It all began at Chuck and Harold’s. On a long-ago day at the popular Palm Beach restaurant, bassoonist Michael Ellert noticed something right away about Michael Forte, a clarinetist and fellow New Yorker who had just moved to Florida, and with whom he was playing as part of a trio. “I looked at Michael and I said, ‘Man, you and I must have learned how to play out of tune the … [Read more...]
The View From Home 28: New releases and notable screenings, July 12-31
By John ThomasonFor years, I assumed I would simply never have the opportunity to see Skidoo, Otto Preminger’s critically and commercially maligned acid trip from 1968. The film was never even released on VHS and was therefore reduced to a distribution cycle as small as its perceived audience; you could see it at the occasional 35mm revival in New York or Los … [Read more...]
Art feature: Photo artist Moore takes her cues from nature
Friends Forever, by Melinda Moore.By Tom TracyMelinda Moore arrived at a monthly roundtable of photo artists in West Palm Beach and pulled from a shoulder bag four or five new travel-photo scenic prints she had quickly matted that afternoon.They were rich, gallery-quality black-and-whites of London street life, but no biggie: Moore — who comes across as everyone’s … [Read more...]
Music review: Psychedelic Furs let strong catalog speak for itself
The Psychedelic Furs at the Culture Room on Friday night.(Photo by Gretel Sarmiento)By Gretel SarmientoThe best furs don’t come from dead animals: they come with guitars, they jump and down, and they sing songs with a distinctive raw voice.British rockers The Psychedelic Furs are very much alive and still on the run, and they proved it song after song Friday … [Read more...]
Music review: Kim’s Schubert stellar at last Stringendo concert
Jonah Kim.By Greg StepanichThe cellist Jonah Kim has spent several years concertizing and living in South Florida, including studies at Lynn University, all the while building a wider career from two other home bases in New York and Prague.Tuesday night’s closing concert of the Stringendo School for Strings faculty series at Palm Beach Atlantic University’s Persson … [Read more...]
Kim’s Schubert stellar at last Stringendo concert
The cellist Jonah Kim has spent several years concertizing and living in South Florida, including studies at Lynn University, all the while building a wider career from two other home bases in New York and Prague. Tuesday night’s closing concert of the Stringendo School for Strings faculty series at Palm Beach Atlantic University’s Persson Hall showed why it is that he’s been … [Read more...]
Weekend arts picks: July 1-6
J.K. Simmons and Lou Taylor Pucci in The Music Never Stopped.Film: The British neurologist Oliver Sacks’ popular case studies have made good fodder for Hollywood (1990’s Awakenings), and in The Music Never Stopped, one of Sacks’ essays (The Last Hippie) is the source of the story. Gabriel (Lou Taylor Pucci), long estranged from his father … [Read more...]
Music review: Despite the wait, U2 finds true believers in Miami
Bono and bassist Adam Clayton of U2, seen from the screen at Sun Life Stadium on Wednesday night. (Photo by Gretel Sarmiento)By Gretel SarmientoFor a country said to struggle with numbers, math and science, nobody is getting U2 360 degrees wrong.At least in South Florida, everyone got what they came for.The electrifying Irish band’s 360° Tour, with … [Read more...]
ArtsBuzz: Florida Stage subscribers to get arts deals; Wright to headline poetry fest
(Foreground to back) Kate Eastwood Norris, J. Fred Shiffmanand Lourelene Snedeker in Michael Hollinger’s play,Ghost-Writer, which premiered at Florida Stage in March. Florida Stage subscribers to get special offers in mid-JulyFollowing the unexpected news earlier this month that Florida Stage was filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy and could not refund … [Read more...]
Film review: Plummer a standout, McGregor less so, in moving ‘Beginners’
Christopher Plummer and Ewan McGregor in Beginners.(Focus Features photo)By John ThomasonThere’s nothing funny about an old man, struck with terminal cancer, who only finds the courage to admit that he’s gay after the death of his wife of 44 years.No, this is not material rife with comic potential, but sometimes laughter is the only way to cope. In his nuanced … [Read more...]