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Look past Duke Ellington, and you will see yourself watching him as he watches Ella Fitzgerald. His face is frozen in awe, and it’s likely that yours will be, too. Herman Leonard captured it all, but one wonders if he planned on capturing the viewer’s presence as it’s reflected in the glass. Because you’re moving … Continue reading →
Tickets are still available for the final two performances in LSU’s Hot Summer Nights & Cool Jazz concert series. These concerts are set for 7:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, June 20-21, in the LSU School of Music Recital Hall, Dalrymple Drive on campus. The June 20 concert will feature saxophonist Ray Moore, and the June … Continue reading →
This summer, the LSU Museum of Art in the Shaw Center for the Arts, 100 Lafayette St., will offer two new community arts programs aimed at teaching children in the community the value of the arts. Art Explorations will take place Thursdays, June 20, 27 and July 11 at the museum, with a theme of “Look, … Continue reading →
Tickets are on sale The Wine Gala, Swine Palace’s annual fundraiser, set for 7 p.m.-9 p.m. Thursday, July 11, at the Reilly Theatre, Tower Drive on the LSU campus. Those attending will be able to sample an assortment of 24 champagne and wine varietals. There also will be food and live music. All proceeds will benefit … Continue reading →
World-renowned violinist Matteo Fedeli, known as “L’uomo degli Stradivari” or “Man of the Stradivarius” in his native Italy, will perform a classical concert on a Stradivarius violin at 7 p.m. Friday, June 21, at the Civic Theatre, 510 O’Keefe St., New Orleans. This concert will feature unparalleled sound of a “Grand Stradivarius” violin, one of only … Continue reading →
A PLACE AT THE TABLE: A NOVEL By Susan Rebecca White Touchstone, $25 There’s a lot of tasty talk about food in A Place at the Table, a novel whose main characters have an affinity for the … Continue reading →
MEGAN’S GUITAR By Darrell Bourque UL Press, $10 softcover Inspired by a needlework image of a guitar crafted by a woman named Megan, former poet laureate Darrell Bourque has assembled a collection of both new and old poems that … Continue reading →
Catherine “Cate” Blaine is serving as Secretary of Homeland Security in this meteorologically driven thriller. As a former congresswoman and the daughter of a general, she knows how to exhibit confidence as she navigates the political environment; but she is as ill-informed as the president and the rest of his team are when it comes to a new form of hi-tech terrorism: weather manipulation. Continue reading →
1. Inferno. Dan Brown 2. And the Mountains Echoed. Khaled Hosseini 3. Zero Hour. Clive Cussler, Graham Brown 4. Deeply Odd. Dean Koontz 5. 12th of Never. James Patterson, Maxine … Continue reading →
Edward “Kid” Ory and his band created the first African-American New Orleans jazz recordings ever made. Kid Ory’s music captured the spirit of the jazz age, and his most famous composition from that period, “Muskrat Ramble,” is a jazz standard. Who was Kid Ory? Visit the Ascension Parish Library Main branch, 708 S. Irma Blvd. in Gonzales, at … Continue reading →
NEW YORK — The shift from Jennifer Damiano’s last workplace to her new one is striking. The old one was the biggest theater in Times Square, with 2,000 or so seats. The new one is downtown and has room for just 275. The old stage — the setting for the most expensive musical on … Continue reading →
Cangelosi Dance Project will conduct professional dance auditions at 6:15 p.m. Monday, June 24, at the company’s studio, 3749 Perkins Road. Auditions are for dancers age 21 and older who demonstrate strong classical ballet, modern dance technique and performance skills. The company director is seeking male and female dancers who are versatile in ballet, contemporary, tap and hip hop. Continue reading →
VIENNA — Wanted: A jester. Wallflowers need not apply. It’s no joke. An Austrian hotel is advertising for a modern-day court fool, who is communicative, extroverted, musical, creative and imaginative. Applicants are asked to bring — and play — their musical instrument during the job interview. Also welcome: creative costumes. The successful candidate … Continue reading →
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — It feels like Birmingham finally is emerging from the shadows cast by the ugly racial violence of 1963. Long haunted by black-and-white newsreel footage of the fire hoses and police dogs city leaders turned on blacks demonstrating for civil rights, the city has a new vibe that’s generating buzz all its own 50 … Continue reading →
So, after rehearsal you’re going to meet up with friends, right? Or you’ll at least call someone. “No, we won’t have time,” Benjamin Koucherik said. Why? “Because we have to go post on Facebook,” he said, flashing his big smile. This is a joke isn’t it? It has to be, because … Continue reading →
