Recently in Arts Category
"Arsenic and Old Lace" is a play by American playwright Joseph Kesselring. It was performed this past weekend by Nashoba Drama. The play is a comedy, and certainly has its funny moments, but it was written in 1939 and certainly has that sense about it as you watch. Nick Sestito certainly stole the show as the eccentric Teddy Brewster, who believes he is Teddy Roosevelt. Mike Sestito (as Jonathan Brewster) and Jackie Murtha (as Abby Brewster) performed fabulously as always. Image: Mike Sestito and Taylor Leaming perform as Jonathan Brewster and Elaine Harper.
Related Posts:
- Thoroughly Modern Millie (Spring 2008)
- It's a Wonderful Life (Fall 2007)
There are a lot of Irish folk in Southie, but you wouldn't guess that out here in apple country. Aside from JP O'Hanlon's in downtown Ayer every Sunday night, there really isn't a place to go to for the traditional irish session music. Say hello to the Mary, Phil, Marilyn, and Tom from Rhode Island and their "Celebrating Ireland" program which made its way to Marlborough and Hudson today. Marlborough is hosting their Saturday Morning Discovery Series at the Union Common and Hudson is hosting Saturdays at South Street at Cellucci Park (details in the calendar).
Interspersed between the fiddle, harp, tin whistle, button accordion, and bodhran music, Marilyn told some rather interesting stories, one poking fun at marriage and another that may have my kids scared tonight at bedtime. They came prepared with lots of percussion instruments for the little ones (and not so little ones). It was a great time. And I look forward to them coming back next year.
If you like Irish/Celtic music, you may love the all female group Cherish the Ladies. We caught their concert at Regis College this past April and their tour schedule has them playing May 5, 2009 at The Somerville Theater. At their concert in April they did a song that the group today did called "Welcome Poor Paddy Home." Of course Joanie Madden and crew did it much better, but the song is awesome. The chorus goes:
Hooray me boys, hooray
No more do I wish for to roam
For the sun it will shine in the harvest time
To welcome Poor Paddy home
It's almost a good a song as "Fields of Athenry" about the Irish famine which was the closing song at every bar in Ireland when we were there in 1997. But you don't here it much over here. There are, however, 150 recordings of that song on iTunes and the Boston band Dropkick Murphy's recorded it for their 2003 Blackout album. Which brings me to this major announcement: I'm back playing piano and recording. I'm going to be recording some of these traditional folk tunes on solo piano in the coming months and putting them up on a free MP3 section of this site. So check back or enter your email in "Join Our Mailing List" for major site announcements.
Links: Harpist Mary King and Cherish the Ladies.
School may be out for the summer, but local libraries are definitely in! At the opening of Randall Library's Summer Reading Program in Stow, children's librarian Denise Flynn once again brought back the fun moonwalks. This year, the reading program kicked off on the last day of school. Children signed up for the program inside the library, received their packets with reading logs, and then went off to have fun. One child (you know who you were) was even reading on the lawn! Children receive points for how many books they read (or listen to) and get prizes at the end of the summer. In addition, there are a number of events scheduled including a magic show, dinosaur presentation, jungle encounters, and Three Apple Storytelling.
Outside of Stow, the Concord Free Public Library is having their own summer reading program where young readers write short reviews of books online. The library website also lists the Concord Public School's reading lists for incoming first through eighth graders. On Wednesday evenings the library hosts a "Music on the Lawn" concert series featuring bluegrass, reggae, and afro pop. Sudbury's Goodnow Library has a Wednesday evening book discussion group for 4th-6th graders. Truck Day is July 16th where kids (and adults) get to see and touch all the trucks owned by the town. Lincoln Public Library is hosting "Wild Times" on Wednesdays at 11am featuring presentations about animals. Hudson Public Library hosts their own reading club, a weekly Monday morning Bingo contest, picnics for kids 5 and under, and more. The Marlborough Public Library has a "knights" theme to most of their events. They have a number of activities that require registration and are limited to a small number of children. If your little one is interested in magical creatures or "Harry Potter", you will not want to miss the activities in Marlborough. Finally, in Harvard you can find reading lists for Bromfield School students, participate in an online reading log club, and attend a variety of activities.
