B/trap soul/hip-hop artist and producer Azanti, Afro jazz groove collective Dr. Henry Band, and DJ DeLulu spinning house, world pop, Afrobeats and throwbacks tracks, according to the WAG’s website.

Facilitated by musician Tomiwa Omolayo (whose stage name is Tommyphyll), the quarterly BPM brings together Black creatives to share ideas, mingle and perform.

— Conrad Sweatman

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The Trews

Burton Cummings Theatre, 364 Smith St.
Saturday, 8 p.m.
Tickets $54.50-$119 at Ticketmaster

Canadian rock stalwarts the Trews stop at Burton Cummings Theatre this weekend on a cross-country tour in support of its latest album, Bloody Light.

The Hamilton, Ont.-based band was founded in the 1990s in Antigonish, N.S., by brothers Colin and John-Angus MacDonald and Jack Syperek, with Theo McKibbon and Jeff Heisholt on the current roster. The Trews achieved mainstream success in 2004 for the chart-topping hit Not Ready to Go, which earned the group its first Juno nomination.

Bloody Light is the band’s eighth studio album and focuses on themes of connection and love in a chaotic world.

The Trews are joined on Saturday by openers Eddie and the Dirty Boys, a two-piece country-rock outfit made up of Jay Emmons of the Glorious Sons and Mike Montgomery.

— Eva Wasney

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Sue Gordon & Aliana Au: Steadfast/Changing Light

Soul Gallery, 65 Albert St.
Opening reception tonight, 6-9 p.m.
Free

Sue Gordon’s encaustic works and Aliana Au’s inky Prairie landscapes come together in this duo show celebrating two Manitoba artists with strong points of view.

The encaustic works that compose Gordon’s Steadfast are layered and heady, rendered in earthy tones that evoke rust, blood, graphite and slate.

“The layers of encaustic (wax) paint are like layers of memory and history in all of us, sometimes obscured or blunted by the passage of time,” she writes in her artist statement.

In Changing Light, Au captures, with calligraphic strokes, the winter light on the Prairies.

“I have always been fascinated by the Prairie landscapes: its vast open horizons, its distinct weather, its pure light – each of which creates its own poetic mood,” she writes in her artist statement.

Both artists will be speaking at tonight’s opening reception, which will also feature live music and refreshments. Steadfast/Changing Light is on view until March 7.

— Jen Zoratti