Westport Public Library MOVIE & MUSIC Blog

Sometimes a book is just so much fun it must be shared. The library has just received a copy of Cinescopes: What Your Favorite Movies Reveal About You authored by the team of Risa Williams and Ezra Werb, writers with an interesting background mix of degrees in psychology and film studies as well as screenwriting experience. According to the authors, “discovering something new about your personality is as easy as making a list of your ten favorite movies.” They’ve identified 16 different personality types that describe what they refer to as the core makeup of every movie fan.

Librarians are forever curious about everything;and I an worse than average. Westport Public Library’s wide selection of movies offers endless delights for every type of film affecionado. So, this writer began to wonder, what does the profile of our dedicated core of film buffs look like? First, I checked out all the possibilities and theorized about the type. Then through the wonders of our database, I abstracted a list of the top 10 circulating movies in our collection, consulted the list of attributes assigned to these movies, tallied the results, and consulted the key. Since we all know, that statistics never lie… well here’s the result and I guessed right. (Honestly, I have the little piece of paper I wrote my prediction on to prove it.) Our movie loving library customers turn out to be Magical Creators! MC’s have a natural zest for life, see the word as full of possibilities and make the world a magical place. No wonder I love working here.

Don’t forget to check out the other new books in our collection just right for movie lovers. One particularly interesting volume is My First Move: Take Two: Ten Celebrated Directors Talk About Their First Film edited by Stephen Lowenstein. Another unusual title that just arrived is Hollywood Science: Movies, Science & the End of the World by Sidney Perkowitz.

By the way, the #1 circulating film in our collection is The Sound of Music.

In keeping with the 100th birthday celebration of the Westport Public Library, everyone is invited to read L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. This book was quite popular in 1908 and has achieved remarkable longevity as a children's tale, a classic movie, a Broadway show, and a study in politics and economics.

We usher in this shared reading experience known as WestportREADS on Saturday, March 1 with a performance by the Flying Monkey Woodwind Quintet at 12:30 p.m. in the great hall. This quintet, which is actually known as the Norwalk Symphony Woodwind Quintet features Kathie Sumrow flute,Tony Marra oboe, James Forgey clarinet, Mary Drake bassoon and Maria Sommer french horn. They will be playing selections from the musical The Wizard of Oz interspersed with classical and popular favorites.

The sonorities of a woodwind quintet are quite unique and may be sampled with Ludwig van Beethoven's Quintet in E-flat Major, Franz Danzi's Wind Quintets, George Perle's Wind Quintets or Solaris' American Quintets. One may also listen to the original movie soundtrack of The Wizard of Oz, the 1998 Broadway production or the 1989 London version.

Last Saturday marked the 70th birthday of one of America's most eminent composers, John Corigliano. His father, the esteemed violinist John Corigliano Sr., served as concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic for more than 20 years under the batons of both Arturo Toscanini and Leonard Bernstein. The family stayed in Westport during the summers that the young Corigliano was growing up.

At a pre-concert talk held at the Norwalk Concert Hall several years ago, Corigliano reminisced about the good times he had in Westport. He mentioned that his father would often go outside and practice the Brahms, Mendelssohn or Tchaikovsky concertos on a hill. What a treat that must have been for the neighbors on Valley Road.

With music in his genes, Corigliano studied composition with Otto Luening at Columbia University. He worked as a music programmer for radio station WQXR, as music director for radio station WBAI, produced records for Columbia Masterworks, worked with Leonard Bernstein on the Young People’s Concerts and taught at the Manhattan School of Music, the Juilliard School and CUNY's Lehman College.

At the age of 26, his Sonata for Violin and Piano won the chamber music competition of the Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds in Italy. With this victory came financial support from Meet the Composer, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Guggenheim Foundation and lucrative commissions from performing organizations including the New York Philharmonic, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, etc.

His numerous awards include a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Grawemeyer Award, two Grammy awards for Best Contemporary Composition, the Composition of the Year award from the International Music Awards for his opera The Ghosts of Versailles, the Academy Award for the musical score of the The Red Violin, the Pulitzer Prize, the Gold Medal of the National Arts Club, the President’s Medal of George Washington University and the Peabody Medal of Johns Hopkins University. He is a member of the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters as well as the American Academy and Institue of Arts and Sciences.

To acquaint yourself with his music, the Library has Concerto for Piano & Orchestra, Creations and Other Works, Phantasmagoria and The Red Violin.

The Westport Library’s MovieLine series will show the recently released tender Irish film Once on March 4th. It’s the sweet story of a Dublin guitarist/singer-songwriter who makes his living fixing vacuum cleaners in his father’s shop by day, and an immigrant Czech woman who plays piano and does odd jobs when not caring for her mother and daughter. They grow to know each other as they put together a demo disc in hopes of landing a music contract. The true romantic will love watching them fall in love through their songs. Yet even as the characters grow to know each other better, the audience never comes to know their names.

Once is a Sundance Film Festival winner USA Today described as having “some of the most appealing, moving and rousing musical numbers heard in independent films.” In fact the song Falling Slowly from the movie is nominated for an Academy Award this year. Glen Hansard of the the Irish Band The Frames gives a lovely performance. Ireland’s economic growth and the continuing wave of immigrants from Eastern Europe serves as background, lending an interesting cultural twist to the film.

