Monthly Archive for January, 2010

5 Great Reasons To See Jazz Live (plus your reasons in the comments!)

Published on January 30, 2010 in Community, Jazz, Music and Music History. 0 Comments

This is the second post in a series of “5 Great Reasons” articles, created by the DHPAC staff and performers, in hopes you will add to the list!

Our Executive Director, Sandy Hinden, presents his…
5 Great Reasons to See Jazz Live

1. €‚ƒ COMMUNITY: It is wonderful when audience members pull away from “home theaters” and their couch and get out of the house for live jazz. It’s healthier for you physically, you can walk and talk with real live people. Coming to live performances are a community celebration of the arts, preventing isolation and community deterioration. It’s great when people join together at a concert, speak to each other, support the arts and their favorite performers. They are supporting life itself.

2. ¯ CREATIVITY: You may hear something entirely new being created on stage when the musicians are improvising. Jazz is a very creative, exploratory process, requiring courage to go beyond what you have done before. Audience members can take part in that adventure.

3. ~ ENERGY: You can hear and see musicians getting “into a groove”, when they’re in “the zone” magic takes place… they’re in sync and the energy in the room elevates… it can be electrifying, amazingly exciting!

4. þ AMERICA’S GIFT: It gives young artists a chance to perform in front of an audience, helping them carry on a 100 year-old tradition of a music created in America. Jazz is one of America’s greatest gifts to the world. We can support it for future generations to enjoy.

5. Y LOVE: Whether this is your first date with someone special, or you are celebrating your 50^th year loving jazz together, enjoying jazz is a way to open the door to a delightful and even romantic evening or afternoon. You share in the creative inspiration passed along to the musicians from generation to generation. The Jazz Masters come alive through today’s jazz artists, and musicians share their appreciation and love for jazz, each other and the audience. Jazz transcends time, is loved around the world, and brings out a special love for all in the room.

Sandy Hinden
Executive Director,
Dix Hills Performing Arts Center
Author,
7 Keys to Love
__________________________________

“5 Great Reasons” is a project of the DHPAC Community to communicate the value of events that are live and local.

Now, it’s your turn…Please use the comment form to add your reasons. (Posts will show up after review by our moderator.)

Q & A for our DHPAC Billie Holiday tribute this Sunday, Jan. 31st

Published on January 28, 2010 in Jazz, Music and Performances. 0 Comments

Who’s playing?

The vocalist will be Tierney Ryan (see interview below.)

Steve Briody

The band will be John Ray on bass, Chris Anderson on drums, Michael Farrell on saxophone, plus two Five Towns College professor/performers — Scott Ballin on piano and Steve Briody on guitar. (And, as you know, Steve Briody is the moderator and a co-blogger here at the DHPAC blog! Great chance to see him live!)

I got a chance to do an e-mail interview with Tierney Ryan. One of the reasons the show came together the way it did was that Tierney did a Billie Holiday number with Jimmy Halpern last year that people were excited about.

Ki asks:
Do you have any thoughts about Billie Holiday and what she means to jazz?

Billie Holiday.Photo by Carl Van Vechten Tierney:
I really love Billie Holiday, she brought a bluesy influence to Jazz, and she really felt each song she sang. She had a really hard life, so I think music was an outlet for her. I think Billie Holiday was a very strong woman, especially being African American in those days, she had to deal with a lot of discrimination, but at the same time, her music transcended race.

Ki asks:
What is your background in jazz?

Tierney:
I have been singing and listening to Jazz for the past 6 years. I really love the freedom it gives me as a singer, and the songs are timeless.

Ki asks:
What is your favorite song on the program?

Tierney:
I really like the song “I Loves You Porgy”. It has really powerful lyrics, and I love the melody.

Ki writes:

In answer to my more gossipy questions, I learned that Tierney will be wearing a long, black dress that her mom got for her. And, while Tierney is hoping to wear a flower in her hair – as in her publicity shot – her hair might be too short for that to work. We’ll have to wait and see.

Meanwhile, Tierney ended the interview by noting, “I hope everyone enjoys the show!”

