MARCHING RIGHT ALONG: The new month is starting off rather quiet and — for now, at least — is looking to finish up the same way. But catch your breath while you can. The middle of March is already jam-packed with things to do — in addition to surviving the Ides on the 15th and celebrating Irish ties, however tenuous, on the 17th.
WHAT THE COMPETITION LOOKS LIKE: This weekend's "Cinema Sundays" offering at the Reichhold Center for the Arts, The Buena Vista Social Club, has been nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Best Documentary Feature. And that just happens to make it direct competition for Speaking in Strings, the film produced by St. Thomian Lilibet Foster that was shown in February as part of the Reichhold Center's first International Film and Video Festival. That alone may make it of particular interest to St. Thomas/St. John cinema fans — but there are other reasons to see it.
The best know, by far, of the documentary feature nominees, Buena Vista was directed by internationally acclaimed German filmmaker Wim Wenders, whose credits include being named Best Director at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival, and whose reputation as a young filmmaker in the 1970s was as a critic of American cultural imperialism, particularly of Hollywood's dominance of the film industry. Aside from irony, that has nothing to do with this picture, which documents the making of the best-selling, Grammy-winning CD album of the same name that was produced in 1996 by American musician Ry Cooder.
The album brought together a group of aging Cuban musicians who all had been internationally famous at one time but had since slipped into obscurity, even in their homeland. Theirs is the son music of pre-Castro Cuba (the word literally means "sound" in Spanish, but also refers in Cuba to the particular style of music — jazz if you stretch the meaning, not unlike old-time scratch band stylings in the Virgin Islands. And, thanks to the CD, and now the movie, the music and the musicians are hot stuff, again.
Wenders' film, which also features Cooder playing slide guitar, "celebrates the musicians' performance on the world stage and offers a portrait of their life back in Cuba," Entertainment on- line reviewer Art Levine writes. "It artfully mixes footage of their triumphant concert appearances in Amsterdam and Carnegie Hall last year with musician interviews and shots of a new recording session for crooner Ibrahim Ferrer's solo album," which along with the film was released last summer.
The 73-year-old Ferrer is "the tender heart" of the film, Levine says, a singer with the legendary Benny More band in the 1950s who was shining shoes at the time Cooder's team rediscovered him. There are few political references in the picture, Levine notes, and it played to an appreciative older exile audience even in rabidly anti-Castro Miami. (But hundreds of protesters and the requisite bomb threat greeted a few of the actual musicians when they appeared to play in person for a music industry conference in Miami Beach.)
Show time at the Reichhold Center is 7:30 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults and $2.50 for children. The gates open at 7, and popcorn, candy and cold drinks are available.
PLAY IT AGAIN? Reichhold staffer Karrl Foster (no known kin to Lilibet), who coordinated the film and video fest, and Lilibet's dad, retired Realtor John Foster, are working on plans to have Speaking in Strings shown before Oscar night on St. John and St. Croix. Karrl's first thought was not to bring it back for a second showing on St. Thomas, too, but he's willing to rethink that, if those who didn't see it at the festival and would like to — and those who did and would like to see it again — express interest.
Scene suggests that it wouldn't be a bad idea to hold an Oscar Night party at the Reichhold Center. The 72nd annual Academy Awards will be given out on the last Sunday of the month, March 26, which is already a "Cinema Sunday" night. The ceremony, being carried live on ABC, is to start at 9 p.m. local time. Strings, which is 75 minutes long, could roll at the usual 7:30, and then everybody could congregate onstage to socialize while watching the Oscars show on TV monitors. Maybe a live remote audio hook-up with Lilibet could be arranged.
The only potential problem is that another film is already scheduled for showing that night. It's Thelonius Monk: Straight, No Chaser, the last of three jazz pictures booked for March (along with Buena Vista, because it's Music Education Month. However, Monk is also the final film in this year's inaugural "Cinema Sundays" series — and if nothing else is booked for the following Sunday, April 2, it could be pushed back a week. To let Karrl know what you think, call the Reichhold office at 693-1550.
AMERICA'S GOLDEN OLDIES: There's been a change of plans for the next Arts Alive and St. John School of the Arts concerts — but many would agree it's for the better. The featured artists are still New York show and nightclub singer Mary Cleere Haran and her partner in supper club success, pianist and sometime vocal duetist Richard Rodney Bennett.
Their coming Virgin Islands tour had been announced as an evening of vintage Gershwin music titled "The Memory of All That," essentially a show that they performed at New York's venerable Algonquin Hotel a season ago and then took on the road to London's West End. Instead, they'll be mixing favorites by George and Ira Gershwin in with equally enduring hits by other icons of the Golden Era of Song — Irving Berlin, Johnny Mercer, Jerome Kern and Rodgers and Hart — in an act they're calling "Isn't It Romantic?"
