Sunday April 24th 4-5:30 Occidental Center for the Arts Literary Series presents artist Leeann Lidz. Adventures on the Gringo Trail: An Artist’s Awakening. In 1974, the author set off on a nineteen- month journey through Central and South America including the birth of her daughter in the Andean highlands of Ecuador. As an artist, she kept a journal of over 100 pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations of the places she visited: The unique story of her travels and evolution as an artist and mother living in Ecuador in a time before technology. Free admission, all donations gratefully invited. Slide show/Andean music with selected readings. Refreshments for sale. A Q&A, book sales & signing. OCA: 3850 Doris Murphy Way, Occidental, CA. OCA’s facilities are accessible to people with disabilities. For more info: occidentalcenterforthearts.org or 707-874-9392.
Sunday April 10th 4-5:30 pm Occidental Center for the Arts Literary Series. Local Author Michael David Fels’ Bodies in Motion: Short Trips in An Expanding Universe. A collection of first-person memoirs, an internal journey on the impact of movement/travel on the author, taking the reader to The Philippines, China, Dubai, Lebanon, Canada and Thailand as well as California, Kansas, New York, and New Mexico. Free admission, all donations gratefully received. Masking requested for unvaccinated. Selected readings, Q&A, book sales & signing. Refreshments for sale. OCA: 3850 Doris Murphy Way, Occidental, CA. OCA’s facilities are accessible to people with disabilities. For more info: occidentalcenterforthearts.org or 707-874-9392.
Saturday, April 9 @ 7:30 pm. ‘Sonoma County’s Got Talent!’ at Occidental Center for the Arts. Join us for our annual showcase of local talent on the OCA stage! A variety of community performers will entertain us during this fundraiser to support our Center. Tickets are $25 General Admission, $20 for OCA Members @ www.occidentalcenterforthearts.org. OCA is following current County Public Health guidelines. Fine refreshments including wine and beer for sale. Art Gallery exhibit will be open for viewing. OCA is a non profit performing and fine arts center accessible to persons with disabilities. Become an OCA Member and get discounts/free admission. Occidental Center for the Arts, 3850 Doris Murphy Ct., Occidental, CA. 95465. 707-874-9392.
“Imagine this little girl in the back seat of a white Ford Focus. When you look into her eyes, you see an openly queer woman of color, an Afro Latina, who found her strength in life through art. And that’s what I believe we’re here to celebrate,” DeBose said in her acceptance speech.
“So to anybody who’s ever questioned your identity ever, ever, ever or you find yourself living in the gray spaces, I promise you this: There is indeed a place for us,” she added.
Set in the 1950s, “West Side Story” centers on the rivalry between two teenage street gangs — the Jets, a white gang, and the Sharks, a Puerto Rican gang — as their communities faced displacement during New York City’s urban renewal period. Their rivalry intensifies when Tony, a Jet, falls in love with Maria, the young sister of Sharks leader Bernardo.
Anita, Bernardo’s girlfriend and Maria’s friend, is Puerto Rican like the rest of the Sharks. She stands out for her assertiveness and captivating dance skills.
DeBose, a triple-threat performer of Puerto Rican descent, shows off her versatile skills in “America” — leading an epic ensemble around the streets of New York’s San Juan Hill in the iconic musical number.
Her performance then takes a poignant turn in the intensely emotional number “A Boy Like That” alongside Rachel Zegler, who plays Maria, the lead female character, in the film.
“Ultimately what you see on the screen is such a beautiful exploration of a deep female relationship,” DeBose previously told NBC News. “It is ugly. It is loud. It is highly emotional. Quite frankly, it’s volatile, and then just downright heartbreaking because there is so much love there.”
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With her Oscar win, DeBose and legendary actor Rita Moreno, who originated the role in the 1961 film version of the acclaimed Broadway musical, are now part of a small group of pairs of actors who’ve won an Academy Award for playing the same character.
When Moreno won her acting Oscar for her portrayal of Anita 60 years ago, she made history as the first Latina to win the honor.
DeBose and Moreno, who also returned for Spielberg’s “West Side Story” remake as an executive producer and as the character Valentina, are the first women and performers of color to join the rare club.
