What's Up

Winnipeg artist showcases new exhibition

Made over an 11-year period, the work in Steven Leyden Cochrane’s new exhibition, Shining Tapestry, incorporates textiles, text, photography and digital media into visual representations of personal experiences of trauma.

Cochrane — who was born in Tampa, Fla., but now calls Winnipeg home — is a former art critic for the Free Press. He has taught at the University of Windsor and the University of Manitoba, and his work has been featured in exhibitions across Canada and in the U.S.

His multimedia work examines the inconsistency of memory and experience.

With Shining Tapestry, he looks at the way images and language break down when not properly articulated or translated and how the intense emotions of those suffering from illness or going through other traumatic events can cause deficits that are reflected in mixed metaphors, miscommunication, blurring and warping.

Shining Tapestry is anchored by a series of huge lace wall pieces crocheted in cotton thread by the artist. These beautiful, astonishingly detailed "documents" are based on low-resolution photographs and improvised text that "aim to highlight and destabilize the precarious mental structures that give subjective experience its illusion of continuity and order," according to a release.

Shining Tapestry is on view now at Aceartinc. There will be an artist talk on Saturday, Sept. 22, at 2 p.m.; the exhibition runs to Oct. 5.

 

— Jill Wilson

 

Pianists to kick off jazz series, WSO season

If you love the piano and you’re not fussy about genres, then this is the week for you.

On Saturday, Sept. 15 and Sunday, Sept. 16, the Marcus Roberts Trio opens the 2018-19 Izzy Asper Jazz Performances at the Berney Theatre. And on Monday, Sept 17, Emanuel Ax joins the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto as it opens its new season and welcomes its new maestro, Daniel Raiskin, at the Centennial Concert Hall.

Roberts, dubbed "The Virtuoso" in a 2014 profile on 60 Minutes, began his touring career at 21 with Wynton Marsalis before starting his own band several years later. His latest album, 2017’s Trio Crescent: Celebrating Coltrane, is his 24th as bandleader (Roberts has also appeared on 16 Wynton Marsalis albums during his career).

Roberts — who grew up in Jacksonville, Fla. — became blind at five years old due to glaucoma and cataracts, and taught himself to play the piano before taking lessons at age 12 and later attending Florida State University to study classical piano.

"Neither of my parents tolerated self-pity," Roberts says on his website. "Thanks to my parents, I have always believed that if you face (and even embrace) a problem or difficult set of circumstances, you will find some type of solution or at the very least, learn to cope with it better."

Like Roberts’ musical partnership with Marsalis, Ax is also known for collaborating with a modern master, in his case, cellist Yo-Yo Ma. The two first teamed up in 1973 and have since won five Grammy Awards together, and Ax has also won two more on his own for 1995 and 2004 albums of Haydn piano sonatas.

Tickets for Roberts’ concerts (Saturday at 8 p.m.; Sunday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.) are $42, $20 for students, and are available at radyjcc.net. Tickets for Ax’s concert with the WSO range from $60 to $120 (or $1,000 for the gala dinner ticket) at wso.ca.

 

— Alan Small

 

Time to Party at Park Theatre

Many of Winnipeg’s hard-rock and heavy-metal fans will be making their way to Bell MTS Place to see Metallica on Thursday, Sept. 13, but for those who couldn’t get a ticket (or didn’t want to shell out hundreds of dollars to buy one), another well-known name in the genre will be gracing the Park Theatre stage at the same time — Andrew W.K.

The self-proclaimed "king of partying" is on the road in support of his new album, You’re Not Alone, released earlier this year. It’s his first new music in more than a decade and while it is distinctly an Andrew W.K. record — full of party starters and upbeat anthems — it also contains a few spoken-word tracks on which W.K. speaks to his philosophies on self-confidence, positive thinking and looking on the bright side, themes that are explored in most of the lyrics on the record.

W.K. first came to be part of the collective consciousness in 2001 after the release of his debut studio album I Get Wet, which produced three huge hits: It’s Time to Party, Party Hard and She is Beautiful. The American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist — also known for his energetic and dynamic live performances — has also done a few film and television appearances, works as a music producer and has written columns and articles for a number of publications around the world.

Tickets for the show are $25 plus fees and taxes and are available at Into the Music and at ticketweb.ca, though there aren’t many left. Doors open at 8 p.m. and music is set to start at 9 p.m. The event page on Ticketweb states this is an 18+ show.

 

— Erin Lebar

 

Nygård celebrates 50 years of fashion

Say what you want about Peter Nygård — and let’s face it, it’s probably already been said — but the man and his Winnipeg-based line of women’s clothing have staying power.

The Finnish-born Nygård, who has lived in Winnipeg but now calls the Bahamas home, is now in his mid-70s and seemingly defying the ravages of time.

Over the course of the past five decades, he has worked his way up in the world of women’s garments into the role of a powerhouse global fashion executive.

On Friday, Nygård and company will celebrate 50 years in fashion with an event that promises to be, according to the company’s website, the "gala of the century" — no small claim.

The event promises a "dazzling fashion show, expertly prepared meals, a live band and world-class entertainment." That fashion show will include 25 breast cancer survivors; proceeds from the evening’s event will go to support breast cancer research. And the entertainment? Well, that includes none other than country superstar Tanya Tucker.

The Nygård 50th anniversary celebration takes place on Friday, Sept 14 in the City View Room of the RBC Convention Centre. Cocktails are at 6 p.m., the fashion show begins at 7 p.m. and dinner is served at 9 p.m.

— Ben MacPhee-Sigurdson

 

Canadian tour to bring Proclaimers to Club Regent

Undoubtedly, there are fans who will indeed "walk 500 miles" to see the Proclaimers sing the 1988 mega-hit I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) and many other favourites by the band.

By comparison, an eight-kilometre stroll — the distance from Portage and Main to the Club Regent Event Centre, according to Google Maps — would be a walk in the park for fans of Charlie and Craig Reid.

The Proclaimers play the casino venue on Tuesday, Sept. 18 as part of a 13-date Canadian tour.

While the Proclaimers are known for the 1988 album Sunshine on Leith — not to mention I’m Gonna Be’s famous appearance in the 1993 film Benny & Joon — they’ve continued to tour and record since then, becoming musical mainstays in the United Kingdom. Their latest album, Angry Cyclist, came out in August, earning four-star reviews from British music magazines Mojo and Record Collector.

Glasgow-based singer-songwriter Siobhan Wilson will be opening for the pair.

Tickets for the show are available at casinosofwinnipeg.com and Ticketmaster, and range in price from $35 to $47.25 plus fees.

 

— Alan Small