Last fall, Haran, accompanied by Bennett, won raves for another nostalgia show, "Crazy Rhythm: Manhattan in the '20s," in which she brought the distant decade of jazz, flappers, the Charleston and speakeasies to life. New York Times reviewer Stephen Holden wrote of that one that Haran "created an impressionistic mosaic of an era by blending songs, witty quotations and show business lore with funny self-explanatory asides." There's more to this chanteuse's show business than singing, as she presents sketches of the personalities of the era along with their musical legacies.
The other change in plans is that the duo will be appearing as just that. Earlier plans called for a bass player to be aboard as well.
"It sounds wonderful," says St. John School of the Arts director Ruth "Sis" Frank of the revised program. "I'm hearing a lot of our regular concertgoers saying ‘Finally, they're presenting our kind of music!'" She notes that the St. John performance will take place at the Westin Resort ballroom — where the most recent School of the Arts concert, by the Charlie Musselwhite Blues Band, packed in 350 fans a couple of weeks ago. That's about three times the capacity of the arts school building.
"Isn't It Romantic?" will play on St. Thomas on Wednesday, March 15, as the season's final Tillett Garden Series non-classical concert. It will be on St. John on Thursday, March 16. Both shows start at 8 p.m., and pre-performance dinner with concert seating is an option in Tillett Gardens. On St. Thomas, call 775-1929 or e-mail to tillett@islands.vi for reservations (required for dinner, recommended for concert only). On St. John, call 776-4322 or 776-6777.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT AND THEN SOME: Tickles Dockside Pub in Crown Bay has put together plans for a fund raiser to benefit the Victim Advocates program that involves a week's worth of gourmet guest chefs cooking up their specialties for Celebrity Chef Dinners to be served nightly from 6 p.m. Monday through Sunday, March 13-19. There'll be live entertainment for a couple of nights, too.
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;Our goal is to raise $5,000 for Victim Advocates from the sale of food and beverages," Tickles general manager Peter Zachko says. "We're looking to showcase the talents of our island's top resort hotel and charter yacht professionals, while promoting a friendly rivalry. . . If there's a U.S. Navy vessel in port, we'll invite their top gun chef, too."
Zachko says the restaurant will donate 25 percent of customers' tabs for the dinners to the not-for-profit organization, which provides crisis intervention assistance to victims of crimes.
That Wednesday from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. will be open mike night hosted by Sonny G. On the Friday, same hours, Paul Borghi and Lee Whalen will perform. For the Sunday grand finale, there will be music all day by the Mar Band, Greg Cerio, Erin Alain, Bob Meadows, Hannah George, Hunter Kuhnert and others to be announced.
As the highlight of the final day, the "friendly rivalry" will be put to the test. Each guest chef will prepare an entree that will be judged by a panel consisting of Jan Robinson, editor and publisher of the Ship-to-Shore cookbook series, and local media food writers and personalities. For the day, Tickles will donate 100 percent of the proceeds from a special bar that will be set up with donated product from West Indies Corp., along with all proceeds from the sale of tapas-type taste treats donated by participating chefs. At 6 p.m. the winner will be awarded the Tickles Cup Perpetual Trophy, so named because Zachko is planning for this to become an annual event.
STRETCH YOUR LEGS AND YOUR MIND: The St. John Historical Society has monthly outings that combine a guided walk or hike with informal informational presentations. February's event on St. John's East End attracted 50 participants. Coming up on Sunday, March 12, is a joint venture with the St. John Audubon Society that will be a shoreline trek from Oyen's Point, east of Fish Bay, to the ruins of the Little Reef Bay plantation at Genti Bay — combined with birdwatching along the way. "Abundant bird life thrives along this pristine stretch of St. John wilderness coast," the society's March newsletter states, and the Audubon members will help non-experts in birding see what there is to see.
At trail's end, local historian David Knight will give a brief interpretive presentation on the background of the seldom-visited ruins site, reached via a path from the beach at the bottom of the V.I. National Park's popular Reef Bay Trail. Participants should take drinking water, binoculars if possible, and bathing suits if they want to swim, and wear shoes that can safely get wet. There's a $5 charge for anyone who's not a member of either group — except for students, who are welcome at no charge. To take part, be at the trail head above Genti Bay near the end of the Fish Bay Road at 1:30 p.m. March 12. Parking will be available nearby. To learn more, call society president Margie Labrenz at 693-8808.
