By Denny Dyroff, Entertainment Editor, The Times
Falsa
Falsa, which will be performing at The Rotunda (4014 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, http://firemuseumpresents.com) on June 17, is a New York based band that was formed in Philadelphia and has its roots in Pakistan. The show is part of the Fire Museum’s “Dialogues Series.”
Falsa is rooted in 14th century Sufi music (Indian classical mysticism similar to Rumi’s elevating poetry) with contemporary arrangements transcending genre-specificity and cultural preconceptions, in collaboration with a diverse array of improvisational world musicians.
The band’s lineup features: Umer Piracha, vocals; Tom Deis, Bass VI and harmonium; Paul Arendt, guitar; Siddharth Ashokkumar, Carnatic violin; Adam Hershberger, trumpet; Roshni Samlal, tabla; and Greg Foran, percussion.
“Tom Deis formed Falsa with me in Philadelphia in 2013,” said Piracha, during a phone interview Wednesday afternoon from his home in Manhattan.
“We experimented quite a lot with sounds. We started with jam and then used our strengths.”
Falsa’s instrumentation brings traditional melodies into a modern context in a way that is at times meditative and, at others, explosive. The lyrical content comes from the likes of classic poets Amir Khusrau, Rumi and Hafez, who touched on something essential to human existence in their writings, something that becomes even more palpable to the audience as singer Piracha offers brief, soulful translations between songs.
Piracha was born in Multan in Pakistan and relocated to the United States in the early 2000s.
“I did well in school in Multan and had grades good enough to get me into the British high school in Lahore,” said Piracha.
“They had connection with universities in the United States. So, I came to America for college and went to Franklin & Marshall in Lancaster. I majored in business out of necessity because I needed a job to stay here. But, for the most part, I studied music in college.”
Multan is located in Pakistan’s Punjab region where the music of Islam and Sufi is prevalent.
“I was trained in chanting since I was four years old – Quran verses at school,” said Piracha. “My family was Punjabi, and my main language was Urdu. I discovered Rumi and the English translation of his poetry when I was in senior high school.”
Piracha’s music influences included rock acts like Radiohead and traditional Sufi music. He was also influenced by the Sufi poetry of Rumi and the qawwali music of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
Qawwali is a form of Sufi Islamic devotional singing, originating in the Indian subcontinent. Originally performed at Sufi shrines, it gained mainstream popularity and an international audience in the late 20th century.
Qawwali music received international exposure through the work of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Aziz Mian and Sabri Brothers largely due to several releases on the Real World Records, followed by live appearances at WOMAD festivals.
“Qawwali is a major part of our repertoire,” said Piracha. “It’s performed similar to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.
“Our instrumentation is very diverse – Carnatic violin, Bass VI, harmonium, Spanish guitar, tabla, trumpet. Live, it is an exploration of many styles. It’s very improvisational.”
Falsa music is like an aural stew. There are many flavors and spices which blend together amazingly well while, at the same time, maintaining their original character.
It originally emerged as a collaboration between long-term friends and has since evolved into an exploration of what’s possible when people are moved collectively by the pursuit of the intangible aspects of a communal gathering.
According to Piracha, “In our music, we want to revere and dignify the most magical aspects of experience that are gifts and not acquisitions, like reclaiming a half-remembered dream. Our music is not about means to ends, but about meaning and transcendence, about healing a wounded alienation we feel in our very highly mechanized world, and in the ways that matter, poorly connected society, one performance at a time.”
The band’s music works on many levels.
“Music is my tool to investigate the overlap of identities,” said Piracha.
Video link for Falsa – https://youtu.be/Bv7wINbAqiI.
The show at The Rotunda, which starts at 7:30, will have Kamyar Arsani & Sunken Cages as the opening act.
Iranian multi-instrumentalist Kamyar Arsani and Indian-born drummer/electronic music producer Sunken Cages create their own brand of digital folk music that draws on Sufi mysticism, traditional Persian Music, street rhythms from Mumbai and contemporary electronic music at once. Momin accompanies Arsani’s vocals and daf (frame-drum) with a masterful blend of electronic and acoustic percussion, including live-looping via his unique drum-loop performance system.
