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Joy
Our 2nd Annual Christmas Event
Saturday, November 24, 2001
Marpole Curling Club
On
Saturday evening, November 24, 2001 Beautiful House
Gallery Lounge presented Joy.
Joy
featured the live musical stylings of newcomer Kristia
Di Gregorio (jazz), Sonicjoy
(ethereal electronica), Naomi
Sider (alternative indie rock), Red
Velvet Swing (pop lounge), Soressa
Gardner (alternative folk) and opened with Reach
One Featuring Kimona (gospel/funk/r&b fusion)
and female quartet, SAAH.
Joy
also featured spoken word by Malcolm
Johnson; display art by Wei
Ling Virginia and ArtScene
(curated by Christopher
Small).
DJs
Disco
and
Diverse definitely improved the Ultra Joy Chillout
Room by creating their own unique vibe that had a
steady group of people dancing all evening. The Chillout
Room is drawing attention and gaining popularity with
a new crowd of bH'ers and sure to be around as long
as we're at the Marpole Curling Club.
Our
aesthetic approach to the evening was simple. White
Christmas lights illuminated the main lounge as did
plenty of large white and red candles gracing our
12 or so cocktail tables. Once again, we rotated the
stage arrangement differently from all previous events
at the Marpole Curling Club. The stage this time was
against the glass wall overlooking the ice so that
patrons had a unique perspective and in many ways
it drew focus on the day to day surroundings and symbolized
a unique blending of different worlds. Several curlers
who had spent the day curling carried on into the
night, mingling with our regular crowd and for the
first time, we had a greater sense of unity with our
venue.
More
than our usual number of bubbles added the finishing
touch to our simple decor only this time, we called
them Joy In A Bottle. The Ultra Joy Chillout room
was definitely new and improved. DJ's Disco
and
Diverse added their own unique flavor of lighting,
visuals and layout that really worked well to stimulate
a chillout environment. By 8 o'clock, for the first
time, we had a dance crowd that grew and continued
all night long and a separate vibe from the live entertainment
in the main room. Two rooms, two vibes, one joy.
A
stunning wall of art, visible from every corner of
the room, commanded attention along the wood paneled
alcove of the main room. Christopher Small represented
selected works from 10 of the 130 artists found at
ArtScene
- with a late night appearance by proprietor, Michelle
Searle. Wei
Ling Virginia's, amis et amores exhibit of nude
drawings very appropriately enveloped the life drawing
area of the room with subtle red lighting and plenty
of space for sketch artists to move around and work
with our models. Models, Josanne
and Joel began at 10 o'clock with short poses on the
low platform bed, a regular fixture at Beautiful House
events. They moved into longer poses as the evening
unfolded. An impromptu merchandise table of local
scenic greeting cards by Neall Calvert has inspired
us to seek other artists interested in selling their
work in a similar fashion.
Joy
got off to a great start with SAAH.
SAAH
means breath in Punjabi and spells out the first names
of the four women who formed the quartet that opened
Joy and set the tone for a great evening. Their rendition
of "Rock-A-Bye Baby" was amazing and is
still resonating in our ears.
Reach
One featuring Kimona
got the crowd into the spirit of things with their
R&B gospel funk fusion including gospel versions
of "I Got The Music In Me" and "Stand
By Me".
All
the artists on The
Beautiful EP, which was pre-released at Joy,
were featured that night including Soressa
Gardner and Shanto
Battacharya performing some of their latest material.
Naomi
Sider performed a moving rendition of O Come,
O Come Emmanuel that began a capella for the first
verse with Dale Anaka joining in on guitar.
Malcolm
Johnson read more of his signature surfer themed
literary works as well as a short quote from Cincinnati's
legendary Over
The Rhine that expressed our underlying reasons
for putting the event together: "For real joy
is always tinged with sadness. And the walls lean
in and the ceiling lifts off the room and we are among
the stars. The piano keys float away in slow motion
like boats on a calm sea and I wake to the sound of
a familiar voice saying, Peace, be still, and I know
the secret impossible plan is this: we are alive.
All is well. The world will somehow be saved."
The band's Christmas album, The
Darkest Night Of The Year played during intermission.
The
diversity of musical styles in our lineup was truly
appreciated by many people who we chatted with throughout
the evening; Sonicjoy,
with lead vocalist, Joyelle
Brandt belly dancing, and guest performers from
Nelson, BC were no exception. Joyelle commented, among
other things, on seeing James dancing at the door.
For
the first time, we took an inside approach and had
James emcee the evening with virtually flawless sound
throughout the night with new friend and former performer,
Jon Brotherton.
Kristia
Di Gregorio with her sexy microphone and Tony
on upright bass gave the room a definite smokey, sultry,
jazz flavour - heightened by subtle red lights rising
upon the stage from the floor (kudos to our lighting
director, friend and former featured display artist,
Roger
Mahler). One of our guests found the room to be
close to the legendary 'Butte Montmartre' venues in
Sacré-Coeur in Paris throughout the century
until the sixties.
Much
to our joy, friends Janet Thornton and Cliff
Howard of Red
Velvet Swing performed some of our favourite covers,
original materials and ended the night by "making
spirits bright".
We
plan on posting our original CD compilation playlists
used throughout our intermissions regularly in the
near future and thanks to those of you who noticed
the effort we put into creating a positive vibe for
your soul.
A
big thank you to all our performers, crew and guests.
Beautiful House relies heavily on your support and
valued feedback.
To stay abreast on the latest at bH, visit Beautiful
Happenings and join our email
list if you don't already belong.
Joy
Doorprize Winner:
Meita
Winkler of Vancouver was the winner of our doorprize,
a copy of The
Beautiful EP featuring 12 tracks from 6 artists
that have performed music and spoken word at Beautiful
House. Meita
writes, "I had a great time, it was a lovely
vibe there (really liked the smoking lounge set up
with DJ and candles!)
Marpole
Curling Club Lounge
8730 Heather Street
(@ Southwest Marine Drive)
Across from Canadian Tire near A&B Sound at Cambie
& Marine.
enJoy
Cheap Drinks:
Bottled
Beer for $3.95 including Sleeman's, Guiness Stout
and Okanagan Spring Pale Ale; Imported Bottled Beer
$4.25 including Heineken and Corona; Draft Beer (September
to July) $3.65 per pint or $10.90 per jug; Mike's
and Smirnoff Ice for $4.35 per bottle; Coolers and
ciders for $4 per bottle; and two-ounce Beautiful
House cocktails available only during our events for
$6.
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