Year in review: arts
JANUARY:
Back by popular demand, the one-man play Vincent returns to the Edison Theatre. The show sold out both nights when Mammoth Lakes Repertory Theatre presented it in 2014.
FEBRUARY:
The inaugural Lebowskifest gets rolling. There is a Dude (or the El Duderino, if you’re not into the whole brevity thing) impersonation and a costume contest. DJ Lamont is spinning tunes. Nobody loses their Johnson or toe.
APRIL:
The 46th Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage takes center stage at the relocation camp south of Independence … literally and figuratively. The pilgrimage starts with speakers, some former internees or family, followed by taiko drumming and the interfaith ceremony at the famous white landmark, Soul Consoling Tower. The long-standing event not only honors the internees and their heritage and legacy, but is a rallying cry for civil rights.
MAY:
The Mammoth Lakes Film Festival kicks off with a new documentary, Steve Jobs: Man in the Machine. The festival features 50 films, including 16 features over five days.
JUNE:
The Silver Mountain String Band, fronted by Chris Murphy, plays three shows in the Eastern Sierra. Murphy, a virtuoso on the violin, mandolin and guitar, is one of those guys who, if you’ll pardon the cliché, lost himself to find himself. A true wandering minstrel, he spent nearly two decades playing in bands, touring, essentially arriving at shows, being shown miserable deli spreads, playing the gig and then haggling afterward over the band’s take. He’s played at the Golden Globe Awards ceremony … and Whiskey Creek.
JULY:
According to event organizer Cathleen Calderon, this year’s Villagefest experiences a 30 percent increase in attendance and revenue. The rib cook-off winner? Angel’s. Bleu is 2nd and Burger’s 3rd. Petra’s Bistro wins “Best Dish” and the Los Angeles team beating the Mammoth Team in the Celebrity Chef Battle at the Mammoth Lakes Foundation’s 5th annual premier fundraising event.
AUGUST:
“Two Gentlemen of Verona” is this year’s Sierra Classic Theatre production of Shakespeare in the Woods. The Sierra Classic production takes the 16th century Italian town of Verona and moves into the Roaring Twenties. Verona is now a fictional small town in California, and the big city of Milan becomes the powerful Milan Studios of Hollywood.
In the midst of the 2015 Perseid meteor shower, the Sierra Summer Festival showcases musical stars in two orchestral concerts. The programming is heavenly, starting with a concert in St. Joseph’s Catholic Church. Conductor Emeritus Bogidar Avramov leads the Sierra Summer Festival Orchestra in Mozart’s Overture to the opera “The Marriage of Figaro,” Mozart’s Flute Concerto, and Mendelssohn’s joyful 4th Symphony. The concerts feature young musicians; flautist Roger Justo, 17 and violinist Geneva Lewis, also 17.
Bluesapalooza and the Festival of Beers celebrates 20 years of drinking and dancing. This year’s lineup is Ruthie Foster, Jonny Lang, Tommy Castro and the Painkillers, Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue and Robert Cray.
SEPTEMBER:
As the Mammoth Rock ‘n Rye festival enters its second year, one begins to see not only the personal stamp of Heather and Robert Schaubmayer on the event, but also a nod to the now-departed Mammoth Bluegrass Festival, which enjoyed a two-year run in 2012-2013. As the Schaubmayers explain, the theme of Rock ‘n Rye is Americana, as expressed in roots music (blues, rock, country, bluegrass) and barrel-aged whiskey. To illustrated the point, the Saturday headliner, The Yawpers, bills itself as being “American as F*$k.”
OCTOBER:
The Lone Pine Western Film Festival celebrates its 26th year. The festival’s Special Guest this year is Johnny Crawford, who many will remember as the son, Mark, in the television series, The Rifleman, starring Chuck Conners which ran from 1958-1963. Billy King, 91, takes questions and talks about his days as a 12-year old when he was featured in four Hoppy films in 1938 and 1939.
The Mammoth Lakes Repertory Theater presents “Of Mice and Men,” directed by Shira Dubrovner. The Steinbeck classic, set in the hardscrabble Depression-era, stars the unlikely itinerant duo of Rob Gill as the clever and sneaky George and Tim Casey as his strong-as-an-ox, dimwitted companion Lennie.
NOVEMBER:
Mammoth’s Chamber Music Unbound presents the Felici Piano Trio with special guests Roland Kato on viola, and Bruce Bransby on double bass in a concert whimsically entitled “Beauty and the Beast.” The “Beauty and the Beast” title refers to Gioachino Rossini’s Duetto for Cello and Bass, in its reference to the double bass, which is sometimes referred to as “The Beast,” and the cello as “The Beauty.”
DECEMBER:
Mammoth’s Repertory Theatre presents a down-to-earth musical comedy, Church Basement Ladies. The play serves up heart-warming holiday humor as four women overcome various challenges through hilarious antics, toe-tapping songs, and lessons learned.
