Jim Witter; Billy Joel and Elton John, The Piano Men

Jim Witter; Billy Joel and Elton John, The Piano Men

~ at the Sid Williams Theatre, Courtenay

This was billed as a group playing hit songs of Billy Joel and Elton John, but ended up as a 70s Nostalgia trip!!

It included a segment on 70s TV theme songs.
I don't give a rats ass about those Ok??

Gilligans Island, Partridge Family, Monkees, duh!
I wanted more songs from the superstar guys!

What they played was great, but it seemed like they yapped for too long. 

Ultimately I was disappointed.

I was looking for details from Jim on how, why, when these songs were written, what the artist was thinking, the nuances of each particular piece. Too much to expect I guess. 

Matthew and Jill Barber

Matthew and Jill Barber, The Family Album
~ at the Sid Williams Theatre, Courtenay BC


Hadn't heard of this brother and sister before, so was interested in hearing their musical stories
Well received by the locals here, I enjoyed the mix of original and covered versions.
Musicians were excellent, and a mighty fine time was had by all.

~ Jill Barber music

~ Matthew Barber music

Anything Goes, the musical

Anything Goes!

~ the music of Cole Porter, at the Sid Williams
Rainbow Youth Theatre Group has put on a fabulous production of the antics on the S.S. America as it crosses the Atlantic.

Wonderful choreography, strong voices and acting by the Theatre Group.

5 Stars excellent

Into The Forest

Into The Forest
~ CVAG Fall Film Series

Loved this movie!
The premise is a huge power outage in the NorthWest causes a family to struggle through; no electricity and then no gas, no food.

Powerful camera shots, wonderful acting, beautiful scenery lends itself to a spell binding afternoon here.

Definitely one of the best films I've seen in a long time.


Into The Forest Actors discussion here


Into The Forest book review here

Miss Peregrine's Home For Precious Children

Miss Peregrine's Home For Precious Children
~ movie by the same name out now
Recommended to me by Marie of the Driftwood Malls Coles bookstore.
I'm loving it!
I admit, the title turned me off, made me think it was a children's story, but clearly it's in a similar vein as the Harry Potter fantasy novels.
Must see the movie as it's a Tim Burton show.

*** update Oct 13 ***

saw the movie, and as expected, not quite as interesting as the book. Couple of things to note:
- they changed the sex of one of the main characters in the movie
- the ending of the movie was VASTLY different from the book.
- 3D and not really worth the extra price.

Easy

Easy
~ NetFlix series
watched this after seeing it was rated similar to Life in Pieces.

It is similar, however the show is 1 chapter at a time vs 4 for LiP, and Easy is much more developed character-wise and ahem, sexier too.
as in lots of sex ... at least in the first episode.

They always do that right, to pull you in.....

Life in Pieces

Life in Pieces
~ NetFlix TV series
consists of 4 separate chapters within each show, all using the same cast, all quite funny and almost slapstick.

Can be a little long after a while so, take it in small doses.

Genius

Genius
~ CVAG Film series Fall 2016


starring Jude Law (as Thomas Wolfe), Colin Firth (as Max Perkins), Nicole Kidman and the authors, F Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, played by Guy Pearce and Dominic West 

This was beautiful, wonderfully acted by all, especially Jude Law as the weirdly, over energized Tom Wolfe.

Explores the hows and whys of getting his books edited from the 1000 page length to a more reasonable publishable size.

It was Max Perkins who had the stamina and patience to do so, all the while, seeing the intoxication of Tom, infiltrate his own life as it had the life of Tom's mistress Aline Bernstein, played by Nicole Kidman.

Alone Together Again

Alone Together Again

~ a Courtenay Little Theatre presentation
~ at the Sid Williams Theatre Oct 1, 2016

In the hilarious Broadway comedy, Alone Together, Mom and Dad have spent the last thirty years raising three active sons. How they looked forward to the peace, the quiet and the privacy of an empty nest. After considerable comic turmoil and revelation of deep feelings, the nest is finally emptied. Peace now? Quiet? Not for long. The empty nest fills up again by the sudden, unexpected arrival of their parents, each with a problem which is dumped on Mom and Dad. How to empty the nest once again so Mom and Dad can be alone together. Cleverly comic, witty and wise. Alone Together Again has delighted audiences in Europe as well as the U.S.


here's a little clip from a production of the play by another troupe

I enjoyed this, a rainy Saturday evening, comedy close to the heart.