The 79th annual Kamloops Festival of the Performing Arts begins Sunday, Feb. 26, with speech entries at Sahali Fellowship Church.
Hundreds of students in the performing arts will again converge on Kamloops in pursuit of excellence as they play at venues across the city. The public is welcome to attend the performances.
Programs, which serve as venue passes, are available for $10 each at Long & McQuade, Lee’s Music and United Conservatory of Music, or from Sue Reedman at 250-372-9339. Alternatively, people can pay $2 admission at each venue.
The festival runs until Sunday, March 18, when the culminating Honours Concert takes place at Sagebrush Theatre at 2 p.m.
TRU instructor wins contest
Karen Hofman, a TRU English instructor, is the winner of the 14th annual Okanagan Short Fiction Contest.
Hofman’s story, Billeh and the Bee Man, took top spot in the annual event and netted the author $500.
Jillian Harvey of Nelson claimed the $200 second prize for her story Summer Range. Two Kelowna authors, Shelley Wood and Tara Storness-Bliss, tied for the merit prize and $100 each with their works, respectively The Drop and Gun.
Hofman has taught English lit and composition at TRU since 1990 while publishing short fiction and poetry.
Renowned guitarist tours
One of Canada’s most renowned guitarists, Eric St-Laurent, will perform as part of a trio at the Caffe Motivo on Saturday, March 10, 7:30 p.m.
The trio, promoting their second album, Ruby, incorporates eclectic world elements such as Afro-Cuban rhythms, traditional Turkish melodies, Balkan folk songs and Chicago blues into St-Laurent’s original compositions. They see their music as reflection of the Canadian cosmopolitan experience.
St-Laurent spent a decade in Berlin as a session guitarist. He also toured with the Shuffle Demons and Carlos del Junco.
Tickets, $21, are available from Kamlooops Live Box Office.
The Beatles, you say?
“The Beatles are coming,” wrote promoter Bill Jaswal in an email subject line guaranteed to fetch attention.
Well, not quite. He was referring to the Bombay Bicycle Club, the young indie pop quartet from England currently touring Canada for the first time. Some folks say they are the new Beatles, Jaswal noted. (Remember when Badfinger was touted as the new Beatles and Bruce Springsteen the new Bob Dylan?)
The “BBC” certainly have a Beatles-like buzz going for them.
Tickets to the Tuesday, Feb. 21, show at The Blue Grotto are almost sold out. They’re available from the night club or Long & McQuade for $12.
