Category: Culture

Carolina Moments: Eat, Read, Listen, & Watch

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EATING: LUNCH IN CARRBORO

Last week, our Abroad at Home outing was to Pizzeria Mercato, a Carrboro pizza place favored by my sister and brother-in-law.  Some local folks may well remember Magnolia Grill, an all-time great restaurant in Durham.  We would dine there every time we visited family in North Carolina.  

Ben and Karen Barker won numerous awards for his cooking and her baking and put Durham on the culinary map.  The restaurant closed more than ten years ago, but their son Gabe carries on the restaurant tradition with Pizzeria Mercato.  

Open since 2016, It’s a casual venue with a menu that surpasses expectations.  Between the four of us, we sampled several pizzas including a margherita with delicate fennel sausage and a puttanesca with gorgonzola cheese.  We also enjoyed delectable arancini (rice balls), sauteed green beans, Neapolitan meatballs, and minestrone soup.  For later, the Chief Penguin and I took home a package of salted chocolate chip cookies. Most business is walk-ins, but they do take some reservations.  Highly recommended! 

It was also Open Studio weekend.  After lunch, we wandered a bit and then headed to the studios at the Clay Centre on Lloyd Street.  I was particularly taken with the pottery and ceramics by two artists—Betsy Vaden and Patricia Saling.  

READING: SERIOUS BUSINESS

The Country of the Blind by Andrew Leland

(nextbigideaclub.com)

Subtitled, A Memoir at the End of Sight, Andrew Leland’s The Country of the Blind is a very personal account of living with deteriorating sight.  It’s also a history of the organizations that provide support for the blind, such as the American Federation for the Blind; how blindness has been treated by society over the years, and what adaptive technologies exist to assist in reading.  Librarians may recall the early Kurzweil reader; today there are compact screen readers.  

I confess to lots of skimming as I was most interested in Leland’s personal insights and adjustments.  How did he and his wife navigate his changing view of the world?  What was it like for him and his young son Oscar?  And how and when did he begin to use a cane and other aids?  

His thoughts on how he felt in the regular world and what he experienced in a residential school for newly blind individuals were informative and emotional.  It took him some years to complete this work, and it is obviously a labor of love.  It’s detailed, thorough, and endlessly fascinating.  (~JWFarrington)

LISTENING: CHAMBER MUSIC

Combinations in Raleigh

The Four Seasons Chamber Music Festival is celebrating 25 years this year.  This music festival originated at Eastern Carolina University in Greenville.  Most of its concerts are there, but in more recent years, it has brought its Signature Series to Raleigh at Hayes Barton United Methodist Church.

Last Sunday’s concert was a treat featuring six stellar musicians including festival founder Ara Gregorian on viola.  The program consisted of Overture on Hebrew Themes by Prokofiev, with piano, violins, viola, cello, and clarinet, followed by a Mozart clarinet quintet, and ending with a piano quintet by Shostakovich.  We appreciated the intimacy of the church sanctuary setting.  The next concert in the series is in February.  

WATCHING: INTERNATIONAL POLITICS

The Diplomat (Netflix) 2 seasons

Kate & Hal (theatlantic.com)

Diplomat Kate Wyler is unexpectedly summoned and promoted to ambassador to the U.K. after an incident involving an explosion at sea.  She is both flummoxed and concerned about how she will fit in this new role, especially since her husband Hal is himself a former ambassador, very present and itching to be involved.  

Season 1 has been available for a while, and the Chief Penguin and I watched it previously.  Now we are re-watching it to be fully up to date before watching the just released second season.  Given the international political situation in the U.S. vis-à-vis Ukraine and Israel, The Diplomat is fascinating and possibly better the second time around.  

Watching heads of state and their chiefs negotiate high stakes deals is compelling, but this series is also as much about the Wylers’ marriage and their ever-evolving relationship.  She has said she wants a divorce, but they are still very connected.  

The stars of this series are the unmatchable Keri Russell of The Americans as Kate, and the oh so perfectly sexy, cagey, and charming Rufus Sewell as Hal.  Highly recommended for mature audiences!

Note: Header photo of red leaves ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)

Sarasota Scene: Theater, Music, & Talk

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It was a week that showcased some of the best in culture and learning Sarasota has to offer. The play was powerful and timely, the orchestra’s performance moving, and the lecture, food for the mind.

WOMAN POWER & SCIENCE

Silent Sky at Asolo Repertory Theatre

Silent Sky cast, Henrietta at right (Your Observer)

Silent Sky by playwright Lauren Gunderson is a woman-centered work about astronomer Henrietta Leavitt.  A Harvard graduate, Henrietta, was hired as a computer in the Harvard Observatory in 1900 working under the direction of Professor Edward Pickering.  She and Annie Cannon and Williamina Fleming, her colleagues, studied and mapped star plates, but were not allowed to work on the actual telescope.  Scientist Peter Shaw made rounds to check up on them.

