Thursday June 30 at 8 pm, $5. Jazz vocalist Carolyn Credico, with the Altobeelays: Chris Bruder on piano/keys, Jordan Snider on drums, Tom Altobelli on upright bass and bass, Scott McIntosh on guitar. Mostly jazz, with some other styles in the mix.
Sat June 25 at 8 pm, $10. Guitar virtuoso Doug Murphy and his band (Kevin Christoff, bass and Brian Ropcean, drums) playing new-age progressive jazz, mostly their own compositions. Doug played a stunning concert at the end of April and we are delighted to have him back.
Friday June 24 at 8 pm, pwyc. “PoeMagic”, an evening of spoken word, hosted by dub poet Klyde Broox, usually fourth Friday of the month.
SPECIAL Mid-July Wed July 20, 8 pm. Since June 24 was such a blast, we are getting in another PoeMagic before August.
All genres of spoken word poets welcome. Contact Klyde at kbroox@porchlight.ca. ”Steeped in oral traditions, Broox’s gesture-enabled, dance and song-oriented, performances are consistently pitched to engage, entertain, and invite audiences to experience poetry as social communion. … “
Read more…
SPECIAL: Wednesday June 22 at 9 pm. Hamilton’s own Dark Mean makes a special appearance at Artword Artbar just before their Toronto album launch. Sandy Johnston and Billy Holmes, who seem to play anything and everything, give unassuming yet intricate acoustic sections, banjo riffs that will make you smile, driving drum patterns, and well-crafted arrangements. Mark Dean‘s vocals draw the pieces together, and his phrasing and sense of melody is something truly special. (We will do an early-bird Open Mic from 8 to 9 pm, and a bit more after the Dark Mean set.) http://www.darkmean.com/fr_news.cfm
Saturday June 18, 2011 at 8 pm, $15 at door, $10 advance. The Tribal Gallery presents Higher Ground, an evening of Social Soul, unison harmony rhythm & rhyme, performed by vocalists Gail Berry, Betty Richardson, and Colina Phillips.
Betty Richardson, Gail Berry and Colina Phillips love to sing. Their voices intersected and crisscrossed over the length of their careers so much that they can wrap themselves in each others voices with ease. These distinctive voices come together now in unison, harmony, rhythm and rhyme. Higher Ground is bound to weave music magic for fans of rhythm and blues, gospel and the blues. Read more…
Friday June 17 at 8 pm, $10. Phillip Brown, Michael Burton, Paul Jansen – Three singer-songwriters and guitarists in the folk mode, a triple-bill! Phillip Brown: “His songs are imbued with great musicianship, a warm and engaging voice and some of the fanciest guitar picking I’ve heard in a while.” 
Michael Burton: “He plays fingerstyle acoustic guitar and uses his expressive voice to connect solidly with his audience.” Paul Jansen: “His unique fusion of traditional Celtic and bluegrass musical forms keeps audiences leaning forward and listening closely.” Read more…
Thursday June 16, at 8 pm, pwyc. Alt Music Night with host Tom Dusome. M.R. (former dead sweeties) features Mike Long (guitar) and Rebecca (drums) playing exciting fast paced guitar based punk rock. lets dance dance dance! White Byson is a phenomenal duo playing incendiary beats and expressive riffs.. look out! And playing with Tom Dusome will be a full band: Scott Thorn (bass, guitar, vocals) Drop D (drums) and Jessah Higgins (mandolin and vocals)
Sunday June 12 from 10 am to 5 pm (rain or shine), Open Streets Hamilton takes over James Street all day long. Walk, ride or roll down James Street. AND Artword Artbar will be open from 10 am to 5 pm, for refreshments plus washroom access.
Artword Artbar’s Open Mic for Open Streets hosted by Ron the Fiddler, out on Colbourne Street, from about 11 to 4.
