Pianist Vonsattel Gilles will be a featured performer at the final chamber music concert at St. Cecilia Music Center. (Supplied photo by Marco Borggreve)
By St. Cecilia Music Center
St. Cecilia Music Center will present the season finale of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center season, a program titled “Classical Evolution, Showcases Mozart, Weber and Brahms”, on Thursday, April 19, at 7:30 p.m.
The performance will feature pianist Gilles Vonsattel, violinists Ida Kavafian and Erin Keefe, violist Yura Lee, cellist Nicholas Canellakis and clarinetist Tommaso Lonquich.
“The final concert of this season with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) will bring some of our favorite chamber music artists back to SCMC and introduce us to a few new artists as well,” stated Cathy Holbrook, St. Cecilia executive director. “The title of this concert, ‘Classical Evolution’showcases these stellar musicians performing works by Mozart, Weber and Brahms. Every chamber music concert with CMS is an exciting musical experience and this will be another night of magic.”
The Program will include Trio in E-flat major for Clarinet, Viola, and Piano, K. 498, “Kegelstatt”, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; Quintet in B-flat major for Clarinet, Two Violins, Viola, and Cello, Op. 34, by Carl Maria von Weber; and Quintet in F minor for Piano, Two Violins, Viola, and Cello, Op. 34, by Johannes Brahms.
The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center is known for the extraordinary quality of its performances, its inspired programming, and for setting the benchmark for chamber music worldwide. No other chamber music organization does more to promote, to educate and to foster a love of and appreciation for the art form.
CMS brings together the very best international artists from an ever-expanding roster of more than 150 artists per season, to provide audiences with the kind of exhilarating concert experiences that have critics calling CMS “an exploding star in the musical firmament.”
St. Cecilia Music Center and CMS have an ongoing partnership that brings the group to Royce Auditorium each season.
Concert tickets are $38 and $43 and can be purchased by calling St. Cecilia Music Center at 616-459-2224 or visiting the box office at 24 Ransom Ave. NE. Tickets can also be purchased online at www.scmc-online.org. A pre-concert wine / hors d’oeuvres event for $15 is available and begins at 6:00 p.m. (Reservations are required.)
There will also be a pre-concert talk with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center artists on Royce Auditorium stage beginning at 7 p.m. to discuss the music selection for the evening and any other questions that pertain to the artists themselves. All ticket holders are welcome to attend the artist talk. A post-concert party is open to all ticket-holders giving the audience the opportunity to meet the artists and obtain signed CDs of their releases.
The kitchen is the heart of the home. It’s where family and friends gather not only to cook and eat but also to talk and spend time together.
The best kitchens look good, function well, and make everyone feel comfortable and welcome.
The Grand Rapids Symphony’s Symphony Friends welcome you to come and see some of the finest kitchens in the greater Grand Rapids area.
“Well-Orchestrated Kitchens,” featuring six fabulous kitchens, will be held on Sunday, May 5, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Delightful music and home demonstrations are part of the “heart of the home” tour that’s a fundraiser for the Grand Rapids Symphony’s music education programs. For more information, go to kitchentourgr.com.
Sponsored by Symphony Friends, tickets are $25. Tickets are available at the Grand Rapids Symphony offices at 300 Ottawa Ave. NW, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Call (616) 454-9451. Advance tickets also are available at D&W Fresh Market locations at Gaslight Village, Breton Village, Knapp’s Corner and Cascade.
Photo courtesy of Sear Architects
Tickets will be available at all six homes on the tour. Tickets are not available online.
The event features a tour of six kitchens, uniquely designed, and well-appointed, in the Grand Rapids area. The six homes include two mid-century remodels, one with an outdoor kitchen, and one with a wine cellar. A printable map of the six homes is available online at kitchentourgr.com.
“Though we’re showing off kitchens, there is much more to see as visitors make their way to the kitchens,” said Bonnie Monhart, president of Symphony Friends, which formerly was known as the Grand Rapids Symphony Women’s Committee.
In addition to seeing these magnificent kitchens, “Well-Orchestrated Kitchens” will offer a variety of food and home-related activities including demonstrations such as flower arranging with Easter Floral and easy appetizers and summer entertaining from Art of the Table.
Musicians from the Grand Rapids Symphony and Youth Symphony will perform during the tour.
If you’re planning a kitchen renovation and are in search of ideas or if you simply appreciate creativity and design you won’t want to miss this event.
Last year, Symphony Friends’ spring fundraiser, “Blandford Enchanted” welcomed over 1,300 guests and raised more than $13,000 to support the Grand Rapids Symphony, the Grand Rapids Youth Symphony and other education programs that are part of the Grand Rapids Symphony’s Gateway to Music, a network of 17 access points for people of all ages and walks of life to engage with orchestral music.
Earlier this year, the Grand Rapids Symphony’s Fifth Grade Concerts welcomed more than 15,000 youngsters to DeVos Performance Hall for a live concert experience.
Pianist Robin Connell plays with many jazz groups in many venues in West Michigan, but she is particularly looking forward to playing with a quartet at The Block in Muskegon Saturday, April 14.
“This is a wonderful, intimate (150 seat) venue in downtown Muskegon,” Connell said in supplied material. “I’m looking forward to playing a real piano, (it is) so much more expressive than a keyboard.”
Connell will be playing, and singing, with Paul Brewer on trombone and vocals, Tim Froncek on drums and Chris Kjorness on bass, with the music starting at 7:30 p.m. Doors and the bar open at 7 p.m., with tickets at $25 and up, student tickets at $10.
The Grand Rapids Public Museum (GRPM) will once again host Collections & Cocktails, a new annual fundraiser focusing on the Museum’s Collections, their stories and the preservation and education with these artifacts, on Wednesday, May 2.
This year, Collections & Cocktails will focus on the Museum’s Transportation Collection, featuring dinner and signature cocktails to go along with the exciting stories of these artifacts. Tickets are available to the public and can be found at grpm.org/2018Collections-Cocktails.
“On behalf of the Grand Rapids Public Museum, we are excited to host this event to bring attention to the preservation and maintenance of our Collections,” said Gina Schulz, the Museum’s VP of Corporate and Foundation Giving. “This year we are focusing on the Transportation Collection, that boast some of the largest artifacts that we care for. This event allows the community to see many more of these items, as well as give support to keep them for generations to come.”
Demonstrate your passion for preserving these important artifacts along with the thousands of others pieces in the GRPM Collections by supporting this event through a sponsorship, purchasing a table or individual tickets. More information on the event and funding opportunities can be found at grpm.org/2018Collections-Cocktails or by contacting Gina Schulz at gschulz@grpm.org or 616.929.1705.
One of the Museum’s most memorable pieces to be displayed at the event is Grand Rapids’ own 1949 Herpolsheimer Child Passenger Train. Many local residents remember riding this well-known train as children while shopping in the Herpolsheimer’s department store downtown. This iconic piece has been preserved in the Museum’s Collection since 2000, and Collections & Cocktails attendees will be able to relive (or experience for the first time) a piece of their childhood.
The GRPM has brought a very rare Grand Rapids made car to the Museum for this event and the summer, an Austin Model 60. This particular Austin, believed to be one of only four remaining in the world, has been meticulously restored to its original showroom condition. This piece is on loan from Stahl’s Automotive Foundation. The Austin Automobile Company was founded by Walter Austin in Grand Rapids in 1903, the same year the Ford Motor Company was started in Detroit. The Austin Automobile Company hand-built only a few vehicles each year, but was well known for their “high grade pleasure cars.” In 1909, an Austin Model 60 would have retailed for $7,000.
A long time piece of the GRPM Collections that hasn’t been on display since 2013, the Lorraine automobile is coming out of storage for Collections & Cocktails. This Model 20-T, the only known surviving example of a Lorraine, and is a rare reminder that more than furniture was made in the Furniture City. The Lorraine Motors Corporation was one of several Grand Rapids Car manufacturers in the early 20th century. About 250 to 300 Lorraine automobiles were assembled in Grand Rapids each year between 1919 and 1921. The bodies were produced by Ligonier of Ligonier, Indiana. The engines were made in North Tonawanda, New York, by Herschell-Spillman, the same company that built the GRPM’s carousel. Lorraines were medium-priced autos. This 4-door convertible, with a 4 cylinder, 192 cubic inch engine, was listed at $1,425 in 1920. The Lorraine will be part of the Museum’s core offerings located on the 2nd floor.
The Public Museum’s 1913 Indian Model E Motorcycle also will be on display.
Other rarely seen artifacts being featured at the event include the GRPM’s 1913 Indian Model E Motorcycle (last displayed 2011-2012) and the unique clam shell or folding boat (1941-1946) donated by Thomas Devine and manufactured by Jack Henningsen of Twin Port a Boat.
To see more of the Museum’s Collections visit the GRPM online database GRPMcollections.org.
