The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

B4 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER Wednesday, October 4, 2000 ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT Mural brightens every day for students, teachers and parents (Continued from page B5) people struggling with the new cur riculum ...! also wanted to bring the iom ado scene a little bit closer to hom e." The farm house, which is left intact, and the serenity o f the rolling rural landscape provide a calming contrast to the objects swirling above them. "Lives are like that," quipped Popovich. The second scene, painted over an exit door, is a pathway that wends its way through a thick, dark forest. Although it appears somewhat threat ening, small animals peering out from behind the trees reduce that scary ele ment. "The kids love this scene because they pick out the little things I have painted," explained Popovich, adding with a laugh. "It's a jungle out there. But it's safe in the school." And that safety is apparent in the third scene with its sandy beach and boats sailing in a calm harbour, sur rounded by lush plants and trees. Then bolder colours in the fourth scene disturb the serenity of that beach and harbour. However, the fountain in the centre of this panel, surrounded by trees, flowers and flitting butterflies, maintains the mellow mood. Four children sit in the foreground on a park bench, and off to the right, hot-air balloons are floating towards the fifth and final scene. One of the balloons is red-and-white and bears the paw prints of the school's mascot. "I related this part, not to just the school or Oakville and Ontario, but it's for the country," said Popovich, noting that the sky on the wall suddenly dark ens as it turns into the outer space of the future, "which is what kids always dream about." So, the 80-year-old Oakville school has a millennium mural that, accord ing to Principal Robert Eatough, makes people stop and take notice. "/ think the kids, every tim e they walk by it, pick out som ething new. I ' ve walked by it a m illion tim es and ju st yesterday, I noticed the paw prin ts. " "I think the kids, every time they walk by it, pick out something new," he said. "I've walked by it a million times and just yesterday, I noticed the paw prints (on the hot air balloon)." Popovich, whose son went through Brantwood, has a daughter in Grade 3 at the Allan Street school. The Hong Kong native has been an active volun teer since her son entered kinder garten, focusing on a variety o f artistic projects over the years. Her black-and-white sketch o f the school hangs in the office and has been reproduced on posters and gift cards for the school. Popovich says she has always been involved in art. And, as a young girl growing up with three brothers and three sisters, it became a big part of her identity. "I always had paper and pencil in my hand," she said, adding that as the only artist in a large family, her sib lings still complain that she inherited all the artistic genes. But sketching is not her only artis tic endeavor. The Oakville artist also sings with the Cantonese opera. "I love it. Art and music are the things for me," she said, adding that she is often commissioned to do blackand-white portraits of children and sketches o f buildings and, more recently, pets. But it is the children, parents, and faculty at Brantwood Public School who are privy to her first oil painting, a colourful mural that brightens their day every time they go to the gym or out to the playground. (dorian tPjanfosgtoing October 7-9,1-4 pm Come out to Spruce Lane Farmhouse for their annual Victorian Thanksgiving. Once again, the Victorian Market is sure to add new flavours to your Thanksgiving table. Come enjoy the smell of wood smoke and the way Thanksgiving was celebrated in the past. Other Events: ·Birding Hike October 14 · Animals o f the Fall October 15 · Scary Creatures Revealed October 28 Pumpkins on Sale For the Month of October! A ll Proceeds g o to the U nited Way O n t a r io Pa r k s Bronte Creek Provincial Park r tk j Christie Jones, left, and Cindy Long of Blush will give a free concert at Appleby Mall tomorrow evening. For more information call (905) 827-6911 QEW to Burioak Drive (exit 109), north 1 km to park gate mm Singing duo exudes femininity By Carol Baldwin ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR They're feminine; they're sexy; and th ey 're on their way to the top of the musical ladder of fame. Cindy Long and Christie Jones, a.k.a. Blush, will be per forming in Burlington tomorrow (Thursday); and two lucky fans will win a dinner with the singers at Philthy M cNasty's afterwards. The prize also includes limousine transportation to and from the restaurant. Long and Jones, who both lived in O akville for awhile, didn't meet until they were finished school. And, believe it or not, it was a hair stylist who introduced them because she thought they had so much in common, particularly when in came to music and singing. Seems she was