Lynna Goldhar Smith

Culture Crawl starts Nov. 16

Suzy Birstein is one of the many Jewish community artists taking part in this year’s Eastside Culture Crawl Visual Arts, Design & Craft Festival, which runs Nov. 16-19. (photo by Britt Kwasney)

The 27th annual Eastside Culture Crawl Visual Arts, Design & Craft Festival takes place Nov. 16-19 and features almost 450 artists, including many from the Jewish community. Among the community members opening their studios to visitors are Suzy Birstein, Olga Campbell, Hope Forstenzer, penny eisenberg, Robert Friedman, Lori Goldberg, Lynna Goldhar Smith, Ideet Sharon, Stacey Lederman, Shevy Levy, Lauren Morris and Esther Rausenberg.

“We welcome the public to dive back into the Culture Crawl this fall to experience and be inspired by our artists’ growth and discovery. [The pandemic] has been a time of change for many of us and I believe art is a conduit for moving forward together,” says Rausenberg in the event’s press release. Rausenberg is a photo artist, as well as artistic and executive director of the Eastside Arts Society, which puts on the Crawl.

The Independent spoke with a few of the participating Jewish artists about what visitors to their studios can expect to see, and whether creativity is a place of refuge or if it is harder for them to create in times of conflict, including but not limited to the Israel-Hamas war and the war between Ukraine and Russia.

Visitors to Birstein’s studio will see her “figures from fired clay infused with aged and lustred surfaces, which inspire paintings in oil, cold wax and collage.”

The artist is currently working on two series, which will merge into the solo retrospective at Il Museo Gallery, curated by Dr. Angela Clarke for 2025.

“Both series evoke my art/travel adventures to Europe, Mexico and Cambodia,” said Birstein.

“‘Ladies-Not-Waiting’ reference the gazed-upon women by old master painters – Velasquez, Fouquet and Manet – alongside self-portraits painted by masterful female artists, Frida Kahlo, Leonora Carrington and Leonor Fini,” she said, while Tsipora (her Hebrew name, meaning Bird) is a series of loose self-portraits, which “embrace an exotic earthiness living within my poetic imagination.”

Both bodies of work, she said, “speak to nesting and transcendence, the mirror and reflection and celebrate the individual and universal.”

For Birstein, in times of conflict, “be it COVID, warfare, personal challenges – the only thing that centres me, coming directly from within me, is the creative refuge of my studio and making art. As I say this, I must stress that the love and compassion I feel for and receive from my family, friends, students and peers is the other half of that equation. I can’t imagine one without the other and I am extremely grateful.”

Friedman describes himself as “a muralist-styled stained glass artist.” He has worked in stained glass for more than 40 years and has recently added a blown glass dimension to his work, according to his website, which is also a recent addition.

“My studio is a great place and haven for creative thought and output,” he told the Independent. “[T]hese troubled times just [add] more impetus for me to have it reflected even more so in my artwork.”

Goldberg also finds herself more driven.

“My work is about vitality, life, vibration forging connections and bringing two opposing energies together as a way to find potential for resolution,” she said. “I have a responsibility as an artist to respond. I am more motivated. Expressing ‘Heaven on Earth’ is one way I respond to pain and suffering.”

Goldberg had a three-month residency on the North Shore, which she spent painting the forest – work that studio visitors will see.

“I was recently reading the book Speak for the Trees by Diana Beresford-Kroger about how the roots of the trees, the mycelium and plants and trees talk to each other,” said Goldberg. “By painting in the forest, I learnt how to listen, experience the tranquility, vitality and interconnectedness of the forest and to myself.”

Since the spring, Goldhar Smith has been “creating minimal colour-field style landscapes based on the idea of the shape of light and the colour of shadows,” she said. “The paintings are rendered in soft blues and pastels or deeper mysterious tones and suggest memories of places real and imagined.”

She acknowledged, “The conflict in Israel has, of course, been enormously upsetting and I find myself in despair for both sides of the conflict. My paintings do not yet reflect these emotions, but they will in coming months. I don’t yet know what I will be painting but I will be exploring more difficult terrain.”

