�July 1, 2019

FP NEWSLETTER Vol. 42 www.fusionpresents.com Page � of �1 3

FP NEWSLETTER

JULY SPECIAL EVENTSFRI 5 Robert Graves Band @ West Beach, WR (8-12)FRI 5 Collektiv Duo @ MIXT Lounge, Sheraton, SRY (7-11)SAT 6 Douglas Crossing Band @ West Beach, WR (8-12)SAT 6 Connie Ballendine & Steve Ranta @ MIXT Lounge, Sheraton, SRY (7-11)SAT 6 Anything Can Happen Cabaret @ The Columbia Theatre, New West (6pm)FRI 12 Benito & Friends @ West Beach, WR (8-12)FRI 12 Gabriel Mark Hasselbach Trio @ MIXT Lounge, Sheraton, SRY (7-11)SAT 13 The Apartment @ The Raven, North Van (8-12)SAT 13 Don’t Stop @ The Bennett, Poco (8-12)SAT 13 Jokers Hill Band @ West Beach, WR (8-12)SAT 13 Benito & Friends @ MIXT Lounge, Sheraton, SRY (7-11)FRI 19 The Rattlers @ West Beach, WR (8-12)FRI 19 John Lee Trio @ MIXT Lounge, Sheraton, SRY (7-11)SAT 20 The Apartment @ Crescent Beach Yacht Club, SRY (7-11)SAT 20 Wingnuts @ West Beach, WR (8-12)SAT 20 Heidi McCurdy Duo @ MIXT Lounge, Sheraton, SRY (7-11)FRI 26 Trama @ West Beach, WR (8-12)FRI 26 Gabriel Mark Hasselbach Trio @ MIXT Lounge, Sheraton, SRY (7-11)SAT 27 Soulux @ The Bennett, Poco (8-12)SAT 27 TBD @ West Beach, WR (8-12)SAT 27 Allegro Trio @ Sheraton Guildford, SRY (7-11)

Welcome to the July edition of the FP Newsletter, Vol. 42, our monthly publication giving you our music news!! First off, we’d like to acknowledge that the land on which FUSIONpresents operates is the traditional and unceded territory of Coast Salish peoples, specifically the Kwantlen, Katzie, Semiahmoo, and Tsawwassen First Nations. And on this July 1, we also wish you a very Happy Canada Day, the home of FUSIONpresents!

We are so close to releasing a number of amazing original musical collaborations with the artists we love, namely singles featuring Maya Rae, Ben Dunnill & Mo Halabi as well as a full 15-song album of songs for babies and toddlers with Nadine Ghawi! Please stay tuned to all our news by following us on facebook and instagram.

FUSIONpresents and the Surrey Board of Trade continue to lead the way in bringing more quality music to Surrey through our Surrey Music City initiative, helping develop Surrey’s growing music economy and community! Our online talent community is growing fast and soon we will be sharing specific and relevant music opportunities in Surrey to our Surrey music community. If you'd like to subscribe, please join here (www.talentcommunity.ca) At our Surrey Music City Centre office, we continue to meet with various Surrey arts organizations, as well as artists, promoters, venues and representatives from the City of Surrey, and are developing strategies and programs to facilitate and encourage an increase in live music entertainment in the City. We’re also helping the City of Surrey launch a brilliant program called “Come Dancing Around the World” featuring Surrey’s very own “Salsa in Surrey” on October 26, 2019 and “Caribbean Night in Surrey” on April 25, 2020! If you’re interested in getting involved in Music City, please contact us and let’s set up a meeting.

