The 2011-2012 Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers is heading our way, to be presented by The Arts Council and Gainesville State College. Appearances include:

Barbershop Punk: Feb 9 @ 7:30 pm| Gainesville State College. Meet filmmaker Georgia Sugimura Archer, director/Executive Producer/Writer

A Gift for the Village: Mar 23 @ 7:30 pm| Smithgall Arts Center. Meet filmmakers Tom Landon and Jenna Swann, Co-Director/Co-Producer

You Don’t Know What I Got: April 12 @ 7:30 pm| Gainesville State College. Meet filmmaker Linda Duvoisin, Director/Producer

Tickets for all will be $7 for Adults and $5 for Students and Seniors.

For more details, please visit The Arts Council.

The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra is internationally renowned for its excellence in live performances, presentations, choruses, and its impressive list of GRAMMY Award-winning recordings. It is regarded as one of the most creative and innovative orchestras in North America and serves as the cornerstone for artistic development and music education in the southeast.

The Orchestra’s performances in Gainesville have been nothing short of impressive, making our audiences leap to their collective feet bravo-ing in many elated instances. What makes these performances spectacular is that they are open-air, under the moonlight. Whether it is Tchaikovsky, Rossini, Wagner, Reznicek or Mozart, the smooth and flawless string sound and liquid brass and percussion sections, so immaculately realized, never let us down.

It is a glamorous amalgam of silk, silver and steel. The warmth and richness of the playing is always exceptional, with every department contributing its share of complex timbres and holding them together in a finely achieved soundscape. One cannot get past the impressive ease with which these musicians prove that the sound of this Orchestra is simply extraordinary and electrifying, wherever it plays. Nothing is rushed, phrases are carefully rounded off with loving care, and everybody seems to breathe in unison – performers and spectators.

The Atlanta
Symphony Orchestra

DATE TBA

The Arts Council Smithgall Arts Center Lawn
(Outdoor Concert)

Tickets: $35 Adult; $32 Senior; $28 Student

Series Tickets: $80
AC members please call for discount, 770-534-2787

Buy Tickets

Livingston Taylor picked up his first guitar at the age of thirteen, beginning a forty-year career that has encompassed performance, songwriting and teaching. Born in Boston and raised in North Carolina, Livingston is the fourth child in a very musical family that includes Alex, James, Kate and Hugh.

Livingston recorded his first record at 18 and has continued to create well-crafted, introspective and original songs that have earned him listeners worldwide. His brother, James Taylor has recorded and included original songs by Livingston on his albums. Livingston has never stopped performing since those early coffeehouse days, touring with major artists such as Linda Ronstadt, Jimmy Buffet and Jethro Tull, and he maintains a busy concert schedule of over eighty shows a year.

He is a natural performer, peppering his shows with personal stories, anecdotes and ineffable warmth that connect him to his fans. His relaxed on-stage presence belies the depth of his musical knowledge, and fans might just as often be treated to a classic Gershwin or something from the best of Broadway.

Livingston Taylor
Thursday, March 15
8:00 PM

Pearce Auditorium

Tickets: $30 Adult; $28 Senior; $27 Student

Series Tickets: $80
AC members please call for discount, 770-534-2787

Buy Tickets

They’re a little bit classical, they’re a little bit rock n’ roll. They’re also humorous, a little bit manic and a whole lot entertaining. STRINGFEVER simply dazzles! If you’re looking for an evening’s entertainment like you’ve never seen before, then meet Giles, Ralph, Graham & Neal Broadbent aka Stringfever.

A British family of musicians classically trained take to their electric instruments and live beat-boxing, the worlds first genetically modified string quartet combine exceptional musical skill with a real talent for involving and engaging audiences to provide you with a night you’ll never forget. They are clearly immensely talented and have managed to create an act that appeals to the widest of audiences.

This band exudes charisma and warmth coupled with talent and humor. The visual and aural treat of three brothers and a cousin entwined around the instrument and each other to coax four harmonies from a single cello is stunning!

STRINGFEVER

Friday, February 10
8:00 PM

Pearce Auditorium

Tickets: $30 Adult; $28 Senior; $27 Student

Series Tickets: $80
AC members please call for discount, 770-534-2787

Buy Tickets

Georgia Ensemble Theatre’s Artistic Director Bob Farley, who is guest directing The Grapes of Wrath for the Gainesville Theatre Alliance, will offer explanations and visual examples of his alchemy on Tuesday, January 31.  Community membersr are invited to attend a free Stage Tour presentation that night at 6pm, in Brenau University’s Hosch Theatre (429 Academy St., Gainesville).  Farley be joined that evening by GTA scenic designer Larry Cook and GTA Costume Designer Sara Olson to discuss their ideas and research in bringing the classic Steinbeck story to the stage next month.  The Grapes of Wrath opens on February 14 and runs through the 21^st.  There is a discounted preview performance on February 13.

