BRG Announces Artists for Surrealist Ball and Juried Exhibition
BATON ROUGE, LA – On Saturday, April 11, 2009, Baton Rouge Gallery will present an evening of surrealism like none other Baton Rogue has ever seen. The Surrealist Ball and Juried Exhibition will be a night of unexpected juxtapositions and beautifully orchestrated chaos. Part juried art exhibition, part costumed soiree, The Surrealist Ball will indulge and inspire the city, putting a decidedly Louisiana spin on one of the most important artistic movements ever.
The event will be held at The Ephemeral Gallery, located at 521 North 19th Street, from 7 – 11 p.m. Admission is just $15.
The Surrealist Ball and Juried Exhibition is an interactive event, where the audience is part of the exhibition itself. Everyone is invited to attend the evening’s festivities in the most elaborate, “surreal” attire they can dream up. The sky is the limit for costumes, something inspired by a surrealist painting or something original that is a complete work of fashion art in its own right! Cash prizes will be awarded to the most surreal costume.
At the heart of the Surrealist Ball will, of course, be the art. Baton Rouge Gallery extended a call to all artists living within the state of Louisiana to be a part of this unique evening. The work was juried by Baton Rouge Gallery Artist Members, ensuring a high quality, multi-media exhibition of surrealism-inspired artwork. Many pieces will be available for purchase by the public.
Artists featured in the Surrealist Ball and Juried Exhibition are: Molly Brow, Todd Hines, Elise Toups, Chad Townson, Kevin Duffy, Christopher Smith, Charles Barbier, Tiffany Olson, Vitalija Svencionyte, Robin Hartman, Renee Smith, Steve Schmidt, Jenny Koelbel, Jennifer Roy Oliver, Patrick Brabham, Kit French, John Harlan Norris, Erica Terluin, Matthew Bourgeois, Elena McAdams, Sarah Cancienne, Rachel Taylor, Frank Yunker, Lee Reed and Radar Cockfield.
In the courtyard area of The Ephemeral Gallery, the Surrealist Ball will take on an auditory element as well, featuring two of Baton Rouge’s most lyrically surreal musical outfits. Opening the evening’s musical entertainment will be Cohen and the Ghost. The band has been lauded by local critics, including having had their 2008 debut, Paper Moon, named one of our area’s “Most Intriguing Albums of 2008” by 225 Magazine. Currently in the midst of recording their follow-up (titled Monsters and Handshakes), Cohen and the Ghost has become one of the city’s most recognizable bands, with a hybrid of chilling maturity and lyrical ambition all their own.
Baton Rouge Gallery is very proud to announce that the Surrealist Ball will also host a special one-night-only reunion of one of Baton Rouge’s favorite home-grown bands, Harlan. Although the band parted ways months ago, the members will be jumping back on stage to headline the Surrealist Ball and Juried Exhibition. Ever since the release of the 2004 EP, Headphone Park, Harlan steadily grew to be one of the area’s most respected musical outfits. In fact, their 2008 album, Spiderette, was honored by 225 Magazine as the most “Intriguing Album of 2008.” The band has also received critical acclaim from such outlets as USA Today ("Really smart pop from Baton Rouge, Louisiana; classic songs mixed with moments of weirdness and overall a killer.") and Spin.com (“Beck meets XTC.”). The band has recently made the critically-acclaimed 2008 release available for free download at their website, thestillbeat.com <<http://thestillbeat.com>http://thestillbeat.com> . The band’s appearance at the Surrealist Ball will be their first live performance in nearly a year!
The Surrealist Ball and Juried Exhibition will be an event that is at the intersection of art and entertainment. By blending the worlds of costume, music and visual art, Baton Rouge Gallery hopes to shed light on the world of surrealism and provide a night of art and entertainment like nothing our community has seen before.
Tickets to this event can be purchased in advance at Baton Rouge Gallery or at the door.
For more information on the Surrealist Ball and Juried Exhibition, visit batonrougegallery.org or call 225.383.1470.
