You can’t keep a good area music promoter and PureHoney magazine publisher like Steev Rullman down. After the success of his fourth annual Bumblefest in 2019, with 37 musical acts over two nights to celebrate his print and online publication’s eighth anniversary, Rullman — along with the rest of the world — hit a COVID-19-induced snag in 2020. Yet Bumblefest 5 will … [Read more...]
Archives for August 2021
PBAU merges two divisions, creates new College of the Arts
Palm Beach Atlantic University has merged its School of Music and Fine Arts and School of Communication and Media to form a new College of the Arts. The college is headed by Jason Lester, a professional opera singer who formerly was dean of the School of Music and Fine Arts, and in recent months was acting dean for the School of Communication and Media. The Communication … [Read more...]
‘The War Is Never Over’: Lydia Lunch, unapologetic
Lydia Lunch: The War is Never Over is not a film that can be accused of burying any lede. In the film’s opening seconds, over grainy footage of Lydia Lunch in the 1970s, the now 60-ish Lydia Lunch tells of being propositioned by a stranger outside a New York City porno theatre at age 13. She’s waiting for the bus, but the creep is insistent, and the bus isn’t showing up. So … [Read more...]
‘Putting It Together’: How Sondheim and Lapine painted their masterpiece
When encountering a fully satisfying musical, it is hard to imagine the difficulties it endured on its way to Broadway. Think of Fiddler on the Roof or Hello, Dolly! – both a shambles in their out-of-town tryouts – or virtually every show by Stephen Sondheim, the musical theater’s pre-eminent composer-lyricist, notoriously slow in completing each score. Such is certainly … [Read more...]
Shakespeare Fest sticks to basics in impressive ‘Twelfth Night’
I never thought I would be able to use this word to describe a Palm Beach Shakespeare Festival production, but its latest take on Twelfth Night – the company’s fourth version – is “conventional.” In a good way. Perhaps producer/director Seth Trucks had no interest in setting the plot-initiating shipwreck on Mars or turning it into an air crash on a South Pacific island, as … [Read more...]
West Palm’s RATM tribute band lauded as ‘must-see’ act
Amid a sea of tribute acts to unworthy subjects, providing acid for the masses by giving the gullible what they think they want but perhaps can’t afford actual tickets to, one occasionally proves legitimate. Such is the case with a West Palm Beach-based Rage Against the Machine tribute called Products of Rage (www.facebook.com/productsofrage). That’s because Rage, despite … [Read more...]
The View From Home: The enduring legacy of ‘Almost Famous’
For cinema studies majors seeking a thesis, “The Use of Music in the Films of Cameron Crowe” would be a worthy subject. Even in his non-music-centered films, each selection is chosen with layered precision, as revealing as it is iconic. When Jerry Maguire hits the open road after signing his first client, and Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’” soars on his car radio, it’s a moment … [Read more...]
Mural of Black musical icons takes shape on West Palm street
By Sandra Schulman Miles Davis, Nina Simone, James Brown, Marvin Gaye, Aretha Franklin, and Billie Holiday — several of these iconic artists performed in West Palm Beach’s Historic Northwest neighborhood, usually at the Sunset Lounge, which is now under restoration. Now the West Palm Beach Downtown Development Authority (DDA) and West Palm Beach Arts & Entertainment … [Read more...]