rig/it. "We're interested in the same things. We have so much in common," says Jones. "Now we're best friends." Long, who is still an Oakville resident, and Jones, who now lives in Burlington, have forged the singing duo Blush - a name they selected because pink is their favourite colour, the name implies femininity, and it is catchy and easy to remember. These two soft-spoken young women have worked together in musical theatre productions over the years, but finally decided to settle into this duet, singing and dancing on stage and recording original songs. So this "feminine" female duo walked away from their stage characters of Snow White and Belle to start their own singing group. And since both young women were profes sional singers who performed for a living anyway, breaking out on their own only posed a minor risk. After all, they were already living from contract to contract, depending on auditions and job availability to put bread on the table. As Blush, however, "We're hoping to sign a record deal, which will hopefully be in the next couple of months," says Long. "Our first single, Fall in Love, was on CHUM FM 's top 40 for eight weeks," adds Jones. "They (CHUM) said the phone was ringing off the hook when they first played it. Their quote was: `It's like they came from nowhere and exploded onto the radio.'" These explosive twenty-something singers, however, seem to have unusual m entors. Jones idolizes Julie Andrews and Long is an ardent fan of Natalie Cole. "Her (Andrews) voice is perfect. Technically, she sings perfectly," says Jones. "And she's just so feminine when she acts and sings. She floats across the stage." As for Cole, Long says, "Her voice is like silk. I could sit there forever and listen to it...W e both like traditional singers who can really sing - legends." And they both claim to adore George Michael. In fact, Blush's next single will be the re-release of his song Everything He Wants. Only they will be singing it in their self-described "breathy, sexy" voices. This new version will also be part of their live Burlington concert tomorrow. "Everybody in the industry says we don't sound like anyone else," says Long. "We have our technical training. Now it's just using that and adding feeling...com ing up with our own sound...W e couldn't picture singing with anyone else." Jones says she and Long coach each other and also teach singing to young girls, which, they say, is a large part of their audience - pre-teen to mid-teenage girls. "We're really confident that w e're going to make it because w e're both really driven and we both have the same goal," says Jones. "You make your own success, to , some extent. You have to work at it." So, if you want to see this dynamic duo, free, visit Appleby Mall at 6 p.m. tomorrow when Blush will open one of its first ever live performances. The two local singers will perform for about half-anhour, after which they will take questions from the audi ence. Then, after an autograph-signing session, they'll be off to Philthy's for dinner with two of their fans. Land your favourite show with the On-Screen Guide. DIGITAL CABLE TV WITH THE ON-SCREEN VIEWING GUIDE. Here'S another reason why Digital Cable TV from COGECO is taking off. It features the Digital Navigator -- an on-screen viewing guide. It makes it easy to fin d what you want to watch. It reminds you when your favourite show is on, autom atically switches channels -- it can even block out the programs you don't w ant your kids to see. n o w you1 ll s e e t v d i f f e r e NTLy. LAND GREAT SAVINGS TOO. Bundle up Digital Cable TV with other COGECO services and you'll pay less than if you were to buy them separately. UptO V b J E l · COGECO Digital Value Pak Includes basic cable, Variety Paks 1,2 and 3, up to 4 outlets, 5 TMN channels, 4 U.S. Superstations, and 40 Music Channels. ONLY PER MONTH! w ith purchase o f DCT2000 d ig ita l box. $61.99 w ith rental o f box. COGECO@Home Digital Value Pak Everything you get in the COGECO Digital Value Pak COGECO@Home high speed Internet service and monthly modem rental _O N L y month! w ith purchase o f DCT2000 d ig ita l box. $99.99 w ith rental o f box. Call and order COGECO Digital Cable TV today. 1- 888 6 -C O G E C O www. cogeco. ca u ( \ a r r \ r v : r r la d iili o n Digital Cable TV H H K iP © s *Free installation applies to current COGECO Cable customers w ho are upgrading to COGECO Digital Value Pak o r COGECO@Home Digital Value Pak only and does not include moves o r transfers; all others subject to installation tees. Exact savings w ill vary by region and current services. Savings based on retail rates for new COGECO customers. Valid o nly in cable wired areas Additional charges w ill apply fo r non-standard cable TV installations. Internet access not available in all areas. Beyond 4 outlets subject to additional installation fee. Some restrictions may apply. The $51.99/$89.99 price assumes purchase o f DCT2000 digital box; bundled price w ith rental o f box is $61.99 and $99.99 per m onth.