SAVE-THE-DATE :: SAVE-THE-DATE :: SAVE-THE-DATE
Artist Reception:
Saturday, April 25, 2009 6-9pm @ Michalopoulos Gallery, 617 Bienville Street in the French Quarter
Artist Reception:
Saturday, May 2, 2009, 6-9pm @ Michalopoulos Gallery, 617 Bienville Street in the French Quarter
Michalopoulos is hosting an artist reception to celebrate Jazz Fest! On display will be his Jazz Fest series showcasing the process it took to create this year’s official New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival poster: “Two Saints: Allen Toussaint and the French Quarter” featuring Rock-n-Roll Hall of Famer, and local favorite, Allen Toussaint. This event is FREE and open to the public.
www.michalopoulos.com | Gallery Phone is 504-558-0505
THIS WEEK AT THE OGDEN MUSEUM OF SOUTHERN ART
THURSDAY
6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Ogden After Hours presents Cedric Burnside & Lightnin’ Malcolm
10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Free admission for Louisiana residents, with valid I.D., is offered every Thursday courtesy of the Helis Foundation
SAVE THE DATES!
April 18, 2009 – The Art of Southern Film: "Johnny Cash’s America"
May 15, 2009 – 5th Annual Sippin’ in Seersucker
July 6, 2009 – Summer Camp @ the O
October 17, 2009 – O What A Night gala
EXHIBITION OPENING RECEPTION
Looking to Learn: The Louise S. McGehee School
Wednesday, April 1, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Please join us for light refreshments and a celebration of the visual arts at Louise S. McGehee School in New Orleans. The school has been known for a longtime for its innovative art department and teaching styles. With work representative of every division in the school, Looking to Learn: The Louise S. McGehee School art collection will be exhibited at the Ogden from April 1 to 19, 2009, as part of the museum’s ongoing Looking to Learn series. Included in the exhibition are Aboriginal paintings, landscapes, paintings of women in history, architectural studies, block prints, cardboard construction, photography, and ceramics produced by students in grades Pre-K through 12.
Tales of the Cocktail Announces The 2nd Annual Cocktail Film Fest
Tickets on Sale Now
Tales of the Cocktail and W New Orleans invite movie buffs and libation lovers to indulge in celebrating the cocktail in three films. Cheryl Charming aka Miss Charming™, cocktail author and founder of MissCharming.com, plays hostess for the silver screenings.
Film Fest hostess, Cheryl Charming aka Miss Charming™ has been in the food and beverage industry since 1976, tending bar, authoring cocktail related books (9 so far), teaching bar tricks to Walt Disney World bartenders, and cocktail consulting. She is a member of The Bartenders Guild, and The Museum of the American Cocktail. She resides in Downtown Orlando and maintains the website MissCharming.com.
The Film Fest schedule is as follows:
• Saturday, April 11th, 4 p.m., King Creole
• Saturday, April 11th, 6-8 p.m., Dean Serneels is the Mad MXologist
• Saturday, April 11th, 8 p.m., Cocktail
• Saturday, April 11th, Midnight, Moulin Rouge
Seating for all films are dinner party style.
Tales of the Cocktail and W New Orleans invite movie buffs and libation lovers to indulge in an evening of celebrating the cocktail in three films. Cheryl Charming, cocktail author and founder of MissCharming.com, plays hostess for the silver screenings.
The Film Fest schedule is as follows:
Saturday, April 11, 2009
4 pm. King Creole
6 pm. Meet-n-Greet Dean Sernells
8 pm. Cocktail
Midnight Moulin Rouge
*Seating for all films are dinner party style*
Film Fest hostess, Cheryl Charming a.k.a. Miss Charming™ has been in the food and beverage industry since 1976, tending bar, authoring cocktail related books (nine so far), teaching bar tricks to Walt Disney World bartenders, cocktail consulting and teaching cocktail classes. She is a member of The Bartenders Guild and The Museum of the American Cocktail. She resides in Downtown Orlando and maintains the website MissCharming.com.
Chef Roberto Bustillo, Jr. of Zoë Restaurant will prepare inspired hors d’oeuvres for the day. Chef Bustillo has won two Gold Fleur de Lis Awards from New Orleans Wine and Food Experience in 2006 and 2007 and a Silver Fleur de Lis Award in 2008. Zoë Restaurant and Lounge is located on the second floor of the W New Orleans.