For Forstenzer – a glass artist and director of the Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery – creativity can be a place of refuge, but also more challenging in times of conflict.

“Making work when I’m feeling the stress of all that’s going on personally and globally is truly healing,” she explained, “but when I’m feeling overrun with those things, it can be a lot harder to fully concentrate at times.”

Lately, Forstenzer has been making glass clocks, something she describes as “incredibly fun.”

“I can experiment with colour and pattern in the glass, and I’ve learned a lot about clockwork mechanisms, which is also an exciting thing to dive into – I’ve been down many rabbit holes online about clockmakers,” she said. “I’ll have a bunch of clocks on display and for sale at the Crawl.

“I also have spent a lot of the last year generally playing with colour and pattern,” she added. “I’ve made vessels – vases, bowls, cups – that experiment with a particular colour or look or pattern or stripe in glass. Once I have a colour process in place, I often go on to use those colours, patterns and processes in sculptural pieces. Since I’ve done so much experimenting this year, there will be a lot of pieces on display and for sale at the Crawl as well.”

In addition to opening their studios, Forstenzer and Birstein are part of the Crawl’s juried exhibition, which has the theme “Out of Control.”

“At a time when we start to celebrate our freedom from pandemic restrictions, it’s an opportunity to reclaim experiences that were denied for so long, a chance to think outside of the box and just let go,” says Rausenberg in the press release.

The exhibition features the work of 80-plus Eastside artists and takes place at multiple venues: Alternative Creations Gallery and Strange Fellows Gallery (both until Nov. 19), the Pendulum Gallery (until Nov. 24) and the Cultch (until Nov. 25).

For more information, visit culturecrawl.ca.

Culture Crawl set to return

Suzy Birstein amid her work, some of which visitors to her studio will see during the East Side Culture Crawl. (photo by Britt Kwasney)

“I am most looking forward to healthily connecting with fellow artists and art lovers in real time, real space. Art is always more powerful in person,” artist Suzy Birstein told the Jewish Independent about the East Side Culture Crawl Visual Arts, Design & Craft Festival, which returns to its traditional format Nov. 17-20. Some 400+ artists will open their studios to the public.

“The sense of community, commitment, excitement, inspiration, appreciation – all that brought me to Parker Street [Studios] and East Side Culture Crawl originally is happening again,” she said. “It feels like a renaissance.”

photo - Photographer Esther Rausenberg, artistic and executive director of the East Side Culture Crawl — Photographer Esther Rausenberg, artistic and executive director of the East Side Culture Crawl. *(photo by Adam P.W. Smith)*

“After the two-year pandemic rollercoaster ride, I am thrilled we are back to a ‘new normal,’” said Esther Rausenberg, artistic and executive director of the Crawl, as well as a participating artist. “I do say ‘new normal,’ as we don’t have a crystal ball and I can’t really speculate how this year’s Crawl will play out. Personally, I am excited to get out and see all of the new and amazing art that has been created and to catch up with the artists. It’s also a real pleasure for me to meet members of the public as they share their enthusiasm for the event, the art and the connections they will be making with the artists.”

Birstein (clay, painting, sculpture) and Rausenberg (photography, Georgia Art Studios) are only two of many Jewish community members who will open their creative space to the public over the four days of the festival, which also features gallery displays, and artist demonstrations and talks. Other community members include, from Parker Street Studios, Shevy Levy (painting), Olga Campbell (clay, mixed media, new media), Mia Weinberg (painting) and penny eisenberg (drawing, painting); from Eastside Atelier, Lauren Morris (mixed media, painting), Ideet Sharon (assemblage, mixed media, painting), Stacy Lederman (mixed media, painting) and Karly Leipsic (mixed media); and, from the Arc, Lynna Goldhar Smith (installation, painting). Overall, festival-goers can explore about 68 buildings and studios in the Eastside Arts District, the area bounded by Columbia Street, 1st Avenue, Victoria Drive and the waterfront.

