Artsy Amy's Animal House

Scribbles has been busy snooping through our readers facebook pages again and soon you'll see what we found.

Take for example our friend, artican, Amy Ballett. There's always lots to enjoy on her facebook page. Her family share their home with several pets as we see on Amy's facebook. Currently there's 5 cats and two dogs -the above is a cool shot taken when there were a few less kitties around. (revised photos coming soon!!)

Then there's Amy art and photography. There's galleries of both on facebook, spectacular paintings and amazing photos by Amy Ballett.

Amy had an Open House this weekend and was recently featured in NIAGARA THIS WEEK newspaper.
Visit Amy's Website - Click Here

Paintings of the Unnatural World by Amy Ballett
Opening reception Sat. Dec. 4 - 1pm-4pm

The Rosberg Gallery
4848 Victoria Avenue - Niagara Falls, ON

More Info Acrylic paintings of contrasting sizes and configurations will greet the visitor to this exhibition of new acrylic paintings by Amy Ballett. Amy has been playing with many different themes in her work, still defying those who say that an artist needs to follow one idea and one idea only. Creative thought, and flux and flow are the only constant in her work, which is evident in the playfulness of both subject and technique.

The public is invited to visit the Rosberg Gallery during the entire month of December, 2010 to view the works, with an opening reception on Saturday, December 4th, between 1-4pm. Refreshments will be served.  -written by Amy Ballett

photography by Amy Ballett

art by Amy Ballett

Young Amy Ballett produced by Mr. & Mrs. Ballett  : )

 Visit Amy's Website - Click Here

Lightning McQueen Cruises By

Here's my ever-growing nephew and his mom Jane showing us his cool new "leather" jacket. The jacket sports his favourite "Cars" character Lightning McQueen. Considering how much Graham likes to explore and can move so quickly, "Lightning" is certainly appropriate.

Kitty is a very adventurous cat. She is the beloved pet of American travelers, Peter and Marcia Simmons, who are hiking from Miami, Florida to Ushuaia in Argentina. They are currently in Colombia. Kitty is often seen resting in Peters backpack as they travel. They have set up a little umbrella on the backpack to shade Kitty from the sun.

Kitty is enjoying the trip as much as her owners. She often climbs on Peters shoulder to get a better view of the new scenery. She is not at all shy about meeting new people. If there was an award for the most adventurous cat, Kitty would be the purr-fect candidate.

 Adam Lambert's Glamtastic New EP

Acoustic Live!

Fans of American Idol season 8 runner-up Adam Lambert should circle December 6th on the calendar (or, perhaps, decorate it with glitter and sequins) because that's the day Lambert has chosen to release his upcoming EP Acoustic Live!

Living up to the title, the 5-track EP will feature stripped-down, acoustic, live recordings of some of his most popular tunes. Billboard reports that the disc will feature unplugged versions of Whataya Want From Me, Music Again, Aftermath and Soaked - all from Lambert's debut album For Your Entertainment. Also included is a cover of the Tears for Fears and Gary Jules hit Mad World, which Lambert performed memorably on the Fox TV talent search that launched his career.

'We went around Europe in the earlier part of this year…and we did a lot of promo, so I had Monty my guitar player, and my drummer at the time,' Lambert explained in a recent interview. 'We just did very stripped-back versions of the songs, then we also recorded some of the stuff from the actual Glam Nation tour.'

The rocker added that he's already begun thinking about his second full-length album. 'I have things that I'm writing down, little notes that I'm writing here and there, but nothing's started yet on it. But hopefully it'll be out by the spring or summer of next year.'

Story provided by the Dish Information Corporation

Hanging Around

Not sure how I missed it, but this photo was found way down in my inbox, so it isn't too recent. It was taken by our pal Tom Balint while on an amazing vacation. Mountain climbing, petting alligators and so much more was enjoyed by Tom and his traveling partner.

Watch for more Tom's Vacation Pix coming up.

Check Out "Cardboard Guy"



Ennio Marchetto is a world renowned and awarded comedian who has created  his own theatrical language mixing mime, dance, music and quick change costumes made out of card-board and paper. In 18 years, Italy's finest has performed in over 70 countries for more than a million people. His show has received numerous awards and International critical acclaim.

Ennio does impressions of stars and singers using these paper costumes that transform from one person into another. Talk about the ultimate means of recycling!

