(Courtesy: Globe-Gazette)
Some music, some comedy - sometimes
mixed - along with a little bit of art, and visiting with your friends
and neighbors is just around the corner.
Take a look at some of the best entertainment North Iowa has to offer this weekend - and beyond.
Visit MacNider: Off the Clock on Friday
Another
session of MacNider: Off the Clock is set for Friday, March 31, at the
Charles H. MacNider Art Museum, 303 Second St. S.E., Mason City.
From
5 to 7 p.m., visitors can mingle, view the exhibits, enjoy
complimentary wine and appetizers, and listen to music by North Iowa
blues guitarist Melvin Lavert.
Currently
on display are the exhibits “Mini Masters” 33rd Annual School Art
Exhibition in the Center Space Gallery and “The Light Fantastic:
Paintings on Glass by John Lyon Paul” exhibition in the Kinney Lindstrom
Gallery.
The event is free and open to the public.
Museum hours are 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday and Thursday, and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.
The Commodores bring Rhythm & Blues, Pop and Funk to the Surf
The
Commodores, known for their hits "Just to Be Close to You," "Easy," and
"Brickhouse," bring their powerful music to the Surf Ballroom &
Museum in Clear Lake on Friday, March 31. Doors open at 8 p.m.
Founded
in 1968 when they were students at Tuskeegee University, the Commodores
were discovered by Berry Gordy. They went on to sell more than 60
million records for Motown, with hits like “Machine Gun” and “Sail On.”
In 1986, minus Lionel Richie, they found Grammy recognition with
“Nightshift.”
The group
continues to record on their own label, "the Commodores," including
“Commodores Live,” made during the group's 1997 U.S. tour and released
in 1998 along with a TV special.
Tickets
are $38 in advance, $43 at the door, available at the Surf Ballroom box
office, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, by calling 641-357-6151
or on-line at www.surfballroom.com.
"Sacrificial Landscapes”
Learn
about a vanished city near Osage and how it plays into art when Colin
Lyons presents "Sacrificial Landscapes” at 1 p.m. Saturday, April 1, in
the Salsbury Room at the Charles H. MacNider Art Museum, 303 Second St.
S.E., Mason City.
Admission is free, and seating is on a first come, first served basis.
Lyons'
talk will include a brief history of Lithograph City, a town that was
once located six miles south of Osage, and a discussion on how this
enters into his projects.
His
recent work fuses printmaking, sculpture, and chemical experiments,
pushing the role of the etching plate beyond its traditional boundaries
as a re-enactment of the rise and fall of industrial economies. He
explores industry through the lens of fragility and impermanence,
considering planned obsolescence and the nature of what we choose to
preserve.
Lyons lives in Iowa City, where he holds the Grant Wood Fellowship at The University of Iowa. For more information, visit www.macniderart.org or call 641-421-3666.
Comedy opens April Fool's Day in Rowan
Catch a "Southern fried trailer park comedy" beginning April Fool's Day at the Iowa River Players Theater in Rowan.
“Doublewide,
Texas,” by Jones, Hope and Wooten, opens at 7 p.m. Saturday, April 1,
and runs for two weekends. The cast includes actors from Belmond,
Clarion, Hampton Latimer and Rowan.
In
this fast-paced comedy, the inhabitants of one of the smallest trailer
parks in Texas — four doublewides and a shed — are thrown for a loop
when they realize the nearby town of Tugaloo is determined to annex
them. The mayhem escalates as the residents attempt to secede from Texas
and discover a traitor in their midst.
Performances
are 7 p.m. Saturday, April 1; 2:30 p.m. Sunday, April 2; 7 p.m. Friday,
April 7; 2:30 and 7 p.m. Saturday, April 8; 2:30 p.m. Sunday, April 9.
Individual and season tickets are on sale online at www.iowariverplayerstheater.org, the Facebook page, and at the door.
Ah, oui! Springtime in Paris
Be transported to Springtime in Paris with the Charles City Community Chamber Orchestra on Sunday, April 2.
The concert is set for 2 p.m. at the 500 North Grand Auditorium in Charles City. Admission is free.
Conductor
John Chiles (Cedar Falls) will lead the ensemble through a repertoire
of music from French composers. Megan Grey, mezzo soprano from Cedar
Falls, will perform two pieces from the opera, "Carmen," accompanied by
the orchestra, as well as two solo pieces accompanied by pianist
Elisabed Imerlishvili, a University of Northern Iowa graduate piano
performance student.
Grey, in
the Masters of Music program in voice performance at UNI, has had
several roles with UNI Opera. She performed with the Chautauqua Opera
Company last summer, and will return this summer as a studio artist, as
well as playing the role of Proserpina in a Respighi orchestration of
Monteverdi's L'Orfeo, a U.S. stage premier of this historic work. She
holds an undergraduate degree in voice performance from UNI.
A
reception will follow in the lobby with a variety of French pastries
for sale. All proceeds will benefit the Charles City Community Chamber
Orchestra (CCCCO).
