LIFESTYLES OF THE RICH AND THE SHAMELESS 

Teller: Tom Lips
Sunday November 16 at 2:00pm
Arts Court Studio | 2 Daly Ave

Lifestyles of the Rich and Shameless is a sharp, witty storytelling event, featuring music, that takes aim at the glittering (and often absurd) world of extreme wealth. Riffing on the 80s and 90s TV show Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, this performance trades fawning admiration for playful critique, weaving together original tales, classic stories, and clever songs about billionaires, power, and the pursuit of too much money. With a mix of humour, insight, and bite, Lifestyles of the Rich and Shameless offers an entertaining - and thought-provoking - look at society’s fascination with the super-rich.

Meet the Teller

Tom Lips is a gifted singer and songwriter as well as a creative and dynamic teller of traditional and original stories, a poet and, occasionally, an actor. Born and raised in Ottawa, Ontario, Tom is now living in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada.

Tom has written hundreds of songs in an eclectic mix of styles, rooted primarily in the folk genre. Some of the best of these are on recordings from Mylodon Music, available through this website and various other channels. Tom's songs have also been featured on recordings by Joan MacIsaac, Karen Lahaise, Writers’ Bloc, and others. His emotional and stylistic range extends from hilarity to heartbreak, with tender ballads of love lost and found, rousing gospel and rock tunes, a post-modern lullaby, a polka about the afterlife, and more.

Performance credits as a singer-songwriter include opening for Hart Rouge and Christine Lavin, appearances at the National Arts Centre Fourth Stage in Ottawa (including repeated participation in the popular annual "Christmas Goose" concerts), the Alnwick International Folk Music and Dance Festival (U.K.), Ottawa's West End Well, the SLOWest Coffeehouse Series, the Folk Upstairs Acoustic Series (Perth), The Ottawa Folk Festival, The Strawberry Moon Festival, concerts at The Great Canadian Theatre Company, Rasputin's, and numerous contributions to theatrical productions and storytelling shows, including the "For the Love of Pete: Stories and Songs from the Life of Pete Seeger" and "And Tell Laura I Love Her: Stories and Songs of the Early 1960s." He has performed and recorded with the band Pilgrim Fire and has been featured on CBC Radio's national comedy program, "Madly Off in All Directions."