There was a star studded sky and bright full moon for the last concert at Serenity Performing Arts Centre on Aug. 10 at 7:00 p.m. First on stage was Mae Moore from Pender Island. One year she opened for Crosby, Stills, and Nash. She wrote the song Heaven in Your Eyes which was used in the movie Top Gun.
Moore started singing in a coffee house when she was 16 years of age on a dare from her friends. By 1991 she was performing professionally. She plays two different kinds of guitars and the Appalachian Mountain dulcimer - an old folk instrument.
Moore enjoys singing for an audience. She has been all over Canada but said that she has never performed in so beautiful a location. She wrote a song called Oh Canada - not, she mentioned, our national anthem - to commemorate her travels. She also sang a song for Shirley DeVooght and all her family, including the audience, that Moore had written to honour the spirit of a friend lost to cancer.
Following Moore on stage was Ryan Donn, who was accompanied by Lonny Eagleton. Their harmonizing was great for a pair who hadn’t played together for six months. Donn was originally from Scotland but now resides in the Okanagan. He was very humorous and with it did a lot of advertising for Shirley’s cheesecake. In his first song he changed some of the words to Serenity and cheesecake.
Donn’s second song was specifically for the children in the audience and taken from Jungle Book. The young girls were up dancing. He decided to make up and sing a song on the spot, something, he said, that doesn’t always work out. He asked the audience what it would like the song to be about. The theme chosen was the Serenity moon. The children wanted a werewolf added. The song was great.
Donn started performing in the Okanagan at age 18. He has performed in a lot of school districts and at many cultural events. He was having a riot singing at Serenity and appreciated being asked. To find his music and CDs one has to go to I-Tunes.
Last on stage was a trio made up of Tom Coles, Lynn Shook, and Mike Turner. Coles, who played the guitar and harmonica, lives in Blackpool and is the tattoo artist in Clearwater. Shook lives in Clinton and Turner, who played the electric stand-up bass, is from Kamloops. Due to the distance in their home locations the trio managed to have only one practice for the concert.
A folk singer/song writer Coles considers himself a 60s singer as well and sang many well known songs of that era. He had the audience singing along with him. He also performed many that he had written himself, including a song against the HST.
When the evening came to an end Shirley thanked all the people who had sponsored Serenity. She also thanked John Rogers for the years he had put in as the soundman. This was his last gig because he was moving on. Tickets are now available for the 2012 season at Serenity Performing Arts. Just get in touch with Shirley at 250 - 676 - 9456.