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Event Description

Anticipate joy, thrills and plenty of holiday cheer, laced with overtones of Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, The Beatles, jazz and more, when Allison Crowe brings "Tidings" to Victoria. A concert fundraiser for Artemis Place, (girls' educational and life-skills), and HepCBC - with special guest, singer-songwriter Ellisa Hartman.

"Music for the season and all time." Tidings stirs together traditional Christmas carols and holiday favourites with an organic blend of rock, jazz, folk, gospel and soul. "The Yuletide find of the year," says The Record. "Be prepared to be amazed," chimes ChristmasReviews.com Longtime NPR broadcaster Ross Hocker calls Allison Crowe's show, "The most honest, heartfelt, and directly intimate concert in my entire life."

"Allison Crowe has a voice to fall in love with," says UK music industry journal Record of the Day. “She is from Vancouver Island in Canada, descended from Scottish, Irish and Manx stock. She's exactly the sort of artist who can make serious headway on her own label and that's just what she's doing."

When this phenomenon 'from the islands' (Vancouver Island and Newfoundland) reached the mainland she steered a path clear of what Joni Mitchell knowingly calls the record business' "style inventions". With Ani DiFranco as a model of integrity, and Creative Commons licensing changing the "game" for resourceful musicians, Crowe created her own label. Since 2003, Rubenesque Records Ltd has released six critically and commercially successful albums: Lisa’s Song + 6 Songs; Secrets; Tidings; Live at Wood Hall; This Little Bird; and Little Light. Crowe's next album is Spiral.

"The first thing you notice about Allison Crowe is her voice. Rich and dark, it seems to come from a place most singers can only dream of accessing. Then there are the songs. Filled with raw passion and accompanied by Crowe's eloquent piano playing," writes Clodagh O'Connell (The Courier). Hers is a joyous sound: "Elton John meets Edith Piaf."

A sensation at the UK's John Lennon Northern Lights Festival, where she performed on a bill with the Queen's Master of Music, Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, and the UK's Poet Laureate, Carol Ann Duffy, "Canadian angel Alison Crowe gave one of the weekend's most magical moments," says The Scotsman.

Festival Director Mike Merritt describes Crowe as "awesome" and "spine-tingling", noting her performance "put hairs on the back of your neck! She brought the house down."

A true grassroots success, Crowe is praised not only as a singularly talented songwriter - on themes personal as well as worldly - and as an exciting, visceral, performer, but, also, as a supreme interpreter of song. Her vital takes on such 21st century standards as Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" and Joni Mitchell's "River" are applauded as "truly transcendent" and her singular covers have achieved broad, even mainstream, popularity, featured by BBC Radio, MOJO magazine and by acclaimed Hollywood director Zack Snyder (300, The Watchmen).

Ellisa Hartman opens this Tidings concert night with a set of guitar-based songs that soulfully blend blues, jazz and acoustic sounds - fitting, as she cites among her varied influences Eva Cassidy, Tracy Chapman, Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, Bonnie Raitt, Billie Holiday, and Jann Arden."Ellisa Hartman is a highly promising young Victoria singer-songwriter. Her strengths include a gift for vocal phrasing and an ability to write melodic, hook-laden songs with thoughtful introspective lyrics. Fans of Sarah McLachlan and Chantal Kreviazuk will easily succumb to her charm and artistry," says Adrian Chamberlain (Victoria Times Colonist).

Tidings brings excitement and musical fun and opportunity to support a pair of hard-working non-profit groups with a long-term commitment to Victoria:

Artemis Place - dedicated for decades, Artemis, (under a variety of banners), has delivered an integrated counseling and educational program that provides an unique alternative to traditional school for at-risk girls. Artemis Place provides a sanctuary where girls are able to work on completing their high school while learning critical life skills in conflict resolution, and in building self esteem and successful relationships. "For almost 40 years, our society has successfully transformed the lives of the most at-risk girls in our community. We know that every single girl is filled with power, and we are in the unique business of tapping into that potential," says Lisa Ellis, Artemis' Executive Director. As a graduate of the program, Lisa especially knows the immense good that Artemis Place does in the lives of young women and the Victoria community.

and

HepCBC ~ a non-profit society dedicated to Hepatitis C education and prevention for more than a decade. HepCBC strives to support those who are directly and indirectly affected by Hepatitis C. While there is treatment for those affected with HCV, there is no immunization available unlike its Hepatitis A and B counterparts. A person who contracts HCV often doesn't even know they have it until 20 years later when they start experiencing their first symptoms. This latent period of the illness often arises from the liver finally succumbing to the virus after having it for several years. HepCBC works to ensure that the public is aware of the existence and transmission methods of Hepatitis C and people know how and where to get tested - by a simple blood test that can be done at any medical lab with a doctor's referral.The organization is grateful to both individual donors as well as groups like the United Way for enabling it to exist and carry on with its mission.

Date/Time: Saturday, November 28, 2009 Doors: 7:30 p.m. Music: 8:00 p.m.

Venue: Alix Goolden Hall, 907 Pandora Avenue (Victoria Conservatory of Music)

Tickets: $20 General/$15 Students & Seniors - Advance (all charges incl.)
(Door: $22/$17)

Tickets: Lyle's Place (770 Yates), The Patch (719 Yates), Ivy's Bookshop (2188 Oak Bay Ave.), Munro's Books (1108 Government St.); & online @ http://www.allisoncrowe.com/shoptickets.html

Info: http://www.artemisplace.org + http://www.hepcbc.ca + http://www.vcm.bc.ca + http://www.allisoncrowe.com + http://www.myspace.com/ellisahartman

Contact: 250-537-1286 or email management@allisoncrowe.com