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This article was published 21/03/2024 (910 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WECC Fun-Raiser Show

• Saturday, 8 p.m.
• West End Cultural Centre
• Tickets: $20 plus fees at wecc.eventbrite.ca

Have some fun and raise some funds for one of Winnipeg’s most treasured music venues.

This year’s annual Fun-Raiser Show features a stellar local lineup composed of avant-Americana act Leaf Rapids (led by singer/songwriter/thereminist Keri Latimer), Sheena & Daniel (two-thirds of folk trio Red Moon Road), electro-pop outfit French Class and power poppers Bloc Parents (fronted by members of Novillero and the Sorels).

This evening will also include a 50/50 draw, and a variety of door prizes from Prairie Sky Books, Little Brown Jug, the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra, Manitoba Opera and Winnipeg Pro Wrestling will be up for grabs. Doors open at 7 p.m.

— Jen Zoratti

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Country star Zeiders rides TikTok wave

• Warren Zeiders
• Monday, 8 p.m.
• Burton Cummings Theatre
• Tickets: $100-$737 at Ticketmaster

While the United States Congress debates the future of TikTok in that nation, a country artist who owes his fame to the Chinese-owned social-media site will play to a packed house in Winnipeg.

Warren Zeiders, 24, was attending Frostburg State University in Maryland in 2021 when he began writing and covering songs, which he’d post on TikTok. He garnered more than 500 million views, and one of his originals, Ride the Lightning, earned him a record contract with Warner Music.

Pretty Little Poison, the title track to his 2023 debut album, reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart. He’s performed live steadily for the past year, from the 2023 Stagecoach Festival in California — Coachella for country music — to gigs in Australia and Monday night at the Burt.

Zeiders is so popular that the concert is sold out, but verified tickets are available on Ticketmaster’s website, some at highly inflated prices.

— Alan Small

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Spring into markets

• Pitaw Mino Muskîkî Indigenous Handmade Market
• Friday, 5-9 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• Via Rail Union Station, 123 Main Street

The second annual Spring Indigenous Handmade Market brings together more than 85 Indigenous talents, including writers, artists, designers, musicians and photographers, as well as food and baking vendors.

There will be live music by DJ Kaptain, children’s art activities led by Kisa MacIssac, a book reading with Métis author Marika Schalla and a photo booth by Snap Fox.

Pitaw Mino Muskîkî is founded by Shauna Fontaine of Anishinaabe Girl Designs, Brittany Grisdale of Black Wolf Dog and Dana Connolly of Mashkiki Garden Society.

These Indigenous women artists and community advocates have come together to address gaps in supporting Indigenous handmade entrepreneurship and increasing Indigenous economy and artistry appreciation.

—AV Kitching

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Book club welcomes award-winning duo

• Tuesday, 7 p.m.
• Free — see wfp.to/bookclub for details

The Free Press Book Club and McNally Robinson Booksellers welcome authors Andrew Stobo Sniderman and Douglas Sanderson (Amo Binashii) to March’s virtual meeting on Tuesday at 7 p.m. to read from and discuss their 2022 book Valley of the Birdtail: An Indian Reserve, a White Town, and the Road to Reconciliation.

Valley of the Birdtail explores the relationship between the town of Rossburn and the neighbouring Waywayseecappo First Nation — the disparity in income, access to education, racism and more — as it follows generations of two families, one from each community. The book has won a number of prizes, including the John W. Dafoe Book Prize, the Quebec Writers’ Federation Mavis Gallant Prize for Non-Fiction, the Concordia University First Book Prize and the Manitoba Historical Society’s Margaret McWilliams Award.

Sniderman and Sanderson will be joined by Free Press Arts & Life editor Jill Wilson, Adam Araujo of McNally Robinson Booksellers and Free Press multimedia producer Nadya Pankiw; copies of Valley of the Birdtail are available to purchase at McNally Robinson.

Buy on mcnallyrobinson.com

There’s no cost to join the book club or virtual discussion, and if you can’t make it, the meeting will be available to replay after the event on the Free Press YouTube channel. For more information on how to join, and current and future book club picks, visit wfp.to/bookclub.

— Ben Sigurdson

Carmen and intimate partner violence

• Saturday, 1 p.m.
• Millennium Library, Carol Shields Auditorium
• Free

A spoiler: Carmen doesn’t have a happy ending. The classic Bizet opera tells the tragic story of a woman caught in the violent path of a spurned lover, built around a lavish score that’s made the opera the most popular of all time, according to Manitoba Opera, which will stage the show in April.

Ahead of that run, starring Ginger Costa-Jackson, David Pomeroy and Daniel Okulitch and directed by Brian Deedrick, the company is hosting a panel discussion about the themes of intimate partner violence prevalent in Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy’s libretto.

On hand to add context to the classic will be Dr. Tracey Bone from the University of Manitoba’s faculty of social work; Lydia Hamel, a registered social worker and certified sex therapist; Brittany Krahn, a registered social worker and clinical therapist; and Hailey Bird-Matheson, a counsellor at the North End Women’s Centre. Kara Neustaedter, the manager of counselling services at Klinic Community Health, will moderate.

Those interested in attending can register online on the Manitoba Opera website, at 204-942-7470, or by emailing smiller@mbopera.ca.

— Ben Waldman

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