Sunday, Nov. 23, 2008 For the average listener, there are many neglected rooms in the mansion of music, and one of those rooms holds music for the organ. This is unfortunate primarily because there is a rich and fascinating literature for the instrument, and on Sunday afternoon one of its rising young practitioners showed an audience at the First Presbyterian Church in Delray … [Read more...]
Archives for June 2009
ArtsBuzz: Hollywood center offers art with a canine touch
Bowman Hastie and his dog, Tillie, the artist. (Photo by Katie Deits)By Katie DeitsHOLLYWOOD -- Bowman Hastie, a writer and editor in Brooklyn, discovered by chance that his Jack Russell terrier had artistic talent.An observant Hastie noticed his dog, named Tillamook Cheddar, or Tillie for short, scratching on a writing pad. Curious as to the patterns Tillie was creating, … [Read more...]
Hollywood center offers art with a canine touch
HOLLYWOOD -- Bowman Hastie, a writer and editor in Brooklyn, discovered by chance that his Jack Russell terrier had artistic talent.An observant Hastie noticed his dog, named Tillamook Cheddar, or Tillie for short, scratching on a writing pad. Curious as to the patterns Tillie was creating, Hastie pulled out some carbon paper from a drawer and placed it between the papers of … [Read more...]
Appreciation: Shelly Gross, wisecracking lion of the theater
Shelly Gross (1921-2009).By Hap ErsteinTo know Shelly Gross was to put up with his jokes.A compulsive entertainer, he began as a radio and television personality in his native Philadelphia, before becoming a prolific producer of Broadway shows and national tours. Never one to shy away from a challenge, he frequently produced major musicals headlined by some of the theater’s … [Read more...]
Appreciation: Shelly Gross, wisecracking lion of the theater
To know Shelly Gross was to put up with his jokes.A compulsive entertainer, he began as a radio and television personality in his native Philadelphia, before becoming a prolific producer of Broadway shows and national tours. Never one to shy away from a challenge, he frequently produced major musicals headlined by some of the theater’s biggest, and most hard to handle, stars, … [Read more...]
Film review: ‘Food, Inc.’ a disturbing look at the industry of eating
Among the chickens, in Food, Inc.By Hap ErsteinMovies are a very effective medium for entertainment, but can they fundamentally change the way we think about the food that we eat?That is the task that director Robert Kenner gives himself in Food Inc., a look at what has happened to the livestock, poultry and produce we consume ever since the corporate world took over farming … [Read more...]
‘Food, Inc.’ a disturbing look at the industry of eating
Movies are a very effective medium for entertainment, but can they fundamentally change the way we think about the food that we eat?That is the task that director Robert Kenner gives himself in Food Inc., a look at what has happened to the livestock, poultry and produce we consume ever since the corporate world took over farming and turned it into big business.This documentary … [Read more...]
Film review: ‘Year One’ an unfunny comedic fossil
Jack Black, left, and Michael Cera in Year One.By John ThomasonYear One is grounded in a premise so thin it’s practically invisible. “Hey, studio executives, wouldn’t it be great if we cast Jack Black and Michael Cera doing and saying exactly the same things they do and say in every modern picture, but set it in Biblical times? What a riot!”This is what the filmmakers are … [Read more...]
‘Year One’ an unfunny comedic fossil
Year One is grounded in a premise so thin it’s practically invisible. “Hey, studio executives, wouldn’t it be great if we cast Jack Black and Michael Cera doing and saying exactly the same things they do and say in every modern picture, but set it in Biblical times? What a riot!”This is what the filmmakers are banking on: that you’ll find the very idea of Black and Cera talking … [Read more...]
Film review: ‘Throw Down Your Heart,’ banjo strumming across Africa
Bela Fleck, right, with African musicians in Throw Down Your Heart.By Hap Erstein The banjo and Africa. Maybe they seem to have nothing in common, but as Grammy-winning virtuoso of the instrument Bela Fleck explains in the appealing musicology lesson and travelogue, Throw Down Your Heart, the former is the product of the latter.So armed with videocassettes and a wide-eyed … [Read more...]