“This year’s event has a distinctly celebratory tone,” said Levy. “It is a reunion for Vancouver’s established art community, a chance to reconnect, to have meaningful discussions around art, not just with artists, students and educators, but with those who display art, like galleries and art management, and everyone who is excited to work together again.”

photo - During the pandemic restrictions, painter Shevy Levy started a new direction with her abstract work — During the pandemic restrictions, painter Shevy Levy started a new direction with her abstract work. *(photo from Chutzpah!)*

Thinking of the last couple of years, she noted, “What was fascinating about the immediate impact of COVID-19 was the sudden loss of collective connection – both human (face-to-face) and the collective understanding of what the future might bring…. When we were forced to isolate, I appreciated the introduction of art to the digital and virtual world, and how it helped the art world, in many aspects, to find new ways to connect with society. However, now I understand how much I, like so many of my colleagues, urgently need constant interactions with the community – 2022 Crawl is here to fill some gaps.”

Goldhar Smith – a multi-disciplinary artist who has spent more than 30 years in theatre performance with painting very much in the background – is excited about the chance to show her visual art to a lot of different people. “I especially love the opportunity to see their responses to the work and engage in lively conversation when it’s possible,” she said.

photo - Lynna Goldhar Smith — Lynna Goldhar Smith *(photo from Chutzpah!)*

Interested in integrating her visual art practice with her performance practice, Goldhar Smith said, “I have been building installations in my studio to that end and so, among my paintings and prints, visitors will see the beginnings of more conceptual ideas in some of the physical objects and paper sculptures in the studio.”

Whether abstract or figurative, Goldhar Smith seeks to express the intangible qualities of human experience in her work. “If I paint a landscape, it is as much an emotional or psychological landscape as a place,” she said. “Yet, at the same time, if I paint an urban crow or a heron, it is more an expression of honouring the urban wildlife, and reminding myself that I am in their domain. I hope that makes sense. Whatever I paint, I am like an improvisational actor, responding to the moment, with one brushstroke informing the next. The meaning emerges after the fact. It is not so much I make my art, as my art makes me.”

For Goldhar Smith, the pandemic was a dramatic reminder “that we need to behave more responsibly, more cohesively, with more compassion and care for each other – with more understanding of our connection to each other – and to view ourselves as part of nature and part of one planet all together. Yet, we are so divided. If there was ever a time for artists to get focused, this would be it.

photo - “Gloria” by Lynna Goldhar Smith — “Gloria” by Lynna Goldhar Smith *(image from Chutzpah!)*

“Artists, and art, have the privilege and responsibility of their voices,” she continued. “We need to use our voices to contribute to the global change that is necessary. We need to speak up with courage and make brave art.

“We need to be endowed with the respect that what we do is of great importance and we need to be valued, supported and encouraged because artists bring meaning and perspective and also disruption and confrontation with the status quo. We need to see how our art fits, not so much into the art marketplace, but as a central driver of change that can address the pressing needs of our time.”

Levy expressed a similar view.

“So many artists, myself included, produce artwork with an outcome in mind, such as an exhibition or career step,” said Levy. “The challenges of the past few years forced me to take the time to reflect on my own art practice, taking it to the next level by exploring new avenues and fresh approaches. I had to remove and free myself from that outcome. I was able to experiment and create work that connects me better to the meaning of being a better human and better artist, as opposed to a ‘professional artist’ operating within the structures of a commercial art world.”

Birstein also used the pandemic period for self-reflection. “The enforced isolation of the pandemic,” she said, “gave me the gift of time: time to create, experiment, reflect, all day, every day. This is a first in my art practice and I was very productive.”

Birstein created two bodies of work for two solo exhibits in 2021 and 2022.

“Tsipora: A Place to Land was exhibited at the Zack Gallery,” she said. “Tsipora is my Hebrew name, meaning Bird. Pre-COVID, the bird symbolized a freedom of spirit while taking flight. With COVID, it was a time to nest, to find a place to land.