Saturday, April 11th
King Creole (1958)
4 pm.
This Elvis Presley summer hit of 1958 was filmed in New Orleans when he was 22 years old. The cast and crew blocked off the entire top floor of the Roosevelt Hotel (now Fairmont Hotel and soon to be Waldorf Astoria). King Creole was Elvis’ last B&W film and is considered by critics to be his best. Elvis plays a nightclub busboy turned nightclub singer and even though there are many bar scenes not one single cocktail is mentioned, so we will be serving famous New Orleans cocktails including the Sazerac, Hurricane, Scarlet O’Hara, Ramos Gin Fizz, and French 75. Retro candy and popcorn will be served and popular soundtracks to look forward include Trouble, Hard Headed Woman, King Creole, New Orleans, and Dixieland Rock.
Dean Serneels is the Mad MXologist
6-8 pm.
Come meet Dean Serneels as the Mad Mixologist! This Dean of Drinks is an Inventor, Hospitality Consultant, Entertainer, Motivator, Flipping Mixologist and owner of Flairco.com. Dean will be sharing his skills in a hands-on bottle flipping workshop and will also entertain you with his magic and moves on the bar. Dean has won over 22 bartending awards, has appeared on the FOOD Network and as the bartender trainer on CMT’s Search for the Ultimate Coyote. Dean is also the creative mind behind all of the Flairco brand bartending products. Join Dean as he flips, spins and tosses the fictitious Blue Turquoise from the film, Cocktail, Pink Squirrels, and Sex on the Beaches. Landshark beer will also be available.
Cocktail (1988)
8 pm.
Cocktail finally turns 21! And what better way to celebrate this summer hit of ’88 than with dinner, drinks and a movie New York/Jamaican style! This film kick-started modern flair bartending worldwide and introduced three hit songs, Kokomo, Don’t Worry, Be Happy and Addicted To Love. We celebrate the 21st birthday with Jamaican style food and birthday cake.
Special guest star, Dean Serneels will be present demonstrating the moves seen in the film.
Moulin Rouge (2001)
Midnight
Can-Can you join us for a midnight enchanting screening of this lush and visually-rich modern musical that was nominated for 8 Oscars? The Green Fairy will be upon us as we serve Absinthe in glass blown fountains at each table. Nibbles, bottled water and French wine will also be available.
Tickets and Special Rates
Tickets are required for Tales of the Cocktail Film Fest and can be purchased online at www.TalesoftheCocktail.com www.TalesoftheCocktail.com> as of February 15, 2009 for $25 per showing. Ticket packages are available through the website. A special room rate of $99 at the W Hotel New Orleans available Thursday, April 9, 2009 through Monday, April 13, 2009. Please use promotion code LIF. For event guests, a rate of $12 per car will be available. For questions, please call 1-877-WHOTELS for assistance. Book a room online at www.TalesoftheCocktail.com.
YLC WEDNESDAY AT THE SQUARE ANNOUNCES LINEUP AND PARTNERSHIP WITH NEW ORLEANS SAINTS
Young Leadership Council Celebrates 10-Year Anniversary of Concerts
NEW ORLEANS ˆ March 11, 2009 ˆ The Young Leadership Council (YLC) is proud to
announce its 10th Annual YLC Wednesday at the Square concert series lineup, which
includes national act Letters to Cleo, as well as regional and local favorites like
Trombone Shorty, Galactic, Marcia Ball and Amanda Shaw. Full schedule follows
below.
This year’s series will feature the New Orleans Saints as the title sponsor.
"We are thrilled to celebrate the series’ 10th anniversary. It’s amazing how far this event
has come. We’re talking about an event that started with a few hundred people
attending each week to one that consistently averages 5,000 people per week and has
become a rite of Spring in New Orleans," said Amy Boyle, Executive Director of the
YLC. "The fact that the hometown favorite New Orleans Saints are on board as our title
sponsor is lagniappe!"