Admission is free and donations will be appreciated.
March was “Women’s History Month.” Over the next few days, it will be “Women’s Music Weekend” at Jamey’s House of Music (32 South Lansdowne Avenue, Lansdowne, 215-477-9985,www.jameyshouseofmusic.com).
The schedule begins with Lisa Chavous on June 15, followed by Ella Gahnt on June 16 and Deni Bonet on June 17.
Ella Gahnt
The headline act on Friday will be The Fabulous Ella Gahnt with the Elle Gahnt Trio. The Trio features Aaron Graves on keyboards, Lee Smith on bass, and Butch Reed on drums.
Gahnt is a vocalist in the jazz/traditional pop style who has performed with some of the most talented musicians in the quad-state area of Philadelphia, New Jersey, Delaware and New York. She also has worked professionally as a studio vocalist/performer for many years.
“Ella Gahnt, which is my stage name, was given to me by my husband Leon Mitchell,” said Gahnt, during a phone interview from her home in the East Oak Lane section of Philadelphia.
“It comes from the persona I want when I perform – elegant. I want to be like the performers back in the day who dressed to the nines – Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Nat King Cole. They put on a show. It’s all about entertaining.”
Mitchell is a sax player and a key figure in Philly area jazz support groups such as The Jazz Bridge Project. He is also the Musical Director of the Philadelphia Legends of Jazz Orchestra
“I sang in church choirs when I was little then glee clubs in junior high and choirs in high school,” said Gahnt, a graduate of West Philadelphia High School. “I was also in one of the last versions of the Orlons in the late 60s.”
The Orlons were an R&B group from Philadelphia. The group had nine Top 20 hits. “The Wah-Watusi,” “Don’t Hang Up,” and “South Street” each sold over one million copies and were awarded gold disc status.
“In the 1980s, I decided I wanted to be a jazz singer,” said Gahnt. “I started listening to old favorites – especially to learn the songs and find different versions of the songs I liked.”
Jazz is at the core of Gahnt’s music.
According to Gahnt, “I am a vocalist in the jazz/traditional pop style and I am honored to say I perform with some of the most talented musicians in the quad-state area of Philadelphia, New Jersey, Delaware and New York, who have also become some of my closest friends. Together, we tell stories in songs written and made famous by the best songwriters and singers in the world. I have worked professionally as a studio vocalist/performer for many years in public and private venues around the area.
“I get so excited when I perform because the musicians I work with always create a beautiful carpet for me to fly on. I believe my job as a vocalist is to convey an interpretation of the songwriter’s story to the audience with as much emotion, clarity, beauty, and technique as possible. My personal challenge when I perform is to control the balance between all of these things and enjoy the experience at the same time. It’s the most difficult thing I do and the most enjoyable thing I do.”
Gahnt is a performer who never fails to deliver.
“In my live shows, I do mostly traditional jazz – including some originals,” said Gahnt. “I do a few originals. I also do a lot of jazz standards.”
Video link for Ella Gahnt — https://youtu.be/1jQyZncKxZg.
The show at Jamey’s on June 16 will start at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door.
On Saturday evening, the headliner will be Deni Bonet with Chris Flynn.
Bonet was one of the first acts to headline the venue in 2023. This weekend, she is happily making a quick return to the highly acclaimed club in Delaware County.
Bonet takes the violin to places most musicians don’t even dream about – and gladly takes listeners along for the ride.
On January 14, Bonet will be taking the audience at Jamey’s along for the ride – a thrilling ride that spans musical genres and gets audience members out of their seats.
Bonet can rock a violin like nobody’s business and writes memorable songs that make you want to listen again and again. For years, Bonet has been honing her craft as a violinist, singer, songwriter and performer. Her style ranges from pop to roots/rock to new folk.
On her latest album, “Bright Shiny Objects,” she delivers ultra-high voltage, genre-defying brilliance, with pure classical training and precision playing.
