Burlington Mayor unable to take part in the Cabaret he created; maintains there is still a place for local MP Wallace.

 By Pepper Parr

BURLINGTON, ON  December 14, 2011  –  With 18 acts already in the vetting pipeline for the Mayors Cabaret, Our Burlington asked Mayor Goldring: “ Will you be submitting your talent for consideration to the vetting committee that is in place to select the talent for the Mayor’s Cabaret?”  We followed that up by asking: “ Would you expand on which of the many artistic skills you happen to possess?

Mayor Goldring advised Our Burlington that: “Unfortunately, I won’t be able to perform at the Mayor’s Cabaret. Since my debut at the Blue Jeans Gala, I have been inundated with requests for my services. I have had to turn down a request to be the opening act for Burton Cummings at Massey Hall, the very evening of the Cabaret. The city comes first however and Burton Cummings has rescheduled.

Our Burlington also asked the Mayor, “is it true that you have instructed the vetting committee for the Mayor’s Cabaret not to accept an application from the Member of the House of Commons for Burlington to take part in the event and further – is it true that this decision is based on the experience at the Blue Jeans Festival ?”

Belting it out for a good cause. The Mayor and some of his staff along with people from the Sound of Music and the Theatre Burlington Board ham it up a bit while promoting the Mayor's Cabaret.Performing Arts Centre Board

“Completely untrue” the Mayor told Our Burlington in an exclusive interview.  The Mayor added that “Our MP will be most welcome to audition for the Mayor’s Cabaret- we are an inclusive city, after all. I am still coaching him daily via Skype, on his song and dance routine timing.  He has had a bit of trouble coming out of his shell. He is pretty conservative so it will likely require a lot more effort to help him change his old habits and realize his potential. After all, the poor guy works in the House of Commons.

The Cabaret, scheduled for February of 2012 has a closing date of January 6th.   The focus for this fund raising initiative of the Mayors, which hopes to raise $80,000 that will go to the Burlington Performing Arts Centre, is Burlington talent.

It was evident during the Blue Jeans Gala when The Spoons and Silverstein took to the stage that Burlington has home grown some very significant musical talent.  The Sound of Music Festival has made Burlington one of THE destination events for those who want to take in summer concerts.

The idea for a Cabaret came out of Mayor Goldring’s office before the Blue Jeans Gala took place but what few people knew before the Gala was that the Mayor had legs of his own that he wanted to strut on stage.  The Cabaret idea seems to have brought to the surface a part of his hidden personality that has not been seen before during this first year in office and it certainly wasn’t evident during the election campaign.  Had former Mayor Cam Jackson known of this talent he would never have run against Goldring.

The Cabaret is a partnership between the Mayor and the BPAC along with the Sound of Music people and what the Mayor hopes will be a significant number of corporate sponsors.

The event is open to submissions from entertainers with a preference being given to local artists.  There doesn’t appear to be any limitation.  Mine, acrobats, jugglers singers, bands – whatever you think is entertaining.  More detail is available at:  www.burlington.ca/cabaret

For details on how to participate give noted attorney Gerry Murphy a call at 905-541-0582 or reach out to him at gerardmurphy@bellnet.ca

Tickets to the event are $100.00 which includes a cocktail reception, silent and live auctions and souvenir sales.  The only thing that is not confirmed at this point is if our local MP will take to the stage again. We hope not.

 

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City turns the Performing Arts Centre over to the community and serves cupcakes to keep everyone happy.

By Pepper Parr

BURLINGTON, ON  October 23, 2012   It was a lovely fall afternoon; people were out and about – and hundreds, close to 1000 actually gathered at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre to walk around the place and kick the tires and look into every nook and cranny they could find.  Few if any were disappointed.

The Burlington Teen Tour Band took over the Family Room of the Burlington Performing Arts Centre the day the city turned the building over to the community.

There was a festive sense to the day – all the politicians were there but all they were able to do was say hello to people they knew and to people who wanted to know them.

Mayor Rick Goldring was very much the man of the moment even though the building that was being handed over symbolically to the Burlington Theatre Board got its genesis from two men who asked the right question and motivated people to begin something that resulted in the building we have today that sits on a site that used to house the city`s police station.

Babies and politicians - something magnetic about the two. Here Burlington MP Mike Wallace greets a little one. Some day that child will vote..

One citizen, pushing his Mother in a wheelchair wanted to say hello to the Mayor and did so – the Mother had a shamrock pin in the lapel of her jacket which the Mayor picked up on and asked is she was Irish – she was Irish and the conversation was amiable, the kind of thing that takes place at events like this – and then they asked – when the Pier was going to open – the Mayor just can`t get away from that one.  He now has an answer – sometime in 2013.