“She means a lot to me,” DeBose said of Moreno in a previous NBC News joint interview. “She means a lot to the Puerto Rican community. She means a lot to the Latino community and to the entertainment industry at large.”
Saturday April 2 @ 4:20 pm. Electric Tumbleweed at Occidental Center for the Arts. Let’s rock! don’t miss this well known psychedelic outlaw country band performance immediately after the Fool’s Day Parade! Electric Tumbleweed are: Scotty Brown, Bud Dillard, Rhyne Erde, Riley Hill; with Scott Guberman and Dave Zirbel. Tickets are $25 General/$20 for OCA Members @ www.occidentalcenterforthearts.org. OCA is following current Sonoma County Health guidelines for masking and capacity. Fine refreshments including wine and beer available. Art Gallery exhibit will be open for viewing. OCA is a non profit performing and fine arts center accessible to persons with disabilities. Become an OCA Member and get discounts/free admission. Occidental Center for the Arts, 3850 Doris Murphy Ct. Occidental, CA. 95465, 707-874-9392.
Saturday March 26 @ 7 pm. Abby Gabrielson with Laurie Hartmann at Occidental Center for the Arts. Join us for a delightful evening of classical music with pianist Abbie Gabrielson, who will perform selections by Brahms, Mozart and Lili Boulnager, as well as a special set with vocalist Laurie Hartmann (Fauré). Tickets are $20 for OCA members, $25 for non-members @ www.occidentalcenterforthearts.org. OCA is following current Sonoma County Health guidelines for masking and capacity. Fine refreshments including wine and beer available. Art Gallery exhibit will be open for viewing. OCA is a non profit performing and fine arts center accessible to persons with disabilities. Become an OCA Member and get discounts/free admission. Occidental Center for the Arts, 3850 Doris Murphy Ct. Occidental, CA. 95465, 707-874-9392.
OUR LIVES MATTER THEATER COMPANY – Theater to Take Home presents “UNEARTHING THE SILENT RUMBLINGS,” a new play about fighting racism will be staged at Congregation Ner Shalom (The Old Cotati Cabaret) 85 La Plaza, Cotati
Saturday evening, April 2nd – 7pm Sunday matinee, April 3rd – 3pm Saturday evening, April 9th – 7pm Sunday matinee, April 10th – 3pm
(Depending on demand, a matinee may be added on Saturday April 9th)
This Black production consists of 4 short plays sure to stir the hearts and minds of the audience. It is an invitation to talk about race in a safe place. Included will be a facilitated conversation and discussion after the show.
The playwright is Dianna L. Grayer, PhD.
For tickets and contact information: https://ourlivesmatterthea.wixsite.com/our-lives-matter
Saturday March 19 at 7 pm. Occidental Center for the Arts proudly presents Patrick Ball: Celtic Harp & Story. Don’t miss the return of one of our most popular performers who will be visiting from his home in Ireland! World renowned modern day bard and premier Celtic harpist Patrick Ball weaves the marvelous old Irish tales of wit and enchantment together with ethereally gorgeous Celtic harp melodies into a warm and magical performance that will leave the audience spell-bound. $30 General/$25 for OCA Members. Tickets/Info @ www.occidentalcenterforthearts.org. OCA is following current Sonoma County Health guidelines for masking and capacity. Fine refreshments including wine and beer available. Art Gallery exhibit will be open for viewing. OCA is a non profit performing and fine arts center accessible to persons with disabilities. Become an OCA Member and get discounts/free admission. Occidental Center for the Arts, 3850 Doris Murphy Ct. Occidental, CA. 95465, 707-874-9392.
Sunday March 20 at 2:30 pm. ‘Winterlude’ at Occidental Center for the Arts. Please join us for an afternoon celebrating beautiful art, music and poetry to benefit our non-profit arts organization. Winterlude is an annual fundraiser for OCA organized by oboeist Daniel Celidore, who will perform in outstanding company with musicians Maria Caswell, Mazdak Khamda, Valerie Marshall, Emily Reynolds, and Antonio Aversano; with vocalist Yoo Ri Clark and poet Neal Grace.This performance is being held in conjunction with an exhibit of artwork created by Daniel Celidore on display in the OCA Gallery. Tickets are $25 General Admission, $20 for OCA members @ www.occidentalcenterforthearts.org. OCA is following current Sonoma County Health guidelines for masking and capacity. Fine refreshments available. OCA is a nonprofit performing and fine arts center accessible to persons with disabilities. Become an OCA Member and get discounts/free admission. Occidental Center for the Arts, 3850 Doris Murphy Ct. Occidental, CA. 95465, 707-874-9392.
