April 9: Today’s events
Here’s what’s going on today (Monday, April 9): The Southern Circuit of Independent Filmmakers brings Sahkanaga to the Lucas Theatre for an 8 p.m. screening. Writer/director John Henry Summerour’s contemporary crime drama was filmed in Georgia; the filmmaker will conduct an audience Q&A following the screening. And Swedish singer/somngwriter Sofia Talvik returns to Savannah for…
SMF: Paco de Lucia @ Trustees Theatre
I’ve been waiting literally decades to finally see the great maestro Paco de Lucia — widely regarded as the best guitarist alive — perform in concert. So it was fitting that of course I had to wait until the last night of the Savannah Music Festival to finally get my wish. But the wait –…
April 8: Today’s events
Here’s what’s going on today (Sunday, April 8): Happy Easter. Take a load off this evening with some light acoustic music, with our friends Todd Murray (aka Sincerely, Iris) at Jazz’d Tapas Bar, Carroll Brown (at Kevin Barry’s Irish Pub), or the Savannah Songwriters Series at Doc’s Bar on Tybee. As long as you’re on…
Mark your calendar: Joan Osborne and Trigger Hippy
The great blues/rock singer Joan Osborne has joined the band Trigger Hippy, which has been added to the Live Wire Music Hall schedule for Friday, April 20. Trigger Hippy has been around for two years – it’s the side project of Black Crowes drummer Steve Gorman, who got it rolling with ex-Crowes guitarist Audley Freed…
April 7: Today’s events
Here’s what’s going on today (Saturday, April 7): The 2012 Savannah Music Festival comes to an end. The Atlanta Symphony’s at the Lucas Theatre today (3 p.m.), with pianist Yefim Bronfman as guest soloist on Brahms Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op. 83. Flamenco guitar master Paco de Lucia performs in the Trustees…
SMF: Tony Trischka & Bruce Molsky/Abigail Washburn @ Morris Center
It’s amazing what acoustic musicians are creating these days. During her Thursday performance at the Charles H. Morris Center, Abigail Washburn made a passing reference to “progressive string music,” meaning the sort of hybrids being built and explored by players such as her husband, the tireless seeker Bela Fleck, and the likes of Chris Thile,…
Movie reviews: ‘Titanic 3D,’ ‘American Reunion’
TITANIC 3D ***1/2 In retrospect, it’s easy to be cynical and stuffy about James Cameron’s 1997 Titanic. It surpassed previous champs Star Wars and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial as the top moneymaking film of all time (itself eventually surpassed by Cameron’s Avatar), a personal affront to countless moviegoers over a certain age. With its record-tying 14…
April 6: Today’s events
Here’s what’s going on today (Friday, April 6): Some great local bands in the clubs tonight, including the Accomplices at Congress Street Social, General Oglethorpe & the Panhandlers, Whaleboat and Mechanical River at the Jinx, A Nickel Bag of Funk across the river at the Westin, the Eric Culberson Band at the Warehouse, and Stereomonster…
SMF: Daniel Hope & L’Arte Del Mondo @ Telfair Academy
For those in attendance who were more used to hearing Antonio Vivaldi’s “The Four Seasons” played in the style of elevator music, this past Wednesday’s Savannah Music Festival performance of the “Summer” and “Winter” movements at the Telfair Academy was a revelation. Violinist/associate artistic director Daniel Hope introduced the works — actually the finale of…
The Rhythmatist
If he can talk her into it, Zakir Hussain’s wife, interpretive kathak dancer Antonia Minnecola, will perform alongside him at the Savannah Music Festival April 5. Toni, as Hussain calls her, is part of the Masters of Percussion tour — but only when she feels like it, or isn’t busy with some other project. So…
April 5: Today’s events
Here’s what’s going on today (Thursday, April 5): Tabla player Zakir Hussain and his “Masters of Percussion” program, of Indian music, take over the Trustees Theater at 7:30 tonight. Other Savannah Music Festival shows: Abigail Washburn on banjo and vocals, noon at the Morris Center; Daniel Hope and L’Arte del Mondo at the Telfair at…
April 4: Today’s events
Here’s what’s going on today (Wednesday, April 4): Perhaps the most revered acoustic band in the world, Alison Krauss & Union Station, play the Johnny Mercer Theatre tonight. Inexplicably, it’s not part of the Savannah Music Festival. The SMF shows are: Pianist Kevin Cole and friends have two performances (5 and 7:30 p.m.) of “Here…
Five-string freedom
Before there was Bela Fleck, there was Tony Trischka. In the late 1960s, Trischka started taking the five-string banjo out of its strictly-bluegrass holster and letting it fire at will. He is a beloved musician, a tireless educator, a fearless innovator, a multiple Grammy winner and a top record producer whose work includes, among others,…
Crazy crashes everywhere
Police are searching for the driver of an SUV that sped from a traffic stop and crashed into a crowded car, sending at least four people to a hospital. Two males jumped from the Ford Explorer and ran, but the driver returned to take a baby from the back seat before running away again. The…
General Oglethorpe & the Panhandlers, Sofia Talvik
GENERAL OGLETHORPE & THE PANHANDLERS WHALEBOAT MECHANICAL RIVER At 10 p.m. Friday, April 6 The Jinx, 127 W. Congress St. There are changes afoot in the general’s camp. Somewhere over the last six or eight months, Savannah’s kings and queens of quirk learned the art of subtlety. Which means that the new EP, North of…
Muy Macho
While the Savannah Music Festival is known for bringing many of the globe’s best musicians to town, it’s not every day that the Festival brings in an artist who’s actually known for being literally the best musician on their instrument in the world. But that’s the case with the coming arrival of the great Paco…
Here comes the neighborhood?
Once upon a time, the corner of Bull Street and what’s now Victory Drive was the furthest edge of town. The Savannah Ice Company set up shop there in 1898, long before the march of WWI’s victorious soldiers. The icemakers constructed a formidable yellow building to manufacture their frozen product, followed a few years later…
Mark your calendar: Amy Ray
Amy Ray, who’s been one-half of the harmonizing Indigo Girls since the 1980s, has a new solo album out. It’s called Lung of Love, on Daemon Records, the successful indie label Ray runs up in Decatur, where she resides. Ray and her band are on tour, and they’ll play Live Wire Music Hall Saturday, May…
‘Bee’-loved backyard ambitions
Some people compulsively collect old books. Others keep rooms full of iguanas or gerbils. There are the expired food freaks and those obsessed with velvet Elvis paintings. Me, I’m a honey hoarder. A peek into my pantry reveals rows of plastic bears, lined up like amber soldiers ready to fulfill a mission. On the shelf…
Jazz moves in mysterious ways
The magnificently exploratory journey of Joshua Redman’s life very nearly took a side road. If not for chance, one of the most expressive tenor saxophone players in modern jazz might today be just another attorney wearing a sharp suit in some 23rd floor office somewhere. “I never thought I had the skill or the talent…
Art that ‘messes with your soul’
Religion and spirituality have been major driving forces behind art and artists for thousands of years. Acknowledging the power of metaphysical art at Easter time is the Beach Institute, which in conjunction with the Hurn Museum is hosting an exhibition of sacred folk art, “The Greatest Story Ever Told”, through April 30. “We’re trying to…
From Pioneers to Sand Gnats
Most people who spend much time in Savannah know that Grayson Stadium — where our own Sand Gnats begin another season of minor league ball this week — is historic in its own right. But fewer know that Savannah enjoys quite a significant amount of baseball history that isn’t limited to Grayson’s impressive pedigree. Before…