“Frida: When I Have Wings to Fly was exhibited at POMOArts. Frida is a continuation of my art historical portraits, Ladies-Not-Waiting, inspired by Velasquez’ masterpiece ‘Las Meninas.’ This series speaks to Frida Kahlo as a symbol of feminine strength and empowerment: a person who transcended tragedy and transformed it into beauty. My sculptures and paintings invite the viewer to converse in intertwined stories of myself, my mother, Frida and other historic figures that embody resourcefulness, resilience and beauty.

“Materially, both bodies of work involved much experimentation with structural techniques, surfacing with fired and cold materials, addition of repurposed objects.”

For Levy, the last couple of years allowed her to start a new direction with her abstract work. “Slowly, I developed large-scale canvases that were marked by bold and expressive brushstrokes,” she said. “I am excited to share with the public my new collection, A Portrait of a Flower. My work demonstrates the flowers as a source of lines, shapes, negative space, gesture, colour and value, or another source of abstraction.”

The pandemic period also gave Levy the chance to explore more remote art communities. “Pre-COVID,” she said, “I used to share and exhibit my art within my immediate community. In the last two-plus years, I had more time to develop my social media presence and expertise. As an outcome, 2021 was the best year ever of showing and selling my work.”

Birstein also pointed to the technological silver lining of COVID. “With the necessity of communicating virtually while globally isolated,” she said, “I see the world of art opening in terms of compassion, imagination, inclusion, respect – all of this so apparent at this year’s Venice Bienale, from which I have just returned.”

In addition to the open studios Nov. 17-20, the East Side Culture Crawl features a multi-venue, salon-style curated exhibition called NEXT, which “explores the after-effects of living through a pandemic as we long for and ponder about what’s next.” There are also several other events. For more information, visit culturecrawl.ca.

Storytellers excel at Fringe

Sold out. That pretty much describes every show the Jewish Independent saw during the Vancouver Fringe Festival last month – two even made the Pick of the Fringe, which ran the week after the festival.

There were at least five shows in which a member of the Jewish community was involved. Kerry Sandomirsky directed and Lynna Goldhar Smith was the production manager for Beverley Elliott’s … didn’t see that coming, which made the Fringe Picks, along with Goldhar Smith-directed Dirty Old Woman. Both of these shows featured confident, funny older women in the lead.

Elliott’s was a one-woman show, but pianist Bill Costin added well-played and well-timed musical (and other sound) accompaniment, as well as being funny in his own right, and he provided some lovely harmonies in the vocal arena. The performance moved along quickly, with Elliott sharing both humorous and touching stories of her life, from her lack of success with internet dating – “47 coffee dates and I’m going broke” – to a longtime friend committing suicide, to a New Year’s Eve show at Vancouver’s Royal Hotel, hot yoga and more. Interspersed with the stories were many songs, several of which were original numbers, and they, too, ranged from the silly to the sentimental. It was a standing-ovation-garnering performance.

photo - Charlie Varon — Storytellers Charlie Varon *(photo from Tangeret via Charlie Varon)* and Naomi Steinberg (photo from Naomi Steinberg) were among the highlights of this year’s Vancouver Fringe Festival.

While the audience remained seated after Dirty Old Woman, they certainly whooped it up during the show, the actors having to pause more than once before the laughter subsided so that their next lines could be heard. The “dirty old woman” was played with impeccable comedic timing by Susinn McFarlen, who also made Nina a character with whom the audience empathized and for whom they rooted. She was surrounded by the excellent cast of Robert Salvador as Gerry, the much-younger and very handsome man with whom Nina strikes up a relationship; Emmelia Gordon as Liza, Nina’s daughter, who is somewhat jealous and completely unsupportive of her mother’s new relationship; and Alison Kelly as Diane, Nina’s best friend, whose marriage is “fine,” until it’s not. Written by Loretta Seto, the play didn’t feel scripted, but rather like watching snippets of real life.

Another writer who seemed to bring real people to the stage at this year’s Fringe was Charlie Varon, with Feisty Old Jew. Varon actually performed in front of the stage, a glass of water and a music stand the only props or set. As he enacted 83-year-old Bernie’s encounter with three 20-something surfers with whom he’s hitchhiked a ride back to his retirement home, Varon became each character.