"The Saints are committed to the total health of our community which includes cultural
initiatives throughout the region, and the Wednesday at the Square concerts provide an
outlet for everyone in our area to get together and enjoy themselves," said
Owner/Executive Vice President Rita Benson LeBlanc. "Our club and the Young
Leadership Council will be holding what is ultimately a weekly, free festival at Lafayette
Square with great food and great entertainment, and we invite everyone to come out
and have fun while celebrating living in New Orleans."
The free concert series runs every Wednesday from April 1ˆJune 17, 2009, 5:00ˆ
7:30 pm in Lafayette Square just off Poydras Street between St. Charles Avenue and
Camp Street across from Gallier Hall.
YLC Wednesday at the Square features one music stage with performances by two
different bands each week. There is food and treats from some of New Orleans’ most
popular names, including Plum Street Snoballs, plus beer from Abita Brewing Company
along with cocktails, soft drinks and more. Artists from New Orleans and the Mississippi
Gulf Coast will also be on hand in the Artist Village selling glass art, handmade jewelry,
ceramics, high art photographs, and other various items for the home.
YLC Wednesday at the Square has made it easier to purchase food and beverage
tickets. Fans can avoid the lines and pre-purchase tickets online at
www.wednesdayatthesquare.com.
To celebrate 10 years of free concerts, YLC Wednesday at the Square will sponsor
10 Ticket Giveaways. Follow YLC Wednesday at the Square at
www.twitter.com/WedAtTheSquare to get exclusive tips of where the tickets can be
found. The first hint will be posted March 12, 2009.
YLC Wednesday at the Square 2009 Schedule
April 1 Bucktown All-Stars + Soul Rebels
April 8 Ivan Neville’s DUMPSTAPHUNK + Shades of Praise
April 15 Jeremy Davenport + The Preservation Hall-Stars
April 22 Kermit Ruffins & the Barbecue Swingers + Jake Smith
April 29 Marcia Ball + Marva Wright & the BMW’s
May 6 Big Sam’s Funky Nation + The Dynamites featuring Charles Walker
May 13 Amanda Shaw & The Cute Guys + Honey Island Swamp Band
May 20 Letters to Cleo + MaryAnne Marino
May 27 Bag of Donuts + The Figs
June 3 Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue + John Boutté and Paul Sanchez
June 10 The Boogie Men + Dr. Gonzeaux
June 17 GALACTIC + Hot 8 Brass Band
To receive weekly updates on the series, fans can sign up for YLC Wednesday at
the Square emails at www.wednesdayatthesquare.com.
Preservation Hall SCHEDULE:
Friday, April 24, 11:59pm
Zigaboo and Friends with special guest Marva Wright, $25 (early purchase price!)
Saturday, April 25, 11:59pm
Zigaboo and Friends with special guest Walter Wolfman Washington, $25 (early purchase price!)
Sunday, April 26, 8:30pm
The Del McCoury Band and Preservation Hall Jazz Band, $25
Sunday, April 26, 11:00pm
The Del McCoury Band and Preservation Hall Jazz Band, $25
Thursday, April 30, 11:59pm
Rebirth Brass Band, $15 (early purchase price!)
Friday, May 1, 11:59pm
The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, $20
Saturday, May 2, 11:59pm
Feet To The Floor (featuring Eric McFadden, Leo Nocentelli, Mean Willie Green, Nick Daniels, and Glenn Hartman), $25
Please join us on May 1st and 2nd from 8:00 – 11:00 pm for
Two very special performances from the Preservation Hall Jazz Band
Celebrating the release of their new CD: New Orleans Preservation, Vol. 1
Bravo and Cox New Orleans Bring “Top Chef: The Tour 2” to New Orleans
“Top Chef” Season Five Chef’testant Radhika Desai and Season Four’s Richard Blais Serve Up New Orleans at Crescent City Farmer’s Market
WHAT:
Bravo’s “Top Chef: The Tour 2,” a nationwide 21-city promotional tour featuring a brand new state-of-the-art customized traveling 18-wheeler semi-truck, with an expansive space to accommodate fans for each on-site demonstration, will visit New Orleans on April 14.
Bravo, Cox New Orleans and the New Orleans Wine & Food Experience will bring “Top Chef” passionate fans and affiliate partners the ultimate culinary experience, complete with cooking demonstrations and food tastings hosted by former winners and chef’testants.
