Local Arts

April Verch freely admits she's an over-achiever. "Oh, yes, I'm definitely a Type A personality,"the fiddler/step dancer says after she's asked about her touring schedule this year that include more than 80 dates in Canada, the U.S.

In 2009, when writer-director Tracey Power opened her musical biography of Maillardville's Lucille Starr, the Canadian countrymusic pioneer was in the audience to see how it played out.

She calls her concussion"Marvin.

Gleneagle secondary teachers Chris Turpin (rugby) and Ashley Freeborn (drama) play husband and wife Bill and Betty Blast in Murder at the Hoedown, a fundraiser for the Coquitlam school's spring production of Footloose.

Six years ago, while at The Banff Centre, jazz pianist and percussionist Kristian Alexandrov met Jens Lindemann, the chair of brass studies at UCLA.

Marc Cheneval, Thomas Evoy, Michelle Chen and Kalicia Bateman are among the music students at Dr. Charles Best secondary who will take part in the Coquitlam school's third annual Kids' Music Fun Night.

LEARN FROM A PRO Painter and Emily Carr University graduate Val Nelson will be the guest at the Art Focus Artists' Association demo in Port Coquitlam next week. The free public event on Wednesday, Feb.

Get "twisted" over a new art exhibit opening next week at the Port Moody Arts Centre. The display, which runs until March 13 at the St.

A celebration of the life of long-time thespian Gaye LePage will be held March 1 at Coquitlam's Evergreen Cultural Centre.

Two years ago, tenor Ken Lavigne spoke at an artists' convention about how he made it from Vancouver Island to the Big Apple to play Carnegie Hall.