By Megan Andres, Grand Rapids Public Library, Seymour Branch
In 1717, Prussian emperor Frederick I presented Peter the Great with a remarkable treasure: enough wall-sized panels covered with meticulously carved amber to decorate an entire room. Eventually installed in a palace near St. Petersburg, the Amber Room was stolen by the Nazis during the 1941 siege of Leningrad and hidden in Konigsberg, now Kaliningrad—after which little is known.
Scott-Clark and Levy recorded their investigation into the whereabouts of the Amber Room in an effort to both educate and fascinate the world. By searching through Romanov archives, Soviet files, and secret documents of the East German Police, the authors retrace the history and disappearance of one of the world’s major art pieces. During a time when amber was more valuable than gold, the Amber Room vanished into thin air.
While the first chapters seem heavy with material as the authors set up the history of the Amber Room, once the clues begin to fall into place, Scott-Clark and Levy fascinate readers as they trace the Amber Room all over Europe. They investigate not only rumors of the location of the pieces but also known facts. Interviews and archival documents help to further tell the story of one of the most famous lost artifacts of World War II.
The Grand Rapids Public Museum (GRPM) continues the 2018 Concerts Under the Stars series in the Chaffee Planetarium with new music from Grand Rapids’ band Major Murphy on Thursday, April 12.
Major Murphy reimagines 1970s radio rock with bristling sensitivity for our present era. They have debuted three albums with the newest “No. 1” being released just recently on March 30, combining the sounds of rock, pop and dream pop.
This concert will feature a chilled-out tempo and atmosphere, and the sprawling jam, expanding in effervescent layers of psychedelia. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m., with doors opening at 6:30 p.m. Refreshments, beer and other beverages will be available for purchase.
Major Murphy is the collaboration of Jacob Bullard, Jacki Warren, and Brian Voortman. Their first EP was recorded before they had ever formally played a show, but in the months following its release, the band hit the road and begin playing out regularly. These shows gave Major Murphy a new perspective and confidence to their music.
This concert will feature a custom light show on the planetarium’s dome, which boasts state-of-the-art technology with 4k visuals and surround sound for an amazing immersive concert experience.
Tickets are $10 for GRPM members, $12 for non-members if purchased in advance, and $15 for non-members on the day of the concert. Tickets are currently on sale at grpm.org, by calling 616.929.1700 or at the Museum’s front desk.
The final 2018 Concerts Under the Stars will take place on May 15 with local band Mertle.
On April 20, the Grand Rapids Symphony plus the Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus and a world-renowned pianist will return to Carnegie Hall for an astounding evening of Spanish and Brazilian-flavored music. But first, you can hear the entire program in DeVos Hall on Friday and Saturday, April 13-14.
Brazilian pianist Nelson Freire, one of the world’s greatest pianists, will be soloist in Momoprecoce by Brazilian’s most famous composer, Heitor Villa-Lobos. The boisterous fantasy for piano and orchestra is inspired by children at play during Carnival. Here’s a YouTube video of Freire performing “Momoprecoce” with Brazil’s most important orchestra, the Sao Paulo Symphony, on tour with American conductor Marin Alsop in London.
Freire also will play Manuel de Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of Spain, a sensuous piece whose inspiration comes from the same region in southern Spain that influenced Anila Quayyum Agha’s “Intersections,” winner of Grand Rapids’ ArtPrize in 2014.
Grand Rapids Symphony’s Brazilian-born conductor Marcelo Lehninger leads the orchestra in Maurice Ravel’s Bolero, back by popular demand. The Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus will join the orchestra for Villa-Lobos’ Villa-Lobos Chôros No.10 “Rasga o Coração” (It Tears your Heart) a piece that’s inspired by music of the streets of Brazil in the 1920s and 30s.
Freire, who has performed four times in Carnegie Hall, is a lifelong friend of the Lehninger family. Lehninger, who led the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Carnegie Hall in 2011, has performed “Momoprecoce” previously with Freire and the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood.
Tickets
Tickets start at $18 and are available at the GRS box office, weekdays 9 am-5 pm, at 300 Ottawa Ave. NW, Suite 100, (located across from the Calder Plaza), or by calling 616.454.9451 x 4. (Phone orders will be charged a $2 per ticket service fee, with a $12 maximum.)
Tickets are available at the DeVos Place ticket office, weekdays 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. or on the day of the concert beginning two hours prior to the performance. Tickets also may be purchased online at GRSymphony.org.
Full-time students of any age are able to purchase tickets for only $5 on the night of the concert by enrolling in the GRS Student Tickets program, sponsored by Comerica and Calvin College. This is a MySymphony360 eligible concert.
As if Electric Forest’s annual West Michigan’s Kandi-carrying Woodstock clone is not enough proof of the Grand Rapids region being a hot bed for EDM (electronic dance music), MiEntertainment and Prime Social Group announced last week that its Breakaway Music Festival will return to the heights of Belknap Park later this year, Friday and Saturday, Aug. 24-25.
(“Kandi”, BTW, is a term describing the colorful bracelets that kids and/or adults wear at EDM shows, often times being traded or given away as a sign of respect or love.)
Zedd, shown at huge festival, was one of the headliners at the 2017 Breakaway Music Festival. (Supplied)
The 2017 festival featured headlining performances of Grammy-nominee Travis Scott and Grammy-winner and EDM powerhouse Zedd, and was attended by more than 16,000 fans.
“We started this festival by combining urban living with a carefully curated, multi-genre lineup that festival-goers of all ages and music preferences could enjoy. With the success of the festival’s first year, it was a no-brainer to return to Grand Rapids for its second year,” Adam Lynn, festival managing partner, said in supplied material.
Breakaway Music Festival debuted in 2013 in Columbus, Ohio, with names like Kendrick Lamar, Bassnectar, and twentyonepilots. The festival expanded to Grand Rapids in 2017 and was nominated for the first-ever “Grandy’s” Award Show for Outstanding Live Music Event. The festival brand has since expanded to five different markets in Dallas, Grand Rapids, Columbus, Charlotte, and Nashville.
“It’s great to have Grand Rapids in such good company with other major Breakaway cities. Our goal is to continue to enhance the outdoor live music scene in West Michigan and we believe the return of Breakaway is a good step in that direction,” Chris Meyer, of MiEntertainment, said in supplied information.
More information on the event and musical schedule is forthcoming, but for now, for more information visit breakaway festival.com and/or follow the event using #BreakawayFest or @BreakawayFest.
By Ruth Van Stee, Grand Rapids Public Library, Main Branch
Nicole Mazzarella’s story, beautifully written and wonderfully told, takes place in the 1960s, when family farms in the Midwest were in crisis and many were lost to expanding cities and suburban development. Dottie, at the center of This Heavy Silence, works and fights to keep her father’s farm, trying to prove to her deceased father, herself, and the community that a woman can be a successful farmer.
Dottie’s work is interrupted by the death of her friend and the arrival of that friend’s eight-year-old daughter, who lives with Dottie for the next ten years. Even with the child present, the farm is Dottie’s main focus and all decisions and dreams she holds for the child are based solely on keeping the farm going. This finely developed main character is often not very likable, and readers will want to shake and yell at her, but once in a while, when Dottie makes a small, warm gesture or when her pain rises to the surface, readers will want to comfort her.
Mazarella teaches creative writing at Wheaton College in Illinois, but while this novel falls within the Christian fiction genre, it is not a “safe” book, nor the kind of story with an improbable happy ending. Instead, with a desperate hope for the girl’s forgiveness, Dottie takes a step towards change and grace abounds.
Asleep at the Wheel’s current line-up is a mix o f founding members and new faces. (Supplied)
By St. Cecilia Music Center
St. Cecilia Music Center brings American Country Music Group Asleep at the Wheel to the Royce Auditorium stage on Thursday, April 12 at 7:30 p.m. The band will arrive in Grand Rapids directly following six straight concert dates in their home state of Texas.
With recent band additions Katie Shore (fiddle, vocals), Dennis Ludiker (fiddle, mandolin) Connor Forsyth (keyboard, vocals) and Josh Hoag (Bass), Asleep at the Wheel’s newest members have given a newfound energy and their own unique style to the band.
Asleep at the Wheel veterans Ray Benson (lead guitar and vocals), David Sanger (drums) Eddie Rivers (steel guitar) and Jay Reynolds (saxophone and clarinet) round out the new 8-piece band who will appear at St. Cecilia.
“It is St. Cecilia Music Center’s mission to bring great music to Grand Rapids and we are pleased to bring Asleep at the Wheel to the Acoustic Café Series,” Cathy Holbrook, St. Cecilia executive director, said in supplied material. “With the appearance of Margo Price last season, we opened the door for country music artists to perform in our acoustically-superb and intimate hall. We trust Asleep at the Wheel fans will be excited to hear them up close and personal.”