Henrietta had a bold spirit and a creative mind and saw stars and patterns that eluded others.  This is a marvelous play about women:  the three female scientists and Margaret, Henrietta’s composer sister, and the challenges and conflicts they faced as women.  Highly recommended!  The play runs through March 5.

ASTOUNDING MUSICIANSHIP

Sarasota Orchestra, A Romantic Affair

Pianist Tsujii (Sarasota Orchestra)

The Sarasota Orchestra is in another transition year after the untimely death of the newly hired music director, Branwell Tovey, last July.  That means this season brings another string of guest conductors, selected to deliver the programs that Tovey had developed.  This most recent concert was simply superb!  

Conductor Peter Oundjian, in his second appearance, was warm in his opening remarks and sprightly on the podium.  We heard a spellbinding performance of Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor with Japanese pianist Nobuyuki Tsujii and a rousing rendition of Brahms’ Symphony No. 1 in C Minor.  This orchestra was at its very best!

EUROPEAN POLITICS

Macron’s Europe – or Is it Putin’s? (Global Issues series, Sarasota Institute of Lifetime Learning)

Author Walker (Facebook)

Martin Walker had a long career as a journalist for The Guardian and UPI and then a second career working with various think tanks.  His talk about the challenges faced by France and the European Union in dealing with Russia was informative and insightful.  The Chief Penguin and I found it worthwhile but could have done without his opening humor.  

There was a large crowd in attendance, probably partly due to Walker’s third career as the author of the Chief Bruno mysteries set in France.  It’s also worth noting that he has been a SILL speaker for thirty years.

CURRENT READING

The Chancellor: The Remarkable Odyssey of Angela Merkel by Kati Marton

More about this accessible biography in a future blog post

Note: Header photo is of the bell tower at New College of Florida ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved.)

Potpourri: From Majesty to Travesty

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MAJESTY AND MIGHT

Funeral of Prince Philip

Despite the restrictions of the pandemic, yesterday’s funeral for Prince Philip at Windsor Castle in St. George’s Chapel was replete with majesty and the military.  Outside, some 800 members of various branches of the military paraded, saluted, and honored the steadfast Duke of Edinburgh.  Queen Elizabeth entered the chapel alone ahead of the royal procession.  Swathed in black and masked, she was diminutive in sadness.  

The royal procession into the chapel was small.  In a break from tradition, Princess Anne was the only woman, joining her three brothers, nephews William and Harry, and her son Peter.  The dean of the chapel and the archbishop of Canterbury read scripture and led prayers, a choir of four lent their robust voices to lovely music, while bagpipes and bugles sounded the final notes.  It was a beautifully simple service and a fitting tribute to a man who served and loved country, queen and consort for 73 years.

ENTERTAINMENT AND ENLIGHTENMENT

Camelot (streaming from Asolo Rep)

Britney Coleman as Guenevere (broadwayworld.com)

Recently, I was dismayed to learn that all the performances of the outdoor production of Camelot were sold out.  Intrigued by the idea of a concert version of this famous musical, I bought streaming access for $25.  The Chief Penguin and I were completely captivated.  

In true Asolo style, not only were the acting and singing marvelous and fun, but the staging was so creative.  Performing literally on the building’s steps and landing, the small cast carried off creative choreography backed by clever changing backdrops.  It was as good as it would have been had we been there in person.  Maybe even better, since we saw everything close up!

Colson Whitehead in Conversation

(ew.com)

Thanks to my friend Sue, several of us were able to view a presentation by author Colson Whitehead, part of a series by Guildford College.  In a soliloquy with nary a breath taken, Whitehead unspooled the thread of his literary career:  innovative approaches to fiction, multiple genres, and back-to-back Pulitzers Prizes for his two latest novels. The novels are The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys. It was an engaging program as he detailed where he gets his ideas and how he prepared to write The Nickel Boys.  

My local book group will be discussing The Nickel Boys next week.  It’s a chilling piece of historical fiction based on a brutal reform school in the Florida Panhandle, Dozier School for Boys.  It abused and tortured many boys and yet existed for more than a hundred years.  

CULINARY CORNER

Dry Dock Waterfront Grill

Continuing my al fresco dining, a friend and I had lunch the other day at Dry Dock on Longboat Key.  This popular restaurant has a lovely location on Sarasota Bay with spacious patio seating.  The menu has choices of seafood, salads, and sandwiches. along with pasta with a variety of sauces.  We enjoyed our rather conventional choices:  a BLT and the chicken and mozzarella sandwich on focaccia.  The accompanying cole slaw was also very good.  If you plan to go, do make a reservation, unless you don’t mind waiting to be seated!