While the Stage Tour is free to the community, performance tickets are $16-18 for adults, $14-16 for seniors and $10-12 for students. Patrons can select their own seats on the website at www.gainesvilleTHEATREalliance.org or purchase tickets through the GTA Box Office from 10am to 4pm weekdays at 678-717-3624.  MasterCard, Visa and Discover are accepted.  ADA seating is available through the Box Office only.

Alex Hall may be young, but his musical resume hold its own against performers twice his age.

For the last several years, the 17-year-old Gainesville resident has been busy writing songs, performing live and opening shows for artists like Frankie Ballard and Bucky Covington.

He’s also mentored younger musicians through First Verse, an after-school program for students interested in songwriting. It was created by members of the John Jarrard Foundation.

Although he spends a lot of time on the road traveling to shows all over the Southeast, Alex took a break to talk to The Times about his latest achievements:

Question: How crazy was 2011 for you? 

Answer: I played 125 plus shows last year. In July, we released a new CD called “The Way I Was Raised.” I also have written several new songs, and I was invited to attended the Country Music Awards. That was awesome!

Q: What has it been like interacting with industry veterans at such a young age? Has anyone given you any advice that really stuck with you?

A: It is crazy to be meeting people that you have looked up to your whole life, and earning their respect as not only an artist, but a songwriter as well. People that have given me the most advice and really been inspirational to me are Eric Elliott, Mike Dekle, Bruce Burch, Lee Davis and my vocal coach, Jan “Mama J” Smith. Yes, she is in the Justin Bieber movie.

Q: Have your roles as student and Gainesville resident been replaced by your life on the road as a musician?

A: I still go to Chestatee High School and I do still live here in Gainesville, but we spend a lot of time up in Nashville, too. It is definitely my second home.

Q: If someone has never seen you live, or heard any of your original material, how would you describe an Alex Hall Band performance?

A: It is very high-energy show. Even on the ballads, you can feel the soul in the music. Our music has a little blues, rock, R&B and a whole lotta country.

Q: How can folks get sample your music for themselves? 

A: This weekend, I will be doing an acoustic set at McArthur’s (Grill and Pub) on Cleveland Highway on Friday at 9 p.m. And Saturday, I will be doing a full band show at Wild Wings at 9:30 p.m. Also, you can check out my music, dates, videos and pictures at www.thealexhallband.com.

If you close your eyes and try to visualize Santa Claus or the New Year’s baby, chances are the image in your head would match the ones created by commercial illustrator, J.C. Leyendecker.

On Tuesday, January 10th the Northeast Georgia History Center visitors will be able to learn more about how Leyendecker “nationalized” American culture by creating images for those characters and others during the early 1900s.

Steve and Rebecca Gurr will present, “Leyendecker and the Saturday Evening Post,” at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the History Center, 322 Academy St. NE in Gainesville. The discussion is free for center members and $3 for everyone else.

“My wife and I have been collecting his work for years,” Steve Gurr said.

“We like magazine illustrations and were attracted to his style because it was very dramatic. You can recognize it anywhere.”

In addition to an informative talk, the Gurrs will also portions of their personal, Leyendecker collection.

Although Leyendecker was a commercial artist — his illustrations for Arrow Collar are said to be the foundation of modern advertising — many people have come to regard his creations as artwork.

Norman Rockwell may be one of the most celebrated “Saturday Evening Post” illustrators, but his predecessor and mentor was Leyendecker.

According to Gurr, Rockwell was even a pallbearer at Leyendecker’s funeral.

“He learned a lot from him. Leyendecker was responsible for 300 or 400 Saturday Evening Post covers,” Gurr said.

“He did all of the covers for the holiday issues.”

On the first issue of the year, Leyendecker would use the magazine’s cover and the New Year’s baby to depict the “personality of the time.”

“Whatever the big topic of the day was, he’d put the cherub baby in that world event,” Gurr said.

“There’s one about income tax, one about World War I and even one about women’s voting rights.”

Flowery Branch, GA – Downtown Flowery Branch is the place to be on December 3, 2011!  The fun and festivities begin at 9 AM at Flowery Branch United Methodist Church, where kids of all ages are invited to have Breakfast with Santa!  After breakfast, children can bring their decorated bikes, trikes, skates, wagons, or anything else on wheels and roll down Main Street in our Jingle Bell Roll and Stroll Kids’ Parade at noon.  Registration for the Roll and Stroll Kids’ Parade will begin at the Methodist Church at 10:30AM with line-up to begin at 11:30AM.  ALL CHILDREN ARE WELCOME TO PARTICIPATE!

