St. Patrick’s Day Weekend – Celtic Concerts and More….

The Jameson Sisters, with special guest violinist Helene Zisook Speer, will be at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Harleysville, PA (2871 Barndt Road) on Friday, March 15, 2024 for the annual St Patrick’s Day Concert, which starts at 7 p.m. The concert is open to the public, with a suggested donation of $25.

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Funky Frets in Boyertown (124 N Chestnut Street) will be celebrating the grand opening of their new Vinyl Store on Saturday, March 16, 2024 with a day and night of workshops and performances, free and open to the public. The Uke Workshop will be from 1 p.m. – 2 p.m., Uke Jam from 2:30 – 5:30, and Open Mic (all instruments welcome) from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.

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Local musician Gabe Delp has been making quite a name for himself, playing with groups and solo, all over – with an upcoming gig with Wood Flower at Godfrey Daniels on the horizon. You can catch him at Publication Brew Works in Pennsburg, PA (10 Fourth Street) on Saturday, March 16th, from 7 p.m. – 9 p.m. – no cover charge.

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Perkasie Borough is hosting the Upper Bucks Celtic Festival on Saturday, March 16, 2024, featuring a bagpiper, fiddle music, the Celtic band Hobnail, Irish dancers, artisans, and more, from 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. This festival in downtown Perkasie is free and open to the public.

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DeSales University Dance Ensemble Concert is this weekend, with three performances; Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, March 15-17, 2024. The performance will be held at the Main Stage on DeSales University campus (2755 Station Avenue, Center Valley, PA). Tickets are on sale online and at the door.

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Best selling author Anna Quindlen will be in Doylestown, Pa for a discussion and book signing of her newest novel, Before Annie, on Monday evening, March 18, 2024. Tickets for An Evening with Anna Quindlen are on sale now, and include the price of a hardcover copy of the book. Doors open at 6 p.m. for the 7 p.m. event at Delaware Valley University Life Sciences Building 700 East Butler Avenue, Doylestown, PA.

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“The Show Must Go On,” and Traveling Around the World (without leaving home)

Theatre is still happening at North Penn High School, and the students are not only insisting that the show must go on, but showcasing their creativity and ingenuity in an original production sharing their perspective on the times in which we find ourselves – Breathing Through Covid!

Beginning with school closing on March 12, the production is alternately a frank, funny, heartbreaking, and heartwarming chronicle of what our “kids” are thinking and feeling and experiencing. And it’s FREE!! (Though donations will be gratefully accepted by buying a ticket online.

North Penn High School Theater and Thespian Troupe 5464

Streaming days/dates/times and more information about the production can be found at www.npenn.org/theatre. To watch the show, Breathing Through Covid, just follow the links below.

• Friday, January 29 @ 8:00 PM/ET https://youtu.be/h10oAF8-9kg 
• Saturday, January 30 @ 8:00 PM/ET https://youtu.be/h10oAF8-9kg 
• Sunday, January 31 @ 2:00 PM/ET   https://youtu.be/h10oAF8-9kg 
• Sunday, January 31 @ 6:00 PM/ET https://youtu.be/h10oAF8-9kg

If you live in the North Penn Community, you can also watch the show on Comcast 28 and Verizon 29 at the same days/dates/times above.

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Traveling has always been one of my favorite things, and staying within a 30 mile radius over the last eleven months has left me longing for a change of scenery.

So, I’ve spent the last few weeks soaking up the sights and sounds of London and Glasgow, Auckland and Paris, India and the South Pole – all through the wonderful work of books I found on my shelf, unread until this year. If you are looking to travel, while safe and warm in a comfy chair, with a cup of tea or hot chocolate (or maybe a glass of wine or mulled cider), here are a few recommendations;

London, England – The Word is Murder, Anthony Horowitz

Glasgow, Scotland – The Riverman, Alex Gray

Auckland, New Zealand – When We Believed in Mermaids, Barbara O’Neil

Paris, France – Paris by the Book, Liam Callanan

India (historical/mystery) – The Widows of Malabar Hill, Sujata Massey

India – A Burning, Megha Majumdar

South Pole – South Pole Station: a novel, Ashley Shelby

Japan – A Midsummer’s Equation, Keigo Higashino

Books can be purchased online, through the usual suspects, and through local independent bookstores.

