Interlude - August 13
August 13, 2020
Book club, August playlist, Joshua Bell livestream and more
Welcome back to Interlude, the twice-a-week email full of fun arts and entertainment content that you can enjoy while pretending to catch up on important business correspondence.
The Bookies are back
The Palladium Bookies, the Center’s book club for grownups, conducted its first physically distanced, hybrid gathering Monday, with participants appropriately spaced throughout the Palladium’s South Lobby and others joining in via Zoom videoconferencing to talk over he Piano Shop on the Left Bank by Thad Carhart.
Up next for discussion is The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned from 15 Years as CEO of the Walt Disney Company by Robert Iger. It was a No. 1 NYT best-seller and an NPR Best Books of the Year honoree, and based on the publisher’s blurb, this guy was a pretty big deal: “The executive chairman of Disney, Time’s 2019 businessperson of the year, shares the ideas and values he embraced during his 15 years as CEO while reinventing one of the world’s most beloved companies and inspiring the people who bring the magic to life.”
The discussion begins at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 12, so find a copy and email Outreach@TheCenterPresents.org to register for online or in-person participation. More info is available on our website.
Happy Birthday, Annie Oakley
On this date in 1860, the world welcomed Annie Oakley, a country girl who found unlikely showbiz success as a sharpshooter and inspired Irving Berlin’s classic musical Annie Get Your Gun. Let’s celebrate by watching a clip of the great Ethel Merman singing the showstopper “There’s No Business Like Show Business.”
Regarding Mr. Berlin, fellow composer Jerome Kern was once asked to define his place in American music. “Irving Berlin has no place in American music,” Kern replied. “Irving Berlin is American music.”
To learn more, check out this cool summary of Berlin’s career from our friends at the Great American Songbook Foundation, adapted from one of their educational exhibits, A Fine Romance: Jewish Songwriters, American Songs, 1910-1965.
Playlist: The songs of August
What does Motown diva Diana Ross have in common with FM-rock band Kansas? How about country star Clint Black and new-wavers the B-52s? Give up?
All have performed at the Center for the Performing Arts during the month of August, and we can revisit those memories through the latest Shepherd Insurance Rewind Playlist. Each month, we revisit the Center’s near-decade of history to curate a Spotify playlist of artists who have performed during that month. The August roster also includes Wynton Marsalis, Hugh Laurie, Smokey Robinson, Lyle Lovett and Kenny Loggins.
… and tomorrow in Center history …
August 14: In 2015, bluegrass icon Dr. Ralph Stanley performs one of his last concerts at the Palladium before succumbing to skin cancer a year later at age 89. In the late 1940s, the Virginia-born banjoist and his brother Carter, as the Stanley Brothers, were among the first artists to explore Bill Monroe’s new hopped-up approach to traditional mountain music. He would enjoy a late-career resurgence when his music was featured in the Coen brothers’ film O Brother Where Art Thou, landing a 2002 Grammy Award for his performance of “O Death” on the soundtrack.
Exclusive discount for Joshua Bell livestream
Our friends at the Vilar Performing Arts Center in Colorado have a special deal for us to share with you: 25 percent off the standard $20 price to watch tomorrow’s livestream by world-renowned violinist and IU graduate Joshua Bell. Bell is teaming up with soprano Larisa Martínez (actually, they “teamed up” last fall) for a sold-out performance that will include the live premiere of their new collaborative work, “Voice and the Violin,” with an assist from pianist Peter Dugan.
Visit the venue’s website to register, and use the code EXCLUSIVE to claim your discount. The music begins at 4 p.m. EDT.
