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Phone: 905-845-3824 (ext. 5559) Fax: 905-337-5567 e-m ail: rjerred@hattonsearch.com ARTSIME Red Rascal Band brings country to the city By Liz Campbell S P E C IA L T O T H E B E A V E R aryanne Cunningham grew up in Oakville. Her late father. Bob Clark, played the piano and taught his daughter well, but the music in their home was Beethoven. Bach and occasionally Big Band. Her mother, Ruth, still lives here and is an active member of the Altruists, a charitable support organization which annual provides thousands of dollars to worthy causes. A graduate of White Oaks Secondary School, Cunningham was married and her two children were bom in Oakville. But in 1992 she and her husband relocated to Grey County, and Cunningham dis covered a whole new musical genre - country. It began with a visit to the local Legion where she was sitting alone in the women's lounge and played Chatenooga Choo Choo on the piano. Word got around that she could play and sing, and in no time, she was being asked to help out. Visiting country bands would ask her to be a vocalist and pretty soon Cunningham was very busy singing when she wasn't managing a local McDonald's outlet. She was asked to perform at a fair, but she had no back-up band of M Form er Oakville resident Maryanne Cunningham is returning to her hometown Saturday with her group Red Rascal Band. W ith Cunningham are, C arl HoLst, left, Ian Leith and Ja ck Thorne. her own. She decided it was time to form one. Her marriage had ended but she met a new friend, Carl Holst, who "couldn't play anything but a stereo when we first met," she said. Holst took up base guitar as well as piano and his musical talent emerged. He is now base guitarist for the band. Then she saw Jack Thom, lead gui tar for another band, and when she heard they had split, she located him and added him to the group. Finally, she brought Ian Leith, a 1 5year-old fiddler into the fold. The foursome calls itself the Red Rascal Band. The name derives from the name of her father's old time band, the Rhythm Rascals (Cunningham still has an original newspaper article about them raising funds for the Oakville hospital). The Red in the name comes from Cunningham's own fiery hair - it's natural, she insists with gcxxl humour. The music they play never fails to dazzle audiences - Leith's famous rendition of the Orange Blossom Special is a particular favourite. For a girl who didn't know a single country song until 1993. Cunningham now happily belts out all the popular traditional tunes such as Honky Tonk Angels, Take These Chains, Satin Sheets, Don't Be Angry. Under Your Spell Again and Coat o f Many Colours. The band has become so popu lar in recent years that last year alone they had 75 concerts. Engagements included Paisley Maple Madness, first time at die Canadian Country Music Capital. Commercial Tavern in Mary Hill. Grey County's 150th Birthday Celebration. Owen Sound's Street Festival, the Durham Wood Show. Shelburne's Fiddleville, Lion's Head Country Music Festival, Owen Sound's Salmon Spectacular, and not the least was the Bushel Club in Honeywood. Now Cunningham and the Red Rascals are coming home to Oakville. On Saturday, the Altruists is holding its annual volunteer recognition night at the Quality Hotel on Bronte Road. One mem ber saw the Red Rascals play and invited them to be the entertain ment for the evening. The perform ance is open to the public for a nominal fee of $5 and says Cunningham, " people who see us on stage quickly realize why we're called the Rascals." Tickets are available by calling Joan at 905-338-5185. The Royal Ontario Museum (R O M ) is presenting a captivating new exhibition that showcases Ihe arl of one of the world's leading contempo rary woodcut artists. Tree Sp irit: The Woodcuts o f i\aoko M atsuhara displays a fascinating array of woodblock prints made by O akville artist Naoko Matsuhara. Tree Spirit will he displayed in the Herman Herzog Levy G allery until June. Tree Spirit will display more than 50 of M atsuhara's woodcuts (including Conversation pictured above). The work spans five decades and ranges in size, theme and colour. Straddling two cultures, the works reflect the duality of her Japanese-Canadian experience, and are notable for their life-affirming, spiritual qualities. THE CUTTING EDGE: Halton Women's Place holds dinner, auction Entertainers from Legends Alive will provide the enter tainment for the Eighth Annual Dinner and Auction for the Halton's Women's Place on Saturday. In the tribute performance to the original artists. Legends Alive will highlight Garth Brooks, Elvis. Shania, Cher, Rick Nelson. Sha Na Na. Village People, KC & The Sunshine Band and The Legends All Star Band. The evening will begin at 5:30 p.m. with a martini recep tion and auction viewing, followed by dinner at 7 p.m. and a live auction. More than 400 items will be available through a raffle, silent and live auctions. Halton Women's Place is an organization providing shelter and crisis services for physically, emotionally, financially and sexually abused women and their dependent children. It oper ates two shelters, one in Milton and one in Burlington, and is dedicated to ending violence against women and their chil dren. For tickets call Halton's Women's Place at 905-332-1200, ext. 244. Chamber Music Festival set to run this weekend w h e r e i t 's w a r m Get C ogeco D ig ital C ab le. Hundreds of ch an n e ls for only Do you or your child play a musical instrument and would enjoy and benefit from performing solo, with friends, family, or a senior helper in a supportive, non-competitive environ ment? If so. the annual Oakville Chamber Music Festival pro vides a unique opportunity. The Oakville Chamber Music Festival is open to begin ners and experienced musicians for solo entries, duets, trios, and ensembles of up to 20 players. The festival will return for its 10th year on Saturday and Sunday at Glen Abbey United Church on the comer of Nottinghill Gate and Upper Middle Road. The festival is organized by Margaret Taylor and Jean Grieve and is sponsored by the Oakville Suzuki Association. Toronto violinist and music teacher Julian Fisher will be the adjudicator to provide constructive and encouraging feed back for the performers. Registration fees are $6 for each performer. Further infor mation and registration forms are available from the Oakville Suzuki Web site, www.oakvillesuzuki.org, or by calling 905338-7128. $4399/m o n t h f o r th e f ir s t 3 m o n th s All the movies, documentaries and sports you want. A library of videos you can rent any time by remote with new Video on Demand - ONLY available on cable! Timeshifting - miss a show at 8pm? Catch it at 9pm (Winnipeg station) or 10pm (Edmonton station) or 11pm (Vancouver station). No dish on the roof means reliable, non-stop entertainment, whatever the weather. Chase away the winter blues with Sweet Sounds of Children's Choir This Saturday the Oakville Children's Choir will be per forming at the Calvary Baptist Church. 1215 Lakeshore Rd. W. Under the direction of Glenda Crawford, the choir will perform Sweet Sounds fo r A Saturday Afternoon starting at 3 p.m. The concert w ill feature the cherub, intermediate, senior and chamber choir with a guest performance by the Appleby College Jazz Combo, under the direction of Leslie Stewart. The massed choir features 150 voices. Tickets cost $10 at the door of by calling 905-337-7104 The event is sponsored by M DS. COGECO 9 >DigitalTV There's more in your cable W h o k n e w y o u r C o g e c o c a b le c o u ld d o a ll th is ? 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