“I’ve had a very interesting career,” said Bonet, during a phone interview from her home in New York City.
“I grew up in northern Virginia – Woodbridge – and got a full ride to West Virginia University.
“Right out of school, I got on Mountain Stage. I was part of the original cast. A cool thing – I went back recently as a full guest.”
Bonet first came to widespread attention as a founding member of National Public Radio’s premier music show, Mountain Stage, where she built a following as a member of the broadcast’s house band; singing and playing in her own right and backing up artists as diverse as the Indigo Girls, Richard Thompson and Allen Toussaint.
In the 90s, Bonet relocated to London, where she worked with alternative rock legend, Robyn Hitchcock, including a series of concerts as a duo that won praise from USA Today, The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe. She played on Hitchcock’s album “Moss Elixir,” and even appeared in the Jonathan Demme concert film, “Storefront Hitchcock.”
Eventually, Bonet decided it was time to go solo.
At Jamey’s, Bonet will be performing with her musical partner – guitarist Chris Flynn.
“I do play with a band occasionally,” said Bonet. “Since the plague hit, I go out mostly with Chris. It’s a duo. He’s not a side guy. We have a chemistry.
“We hooked up a few years back. I was asked to play the New York Irish Rock Review show at City Winery. I was in the house band and Chris was the musical director. The second year I did it, we hung out a little more and I asked him to do a gig with me. From then on, we started to work together. We’ve played Carnegie Hall four times.”
After moving to New York, Bonet released an initial EP (titled, simply, “EP”) and then her full-length debut, “Bigger Is Always Better.” The disc, which featured guest appearances from Hitchcock and The Soft Boys’ Kimberly Rew (writer of Katrina and the Waves’ classic hit Walking On Sunshine), garnered rave reviews.
Bonet has hosted her own cable TV show, “Duets With Deni,” a combination of music and chat featuring a series of all-star guests, which was the subject of a rave Billboard feature. She has performed highly regarded showcases at CMJ and SXSW and took her act on the road with Lilith Fair.
And she’s remained one of the most in-demand session players and sidewomen around, adding her violin to albums by an impressive variety of artists — from the introspective Sarah McLachlan to techno-metal band Gravity Kills — and making TV appearances on The Today Show, SNL and Late Night With Conan O’Brien.
As she established herself as a solo act, Bonet impressed artists like Patti Smith, Lisa Loeb, Gin Blossoms, Cracker, Midnight Oil, The Saw Doctors, Fairport Convention, Marshall Crenshaw and Kansas, all of whom have invited her to open their shows. She spent several years touring the globe as the violinist in Cyndi Lauper’s band.
“I spent a couple years touring with Cyndi and that was a lot of fun,” said Bonet.
Bonet also had a fun time in Zanzibar.
“I went to Africa – to Tanzania – on safari,” said Bonet. “It was on my bucket list. I was in Zanzibar for a week.
“On the next-to-last day, I met some musicians at a traditional dinner. I jammed with these musicians, gave a workshop to teachers, and performed a mini concert.
“They asked me to come back and do a residency. I got a nice size grant and went back to Stone Town for a month. I spent three-and-a-half weeks teaching rock-and-roll, songwriting and violin.”
In January 2020, Bonet returned to Zanzibar to record original music with local Tanzanian band Stone Town Rockerz which will appear on her new album, to be released later this year.
“I wanted them on my new album,” said Bonet. “The track we did together is called, “All Around the World Music Is Love.”
“When I started making the new album, I called in favors. Some of the musicians who played on the album were Will Lee, Andy York, Leland Sklar, Shawn Pelton and most of the Spin Doctors.”
Bonet plays the violin like no other. Although classically trained, Bonet quit the classical world because she hated having to wear black and sit still.
“I approach it more like a guitar than a violin,” said Bonet.
Bonet is also known for her signature bright blue violin.
“I was originally given the guitar from the company — Barcus-Berry – when I was touring with Cyndi,” said Bonet. “They gave me violins in every color. Blue is the one that sounds the best.”
