The Arts Station

An Arts Station Program

All hail the King of Silly!

Bring out your spare funny bones! Lorne Elliott is set to send your giggles madly off in all directions at the Arts Station.

With his barely tamed afro, his rubbery face and his miniature guitar, the Canadian musical comedian is the master of all that is silly, side-splitting and strange.

Combining dry humour with musical parodies and skits Elliott is a shrewd observer of the behaviour of the Canadian human animal. Often self-deprecating, always silly and never profane, Elliott’s funny is family friendly.

“I did [use profanity] when I was younger,” Elliott says. “It doesn’t really work for me. And also, I never really felt great about it. I always say, ‘people laugh, but they don’t respect you in the morning.’”

Host of CBC Radio’s Madly off in All Directions and a regular performer at Montreal’s Just for Laughs festival, Elliott has been performing professionally on stage for more than two decades. His ability to entertain is a keen as his wit. When not touring with his one-man musical comedy show, Elliott finds time to write and perform in plays, as well as produce them.

“A genuine and talented nut-case… quick-witted and relevant” —Tom Reagan - Halifax DAILY NEWS

“His show runs the gamut from the sublime to the ridiculous, but all of it literally sucks laughter out of your face.” —Lance Callahan - The Newfoundland HERALD

FDAC Member tickets: $20/adult; $12/youth. Non-member tickets: $25/adult; $15/youth.

Tickets are available at the Blue Toque, Carosella's, Freshies, the Good Earth and The Arts Station.

Need more info? For more information contact us

An Arts Station Program

Have guitar, will travel

It’s probably impossible to calculate the number of miles Steve Palmer has logged in as a travelling troubadour. It was, after all, 1966 when he first set out with his guitar opening for many of the big named suspects of the ’60s British Invasion, including the Who, Led Zepplin and Cream.

As far back as he can remember music has been the one constant pursuit in his life. He remembers listening to all kinds of music on the radio, from Bing Crosby to Hank Williams.

“Immediately, music involves you, it engages you. You can sit there and tap along to it,” Palmer says. “A visual artist—that’s their personal statement. Generally, you don’t join into that.”

It took Palmer over 30 years before he made the decision to strike out as a solo musician and rediscover his love for writing and performing his own music. He’d spent so much time travelling around with his good-time band, delighting audiences across Western Canada with their favourites, that he found it difficult to make time for his own creativity.

Kick-back and enjoy an evening of folk music written and composed by Steve.

FDAC Member tickets: $12/adult; $8/youth. Non-member tickets: $15/adult; $10/youth.

Tickets are available at the Blue Toque, Carosella's, Freshies, the Good Earth and The Arts Station.

Need more info? For more information contact us

An Arts Station Program

You’ll always find me in the kitchen at parties

Come On In My Kitchen and feast your hungry ears with a rich meal of roots. Tantalize your taste for blues. Warm yourself up with folk remedies. Inspired by the age-old tradition of congregating in the kitchen, or on the porch, and swapping stories and songs, this show brings intimate and raucous jamming to the Arts Station March 28.

Since beginning in 1999, the show and its host, Edmonton-based guitarist and singer Mark Sterling, boast impressive musical alumni, including Big Dave MacLean, Donnie “Mr. Downchild” Walsh, Bill Bourne and Harry Manx. With cups of Delta, Chicago and Piedmont blues and dashes of swing, country and vintage folk, Come In My Kitchen cooks up old-style comfort food and dazzling original recipes.

“It’s like the best ingredients of a folk festival workshop, but with musicians who have a telepathic thing going on and a fearlessness that allows everyone to jump in and take a song to a place it’s never gone before,” Sterling says. The musician cut his teeth recording and touring with Toronto ’s award-winning folk-rock trio Hemmingway Corner, before he returned to Edmonton in the late ’90s, leapt back into the blues and knocked off two fine solo albums.

FDAC Member tickets: $20/adult; $12/youth. Non-member tickets: $25/adult; $15/youth.

Tickets are available at the Blue Toque, Carosella's, Freshies, the Good Earth and The Arts Station.

Need more info? For more information contact us

An Arts Station Program

A multiple Canadian Juno Award winner, Bill Bourne has received international acclaim for his recordings and live performances. A mainstay on the international roots scene, life on the road is reflected in Bill’s music - powerful rhythms and soulful songs, steeped in World Beat, Blues, Cajun, Celtic, Folk, Flamenco, Funk, Poetry and more…
Tickets: Member $18; $10 youth; Regular $20; $12 youth.
At Freshies; Carosella’s, The Good Earth; The Arts Station.
Need more info? For more information contact us

Dinner & CaberetSpice up your winter!

An Arts Station Program

Romp through an evening fun & frolics & fantastic eats.

Cajun Cuisine, Sassy Music, Devilish Dance & Tantalizing Theatre.

Over 15 Stellar Cameos by Fernies Fantastic Talent.

Come one, come all and join in the party of the season. Kick-Off the Griz Days with Southern Warmth!