The “Top Chef” truck is an impressive 44-foot self-sufficient moving vehicle equipped with power and water, and includes a state-of-the-art kitchen. The truck will expand outwards with its kitchen, stage, demonstration area and 60 seats, all under an enclosed canopy. Additional guests will be able to view demonstrations from outside of the seating area or from a 50” plasma television in the activity area. “Top Chef: The Tour 2” is sponsored by Quaker and produced by mobile tour specialist, LeadDog Marketing Group.
WHO:
“Top Chef” Chef’testant Season Five’s Radhika Desai and Season Four’s Richard Blais.
WHEN:
Tuesday, April 14
Three live interactive shows:
9:30 a.m.–10:30 a.m.; 11:00 a.m.–12:00 p.m.; and 12:30 p.m.–1:30p.m.
WHERE:
Crescent City Farmers Market
200 Broadway Street, New Orleans
To learn more about “Top Chef: The Tour 2” visit www.bravotv.com/thetour.
michelle y williams gallery Feels the Rhythm and Blues During Jazz Fest
What: michelle y williams gallery “Y Rhythm and Blues” Art Walk Opening
When: Saturday, May 2, 2009 at 6 p.m.
Where: 835 Julia Street, New Orleans, LA 70113 (Julia @ Baronne)
michelle y williams gallery Feels the Rhythm and Blues During
Jazz Fest
New Orleans, LA—April 7, 2009—On Saturday, May 2 at 6 P.M., michelle y williams gallery will welcome art walk patrons to a rhythm and blues-themed open house, in honor of Jazz Fest.
“Music and art go hand in hand and we are proud to show our support for both of these cultural expressions,” said artist Michelle Williams.
Williams is new to the New Orleans art scene having recently celebrated the grand opening of her gallery on Julia Street.
Working on canvas, wood, metal and Plexiglas, Williams paints exclusively with a palette knife as her painting tool and uses various materials, including acrylics, oils and raw materials like sand. Sensitive to the use of light, Williams has experimented in other mediums, including glass, metal and sculpture. Though she primarily paints, Williams also creates dimensional works in glass and metal.
The New Orleans Arts District Art Walk is a free event open to the public the first Saturday of every month.
UNO to offer two free seminars on photography
The University of New Orleans will present free seminars by photographers Joyce Tenneson on April 17 and Bill Fortney on May 7. Both will begin at 7 p.m. in Kirschman Hall, room 129.
Tenneson, whose presentation is titled “Joyce Tenneson – Explorer of Light,” has authored 13 books, including “Joyce Tenneson: A Life in Photography” (Bulfinch Press, 2008). She has received several awards for her work, including the International Center of Photography’s Infinity Award for best applied photography, and being named Photographer of the Year by the international Women in Photography organization. A recent poll conducted by American Photo Magazine ranked Tenneson among the 10 most influential women photographers in history. Tenneson lives and works in New York.
Fortney, whose seminar is titled “Take Your Photography to the Next Level with Bill Fortney,” has worked as a newspaper and magazine photojournalist and sports photographer, including serving as the official Washington Redskins photographer for the team’s strike-shortened Super Bowl Championship season. He has also done medical and commercial work. For the past 15 years, Fortney has been among the nation’s leading nature photographers and is founder of the Great American Photography Workshop.
The free seminars by Tenneson and Fortney are presented by UNO with support from Lakeside Camera, Canon and Nikon.
National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere of the second in John Biguenet’s RISING WATER Trilogy
SHOTGUN
— love among the ruins —
New Orleans — Southern Rep presents the National New Play Network “rolling” world premiere of local playwright and novelist John Biguenet’s drama SHOTGUN, which runs May 6-31, 2009. Previews begin Wednesday, May 6th, followed by Opening Night, Saturday, May 9th. Performances continue through May 31st, Thursdays through Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. Tickets are on sale now from $18 – $35 and may be purchased at (504) 522-6545 or www.southernrep.com <<http://www.southernrep.com>http://www.southernrep.com> .