At the conclusion of the parade, Main Street will be filled with arts and crafts vendors and holiday performers.  The historic depot will be filled with Christmas trees for auction and a ginger bread house contest to benefit Shop with a Cop.

Several businesses in down town will host story tellers and Fifth Row Center will perform A Seussified Christmas Carol at 3:00PM and 7:30PM.  Tickets for the play are $15 for adults, $10 for children and seniors, all other events are entirely free of charge.

Please visit the festival website for more information. Click HERE.

Meet the Filmmaker Q&A Reception

The Arts Council
Smithgall Arts Center

Tickets (includes reception):
$7 Adults;
$5 Students/Seniors

CLICK TO SEE THE TRAILER

The Arts Council, Inc. and Gainesville State College are proud to present “Ahead of Time,” with Producer Zeva Oelbaum as part of the South Arts Southern Circuit Tour of Independent Filmmakers at the Smithgall Arts Center on Thursday, November 10, 2011. Ticket price includes the movie and the Meet the Filmmaker Q&A session following the film screening.

SYNOPSIS

Ahead of Time is a feature-length documentary film on the remarkable life of 97-year-old Ruth Gruber. Born in Brooklyn in 1911, Ruth became the youngest PhD in the world at age 20. As a student in Germany in 1931, she attended a Hitler rally observing first-hand the rising tide of Nazism.

Ruth became a foreign correspondent and photojournalist at age 24. A feminist before feminism, Ruth was the first journalist to enter the Soviet Arctic in 1935. She traveled to Alaska as a member of the Roosevelt administration in 1941, where she was the first civilian on the Alaska Highway.

Ruth’s unique perspective of the events surrounding WWII is a result of her involvement in many of those historical moments. She was chosen by the Roosevelt administration to escort 1000 Holocaust refugees from Naples to New York in a secret wartime mission in 1944.

As a journalist, she accompanied leaders to the Middle East where they studied the problems of displaced persons and Palestine. Ruth covered the Nuremberg trials in 1946 and her photos of the ship Exodus 1947 were published in Life Magazine and around the world.

With her love of adventure, fearlessness and powerful intellect, Ruth defied tradition and in the process, emerged as the eyes and conscience of the world. Today, Ruth still has the moxie and sharp wit that propelled her career, and the film interweaves vérité footage with interviews and archival material.

MEET THE FILMMAKER

Following a screening of her feature film, “Ahead of Time,” Producer Zeva Oelbaum and the audience will engage in a discussion about the film and her work as a filmmaker.

Zeva Oelbaum is an award winning producer and the founder of Reel Inheritance Films. In addition to producing Ahead of Time, she directed and produced a short film on Ruth Gruber which is being shown at the International Center of Photography through August 28th in conjunction with Ruth’s photography exhibition. She was Executive Producer of Rene and I, a documentary film on twins Irene Hizme and Rene Slotkin who survived Josef Mengele at Auschwitz.

CLICK HERE TO ENTER THE “AHEAD OF TIME” WEBSITE

The 2011-2012 Southern Circuit is a program of South Arts. Southern Circuit screenings are funded in part by a grant from South Arts in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and local partner organizations. Special support for Southern Circuit was provided by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Media Sponsor:

As has become an annual tradition, readers from all over Hall County are preparing to stay up all night to help stamp out illiteracy.

Beginning at 5 p.m. Friday, the Hall Book Exchange at 1854 Thompson Bridge Road, Gainesville, will host the fourth annual 24-hour read-a-thon.

The event is a fundraiser for the Gainesville-Hall County Alliance for Literacy, an organization that provides educational opportunities to more than 2,000 people annually.

The marathon reading event will conclude at 5 p.m. Saturday.

In addition to folks reading around the clock, the event will be peppered with a variety of actives, including author visits, book discussions and even a wake-up workout.

Author Braxton Cosby, nephew of Bill Cosby, will be the first to share his work. At 6 p.m. Friday, he will be available to sign copies of his first book, “Protostar.” The young adult fiction book is appropriate for children ages 12 and up.

Rachel Glazer will follow Cosby at 7 p.m. with a children’s bedtime story. In addition to reading a story to younger attendees, she will also present her dramatization of “Martina, A Beautiful Cockroach,” a Cuban folktale written by children’s author Carmen Agra Deedy.

Free refreshments will be available throughout the read-a-thon.

If you are interested in participating, call the book exchange in advance to reserve a time slot.

In addition to the smaller door prizes, two grand prizes will be awarded at the conclusion of the event — one for the person who reads the longest and one for the person who raises the most money.

Fourth Annual 24-Hour Read-A-Thon