Ring in the New Year at the Moose

Happy Holidays.

Regular posts will resume after the first of the year.

Update: The New Year's Eve event at the Moose has been postponed due to unforeseen circumstances.

In the meantime, the Moose Exchange, 203 West Main St., is hosting a New Year's Eve holiday dinner catered by Balzano's with music by DJ Andy Landis and dancing.

Call the YMCA for reservations at 784-0188. The Moose is closed for the week, and will reopen Friday, Dec. 30,  be closed for New Year's Day, and reopen for regular Fridays and Saturdays in January.

The illustration, "Joy," is by Sarah Foster.

Looking ahead

One of my roles at Bloomsburg University is to create many of the marketing pieces for the Celebrity Artist Series. Perhaps I'm a little biased, but I'm personally pretty interested in three of the remaining four shows. The remaining shows are:

• Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra, Friday, Feb. 10
• National Broadway Musical Tour: The Color Purple, Saturday, Feb. 18
• Complexions Contemporary Ballet (pictured), Saturday, March 31
• Grace Kelly & Phil Woods, saxophonists, Friday, April 13

The Color Purple will be a sellout or near sellout, so if you're interested, get your tickets early. For me though, it's the other three shows that really intrigue.

Now, the Nutcracker by the Russian Ballet that played in Haas in December was a fun and colorful event for the family. My daughter loved it; my wife and I thought that the Spanish dancers had the best connection to each other and the audience.

But Complexions Ballet will bring a whole new level of athleticism and physicality to the stage. Check out the video clips.

I'll also take a close look at the Philadelphia Chamber Orchestra (my wife is a violinist) and the saxophonists, because jazz in the spring just seems right.

Adult tickets for the shows range from $29.50 to $34.50. The box office number (570) 389-4409 and holiday hours are: Monday through Friday, Noon to 4 p.m. Closed Dec. 23 to Jan. 2.

A jazz-inflected holiday show

Not free, and a little bit of a drive, but definitely intriguing.

JoAnne Henry (vocals), Andy Seal (strings) and Steve Adams (keyboards), will perform a concert Thursday, Dec. 15, at 7 p.m. at the at the Priestley Chapel on Front Street in Northumberland (30-40 minute drive). “Waiting in the Dark,” will be 75 minutes of jazz music, song and the spoken word. Tickets for the event are $10 at the door.

The show will include seasonal favorites as “The Christmas Song,” “Let It Snow, Let It Snow,” and “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” along with chants honoring the winter solstice, and Armenian lullaby and even Joni Mitchell’s “River.”

Living in a real town

This blog gets a certain number of overseas visitors ... more than 200 checked out the blog in the past month from the Ukraine (160), Russia (26)  and Germany (20). Mostly, I'm sure, because of the posting about the Russian ballet at Bloomsburg University.

A lot of visitors from overseas come as a result of searches related to the late Toshiko Takaezu. (BU art professor emeritus Karl Beamer's personal recollection of his mentor motivated the creation of the blog.)

For those from out-of-town: Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, is not a metropolis. It is however, a place where you can take a walk and find a there, or several theres, along the way.

This morning, I did a quick stop at my bank. Across the street is a real, as opposed to to a chain, diner.
Walked past several sub shops, a bunch of clothing stores, including my fav, the classic Al's Mens Shop, a burrito place, a dollar store, a Chinese restaurant, and found a real bookstore/coffee shop, The Cloak and Dragon, which just happens to be hosting an evening of caroling on Thursday, Dec. 15 (details at the end).

Ordered a pizza to take home at La Fontana. While the pizza was being made, I headed down to the Moose, where I just missed the starving artists breakfast ... with artists William Whitmoyer and Larry Ney II behind the counter. I did find time to pick up some cool handmade bread for my wife and check out the galleries (picked up a gift already last week). After picking up the pizza, headed home, and passed Artspace along the way.

The point is, for a small town, we've got a pretty good amount of "there" here.

Caroling details: Thursday, Dec. 15, 7:30 to 9 p.m., Cloak and Dragon Bookstore (they have a fairly large  performance space in back), 12 E. Main St., Bloomsburg. If you're bringing a group, RSVP to Dwayne Heisler (dwayne@remitcorp.com) so they can have enough music on hand.

— E.G. Foster

A painting for the season

There's just a little over a week left to see the exhibit of works by graduating art studio majors at Bloomsburg University's Haas Gallery, which ends Saturday, Dec. 17.

The show includes conceptual installation pieces as well as works in traditional media such as printmaking and painting.

This painting, "The Flood," by Ralph Hinkle seems to me to suit the mood of this fall particularly well. The photo really doesn't do justice to his handling of paint. Hinkle, a Danville native, is exploring the possibility of pursuing graduate school in art history or a masters of divinity within Buddism or AmeriCorps.

The exhibit also includes work by Kelly Geist, Coal Township; Kristen Griesacker, Littlestown; Natalie Nickol, Yardley; and Keith Seaman, Newport. The Haas Gallery is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Saturdays from noon to 2 p.m.

— E.G. Foster

BTE staging holiday cheer

The Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble has two holiday-themed shows running this month.

Truman Capote's Holiday Memories, chronicles his holiday memories of the Deep South during the Depression, runs through Dec. 30 at the Alvina Krause Theatre on Center Street. The show is adapted by Russell Vandenbroucke and directed by Gerard Stropnicky. Tickets are $25 for adults, $20 for seniors and young adults, $11 for students and $5 for BU students.

 The Santaland Diaries by humorist David Sedaris will be staged at the Moose Exchange, 203 West Main St., Thursday through Sunday, Dec. 8 to 12. Tickets are $12 general admission, $5 for BU students. Showtime is 7:30 p.m. with an extra 10 p.m. show Saturday. The show is adapted by Joe Mantello and directed by Elizabeth Dowd.

Documentary screening: Miss Representation

The documentary Miss Representation will be shown at Bloomsburg University Wednesday and Thursday, Dec. 7 and 8, at 9 p.m. in the Kehr Union, Multicultural Center.

The award-winner released just this year focuses on the portrayal of women in mainstream media. The screening is sponsored by the university's Social Justice and Sustainability Living and Learning Center, the Women's Resource Center and students in the English 288 course.