Founding member of the band, Benson, launched Asleep at the Wheel in Paw Paw, West Virginia 48 years ago. Now based in Austin, Texas, the band has garnered 10 Grammy Awards, released more than 20 studio and live albums, and charted 20 singles on the Billboard country music charts.
The Grammy Award-winning Still The King: Celebrating the Music of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys is the band’s most recent release (2015) and marks their third full-length Bob Wills tribute album. Featuring 22 acclaimed collaborations, the all-star lineup over the years has included legends such as Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard and George Strait, The Avett Brothers, Amos Lee, Old Crow Medicine Show and many other fine talents.
The Acoustic Café Series, in partnership with the syndicated radio show of the same name, will round out the season with singer/songwriter, banjo and fiddler Rhiannon Giddens co-founder of the Grammy award-winning string band Carolina Chocolate Drops.
SCMC formed a partnership three years ago with the syndicated radio show Acoustic Café and its host Rob Reinhart. The Ann Arbor based radio program is syndicated to over 120 commercial and non-commercial stations throughout the country and airs locally in Grand Rapids on WYCE Friday mornings. The series at SCMC features touring singer/songwriter folk/Americana musicians in concert and also presents the opportunity for a live taping with the artists and Rob Reinhart.
“Since its inception in the 2015-16 season the Acoustic Café Folk Series has expanded its offerings and brought some of today’s up and coming artists, as well as some of the veterans of the singer/songwriter genre,” Holbrook said in supplied material.
Tickets for Asleep at the Wheel tickets are $35 and $40 and can be purchased by calling St. Cecilia Music Center at 616-459-2224 or visiting the box office at 24 Ransom Ave. NE. Tickets can also be purchased online at scmc-online.org . A post-concert party with a cash bar will be offered to all ticket-holders where the band’s CD’s can be purchased.
Three people, who have never met before, are brought into a strange room by a mysterious Bellboy who gives them barely any information about their situation except for the knowledge that they will be in that room together for the rest of eternity.
All three characters only have one thing in common: they’re all dead.
This is the foundation of the plot for the upcoming play, “No Exit,” which will be produced and performed by Grand Valley State University theater students as a part of the annual Performance Studios Series.
The P.S. Series gives upper-level theater students the opportunity to use the practical skills they have learned in the classroom. During P.S. Series productions, students have creative control over directing, acting, backstage production, set design and costume design.
Performances of “No Exit” will take place April 6, and 7, at 7:30 p.m. and April 8 at 2 p.m. All shows will take place the Linn Maxwell Keller Black Box Theatre, located in the Thomas J. and Marcia J. Haas Center for Performing Arts on the Allendale Campus. General admission tickets will be $6, and tickets can be purchased through the Louis Armstrong Box Office by calling (616) 331-2300, or by visiting Startickets.com.
In “No Exit,” Cradeau, a French journalist; Inez, a Spanish secretary; and Estelle, an American socialite, quickly discover that the mysterious room they have entered is actually hell.
“This show is an exploration of why those characters find themselves in hell, what mistakes they made in the past and how living a fake life can lead you to ruin,” said Bruno Streck Rodrigues, a senior majoring in theater and communication studies who will sit in the director’s chair for “No Exit.” “Having to accept the fact that they are dead, unable to touch the outside world and slowly being forgotten, is a big part of the show.”
Expecting to find some kind of torturer in the hellish venue, the three characters quickly learn that the real torture is spending eternity with each other.
“They have to learn to ‘live’ with each other, but the problem of ‘living’ with each other, as the show itself says, is that ‘hell is other people,’” said Streck Rodrigues. “They can’t stand the thought that the other two people in the room are judging them for every little thing they do, and that is the real torture.”
“No Exit” marks Streck Rodrigues’ directorial debut, and the São Carlos, Brazil, native said it is his favorite play primarily because of the diversity of the characters.
“The show was written in 1943 by French philosopher Jean Paul Sartre, and yet one of the main characters is a lesbian, which is groundbreaking,” said Streck Rodrigues. “The male character in the original version of the play is Brazilian, like me, so I also really like my country being represented in theater.”
Grand Valley’s production of “No Exit” will be adopting the translated version by Paul Bowles in which the nationalities of Cradeau and Estelle were changed to French and American, respectively.
Emily Cobb, who plays Inez, said she looks forward to audiences reflecting on the themes of death, freedom and judgement found in “No Exit.”
“I believe this show will get people to think about life and death and it will leave an impression on them,” said Cobb, a sophomore majoring in psychology and theater. “A lot of great people put in the work to make this come to life and the results are spectacular.”
More than 50 students from the Visual and Media Arts Department will showcase works that represent the culmination of their educational journeys at Grand Valley State University.
“x-height” is just one of these upcoming exhibits. Kendra Smith said the senior graphic design exhibition is meant to represent the starting point of the future careers of the eleven participating students.
“Graphic design is not always featured in shows, so it is even more beneficial that we learn the process through this experience in school,” said Smith, a senior majoring in graphic design. “I personally had no idea about all of the behind-the-scenes work that goes into creating and promoting an exhibit. Everyone has really used their skills gained in the program to step out-of-the-box and create work they’re really passionate about.”
Smith’s contribution to “x-height” includes branding elements for a fictional design museum called the Grand Rapids Institute of Design (GRID), including visitor guides, tickets, membership cards, a mock website and more.
“From a young age, I have always enjoyed visiting museums and gaining more knowledge,” said Smith. “I also have not had the opportunity yet to create design work for a public space, so I wanted to challenge myself to try something new.”
The “Control and Creativity (100 Questions I Asked Myself)” exhibition runs April 9 -12.
Justin Nienhuis, a senior studio art major with an emphasis on jewelry making and metalsmithing, said his solo exhibit revolves around 100 questions he asked himself while contemplating his showcase.
“I just wanted to be aware of what I was thinking about while I was creating my work,” said Nienhuis, from Holland. “In my show, I explore how a vessel could be formed in metal versus ceramics.”
“Control and Creativity (100 Questions I Asked Myself)” will showcase 20 works by Nienhuis, mostly consisting of pieces created from copper, brass, bronze and nickel silver.
Nienhuis said the Visual and Media Arts Department helped him develop the skills necessary to succeed in his future career.
“GVSU has some amazing professors, like Beverly Seley, the head of the jewelry and metalsmithing program,” said Nienhuis. “The art program has really been formed to help students learn how to not only make art, but also prepare us for being professional artists in the future by teaching skills like how to build a resume, website, and professional portfolio, and how to apply for grants.”
Below is a full list of upcoming senior thesis exhibitions:
x-height Senior graphic design exhibition
Exhibition dates: April 9-12
Art Gallery, Thomas J. and Marcia J. Haas Center for Performing Arts, Allendale Campus
Reception: April 12, from 5-7 p.m.
Control and Creativity (100 Questions I Asked Myself)
Senior BFA thesis exhibit by Justin Neinhuis, jewelry and metalsmithing major
Exhibition dates: April 9-12
Padnos Student Gallery, Calder Art Center, Allendale Campus
Reception: April 12, from 5-7 p.m.
Emerge
Senior illustration thesis exhibition
Exhibition dates: April 14-May 18
Nomad Galleries by Richard App, 74 Monroe Center Street NW, Grand Rapids
*Hours by appointment
Reception: April 14, from 5-9 p.m.
Teammates How Do/The Wall is Not Solid/how to ollie
Three senior visual studies exhibitions
Exhibition dates: April 16-22 (Monday-Thursday, from 5-9 p.m.)
106 Division Avenue South
Receptions: April 20, from 6-9 p.m.; April 21 and 22, from 2-5 p.m.
Fractal
Senior photography thesis exhibition
Exhibition dates: April 17-27
Art Gallery, Haas Center, Allendale Campus
Reception: April 19, from 5-7 p.m.
Film and Video Spring Showcase
April 24, from 7-10 p.m.
Loosemore Auditorium, DeVos Center, Pew Grand Rapids Campus
For more information, contact the Visual and Media Arts Department at (616) 331-3486.
By Mary K. Davis, Grand Rapids Public Library, Yankee Clipper Branch
Death as narrator. He doesn’t carry a scythe or wear a black robe. He doesn’t get involved in human lives—except once as he watches a young girl steal her first book. This is the story of that girl, Liesel Meminger.
Liesel is sent to live with a foster family in working class Mulching, Germany in the late 1930’s. It is World War II and Death is very busy. Still, he manages to tell Liesel’s story—her joys, sorrows, interesting cast of friends and family, and of her thievery. This is a beautiful and haunting story about the power of words.
Death does not enjoy his job; he carries children’s souls in his arms, and he doesn’t always welcome those souls seeking him out. Published as a young adult title, The Book Thief is a novel for adults as well, receiving starred reviews in School Library Journal and Kirkus Reviews and critical acclaim on NPR’s All Things Considered. In this soulful book, Death may surprise you.
