But there was no way I could feel tired at the Female Eye Film Festival fundraiser at Cherry Cola’s last night – that place was so pumped full of positive vibes and incredible sounds, not to mention lovely and talented ladies, I couldn’t feel anything but energized and inspired.

Heather Hill

Heather Hill opened the night with a scaled down band (Mike Freedman on guitar & Russ Boswell on bass), giving the folks a nice sampling of tunes from her recently released Leuty Station CD – including a few of my personal faves: “Last Train,” “Leuty Station” and “Second Chance.” These songs have the same power and emotional impact performed by a three-piece band as they do with the full complement Hill had with her at the launch – and that’s largely due to Hill’s stage presence and vocal chops, not to mention the two great musicians she had up there with her. Check her out here: http://www.heatherhill.ca/fr_blog.cfm

Meredith Shaw

Meredith Shaw belted out some bluesy original pop tunes, bringing it with some sexy vocals, accompanied by guitar and bass (and you gotta love a female bass player who rocks the upright!). Loved the little lights Shaw had strung up on the mic stand – they added a fun, festive glow to her set. Like she said: “It’s Christmas ‘cuz we say so.” You can find Shaw here: http://www.meredithshaw.com/

Amanda Davids

Amanda Davids took us to the church of soul with her sexy smooth, funkified R&B sound that made you wanna dance. Here’s where she’s at: http://www.amandadavids.com/site/

Patrizia

Last up of this already incredible program of talented female music artists was Patrizia. I wanna say Debbie Harry meets Maria Callas meets Celine Dion here ‘cuz – from Carmen to Queen – this lady belts out some seriously powerful rock/pop-infused classical and classical-infused rock/pop that you can feel vibrating in your chest. Patrizia’s co-ordinates are: http://patriziamusic.com/

A great evening of music and support for the Female Eye Film Festival – and shouts to the Female Eye organizers and the folks at Cherry Cola’s for this great fundraising event. The Female Eye Film Festival runs June 20-24 – for more info, please visit their website: http://www.femaleeyefilmfestival.com/

Heather Hill & Angela Saini

Heather’s awesome boots

Just for fun, here are a couple of more pics – Heather Hill and Angela Saini (who came to give her support) and, just ‘cuz they’re so awesome, a close-up of Heather’s boots.

Once the fun high of this long weekend wears off, what’cha gonna do? How about the Female Eye Film Festival fundraiser, this Thursday, May 24 at Cherry Cola’s Rock ‘N Rolla Cabaret & Lounge.

The evening’s festivities will feature performances by Meredith Shaw, Heather Hill, Amanda Davids and Patrizia. Cherry Cola’s is located at 200 Bathurst Street, Toronto and the show starts at 9 p.m. $10 cover includes one drink. http://cherrycolas.com

Heather Hill @ Leuty Station CD launch

This is the perfect chance to catch some amazing talent, especially if you happened to miss Heather Hill’s Leuty Station CD launch, and support a great film fest as well.

The Female Eye Film Festival runs June 20-24 – and the opening feature is the film version of Eric Peterson and John Gray’s play Billy Bishop Goes to War, directed by Barbara Willis Sweet. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1830503/

For info on the festival, please visit the Female Eye website: http://www.femaleeyefilmfestival.com/

Alas, I am still working within the limited construct of this single corporeal self and the rules of social triage dictate that I must prioritize. And some events just won’t make it.

Case in point: two friends and I took our chances on rush tickets for Soulpepper’s production of Kim’s Convenience on Monday night. Well, in the end, it was just me as neither of them could make it. I was #3 for rush tix – but the guy who was first in line scooped up the last two seats. Took a chance that they’d have some cancellations or no-shows – and spent some time starting to read Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking on my new eReader – but no luck. Oh, well. At least I caught the Fringe production. Would have really liked to see it again, but personal scheduling and ticket availability being what they are, it’s not going to happen. My advice: get your seats in advance or you’ll miss out. http://www.soulpepper.ca/performances/12_season/kim%27s_convenience.aspx

Luckily, I did purchase an advance ticket for Nightwood Theatre’s production of The Penelopiad – and will be off to Buddies in Bad Times to see that tonight. I also strongly advise advance ticket purchases for this. http://buddiesinbadtimes.com/show.cfm?id=774

Also coming up: adorable and talented singer/songwriter Meghan Morrison is doing a gig at Cherry Cola’s on Friday night. Definitely a good thing to come out for. Here’s Meghan’s website: http://www.meghanmorrisonmusic.com/fr_home.cfm

My Saturday will be filled up with a few gatherings with friends: a brunch, a dinner and a birthday party (at a pub with karaoke). And it occurred to me that I haven’t been to the movies in a while, so maybe Sunday.

Will be back with the scoop on these and any other upcoming adventures soon…