Audience members at Jamey’s will be seeing blue but not feeling blue when Bonet rips into her intense solos.
“We tend to do a mix of songs with vocals and instrumentals,” said Bonet. “Our most recent album, ‘Bright Shiny Objects,’ is our first all-instrumental album – sand it rocks. Chris and I both sing and we’ll be doing songs from all my albums.
“We’re going to have a busy year. We have 40 shows booked and more are coming in. It’s great.
“When people leave our shows, they feel really good.”
Video link for Deni Bonet – https://youtu.be/7vHjx4Lp5Pw.
The show at Jamey’s on June 17 will start at 8 p.m. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door.
Chavous, who is one of the most respected jazz and blues singers in the Philadelphia music scene, is a Delaware County girl through and through.
She grew up in Sharon Hill and graduated from Darby Township High School. She studied for a career in nursing at a hospital in Delaware County. Now, Chavous is a resident of Lansdowne.
Chavous has a gig on June 15 that she can walk to if she so desires.
On Thursday night, Chavous make a return visit to Jamey’s House of Music – the venue where she had a CD release party for her most recent album, “Breaking Down the Walls.”
“The CD is dedicated to my late husband Michael Hayes,” said Chavous, during a phone interview from her Delco home. “He died of cancer in 2014.
“We had a tour in Paris in 2019 and two trips to Puerto Rico. The Puerto Rico shows were tributes to Aretha Franklin and Tina Turner. One of them raised $3,000 for emergency relief in San Juan. Then, the pandemic hit, and everything shut down.”
Chavous has been singing her whole life.
“I started performing and singing in church when I was really young,” said Chavous. “The, my mom and dad managed me. Eventually, I got calls from agents. So, I started putting bands together – Lisa Chavous and Friends.”
In 1989 she began performing with the group Chapter One in banquet halls such as The Twelve Caesars and the Riviera Ballroom. In 1997 Lisa won first prize while competing in the Temple University jazz station talent contest sponsored by B&V outreach. In 1999 she began forming bands that performed for a variety of audiences. These ensembles eventually became known as Lisa Chavous and Friends.
“My first band was a jazz band. We played a lot of jazz clubs including the Blue Note in New York. I was on the jazz side for a while.
“We were really blessed with being able to book shows at country clubs in Delco. One night, the sax player couldn’t make the show. So, they sent another cat – and it was Byard Lancaster.”
The late, great Byard Lancaster was an alto saxophonist/flutist from Philadelphia who was part of the wave of free jazz inspired by John Coltrane. His music had many cultures in its DNA such as blues, reggae and Afrobeat and he lived in a variety of places including Chicago, France and Nigeria. But he always returned to jazz and his hometown.
After watching Chavous perform many years ago, Lancaster said, “I have recorded with Jonny Copeland, and have known Shemekia Copeland since she was a little girl, when I was on the road with her father. I’ve got to tell you the best female blues vocalist to come along since Shemekia is without a doubt, Lisa Chavous.”
This quote came from the musician who discovered Kevin Eubanks, the Roots, and Stanley Clarke.
“A couple years later, I ran into Byard at a blues festival in Media,” said Chavous. “He told me there was a blues band — the Philadelphia Blues Messengers –that needed a vocalist and asked if I wanted to go to Paris. That was in the early 2000s. He opened so many doors for me.
“For me, getting into the blues was a fluke. I was supposed to be going Motown and playing country clubs. Then, blues came in with Byard. I just became an icon in Philly as a blues singer. People wanted the blues and it never stopped. I realized – this music is me.”
For Thursday’s show, which is a tribute to Billie Holiday, Chavous will be backed by the Dave Reiter Trio and pianist Jim Holton.
According to Chavous, “Pianist Jim Holton will be accompanying me as I pay tribute to the late great Billie Holiday in honor of June black music month. Jim is one of the best jazz pianists from Philadelphia who is always in demand and is well respected. His jazz repertoire is off the charts. Dave Reiter and his Dynamic Trio will be accompanying us as well. We will be performing legendary greats such as “All of Me,’ ‘Don’t Explain,’ ‘God Bless the Child,’ ‘Good Morning Heartache’ and many more.”