___________________________________________________________

Lady Sings The Blues — Tierney Ryan Sings Billie Holiday happens at DHPAC on Sunday, January 31, 2010 at 2pm. Tickets at DHPAC: here.

Photos, top to bottom: 1. Steve Briody 2. Billie Holiday photo by Carl Van Vechten 3. Tierney Ryan

New series – “5 Great Reasons”: Help us explain the value of live performances!

Published on January 28, 2010 in Community and Music. 5 Comments

Ki writes:

Sometimes, when you get up from your seat at a DHPAC performance, you are flooded with the idea that something wonderful happened, and more people should get to experience it. Most people understand intuitively that live performances are better. And, lots of people have the bumper sticker “Support Live Music”. Though, we thought that our community of performers, music professors and audience members would be the perfect crew to break it down even more, and spell it out: What is better about “live” and “local”? How can a person explain the magic and power of what we do?

So, some of us here at DHPAC and Five Towns College are going to get the ball rolling with lists of five on various topics. And, we are hoping that our audience members and blog readers will continue adding to the lists. I’ll start…

Our blogger, Ki4dhpac, presents her…
5 Great Reasons To See Live Music

1. You are witness to an entire event of sound and visuals that will never happen exactly the same way again.

2. When musicians play live…you never know what might happen next.

3. Your clapping will go on the audiotape. Your presence adds to the atmosphere.

4. Pianissimo is never as good on the radio.

5. By attending a live music event, you are supporting art in your own community and letting musicians know they should play in your area.

Now, it’s your turn…Please use the comment form to add your reasons. (Posts will show up after review by our moderator.)

“Billie Holiday Tribute” – This Sunday

Published on January 26, 2010 in Performances. 0 Comments

by Steve Briody

I’m happy to be participating in an upcoming show which is sure to be outstanding. It will feature some of the very best jazz standards that had been recorded/performed by Billie Holiday. The group is led by vocalist Tierney Ryan, with backup provided by John Ray (bass), Chris Anderson (drums), Michael Farrell (saxophone) and Five Towns Professors Scott Ballin (piano) and Steve Briody (guitar).

Be sure not to miss these classic tunes — This Sunday, Jan. 31st, 2:00pm. I hope to see you there. Regards, SB

Five Towns College Community News: FTC wins “Best Art School” designation

Published on January 21, 2010 in Community, Music and Theatre. 0 Comments

DHPAC is located on the campus of Five Towns College in Dix Hills. We are part of a thriving community of actors, musicians, technicians, students, and professors who share, learn, develop and perform! DHPAC is excited to report that Five Towns College has been voted 2010′s “Best Art School on Long Island” by the Long Island Press.

Long Island Press says:

Five Towns College has secured a top spot in this Best of L.I. category for the third year, and it’s no secret why. Offering cutting-edge programs in multimedia, music and performing arts taught by top professionals in the field and valuable hands-on experience, Five Towns consistently churns out the crème de la crème of Long Island’s budding artists, and notes Maroon 5’s Adam Levine and Julian Casablancas of The Strokes as alumni.

Five Towns College Community News: Film professor receives cinematography award

Published on January 18, 2010 in Community and Film. 0 Comments

Sol Negrin is one of the professors at Five Towns College. He teaches courses on cinematography and the evolution of filmmaking techniques. In February, he will be presented with an award from the American Society of Cinematographers.

A press release is below, which includes a biography of Sol Negrin and a list of projects he has worked on–which include Jaws 2, Robocop, St. Elsewhere, Kojak and Baker’s Dozen.

A Q&A Conversation With Sol Negrin, ASC

LOS ANGELES, December 23, 2009 | SHOOT Publicity Wire | — Sol Negrin, ASC will receive the Presidents Award from the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) during the 24th Annual ASC Outstanding Achievement Awards. The celebration will be held at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza Hotel on February 27, 2010.

“Sol Negrin has not only made an impact with his six-decade career as a cinematographer,” says ASC President Michael Goi, “but his constant efforts to organize industry events and teach the next generation of image makers their craft is selfless and without compare.” Continue reading ‘Five Towns College Community News: Film professor receives cinematography award’

This just in: Chronicles/Eric Clapton tribute show added

Published on January 16, 2010 in Guitar, Music, Performances and Rock. 0 Comments

Chronicles on stage at DHPAC, 2009. Photo by Maureen Panzica A new show was added
to the 2010 winter/spring line-up at DHPAC.

