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Artvoice Weekly Edition » Issue v6n27 (07/05/2007) » Section: See You There


BPO at Artpark

The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra inaugurates its summer season at Artpark this weekend with a program sure to please the trekkies in the audience. Saturday’s concert’s major work is The Planets by Gustav Holst, a suite of seven tone poems that enjoyed popularity among 1970s stoners who otherwise knew nothing about classical music but were grooving to the Age of Aquarius. An attribute associated with each planet (Holst skipped Earth and Pluto; the latter hadn’t been discovered yet and has since been demoted) is portrayed musically: Mars—war, Jupiter—jollity, Mercury—messaging, and so on. (For images to look at while listening, go to http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/planets.) Equally otherworldly is Sibelius’ Violin Concerto that soloist Lara St. John (pictured above) will render in all of its icy beauty. Sunday afternoon’s concert is an all-Gershwin affair with a generous helping of his overtures, songs (with local chanteuse Colleen Williams) and the Concerto in F rendered by Gershwin specialist Kevin Cole. BPO associate conductor Robert Franz is in charge.



James Earl Jones

Just up the road from the Taste of Buffalo, Lafayette Square and Washington Street will be buzzing this weekend with live performances, great food, and none other than James Earl Jones. What more could you ask for? Well, the immortal voice of Darth Vader will answer that question as Jones helps to promote literacy, reading and Buffalo’s history at the annual Buffalo Book Fair. The celebration kicks off Friday (July 6) evening at 6:30 with Books, Blues and Barbecue at the Central Library, featuring a full menu, cash bar, and local blues band Sonny Mayo and the Delta Drivers. The following day, Jones will open the event with a 10am inspirational address detailing his personal struggle to overcome a childhood speech defect, a victory that enabled him to later become the voice of Star Wars’ famous villain, The Lion King’s Mufasa and the Verizon spokesperson, along with winning Emmies, Golden Globes and countless other acting kudos. Dancers from the Buffalo Academy for the Visual and Performing Arts will perform, and a full day of celebrating Buffalo’s cultural and literary heritage will follow. Though the outdoor festivities are free and open to the public, for information on special event ticket prices visit wwww.buffalobookfair.com or contact the Book Fair Committee at 881-6066. So take a breather between cannolis and pierogis and come by to support this community initiative and get a deliciously entertaning taste of the region’s rich literary and artistic history.



The John Cowan Band

John Cowan has come a long way since his initial rise to fame in the rootsy experimental bluegrass band New Grass Revival, in front of the likes of Sam Bush, Bela Fleck and Pat Flynn. After NGR disbanded in 1990, the ever-innvoative Cowan changed gears, testing his voice on various genres including soul, rock, blues and country. And while his former bandmates each went on to achieve individual fame, he continued to operate primarily below the radar. Cowan’s remembered his acoustic roots over the years, though, and now he’s come full circle with his new band, The John Cowan Band. Alongside Jeff Autry (guitar), Wayne Benson (mandolin), Shad Cobb (fiddle) and Noam Pikelny (banjo), Cowan is making the same kind of genre-crossing, high-quality “newgrass” music he made with NGR. Cowan notes on his online journal that NGR was “never percieved as ‘cool’ because whatever pop culture defined at any moment as cool…was. Certainly not a bunch of knuckleheads playing ‘whatzit’ music.” Well, he’s got a new band of knuckleheads, and if we had anything to say about it, they’d all be considered cool. Come out and see The John Cowan Band as it stops at Sportsmen’s Tavern this Sunday in support of its most recent studio release, Tattoo, which hit the shelves only a month ago.



Richie Havens

The times, well, they probably haven’t changed as much as Richie Havens would have liked since he emerged as one of the lights of the Greenwich Village folk scene in the early 1960s. “There isn’t a hell of lot left to learn,” he told an audience in San Francisco some years back. “We already know what will make the world a better place.” It’s a bit of stage patter for which he finds new iterations every time he tours, which is frankly depressing. All the conditions Havens sings about—war, poverty, racism, oppression, environmental degradation—prevail today as surely as they did 40 years ago. The tonic for that depression prevails, too: Havens in performance. After nearly 30 records and a tireless schedule of touring and collaboration, Havens still exudes an easygoing peace and faith in human nature, counterpointed by his furious, energetic guitar and unapologetic politics. If we all balanced happiness and righteous indignation so well and so long, the world might improve more quickly. Noa Bursie opens the show.





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