By Laura Nawrot, Grand Rapids Public Library, Main Branch
This story, told from three different perspectives through the voices of Rose, Son, and Sissy, asks as many questions of the reader as it answers. Is Rose running from her destiny, or to it? If you were in Sissy’s shoes, (or Rose’s or Son’s), would you make the same choices? Is there a path that each individual is designed to follow? Do we forge our life’s path through free will alone or by the choices we make? Or is it some combination of both?
Rose, a devout Catholic girl, believes that her two life choices in the mid-sixties are to become a wife or a nun, and that God will provide her with a sign at the appropriate time. It is immediately apparent that Rose believes she misunderstood the sign, for the story opens with Rose driving across the country, alone, three years into a marriage she entered at age nineteen. The narrative quickly unfolds, and the questions rise through Ann Patchett’s wonderful writing. She paints her characters with such depth and compassion that they become a part of the reader, and the reader truly shares their world. Patchett’s portraits and her vivid description work together to make this a book to read more than once.
The Patron Saint of Liars is Ann Patchett’s first novel and was made into a television movie in 1998. She has since written several more novels and most recently a work of non-fiction, Truth & Beauty, about women and friendships that endure beyond a lifetime.
By Melissa Fox, Grand Rapids Public Library, Main Branch
In Barolo, Matthew Gavin Frank takes readers on a trip to explore the food and wine of the Barolo Region of Italy. Frank stays in a tent in a friend’s garden and works at a vineyard, picking grapes for vintner Luciano Sandrone.
This book is rich with details of the history and process of wine making, the Piemontese region of Italy, and of the many people the author meets, restaurants he eats at, and friends he makes along the way.
Barolo is both travelogue and memoir, unique to its time and place in Frank’s life, so that only he could share these stories in this way.
“This Was My Land” (1990). Armand Merizon gave this painting to Dave and Muriel in exchange for a Lake Michigan painting he wanted back and destroyed. (Supplied)
“On An Overgrown Path” (1997). (Supplied. Collection of Sidney J. Jansma, Jr.)
Every person who knew the late West Michigan artist Armand Merizon has stories to tell — stories of a complex man’s triumphs and struggles, of a brilliant painter with a sometimes struggling career, but ultimately of an artistic life well lived.
And every person who has seen one of his paintings has his or her own story to tell: the story the acclaimed artist constantly worked to convey in just about every work he created.
Muriel Zandstra — friend, repeated interviewer, and artistic advocate of Merizon for five decades — has her own stories to tell, and she has told them, accompanied by the most complete visual review of the artist’s work, in a new book, “Armand Merizon: His Life and Art”.
Armand Merizon in studio (with image of musical influence Beethoven). (Supplied)
“The reason for producing the book, for all it involved, was more than just good friendship,” Zandstra said to WKTV. “It was an overwhelming belief in the man and his art. I think he’s not just a ‘good’ artist, but a ‘great’ artist and his legacy should live on. I strongly believe, as do all the art professionals who knew him, that Merizon is a significant 20th century American artist who needs to be elevated to his rightful position in the art world.”
The new book was not Zandstra’s first effort to shine a light on Merizon. She co-produced with Jennifer Dornbush a documentary about the artist, “ARMAND”, in 2005, when he was 85 and in ill-health with terrible arthritis in his hands and advanced macular degeneration in his eyes. He died in 2010.
“Since I had already done so much research on him for the documentary, I was the best equipped to take on the challenge of creating a book,” Zandstra said. “Though it was a natural, it was still an unexpected and unsought-after project for my retirement. I needed the help of many professionals to pull it off.”
What they pulled off — she credits the work of Jan Keessen and Randall VanderMey on the book’s dust jacket — was a 240-page, oversized hardcover “coffee table book” of such beauty, such comprehensiveness that it deserves a place of more prominence than a coffee table. It contains photographs of more than 200 of the artist’s works, beginning with an early work from 1932, “Fall Tree”, a stunningly mature pastoral work for a 12-year-old, to one of the last of his paintings, the abstract “In D Minor”, from 2009.
“After coproducing and broadcasting the documentary “ARMAND” in 2005, people wanted to see more of Merizon’s art and learn more about the genius behind them,” she said. “There was not any one gallery or museum where I could direct them to go since so many of his paintings are held in private homes. It seemed the only logical way to get his artwork out there was for someone to come up with a catalog art book. … It would be geared for the general public though also suitable for professionals and serious artists to study and learn from.”
For a short video review of Merizon’s work, and an on-air WKTV Journal interview with Zandstra, see the following video.
Author shares personal stories of artist
Zandstra tells many stories about her interactions with Merizon over the years, both in the book and sitting in the living room of the rural Reed City home she shares with her husband, Dave. Two stories tell of the depth of their relationship: one of a painting given and returned, and another of the artist and his model.
Merizon had a habit of giving paintings in exchange for others’ services rendered — just ask any of a number of local doctors who have Merizon paintings in their offices. In Zandstra’s case, it was a seascape given during the years she babysit for the family; a painting given and then returned and destroyed.
“That painting was a delightful, photographic kind of painting, I was thrilled with it,” she said. “But I could tell over the years that he was doing something deeper. … Even though everybody liked the painting, I was thinking there is something not quite right in this painting.
“One day I said, ‘Would you like to see your paintings that I have? You paint them and then they are gone and you need to see them again.’ He said, ‘Yes I would.’ … I brought them the next time and when he looked at that one he goes ‘Yuck! The horizon line is too close to the center. And the shoreline is washed out.’ He said the only redeeming thing are the clouds in the sky. He said you know, ‘Could I have it back?’ And I said, ‘Yep’. So I just gave it back to him.
“This Was My Land” (1990). Armand Merizon gave this painting to Dave and Muriel in exchange for a Lake Michigan painting he wanted back and destroyed. (Supplied)
“Then a couple months later, when I visited him, he said, ‘I would like to upgrade your collection. I want to give one that Dave would like, that he would relate too as well, he is a farmer, a teacher.’ And he gave me that one painting,” she said, pointing to a wall in her living room and to a ghostly, deeply moving painting titled “This Was My Land”.
Another story led to a painting of Muriel herself by Merizon, included on the book’s dust jacket’s front flap. It is called “Portrait of Muriel” from 1966; it is a delicate facial portrait of soft colors that looks unfinished by design.
“He was always trying new things, as I have said, always experimenting,” she said. “He was doing portraits a lot during he 1950s and ’60s, to make money. But he wanted to try something new. So, I was babysitting for him at the time and he said, ‘Would you mind coming over, I want to try a new technique. I want to just capture the eyes, nose and mouth, because everything else changes in a person — hair styles, your clothing — everything changes, but your facial features stay the same.’
“Portrait of Muriel” (Supplied)
“He did an ink sketch first, then he did this more soft painting. So he had these two done and he said ‘Which one do you like better?’ I looked at them both, and I like the more finished one, with the color in it. So I picked that one, and he said, ‘Well you can have it for $35 dollars’.”
Merizon, Zandstra points out, made a living off his art. And she had no problem paying for his works then, nor later in their relationship.
“What Merizon has given to me personally over the years is invaluable,” Zandstra said. “Besides gifting me several art pieces, he has taught me a real appreciation for the fine arts, a reverence for the natural world, and a deep ethical sense with which to live by. His integrity was impeccable.
“I can never give back to him what he has given to me. I collect his art because I feel it is timeless, thought provoking and a real inspiration to me. It brings joy and peace.”
Leafing through Zandstra’s book one gets the same sense: Timeless, thought provoking, inspirational.
“Armand Merizon: His Life and Art” can purchased the book off E-bay and Amazon, as well as in person at Merizon Studio, Baker Book House, Meijer Gardens, the Grand Rapid Art Museum, Mercury Head Gallery, Perceptions Gallery, Calvin College and Kendall College. For more information on Zandstra and the book visit merizonbook.strikingly.com .
By Lisa Boss, Grand Rapids Public Library, Main Branch
How to explain the soothing yet buoyant effect that Barbara Pym’s two best novels have on one? Excellent Women and Some Tame Gazelle are both wonderfully therapeutic reads for people fed up with modern life. And also for those who just love relationship novels laced with dry humor. I re-read Excellent Women every ten years or so since it is so enjoyable, and I was delighted to see that cutting-edge literary critics have decided that Barbara Pym is once again making a comeback. She’s made a couple of comebacks since her books were published in the ’50s, as new generations discover her subtle charm.
Set in post World War II England, Excellent Women lets us share in the joys and disappointments of one Mildred Lathbury, who leads a mild-mannered life, as one of those “excellent women” who is always helping out in the parish. There are many uncomfortable life situations that Mildred is drawn into that she believes exceed her experience of men and relationships, but she carries on admirably, much to her surprise.
From the gently mysterious beginning to the satisfyingly concluded ending Excellent Women is a wonderful throw-back of a story.
