Joe Firstman bought an $18 cross-country Greyhound ticket from his home in North Carolina to Los Angeles, arriving with a beat-up guitar and head full of songs. He quickly found the big stage. It all happened quickly: first came the big Hollywood gigs, then the industry buzz, then the big deal with Atlantic Records and national tours with big rock stars like Sheryl Crow, Jewel, and Willie Nelson. There was ego and excess and beautiful ladies and music, music, music. Firstman wrote it all down and sang his songs like his life depended on it.

Singer-songwriter Ernie Halter went through an emotional roller coaster this year.

"The new record is called ‘Starting Over’ for a reason,” says Halter. “I wanted the title to be direct, simple, and set the tone for the album. In this past year, I experienced the ending of a marriage and the birth of my first son. It was during this year that I wrote the material for the new record and performed over 150 shows.”

“More than ever I think it’s important to be as open and honest as possible, both as a songwriter and as a person,” Halter continues. “One positive side to the tumultuous year I’ve had is this new-found freedom to say it as it is, to admit who I am and where I’ve been. I feel this is a total crossroads for me.”

Genre: Rock/Acoustic

Joe's site - Ernie's site - Miggs' site 

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Joe Firstman bought an $18 cross-country Greyhound ticket from his home in North Carolina to Los Angeles, arriving with a beat-up guitar and head full of songs. He quickly found the big stage. It all happened quickly: first came the big Hollywood ... more

Dan Dyer greets his second decade as a musician with a self-titled album. From this soul-revivalist recording, produced out of an old snake-charmer church turned studio on the East side of Austin, emerges a spooky, diaphanous, and bright release drawn from an ever-deepening soul.

"The Right Now is not afraid to channel Motown soul, punch it up with groovy funk, or lay down some radio ready pop hooks. The rhythm section keeps it bouncing as the horn section alternately defines or smoothes the edges with jazzy panache." - 365 Ink

Genre: Soul/Rock

Dan's site - The Right Now 's site

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Dan Dyer greets his second decade as a musician with a self-titled album. From this soul-revivalist recording, produced out of an old snake-charmer church turned studio on the East side of Austin, emerges a spooky, diaphanous, and bright release d... more

(Luis Buñuel, 1972, France, color, 35mm, 102 minutes)
Winner of the Best Foreign Langu
age Oscar, Luis Buñuel's surrealist comedy of errors remains one of the director's most iconic films, on par with Belle de Jour and Un chien andalou.  In a series of dream-like vignettes, six well-heeled couples find their meal plans repeatedly interrupted by corpses, armed soldiers, and flaring libidos.  Not content to eviscerate middle class social decorum and expose the fear, hypocrisy, and ennui that lie within, Buñuel also digs his scalpel into politics, religion, and the idea of justice.
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(Luis Buñuel, 1972, France, color, 35mm, 102 minutes)
Winner of the Best Foreign Langu
age Oscar, Luis Buñuel's surrealist comedy of errors remains one of the director's most iconic films, on par with Belle de Jour and Un chien a... more

(Denis Villeneuve, 2008, Canada, color, 35mm, 12 minutes)
With a nod to Buñuel, Villeneuve’s eye-popping, Cannes winning short focuses on an opulent dinner party where the posh and pampered guests participate in a most bizarre banquet.

(Denis Villeneuve, 2008, Canada, color, 35mm, 12 minutes)
With a nod to Buñuel, Villeneuve’s eye-popping, Cannes winning short focuses on an opulent dinner party where the posh and pampered guests participate in a most bizarre banquet.

W. A. Mozart, Sonata No.10 in C Major
Ludwig van Beethoven, Sonatas in D Minor (“Tempest”) and C-sharp Minor (“Moonlight”)
Frédéric Chopin, Scherzo No. 3 in C-sharp Minor and Nocturne No. 1 in B-flat Minor

Pianist Norman Krieger regularly appears with the major orchestras of North America and has been heard as soloist with the Hong Kong Philharmonic, the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, Turkey’s Presidential Symphony Orchestra, New Zealand’s Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, and Taiwan’s National Symphony Orchestra. Active worldwide as a recitalist and chamber musician, he has collaborated with soprano Sheri Greenawald, violinist Livia Sohn, cellist Jian Wang, and the Tokyo and Manhattan String Quartets. Krieger’s current season includes a return to Mexico’s Orquesta Sinfónica de Xalapa and debuts with Germany’s Philharmonisches Orchester Augsburg and Holland’s Orkest van het Oostenaand. Krieger is associate professor of keyboard studies at the University of Southern California.

