February 1, 2009

RECORD-REVIEW "Talk of the Town" / January 30, 2009

By BONNI BRODNICK

Pete Malinverni, Pound Ridge jazz pianist/composer, has been called “audacious and exquisite” by the Village Voice; “one of New York’s great pianists” by Boston Herald; and “a wild cat the way he digs into the piano and emerges with exotic treasure” by The Philadelphia Inquirer. As if that’s not impressive enough, Pete has also earned an entry in the Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. Are we surprised that he is making a debut at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall?
Pete will perform his harmonic magic on solo piano and his arrangements for gospel choir members of the Devoe Street Baptist Church Choir of Brooklyn (where he has been Minister of Music for the past 15 years) and members of the Purchase College Soul Voices (which he founded and where he serves on the jazz studies faculty at the Conservatory of Music). It’s a be there/be square happening on Wednesday, February 18, 2009 at 8 p.m. at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. The concert is under the auspices of The Abby Whiteside Foundation. Tickets are $35 ($15 students/seniors) and are on sale at the Carnegie Hall Box Office, CarnegieCharge 212-247-7800, and online at www.carnegiehall.org.

The inauguration of President Obama was a world-stopper. Julia Reingold, Fox Lane High School Class of ’06, who is on-leave from Barnard College in NYC and studying English at University of Edinburgh in Scotland, dashed a note to “Talk of the Town:”
“Over 150 Americans and I congregated at a local pub in Edinburgh where there are a few television screens. We watched the BBC's coverage of the inauguration and Obama's beautiful speech. There was much cheering and rejoicing (and in my case, teary eyes). Many of the bakeries in town sold American flag cookies, a few classes were canceled, and there were half-off inauguration deals at pubs and restaurants. It felt like a genuine holiday.
“Meanwhile . . . all over campus, the Scots and Brits hosted ‘Bye Bye Bush’ parties. At one, they were even selling ‘We Survived Bush!’ t-shirts. In retrospect, I probably should have bought one and preserved it-- but I felt too patriotic!”

Word in from Ann Arbor . . . the University of Michigan head men’s tennis coach announced that senior Peter Aarts was voted by his teammates to serve as a team co-captain for the 2009 dual-match season.
Peter is entering his final dual-match campaign with career records of 49-36 in singles and 26-28 in doubles. In his junior season, he was a two-time Academic All-Big Ten Conference selection where he achieved his first career 20-win singles seasons (22-11). Other career highlights include an Intercollegiate Tennis Association Scholar-Athlete nomination in 2007 and the team’s Big Ten Sportsmanship Award honor in 2008. Congratulations, Peter!

Too close for comfort. Remember that US Airways flight that miraculously landed in the Hudson River? Mary Legrand, former “Talk of the Town” columnist, was on that exact piece of aircraft on its leg from Charlotte to LaGuardia just before its fateful takeoff to return to Charlotte on Thursday, Jan. 15. “We landed at about 2:30 p.m., and the plane reloaded and took off as Flight 1549 an hour later to return to Charlotte, taking its diversion into the river. Exact same crew, too.”

Of 800 entrants, Pound Ridge residents Tina Rohrer and Gail Lee are two of 126 artists accepted to exhibit their work at Katonah Museum of Art’s Tri-state exhibition, “Contemporary Confrontations art 2009.” Needless to say, both artists were delighted to be accepted into this prestigious show juried by the distinguished Nan Rosenthal, who recently retired as senior consultant for Modern and Contemporary Art at The Met.

Ground Hog Day is tomorrow, and Valentine’s Day is nigh. It is officially time to put away Christmas decorations. The worst red-letter day collision I’ve yet to see (not kidding) was an election sign, next to pumpkins, next to Christmas lights. Wake up, peops. Pick one, stick with it for a spell, and then put it back in the box for the next go-around. Note: Hold onto the Obama/Biden signs though (you never know).

Happy wreathless, Ground Hog Day!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We enjoy hearing about what’s happening to Pound Ridgers near and far, present and past. Please send your quips, blips and blurbs regarding town activities, nature notes, travels afar, scholastic accomplishments, sports achievements, engagements, weddings, new babies and grandchildren to towntalk@optonline.net. All topics are appropriate for inclusion in this column. Alternatively (but not preferred), you may mail info to The Record-Review, P.O. Box 455, Bedford Hills, NY 10507, or leave a message at 244-0533, ext. 13.

No comments:

Blog Archive