There are lots of summer activities. See the Stow Musings calendar for a full listing of events (with many from local libraries). Don't be limited by what's being offered in your home town. Venture out a bit and see what's being offered nearby! You will be glad you did.
Links:
The Persuasions are one of the world's premiere a capella groups who began singing together in Brooklyn on street corners and subway stations in the 1960s. From there they went on to release 20 albums. How did they come to our little town? You may remember the tragedy of the death of 19 year old Frankie DeMeo, captain of Nashoba Regional's wrestling squad. Vinnie Sestito, an entertainment industry executive and Stow resident, brought the Persuasions here to kick off the Frankie DeMeo Memorial Scholarship Fund. The fund, which is being run by high school students, aims to create "a Northeastern experience inside the high school," according to Sestito. The reference is to Northeastern University's well-known internship program that combines classroom experience with real-world training. The fund aims to help learning disabled students achieve their potential. Frankie struggled with an autism spectrum disorder, but through wrestling and hard work became a success in high school and was preparing for college.
Donations can be sent to Frankie DeMeo Memorial Scholarship Fund, c/o Nashoba Regional Scholarship Fund, PO Box 523, Bolton, MA 01740. Image: Four members of the Persuasions (Jim Hayes, Joe Russell, Jaytois Washington, BJ Jones).
The social and entertainment event of the year in our neck of the woods has to be the Battle of the Bands at Nashoba Regional High School in Bolton. This is the second annual event and proceeds benefit the Friends of Sudanese, an organization that assists Sudanese refugees who were brought to the Boston area in 2001 by the State Department after 9 years in a Kenyan refugee camp. Last year we had the opportunity to meet one of these people who told us how different things are here and helped us to appreciate just how great this country is.
Destination ImagiNation (aka DI) is a wonderful program that encourages creativity and problem-solving skills. Kids work in teams, grouped by age, and are lead by Team Managers who provide the problems each week and guide the team as it works on its challenges. There were several Stow teams who competed at Regionals ranging from kindergarten through high school. Yours truly was honored to have managed a K-2 team (called History Kids) who did an exceptional job in the non-competitive Rising Stars division.
There are basically two components to DI: the Instant Challenges and Central Challenge. Instant Challenges are tasks that the team needs to solve in a short time interval. For example, when we were preparing for our regional competition, most of the Stow teams got together and were given an Instant Challenge by some older kids who had been to Globals in years past. My kids were given a strange looking object and were supposed to make a skit that answered "What it was?", "Why it was here?", "How it works?", etc. The Central Challenge is a long term project that teams work on throughout the season and perform at the competition. Our team's challenge was to take something from history, make a prop that will change history, make a play about it, and sing a song. Our team chose Abraham Lincoln's assassination as the period of history and decided to change it by inventing a TV remote control and having Paul Revere come riding in on a horse to scare away John Wilkes Booth.
Members of the First Parish Church Children’s Choir had the unique opportunity to sing with the American Boychoir at their performance in Stow on Thursday April 3. I could not make the concert, but was treated to some sublime sounds while I took their press images. They even inspired me to join The Sounds of Stow Chorus, which I plan to do in the fall. The 70 year old American Boychoir is regarded as the United States’ premier concert boys’ choir and one of the finest boychoirs in the world. The singers range from 4th through 8th grade and pursue a musical and academic curriculum at the school located in New Jersey. They tour all over the nation and world and record regularly with such artists and ensembles as the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, soprano Jessye Norman, pop diva Beyoncé, jazz vocalist and conductor Bobby McFerrin and Sir Paul McCartney.
