Westport Public Library MOVIE & MUSIC Blog

On Thursday night, July 31, 2008, five-time Grammy award winner Michael McDonald will grace the stage and perform at the annual summer gala. This singer and keyboard player who was a member of Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers, has a soulful, light jazzy tone. During the 1980's his compositional efforts were recorded by various artists including Aretha Franklin, Millie Jackson and Carly Simon. His solo career flourished through the years with hit albums like If That's What It Takes, No Lookin' Back, Lonely Talk, etc. His successful Blue Obsession album was followed by Motown and Motown 2 which reflect the influence of the inimitable Motown sound. His work and appearances on behalf of various charitable organizations were recently recognized by his peers with the ASCAP Harry Chapin Humanitarian Award.

The Library invites you to stop by and check out his music.

He was born to a musical family of church organists in New York on January 24, 1913. His musical aptitudes on the organ and piano were noted and nourished by his father and godfather, the composer and organist Pietro Yon. He studied piano with Gaston Dethier at the Institute of Musical Art in the 1930's, played jazz piano with various groups and tackled composition with Bernard Wagenaar at the Juilliard Graduate School from 1939–1941. He enrolled at the Berkshire Music Center summer session at Tanglewood In 1941 under the tutelage of Paul Hindemith, and later continued his studies with him at the Yale School of Music from 1941-1943. He adhered to Hindemith's advice and shaped his music according to his early experiences and sensibilities encompassing Catholic church music, Italian opera, jazz and popular music.

His fascination with Joan of Arc eventually led to an opera The Triumph of St. Joan for the New York City Opera and eventually a symphony; the themes from the opera are quite evident in the three movement symphony appropriately called The Triumph of Joan.

He worked at the university level as a professor at Sarah Lawrence College, Mannes College and Boston University. He started the Contemporary Music Project for Creativity in Music Education where new composers worked in and wrote music specifically for public high school performing organizations. The Ford Foundation supported this endeavor, and Dello Joio continued his affiliation with it for fourteen years.

His awards included a 1937 Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Award for his Piano Trio, a 1942 Town Hall Composition Award for the orchestral work Magnificat, 1943 and 1944 Guggenheim Fellowships, a 1945 American Academy of Arts and Letters grant, two New York Music Critics’ Circle Award in 1948 and 1962, the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1957 for Meditations on Ecclesiastes for string orchestra and election to the National Institute of Arts and Letters in 1961. In 2000, he received the Westport Arts Award for Music.

The Westport Library invites you to sample his piano and orchestral music.

Zachary Israel Nobile Kampler, a recent Staples High School graduate, has been making his mark in the classical music world with the 2003 launching of the EFSO, the Eastern Festival Symphony Orchestra. His ambition and goal is to educate and involve the community in the arts with innovative, unusual programming. To do so, he has created several subsidiary organizations including The Eastern Festival Opera, The Eastern Festival String Quartet; and an Apprentice Program. Additionally, he wants to make a difference and improve people's lives; some of the charities that have benefitted from the orchestra’s concerts are The Witness Project for Breast Cancer, Kids Against Cancer and the Hudson Valley Cerebral Palsy Association.

During the past five years, the orchestra has served as a collaborative partner with other performing arts groups including the Ballet School of Stamford, the composer Marlane Tubridy and the choruses of Westchester Community College and Bergen Community College; they have been active participants at the annual Lessons in Carols concert of St. Phillip’s Church.

The Eastern Festival Symphony Orchestra which is made up musicians from the tri-state region, will be performing this Saturday, July 26, 2008 at 8:00 p.m. at the Norwalk Concert Hall. The program consists of Felix Mendelssohn's Hebrides Overture, Johannes Brahms' Symphony #1 and scenes from Giacomo Puccini's opera La Boheme.

Born in New York City, Getty got her start acting in Yiddish theaters and performing comedy at resorts in the Catskills. She had character roles on Broadway and small roles in 80's movies such as Mask, Tootsie, and Mannequin. But, Getty did not achieve mainstream success until an age when most actresses retire. She was cast in The Golden Girls as Sophia Petrillo, the wisecracking mother to Dorothy Zbornak, played by Bea Arthur. In real life, Getty was younger than Arthur by a year! Getty's character delivered memorable one-liners and is thus a fan-favorite. It is hard for me to narrow down a favorite line, but here is one I adore... In response to her promiscuous house mate Blanche (Rue McClanahan) arguing that she is not secretive:

Blanche: My life is an open book.
Sophia: Your life is an open blouse!

If there are any other Golden Girls fans out there, I encourage you to leave comments. And FYI: Lifetime is doing a GG marathon on Friday night and has a poll to vote for your favorite Sophia episodes. Of course, I am always open to the idea of hosting a Golden Girls marathon at the library...

The early summer saw a terrific group of much anticipated films brought to DVD. The next few weeks afford few blockbusters but do offer some interesting bright spots. Here’s a look at some films the Westport Library is anticipating receiving soon and their dates of release. Click on the movie’s name to place a hold. The library’s goal is to have the latest titles available for loan on the date of release.