Live music continues strong at the Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel in Surrey in the MIXT Lounge on Fridays and Saturdays, The Bennett in Port Coquitlam on select Saturdays and at West Beach in White Rock, 5 nights a week from Wednesday to Sunday! If you’re interested in performing on any of our 3 stages, please click here and join our online Talent Community to tell us what you do! In this newsletter please check out Artists We Love & Work With, Bruce’s Corner, an editorial by DM White, our BC Artist Highlight, our upcoming shows and jams, FP Food for Thought and don’t forget, FUSIONpresents wants YOU to ROCK, so please come out to our jams and join us on stage!!! And on one final note, if you’re ever at a public live music show, and you just happen to love the band or artist, we encourage you to show them your appreciation! Enjoy :)

Contact FUSIONpresents www.fusionpresents.com

WEEKLY JAMS & SHOWS

TOP STORIES

Richard Tichelman wins the Music Award at the Surrey Board of Trade

3rd annual Business & the Arts Awards on June 14th! Richard & his band

perform on July 1 at the White Rock Pier for Canada Day!

Check out Ludic’s second single, “2 Myself” avai lable everywhere!

�July 1, 2019

FP NEWSLETTER Vol. 42 www.fusionpresents.com Page � of �2 3

FP NEWSLETTER

Recently, I attended an exhibition called “Growing Freedom, L’art de John et de Yoko" at the Phi Centre in old Montreal. It was 50 years ago that John and Yoko held a bed-in at the Queen Elizabeth hotel a few blocks away. They were anti-war peace activists when not being a Beatle and multi-media artist. The exhibition hosted photographs, videos, interactive props, books for sale and offered an inside glimpse to their world.

Yoko was often credited with breaking up the Beatles which might well have been inevitable anyways. She and John met at one of her art showings in London, England in 1966, while the Beatles were in full peak. She was not involved in the current pop/rock scene and he not sure of her art at first glance but things between them would eventually rapidly change and grow. The press and public at times treated her with contempt, not at all sure what to make of her, and he at times was looked upon by the British and American governments as a threat. They did marry and collaborate in music and art and in 1975 had a son named Sean Ono Lennon who became a musician, songwriter and producer. 

Their week long bed-ins in Amsterdam and Montreal in 1969 were opened up to the press to promote their peace agenda. During this time they met up with Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in Ottawa and also they stayed with Rocker Ronnie Hawkins at his farm near Mississauga. According to Hawkins, they all (including the PM) smoked some marjahootzy together. In the mid seventies, John took a 5 year break from the recording business to concentrate on family. His last album, Double Fantasy, released in 1980, was the conclusion of the collaborations of John & Yoko. John has been gone from us 39 years now, but Yoko now in her 86th year, is still in New York at the Dakota looking across to the Strawberry Fields memorial. All they were saying really was “Give Peace a Chance”.

JOHN & YOKOby D.M. White

"Every time we hit a stage we aim to be a rock opera crashing a house party. We've watched live music shrink over the years, it's cyclical, and now it's time to rock again!" - Don’t Stop

Coming from jazz, rock, metal, blues and folk backgrounds the band came together through their love of all things retro, in excess, and pure fun musically. Getting their start rehearsing at a reformed gentleman's club in Surrey, the band propelled themselves from the poled stage into the heart of downtown, winning the Insurance Battle of the Bands at the Blarney Stone in Gastown in 2016.

Building on this initial success, the band was selected to become the house band for the now defunct Kitsilano institution, Displace Hashery. Building a repertoire to suit a diverse crowd meant learning the best of today's music, the funkiest and funniest 80's and 90's songs, and of course blazing classic rock and hair metal tunes. After a year of consistent monthly gigs, the band’s style solidified into a non-stop party show of high energy solos, a thunderous rhythm section, and soulful vocal harmonies.

Don’t Stop helped to launch The Donnelly Group's "Live" series at the Bimini Public house in Kits. Being their featured act, playing for sold-out and packed houses twice a month and on special events has aided in re-establishing live music's place in everyone's weekend.  Currently the band performs regularly at private and public functions and at various venues around the lower mainland.

Catch Don’t Stop at The Bennett in Port Coquitlam on July 13th!