LUNAR TUNES: The first group to announce a full moon music event for March is Rotary East of St. Thomas. Jazz is the genre for the fund raiser that will take place on the Marlin Deck of the American Yacht Harbor main building on Sunday, March 19, from 7 to 10 p.m.
The performers are still being assembled, so for the moment just call them Sally Smith and Friends. Keyboardist/vocalist Smith is pretty well connected, musically speaking, so count on a goodly number of associates coming through for the cause. The event is open to the public. Admission is $5. There'll be a wine tasting table and a digestif and dessert bar, along with other refreshment options. (Scene wondered what a digestif is, and learned that it's a liqueur that's opposite in purpose to an aperitif — that is, rather than stimulating the appetite as a prelude to a meal, it's intended to aid digestion after dining.)
If you need an enticement other than entertainment to check this one out, consider that the Rotary group has 13 years of community service to its credit. One of the highest-profile projects is the Rainbow Room reading and study center it developed in the Bovoni Housing Community a few years ago. Others include sponsoring the Eudora Kean High School Devil Rays swim team, assisting the Bovoni Boys and Girls Club, awarding University of the Virgin Islands tuition scholarships to graduating EKHS seniors, and collecting trash and maintaining trails on Cas Cay, a.k.a. Happy Island.
Meanwhile, Blitz Records will present its third straight Full Moon Jamz event at Coral World. The date for this one is Saturday, March 18, from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m., and the format will remain essentially the same — a couple of live music groups, moon-and-more gazing through the telescope of Kary "Starman" Williams, who'll also provide astronomical anecdotes, and a cash bar. Tickets will be $10 in advance (they're not out yet) and $15 at the door.
A BIRD AT THE BABY GRAND: There's a Britisher making music at The Inn at Blackbeard's Castle. London supper club singer/pianist Natasha Panas opened Tuesday as the nighttime attraction in the piano lounge. She brings her cabaret music stylings — "from Whitney Houston to show tunes," Inn managing partner David Abers says — nightly except Mondays, performing from 8 p.m. to midnight with a few breaks between sets.
Panas will be featured through Sunday, April 2. Opening on Tuesday, April 4, will be pianist Richard Berman, a familiar face to Blackbeard's piano lounge fans. "We're trying to get a vocalist to appear with him," Berman says. There's no cover any night, and a late-night menu is available at the bar.
ON THE WALLS: Peter Kemmler's exhibit of watercolors and oils, his first solo show in more than a decade, will hang through Saturday, March 11, at Mango Tango Gallery. For a review of the show, click on Showcase, "Kemmler's Much-Awaited Show a Best Seller."
* Also newly up is a show of 31 oil paintings by St. Thomas and St. John artists in the Temporary Gallery Space at the Fort Christian Museum. Many of the pieces are character studies; others are scenics and still lifes. The exhibitors are all students of Tom St. Vincent di Coio, who has been conducting weekly group classes for a couple of decades on St. Thomas. Over the years, his pupils have consistently captured awards at the annual Caribbean Colour exhibitions. They include some of the most successful professional painters in the territory. The gallery is open when the museum is — weekdays except holidays from 8:30 to 4:30 p.m.
* On Saturday and Sunday, March 11/12, St. John artist Lee Eng Kauv will have her first solo show on the island, an exhibition of her oil and acrylic paintings in the Westin Resort banquet hall. Much of her imagery has been inspired by her travels in the islands of the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and admission is free.
* On Sunday, March 12, the gallery will host a reception from 2 to 6 p.m. opening an exhibit of recent works by Donald Laurent Dahlke.
* On Thursday, March 16, from 5:30 to 8 p.m., the Color of Joy will host a reception opening a showing of acrylics on canvas by Alexis St. John collectively called "Lost in Dreams." The relationship between the spiritual and the material is a recurring theme in her work, along with a Caribbean influence conveyed through color and mood. The show will include "textured dreamscapes" and "several will feature my little spirit beings," the artist ways.
* Students of the School of Visual Arts and Careers at the Fort Christian Museum are painting a mural on the plywood panels put up to secure the construction site for renovations to the west end of the Grand Hotel. The youngsters came up with their own designs, choosing among marine life, birds, fruits and other island themes. Nary a bloody body,
handgun or drug image in the bunch. Offer them encouragement as you pass by.
TO BE SEEN BY THE HERD: Scene & Herd, which appears weekly on the Source, previews arts and entertainment events open to the public on St. Thomas and St. John. To have material considered for inclusion, make it available by the Sunday before desired publication date. Call or fax to 776-3812, or e-mail to jetsinger@viaccess.net..