For the foreign film lover there is The Band’s Visit. An Egyptian orchestra arrives in Israel to play an important cultural event only to find themselves in the wrong town, where they learn about themselves and each other as they spend the night interacting with the locals. This comedy is a 2007 Cannes Film Festival winner in Hebrew with English subtitles and is rated PG13. Release date: 7/29

The Rolling Stones – need we say more! Shine a Light was recorded at New York's Beacon Theatre during the fall of 2006, featuring performances by the Rolling Stones with special guests Christina Aguilera, Jack White, and Buddy Guy. The DVD version includes four performances not seen in theaters and is rated PG13. Release date: 7/29

Families will enjoy Nim’s Island. Nim Rusoe lives on a deserted island with her scientist father Jack and her best friends: Selkie, a sea lion; Fred, a bearded dragon lizard; and Galileo, a plucky pelican. When the island is 'invaded,' Nim reaches out to the author of her favorite book. The film is rated PG and will be released on 8/05.

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day again on the DVD release scheduled for 8/19. It’s a quirky Cinderella story about friendship and finding true love. A middle-aged London governess (Francis McDormand) is dismissed from her job and now is attempting to find new employment in the dizzying social whirl of an American actress and singer played for Amy Adams.

Enjoy!

William Christopher Handy was born in a log cabin in Florence, Alabama on November 16, 1873 to a Methodist minister who quickly noticed his musical talents. His formal musical training encompassed cornet, piano and organ; his everyday exposure to the folktunes and spirituals of the Mississippi Delta as well as ragtime and minstrel shows led him to a career as a bandleader, arranger, composer and teacher. He synthesized all of these styles into his own compositions and eventually established his own publishing company Pace and Handy Music Co. in Memphis. He published one of his most popular works "St. Louis Blues" in 1914 followed by "Yellow Dog Blues", "Joe Turner Blues", "Beale Street Blues", etc. The unique sound of his band was recognized by the recording industry with albums for Columbia Records in 1917, Paramount in 1922 and Okeh Records in 1923. Some of his notable appearances included a 1932 tour with the Clarence Davis band, a 1933 performance with Joe Laurie's Memory Lane show, a 1936 performance with Billy Butler's orchestra at the Apollo Theater, 1948 Violins over Broadway revue at Billy Roses's Diamond Horseshoe and several guest roles in the 1950's on Edward R. Murrow's Person to Person, the Ed Sullivan Show and the Stars of Tomorrow radio show. Although he suffered vision loss and became partially disabled due to a a harrowing fall in 1943, he continued working until a few months before his death from pneumonia on March 28, 1958. The 1958 movie St Louis Blues starring Nat King Cole partially drew from his life.

Among the awards and honors bestowed upon him were the National Association of Negro Musicians Award, the naming of a Beale Street park in Memphis, a 65th birthday concert, an honorary doctorate from Wilberforce University of Ohio and a Lewisohn Stadium Concert with Louis Armstrong and Leonard Bernstein.

Whatever will be will be! So sang Doris Day to her son (played by child actor Christopher Olson) in the Hitchcock thriller The Man Who Knew Too Much. This lovely tune sets the stage for the over protective mother’s anguish to follow when her son is kidnapped The song was then effectively repeated by the director toward the end of a movie as Day sits down at a piano and plays it to alert the child to her presence in the building where he is held captive. Nominated for an Academy Award, Whatever Will Be Will Be was also a Billboard hit for the actress that peaked at #2 during July of 1956.

The Westport Library has a large collection of films featuring Doris Day, and of course, our collection includes Hitchcock’s film. Did you know that 1956 version was actually a remake of a 1934 film? Guess who was also the director of this version?

The Biava Quartet consisting of violinists Austin Hartman and Hyunsu Ko, violist Mary Persin, and cellist Jason Calloway, act as the graduate quartet in residence, work as teaching assistants to the Juilliard Quartet and own the prestigious title of Lisa Arnhold Quartet in Residency at the Juilliard School. The Quartet had a similar role with the Tokyo String Quartet at Yale University and was the first group to complete the New England Conservatory's training program concerning the string quartet. In addition to the standard repertory, they are committed to contemporary music and are well-versed in the the music of American composers Mason Bates, William Bolcom, John Harbison, Ezra Laderman, and Stacy Garrop.
Their diversity is evident with their playing in a dramatization of the life of Emily Dickinson set to the music of Amy Beach with the Ensemble for the Romantic Century, as well as performing at the inaugural concerts in Washington, D.C. of Pro Musica Hebraica, a new organization founded for the dissemination of Jewish art music.

Kevin Puts' accolades include a 1999 Barlow International Prize for Orchestral, a 2001 John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, a 2001-2002 Rome Prize and the 2003 Benjamin H. Danks Award for Excellence in Orchestral Composition of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has a Master's degree from Yale University and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the Eastman School of Music. He holds the title of Composer-in-Residence for the Fort Worth Symphony.