One couple mentioned that a restaurant north of the Centre was sold to the current owners by her Father. `That used to be where our orchard was`, she commented and her husband added Ì used to come to the police station that was on this site for my papers to be a volunteer.

Actors from Burlington Student Theatre were on hand for the turning over of the Burlington Performing Arts Centre.

Everyone had a comment, hundreds picked up a cup cake or a cup of coffee and just milled around until the Burlington Teen Tour Band marched into the building through glass doors on the east side that opened up fully to the plaza.  And in they came – all the redcoats you would ever want to see in one place.  They played a couple of tunes and marched smartly out the building.  The Main Theatre has great sound and we now know that the Family Room has even greater sound.  The sound from those drums reverberated off the walls and just filled the large hall.

David Vollick, the Town Crier for Burlington did his first official gig for the city and read out the proclamation that had the symbolic key to the building placed in the hands of the Burlington Theatre Board president Allan Pearson.  Didn’t see Pearson turn over the $1. annual rent to the city – perhaps that cheque is in the mail.

Our Town Crier was at his very best – a full force voice boomed out as he read the proclamation.

“Oyez, Oyez, Oyez” he began.

“Citizens of Burlington draw near and bear witness to an historic event in the growth of our fair city.

Today we celebrate the beginning of a new era for comedy, tragedy, aye for theater in all its forms in our newest and most favourably furnished facility –

The Burlington Performing Arts Centre.

It was a proud day for former Mayor Walter Mulkewich, standing center with his hands in his pockets. The Centre has been a gleam in his eye for more than 20 years.

Mayor Goldring and his wife look on as the Burlington Teen Tour Band entertains hundreds in the family Room of the Centre.

The centre is a gift from the City of Burlington to all the citizens of our fair city. It will encourage local talent of both our performers and our technical producers and will draw performers from across the great Country of Canada, and also from the world at large — to grace its stage.

To mark the significance of this occasion His Worship –

Rick Goldring – The Mayor of Burlington, will present the Symbolic Key to the Performing Arts Center to Mr. Allan Pearson — Chairman of the Board of Directors.

I call forth His Worship Mayor Goldring”

And with that the Mayor came on stage and the transfer and presentation of the key began.  The building was now in the hands of the Burlington Theatre Board which is the organization that oversees the working of the staff at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre.  But the building is still very much a people place..  With the Burlington Teen Tour Band having sort of blessed the place with its sound people were milling about as if they were on a village square meeting friends and chatting away.  The chatter and the exchanging of gossip was all part of the day.  Our Theatre had been launched and the people of the city were there to witness the event.

Sometime in December there will be a very fancy $400. a ticket event and then the Centre will move into its Christmas Season program.  The Nutcracker Suite has been sold out.  Stuart McLean’s The Vinyl Café was sold out and – an additional performance added and it too was sold out.  Both are tried and true events.  As we move into 2012 the staff at the Centre can begin to bring in more innovative programs and begin to stretch the artistic imaginations of the community.  Expect some birth pangs.

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Community party FREE! Big deal, it was also a very expensive deal and it is now up to you to make it work.

By Pepper Parr

BURLINGTON, ON  October 21, 2011 – A golden key, a silver bullet – something to commemorate the handing over of a building constructed for the Performing Arts – something brand new for Burlington.  That’s the schedule for Sunday afternoon – October 23rd.

Thousands of people put in a lot of time and large sums of their own money during the past 30 years, which was when the idea that the city should have a performing arts Centre.   One donation that is particularly poignant was the $60,000.+ donated by what was then Performing Arts, but renamed Creative Burlington who found recently they could not sustain themselves financially and had to cease regular operations.  They were one of the first groups to put up real cash – it has been that kind of selfless dedication that has resulted in the building the city is going to turn over to a non-profit corporation that will provide a level of entertainment generally not available to Burlington.

You are the owner - make some time to check out the property - get your face pained and enjoy a piece of cake.

We’ve done stories on the relationship between the various organizations before and will do more of them in the future – but this Sunday afternoon from mid-day to 4:00 pm in the afternoon the public is invited out to look the place over, get your face painted, enjoy a piece of cake, get your bum in a seat, and take in a small performance.  Basically just check the place out.

There will be tours through the building, many if not most, of the volunteers will be on hand to answer questions and show you around.

The Centre has a great bar – just not sure if it’s going to be open.  No one was sure if this was a city event and therefore their bar and Centre staff couldn’t get us an answer to that question in the hour we had.

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