In SHOTGUN, the second play of his acclaimed Rising Water Trilogy, John Biguenet explores what happens when the storm water recedes. Mattie, an upwardly mobile African American landlord, rents the other half of her shotgun double to the white carpenter Beau and his teenage son who lost their home to the flood waters. Dexter, Mattie’s unemployed machinist father, has moved in with her and is none too happy that she’s renting to Beau. In this pressure-cooker of a house divided, these wounded people must choose between living in the dark past or looking to a brighter future.
Southern Rep will kick off SHOTGUN’s National New Play Network “rolling” world premiere in May; then Florida Studio Theatre and Orlando Shakespeare Theater will present their own productions in 2010. The play has already been presented as staged readings at three theaters in the U.S. and has been awarded a 2009 Access to Artistic Excellence grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Southern Rep commissioned and premiered Biguenet’s RISING WATER to great acclaim; it became the best selling play in the theater’s 22-year history and has gone on to seven productions across the country so far. The Times-Picayune wrote that RISING WATER “grabbed the audience in its first tense moments and never let go.” Elsewhere, critics praised it as “a great American play – perhaps one of the first great plays of the 21st Century” (Orange Country Register) and an “indelible experience” (Backstage, Los Angeles).
Valerie Curtis-Newton directs, with a cast of Lance Nichols (THE BREACH; RELATIVITY), Donna Duplantier (DOUBT, RELATIVITY), Rus Blackwell, Kenneth Brown (THE BREACH) and Alex Lemonier (THE HISTORY BOYS, Big Easy Award for Best Performance by a Child). Nichols, Duplantier, Blackwell and Brown were all featured in the film …Benjamin Button. The design team includes scenic designer Geoffrey Hall (DYING CITY, THE CLEAN HOUSE), lighting designer Patti West, costume designer Kelly James-Penot (SICK; SCANDALOUS!; THE SEAFARER), and sound designer Eric Shim (SICK; THE CLEAN HOUSE; THE BREACH).
The Big Easy’s 2008 Theatre Person of the Year, John Biguenet is the author of six books and four previous plays: WUNDMALE (broadcast on German and Austrian national radio), THE VULGAR SOUL (SRT 2005), RISING WATER (winner of the 2006 National New Play Network Commission Award and other honors), and NIGHT TRAIN (developed on a 2008 Studio Attachment at the National Theatre in London). His work has been presented at Symphony Space on Broadway and on stages around the country. Biguenet chronicled in columns and videos for the New York Times the catastrophic flooding of his hometown of New Orleans (<http://biguenet.blogs.nytimes.com>http://biguenet.blogs.nytimes.com). He teaches at Loyola University.
Director Valerie Curtis-Newton is the Artistic Director at The Hansberry Project, an Artistic Associate at Seattle’s ACT, and heads the Directing Program at the University of Washington. She’s directed at such highly regarded theatres as Actors Theatre of Louisville, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Mark Taper Forum, and New York Theatre Workshop. She was selected as an NEA/TCG Career Development Director and won SDCF’s distinguished Gielgud Directing Fellowship. For more, go to www.valeriecurtisnewton.com <<http://www.valeriecurtisnewton.com>http://www.valeriecurtisnewton.com> .
This production of SHOTGUN, like SRT’s current production of SICK, is part of the National New Play Network’s (www.nnpn.org <<http://www.nnpn.org>http://www.nnpn.org> ) Continued Life of New Plays Fund, a cooperative venture designed to insure that new plays will see future productions beyond the initial debut. Partnerships of three theatres receive funds in support of multiple productions of the same new play, guaranteeing the play national exposure.
Southern Rep will host talk-backs for the audience after each Sunday matinee.
SHOTGUN tickets are now on sale. Regular ticket prices range from $18 – $35: $18 for Previews Wednesday – Friday, May 6-8; $35 for Opening Night, Saturday, May 9 (includes a sponsored reception catered by Whole Foods Market); Individual Tickets are $20-$27. Group rates and student and senior tickets are available. For all shows but Opening Night, $10 Student Rush tickets are offered 15 minutes before curtain on a cash-only basis, with student ID. For information and to order tickets, call (504) 522-6545 or visit www.southernrep.com