Sharing not only what is said aloud between the people in the car, but what is going on in Bernie’s head, Feisty Old Jew is very funny and it is obvious that this production, these stories, are, as Varon told the audience, “a love letter” to his parents and that generation of Jews. Varon also shared a couple of short stories about another retirement-home resident, Selma, and, when he was finished, it was as if we’d met her. Varon said he has completed eight of 12 stories that he plans to publish as a collection in the next couple of years – it’ll be a fantastic read.

At the other end of the age range was Trey Parker’s Cannibal: The Musical, presented by Awkward Stage Productions, which provides young actors and crew the opportunity to learn theatre by doing. Young, of course, doesn’t mean inexperienced and the cast and crew of this Fringe show did an excellent job from start to finish – especially considering that there is no official script for Cannibal, which includes cartoons and animated backdrops, songs, dancing and dialogue. A lot goes on in this story, “loosely based” (to say the least) on that of Alferd Packer, “the first American to ever be convicted of cannibalism.” Not nearly as gross as it sounds, except for the short opening cartoon, this show was funny throughout and extremely well-executed.

photo - Naomi Steinberg — Naomi Steinberg

Rounding out the entertaining Fringe fare enjoyed by the Independent this year was Naomi Steinberg’s Goosefeather, which was quirky, thought-provoking, innovative and mesmerizing. In 2011, Steinberg interviewed her grandfather at his Paris apartment. She asked him 100 questions – about his youth, his first job, how he helped her grandmother survive the war, why he finds measurement so fascinating, why she, Naomi, is so stubborn. “You were born like that,” he responds in what turns out to be characteristically brusque fashion.

But this isn’t straight narrative. An experienced storyteller, Steinberg intersperses what she knows and learns about her grandfather with observations about the concept of measurement, of time and space. What do we measure? Our waists, our burdens? What are our favorite measuring tools? A yardstick, the position of the sun? There is no such thing as an exact measurement, she notes – scientists always allow for a margin of error.

Steinberg adds goose honks and other sounds, ticks of time passing, packaging tape unrolling; she responds to questions and reactions from the audience; she hugs a plastic blow-up globe, hangs a pocket watch on the wall; she is dressed in a corset made from her grandfather’s ties. The presentation as a whole is much more than the sum of its parts.

Currently traveling the world, “crossing longitudes and latitudes, carrying [her] own prime meridian” and making a map, Steinberg told the Independent in an email that she is “working on shows in California, Australia, China, Japan, England, Switzerland, France, Israel and then returning through NYC and across Canada.” When Goosefeather lands again in Vancouver, take the time to see it.

Jewish flare at Fringe Festival

Naomi Steinberg debuts Goosefeather. (photo from Naomi Steinberg)

The Vancouver Fringe Festival starts next Thursday, Sept. 4, and runs until Sept. 14. There are many shows from which to choose and five of which, at least, include members of the Jewish community. In order of first appearance, here are the highlights of those five shows, garnered from their press material:

photo - Beverley Elliott premières … didn’t see that coming — Beverley Elliott premières … *didn’t see that coming. (photo from the production)*

HappyGoodThings presents the première of … didn’t see that coming, Beverley Elliott’s funny and moving collection of autobiographical stories that take the audience on a romp from small-town Ontario to Vancouver’s gay bars and red carpets. Directed by Elliott’s friend and colleague of 30 years, Jessie Award-winner Kerry Sandomirsky, who has been close by holding the tissue for many of these life-changing events, musical direction is by Bill Costin.

Inspired by her live performances at the Flame, her writing group Wet Ink Collective and years of entertaining crowds gigging in various bands in a parade of bars, … didn’t see that coming reveals unexpected blessings and uncomfortable epiphanies. These range from catching a bouquet, being called Smelly Elliott, attending a Guess Who concert, growing up with Presbyterian morals, a generous Greek admirer and a yellow dress, the highs and lows of singing at weddings and funerals, relationships with straight men going nowhere and relationships with gay men going to the grave – all held together with the galvanizing salve of songs, the lifeboat of music.