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W. A. Mozart, Sonata No.10 in C Major
Ludwig van Beethoven, Sonatas in D Minor (“Tempest”) and C-sharp Minor (“Moonlight”)
Frédéric Chopin, Scherzo No. 3 in C-sharp Minor and Nocturne No. 1 in B-flat Minor

Pianist Norman Kr... more

(Antonio Campos, 2009, USA, color, 35mm, 120 minutes)
Campos’s first feature unfolds in an elite boarding school in upstate New York, where outcast underclassman Robert (Ezra Miller) witnesses the death of two popular twins and is enlisted by the school’s AV club to compose their memorial video. Fascinated with online clips and videos from teenage melees to amateur pornography, Robert quietly navigates the cloistered halls of his sterile suburban school from behind the lens of a video camera, attempting to mediate his relationship between the “reality” of the images he sees online and the oppressive reality of high school.  “A remarkable debut…one of the few standout American indies in a year…” – Scott Foundas, LA Weekly
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(Antonio Campos, 2009, USA, color, 35mm, 120 minutes)
Campos’s first feature unfolds in an elite boarding school in upstate New York, where outcast underclassman Robert (Ezra Miller) witnesses the death of two popular twins and is enlisted by th... more

Consisting of Northwestern alumni Geoffrey Deibel, Kimberly Goddard, and Jeffrey Loeffert plus Jonathan Nichol, this saxophone quartet won the gold medal at the prestigious Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.

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Consisting of Northwestern alumni Geoffrey Deibel, Kimberly Goddard, and Jeffrey Loeffert plus Jonathan Nichol, this saxophone quartet won the gold medal at the prestigious Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.

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Celebrating the classic jazz combo configuration of the Hammond B3 organ, guitar and drums, as well as the Black-American experience through music, Chris Foreman, Greg Rockingham and Bobby Broom bring a modern edge to a musical timepiece.

The Deep Blue Organ Trio began its journey in 1992 playing engagements at Chicago 's Cotton Club and Back Room. At the Cotton Club, a weekly gig which lasted for two years, the group began to develop its sound and musical connection. A connection which in large part began in the 1970s, when as teenagers Chris, Greg and Bobby were studying the organ jazz sounds which would soon become classic. 

Genre: Jazz

Deep Blue Organ Trio's site

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Celebrating the classic jazz combo configuration of the Hammond B3 organ, guitar and drums, as well as the Black-American experience through music, Chris Foreman, Greg Rockingham and Bobby Broom bring a modern edge to a musical timepiece.

... more

A Workshop with Merrill Essex, G.G. (GIA); Member, NAJA

In this workshop we will:

* Learn the tools and tricks of the trade you will need to be more in the know about your jewelry and about estate jewelry in particular.
* Explore the history of diamonds, their cuts and their clues to the age of estate pieces.
* Briefly overview major gemstones.
* Learn about the fineness of gold, gold marks and trademarks.
* Focus on a brief history of the ages of jewelry making.

Merrill Essex is co-owner of Essex Antiques & Collectibles, Ltd. She is a graduate gemologist and a member of the National Association of Jewelry Appraisers.

Reservations recommended: 847-475-3410 or jthompson@evanstonhistorycenter.org

Membership Information and Sign-up available at the event.
Free parking is available on the street.

Directions:
Car- Take either 94 or 294 to Dempster Street and go east. Greenwood Street is one block north of Dempster Street.
Train- Take CTA to Dempster Street or Metra to Davis Street, and go east. (Davis Street is a few blocks north of Greenwood.)