Due to popular demand, a sixth, additional concert has been added to this year’s Concerts Under the Stars at the Grand Rapids Public Museum. Local band Mertle will be playing in the Chaffee Planetarium May 15.
Visitors can sit back, relax and enjoy the fully immersive audio and visual experience, with live band and live visuals on the planetarium dome.
Mertle is a local alternative, indie pop/rock band comprised of Max McKinnon (vocals, and keys), Kendall Wright (guitar), Connor Wright (drums) and Jared Demeester (bass). Mertle has opened for The Shins, as well as other shows in the Lansing and Grand Rapids areas, including at the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park.
This concert will also feature visuals by Meghan Moe Beitiks.
“We are excited to be adding an additional band to this year’s line-up,” said Kate Moore, VP of Marketing and PR for the GRPM. “The concerts have continued to be popular and sell out before each date, so we are bringing another opportunity for the community to experience music in the Chaffee Planetarium.”
The concert will begin at 7:30 p.m., with doors opening at 6:30 p.m. Refreshments, beer and other beverages will be available for purchase.
Tickets are $10 for GRPM members, $12 for non-members if purchased in advance, and $15 for non-members on the day of the concert. Tickets are currently on sale at grpm.org, by calling 616-929-1700 or at the Museum’s front desk.
The remaining 2018 Concerts Under the Stars Series continues with Major Murphy on April 12 and will close with Mertle on May 15.
Gray Skies Distillery will release its first straight bourbon whiskey March 22. It will be available for purchase exclusively in the distillery’s downtown Grand Rapids tasting room. Subsequent releases beginning fall 2018 will be available through licensed retailers, bars, and restaurants around Michigan via statewide distribution. Michigan Straight Bourbon Whiskey was aged in charred new, oak barrels for more than two years and bottled at 90 proof. Following Gray Skies’ Breakfast Rye and Single Malt Whiskey, Michigan Straight Bourbon Whiskey is the third American whiskey the distillery has released.
Michigan Straight Bourbon Whiskey, like all Gray Skies whiskey, is crafted from grain, double pot distilled and aged in the Grand Rapids-based distillery. Michigan Straight Bourbon Whiskey is truly a craft whiskey created from scratch in 500-gallon batches.
“Michigan Straight Bourbon Whiskey is simply named to highlight what it is – straight bourbon distilled and aged in Michigan,” said Steve Vander Pol, co-owner of Gray Skies Distillery. “The straight designation signifies the bourbon was aged at least two years and has no additional flavors added. Grain, water, yeast, oak and time were the only ingredients used to create this exceptional whiskey. Our recipe is 70 percent corn, 15 percent rye and 15 percent malted barley creating a classic bourbon profile that uses time to balance grain with oak and produce hints of caramel and vanilla familiar to bourbon enthusiasts. The increased presence of barley in the recipe adds notes of coffee and chocolate that make for a versatile whiskey that drinks well neat and stands out in cocktails.”
“This is one of many whiskey releases planned in 2018,” said Vander Pol. “As our whiskey stock continues to mature we are excited to follow our straight bourbon with a straight rye release. The second batch of our Single Malt Whiskey was bottled in March and our popular Breakfast Rye returns this summer. We plan to follow Breakfast Rye with a rich maple flavored Breakfast Bourbon for the holidays.”
Gray Skies Distillery was named Michigan Distillery of The Year in 2016 at the 7th annual New York International Spirits Competition on the strength of its gold medal-winning Barrel Finished Gin. The Gray Skies Distillery line up of spirits are currently available in hundreds of licensed retailers, bars, and restaurants around Michigan. Distribution is currently limited to Michigan but the distillery plans to expand into additional states with future whiskey releases.
By Kristen Krueger-Corrado, Grand Rapids Public Library
In 1920, Frankie Pratt graduates from high school and receives a scrapbook as a gift. Intent on becoming a writer, she attends Vassar College, and finds work in New York and Paris. Told through Frankie’s eyes, the life of a young woman trying to find her place in the world comes to life. The remarkable thing about this book, however, is the way the story is told.
The entire book is formatted as Frankie’s scrapbook. It is filled with ephemera such as postcards, letters, magazine ads and more. The story of her life is told through her scrapbook entries and the style of the 1920s is vivid. The reader wants to be able to touch the items in the scrapbook, to ask Frankie questions, and to see the story from the viewpoint of other characters. But this is Frankie’s story and we see her world only from her perspective through what she shares in her scrapbook. This is a fun book and a quick read, but you will linger, looking at the beautiful and detailed layout of each page.
The Grand Rapids Public Museum (GRPM) continues the 2018 Concerts Under the Stars series in the Chaffee Planetarium on March 22 hosting Dan Rickabus and his 9-piece band.
Drummer, producer and songwriter Dan Rickabus spends his days crafting sounds for The Crane Wives, Public Access, Seth Bernard and many others in Michigan’s beautiful music community. Last summer, he released a new collaborative solo record called “Void / Journal” – an album of cosmically conscious, existentially charged, groove-oriented dream-folk that explores what it means to be alive and breathing amidst the limitless beyond.
Dan has gathered a 9-piece band of his friends and collaborators to perform the vibrant, immersive music of “Void / Journal” in the mystical setting of the planetarium.
Dan Rickabus will be joined by a nine-piece band of friends.
“This performance is an honor and a dream come true for us,” Rickabus said. “We can’t wait to share this artistic adventure with you.”
This concert will feature a custom light show on the planetarium’s dome by Nate Eizenga. Nate is a Grand Rapids native who moonlights as a video artist, focusing on accompaniment for live musical performances. By using controllers intended for digital music production to create, mix and manipulate video in real time he crafts a visual experience that toes the line between artistic spontaneity and musical synchronicity. Since his first public show in 2015 Nate has performed for numerous events, including past Concerts Under the Stars shows.
The recently renovated planetarium boasts state-of-the-art technology with 4k visuals and surround sound, for an amazing immersive concert experience.
Concerts will begin at 7:30 p.m., with doors opening at 6:30 p.m. Refreshments, beer and other beverages will be available for purchase.
Tickets are $10 for GRPM members, $12 for non-members if purchased in advance, and $15 for non-members on the day of the concert. Tickets are currently on sale at grpm.org, by calling 616-929-1700 or at the Museum’s front desk.
The next 2018 Concerts Under the Stars will take place on April 12 with the alternative rock sounds of Major Murphy.
By Lisa Boss, Grand Rapids Public Library, Main Branch
At age 82 Felix Weinberg started writing down the history that he had tried to forget for 65 years.
“Anyone who survived the extermination camps must have an untypical story to tell. The typical camp story of the millions ended in death…”
The writing is simple and eloquent, and the story unfolds with a detachment that lends it a somber power, as if he is describing events from a hellish dream world.
Weinberg explains, “In the camps I tried to acquire the ability to look without seeing, listen without hearing and smell without taking in what was around me. I cultivated a kind of self-induced amnesia. I feared that being made to look at hangings, seeing piles of corpses on a daily basis, would somehow contaminate my mind permanently.”
In a reversal of our usual consciousness, he credits his night-time dreams of his beloved childhood in Czechoslovakia, with sustaining him during the bizarre waking hours.
The democratic republic of Czechoslovakia was short lived, and Weinberg’s happy life, along with the whole Czech Jewish community, came to an end with Hitler’s invasion of the Sudeten. His father was able to get out to England, but the rest of the family was detained, and the author’s teenage years from 12 to 17 follow the terrible road from the relocation to local Jewish ghettos, to the camps, and finally to the Nazi’s insane “final solution”.
The cover of the book speaks of depths of emotion that could never be adequately expressed. A beaming little boy, gazes admiringly, lovingly, at his older brother, as they stand together holding hands. Neither his brother nor his mother survived the camps.
“My brother was too young to work. I am convinced that, given the choice, my mother would have gone to the gas chambers with him but I doubt that was an option. I believe she died in some other slave labour camp. All my attempts to trace her, all my searches of archives for further information, have proved futile. It does not do to dwell on these thoughts if one wants to live the semblance of a normal life, but I invite anyone who wishes to share my nightmares to picture that group of children, including my terrified little brother, being herded into the gas chamber.”
Felix’s youth and strength aided him, and a large amount of luck, when so many died at every turn, going from Terezin, to Auschwitz-Birkenau, to Blechhammer, and the final death march to Gross-Rosen. He takes no credit for his survival, and often thanks others for every small kindness. There are many different kinds of holocaust stories, and all are deeply effecting. Felix Weinberg’s tale is one that no one should miss.
From start to finish, this year’s lineup promises to surprise, delight, and challenge audiences in the way only live theatre can. Civic Theatre’s 2018-2019 season is brimming with titles you will recognize from Broadway and your favorite books, along with one show so exciting that we are not able to reveal its name until later in the season.