… didn’t see that coming takes place at Performance Works on Granville Island, 1218 Cartwright St., with the first show (of six) on Sept. 5 at 6:45 p.m. For more information on Elliott, visit beverleyelliott.net.

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Naomi Steinberg’s debut performance of Goosefeather will be at the Fringe, after which she will set off to go around the planet with no airplane, carrying the story in which she weaves together traditional storytelling with movement and clowning to tell you about the time her grandfather sent her on a wild goose chase in the south of France.

Steinberg is an accomplished performer, storyteller and site-specific installation artist. With more than 13 years experience, she knows how to seduce audiences through a provocative mix of political thought and artistic content, telling her stories in a unique voice, with an evocative gestural language.

Past highlights of her work include storytelling events in Jerusalem, Ramallah, Paris and Zurich, among others. Steinberg was the artistic director of the Vancouver Society of Storytelling from 2009-2014, steering large-scale community engagement initiatives and producing three international festivals. Grants awarded include from the City of Vancouver, B.C. Arts Council and Canada Council for the Arts.

Goosefeather begins its nine-show run at the Toast Collective, 648 Kingsway Ave., near Fraser and 16th, on Sept. 5, 8:30 p.m.

Following the Fringe performances, Steinberg heads down the West Coast to board a cargo ship in Los Angeles. She will arrive in Melbourne, Australia, near the end of December, completing the first leg of her journey around the planet. See goosefeather.ca for more information about the project.

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photo - Charlie Varon’s new solo show is Feisty Old Jew — Charlie Varon’s new solo show is *Feisty Old Jew*. *(photo from Tangeret via Charlie Varon)*

Charlie Varon brings his new solo show, Feisty Old Jew, to the Vancouver Fringe. Feisty Old Jew is a fictional comic monologue about a 20th-century man in a 21st-century city. At age 83, here’s what Bernie hates: yoga studios, tattoo parlors, boutiques of all kinds, $6 cups of coffee, young techies and what they’re doing to San Francisco.

The story takes place entirely on one hot October day. Bernie gets tired of waiting for a cab, sticks out his thumb and is picked up by three 20-somethings in a Tesla with a cappuccino maker in the dashboard and two surfboards strapped to the roof. By the time they get to the beach, Bernie has convinced the kids to let him surf for the first time in his life, and bet them $400,000 that he’ll ride a wave.

Varon has been making theatre for 23 years at San Francisco’s Marsh Theatre, in collaboration with director David Ford. In addition to Feisty Old Jew, his other shows include Rush Limbaugh in Night School (1994), The People’s Violin (2000) and Rabbi Sam (2009). Of Feisty Old Jew, Varon says: “This is a show about a city in flux. When I moved to San Francisco in 1978, my rent was $70 a month. Now people pay $70 a month just for lattes.”

The Fringe presents six performances of Feisty Old Jew, beginning Sept. 5, 8:45 p.m., at Performance Works. To read a Q & A with Varon about the show, visit goo.gl/doYJ7h; more information at charlievaron.com.

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photo - Lynna Goldhar Smith directs Dirty Old Woman — Lynna Goldhar Smith directs *Dirty Old Woman*. *(photo from Loretta Seto)*

As part of the Vancouver Fringe, Dirty Old Woman Artists Collective presents Dirty Old Woman, a new play by Loretta Seto, directed by Lynna Goldhar Smith.

After her divorce, Nina, a 50-something-year old, decides to venture back into the world of romance. But when she meets Gerry, 20 years her junior, the sparks fly in more ways than one. Judgments, double standards and comedy ensue, as Nina tries to navigate the dangerous world of dating a younger man.

Dirty Old Woman stars Jessie Award-winning actors Susinn McFarlen, Robert Salvador, Emmelia Gordon and Alison Kelly; with lighting design by Michael Schaldemose, sound design by Dylan McNulty. It will have six shows at Studio 16 (1555 West 7th Ave., between Fir and Granville), starting Sept. 6, 6:15 p.m. For more information about the show, visit dirtyoldwomanplay.wordpress.com.

