Calling all hopeful bands, singers, DJs, emcees and anyone else bitten by the music bug!
The fifth annual Whistler Music Search has launched its search for participants in the 2014 event, which takes place over the month of October at The Crystal Lounge.
Organizer and previous winner Jon Shrier says four to five acts a night will show off their talents on the first three Thursdays of the month, Oct. 2, 9 and 16.
A winner will be judged each night and will be given a place in the final, on Thurs. Oct. 23. A wildcard performer from one of the three nights will also get into the final.
Prizes include a guitar, opportunities to perform at The Crystal Lounge and a membership at the WMN Studio in Function Junction.
Previous winners include Rachel Thom and last year's successful band WolfParty, then called The Jim Webb Experience.
Applications and further details can be picked up at The Crystal Lounge in Whistler Village.
Five years of poetry becomes album
Whistler resident Holly Young has taken a big artistic plunge; setting 13 poems she has written over five years of travel to music.
The result is Princess Elysia Lightening — Aspen. She explains that "Lightening" stands for transcending.
Young, a yoga instructor at Yogacara Studios in Whistler Village, describes an interesting process for anyone who has ever wanted to make music with their words, free-styling the melodies over studio beats.
"It was a month of production. I would go over to my friend's recording studio and we'd go through beat producers he's worked with... who I really appreciated and like the sound," she says. "It was interesting to see how the voice fell on the beat. I want people to get a real-life story."
Young was in the middle of recording earlier this year when she suffered a miscarriage at seven months, losing her son whom she had already named Aspen. Her 12th song, "Aspen Noel Young" is about the experience, and the album is dedicated to him.
"That was a big inspiration for me. He died and I wanted to create something," she says. "He was so deeply a part of me... I want his life to be honoured."
Copies of the CD are available by contacting Princess Elysia Lightening on Facebook or call or text Young at 1-604-967-1170. They cost $20 each.
Musical Therapy Ride roars in to Whistler
The 13th Annual Music Therapy Ride is set to hit the Sea to Sky Highway on Saturday, Sept. 13, beginning at The Hard Rock Casino in Coquitlam and ending at the Garibaldi Lift Co. in Whistler.
The Music Therapy Ride (MTR) is a charity ride designed to raise funds for community-based music therapy services in British Columbia. Proceeds are administered by the Music Therapy Association of British Columbia, awarding grants to deserving music therapists and care facilities.
Patrick Zulinov of the MTR said they expected 200 bikes and cars to take part.
"We're all pumped for an exciting day," he said. "We're looking at good weather."
Zulinov said they would also be stopping in Squamish for the first time, at Chances Casino.
The Road Hammers join the ride as celebrity guest and the Vancouver Motorcycle Police Drill Team will provide a presidential escort for the entire journey.
"It will be fun for the police to do their butterfly formation and stop traffic," Zulinov said.
Music therapist Susan Summers says her clients have long benefitted from the funds raised by the ride, which have now topped $600,000 in donations.
"The money raised goes directly to clinical hours and clinical work," she said.
"In the last four or five years we've had the bandwagon program. They wanted to put the money into something people could see, something tangible as opposed to just putting it into hours, though it does include music therapy hours."
The bandwagon is a cheerful recording studio on wheels, said Summers, each with instruments and equipment. Users range from children to seniors.
There are two bandwagons, one permanently at Vancouver Children's Hospital and the other rotating around British Columbia. It is currently on Vancouver Island.
"It's a tool that music therapists use. It's not the only tool," she says. "The projects range from songwriting and recording that song (a youth project). They can edit it, add tracks, have someone else come on it. It is very creative for them. It'sreally powerful."
She said she didn't know of a similar project in Canada.
Summers said she would be taking part for the first time this year.
Reservations can be made at: musictherapyride.org — tickets include breakfast, BBQ lunch in Whistler, live music, auction, custom t-shirts and more.
Established by members of the Vancouver music industry in 2002 with representatives from booking agencies, radio stations, record labels, talent managers, concert promoters and recording artists.
To take part costs $199. For more information visit www.musictherapyride.org.
VISUALS opens show at Scotia Creek Gallery
For the first time, The Squamish Valley Artists Society (VISUALS) has moved a show directly from the Foyer Gallery in Squamish to the Scotia Creek Gallery in Whistler.
The show, entitled "True Blue Water," has 38 artists interpret the region's rivers, lakes and the Pacific at Howe Sound.
Organizer Toby Jaxon said the art ranges from beach glass jewelry, to ceramics, to paintings.
"There are Whistler artists, Sea to Sky artists, artists from all over the region," she said.
"The theme was something that we discussed. It is Squamish's 100th anniversary, so the one thing that identifies Squamish apart from other places is that we have this convergence of water, the ocean, the glacial streams, the rivers. They all converge in Squamish and it sets us apart from Whistler and many other communities."
The artists on show include Jaxon, who is a painter, ceramicist Lisa Elbertsen, painter Michiko Splinter, photographer Joanna Schwarz and painter Coral Arrand.
Most pieces are for sale at a full range of prices, said Jaxon.
The exhibition at Millennium Place runs from Sept. 3 to 29.