Civic Theatre Executive and Artistic Director Bruce Tinker notes, “We were very fortunate to secure the rights to this show – but only if we agreed to withhold revealing the title until a later date this season. The chance to produce one of the most successful and entertaining musicals of recent history was too important to pass up.” Tinker continued, “As a community theatre, it isn’t unusual for rights to be released with strong guidelines. If a show is touring, currently on Broadway, or in production at an (equity) theatre in a geographic location deemed ‘near,’ then our rights are often restricted. One of the examples mentioned is the reason why we are keeping the title under wraps for now. We can share, this show will be produced on our stage February/March 2019 and . . .it’s a MUSICAL, it’s BIG, and it’s filled with FUN”.
There is a delicious sense of anticipation when you are waiting for the curtain to rise. For Civic Theatre, that moment is even more tantalizing with a season filled with love, mystery, sacrifice, dreams and an overall sense of WOW!!
Season Ticket Packages are on sale now, to purchase online visit www.grct.org, order by phone at 616-222-6650, or in person in Civic Theatre’s box office. Ticket Packages are $135. Single tickets will go on sale August 22.
Steel Magnolias
Playwright – Robert Harling
Sept. 7-23, 2018
From a small-town beauty parlor in Louisiana, the outspoken Truvy and her new assistant Annelle treat their clientele to shampoos, haircuts, and advice, not necessarily in the order. When the local socialite’s daughter marries a good ol’boy and decides to start a family, complications from her diabetes force all to face life’s big questions with the strength of steel and the fleeting beauty of magnolias.
Number the Stars
Playwright – Dr. Douglas W. Larche
Based on – Sean Hartley’s adaptation of Lois Lowry’s book Number the Stars
Oct. 12-21, 2018
Written from a child’s perspective, the play begins when Ella surprises her best friend Annemaire by arriving unannounced to spend the night. Not long after, Nazi soldiers appear at the door looking for Ella’s family, and Annemarie’s family claim that Ella is their own daughter. Annemairie realizes that all Jewish Danes are in danger, and their only hope is for their Christian neighbors to escort them to safety in nearby Sweden. Defying the law of the land, she steps up to help Ela’s family escape…but will they reach Sweden before it is too late.
Disney’s The Little Mermaid
Book – Doug Wright
Music – Alan Menken
Lyrics – Howard Ashman, Glenn Slater
Nov. 16 – Dec. 16, 2018
Always fascinated by the world above, Ariel’s longing becomes even greater when she rescues Prince Eric from drowning. Though her father warns her to stay away from humans, she eventually trades her beautiful singing voice to the sea witch Ursula, in return for a pair of human legs. When the bargain turns out to be more than it appears, Ariel needs the help of her animal friends Flounder, Scuttle, and Sebastian to overcome the witch’s evil plans and make a choice that will let her live happily ever after.
Agatha Christie’s And Then There Were None
Based on Agatha Christie’s book, And Then There Were None
Jan. 11-27, 2019
As the story begins, ten strangers arrive on an island where they will meet their fate. Each one has a secret and shameful past – and each one is marked for murder. Who’s next? And whodunit? It’s impossible to say. Nevertheless, one by one, each guest meets his or her end in a way that mirrors the lines of the nursery rhyme, “until there were none”
Surprise Musical
Feb. 22- Mar. 17, 2019
Our licensing agreement prohibits us from revealing the name of this show until later this season. We look forward to lifting the curtain to reveal the title of this surprise musical. All we can say is; it’s a musical, it’s big and it’s filled with fun!
Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach
Book – Timothy Allen McDonald
Music & Lyrics – Bej Paskek and Justin Paul
Based on Roald Dahl’s book James and the Giant Peach
April 26- May 5, 2019
James finds a door in the peach and discovers a crew of fantastic creatures living inside, all transformed, by a potion, to giant size. When the peach rolls off the tree and into the ocean, the crew must work together to overcome hunger, battle sharks, and escape greedy aunts who are plotting to fumigate the peach and everyone inside. From the branches of the tree, to the Atlantic Ocean, to the skies above New York city, their daring exploits teach James’ and his new friends to work together and redefine what it means to be a family.
Disney’s Newsies
Book – Harvey Fierstein
Music – Alan Menken
Lyrics – Jack Feldman
Based on – Disney film written by Bob Tzudiker and Noni White
Originally Produced = by Disney Theatrical Productions
Mary 31- June 23, 2019
The strike begins when Pulitzer and Hearst raise distribution prices on their papers, forcing the newspaper boys to sell more to earn a living. Jack the paperboy steps up as leader of the Newsies, rallying underpaid newsboys across the city to stand up to the publishing titans. A friendly reporter’s interest in the story leads to a budding romance with Jack and publicity for the cause, but will the pressure be enough to make Pulitzer and Hearst bow to what’s right?
All Shook Up
Book – Joe DiPietro
Inspired by and featuring the songs of Elvis Presley
Young@Part Edition Adapted by Marc Tumminelli
Young@Part Edition originally produced at Broadway Workshop in New York City
First workshopped at Hoboken Children’s Theatre, NJ, Chase Leyner, Director.
July 26 – August 4, 2019
Loosely based on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night and Midsummer Night’s Dream, the story takes place in 1955, when a handsome stranger stops in town to get his motorcycle fixed and catches the eye of the gas station owner’s daughter, Natalie. When he fails to take interest in her, she disguises herself as “Ed” to get close to him and earn his trust. A case of mistaken identities and mixed-up couples create a web of comedy and confusion, and it becomes anyone’s guess if Natalie will find her happily-ever-after by the last song.
Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland
Playwright – Deborah Lynn Frockt
Based on – Lewis Carroll’s book Alice’s Adventure in Wonderland
July 27-August 3, 2019
The play begins on a lazy summer day, when young Alice follows the White Rabbit down its hole and comes upon a curious world with food and drinks that make her grow or shrink most inconveniently. Alice encounters a disappearing Cheshire Cat who warns her that no one around her is sane. She observes a series of puzzling adventures at the Mad Hatters tea party. She plays a game of hedgehog croquet with the King and Queen of Hearts, and holds a philosophical conversation with a Mock Turtle. When Alice finds herself on trial, she must draw on the new skills she has learned in this Wonderland, to save her from danger.
By Tim Gleisner, Grand Rapids Public Library, Main Branch
Every so often I feel compelled to suggest a book solely not only for the skill of the author’s writing ability, but for it’s social importance as well. The book, A Stronger Kinship by Anna-Lisa Cox, is just such a one.
A true story set in the town of Covert Michigan, during the latter half of the nineteenth century, it tells the tale of the town’s unique population. Covert is a small town of roughly 1,000 people in Van Buren County just outside of South Haven. It is a typical rural community in Southwest Michigan. People settled the area because the land was plentiful and could provide an income. Agriculture, in various forms, has sustained this community from the very beginning — first lumber, then fruit farming. Families went to church, school, formed businesses, all in all a community within the norm of American life. The quality that set this town apart was that the population of Covert was integrated at a time when America was not.
Building on the lives of runaway slaves, freed blacks, and abolitionist New Englanders, the reader encounters a group of people who felt that one was equal regardless of color. This attitude was nurtured while the Midwest was experiencing racism in various forms. Families lived on farms side by side, as well within the town. You learn of the first elected African-American official, of the town’s business leaders who came from both sides of the color line, and from families that were integrated and accepted by the populace as a whole. What is remarkable is that to this day this community has stayed true to the original conviction of the pioneer generation. It conveys the sense that intentional community is not always impossible, and that one’s morals can be lived out in ordinary life.
Anna-Lisa Cox is the recipient of numerous awards for her research. She is an active historian, writer, and lecturer on the history of race relations in the nineteenth-century Midwest.
The Grand Rapids Ballet will present the second of its two-part MOVEMEDIA: Diversity dance contemporary dance series March 23-25, with three additional diverse works by a diverse group of choreographers on the subject of diversity.
MOVEMEDIA provides emerging “choreographers an outlet to create new works and make a mark on the dance world, so we’re very excited to see what they bring to the stage,” Patricia Barker, Grand Rapids Ballet’s soon-to-depart artistic director, said in supplied material.
The three-dance program will be presented at the ballet’s Peter Martin Wege Theatre in Grand Rapids. Tickets are still available.
MOVEMEDIA: Diversity features six new world premiere works by young choreographers, this program will offer works by Olivier Wevers, Uri Sands and Danielle Rowe. Jennifer Archibald, Norbert De La Cruz III and Loughlan Prior presented works in the first program, last month.
The second weekend of MOVEMEDIA will feature three completely new, world-premiere works which will feature messages of “appreciation, positivity, and acceptance,” according to supplied material.
Sands is co-founder (in 2004) and co-artistic director of TU Dance. His choreography has received national recognition for the fusion of classical elegance with edgy contemporary action, for pulsating intensity with poetic lyricism, according to MN Artists (Minnesota Artists). He was a principal dancer with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for five years, he also danced with Philadanco, Miami’s Fredrick Bratcher Contemporary Dance Theater, Minnesota Dance Theatre, and with North Carolina Dance Theatre.