Come watch Once at 7:00 p.m. on March 4, 2008 in the Library’s McManus Room. This film is 85 minutes long and rated R.

In keeping with the theme of Black history, I wish to pay tribute to the American composer and pianist James Hubert Blake ("Eubie"). Yesterday was the 125th anniversary of the birth of this Baltimore born musician who played pump-organ at the age of 4, began piano lessons at 6, played professionally in a Baltimore nightclub at the age of 15, and a year later composed his first piano rag, "Sounds of Africa". (This first effort was later called "Charleston Rag"). He worked as a saloon pianist, toured with a medicine show, became an accompanist for Madison Reed and eventually joined with the singer Noble Sissle in a highly successful partnership in 1915. Their first effort, "It's All Your Fault" was performed by the white singer Sophie Tucker. They travelled to New York, joined James Reese Europe's Society Orchestra, and became vaudevillians as the Dixie Duo after World War I.

Their collaboration with the vaudeville team of Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles led to the production of the Broadway musical, Shuffle Along, which lasted over a year and yielded several touring companies. "Bandanna Days", I'm Just Wild About Harry" and "Love Will Find A Way" proved to be quite popular. Some of the cast members included Josephine Baker, Caterina Jarboro, Florence Mills, Paul Robeson and composer William Grant Still.

Blake's career as a musical comedy writer yielded The Chocolate Dandies, Folies Bergere, Blackbirds of 1930, Shuffle Along of 1933, Swing It, Shuffle Along of 1952 and Bubbling Brown Sugar. He continued writing songs, performing on the vaudeville stage and recording as a piano soloist and with his orchestra from the 1920s-1930s. During World War II, he conducted United Service Organizations shows for the soldiers and retired in 1946.

He gained a new audience in the 1950s and 60s with the ragtime revival as a performer and lecturer. The success of his 1969 album, The Eighty-Six Years of Eubie Blake, led to the establishment of his own record company in 1972 featuring artists Ivan Harold Browning, Novle Sissle and Edith Wilson. Some of the accolades that he received were honorary doctorates from Brooklyn College (1973), Dartmouth College (1974), Rutgers University (1974), the New England Conservatory (1974) and the University of Maryland (1979). His life became the subject of documentary films and the Broadway show, Eubie (1978). Among his achievements were induction into America's Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame, (1979), recipient of the Decoration of Distinguished Civilian Service (1980) and the Presidential Medal of Honor (1981). New York's St. Peter's Church honored him on the occasion of his 100th birthday in 1983 with a 24-hour marathon jazz concert.

The month of February has been designated as Black History Month. This celebration and recognition of the achievements and contributions by African-Americans to our country was initiated by Dr. Carter G. Woodson in 1926. Reflecting the times, it has undergone several name changes including Negro History, Black History, Afro-American History, and African-American History.

African-Americans have been noteworthy composers, creators, performers, and producers of music in American history. Eileen Southern was one of the first scholars to investigate and research the lives of Black musicians from a historical perspective in The Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians. Samuel A. Floyd Jr. covers all Black composers in the two volume set International Dictionary of Black Composers. Ray Bonds' The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Black Music gives an overview of the evolution and stories of Black music. Kevin Phinney's Souled America: How Black Music Transformed White Culture describes the psychological and sociological impact and influence of this music on White Americans. La Shanda Katrice Barnett's I Got Thunder is an exploration of songwriting techniques of Black women. Bernice Johnson Reagon's We'll Understand It Better By and By: Pioneering African-American Gospel Composers delves into the gospel tradition. Thomas J. Hennessey's From Jazz to Swing: African-American Jazz Musicians and Their Music 1890-1935 concentrates on that specific period of jazz.

The Library's compact disc collection ranges from classical composers Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and William Grant Still to jazz greats like John Coltrane and Miles Davis to popular stars like Stevie Wonder and Kanye West. If you would like to suggest an African-American artist to enhance the collection, please contact me.

I admit to being football illiterate. My husband has patiently tutored me and carefully explained the fundamental rules of the game. He’s gone over the action on the TV and drawn diagrams on the backs of napkins. Much to my chagrin, nothing has helped and Super Bowl Sunday is here again. This is the day I casually wander into the host’s kitchen and join other smiling spouses also pretending to enjoy the event.

Given the terrific collection in the library, I figured a movie might be just the thing to finally help me understand the game, to really feel the rush. But what should I watch? The choice is overwhelming. Here’s a list of just a few football inspired movies the library’s shelves have to offer.

More recent films include The Game Plan, We are Marshall and Remember the Titans. For the romantics there’s Jerry Maguire and Heaven Can Wait. Want to get tough? How about watching North Dallas Forty? Let’s not forget silly films like Horse Feathers or handkerchief holding classics like Brian’s Song. You can even “win one for the gipper”. I can’t guarantee you will learn the finer points of football from these films. Just concentrate on picking up enough knowledge to hold your own in the kitchen.

Can you name the source of the classic movie line, "Win one for the gipper?"