Month: April 2011

Yes, I think we’re all ready for a little entertainment – well, stand by, you’re going to get more than a little in this witty and engaging production.

Brian and Beth Kipping and Wayne Cooper are sounding just wonderful in rehearsals.    Melissa Stephens on the grand piano will, as always, complete this tour de force presentation of Noel Coward’s thoroughly entertaining musical review.

You’re sure of a marvellous time.

Tickets are only $15.00 each and they are available at Organic Times in Minden and Cranberry Cottage in Haliburton.  A wonderful Mother’s Day weekend treat for everyone who loves a good time.

Whether it’s your mom, your mother-in-law or (attention fellows) your wife, we like to see our “moms” happy and smiling on Mother’s Day. Sure, a card’s nice.  Flowers are OK too.  But this year, the very best gift you can give is  tickets to “Oh Coward”.  It’s funny, witty and oh, so musical.  The lovely part about this gift is that you can share in all the fun.  At only $15.00 a ticket, it’s the best bargain in town for Mom’s Day.

A bit about Noel Coward.  Born in 1899 in Teddington, Middlesex, England, Noel became a multi-talented Renaissance man of the 20th century, he worked primarily as a playwright, actor, songwriter, and singer, but his creative activities also included the writing of fiction and poetry; producing and directing for the stage, film, and television; and nightclub entertaining and recording.  He passed away in 1973.  Come celebrate Noel Coward’s wonderful wit and humour – get your tickets today!

Beth, Brian, Wayne and Melissa are hard at work preparing for the May 6, 7 and 8th production of the musical review Oh Coward! Words and music by Noel Coward.

Oh Coward!  first saw the lights on May 14, 1970 at the Theatre in the Dell in Toronto.  It was then called A Noel Coward Revue, or To Sir, With Love.  Roderick Cook brought the show to life in concert with Sir Noel.  With Tom Kneebone as his partner and co-star and Dinah Christie as the leading lady – it became a smash hit. The show broke all performance records in Canadian theatre history.

Don’t miss your chance to see this joyful, merry and, oh so witty musical revue.  Get your tickets today … it’s a Mother’s Day weekend treat that everyone will enjoy.

What a little “dandy”.   I’m really pleased with the outcome of Bookish Bunny.  Nattily attired in his reading jacket, with vest, he appears to have a bit of a Lewis Carroll influence.  He joins the growing display of “Mike’s Musings” in our home.

An old friend, Ron Denis asked if I could use the jacket cover from his new children’s book “Adventures in Shroomville”.  Unfortunately Ron, due to the limited space on the face of the book it was impossible to justice to the cover art.  If another project comes up with a book in it .. I promise I’ll try and work the cover art into it.  By the by, Ron is having a book signing Sunday, April 17, 2011 at 1:00pm at Chapters, 1950 The Queensway, Etobicoke.

Bookish Bunny will be named after Tim Srigley’s boyhood rabbit (better remind of that name Tim so I can add it to the title).   Tim is one of my former workmates from JAN Kelley Marketing and remains a good friend.

Bookish Bunny would have a retail value of $125 … and that takes into account cost of materials, kiln costs and below minimum wage for the artist.  Unfortunately a typical return for many artists.  The real joy is in seeing an idea come to life and,  in the final stages, being satisfied with the results.  Handbuilding and sculpting in clay gives me a great deal of enjoyment and at the end of each piece my mind starts working on the next project.

Today’s project – tax preparation.  Oh, joy.  When I get frustrated with that I’ll think I’ll reward myself with a little studio time.  I have a very stylized bird that is waiting for a perch.

Over a business/social lunch yesterday, one of our group recounted a story of meeting a tourist on the main street of Haliburton Village.  The visitor asked where the Tim Horton’s was, as they were having difficulty finding it.  They were told that Haliburton Village has no Tim Horton’s.  The tourist was dumfounded into silence.  A community without a Tim Horton’s …. in Canada.  How can that be?

We had a good chuckle at the story and that, sorta naturally, led to a discussion of things that might make our community more appealing.  We had lots of ideas, some of which have been mentioned by others, and most are predicated on having a thought out economic development strategy.  Not something that can be done overnight, but well worth embarking on to ensure that the community has an attainable vision.

I watched this video about the nature of choice and happiness and found that it triggered another way of looking at things.  The concepts apply to literally any marketing challenge  and Malcolm Gladwell’s presentation suggests that, in the realm of economic development, perhaps a community without a Tim Hortons or a McDonalds or a Swiss Chalet and various other, national brand, retail businesses can have its own unique appeal for people looking for a different style and pace in their community of choice.  Malcolm talks about Howard Moskowitz, the American market researcher and psychophysicist and how he changed the development of spaghetti sauce.

http://www.ted.com/talks/malcolm_gladwell_on_spaghetti_sauce.html?awesm=on.ted.com_94VA

It goes without saying that people will look for basic infrastructure in their community of choice, but by gathering in data and employing the analysis, by clever minds like Howard Moskowitz, I would imagine that it is more likely that you will make intelligent decisions for the future.

Maybe not having a Tim Horton’s IS OK.

It’s being billed as the perfect Mother’s Day present, and for good reason.  Oh Coward is a truly clever and engaging musical review.  Who better to take on the challenge of this delightful score than Beth Kipping, Brian Kipping and Wayne Cooper.  On the grand piano, accompanying this stellar cast is Mellisa Stephens.  At $15.00 a ticket this is perhaps the most affordable Mother’s Day gift you can buy.  Go for mom or go for the fun of it.  It promises to be a sparkling spring event.  The details are below … please forward this note to friends.  They’ll be sure to thank you.