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Jazz & Arts Festival offers marketing opportunities
Those who wish to contact thousands of new customers and who wouldn't? are encouraged to get their business cards, flyers and brochures reprinted in quantity and then head out for Ogontz Avenue on June 22, 23 and 24. MABA will have a display spot there, half a table for MABA members in the pavilion of the Northwest Philadelphia Business Coalition. Contact Catalina Bautista for information. 215 248-6070. We haven't visited the Sedgwick Little Theatre at Video Library in a few weeks. The films are indeed still showing under the aegis of impressario David Titus. Popcorn munching film mavens are urgently requested to join in.
This year the three-day, free festival is putting more emphasis than ever on the visual arts. In the head above musicians Roy Ayers and Pieces of a Dream are featured along with Adrienne Mills, internationally known for her body photography and by Tom McKinney, silkscreen printer, illustrator, designer, watercolorist and portrait artist.
These four, randomly selected for the head from the more than 400 musicians who will provide non-stop music on four outdoor stages as well as more than 70 fine artists and crafts workers, present, in ensemble, a powerful example for MABA artists, galleries and musicians who want to get involved in the event. More details will become available tomorrow morning, Tuesday, May 22, as the Ogontz Avenue Revitalization Corporation (OARC) holds a press conference (10:00 a.m. at Ogontz Grill).
The Thursday evening (7:00 p.m.) showing is Fuerza, a semi-autobiographical film (about a whistle blower in the badly run Argentinean airline LAPA) that creates a chilling scenario of the poor state of Argentina's civil aviation and puts the blame on the Air Force. The director, Enrique Pineyro claims it is the only country in the world in which the air force has this control. Two days after the film came out, the government announced major changes and took the points made in the film constructively. Pineyro convincingly tells the story himself, with diagrams, interviews, hidden cameras and a few props (he spills out a bag of plastic airplanes and equates it to the number of planes the air force has lost). Not a glossy, high budget film (Argentine films generally aren't), but clearly a film that makes a clear statement and is having its impact felt throughout the entire country.
On Friday, Saturday and Sunday (8:00 p.m.) it's Peter O'Toole. In "Venus," O'Toole plays Maurice, a famous stage and screen actor pushing 90, who's struggling mightily to prevent his days from slipping into the routine loneliness of old age. He's on friendly terms with his wife (Vanessa Redgrave, who has a couple of wonderful moments in this film), who he walked out on years ago, but never sees his children, who haven't forgiven their father for deserting them. The time he doesn't spend at doctors' offices or willing himself to get out of bed every morning he spends with his cantankerous best friend, a fellow actor, reminiscing about their best roles.
When the friend takes in his niece's sullen daughter as a live-in assistant, O'Toole immediately finds himself in love with her, or at least in love with the idea of her. Somewhat troubling relationship considering their age differences, but O'Toole as usual is worth watching.
Fate plays cruel jokes, which might be why MABA member Cara Franks is laughing with tears in her eyes. After overcoming vexing zoning problems, she is now established in delightful new office space. That's good. Here's what's bad: For her office she bought two gorgeous Antique Chinese Herb Cabinets from Material Culture for the new office space but then they changed the layout, and so they no longer fit.
The large one is mahogany colored: dimensions H89", W58", D22" with 81 drawers, each with three compartments and three large single compartment bottom drawers. There is also display space above- originally for larger jars of herbs.
The smaller one is painted black with gold Chinese characters. It has 32 drawers with six compartments each and three large bottom drawers with two compartments. Dimensions H68", W49", D21".
She is asking $3,600 for the larger one and $2,000 for the smaller. Whoever is interested must be able to move them (she paid $129 to have both moved to her house).
For those who don't know Material Culture where she bought them, the 70,000-foot store is a merchandising poem to the archeological culture of the orient and middle east, so go to their website at materialculture.com for an eye-opener.
Today, Monday, May 21, is the regular monthly meeting of the Membership and Operations committee in the conference room of The Business Center at New Covenant Campus. Planning for the card exchange/quik-chek (now set for late July), for MABA's participation in the July 23-24 West Oak Lane Jazz & Arts festival and for our summer outing at Cliveden in August are all on the agenda.
Those who want a voice in these upcoming events are encouraged to attend, even if not officially a member of the committee. It's at 10 a.m. in Elders Hall, which is near the top of the hill on the right when entering at the gate just opposite Trolley Car Diner.
