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Al Simmons, Juno-Award Performer to Play Thousand Oaks

Performances To Grow On will present internationally acclaimed singer and comedian, Al Simmons of Canada in a performance for all ages on Sat., Jan. 7 @ 7 p.m. at the Scherr Forum Theatre, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks.

Al Simmons’ one-man, multi-prop, music-filled, off the wall performances have elevated audiences world-wide to collective giggles and all-out guffaws. At once childlike in its simplicity and sophisticated in its execution, Al’s humour touches a responsive chord in people of every age.

In the tradition of the great comedy kings, Danny Kaye, Spike Jones and Jimmy Durante comes Al Simmons — a man dedicated to the all but lost art of combining comedy, with song, dance, magic, sight gags and of course bad puns. His costume-and-prop routines have often been the most popular and talked about act in theatres and concert halls and at folk, children’s and other festivals across North America.

Albert Simmons and his imagination grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba with parents who nourished his creativity with their own love of storytelling, music and old-fashioned fun. Al’s father, an eccentric collector of odds and sods, encouraged a young Al to explore and develop his own fascination for gadgetry and performing. His extended family was also made up of punsters, pranksters and eccentrics, including Al’s Uncle Nick, who toured the Eastern United States as Steamboat Harris, best known for playing a ukulele made out of a toilet seat!

Al’s debut album “Something’s Fishy at Camp Wiganishie” earned a Juno nomination for Best Children’s Album. His follow up recording was a brilliant ode to vaudeville, “Celery Stalks at Midnight”. It was named Best Children’s Album at the 1995 Juno Awards. In the months following that Juno, Simmons was presented the 1996 U.S. Parents’ Choice Award for that album. As well he received a coveted Cable Ace Award nomination for his music video “Counting Feathers/I Collect Rocks” — a song that later was developed into an illustrated children’s book.

Al’s Juno nominated third album, “The Truck I Bought From Moe”, was also a Parents Choice Award winner. It features songs about a Gypsy Sock, a Lonely Moose, A Drip-Drip-Dripping Tap, and The Dog with the Longest Name in the World. He continues to take his show to fans both young and young at heart around the world.

Quick costume changes, out of this world theatrical gadgets and peculiar musical instruments!

A Creative Genius with the Soul of a Vaudevillian -Al Simmons is a one-man cast of thousands! A modern day comedy chameleon! A wizard of one-liners! Tickets are available at the Countrywide Box Office, Adventures For Kids, by phone at 805-646-8907 or online at www.ptgo.org

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