Ice Cream with the Queen

By Guest Blogger, Sydney Schumacher, PR Intern, Arts in Media
I’d never been to The Queen before, but I have to say, it’s a pretty awesome place for an Ice Cream Festival After Party. The “Upstairs” is intimate but with room to move and space between tables for everyone to see the stage. It’s a cool area that promotes artistic genre co-mingling; the funky paintings on the walls fit well with the ‘concert-space’ feel. Not to mention, they’ve got killer soft-pretzels on the menu to keep your stomach occupied.

The first band up was Travel Songs, who were particularly impressive because, as they told us before they played, they’d only practiced together once—and it was that morning. I’d describe their sound as a bit reggae/island, a bit folksy rock. Their singer is smooth, consistent, on pitch, and has a great tenor voice that glides through every one of their songs.  Props to him for being the only singer for an entire set. He explains that their music is inspired from various trips around the world, and it shows. Around the middle of their set, I really started to get into their music. Their songs had strong beats and sweet melody lines, held up by the talented musicians on keyboard, guitar, bass guitar, and drums. For one of their tunes, the singer pulled out a ukelele, which I loved. Their last song (it sounded like they called it "Mexico") was a fantastic closing number—it made me feel like I was on a beach listening to the bar band.

Next up was Me And This Army, from Baltimore—a trio with a more indie-rock style. Their songs were loud and fast, and their lead singer had a strong voice and knew how to belt it out. Their bass-guitarist was intense, with fast fingers and impressive talent, and the drummer was definitely energetic and loving life onstage. They're a talented group, for sure, and smart enough to play on their strengths. Before their last song, they unleashed some humor on us, too, saying, “Come chat with us…we can talk about politics, Miley Cyrus’ marriage, chocolate…anything! And then go download our last song!” Said last song was called “You,” and I will most definitely be searching it out! Hopefully Me and This Army will be back for more Gable Music Ventures events.

Last but not least was one of my new favorites, The Way Home, from Philadelphia. I saw them at the Chris White Gallery a few weeks back, and their set and sound haven’t changed much since then. Which was lucky for me, because I got to hear some of their best tunes again, like “Summer Feels Like Forever” and “Jessica” (both of which are off their album “On So Thin a Line”). Even after having played a show the night before, their harmonies and energy are still amazing. Quite a brilliant way to end the night—fit for the Queen!

The Delaware Shakespeare Festival Celebrates its 10th Anniversary with a Splendid Production of A Midsummer Night's Dream!

Now in its 10^th year, the Delaware Shakespeare Festival has brought some of William Shakespeare's most beloved plays to hundreds of picnicking audience members. Yes, the play is performed outside and audience members are encouraged to bring blankets and chairs, as well as food and drinks (including wine). The festival premiered in 2003 at Archmere Academy. In 2006, the group moved to the majestic grounds of the Rockwood Mansion, a perfect setting for this year's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Director David Stradley masterfully emphasizes the plays major theme - love and the many aspects of the mysterious feeling/emotion - especially with the brilliant sliver set featuring large X's and O's sculptures by Scenic Designer Christopher Haig. The performers cascade on and off the stage and at times disappear into the wooded area behind it or leap into the audience to make an exit.

The whimsical play is about two young human couples (Jamal Douglas & Sarah Van Auken and Sean Bradley & Jennifer Starr Foley) falling in and out of love, with a little help from the magic of a few fairies, including the fairy king Oberon (Matt Tallman) who is dueling with the fairy queen Titania (Caroline Crocker) for supremacy.

Shakespeare explores how love makes a fool out of everyone. We watch the two couples perform foolish acts of love and disdain toward their betrothed. In addition, the king's assistant Puck (Griffin Stanton-Almeisen) transforms an actor Bottom (Adam Altman) from a bumbling touring troupe into a donkey and casts a spell over the queen, causing her to fall madly in love with him. Proving that sometimes we go from acting like a fool to becoming an ass when we fall in love.

  

The skillful performers, the beautiful setting, the eloquent text, the flowing choreography by the First State Ballet Theatre’s Alex Bucker, and the romantic score written by David Amado (Music Director of the Delaware Symphony Orchestra) make A Midsummer Night's Dream a splendid production for all to experience. It was wonderful to see parents introducing their young children to the bard's work, as well as older couples who were more familiar with the play sharing a bottle of wine and enjoying a most gorgeous evening. 

A Midsummer Night’s Dream runs through July 28. For information and tickets, visit www.delshakes.org or email info@delshakes.org.  

Summer Music "Reels" at Rockford!

By Guest Blogger, Sydney Schumacher, Public Relations Assistant, Arts in Media

Celtic Harvest, one of the appearances at the Rockford Tower Summer Concert Series, describe themselves this way: “Most of the songs we play you’d hear if you darkened the door of an Irish pub or two.” And it’s true…I think. The band consists of Kelly Crumpley, fiddle and whistle; Jan Crumpley, flute(s) and whistle(s); Kathy Doyle, vocals and piano; Jim McGriffin, guitar and banjo; and Mike Nielsen, bass, second guitar and occasional accordion.

The third song of their set was the first one to catch my ear; it was a lament for a lover, filled with fantastic harmonies and a flute/fiddle point-counterpoint melody line that was resounding. They followed this up with a few Irish reels, which were fun, little skip-y songs filled with pep and feeling. For these, I give props to the flutist and whistler, who flawlessly executed the runs and scale increments. They did a few “songs about redemption” which were a bit more mellow (though not as slow as a lament), through which they tried to engage the audience with prompts to clap and sing along.  

For a moment of technical difficulty, they filled in what would have been silence with a traditional Irish Lament played on the whistle. This was absolutely my favorite moment of the performance, only topping the reels by a little bit. The song was poignant and beautiful; deep-reaching and just barely outside the realm of what I would term ‘haunting.’ One drawback of the family-friendly outdoor venue presented itself in this moment: It’s tough to enjoy a concert when half of the audience is not there for the music, but to chit-chat, play with their dogs and run with their children. But, that’s the nature of a concert such as this. 

The next song — one “about the transition of shoes from hand-made to machine-made” — was saucy and proved that the Irish really will make anything into a song as long as they can dance to it, or perhaps sing along! The final tune was one that almost everyone should recognize — Danny Boy, Oh Danny Boy. A fine way to end, not only because it captured the audience’s attention with the familiar, but also because Ms. Doyle did a fantastic job on the vocals.