Sold out for the past 2 years - Don’t miss this one!

It’s time to get on your Mardi Gras costume for the 3rd Annual Mardi Gras Cabaret. Spice up the end of winter with Cajun cuisine, mirthful musicians, sultry singers and thunderous thespians who will fill you with frivolity.

Appearing under the MC Lindsay Adams are: Guillaume Courmont; Benjamin Danic; Tara Findlay; Kerri Holmes; Coraley Letcher; Lilly; Sage McBride; Kelly Proctor; Sonia Roy; Mike Shaver; Dianne Stothers; Erin Teeple; Cathy Wells - together with The Big Dreamers Theatre; The New World Choir; Rhythm Inc. Dance; and much more…

The evening begins with a candlelit buffet dinner, served up by the Blue Toque Diner, complete with vegetarian and omnivorous options. See a Wow! show and enjoy a scrumptious chocolate fondue during the intermission.

Dinner at 6 pm., Show at 7:30 pm. (Open bar from 7pm.)
Dinner & Show $40 (includes Chocolate Fondue Desert); Show only $15 (Add Fondue Desert $5); Cash Bar

Tickets are available at the Arts Station and all proceeds go to support the Arts Station and its programming.
Get'm now before someone else draws a bead on 'em.

For more information please For more information contact us

Trio Amaranth Piano, Cello & Violin
At the Baptist Church
1622 – 10th. Ave. Fernie

The outstanding skills of the Trio Amaranth presents a diverse program of Beethoven, Brahms, Chausson & Dvořák. This high-calibre trio spawned from the University of Lethbridge, have been received to rave reviews since their debut concert in March 2007 that was a huge success and offered audiences a chance to hear a beautiful but seldom-performed work – the original (1854) version of the Brahms Piano Trio in B Major, Op. 8.

Pianist Deanna Oye, Cellist Tido Janssen & Violinist Peter Visentin, bring a wealth of solo, chamber music and orchestral experience to the stage. Together they are terrific!

Tickets are available at the Blue Toque, Carosella's, Freshies, the Good Earth and The Arts Station.
FDAC Member tickets: $18/adult; $10/youth. Non-member tickets: $20/adult; $12/youth.

The Guitar Sings in Cara’s Hands!

Heralding from the Wailin’ Jennys in 2002, Cara Luft – singer, songwriter, is an artist to be reckoned with. Her writing is a blend of social commentary, imagination, and rhythmic intensity, and her distinctive voice penetrates listeners to the core.

Holding her audience tightly to the music, she is a powerfully elegant guitarist. Cara favours a variety of open tunings and also enjoys branching out into mandolin and clawhammer banjo. In performance she balances pathos with joy, telling invariably hilarious stories between poignant songs, simultaneously managing complex retunings of her guitar.

Tickets are available at the Blue Toque, Carosella's, Freshies, the Good Earth and The Arts Station.
FDAC Member tickets: $18/adult; $10/youth. Non-member tickets: $20/adult; $12/youth.

Classical Fire. Plessis plays Piano
Baptist Church, 1622-10th Ave., Fernie

Unbridled enthusiasm marks Jesse Plessie approach to music. With the ease and excitement he approaches Mozart, Beethoven, Phillip Glass or his own transcriptions of the Beatles, Jesse hold his audience spell-bound.

Having taken to music only in the past 5 years, young man from Sparwood amazes the aficionados. Music composition flows naturally from his person. This young performer is heading to an important future. Get to see him right here in Fernie. Later, you can boast that you knew him as an emerging virtuoso.

Tickets are available at the Blue Toque, Carosella's, Freshies, the Good Earth and The Arts Station.
FDAC Member tickets: $12/adult; $8/youth. Non-member tickets: $15/adult; $10/youth.

Kevin Cook - Cooks up the Blues
At the Arts Station, 601 1st. Avenue, Fernie, BC

Mesmerizing acoustic ideas flow from the guitar of Kevin Cook like liquid amber. The Alberta-born musician’s new album, WESTERN UNION, puts his own original and confident stamp on a countryblues style that sounds old and new. Cook sounds like a man born to sing acoustic blues as he gets down to the heart of the matter. A leading light of the Canadian roots music community, Cook proves his status on this album. Influences such as Doc Watson and JJ Cale creep through as well as the fingerstylings of Rev. Gary Davis. These sounds are woven into Cook’s command of the genre, adding lustre to his authenticity. Instrumentally, the album is sparse but the acoustic arrangements give the music a wide scope.

Cook’s intuitive touch is evident on cuts like Cora-mae, an urgent and curious southern gothic lamentation. This brooding mood is illuminated by the mellow introspection of Roving Eye’s Dylanesque story-telling setting. From song to song, one gets the sense of hearing true artistry and conviction.

Tickets are available at the Blue Toque, Carosella's, Freshies, the Good Earth and The Arts Station.
FDAC Member tickets: $12/adult; $8/youth. Non-member tickets: $15/adult; $10/youth.