BC ARTIST HIGHLIGHT :DON’T STOP BRUCE’S CORNER

I went to a concert last week. ELO, aka Electric Light Orchestra. It was an incredible show. For those who don’t know, ELO is a band from the seventies and early eighties. Jeff Lynne, the leader of the band, was heavily influenced by The Beatles, which came through when listening to the music. As seems the case for all shows I take in these days, the crowd was largely seniors. No surprise when you realize that the late seventies were 40 years ago. A guy sitting beside us commented that the music of ELO represented the soundtrack of his life. They were an important part of my late teens, and I found myself remembering lyrics from over 40 years ago. The guy beside us also cried while listening to one song, and it wasn't a particularly sad song, so I can only imagine that this particular song took him back to a special moment or time in his life. The power of music is a real thing.

One of the lasting effects from this concert experience was the realization that the audience was my peer group. They are old. And so, by definition it must mean that I too am old. So what does this mean? First, I am now wise. I actually think I was prematurely wise 10 years ago but kept a lid on it so as not to embarrass my unwise friends. I suspect a few of these people may never reach wise status. The other thing I notice is that I hurt. Various parts of the body ache for no particular reason. I developed a knotted muscle in my neck/shoulder area and it has been very painful for days. You would think that I injured myself playing competitive sports, or over-exerting myself carrying the piano up the stairs. But no; I slept on it funny. I’ve even put my neck out shoulder checking while driving. How many times have I heard to never get old. Everything aches. This week I’m going to see Paul McCartney and look forward to hearing him sing about getting old and losing my hair when I’m 64 while questioning will I still be loved. Sounds inspirational.

by Bruce Connick

John Lennon & Yoko Ono

�July 1, 2019

FP NEWSLETTER Vol. 42 www.fusionpresents.com Page � of �3 3

FP NEWSLETTERFUSIONpresents MUSIC SERVICES

FUSIONpresents is proud to have offered the highest quality services in music entertainment, artist development and creative music services for over 16 years. We have entertained thousands of delighted guests, taught numerous aspiring artists, and collaborated with countless amazing people. We love what we do and are passionate to do more of it. Contact FUSIONpresents today.

SING WITH THE BAND - Live Band Karaoke gets

everybody involved!

LESSONS in GUITAR, BASS, PIANO, DRUMS & MORE

VOCAL & LIVE PERFORMANCE TRAINING

JUST FOR FUN Song Recordings & Videos

PROFESSIONAL DEMOS of ORIGINAL SONGS

MUSIC FOR LICENSING - Use our songs on websites,

TV, radio & movies

LIVE ENTERTAINMENT SOLOS - BANDS

perfect for any event

CLICK FOR MORE INFO

CLICK FOR MORE INFO

CLICK FOR MORE INFO CLICK FOR MORE INFO

CLICK FOR MORE INFO CLICK FOR MORE INFO

ARTIST DEVELOPMENT Helping artists reach their

dreams

CLICK FOR MORE INFO

CLICK FOR MORE INFO

FP FOOD FOR THOUGHT Everything – a horse, a vine – is created for some duty… For what task, then, were you yourself created? Mister Rogers

You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage—pleasantly, smilingly, non-apologetically, to say ‘no’ to other things. And the way you do that is by having a bigger ‘yes’

burning inside. The enemy of the ‘best’ is often the ‘good.’” Stephen Covey

Contact FUSIONpresents for all your music needs: 778-892-7625 or 604-800-0989

info@fusionpresents.comwww.fusionpresents.com

ARTISTS WE LOVE & WORK WITH

Nadine Ghawi Early Childhood Educator, Singer, Songwriter, Producer. We have the

privilege of working with Nadine on a 15 song collection of daycare

favourites and re-imagined classics that both your littles ones AND you are going to LOVE! This is the long-

awaited musical sibling collaboration of Nadine, Christine

and Sami Ghawi! Stay tuned!

SING WITH NADINE on FACEBOOK

Heidi McCurdy Singer, Songwriter, Healing Sound Artist - Heidi is a musical force to be reckoned with! We recently had the pleasure of working with her on an

acoustic video for one of her original songs. Check it out and follow her on social media to stay tuned for more

videos!

www.heidimccurdy.com

Ludic Their first single “My Love” has

over 250,000 online streams and the band just released their second single, “2 Myself”! They’ve got a number of

upcoming shows, so follow them on social media to stay tuned!

LUDIC on INSTAGRAM