In our area, Let’s Play Books in Emmaus, PA and Towne Book Center in Collegeville, PA both have excellent books on hand and will be happy to order anything they don’t have in house – they also offer curbside pickup (as does the local library!)

And now something for SF fans!

The arts community continues to step up during this shared nation-wide, world-wide,
“stay at home” time. And that includes those in the science fiction community.

If you’ve been waiting to see Picard because you didn’t want to subscribe to yet another streaming service – good news! CBS All Access is free from today until April 23, 2020. According to Sir Patrick Stewart, Jean-Luc Picard, himself, use the code GIFT for a free month with the streaming service (unclear if it’s a month from when you sign up, or if it all ends April 23, 2020). Yes, this means you can watch everything on CBS All Access, including Star Trek: Discovery, and Short Treks.

Tomorrow, Thursday, March 26, 2020, at 7:30 p.m., the Philadelphia Free Library is streaming a free live online event with author Emily St. John Mandel in conversation with Beth Kephart. You can even ask questions! They are asking that people register ahead of time at https://www.crowdcast.io/e/mandel-glass-hotel/ (all they’ll ask for is an email address and your name). I just finished reading her book Station Eleven, which seemed timely, and while this conversation is meant to be about her newest book, The Glass Hotel, I can’t imagine the subject and intersection of art, Shakespeare, and pandemics won’t come up.

The libraries in Montgomery County, PA have a great digital collection of ebooks (lots of science fiction and fantasy!), audiobooks, magazines, newspapers (The Philadelphia Inquirer can be read, for free, online via the library), and other resources. If you never got around to getting a library card, a temporary card can now be acquired online for new library patrons.

Online Application

The library is pleased to offer a temporary library card so that new library patrons can access our online digital resources such as ebooks, audiobooks, emagazines, etc. Please click the Online Library Card Application button below to apply. Once submitted, a library card number will be emailed to you with further instructions and links to resources.

The wonderful, Hugo Award winning novella, The Tea Master and the Detective by Aliette de Bodard, is, for a brief time only, available for free download at Subterranean Press. I admit, I voted for this “genderswapped Sherlock Holmes where Watson is a traumatised sentient spaceship, and Holmes an abrasive scholar with a strong sense of morality.”

On April 1, 2020, Tor.com will be giving a free download of the ebook The Collapsing Empire, by John Scalzi, for one day only! This is not an April Fool’s Joke. It is a space opera by another Hugo Award winning author.

And speaking of the Hugos… this year, everyone, regardless of geographical location will be able to attend the annual World Science Fiction Convention (WorldCon). The 2020 WorldCon is scheduled for July 29 – August 2, 2020 and was originally meant to be held in New Zealand. However, world events (a global health crisis that you may be familiar with) have changed everyone’s plans, and now there will be, for the first time, a Virtual WorldCon! Not only is this the event where the Hugo Awards are given out (one of the most noteworthy literary awards in science fiction and fantasy), but also where many authors and fans present topics on academic tracks, and participate on panels on wide ranging and fascinating topics. Take a look at the program for last year’s Dublin WorldCon to get an idea of the scope of the event. Each year is different, put on by a different group of volunteers (that’s right, this Con is entirely volunteer run and organized!) in a different country. Paid memberships are required (but, in addition to attending, members vote on the Hugo Awards, and usually receive a free digital packet of the majority of nominated works; short stories, novellas, novels, fan art, fan writing, magazines, graphic novels,etc.,  in advance to help with their voting decision).

Worldcon is the annual convention of the World Science Fiction Society (WSFS). It was first held in 1939 and, after a hiatus during WWII, has been held continuously since 1946. The sites of future Worldcons are decided by WSFS members via a bidding process.

Finally, just when we need her the most, the Doctor drops in with some timely words of advice. (seriously, check out the video!)

 

Wunderbarn – Local Arts Online!