Friday, April 30th
at 7:30 pm:

Tribute to Eric Clapton
with Chronicles

$25. Tickets at the DHPAC box office on line
or at (631) 656-2148.

Guitar Fall Festival has new fan page on FaceBook

Published on January 15, 2010 in Guitar, Jazz and Performances. 1 Comment

Gerry Saulter

All through the year, DHPAC offers programs featuring wonderful, guitar performances. Please check out our current program where you will find the opportunity to hear guitar performances from Beatles tributes to jazz guitar.

And, in the Fall, Five Towns College presents our Guitar Fall Festival. This four-day celebration features premiere classical and jazz guitar performances & educational workshops. Among the performers this year will be: the great Fingerstyle artist Muriel Anderson; Jazz fusion master Chieli Minucci of Special FX; and the “Segovia of Jazz guitar” Gene Bertoncini.

This year’s festival will be held October 21-24, 2010. For updates and discussion about this annual guitar celebration, you can join the new, festival fan page at Facebook: here.

Photo: Professor Gerry Saulter gives a Master Class at the Guitar Fall Festival.

Wyclef Jean, former FTC student, adds voice to Haiti relief efforts

Published on January 14, 2010 in Community. 0 Comments

Wyclef Jean. Photo: Harry Wad. The Dix Hills Performing Arts Center is located at Five Towns College, is a thriving community of professors, students, musicians and other performers, with overlapping roles. Five Towns College students are encouraged to be socially responsible citizens. In addition, the DHPAC mission statement includes the support of charitable, civic and cultural events for the community.

We were delighted to hear that a former Five Towns College student, Wyclef Jean, has received praise and attention for using his platform as a performer to help with relief efforts after the earthquake in Haiti. An AP story notes, “Wyclef Jean is one of Haiti’s most famous sons and his tweeting about the earthquake there has been a galvanizing force on the web.”

Thomas O’Boyle, Director of Student Activities at Five Towns College, says, “We at Five Towns College encourage our students to be community leaders, and to help out how they can, both locally and worldwide.”

Reviewing 2009: Press coverage for “Raisin In The Sun”

Published on January 8, 2010 in Performances and Theatre. 0 Comments

Ki writes:

I was very excited to get the chance to see the Five Towns College performance of “Raisin in the Sun” in November. The young actors sent the intimate theater pulsing with drama, humor, and energy. I also learned a lot from the write up in a local paper. I was not aware of the biography and “firsts” concerning the playwright, Lorraine Hansberry. Worth looking into more…

(excerpt from) www.longislandernews.com

The Half Hollow Hills Newspaper
“Classic Broadway Dramas To Take Center Stage”

“The Dix Hills Performing Arts Center [presented] two of the most important American dramas of the 20^th century this weekend, when the award-winning Five Towns College Theater Department and the Center present[ed] “A Raisin in the Sun” by Lorraine Hansberry…Hansberry’s work, the first Broadway play ever written by a female African-American, was also the first directed by an African-American, Lloyd Richards. It was titled for a simile used in poet Langston Hughes’ “Harlem,” where the author asks, “What happens to a dream deferred? Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?”…

In a country now recovered from the Great Depression, Hughes saw that middle-class status was still denied to people of color who remained disenfranchised. Hansberry’s drama takes place not in Harlem, but in Chicago’s Woodland neighborhood where a close, loving family struggles to get ahead.

But where Hughes saw potential violence ahead, Hansberry’s 1959 play, as a nascent Civil Rights Movement got underway in the U.S., sees great hope. A turbulent 1960s would give both the ability to claim they were right, as great national advancements were marred by assassinations.

James Beneduce and Kathy Curtiss chose these great American classics to showcase the skills of the artists/actors at Five Towns…”

Have any thoughts to share about the Five Towns performance in particular,
or your experiences with “Raisin in the Sun”?