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From the twisted mind that spawned South Park and Book of Mormon, Trey Parker’s Cannibal! The Musical comes to the Vancouver Fringe Festival.

Cannibal! The Musical is the true story of the only person convicted of cannibalism in America – Alferd Packer. The sole survivor of an ill-fated trip through the Rockies, he tells his side of the harrowing tale to news reporter Polly Pry as he awaits his execution. While searching for gold and love, he and his companions lost their way and resorted to unthinkable horrors … with music!

It’s unique every time. Originating as a film, the licence includes no script, only a guide, so each production really is a new show. Care is taken to preserve those fundamental elements to please the cult following, but the rest is up for grabs. The blended offering in this year’s Fringe includes a human campfire, a tribe of Amazon war princesses, a multi-media format with animation, a giant Cyclops, a lesbian biker gang of fur trappers, puppets, a massive saloon fight, some cross-dressing and sexual confusion, the classic “Shpadoinkle” and “Hang the Bastard” musical numbers, offensive language, a human horse and, of course, a healthy helping of gore and cheese.

For this, its fifth year in a row at the Vancouver Fringe, Awkward Stage Productions presents another all youth cast, crew and band of emerging stars aged 14 to 25 who are eating up these roles! There will be eight shows, the first being on Sept. 6, 7:15 p.m., at the Firehall Arts Centre, 280 East Cordova St.

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For the full Vancouver Fringe schedule, ticket and other information, visit vancouverfringe.com or head down to the box office at 1398 Cartwright St. (after Sept. 1).

Through blues to happiness with Jill Newman

Jill Newman at Cottage Bistro May 9 singing from her new CD, Lovestruck Blues. (photo by John Endo Greenaway)

Happiness. Perhaps ironically, Jill Newman’s performance at the release party for her latest CD, Lovestruck Blues, exuded happiness. The May 9 show at Cottage Bistro featured bright vocals, skilful (and electric) electric-guitar playing, cheerful interactions with the audience and a playlist of well-written, original songs, many about finding love, but also about losing it – even these, though, exhibit optimism, finding the courage and strength to be on one’s own and true to one’s heart.

Newman’s talents as a songwriter and musician were obvious in her debut recording, Fragile Walls, in 2004. The review in the Independent (“A garden of musical delights,” April 22, 2005) ended with the comment, “It’s been a long road for Newman to reach this creative milestone. Hopefully, it’s the first of many.” A decade later, Lovestruck Blues is another welcome milestone – and there’s nothing fragile about it. It exhibits the confidence and contentment of someone who has, so to speak, come out the other side. As Newman writes in the CD booklet, “It is the story of my journey – of turning my world upside down, taking some risks and being blissfully happy for having done so.”

image - Lovestruck Blues CD cover — *Lovestruck Blues* is Jill Newman’s second CD.

During the period between releases, Newman told the Independent, a lot changed for her personally and musically. “My first CD was the culmination of many years of dreaming of making my own recordings,” she explained. “I was going through a difficult time in my life, including a breakup, so the songs were really all about loss and heartbreak. I had a great producer who took care of almost everything for me, from arranging the songs to organizing and directing the entire recording process.

“Today, I’m in a much better place personally, having just gotten married a few years ago and feeling happy. That does present some challenges for writing the blues – as lately I’ve been writing happy blues songs. I produced Lovestruck Blues myself with support from my engineer, Marc L’Esperance. I made all the final decisions in terms of how I wanted the recording to sound and directed the recording sessions in Seattle and Vancouver. I was not going for a retro sound, but that’s really what comes out. I’ve played in everything from country, punk, blues and even an all-female Led Zeppelin tribute band, so I’m quite eclectic in my approach to music. I’m often told that my music should be in soundtracks for Quentin Tarantino’s films, the less happy songs, that is.

“I’m most at home in front of a live audience rather than in the studio, as I really enjoy the energy and the interaction between the audience and the band,” she added. “I’ve been doing lots of performances and my live shows are definitely stronger than they were 10 years ago. I’ve also been doing quite a bit of vocal work over the past few years. Songwriting is always a challenge, with lots of hours spent struggling with lyrics – I still tend to write the music first or jointly with the words and then fine tune the lyrics.”