Jenny Hill has decided the show must go on, so the Wunderbarn Open Mic is still happening this Friday night, March 20, 2020, beginning at 6:30 p.m. – but NOT in East Greenville, PA (its usual location). Instead, the one hour variety show will take place on Zoom (a free program that works on desktop and laptop computers, Android and iPhones, and tablets).

 Join us from your space to share what you’ve been creating in these wild days of quarantine. Dance, music, writing, artwork, performance art … bring it to our adumbrated stage. Let’s touch each other without touching!

Join Zoom Meeting
https://zoom.us/j/418062946?pwd=c1pxYnZxUkF1U2dVRFNlS2xicGdodz09

Meeting ID: 418 062 946
Password: 011359

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Dial by your location
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Meeting ID: 418 062 946
Find your local number: https://zoom.us/u/auFwY5TCX

It’s not too late to sign up for this Saturday afternoon’s Palm of the Hand Memoir workshop, originally scheduled to take place at the Wunderbarn, but now happening via Zoom at 1 p.m. (Saturday, March 21, 2020). Message Jenny Hill via Facebook or email her at jenniferdunnhill@gmail.com for additional information (including Zoom meeting link!).

Friends, the Palm of the Hand Memoir workshop with Michael Czarnecki is on for this Saturday at 1 p.m., and we’ll be using Zoom to connect and write together. If you want to join us, please let me know in the comments, or PM me, and we’ll get you the info. Let’s write together!

Everyone has stories to share and many people have a desire to write about their life. This workshop will help to make that desire a reality.

Participants will be introduced to a method I call “Palm-of-the-Hand” writing, after the “Palm-of-the-Hand” stories of Japanese writer Yasunari Kawabata. After deciding on story possibilities, the method helps focus the writer’s energy into completing short individual pieces about their life.

These workshops have been very successful in helping people to write extensively about their life experiences – whether for family members or to someday be published in a book.

Suggested donation for the workshop is $30. Please message us with any questions and your intent to attend. We’ll be using Zoom for this workshop. As soon as you message us and have paid, we’ll send you an invite link to the workshop. You can learn more about Zoom here: https://zoom.us/ It is free to join.

About Michael: Poet, Oral Memoirist and Small Press Publisher, Michael Czarnecki has made his living through the creative word for nearly a quarter of a century. He has published 18 books of poetry and has traveled thousands of miles and given hundreds of readings throughout America. He has facilitated scores of Palm of the Hand Memoir Workshops all across the country and many writing groups are now meeting regularly to share their Palm of the Hand Memoirs. You can follow Michael’s adventures online at http://www.foothillspublishing.com/poetguy/index.html

What do you mean you ran out of books?!

First, let me tell you how you can get free books without leaving your house!

One of my favorite funniest science fiction novels is Redshirts by John Scalzi, and anyone can download the entire book for free from Tor.com, now until 11:50 p.m. Friday, March 20. 2020. “They were expendable…until they started comparing notes!” This book won the 2013 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

Ensign Andrew Dahl has just been assigned to the Universal Union Capital Ship Intrepid, flagship of the Universal Union since the year 2456. It’s a prestige posting, with the chance to serve on “Away Missions” alongside the starship’s famous senior officers.

Life couldn’t be better…until Dahl begins to pick up on the fact that:

1. Every Away Mission involves some kind of lethal confrontation with alien forces.
2. The ship’s captain, its chief science officer, and the handsome Lieutenant Kerensky always survive these confrontations, and…
3. At least one low-ranked crew member is, sadly, always killed.

Not surprisingly, a great deal of energy below decks is expended on avoiding, at all costs, being assigned to an Away Mission. Then Andrew stumbles on information that completely transforms his and his colleagues’ understanding of what the starship Intrepid really is…and offers them a crazy, high-risk chance to save their own lives.

If you have an Upper Perkiomen Valley Library card, you can download ebooks and audiobooks for free – just enter your library card number. If you have a library card from a different library, just go to their website and odds are they will also have ebooks and audiobooks that you may download. Books available for download include picture books, early and middle school chapter books, YA, and a wide range of adult fiction and non-fiction.