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A Workshop with Merrill Essex, G.G. (GIA); Member, NAJA

In this workshop we will:

* Learn the tools and tricks of the trade you will need to be more in the know about your jewelry ... more

(James Ivory, 1987, UK, color, video, 140 minutes)
Adapting one of author E.M. Forster’s most personal works, this Merchant Ivory period drama follows an upper class gay man’s coming of age in Edwardian Britain.  Fellow Cambridge students Maurice (James Wilby) and Clive (Hugh Grant) fall in love, but the legal and social ramifications of open homosexuality pressure Clive to renounce his true feelings and marry a socialite (Phoebe Nicholls).  Unable to escape his attraction to Clive, Maurice remains a fixture in the couple’s life, and finds new hope for romantic fulfillment with their handsome gamekeeper (Rupert Graves).
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(James Ivory, 1987, UK, color, video, 140 minutes)
Adapting one of author E.M. Forster’s most personal works, this Merchant Ivory period drama follows an upper class gay man’s coming of age in Edwardian Britain.  Fellow Cambridge students... more

We celebrate the grand power and sheer beauty of African-American spirituals, one of our nation’s most uplifting and life-affirming musical forms.  Join us for a concert that spans traditions from the Fisk Jubilee Singers through recent stars like Rollo Dilworth—a moving and uplifting musical experience!

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We celebrate the grand power and sheer beauty of African-American spirituals, one of our nation’s most uplifting and life-affirming musical forms.  Join us for a concert that spans traditions from the Fisk Jubilee Singers through... more

Since forming in May 2007, This Must Be The Band has been burning down the house

throughout Chicago and the entire Midwest. With a rapidly expanding repertoire from the Talking Heads' catalog of countless hits, This Must Be The Band highlights the best of the Talking Heads, equipped with their very own Bernie Worrell, Adrian Belew, Lynn Mabry, and Ednah Holt.

Genre: Talking Heads

TMBTB 's site

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Since forming in May 2007, This Must Be The Band has been burning down the house

throughout Chicago and the entire Midwest. With a rapidly expanding repertoire from the Talking Heads' catalog of countless hits, This Must Be The Band highli... more

Mallory Thompson conductor
Lifetime of Music Students

This special concert is an important part of our “Lifetime of Music” initiative, which encourages young people to continue their musical pursuits beyond graduation. Highlights of the program include some of Leonard Bernstein's best-known and best-loved music: Overture to Candide and Symphonic Dances from West Side Story, as well as Malcolm Arnold's Four Scottish Dances, inspired by Scottish country folk tunes and dances. 60 talented high school students from throughout the Chicago area will perform with the band for two numbers. Join us for the fourth annual silent auction before the concert and at intermission.
Click here to find out more about the silent auction and raffle.

Program to include:
Leonard Bernstein arr. Clare Grundman Overture to Candide
Leonard Bernstein arr. Paul Lavender Symphonic Dances from West Side Story
Robert Spittal Consort for Ten Winds
Malcolm Arnold arr. John Paynter Four Scottish Dances*
John Philip Sousa ed. Frederick Fennell The Fairest of the Fair*

* To be performed with Lifetime of Music students

Advanced reservations will be taken for this concert through 5:00 P.M. on Friday, February 12. After that, all ticket purchases must be made at the box office on Sunday, February 14. The box office will open at 2:15 P.M. on Sunday, February 14. Thank you.

Purchase NCB recordings

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Mallory Thompson conductor
Lifetime of Music Students

This special concert is an important part of our “Lifetime of Music” initiative, which en... more

The Calisto Enesmble with oboist Michael Henoch in a program of Mozart, Beethoven, and Shostakovich.

DSPM 's site

The Calisto Enesmble with oboist Michael Henoch in a program of Mozart, Beethoven, and Shostakovich.

DSPM 's site

Sample 8 red wines brought to you by WineStyles of Evanston while enjoying....

Chocolate & Candy 
Taste the delicious chocolate and candy creations by Illinois Nut & Candy while listings to....

Live Music
Hear the incredible flute playing by Barb Austin and Barbara Saks while viewing...

Art
"Chicago Life & Beyond" exhibit

Please RSVP to Mary Berg at mary@simplychicagoart.com no later than Friday February 12th.
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Sample 8 red wines brought to you by WineStyles of Evanston while enjoying....

Chocolate & Candy 
Taste the delicious chocolate and candy creations by ... more