Danielle Rowe (Supplied/Joris Janbos)
Rowe was born in Adelaide, Australia, andtrained at the Australian Ballet School before joining the Australian Ballet in 2001, where she danced for ten years as a Principal. In 2011, she left Australia to join Houston Ballet and in 2012 joined the prestigious Nederlands Dans Theater. According to SF DanceWorks, Rowe has performed in a large variety of works and worked intimately with many acclaimed choreographers, notably Jiri Kylian, Mats Ek, Crystal Pite, Wayne McGregor, Paul Lightfoot, Sol Leon and Alexander Eckman. In early 2015, she made her choreographic debut with Margarie & Thomas for Nederlands Dans Theater’s SWITCH program.
Olivier Wevers (Supplied)
Wevers is originally from Brussels, Belgium, and is the founder (in 2009) and artistic director of Seattle’s critically acclaimed contemporary dance company Whim W’Him. In 2012 Olivier was honored with the City of Seattle’s Mayor’s Arts Award and in 2011 he received the Princess Grace Choreographic Fellowship. He has also been named by Dance Magazine as one of their 25 to watch, according to Whim W’Him’s website. Olivier first began exploring choreography in 2002 while still a principal dancer at Seattle’s Pacific Northwest Ballet. He founded Whim W’Him to create a “platform, centered around choreography and dance, for artists to explore their craft through innovation and collaboration.”
Tickets for MOVEMEDIA: Diversity can be purchased at the Grand Rapids Ballet box office at 341 Ellsworth Avenue SW, online at grballet.com or Ticketmaster.com, or by calling 616-454-4771 x10.
Deborah Rodriguez is an author who hails from Holland, Mich. originally. Hers is a warm, amusing story of her life’s liberation and journey of self-discovery in Afghanistan after September 11, 2001. This is also a memoir of discovery of the Afghan people and culture, the observation of the many daily hazards in the fallout of war and political upheaval.
I enjoyed her memoir of life events because although she recounts her early life in an abusive marriage and the demeaning, poor and sometimes violent lives of Afghan women, her telling is full of humor and unflinching honesty. The Afghans have a rich and fascinating culture and family tradition. It is interesting to learn such traditions as marriage arrangements and wedding planning. There are still very defined roles for each gender and the clash of modern influences, social change and tradition provide amusing stories to tell. Still, I found incredible and alarming the purposes of parents and potential grooms for the future lives of very young teen girls in marriage.
Ms. Rodriguez goes to Afghanistan to serve with a non-profit humanitarian group in disaster and medical relief. However, Miss Debbie as she came to be known, is not a medical professional but rather a hairdresser. As a hairdresser she has a natural gift for gab and befriending people of all kinds; she easily fits in with Afghans and Westerners alike. In no time at all she is overwhelmed with requests for hair care. Soon she discovers the local salons were shut down by the Taliban, or operating secretly under shortages and lack of cleanliness. Miss Debbie realizes the need for training and support of new hairdressers and salons in Kabul, and her future mission is set. She searches out financial and products support from international manufacturers and sponsors.
Throughout her struggles to start and run the new Kabul Beauty School, Miss Debbie determines to help bring empowerment, self-respect, and self-support to Afghan women, many whom she came to love as friends. You will find as I did the many individual stories — heartbreaking, incredible, or hilarious at times as you discover life behind the burqa veil in Kabul Beauty School.
By Kristen Krueger-Corrado, Grand Rapids Public Library
Eventually, we are all going to die. But what happens to our bodies and our spirits after we pass on? Well, apparently there are a lot more options available than you might have realized. Author Mary Roach explores the subject in her two books, Stiff and Spook.
Roach’s first book, Stiff, examines what happens to our bodies after we die. She looks at the traditional embalming and funeral route, but also looks at the alternatives that a person can choose. For example, if you donate your body to science, you could become an anatomy lesson for a medical school student, or you could be involved in other types of research. In one chapter, Roach looks at cadavers that are used in car crash tests. Researchers have found that by using a real body rather than a crash test dummy, they can more accurately see how a person is injured in an accident. This has led to the development of technology that helps save lives.
Before reading this book, I would have never considered donating my body to science, but after reading about all the cool things your body can do after your spirit has passed on, (Help real-life CSI investigators solve a case! Get a post-mortem facelift!), I’m all for donation.
In her second book Spook, Roach investigates what happens to our souls after we die. She travels to India to talk to a newly reincarnated person; she opens the last existing box of ‘ectoplasm’ used by mediums at the turn of the century; visits a haunted castle in England; and talks to researchers trying to determine the weight of our souls. She attends séances, ghost hunts and even enrolls in medium school.
Roach uses a journalistic eye to explore death. She is never disrespectful of the dead or of a person’s beliefs and she presents various aspects of dying and the afterlife with a dead-on combination of irreverent humor and informative respect. Both books are fascinating reads.
The fourth season of Fountain Street Church’s Jazz in the Sanctuary concert series will conclude on Sunday, March 11, at 3 p.m.
The series pairs the spontaneous wonder of jazz with the acoustic and architectural beauty of the century-old sanctuary in downtown Grand Rapids. Robin Connell, series host and staple of the West Michigan jazz scene, will welcome pianist Dave Proulx and bassist David Rosin for more than an hour of exciting music and light conversation.
Robin Connell
Connell received West Michigan Jazz Society’s 2017 “Musician of the Year” award for her widespread collaboration with area jazz artists and her continuing work on the Jazz in the Sanctuary series.
Dave Proulx
Originally from Grand Rapids, Proulx is the pastor of Battle Creek Community Church and an accomplished musician in the realms of worship, jazz, and beyond. His brother, John Proulx, is perhaps the better-known jazz pianist in Michigan, but the two benefited equally from growing up in the same musically rich household and continue to share their passion for jazz piano.
David Rosin
Rosin, jazz bassist and educator, grew up in the metro Detroit area and currently resides in East Lansing. He studied under the state’s great bassists at Western Michigan University and Michigan State University and has performed extensively throughout the Midwest. In 1997, he toured Australia with the Andrew Speight Quartet and recorded an album that won an Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) music award for “Best Jazz Album”.
General admission to the March 11 concert is $10 online or at the door. College students may show ID for $5 off. Tickets and additional information are available at fountainstreet.org/jazz .
On June 22 Multi-Platinum, four-time Grammy-Winners Third Day will bring their Farewell Tour to Grand Rapids DeVos Performance Hall. The tour will conclude the band’s extraordinary 25-year touring career and will feature a full slate from the band’s 31 #1 radio singles, as well as new material from Mac Powell and the Family Reunion, new music from Mark Lee featuring stories from his book Hurt Road, and special guest artist appearances in all markets.
A Georgia Music Hall of Fame inductee (2009), Third Day has garnered four GRAMMY® Awards (with 12 career nominations), an American Music Award (and four AMA nominations), and multiple ASCAP honors, including its coveted Vanguard Award for songwriting.
“These last twenty-five years of Third Day have been an amazing ride that we never in our wildest dreams thought we would experience,” said founding member and lead guitarist Mark Lee.
“We know this is a season that is coming to a close, and we wanted to give our fans one more chance to see us perform live. The live show has been the core fan experience, and this tour will give us an opportunity to go out and say thank you to the fans who have always been so supportive of our music” said lead vocalist Mac Powell.
Tickets go on sale to the general public beginning Friday, March 9 at 10 a.m. Ticket prices are $19.92, $35, $45, $75 (VIP), and $175 (Super VIP), and tickets will be available at the Van Andel Arena® and DeVos Place® box offices, online at Ticketmaster.com, and charge by phone at 1-800-745-3000. Tickets prices are subject to change.
Astronomer Dr. David Gerdes visits Grand Rapids to talk about the possibility of a ninth planet.
Is there a ninth planet after all? The Grand Rapids Public Museum (GRPM) and Grand Rapids Amateur Astronomical Association (GRAAA) hosts Dr. David Gerdes, one of the lead astronomers searching for the ninth planet, on Thursday, March 15 at Schuler Books, 2660 28th St. SE.
There was a great deal of controversy when Pluto was officially removed as a planet in 2006, and it has not completely died down in the more than a decade that has elapsed since its demotion. Now there is growing evidence that a much larger planet lies beyond Pluto, and its discovery would mean that the solar system has nine planets again.
On Thursday, March 15 at 7 p.m., Dr. Gerdes will explain his latest research in a presentation The Coolest Place in the Solar System: New Worlds Beyond Neptune, located at Schuler Books, 2660 28th St. SE. The event is free and open to the public.
As one of the leading astronomers searching for a ninth planet, Dr. Gerdes is a well-known Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Michigan. Gerdes is currently located in Chile and utilizes a large telescope for his research.