Project Gutenberg is still around, with its vast collection of public domain books that may be read online or downloaded, and many university presses are making their publications – books and journals – free to students AND the general public, from now through May or June, via Project Muse.  This list will most likely grow in the coming days and weeks.

• Johns Hopkins University Press (all books and journals, through 31 May 2020)
• Ohio State University Press (all books and journals, through 30 June 2020)
• University of Georgia Press (all books, through 30 June 2020)
• University of Nebraska Press (all books and journals, through 31 May 2020)
• University of North Carolina Press (all books, through 30 June 2020)
• University Press of Colorado (all books, through 30 June 2020)
• Temple University Press (all books, through 30 June 2020)
• Utah State University Press (all books, through 30 June 2020)
• Vanderbilt University Press (selected books, through 31 May 2020)

 

If, unlike me, you do not have a stack of unread books sitting in your house, and being housebound, you were counting on Amazon, you’re going to need a new plan. Amazon informed publishers the other day that shipping books will be a low priority until April 5th, at the earliest. Luckily for us, 2 local bookstores are offering free shipping – Towne Book Center in Collegeville – and Curbside Pickup Hours – Let’s Play Books in Emmaus.

From Towne Books;

If there’s a book (or books!) that you’re interested in, create a web order on our website, www.townebc.com, and we’ll send the order directly to our distribution warehouse (Ingram), and they’ll fill the order and send it directly to you house. Most items will ship from the warehouse in Chambersburg, PA. Please include your email in your web order as it will be the best way for us to contact you if there are any issues and you will also get a shipping notification from the warehouse when you’re book ships!

We’ve added a FREE SHIPPING option for orders as well and items with Free Shipping will arrive within 3-7 business days. If you’d like your books sooner, we still have UPS ground, UPS 2-day and UPS overnight shipping as options as well.

From Let’s Play Books;

In light of the COVID19 epidemic, we decided to close the bookstore. However, we will be accepting orders online and over the phone, providing curbside pick up daily, as well as free media mail delivery.

Curbside Pickup – Tuesday & Thursday 2 p.m. – 6 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

If you aren’t sure what you’d like to read during these interesting times, take a look at this list from BookRiot, 33 of the Best Book Podcasts for All Genres; after listening to some of these podcasts you are bound to have some new reading ideas.

And if you are a Shakespeare fan, Folger Shakespeare Library has put together a Guide to Streaming Shakespeare in March. Their podcast,Shakespeare Unlimited, is also wonderful.

The Wonder-filled Wunderbarn

The Wonder-filled Wunderbarn  by guest blogger Jenny Hill

 

Welcome to The Wunderbarn!  We’re new to the Upper Perk neighborhood (just moved in March), and are excited to become a part of the arts community.

The Wunderbarn is true to its name—it’s a barn filled with wonder. It is the dreamspace of Jenny Hill, a circus performer, poet, and PA Council on the Arts rostered teaching artist. When Jenny and her husband, Dan Waber, sought out property in the area, they knew they wanted enough acreage to grow organic vegetables, and a barn to turn into a theatre and arts space. They found their perfect spot in East Greenville. Jenny set to work immediately turning one of the stalls in the barn into a stage, and as soon as the ground was ready, Dan began gardening.

What’s happening in The Wunderbarn? Each Third Friday, the doors open in the theatre for the Only An Hour Variety Hour Open Mic at 6:30 p.m. Participants share poetry, music, dance, comedy, flash fictions, memoir, and performance art. When the weather is nice, we sprawl out on the lawn (as pictured), and open the doors wide. If it’s rainy or chilly, we’ll keep the doors closed and the space transforms into an  intimate, barn black box theatre. This event is free and open to the public. We only ask that you RSVP so we can set up a parking plan-o-gram. Parking is limited.

Each Second Sunday, we run Yoga Refresh, with yoga instructor Natalie Bedouin. The yoga and meditation session is followed by a delicious plant-based lunch, which features some of the organic vegetables Dan is growing in the greenhouses and gardens. This event is by donation. RSVP to save your spot. Class is limited to six.