Lovestruck Blues includes 10 original songs, one of which – “Too Hard to Handle” – was co-written with Vancouver actor, artist, director, playwright and songwriter Lynna Goldhar Smith.

“I’m originally from Wisconsin, but immigrated to Vancouver Island with my family as a teen. I spent about 25 years living in the Vancouver area, with some brief stints in Washington,” said Newman about her community connections. “I was raised in a secular Jewish household with no religious upbringing, but I identify culturally as Jewish. My most valued connection to the Jewish community was my past involvement with the Peretz Centre for Secular Jewish Culture. My daughter, Michelle, participated as a young teen in the b’nai mitzvah program, which was a great experience for both of us. I also enjoyed singing in the Jewish Folk Choir and participating in the Peretz programming.

“I’ve worked for Jewish Family Service Agency in Vancouver and in Seattle and participated in advocacy to address poverty in the Jewish community in Vancouver. I combine my work as a professional guitarist, singer and songwriter with my part-time work as a therapist with teens who are struggling with mental health issues. When I have spare time, I enjoy being in the outdoors kayaking or sailing.”

photo - Jill Newman and her daughter, Michelle Baynton, at the Lovestruck Blues CD release — Jill Newman and her daughter, Michelle Baynton, at the *Lovestruck Blues* CD release. *(photo by John Endo Greenaway)*

A woman with many abilities and interests, Newman’s musical path also started somewhere other than where it led.

“I started in music playing classical flute at age 9 and got involved in community symphony and jazz combos as I got older, with a stint studying jazz in college,” she told the Independent. “My first stringed instrument was the banjo, followed by the acoustic guitar and pedal steel [guitar], but when I first plugged in an electric guitar (Stratocaster copy) at age 15, I was totally hooked. I loved the sound and the power of the electric guitar, especially turned up loud with distortion. A friend who’d been in rock bands taught me how to bend the strings properly and I began specializing in playing lead guitar – something very few girls were doing when I was a teen.

“I played constantly and learned everything I could figure out by Heart, Aerosmith, Yes and Led Zeppelin, but I also started writing my own songs and performing in coffeehouses. By my early 20s, I was making a living as a full-time professional guitarist and, other than recovering from a hand injury, I’ve never stopped playing. I feel strongly that we need more female electric guitarist role models and I volunteered as a guitar instructor for Vancouver Girls Rock Camp in 2012.”

And what draws Newman to the blues? “It’s the raw emotion and the simplicity of the music that grabs me,” she said, reiterating, “I’ve had a longstanding love of the electric guitar and, when I first began listening to blues players like Freddie King and Eric Clapton, I was blown away by the expressiveness of their playing. In recent years, I’ve been focusing a lot on slide guitar, which has a range of expression that emulates the human voice and beyond. There’s nothing more soulful than Roy Rogers playing slide guitar on Elmore James’ song ‘The Sky is Crying,’ or almost anything by Ry Cooder or Derek Trucks.”

Part of the fun of the Cottage Bistro CD release party – in which she was accompanied on stage by Loren Etkin on drums and Brian Scott on bass – was the seemingly spontaneous invitation by

Newman for her daughter, Michelle Baynton, and Cecile Larochelle to join her in a couple of the songs they each performed with Newman on Lovestruck Blues.

“One of the things that was the most special about making this new CD,” Newman admitted, “was getting a chance to record with my daughter, Michelle. She’s just finishing her opera degree at UBC and, despite my doing a very different style of music, we get a lovely vocal blend together. Michelle sang background vocals on my songs, ‘Everything Will Change’ and ‘Without You.’”

Newman, along with Etkin and Cameron Hood (bass), will perform next on July 14, 9 p.m., at Guilt & Co., 1 Alexander St., in Vancouver. For other upcoming performances, keep an eye on jillnewman.net, sign up to receive email updates or like the Jill Newman Blues Facebook page.