Allison Crowe @ Sechelt Festival of the Arts Launch July 30, 2010

This B.C. Day weekend, on Friday, July 30, 8:15 pm, at the Sunshine Coast Arts Centre (SCAC – 5714 Medusa), musician Allison Crowe helps launch the Sechelt Festival of the Arts with a special concert performance.

This year’s Festival happens from July 30 through August 7 at a wide range of indoor and outdoor Sechelt community venues – SCAC, Rockwood Centre’s Festival Pavilion, the Trail Bay Mall, Seaside Centre, Hackett Park, Snickett Park, the Trail Bay Pier (on Wharf Road) and more. It’s a rich cavalcade of cultural fun: music, visual arts, theatre, and dance including Sechelt Nation arts, crafts and demonstrations.

For the full range of the Festival experience, and for workshop registration, contact Coordinator Elaine Hunter by phone 604.885.3844 and visit the Festival site online @ http://www.secheltfestivalofthearts.com

The Sunshine Coast concert by Allison Crowe, an artist renowned for her peerless live performances, amazing voice and rock and roll piano chops, is the first since the release of Crowe’s newest album, “Spiral”.

“Canada’s finest songwriter” is how UK culture blog, ‘We Write Lists’, tagged Allison Crowe upon release of “Spiral”. American music blog Muruch, in recently celebrating its tenth anniversary, named Crowe its musical mascot, saying: “Her extraordinarily emotive way of singing and the subtle beauty of her songs stand out from just about any other artist ever.”

Crowe’s musical foundation in classical and jazz blends uniquely with rock, folk and soul to appeal to fans of classic singer-songwriters such as Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell, alongside rock/pop bands from The Beatles and Pearl Jam, to artists such as Ani DiFranco, Tori Amos and Counting Crows.

A true grassroots success, she’s garnered praise in the mainstream – from the CBC, The Globe and Mail and National Post to BBC Radio and MOJO magazine – alongside widespread appreciation in the alternative media and in the global online community where Crowe’s especially active and progressive.

“When I listen to it, I think ‘This is real music, real singing’, it has the power, it's natural, not artificial and calculated like many songs nowadays,” says Lukasz Garbol, podcaster with Poland’s popular Radio Świdnik.

Born on Vancouver Island, Allison Crowe now tours Europe regularly, and has two bases in Canada – her birthplace, Nanaimo, and, her Atlantic home, Corner Brook. Jeffrey Pitcher, Artistic Director of Theatre Newfoundland notes: "No matter where she is in this world, that voice, that conviction, it crosses all borders. She's one of those rare artists that fits into any culture, any community because she is who she is - an incredible talent."

"I hear so much music these days, too much for one person really,” says Muruch. “I’m inundated with such a flood of sounds both good and bad that I sometimes forget what it feels like when a song literally produces chills on your arms. Then I hear Allison Crowe sing, and I remember the effect music is supposed to have on you. That awe-inspired rush, that indescribable feeling of communion between artist and audience. The gratitude that someone gifted has expressed through their art an emotion you personally lack the talent to articulate."

Join Allison Crowe for the first concert of her “Spiral” tour – and Celebrate Coast Culture during this year’s Sechelt Festival of the Arts.

Venue: Sunshine Coast Arts Centre, 5714 Medusa, Sechelt
Date: Friday, July 30 Time: 8:15 pm
Tickets $20 Advance @: Gaia's Fair Trade (Gibsons); MELOmania (Roberts Creek); Sechelt Visitor Info Centre, Wind Song Gallery (Sechelt); & Harbour Spirit (Madeira Park)

More info: http://www.secheltfestivalofthearts.com + http://www.allisoncrowe.com

Official Website: http://www.allisoncrowe.com