The full schedule for the month can be found here (actsofjennius.com/events), and features October classes in hoop fitness, yoga, creative writing, and mask making. Future plans include performances, a summer camp for 2020, and after school programming.

All events at The Wunderbarn are Pay What You Like donation. What’s Pay What You Like? Well, it’s just that. Take the class, and pay what you like once it’s over. You decide the value based on your experience. Pay What You Like donation provides an equal opportunity for people of any financial background to participate.  Donations made after class go right back into making future classes, workshops, and events possible.

Do you have a talent you’d like to share in The Wunderbarn and with the community? Reach out to Jenny at jenniferdunnhill@gmail.com and we’ll talk. We look forward to seeing you soon at a Wunderbarn event!

On this beautiful Saturday…Cherry Blossoms and Indie Bookstores!

April showers do bring flowers – now that the fog has burned away, the sun is shining, and the air is warming, why not take a drive over the Allentown Cherry Blossom Festival at Cedar Creek Parkway/ Cedar Beach where live music and dance performances, free lawn games and crafts, puppet making and puppet shows (by Mock Turtle Marionette Theater) are all happening until 5 p.m. today (Saturday, April 28, 2018)  – all free and open to the public.

And then go forth and celebrate Indie Bookstore Day! While I will be spending the day in the library (not a bad place to be), I hope that others will get to celebrate Indie Bookstore Day by visiting some local indie bookstores! Many, if not all, of these places will be hosting special events today. The nearest (and some of my favorite) indie bookstores that I know of include:

The fabulous Let’s Play Books on Main Street in Emmaus, a house turned in to a bookstore; a different room for each age group from newborns to adult

Now and Then Books, 56 S 4th St
Emmaus, Pennsylvania – new and used books; how have I not been to this place?

Downtown Doylestown has a wealth of wonderful independent bookstores; some of my favorites are The Doylestown Bookstore, 16 S. Main Street, Booktenders Secret Garden Children’s Bookstore, 42 E. State St. (Rear), and Central Books Used Books and Bucks County Bookstore which share an address, 35 W State St

And let’s not forget the oldest indie bookstore in the country, established in 1745, Moravian Bookstore, 428 Main Street, Bethlehem, PA

 

This Weekend Beyond the Craft Fairs

Palm Schwenkfelder Church (833 Gravel Road, Palm, PA) hosts their annual Ladies’ Aid Holiday Bazaar and The North Penn Holiday Craft Fair – a juried arts and crafts show – (1340 S Valley Forge Road, Lansdale, PA) are both taking place on Saturday, November 18, 2017 (9-3 at Palm and 9:30-4:30 at North Penn). Bethlehem’s Christkindlmarkt and Philadelphia’s outdoor Christmas Market also open this weekend. You can read more about these events in last week’s blog post.

Much more is happening this weekend beyond the craft fairs.

Pennsburg’s own WC (Bill) Clinton will be signing and selling his book of short stories at the Local Author Fair happening at Quakertown’s public library; the James A Michener Branch, Fourth and Mill Streets, Quakertown, PA. Twenty authors, whose works range from fantasy to Young Adult to children’s picture books to non-fiction and more, will be in attendance from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. This event is free and open to the public, giving them the opportunity to talk to the authors, hear about their books, and purchase any that are of interest.

Sondheim’s musical will be presented as  Sweeney Todd in Concert  by Friends of Cedar Crest Performing Arts twice on Saturday, November 18, 2017; at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m., at Cedar Crest College’s Samuels Theatre in Allentown, PA (100 College Drive, Allentown – on Cedar Crest College campus).

FCCPA’s production will be presented concert-style with minimal sets and costumes. In addition to Tracy-Fusco www as Mrs. Lovett, Matthew Geist of Alburtis will play Sweeney Todd; Cedar Crest sophomore Emma Gerstein is Johanna and Rhys Williams of Emmaus is Anthony.The cast also includes Bruce McKillip of Easton as Judge Turpin, Ben Yenser of Slatington as Beadle Bamford, Jasmyn Maree Davis, a Cedar Crest senior, as Lucy/beggar woman, Lauren Jorgensen of Quakertown as Tobias and Florence Taylor of Allentown as Signor Pirelli. Kerri-Leigh Taylor directs and Trevor Davis is musical director.