See Ennio Marchetto in action -click here

See Ya Later Alligator

Here's another of Tom Balint's vacation pix, which scribbles in a bit behind on posting. In this shot Tom gets up close and personal with a real-life alligator. I think I'l pass on that one Tom, but sure cool to see you and others doing it.

The Group of Nine at A Chorus Line

Garden City Productions has done it again. Their recent production of A Chorus Line was amazing, proving once again that GCP has many amazing talents in their midst. A Chorus Line was directed & choreographed by Brian Vogt, a familiar face to GCP shows, performed live at Mandeville Theatre @ Ridley College-St Catharines.

As you may recall, my mother usually goes to the plays each Spring and Fall and her posse just keeps getting larger. For A Chorus Line, Mom (Joan) was joined by her friends Bob & Rose, her daughter Kim & her grandkids Erin & Patrick, her son (me) and my pals Becky and Doug.  Reservations for nine, to A Chorus Line.

Although none of us won the 50/50 Draw, we did find our ticket man very entertaining -as seen in the pix here, with my sister Kim. And with my mom living only a block away from Ridley, we were there and back in no time at all, with much better parking too!  GCP's next project is South Pacific, premiering next Spring and you can bet an arm's length of 50/50 tickets that we'll be there.

Groovin' with "Bab" & the Figure Four

We had a blast at Cat's Caboose on Fri night. Me, Becky Lee, Shannon Convery, Jody Edwards, Tammy and Jule ? were on hand for two great reasons. First off it was Becky's birthday and secondly our favourite group The Figure Four were performing.

You may recall our recent interview with Michael Chess, frontman for the Figure Four. Scribbles first got tuned into the group at this year's Niagara Wine Festival, but our other pals had seen them many times before.

I'm always amazed at the group's versitility, energy and Mike's amazing ability to animate his lyrics with great facial expressions.

"He should be a famous star" our birthday girl Becky told me, while we watched him in action. I couldn't agree more.  Not that we weren't appreciating the rest of the group. Chris Burnett, Gary Borden and Rob Carroll have a commordary with Chess that adds that perfect element to the mix.

Almost as entertaining as the group were some of the patrons including a girl making stripper moves on her hottie boyfriend, giving him a little lapdance and grinding her bootie into his junk. I hope they made it to "a room" in time, although something tells me probably not.

What a great night, great food, drinks, company and live entertainment. Cat's Caboose is still going strong for 33 years now.

For a taste of what we experienced, see the video clip below

Fun for Everyone @ ENVY

Tired of having to go to Buffalo, Toronto or Hamilton to have a good time, Enzo De Divitiis opened ENVY Lounge in August 2009, in downtown St. Catharines. In its initial year ENVY has grown to become Niagara's Premier LGBT club. Located at 127 Queenston St. ENVY serves up events and functions for people of all ages.

From an all-ages coffee lounge with free Wifi, to 19+ theme nights and fundraisers, the fully-renovated two-storey building gives patrons many reasons to visit time and time again. Fridays & Saturdays are dance nights, with non-stop energetic sounds provided by DJ Robin Hamilton & DJ Darryl D.

Looking for something a bit quieter? You'll find a cozy lounge upstairs, complete with contempory seating, one of the club's several bigscreen TV's and a fireplace. In the mood for a game of pool? There's a seperate pool room to show off your skills on the main floor. A fully licensed private patio is also available for those seeking a breathe of fresh air, or wishing to turn it blue with a cigarette break.

De Divitiis and the ENVY staff were featured in Niagara This Week newspaper when the club first opened its doors. In that article Enzo tells the paper he wanted a club that covered a larger demographic and although it is a LGBT organization, everyone is welcome to join in on the fun.

Due to my busy schedule and aging body (LOL) my  visits have been somewhat limited over the past year. On those occassions when Rob & I's schedule permits us a night on the town together, we have always thoroughly enjoyed our time at ENVY (although finding the side entranceway on our initial visit was a bit tricky -LOL) It has a big city feel, right in the heart of little ol' St Catharines. Truly something to Envy.

To find out more about ENVY Lounge & upcoming events visit their website by clicking here.

ENVY Lounge
127 Queenston St (parking & entrance off Haynes St.)
905-682-7774

Foxy Megan's Birthday

Hard to believe, but true -"little" Megan Fox is now 21 years old. Seems not that long ago we were kids, well, she was at least. We've featured Megan in scribbles since the time she born Nov 9, 1989. We've seen her as a baby, as a kid and now as a beautiful young woman. Kinda makes Cousin Ken choke up a wee bit Meg.