“Leave your car at home and come walk, ride, or roll down James St. North! Join us for this family-friendly event by walking, cycling, rollerblading or skateboarding the whole family over to James St. North from King Street to Guise between the hours of 10am to 5pm.” http://openstreetshamilton.wordpress.com/
Saturday June 11 at 8 pm, $5. We are delighted to have two of the best improvisers in Canada as our guests for a special “Behind the Kiln”. Eugene Martynec, laptop improviser, and 
Nobuo Kubota (click to view performance), sound poet, will kick us into very high gear. The rest of us will also be there to provide the movement, visuals and more sound. Movers so far include Liz Bates, Tanis MacArthur, Jenny Rae, Victoria Slager. Sound from Jennifer Lockman piano, Tom Shea guitar, Orange McFarland upright bass. ”Behind the Kiln” is our regular evening of multi-media collaborations in real-time, with musicians, dancers and video jammer. It’s thrilling, unpredictable, unexplainable. Be there!
Dance, Event, Film, Music, Special event
Friday June 10, during the James North Art Crawl, all evening from 8 pm, tip jar. The wonderful country Americana singer Tia McGraff, is back at Artword Artbar, with her band Radical Road unplugged. Hew recent CD release “Diversity” received the Hamilton Music Award for best Country Recording). Tia McGraff (lead vocals/guitar), Tommy Parham (acoustic guitar/background vocals). http://tiamcgraff.com/
Artword Gallery for the month of June: “Steel is the New Art”, images by metallurgist Shane Turcott, investigating steel failures with an electron 
microscope, from his series “Steel Image of the Month”. His title for the exhibition — “Steel is the New Art” — is used with permission from The Print Studio, playing on their campaign “Art is the New Steel” .
Friday June 10 from 7 to 11 pm, during the James North Art Crawl, Shane Turcott will be present. Read more…
Tuesdays at 8 pm, free. Artword Theatre hosts “Theatre Tuesdays” — readings from new plays, works-in-progress, favourite plays, and/or short theatrical presentations, films about theatre, etc. To get involved, as a writer, reader, presenter, actor, listener… contact us: artword@artword.net
June 7, a reading of Under Milk Wood, a radio drama by Welsh-born poet and writer Dylan Thomas. Thomas died in New York in 1953 after delivering a draft of the work and it was published posthumously in 1954. The play opens at night, when the citizens of Llareggub are asleep. An all-seeing narrator (First Voice/Second Voice) invites the audience to listen to the dreams and innermost thoughts of the inhabitants of an imaginary small Welsh village. Morning breaks. The characters awake and go about their morning — their gossiping, their nagging, their daydreaming, their longing. Beautiful language, many wonderful characters, some lovely comic parts — plenty for everyone! All readers welcome.
June 14, An advance reading of ”Escape” by Robert Savoie, directed by Brian Morton. Cast: Joshua Shutter as Robbie, Chris Cracknell as Older Robert, Carla Zabek as Amelia, Brian Morton as Harry
It’s Halloween night, 1973, and ten year old Robbie finds himself alone in the time out room once again. But it’s through the eye of an older Robbie, the narrator, that we learn of the circumstances leading up to that incarceration, and the life journey that followed. Thanks to the help of Amelia, a young social worker, and Harry, a mental patient in the St John New Brunswick Insane Asylum, that journey was not one of escape from life but to life.
See “Escape” in the Hamilton Fringe Festival, July 14 to 24, at the DAC Studio, 28 Rebecca Street, Tickets: $9.00, Show Length: 80 minutes, Company: Majik Man Productions.
June 21: Come and help us read The Devil’s Disciple by George Bernard Shaw. Set during the American Revolution, this play is full of Shaw’s love of paradox. A man who glories in repudiating the puritan morality of the day (the Devil’s disciple) chooses to sacrifice himself to save a minister of God. There is a fascinating and amusing depiction of the British General “Gentleman Johnny” Burgoyne. All readers and listeners welcome.
June 28: cancelled.
Sunday, June 5 at 3 pm, $10. SPECIAL EVENT. The Sunambeaches in concert! Charly Chiarelli, songs, stories and virtuoso harmonica (Hamilton’s Cu’Fu Guy), Gary Santucci, virtuoso guitar (The Pearl Company), Venesio DeSalvo, guitar magician, and Ronald “The Fiddler” Weihs, violin and wisecracks. Sicilian blues, Hamilton stories, and plenty of attitude!