Rita Baghdadi’s feature documentary Sirens, which world premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, is a nuanced, intimate, and upbeat portrait of Lebanon’s only all-female thrash metal band, Slave to Sirens. Although it opens with footage of protests on the streets of Beirut with chants of “revolution” and shots of graffiti with phrases like, “homophobia is a crime”, Baghdadi’s focus for the first third of the film is introducing the band and giving us a sense of its history and the dynamics between the five members, rather than Lebanon’s uneasy social and political state.
Cut with a pace and an energy that captures the passionate spirit of the band by editor Grace Zahrah, it’s a refreshing, stigma-busting look at the country through the lens of these young women as they establish their identities that go against the grain and strive to build their careers in a place where there’s a lack of venues and a limited audience for their brand of music. As we’re given an engaging insight into the band’s creative process through fly-on-the-wall composing session and rehearsal footage, it’s clear how residual, generational scars from the country’s civil war and recent events, like the devastating Port of Beirut explosion in August 2020, feed into their music and performances.
We spend most of the film’s running time with founding members, rhythm guitarist Lilas Mayassi and lead guitarist Shery Bechara, following Lilas most closely. The two have a romantic history with one another, and although both have moved on in their dating lives by the time we meet them, some unresolved issues linger which start to complicate band life as we witness in some increasingly tense songwriting sessions. Baghdadi, who takes on much of the cinematography herself, clearly earned the trust of these young women and is patient as they begin to open up about themselves. We never get the sense that she’s forcing or manipulating what happens on screen, just there to capture it unfolding.
Lilas being filmed in lesbian bars, talking about making out with women, and allowing the cameras into her home when a girl she is dating travels across the border from Syria to visit would be exposing under any circumstances, but given that she lives with her mother in the suburbs of Beirut, it feels particularly brave. As a caption informs us, “Article 534 of the law is vague. It says that any sexual relations that ‘contradicts the laws of nature’ is punishable by up to one year in prison”. In spite of this, although understandably circumspect when necessary, we see Shery and Lilas beginning to live more openly and boldly as queer women. Meanwhile, we don’t get to know much about the other Sirens, bassist Alma, vocalist Maya, and drummer Tatyana, outside of their time in the band.
Pre-pandemic, we follow the Sirens to Glastonbury when a rare opportunity to perform internationally comes up. Taking in the crowds and atmosphere at the festival’s world famous Pyramid stage, we then see the band open their potentially career-changing set to an empty field, without so much as tumbleweed in the air. Before long though, there’s a small but appreciative group of Glasto headbangers getting into it. Throughout the film, Baghdadi only gives us sparing flashes of the band performing, which serve to convey their considerable musical talent and stage presence without being potentially off-putting to non-metalhead viewers whose ears might not being able to take too much of their intense sound. Not much of a mettaler myself, I did find myself wanting to hear more and immediately downloaded their 2018 EP Terminal Leeches, which I’m nodding along to as I write.
When it comes to other music in the film, there’s a beautifully poignant score by frequent Céline Sciamma collaborator, composer Jean-Baptiste de Laubier aka Para One, which makes for a striking contrast to the band’s output and helps to bring out the emotional layers. Frequently visually stunning, the interiors have a raw vertité style while there are some breathtaking shots of natural beauty in the nearby mountains; sunsets, vividly coloured flowers, and underwater camerawork, along with gorgeous behind the scenes tableaux of the band on photoshoots.
Ultimately, as the end credits rolled, it was the band’s creative talent and perseverance to succeed that stayed with me, and I’m excited about the potential of this film—produced by Natasha Lyonne and Maya Rudolph’s Animal Pictures—to introduce them to a wealth of new horn-signing, headbanging fans, even unlikely ones like me.