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The top talents of 2008
Locally, here's who made the most noise in the arts
Tom Zillich, Surrey Now
Published: Friday, January 02, 2009Wherever I happen to be, I tell people that Surrey -- along with North Delta and White Rock -- is home to some of the region's most gifted, creative people.
On the arts scene, we're blessed with talent. The proof has been in the pages of the Now over the past year, with the following people taking centre stage:
Elicia MacKenzie
The Sullivan Heights-area actor/singer made Surrey proud after winning a CBC reality-TV show, which led to a starring role in a big-money version of The Sound of Music in Toronto. Production backer Andrew Lloyd-Webber was in the crowd when MacKenzie became "Maria" in October at the Mirvish-owned Princess of Wales Theatre.
In Hogtown, her face was everywhere -- on billboards, posters, magazine covers and more. It really has been a dream come true for MacKenzie, who long ago pretended to sing like Julie Andrews on an Austrian hillside.
She's a star in the making.
Jordan Carrier
The former member of Cozy Bones went solo with a debut album called Absence of Wonder, which was three years in the making before it dropped last March.
It was worth the wait, revealing Carrier to be equally comfortable with block-rocking beats, Radiohead-ish melancholy and beautiful acoustic numbers.
A wine pro at a Marine Drive restaurant away from the stage, Carrier later did well in the CFOX Seeds contest and earned significant airtime on the radio station with his angry "Club People" track. Absence of Wonder arrived a full 15 years after Cozy Bones hit local stages with its jammy, hippy-ish ditties. Well done, Mr. Carrier.
The Higgins
North Delta's country-pop darlings hit their stride in the summer with a retooled version of its Real Thing album, filled with sharp hooks and outstanding harmonies. By fall, they'd won an astounding six awards at the B.C. Country Music Awards in Coquitlam.
Plenty of influential people took notice of the Higgins in 2007, including the Open Road/Universal label that later signed the band, adding the sibling trio to a roster that features Doc Walker, Jewel, Trisha Yearwood and Taylor Swift.
Stephano Barberis
The North Surrey director has become the king of country-music videos by winning the best-clip category at the B.C. Country Music Awards for 10 years running.
Ironically, Barberis only recently learned to appreciate country music -- worlds apart from the classical and electro-pop sounds he grew up listening to in Kitimat.
His most recent video is for the song "Little Guy" by Gord Bamford, which had him zooming over the Rockies to capture the scenes.
Rick St Pierre
He's a wizard with AC/DC's guitar amps, on tour and in studio.
A longtime White Rock-er, St Pierre is not only the Aussie rock band's amplifier technician, he crafts his own brand of high-end Wizard amps for the likes of Aerosmith, Joe Satriani, Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top and Metallica's James Hetfield.
His passion for guitar and bass amps dates back to the late-1960s, when St Pierre played in rock bands in Cornwall, Ontario and vicinity. "Looking back," he told the Now, "I think I played in bands because there were amps being used."
Robert Genn
The Crescent Beach painter has embraced technology by publishing a twice-weekly online "letter" to fellow artists -- at least 50,000 of the them, by subscription. In 2008, the globe-trotting Genn also published a fourth book, Love Letters to Art, a beautiful hard-cover effort that pairs 60 of his "letters" with examples of his diverse paintings.
Elise Estrada
In the Fleetwood area of Surrey, she was the girl who sang with a hairbrush in hand in front of a mirror. Today, there's no pretending; the photogenic Estrada, 21, is a pop singer on the rise with songs such as "Ix-Nay and "Insatiable."
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Sam & Luke The White Rock teens are blues-y beyond their years, jamming "soul-pop" songs for crowds of increasing size. The Remedios brothers -- Sam, 17, and Luke, 13 -- turned heads at the PNE during the Red Robinson Talent Showdown. Remember the name. |
Lisa Brokop
OK, she lives in Nashville now, but Brokop is a Surrey girl at heart. This year, she reassembled the parts of a two-decade career in country music to create Beautiful Tragedy, her best album yet, with the help of her new husband, producer/musician Paul Jefferson.
Hormozd Poorooshasb
An Iranian-born artist who signs his paintings with his first name only, Hormozd creates ultra-vibrant works at his South Surrey home. His retirement gig is a far cry from his former occupation: a professor of engineering at Montreal's Concordia University.
tzillich@thenownewspaper.com