This weekend you can check out artists’ studios in our area via the self-guided tour Fall into Winter 2017;

Enjoy touring the spaces of well-known local artists in Boyertown, Oley, Barto, and the surrounding areas, in this annual driving tour.  Finish your holiday shopping early with everything from fine art in all media, sculpture, pottery, glass, metalwork, fibers, and jewelry to bakery items and artisan brews.

Follow the map from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, November 18 and Sunday, November 19, 2017.

The Choristers’ Saturday night (November 18) concert, Shades of Light begins at 7:30 p.m. at Trinity Lutheran Church, 1000 W. Main Street, Lansdale, PA. Several of the works performed will be accompanied by an orchestra, including Morton Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna. Additional works on the concert program include pieces by Ellington, Bach, Mahler, Schubert, and more.

Reverberations: Sound Sculptures by Harry Bertoia is the newest exhibit at the Allentown Art Museum ; opening on Sunday, November 19, 2017 and continuing through January 7, 2018. The museum offers free admission on Sundays afternoons (noon – 4) and Thursday evenings (4 p.m. – 8 p.m.). Bertoia’s musical sculptures were made in his studio in Bally, PA (where his son still works and creates sculptures of his own). The Morning Call recently published an excellent article about the sculptor, his works, and the exhibit; Bertoia sound sculptures reverberate in Allentown.

Intrigued by this sound, Bertoia began experimenting with varying metals, eventually creating “sound sculptures,” free-standing works that were not only beautiful to look at, but could also be played like musical instruments that, like wind chimes, filled the air with music as the metal clanged and vibrated.

In the next 10 years, Bertoia made about 1,500 sound sculptures, and coined the word “sonambient” to describe the sound environments his art created.

The Allentown Art Museum is celebrating these works with “Reverberations: Sound Sculptures by Harry Bertoia,” an exhibit running Nov. 19 through Jan. 7. It includes 10 sound sculptures, including nine that were used in a collaboration between the Allentown Art Museum and Allentown Symphony Orchestra. Muhlenberg College professor of music Douglas Ovens created a composition, “Visible Music,” which he premiered with the sound sculptures and the orchestra Nov. 4 and 5.

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Author Reading & Book Signing on Sunday!

Spend Sunday afternoon, June 4th, in East Greenville with visiting Australian author (and ex-pat American) Laura Goodin; free refreshments, a chance to attend a book reading, talk with the author, and maybe buy a book or two (some proceeds of which will go to Make Music Upper Perk) – what’s not to love? Tell your friends (bring your friends)!

The reading and refreshments are free, book purchase not required; event is open to the public, 2 – 4 pm at Diehl’s Real Teas (private room), 239 Main St, East Greenville, Pa.

Bishop’s Olde & Rare Books opens Saturday in East Greenville

After a long drought, a new bookstore, albeit one that sells rare and old books, will be opening in the Upper Perkiomen Valley this Saturday, July 16, 2016.

Naturally, I couldn’t resist stopping by, as soon as I heard the news, and had a brief, but very friendly, conversation with the owner David Bishop, who was busy still moving boxes of books into the store. I was invited to take a look inside the place (see photos below), and saw not just books, but vintage maps, magazines, sheet music, newspapers, postcards, and other ephemera – a true treasure house.

You can take your first look inside the store between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. this Saturday. I spotted books for all ages, at all prices. (I couldn’t resist buying a paperback copy of The Federalist Papers for one dollar – my obsession with Hamilton has yet to fade.) Book subjects range from classic fiction to Hardy Boys, gardening to nature books to folk art, biography to politics to science.

And then there are the nostalgic and interesting vintage newspapers, playbills, music scores, and more that I just didn’t have time to catalog or look at very closely – I am planning on devoting some serious time there one afternoon this summer.

Regular store hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Bishop’s Olde and Rare Books is located at 716 Gravel Pike (Route 29), East Greenville, PA (not far past Goodyz and the Railroad Bridge).

A grand opening is being planned but the date has yet to be announced.