Megan and her girlfriends enjoyed a night out to celebrate her birthday in Ottawa.  Ms Fox also enjoyed birthday festivities with her boyfriend Andy & her relatives including her mom Jeanne and Jeanne's husband Peter.

Happy Belated Birthday
to my cousin Megan Fox.

You've never looked better or happier!

You Have the Right to Remain Fabulous!

Flashing us her badge, Jane Storie's looking fine in her cop costume.

Jane and her girlfriends went to Toronto for a Halloween Boat Cruise a few weeks ago and as we see everyone looked great. [Click on pix to see larger view]

The Votes Are Counted -No Doubt About That,

  And the Winner is the Cat in the Hat!

It was a close competition for many of our 15 entries in this year's BEST COSTUME CONTEST. And their fate rested in the hands of 21 scribbles readers who cast their votes.

In the end, Graham Clark as The Cat in the Hat won by ONE VOTE over Diane Murray's Beetlejuice. Only a few votes behind them was Rhonda King as the Skeleton Bride (not to worry, Rhonda's costume won Best Female costume at Envy Lounge's Monster Ball fundraiser)

Thanks to everyone who entered:
Rhonda King (Skeleton Bride)  Shae D Davidson (Skeleton Groom) , Dave Nelson (Tim Burton character), Diane Murray (Beetlejuice), Megan Fox (Sex Kitten), Kerri Fortier (French Beauty), Erin Dick (her son Dylan as a tiger), Angela O'Neill-Whiteley (a Grad photo -complete with base)  Laura Degraaf (Jem)  Merry Proulx (granchildren Derek as Dracula and Joanna as witch), Jane Storie (son Graham as Cat in the Hat), Rodney Dennis (son Kade as cow) and Leeanne Chamberlain (as spooky witch)

Thank you to the following readers who took the time to vote for their favourites:
Jackie Hughes, Tom Balint, Trudy O'Neill, David Hallett, Patti Nault, Gary Cremer, Connie Bering, Marsha Scott, Becky Lee, Jen Bering, Mary Telford, Tammie Holditch, Alejandro Monte , Rob Dennis, Joan Storie, Bob Miller, Chris Wiley, Karin Gadd.

Waiter, there's a Cameraman in my Soup

It’s no secret, I LOVE HALLOWEEN!  Despite my actual age, I always feel like a kid during the trick or treat time of year. And I’m not alone! Rob Denis is also a Halloween junkie and between the two of us we decorated our home with lots of pumpkins, ghosts, little skeletons, flickering orange chandelier lights, creepy rubber spiders and more. With the apartment taking on a great Halloween look, now it was our turn to do the same.

We both came up with ideas relatively close to our hearts. Rob works in the kitchen at Crown Plaza’s Niagara Falls location. For Halloween however, he stepped out of the kitchen, putting together an awesome formal waiter outfit. Complete with bowtie, vest, apron, napkin and a serving tray with plastic cocktail glasses glued onto it, Robert made a very convincing waiter.

For my guise, I exaggerated my scribbles paparazzi title. My costume included a black hat with “scribbles Paparazzi”  across the front, bedazzled geek glasses, faux backstage passes to various events and of course…a cool camera.  My camera started off with a $2 purchase of an old 35mm camera at Value Village. My extended lense was actually a metal container with a round mirror from a compact as a lense. My flash bulb was a flickering yellow light, which was actually a light for inside a jack-o-lantern.

Next, grab your hot-glue gun, stick the pieces in place and you’ve got yourself one groovy camera!  A few trips to the Thrift Store and Dollarama, a little imagination and you've got yourself an inexpensive costume. 

With costumes and accessories all in place, Rob and I were all set to enjoy Halloween night with family and friends. And as you will soon see - that’s exactly what we did.

Halloween @ Chili Pepper -St Catharines. Photo courtesy Katherine Emily

Figure Four Say Farewell to Gary "Gnu Guy"

This Saturday the Figure Four rocked the Dog Pound in St Catharines while "temporarily" saying goodbye to a member of the Figure Four Army; Gary "Gnu Guy" Borden.

"After this weekend Gary will be following his dream of becoming a Snake Milker... He really has no idea what it entails, but said that the job title sounds awesome and if it's what he thinks it is he's had 35 + years experience and if he'd known that he could be getting paid for this he woulda started a lot sooner!! LOL! " -text by Chris Burnett