Edvard Grieg,'s String Quartet in G minor and Cesar Franck's Piano Quintet with pianist Eric Huebner will round out this exceptional program.

The New Haven Symphony Orchestra and Maestro William Boughton invite one and all to their free summer concert this Friday, July 11 at 7:00 p.m. at Boothe Memorial Park, Stratford CT or Saturday, July 12, at 6:00 p.m. on the New Haven Green, New Haven, CT. The program is all American and includes Leonard Bernstein's Overture to Candide, Johh Philip Sousa’s Liberty Bell March, Aaron Copland’s Rodeo, Leroy Anderson’s Horse & Buggy and Fiddle Faddle and Samuel Barber’s Knoxville Summer of 1915 with soprano soloist Samantha Talmadge.

What is unique about these performances is the novelty of an audience play-a-long. All budding instrumentalists are encouraged to download copies of The Star Spangled Banner, America the Beautiful, and the Pomp and Circumstance March, learn their parts, bring their instrument, music and music stand to the concert and join forces with the NHSO. Towards the end of the program Music Director Boughton will lead everyone in the aforementioned pieces. This is a golden opportunity for all amateur musicians and their families.

A Klezmer Bash will grace the stage on Thursday, July 10th at 8pm starring The Klezical Tradition, an ensemble of musicians comprising flute, clarinet, keyboard, violin, and voice. Klezmer, a Yiddish term originally meaning musician, describes the Eastern European instrumental groups from the shtetls or villages of Poland, Romania, and Russia which were popular before the second world war. Klezmer bands typically employed a singer, clarinetist, trumpet player, violinist and a string bass player and played exuberant, hearfelt tunes that reflected the dreams and the reality of the community.

For those who would like to sample this style of folk music, the Library has Naftule Brandwein's King of the Klezmer Clarinet, the Cracow Klezmer Band's Bereshit, the Klezmatics Possessed and Dave Tarras Yiddish-American Klezmer Music, 1925-1956. Seth Rogovoy's Essential Klezmer and Yale Strom's Book of Klezmer provide descriptive analysis and treatment of the subject.

Tomorrow marks the 55th anniversary of the television premiere of the musical identification show Name That Tune. This popular quiz show began on primetime television during the 1950's, reappeared in the 1970's as both a daytime and syndicated program, had a short-lived syndication from 1984-1985 on USA Cable and ultimately repeated on the Family Channel from 1993-1996. Red Benson, Bill Cullen and George DeWitt served as the hosts during the early years; Tom Kennedy and Dennis James led it during the 1970's, with Jim Lange closing it out in the mid-eighties.

Music director Harry Salter created this show in which two contestants competed in the recognition of popular tunes. Monetary prizes were given for the most correct answers with the stakes increasing for each round. This program gave all the musical connoisseurs, experts and fans a chance to show off their knowledge.

For those people who are planning birthday or anniversary parties or sometimes get nostalgic about the good days, John Javna's The TV Theme Song Sing-Along Song Book may be consulted. This compact two volume set has facts, a brief synopsis of the show, cast members and the music and words to the theme song. It covers childrens' shows, comedy sit-coms, commercials, drama, music variety and westerns that permeated the air waves from the 1950's through the 1970's. The Library also has a compact disc set Television's Greatest Hits as well as the soundtracks from some popular shows including The Drew Carey Show, Six Feet Under and The Sopranos.

Grieg, E. Wedding March from Peer Gynt

Handel, G.F. Processional from Royal Fireworks

Mascagni, P. Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana

Mendelssohn, F. Wedding March from A Midsummer Night's Dream

Mozart, W.A. Second Movement from Piano Concerto #21

Pachelbel, J. Canon in D

Tchaikovsky, P.I. Wedding March from Swan Lake

Telemann, G.P. Trumpet Concerto in D

Verdi, G. Triumphal March from Aida

Vivaldi, A. Spring from Four Seasons

A group of lunching ladies of my acquaintance launched into a discussion of the recent American Film Institute’s 10 Top 10 lists. The AFI loves to parse their lists of the best movies and deliver them in new and fun to talk about iterations. Conversation mostly centered on the choice for the runner up in the category of Animation. We were allmothers of teens who lived through endless viewings of the top 10 animated films when their children were young. So naturally, we all had our favorites. Number one on the AFI list is Snow White, which turned out to be the hands down favorite of all present. But the choice for spot two was split. Let's just say some very vocal supporters felt that Pinocchio not Bambi deserved the runner up spot. (I am just grateful that Sleeping Beauty is not on the list. I have strong feelings about that film!) What do you think? Here’s the list in its entirety.

1. Snow White
2. Pinnochio
3. Bambi
4. Lion King
5. Fantasia
6. Toy Story
7. Beauty and the Beast
8. Shrek
9. Cinderella
10. Finding Nemo

You can find the full list on the AFI website. There, a couple of surprise choices await you.