There may be more than one additional planet lurking beyond Neptune. As Dr. Gerdes will explain, whatever is out there is so far away that any reflected sunlight would be very feeble, so its detection involves study of how its gravity effects other objects lying near the fringes of the solar system. These would include Pluto and other Kyper Belt objects.
Dr. Gerdes believes telescopes may now be big enough to detect worlds beyond Neptune if they knew where to look. He and colleagues are making calculations that will tell astronomers where to point telescopes to search. An announcement of a major discovery could be coming in the next few years.
This event is co-sponsored by the GRPM and GRAAA. For more information at graaa.org under Events Calendar.
In the early days of comedy, classical music, like a newly wound music box, played in the background, providing a musical laugh track for gags and slapstick. Thanks to characters including the Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, Warner Bros.’ Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons only cemented the connection with hi-speed tonics and jet-propelled pogo stick, all made by Acme.
But it’s not often that the music itself is the subject of comedic mirth. As part of Gilda’s LaughFest, the Grand Rapids Symphony welcomes The Second City comedy troupe to DeVos Performance Hall for plenty of laughs about the worlds of symphony orchestras and classical music.
Grand Rapids Pops presents Second City: Guide to the Symphony, a blend of original sketch comedy with orchestral works by the great masters, on March 16-18 in DeVos Performance Hall, 303 Monroe Ave. NW. Shows are at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, March 16-17 and at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 18, part of the Fox Motors Pops series. Fair warning: The show may not be suitable for children and teens under age 15.
A humorous celebration of the symphony orchestra, the show with new music and songs by Mathew Reid lovingly satirizes all things orchestral – the hard-working musicians, the all-powerful maestro, the vast orchestral repertoire, and even the quirks of the audience.
Associate Conductor John Varineau will be on the podium with The Second City performers for the final weekend of LaughFest, which runs March 8 through March 18. The annual 10-day festival of laughter welcomes Trevor Noah on March 10 for LaughFest’s Signature Event.
The Second City – the world’s premiere comedy theater and school of improvisation – offers a cadre of comedic talent from Toronto’s Second City, where the Guide to the Symphony first was performed along with Toronto Symphony Orchestra under Peter Oundjian in 2014.
The sketches riff on and feature pieces from classical masterworks including Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro and Glinka’s Ruslan and Ludmila.
Second City Tornato joins the Grand Rapids Symphony for LaughFest
Hailed by the Toronto Star as “the funniest two hours I spent in a theatre this year,” the show has reached symphony newcomers unfamiliar with Glinka and Mahler, as well as regular symphony-goers.
Most recently, Second City: Guide to the Symphony was at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts with the National Symphony Orchestra last season. The Washington Post labeled the performances as “self-aware and funny…a fun departure from what unconverted members of the audience assumed a symphony was.”
With theatrical wit, charm, and lampooning, Second City: Guide to the Symphony, according to DC Metro Arts, left “…the audience laughing even as they headed for the door. And in many cases, with a sudden desire to go to the symphony.”
Tickets start at $18 and are available at the GRS ticket office, weekdays 9 am-5 pm at 300 Ottawa Ave. NW, Suite 100, (located across from the Calder Plaza), or by calling 616-454-9451, ext. 4. (Phone orders will be charged a $2 per ticket service fee, with a $12 maximum.)
Tickets are available at the DeVos Place box office, weekdays 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. or on the day of the concert beginning two hours prior to the performance. Tickets also may be purchased online at GRSymphony.org.
Full-time students of any age are able to purchase tickets for only $5 on the night of the concert by enrolling in the GRS Student Tickets program, sponsored by Comerica and Calvin College. This is a MySymphony360 eligible concert.
It was a time when men’s gods called them to terror and war. A time when the strong felt it was their destiny to cull the weak, and the prayer offered up across Britain was, “Deliver us, O Lord, from the fury of the Norsemen…”
After the Romans left in 410, the Jutes, Anglos, and Saxons came and settled, and now, four centuries later, a gathering storm is building in the Scandinavian lands that will soon rip apart the weakened and divided kingdoms that make up Britain.
In fact, in the next three centuries, the vikings will spread across Europe, into Russia, and as far as Greenland and Labrador.
Bernard Cornwell, one of our greatest historical adventure writers, directs his gaze to the English theater during these critical ninth and tenth centuries, and how King Alfred’s reign was a pivotal time when Britain was almost swallowed up by the Norsemen.
The history is complex and bloody, filled with alliances, strategies, betrayals, and the battles that raged across the land.
The author brings all his masterful storytelling skills to bear to breath life into the history through his protagonist, Uhtred, who is only 10 years old when we meet him. Second son of the Earl of Bebbanburg in Northumbria, he becomes the first son, and then the heir, when both his brother and father are killed by the raiders in the dragon boats.
Amused by the boy’s rage and courage during the battle, Uhtred is captured by the Danish chief. Although taken as a slave, he is soon treated as a son, and he spends his youth as a Dane. But Uhtred can’t forget the beautiful wild lands of Bebbenburg, and the struggle between his loyalties makes for a great read.
The Grand Rapids Symphony will perform “Green Eggs and Ham” this Saturday to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday.
The 45-minute concert is geared toward pre-school an dearly elementary school-age children ages 3-7. The performance is a fun children’s style operetta featuring soprano and actress Diane Penning, who first appeared 10 years ago with the Grand Rapids Symphony in this production, and Abby Deller as “Sam I Am.” GRS Associate Conductor John Varineau will conduct the performance.
The operetta features a timeless parable about not judging others, with symphonic music especially designed to engage and delight children. For a colorful touch, Grand Rapids Symphony musicians wear colored t-shirts to show their membership in the string, woodwind, brass, or percussion families, respectively.
The performance is at 10:30 a.m. at DeVos Performance Hall, 303 Monroe Ave. NW. For more information, visit grsymphony.org.
By Jeanessa Fenderson, Grand Rapids Public Library, Main Branch
Rarely does a scientific cultural study read the way that The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks does. Rebecca Skloot takes the reader neatly from the piqued curiosity of a sixteen-year-old high school student in biology class into the center of the social wrongs of the medical establishment with remarkable ease. This true story reads like a novel thanks to Skloot’s compassionate and thorough research and storytelling abilities.
In 1951, Henrietta Lacks finally decides to get treatment for the “knot up inside of her” that has plagued her for years. She’s poor and black. So, she goes to Johns Hopkins hospital, one of the only hospitals in Maryland that will treat patients like her. There she learns that the knot that has been bothering her is cervical cancer. A sample of those cancer cells is placed in a petri dish and Henrietta is treated for her disease. While Henrietta’s life comes to an end, the life of her cancer cells has just begun.
This is the story of HeLa cells, the immortal human cells that have fueled — and continue to fuel — more than half a century of medical advancements from the polio vaccine to HIV/AIDS research. These cells have produced over 50 million metric tons of material to provide scientists and researchers with an endless supply of human cells for testing vaccines, medicines and treatments for an untold number of diseases. It is the story of one woman’s dogged curiosity and persistent research. It is the story of a social wrong committed against a disadvantaged family. It is also the story of the beauty and complexities of science and human life.
Skloot developed an interest in HeLa cells in her junior year biology class when her instructor told the class about the cells, the name of the woman they belonged to, and her race. With no other information, Skloot’s natural curiousity was raised. Over the years as she established a career for herself as a scientific journalist, she heard about HeLa cells and their role in medical research repeatedly and she made the decision to write about Henrietta Lacks. Skloot scaled the walls of a rightfully defensive and jaundiced American family and those of the medical establishment to shed light on just who Henrietta Lacks was, how her cells came to be a basis of modern medical science and what effect this had on the family she left behind.
By Lisa Boss, Grand Rapids Public Library, Main Branch
I love any writer that can make me laugh — it’s a difficult skill to master, and without it, a writer can’t hold my attention. I recently tried to read a book combining three of my favorite subjects, touted as “hilarious”, but the humor was so poorly written that I could label each remark as to category, and why it fell flat.
This made me all the more grateful that David Sedaris is still writing books. Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owls is wonderful, making me think of him as some sort of wine or cheese, mellowing out over time, and developing more complex flavors.
Great humorists are often philosophers at heart. Surprised and pained by the outrages of life, they offer us a way to carry on. Some, like Sedaris, give vent to our worst thoughts, while also demonstrating restraint in action, which serves for a convoluted moral instruction. Something about his style, combining a self-deprecating narrator, with a wishful homicidal one, rings true. He writes about long lines at the airport, his take on the European healthcare system, picking up trash along the road…
This book is a better, more even read than his previous Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk, perhaps because there’s no need to use animals to illustrate human quirks and conceits — we can do that well enough by ourselves.
I liked the fact that Sedaris doesn’t try to go after a younger audience per se, he writes about his life now, but also dips back into the past, where his family has always provided plenty of material. And O magazine still calls him, “the funniest man in America”.
