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Connor McCormick
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Highly Recommended Music: CAMERATA PACIFICA (Feb. 12-17, Ventura, Pasadena, DTLA & Santa Barbara)
Camerata Pacifica is far and away the most programmatically original chamber outfit I know. In addition, the quality of the players is stunning (see my review of a program earlier this season). Based in Santa Barbara, CP performs a monthly series of concerts in Santa Barbara, Ventura, San Marino (at the Huntington), and DTLA’s Zipper…
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Film Lessons: 10 MOVIES THAT EDUCATE AND INSPIRE STUDENTS
Transportation to another universe can give us the peace of mind we crave. That is one of the many powers of movies, which entertain, educate, and inspire. They introduce us to novel perspectives and drive us to think critically. As students, we learn valuable lessons from stories and characters portrayed on the big screen. In…
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Highly Recommended Album: FEVER: A PEGGY LEE CELEBRATION! (Ann Hampton Callaway)
With her artist legacy series, pop/jazz vocalist and songwriter Ann Hampton Callaway paid homage to Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan on two critically-acclaimed CDs while staying true to her artistic aesthetic. Callaway continues that series with Fever: A Peggy Lee Celebration!, which highlights the songwriting talents of Lee, who wrote or co-wrote over 270 songs…
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Extras / Film / Books: ALL-TIME FAVORITE BOOK-TO-MOVIE ADAPTATIONS FOR LITERATURE STUDENTS TO WATCH
All-Time Favorite Book-to-Movie Adaptations For Literature Students to Watch If you’re a literature student, you know that one of the best ways to procrastinate is by getting lost in a good book. But what happens when your all-time favorite book is made into a movie? Suddenly, you have the perfect excuse to put off writing…
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CD Recommmendation: DAWN (Ola Gjeilo on Decca Classics)
GREET THE DAWN Dawn is the follow-up to Ola Gjeilo’s hugely successful 2020 album Night. This new solo piano wonder is now out on Decca Classics. Improvisation has long been at the core of Gjeilo’s composition and performance. Without being cloying, 17 cathartic tracks are guaranteed to soothe your troubles away. It’s great for working, meditating,…
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Music: ALAN & MARILYN BERGMAN LYRIC AWARD (ASCAP Foundation)
Alan Bergman and his late wife, Marilyn, wrote lyrics for film, stage and television for more than five decades, which earned them multiple Emmys, Grammys and three Oscars for “The Windmills of Your Mind,” “The Way We Were” and the score for Yentl. The ASCAP Foundation Alan and Marilyn Bergman Lyric Award is a new…
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Film Extras: THE BEST-RATED MARVEL MOVIES OF ALL TIME
The game-changing Iron Man from 2008, which launched a franchise with massiveness in mind, is considered to be the official start of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With Eternals making waves at the box office and Shang-Chi and Legend of the Ten Rings injecting the MCU with a blast of martial arts style, the MCU has firmly re-accelerated. Marvel’s superheroes have seeped into…
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Film Recommendation: SIMCHAS AND SORROWS (directed by Genevieve Adams)
A new romantic comedystarring Thomas McDonnell, Hari Nef, Annelise Cepero, Chip Zien and John Cullum opens 9/16 & Digital VOD 9/20 SIMCHAS AND SORROWS is an independent romantic comedy about a secular, free-spirited artist and former Catholic school girl, Agnes, who must come to terms with religion in order to marry the love of her life – Levi. Shocked by…
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Music Recommendation: 32nd SAN JOSE JAZZ SUMMER FEST
An Electrifying Artist Lineup For One of the Summer’s Major SF Bay Area Music Festivals Friday, August 12 – Sunday, August 14, 2022 Plaza de César Chavez Park, Downtown San Jose, Calif. Tickets On Sale Now (Tickets: $30 – $170/Day; $75 – $495/3-Day Passes; $10/Children 5-12) Silicon Valley’s premier annual music event,  San Jose Jazz Summer…
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Music Recommendation: SUMMER OF BEETHOVEN CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL (Doheny Mansion, July 14-17, 2022)
SUMMER OF LOVE Once while in Salzburg, I happened upon a chamber concert in a private home. Our host explained that compositions for piano, trio, sonatas, quartets, and quintets were designed for intimate spaces such as the luxuriant parlor we sat in. The sound of the music, so close to your soul, was unlike anything…
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Event: WEST SIDE STORY (2021) IN CONCERT (Hollywood Bowl)
WEST SIDE STORY (2021) IN CONCERT Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Phil bring to life the score of Steven Spielberg’s celebrated new film adaptation of the legendary musical as it’s projected on the big screens Tuesday, July 12 and Thursday, July 14, 2022, at 8 p.m. PT Photo: Niko Tavernise ©2021 20th Century Studios As part…