A compilation of arts events for the week ahead. ART SHOW, SALE AND RECEPTION: 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Rosedale Art Depot, 15021 Depot St., Rosedale. Reception and awards presentation, 2 p.m.-4 p.m. Sponsored by the Iberville Chapter of the Louisiana Art and Artists’ Guild. Free. http://www.laag-site.org. THE WIZARD OF OZ: … Continue reading →
Even though the musical is only a little more than an hour long, Playmakers of Baton Rouge’s version of the Wizard of Oz “gets all the great moments,” according to director Paige Gagliano. “We do it all — the tornado, the farm, the munchkins,” she said. Besides being the fine arts chair and theater director … Continue reading →
After completing five mural installations in downtown Baton Rouge, the Walls Project is now gaining the support of organizations across the city to expand its mission. In partnership with Mid City Redevelopment Alliance and Cash America Pawn, the Walls Project will unveil its latest mural at 5 p.m. Thursday, June 13, at 3347 Government St. The … Continue reading →
A compilation of arts events for the week ahead. ART EVENTS: 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Poydras Center, 500 W. Main St., New Roads. Treasures of Pointe Coupee exhibit and Petite Gallerie, treasure hunt. http://www.artscouncilofpointecoupee.org. THE DAY THE WAR STOPPED: 1 p.m.-3 p.m., Rosedown Plantation, 12501 La. 10, St. Francisville. Historical demonstrations. … Continue reading →
The ever-popular Bloomsday Celebration, hosted by the Baton Rouge Irish Club, will be held 6:30 p.m.-9 p.m. Sunday, June 16, at the Baton Rouge Gallery at City Park, 1515 Dalrymple Drive. Bloomsday is celebrated annually to commemorate the life of Irish novelist James Joyce and the fictitious events in his novel Ulysses. The word Bloomsday is derived … Continue reading →
The Iberville Chapter of the Louisiana Art and Artists’ Guild will accept entries through Thursday, June 13, for the group’s annual art show and sale set for Friday through Sunday, June 14-16, at the Rosedale Art Depot, 15021 Depot St., Rosedale. Artists age 18 and older can enter one or more works in any media at either … Continue reading →
The place, the time, even how they met doesn’t mean as much as the fact that they did, indeed meet. And Mary Ann Caffery and Dennis Siporski were friends from the beginning, fellow artists with different visions. So, the collision was inevitable. You can see it in the subjects. even in the colors, in … Continue reading →
THE BLOOD OF HEAVEN, A NOVEL By Kent Wascom Grove Press, $25 Young Angel Woolsack begins his tale of the West Florida Rebellion from New Orleans in 1861, summoning up a sweeping vision. “I see everything, past and now, like targets … Continue reading →
1. Inferno. Dan Brown 2. And the Mountains Echoed. Khaled Hosseini 3. 12th of Never. James Patterson, Maxine Paetro 4. Dead Ever After: A Sookie Stackhouse Novel. Charlaine Harris 5. Silken … Continue reading →
CRONKITE’S WAR:
HIS WORLD WAR II LETTERS HOME By Walter Cronkite IV
and Maurice Isserman National Geographic, $28 Before he was television’s most trusted newsman — pretty much before there was television news — Walter Cronkite was making a … Continue reading →
Tickets are on sale for Rivertown Theaters for the Performing Arts’ Mainstage production of the hit Broadway musical, Spamalot, set to run Fridays through Sundays, from Friday, June 14, through Sunday, June 30, at the theater, 325 Minor St., Kenner. Show times are 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. Spamalot is the … Continue reading →
The Le Petit Théâtre du Vieux Carré, 616 St. Peter St., New Orleans, will stage six plays in its new season, beginning with the Friday, July 19, opening of the lagniappe production, Love, Loss and What I Wore. This production is a prelude to the theater’s seasonal lineup of five plays, which run through mid-2014. Continue reading →
ANTIGUA, Guatemala — Everyone told me not to go. Even a friend who lived in Guatemala for six months advised me against going. I planned the trip and canceled it twice. But in the end I let my traveler’s instincts persuade me that it couldn’t be that bad. And for the most part, … Continue reading →
Give my regards to Broadway ... No, really. Musical theater fans in the Baton Rouge don’t have to make a trip to New York this year, because plenty of Broadway will be coming to them. Make that fully staged and orchestrated musicals in an intimate setting. That’s something fans don’t always get in New York, … Continue reading →
NEW YORK — Broadway will get a double dose of Mark Rylance this winter — the two-time Tony Award-winning English actor will alternate between starring in Twelfth Night and Richard III. Producers said Thursday that the Shakespeare’s Globe productions of both Shakespeare plays will transfer from the West End to … Continue reading →