Monotones II, Sarasota Ballet

Culture: High, Low & In-between

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We are mostly at home these days with just the regular outings to the supermarket, cheese shop, and this week Costco.  After many months of this, plus lots of reading and TV viewing, we are now beginning to sign up for and watch cultural offerings online.  A few weeks ago, it was two interviews in The New Yorker Festival. This week, the ballet.

ONLINE CULTURE

Sarasota Ballet:  Digital Program 1

Rather than in-person performances, the Sarasota Ballet is recording and offering short programs for online streaming.  These feature only a few dancers at a time and were made with all of the CDC guidelines in place.  The “ticket,” i.e. online link, for this show was $35 and arrived via e-mail.  My technologically adept Chief Penguin was able to hook up my iPad to throw the image up on our large TV screen.  

This year the ballet is celebrating its 30th anniversary.  They are known for presenting the works of noted British choreographer, Sir Frederick Ashton, and have performed at the Kennedy Center in D.C, and the Joyce Theater in New York.  Just an hour long, this program concentrates on Ashton’s wide variety of styles.  There were seven short pieces ranging from an ethereal threesome, all in white, in Erik Satie’s Monotones II, to scenes from Meditation from Thais (music by Offenbach),  The Sleeping Beauty (Tchaikovsky), and the balcony scene from Romeo & Juliet.  It ended with a lively series of ballroom dances in Façade (composer William Walton).  

We had 5 days in which to view the program and ended up enjoying it with our pre-dinner wine and munchies.  The video quality was excellent and overall it was an enjoyable experience, one I’m sure we’ll repeat!

DRAMA ON THE SCREEN

VILLAGE GOSSIP
The Trouble with Maggie Cole (PBS)
Jill, Maggie, Peter (radiotimes.com)

Set in the fictional village of Thurlbury and filmed in Devon and Cornwall, Thurlbury looks picturesque and idyllic.  But, when Maggie gives a radio interview and unloads all she knows about the trials and tribulations of her neighbors, it goes viral.  And suddenly, she’s persona non grata.  

Self-important and nosy, Maggie runs the small gift shop at the historic keep and dubs herself a local historian.  Her long-suffering and ever supportive husband Peter is the headmaster at the local school.  Her son Jamie is in real estate and his wife Becka is forthright and, in the most amusing way, takes no guff from her mother-in-law.  Maggie’s best friend Jill invites a noted mystery author to her class at school.

When the townspeople’s secrets end up in the local paper, Maggie sets out on a mission to apologize to everyone she has offended.  The Trouble with Maggie Cole is a 6-part series that is alternately funny, wacky, and serious.  It is a British series, and something about it seemed to me so very British in its approach.  You might not love Maggie, but it is intriguing to watch how secrets revealed lead to both positive and negative outcomes.  

FORBIDDEN LOVE 

Secreto Bien Guardado (Netflix)

One viewer called this a fairy tale; I might say it’s a bonbon.  The times are serious, but the story is romantic.  Seventeen-year-old Amalia, vacationing with her parents and sisters in Argentina in 1940, meets Martin, a young German lawyer.  Both are immediately attracted to each other.  She is Jewish and he’s a Nazi and complications follow.  Over eight episodes (all less than 30 minutes) and several years, we follow the obstacles they face and their respective fates.  I found this an absorbing diversion for my treadmill watching.

CRIMES ON THE WATER 

High Seas (Alta Mar) (Netflix)
Carolina, Eva, Nicholas, captain (silverpetticoatreview.com)

There’s a profusion of Spanish series now on Netflix, some of them Netflix originals.  High Seas is a stylish production set on a cruise ship headed from Spain to Brazil in the late 1940’s.  Fernando, part owner of the ship and his fiancée, Carolina, and her sister Eva, a budding author, are all sailing.  Carolina’s wedding is to take place during the voyage. She is focused on that, but Eva is more interested in solving the mysteries.  

Also on board are their Uncle Petra; Luisa, a stowaway; Fernando’s sister Natalia and her husband; and Clara, a beautiful lounge singer.  Captain Aguirre is on his last voyage and deeply mourning the death of his wife. First Officer Nicholas is handsome and more like a son than staff to the captain.  The ship is luxurious, but there are troubled waters ahead with murders, disappearances, and storms to be navigated.  

Like a soap opera at times, but with plenty of puzzles, it is never dull!  There are three seasons and I have just completed Season 1.

Note: Header image is of Sarasota Ballet dancers in Monotones II from ft.com