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Album Recommendation: SONDHEIM UNPLUGGED: THE NYC SESSIONS – VOLUME ONE
PLUGGING INTO SONDHEIM Every song in this collection is fabulous, from the standards to the more obscure songs from the Sondheim cannon. Any collection like this will be a mixed bag. Sure there are some great interpretations, but there are others which don’t always do justice to the originals. Still, the voices are outsyanding: Blaine…
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Film Screening: THE COWBOYS (50th Anniversary at John Wayne: An American Experience in Fort Worth, TX)
When The Cowboys premiered in 1972, it was one of the biggest hits of the year. It is best remembered for launching the careers of several young actors, as well as being one of only a small handful of movies in which John Wayne’s character dies. The 50th anniversary celebration of The Cowboys will feature three days of events, including…
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Free Events: SUNSET CONCERTS (Skirball Cultural Center)
SUNSET CONCERTS Thursday evenings, July 21–August 25, 2022, at 8:00 pm From beloved Sunset Concerts alumni to up-and-coming international performers, this season offers artistry and storytelling that harnesses music’s unique power to bring communities together, forge cultural bonds, and move hearts and minds. Visit Skirball for more info. Visitors are encouraged to arrive early to…
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Film: NO LONGER SUITABLE FOR USE (Tribeca Film Festival)
Sam Rockwell and Mark Berger’s Play Hooky Productions presents writer and director Julian Joslin’s riveting new live action short, No Longer Suitable for Use. with a World Premiere next month at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival. Joslin’s screenplay draws from his firsthand experiences working on terrorism cases in NYC Samir (Ramy’s Laith Nakli), a Syrian-Egyptian immigrant, has…
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Album Review and Recommendation: CAROL SLOANE: LIVE AT BIRDLAND (Club 44 Records)
SLOANE AND EASY [Editor’s Note: It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Carole Sloane on January 23, 2023, at the age of 85. An Announcement is reprinted below.] In 1963 Carol Sloane said, “I want to be one of these persons who have been around a long time.” Check. Did you…
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THE ROLLING STONES: LICKED LIVE IN NEW YORK (2 CD and Blu-ray, Remixed/Remastered, Explicit)
LICKED LIVE To celebrate their 40th anniversary, The Rolling Stones embarked on a worldwide tour in 2002 and 2003 that would cover 117 shows in a variety of theatres, arenas and stadiums. This show captures their January 2003 performance at Madison Square Garden in New York City and features a guest appearance from Sheryl Crow on “Honky…
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Album Recommendation: JOHN WILLIAMS VIOLIN CONCERTO NO. 2 (Anne-Sophie Mutter, Violin)
John Williams and Anne-Sophie MutterReunite for World Premiere Recordingof the Composer’s Violin Concerto No. 2– Written Especially for Mutter Alongside Three Film Themes in SpecialNew Arrangements by Williams Out Today, June 3, 2022 on Deutsche Grammophon “Marion’s Theme” from Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost ArkMusic Video Out Today, June 4 Watch the Music Video…
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Album Recommendation: THIS ONE’S FOR JOEY (Keith Oxman)
When acclaimed tenor saxophonist and educator Keith Oxman learned that one of his former students, bassist Joey Pearlman, had passed away in February 2021 at the age of 24, Oxman decided to create a recording paying tribute to the brilliant young man who’d already earned a place on the New York scene. This One’s for…
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Album Recommendation: AMY WINEHOUSE: LIVE AT GLASTONBURY 2007 (Coming to vinyl on June 3, 2022)
Here comes the release of Live at Glastonbury 2007 – the iconic performance of Amy Winehouse’s Pyramid Stage set at Glastonbury 2007, coming to vinyl for the very first time on Friday, June 3, 2022. Glastonbury co-organizer Emily Eavis commented, “Amy Winehouse was a Glastonbury-goer through and through. She either came and played or, when she wasn’t working,…
Theater Review: GREASE (Altadena Music Theatre)
by Michael Landman-Karney | August 10, 2026
in Los Angeles, TheaterMuseum Preview: THE BOWERY: DEVIL’S MILE (New Museum / New York)
by Gregory Bernard | August 8, 2026
in Art and Museums, New YorkTheater Review: IPHIGENIA IN SPLOTT (Shotgun Players / Berkeley)
by Chuck Louden | August 7, 2026
in San Francisco
(Bay Area), TheaterTheater Review: THE OUTSIDERS (National Tour)
by Croydon Fernandes | August 7, 2026
in Chicago, Theater, ToursTheater Review: MARBLE (The Gift Theatre / Copernicus Center / Chicago)
by Croydon Fernandes | August 6, 2026
in Chicago, TheaterTheater Review: CITY OF ANGELS (Ogunquit Playhouse / Ogunquit, Maine)
by Lynne Weiss | August 6, 2026
in Regional, TheaterTheater Review: THE SAVIORS (Atlantic Theater Company / New York)
by Alex Simmons | August 6, 2026
in New York, TheaterTheater Preview: MYSTIC PIZZA (National Tour)
by Gregory Bernard | August 6, 2026
in Theater, Tours
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