Pianist John Rangel and the Tribute Trio played a program of Bill Evans' compositions. John totally owned this music: he gracefully flew through complex structures, deftly improvising around them and back. Evans engaged the bass & drums in his music in a groundbreaking way. Michael Glynn and Cal Haines were there in force, skillfully interacting with the piano. The audience was completely energized by the performance. Rangel had both classical and jazz training, and this was evident in how he handled this music. From the opening piece, "Displacement", he effortlessly blended multiple key modulations, meter changes, and syncopation. Of course, it isn't effortless, it is very hard work. This brings to mind the word used in Italian art history, sprezzatura: doing something technically very difficult with ease and grace, so that it seems effortless. Thanks, John!
Jackie St. Joan did a reading at Garcia Street Books from her novel My Sisters Made of Light. Jackie is an attorney who focuses on domestic violence issues. Her novel is based on women victims of "honor crimes" in Pakistan. She spoke about the complex cultural issues involved. Thousands of women & girls are killed or abused each year by family members who believe their behaviour has brought dishonor to the family or community. Honor crimes are illegal in Pakistan, yet they continue to be common. They are often approved beforehand by local citizens and are thus very difficult to prosecute. She is donating half of her proceeds from the novel to the construction of a safe house in Pakistan for abused women and girls. Her website is: http://www.mysistersmadeoflight.com/. You can contact her there to made donations for the safe house.
Debbie performed with Serenata on February 6th in a chamber music program that featured mezzo-soprano Krista River. Krista's lyric mezzo was lovely in songs from Beethoven's Four Ariettas and Brahms' Zwei Gesange. The program had an unusual offering of oboe and voice, from Ralph Vaughn Williams' Ten Blake Songs. It was a wonderful pairing, with Pamela Epple playing oboe. River's rendering of Noel Coward's If Love Were All and A Bar on the Piccola Marina was a real crowd pleaser! Debbie and Krista's photo appeared the following day in the local paper....at a restaurant cheering on the Green Bay Packers in the Superbowl!
Steve Erikson's Zeroville is an homage to Film, with a capital F. Here is an extraordinary exploration of film-making and film-makers, through the eyes of a young man obsessed with Film. Yes, he has Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift, from A Place in the Sun, tatooed on his shaved head. Zeroville has a clever structure and plot. It is also filled with fascinating characters and wonderful insights into great movie making. The title is from Godard's ground breaking film, Alphaville. Erikson's writing is edgy, without going over the edge, a big plus among young writers today.
A long title for a fun, clever, short book, by Andrew O'Hagan. Maf is an erudite, opinionated dog who weighs in on the Arts and Politics, with capital letters, during the early '60's in the US. There are some great cameos by Lee Strasberg, Leo Castelli, Frank Sinatra, John Kennedy, Carson McCullers, Lillian Hellman, a host of critics & scholars. Once past the first 20 pages of set-up, Maf finds his stride and it's a romp!
Pianist John Rangel and the Tribute Trio played a program of Bill Evans' compositions. John totally owned this music: he gracefully flew through complex structures, deftly improvising around them and back. Evans engaged the bass & drums in his music in a groundbreaking way. Michael Glynn and Cal Haines were there in force, skillfully interacting with the piano. The audience was completely energized by the performance. Rangel had both classical and jazz training, and this was evident in how he handled this music. From the opening piece, "Displacement", he effortlessly blended multiple key modulations, meter changes, and syncopation. Of course, it isn't effortless, it is very hard work. This brings to mind the word used in Italian art history, sprezzatura: doing something technically very difficult with ease and grace, so that it seems effortless. Thanks, John!
