Chatham Cultural Centre 2010

Venue: Chatham Cultural Centre (Kiwanis Theatre)
Location: Chatham Ontario Canada
Phone: 519-360-1998, 519-354-8346
Ticket Box Office: 1-866-807-7770
Kiwanis Theatre: 519-354-8338
Website: http://theculturalcentre.com/cms/

Address:
Chatham Cultural Centre
75 William Street N.
Chatham Ontario
N7M-4L4

Located in historic downtown Chatham, the Chatham Cultural Centre offers the Kiwanis Theatre, Chatham-Kent Museum, Thames Art Gallery, and within a short walk, the Milner Heritage House. Nowhere else in Ontario exists such a rare combination of art, heritage and entertainment in one convenient location.

The stage at Kiwanis Theatre hosts the best Canadian and local performing artists. Welcoming 40,000 patrons to events each year, this 679-seat venue is Chatham-Kent’s premier host for professional touring artists, local theatre companies, musicians and more. In its studio the Kiwanis hosts more intimate events such as the Friday Night Jazz series.

A few events happening this year at the Kiwanis Theatre: 2010 CK Guitar Summit, Just For Laughs Road Show, BAM Percussion – eXplosion, Black Violin, The Fabulous Crooners, Crystal Gage, The Mask Messenger, Jade Lester CD Release Concert, Brooke Nicholls, Irish Fire,

History: In 1963, the building (last used as the Chatham Vocational School) was bought by a group of citizens eager to establish an art centre in Chatham. By 1969, The Thames Theatre Association for the Arts was presenting live performances in the original 700-seat school theatre and the old gymnasium was being used as a gallery.  Renovations to the gymnasium and the studio areas of the building began in 1975 and the Thames Art Gallery, National Exhibition Centre was born.

________________

Smoke House has bands

Downtown King Street

Venue: Smoke House
Type: Live music on weekends.
City: Chatham Ontario
Location: 216 King Street West. (Downtown)
Phone: 519-352-8882

Musical acts that you will find at the Smoke House are:
Superfly, Tim Tyler Duo, Bluetonium, Bill Durst , Ray Whaling Duo, Chris Murphy, Sam Hurrie Duo, That Whaling Band, Tom Lockwood Band, Da Blooze Bros, Carole Allison Trio, Electric Soul, Chuck Fitzgerald, etc.

This venue closed in early 2011.

Visit the Smoke House website here.

___________________________

Big Shots in Chatham Ontario

Click on photo to enlarge

Venue: Big Shots
Year: 2010
Location: 17 King Street W. Chatham, Ontario (Near Cinema Six & Clems Book Store.

Big Shots have gone out of their way to bring their customers everything they need for a good time. This also includes live bands. The bar has a great out door patio that often has live acoustic acts performing, including Ray Whaling, Julie Ross etc. With Jersey’s shut down right now,(early 2010) many people are discovering this new venue and are loving it.

Chatham’s Newest Hot Spot!
We’ve got lots of pool tables and T.V.’s…
A gorgeous VIP room for you to host your trendy private parties…
A superb bar menu and the best servers to make your stay more enjoyable!
Our bar is ALWAYS STOCKED with premium liquers and COLD BEER.

Update: April 29th 2016. The owners of Big Shots have moved locations in early 2016.  They have have also changed their name to Champz. The venue will be located on St. Clair, with better opportunities with the heavier traffic flow.
Link: Champz Sportz Grille on Facebook.

Website:
http://www.bigshotsbilliards.ca/

___________________________________

Elephants Nest Pub 2010

 

Venue: Elephants Nest (A.K.A. The Nest)
Location: Chatham Ontario
Address: 149 King Street West

The Elephant’s Nest is a cool little music bar located right down town on King Street.  Tuesday night is the highlight for musicians and music lovers as Julie Ross hosts ‘Open Mic Night’. Instruments are supplied and many performers play throughout the evening acoustically.
 The Nest also has live duos/ bands on the weekends. The key to this club is that you never know what to expect. The club has a cool underground vibe to it on occasions, yet it also plays to the mainstream expectations of your favourite cover songs ringing out into the pub style atmosphere.
   The Nest is another choice stop downtown for club crawling.  The Nest, Spankys , The River Rock, The JAZZBAH, and the Smoke House are all located on the same block. Add a 5 minute stroll and you will also make it to ‘Big Shots’.

________________________________

Chatham Music Archive Article 2009

Click to enlarge

‘BAND’ING Together
Posted By ELLWOOD SHREVE
Chatham Daily News Nov.14th 2009

If you have a favourite local band still playing or from when you were younger, try checking out the website www.chathammusicarchive.com created by Shawn Beaulieu.
In a short period of time, the 35-year-old Chatham resident has compiled an impressive amount of information on local bands and musicians, including photos and small biographies, which are listed by both name and year released.
Beaulieu began the project about four or five years ago as a blog, but since being laid off six months ago, he has been able to devote several hours a day to the website.
“All of a sudden it turned into more than a hobby and all of a sudden it got bigger and bigger,” Beaulieu said.
He has been a part of the local music scene as a member of the band Foster Child, which became the Janet Theory.
Beaulieu credits the help he has received from Jeff Mifflin, who works at Strings N’ Things and is the guitarist with The O’Hara Brothers band. He said Mifflin was able to access photos of several local bands that have been displayed at the local music store over the years. He also noted the members of the 1980s group Manpower, which have teamed up again this year, “got me into a lot of this.” Beaulieu said the website is getting the attention of several local musicians, past and present, noting people have been coming to him with information. Beaulieu is impressed with the wealth of musical talent and the wide range of genres that has come out of the Chatham-Kent area, and wanted a way to show that to the world.
He has done extensive research at the Chatham Public Library, gathering information dating back to 1889 with the formation of the Chatham City Band. There is plenty of interesting information on well-known older bands, including the Melody Ramblers, which once boasted current country music star Michelle Wright as its lead singer. When Wright left to pursue a solo career, she was replaced by Wendy Jenkins, who also enjoyed success with the popular band. Then there is The Missing Links, including members John, Fred and Eddy Larson and Bill McGrath, whose 1966 album “It’s Link Up Time,” was produced by Paul Shaffer, best known today for his long stint with the David Letterman Show.

The site is also filling up with information on several local bands from today’s era. Beaulieu said the website can also serve as a resource for bands that are looking for musicians with certain skills or local clubs that want to hire local bands to play. “I only knew about 10 per cent of the bands when I started doing this,” Beaulieu said. “There’s a big scene going on, but nobody knows each other.”

_________________