Presidential pasts and an impending future by Steve Parks
Former president and now president-elect Donald Trump will be inaugurated again – this time to a non-consecutive second term. (The first since Grover Cleveland, elected in 1885 and 1893.) Although I was disappointed, to say the least, about his victory over Vice President Kamala Harris in November, it is clear that Trump was elected fair […]
Spy Art Review: Start your engines at AAM by Steve Parks
Now and for the next few months, Easton’s Academy Art Museum’s main galleries are transformed into automobile showrooms – except these vehicles are historically artistic expressions of engineering on wheels that you could never afford even if any of the few such cars left in existence were for sale. But while Concours d’Elegance – vintage auto shows […]
Spy Concert Review: MSO’s Joy to the Season by Steve Parks
A “Holiday Joy” concert by the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, led by maestro Michael Repper, is a lot more than Jolly St. Nick, “Joy to the World” and carols galore. This season, you’ll also hear arias about character assassins and deadly ones, too – both in French – plus an English poetry reading with symphonic sound […]
The growing art scene in Easton by Steve Parks
The visual art scene in downtown Easton – also known as the Arts District – is now more so than ever before. From three fine-art galleries barely more than a year ago, Easton will soon have seven within strolling distance from Talbot County Courthouse, Academy Art Museum, Tidewater Inn, and Avalon Theatre. On Friday afternoon, […]
Spy Concert Review: MSO Performs Beethoven’s 5th by Steve Parks
If there are any four notes in all the classical music canon that almost everyone recognizes – even those who wouldn’t know Mozart from Muddy Waters – it would be the bah-bah-bah-BOHM of Beethoven’s Fifth. But how many aficionados would recognize the first few bars of his “rookie” symphony No. 1 as Beethoven’s? When it […]
Spy Theater Review: Ghosts haunt the Avalon by Steve Parks
Not to take anything away from the cast and creators of “Stage Fright,” now playing twice daily through Sunday at the Avalon Theatre, but the true star of this production is the Avalon itself, which observed its first hundred years in 2022. Described as an “immersive theater experience,” the show is a largely fictional Halloween […]
Spy Review: Isidore String Quartet Interlude by Steve Parks
The Isidore String Quartet, riding high after back-to-back years as winner of Canada’s prestigious Banff International String Quartet Competition (2022) and an Avery Fisher Career Grant (2023) put their credentials to inspired effect in their Chesapeake Music Interlude concert Saturday night. Never mind that the program listed a trio of pieces by dead European […]
Spy Review: Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra Season-Opener, by Steve Parks
You could say that the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra trumpeted the opening of the fall arts season at the acoustically pleasing Easton Church of God Thursday night, except that it was mostly strings that heralded the “Violin Virtuoso” concert series, which continues with performances this weekend in Lewes, Delaware and Ocean Pines, Maryland. The 27th season […]
17th Annual Chesapeake Film Festival and the Man Behind It All by Steve Parks
For the 17th annual Chesapeake Film Festival – opening Sept. 27 in Easton, preceded by a one-day mini-fest Sept. 12 in Chestertown – more than 200 films from five countries and 15 states were submitted of which 32 made the grade. Among those that were accepted by the festival team is the opening day documentary […]
Mid-Shore Arts: A Unique Singer-Songwriter Showcase in Rock Hall
You could say it’s a “rock hall,” except that The Mainstay in Rock Hall, the historic burg by the Bay, presents far more than one genre of live music. On Sunday afternoon, Mainstay hosts a Singer-Songwriter Showcase outdoors on the venue’s Backyard stage – weather permitting. Matt Mielnick, director of The Mainstay, says the showcase […]