WASHINGTON — The Newseum in Washington is poking some fun at TV anchors with a new exhibit about the 2004 comedy Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy starring Will Ferrell. The Newseum announced plans Tuesday for Anchorman: The Exhibit to be created with Paramount Pictures. It’s scheduled to open Nov. … Continue reading →
KEY LARGO, Fla. — Ken Nedimeyer likes to say that he breathes new life into coral reefs. In fact, he’s been doing it for more than a decade, and recreational divers are volunteering in the effort. “We are trying to put Humpty Dumpty back together again,” said Nedimeyer, whose Coral Restoration Foundation has … Continue reading →
FORE! City Putt, New Orleans’ City Park’s newest attraction, is open. The miniature golf complex offers two disabled-accessible 18-hole courses, and is located at 8 Victory Drive across from the park’s Storyland. Local flavor and Louisiana elements inspire the courses’ decor, including the swamp, Louis Armstrong, alligators and music. One course highlights various cities around … Continue reading →
Shhhh. Listen. Can you hear it? Can you hear Larry Gardner’s guitar? Look through the door window. There he is, exactly as Jenn Ocken captured him one February night in Teddy’s Juke Joint. Makes you wish you could turn the doorknob, walk in and join the crowd. And, in a way, you’re already among the … Continue reading →
Oh, Adell. You’re going to hell. Royal Robertson wedged this prophecy into his Bible verse-filled calendar, something he felt he had to say. Well, more like something he couldn’t resist saying. Because Adell’s leaving him for another man spiraled him into a rage, and he never got over it. He’d been having visions … Continue reading →
Tickets are on sale for Swine Palace’s SummerFest 2013. The company opens the festival with William Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice from Tuesday through Sunday, June 25-30; followed by Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night from Tuesday through Sunday, July 23-28, both in the Studio Theatre in the LSU Music & Dramatic Arts Building, Dalrymple Drive on campus. … Continue reading →
The Louisiana Sinfonietta, under the direction of Dinos Constantinides, will present four concerts featuring music for children at Baton Rouge area libraries. A musical story, The Penguin Parade, adapted by former librarian Judy Constantinides, will highlight the program. Judy Constantinides also will be the reader. The concerts schedule is: 10:30 a.m. … Continue reading →
THE SON By Philipp Meyer Ecco, $27.99 This is a sweeping, “multi-generational epic” set mostly in Texas near the Mexican border. The novel begins in the 1800s and concludes in the 2000s. It’s a big story, told in three characters’ voices, and it spans … Continue reading →
Dan Brown, author of The Da Vinci Code, Angels & Demons and The Lost Symbol, would have us believe, like Chicken Little, that the sky is falling. Maybe it will, perhaps even soon, but not immediately, for Brown grants us the time to purchase his latest book, Inferno, whether we get around to reading it or not. Continue reading →
1. Inferno. Dan Brown 2. 12th of Never. James Patterson, Maxine Paetro 3. Dead Ever After: A Sookie Stackhouse Novel. Charlaine Harris 4. Silken Prey. John Sandford 5. The Hit. … Continue reading →
The National Endowment for the Humanities, or NEH, recently awarded a grant of $194,152 to the LSU Libraries Special Collections to digitize, index and provide free access to family papers, business records and public documents pertaining to free people of color in Louisiana and the lower Mississippi Valley. In addition to LSU, the primary grant recipient, … Continue reading →
THE ONE-WAY BRIDGE By Cathie Pelletier Sourcebooks, Inc., $24.99;
287 pp. Rather than risk a creative hernia trying to conjure up an entirely invented landscape (e.g., Faulkner/Yoknapatawpha), novelists tend to avoid the heavy lifting by simply tinkering with a … Continue reading →
Theatre Baton Rouge honored volunteers from its 67th season at its Beaux Arts Ball, “What’s in a Name?” on Saturday. The Outstanding Actress in a Musical award was given to Alaina Ellen Richard for her role as Patsy Cline in Always … Patsy Cline, and the award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical was given to … Continue reading →
A compilation of arts events for the week ahead. FIRST SUNDAY: 1 p.m.-5 p.m., Louisiana Art and Science Museum, 100 River Road South. Free admission to the LASM galleries and reduced admission to planetarium shows. http://www.lasm.org. FREE FIRST SUNDAY: 1 p.m.-5 p.m., Fifth Floor, Shaw Center for the Arts, 100 … Continue reading →
Cruise into New Orleans. Cruise out down the Mississippi and into the wide expanse of the Gulf of Mexico. It’s easy and it’s blissful. Three major lines, Carnival, Norwegian Cruise Line and Royal Caribbean International, offer cruises out of New Orleans. All provide vacations that are good value for your money. With a little planning, we chose … Continue reading →