Video link for Lisa Chavous – https://youtu.be/3N0iG_x7u44.
The show at Jamey’s on Thursday night will start at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10.
The Candlelight Theatre (2208 Millers Road, Arden, Delaware, 302- 475-2313, www.candlelighttheatredelaware.org) shifts gears one night a month from theater to comedy.
In addition to performances this weekend from Friday through Sunday of its mainstage production, “The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940,” the Candlelight Theatre will also host its monthly edition of Candlelight Comedy Club on June 15.
The show’s features will be Alia Janine and LaTice while the emcee will be Justin Gonzalez.
Gonzalez, who is the glue that holds it all together, is a stand-up comedian and magician. He is also an independent musician based in Philadelphia who travels throughout the Tri-State area and beyond.
Gonzalez, who began performing professionally at the age of 11, now performs with a repertoire that includes classical, big band, Broadway and opera. Most recently, he added a new genre when he assumed the role of lead vocalist for “33 1/3 LIVE’s Killer Queen Experience.”
“I’m originally from Northeast Philly,” said Gonzalez. “I went to school in South Philly at GAMP.”
The Girard Academic Music Program (GAMP) is a college preparatory school for students in grades 5 through 12 that provides a unique educational environment, focusing on college and career readiness, while allowing all students to pursue music as a major subject.
“I was at GAMP for eight years,” said Gonzalez. “I studied voice and instruments starting with lower brass. Voice was a large chunk of it. I got my first professional performance in Europe.”
At the age of 13, Gonzalez was asked to join a chorus as a soloist on its two-week tour of Germany and France. On that trip, he had the opportunity to perform in many castles, mansions, and historic houses of worship. The most memorable moment for him was singing in the Cathedral Notre Dame in Paris, France.
“It was amazing,” said Gonzalez. “I was 13 and I was singing at the Cathedral Notre Dame. I was just a poor Puerto Rican kid from North Philly, and I was singing in places like a castle in Germany and a cathedral in Berlin.”
After years of laying the groundwork for a promising career as an opera singer, Gonzalez was diagnosed at the age of 18 with Multiple Sclerosis, an autoimmune disease. One of the symptoms of MS is memory loss. His opera career was over just as quickly as it began.
“It affected my brain’s ability to memorize,” said Gonzalez. “I still sing classically at venues around the East Coast and on Broadway.”
Today, 20 years since that first tour, Gonzalez is still a sought-after classical music soloist. He is also a practitioner of the American Song Book and the music of Broadway. He uses all of this music to entertain, educate, and share his story.
“I also have several music projects,” said Gonzalez. “There is the Little Big Band Lounge Revival, which does lounge and popular standards along with classic love songs, and the Justin Gonzalez Jazz Trio, which is a pop trio that uses classical instruments. There is also ‘33 1/3 LIVE’s Killer Queen Experience.’”
The comedy aspect is the most recent.
“About eight years ago, I was doing a weekly cabaret show with Julia Scotti – ‘Julia Scotti’s Comedy Test Kitchen,’” said Gonzalez. “She said I should tell my stories when performing. That allowed me to just be funny.”
Video link for Justin Gonzalez — https://youtu.be/kNtcF4Z5aqQ.
The show at the Candlelight Theater will start at 7:30 p.m. on June 15. Tickets, which are $30, include complimentary light fare and free parking.
Every season, the Candlelight Theatre presents mostly musicals with just one non-musical in the season’s schedule. That show this season is “The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940,” which is a murder mystery. The action takes place on an estate in Chappaqua, New York in December 1940.
An eccentric heiress has invited a group of theater people to her home on the pretense of holding a backer’s audition for a new musical. The creative team for this new project was also involved in a recent Broadway flop that closed abruptly when three of its showgirls were mysteriously murdered.
As the mayhem at the mansion unfolds, murders begin to pile up and everyone’s a suspect. The zany show features a lot of slapstick comedy along with blizzard conditions, secret passageways and musical snippets.
The play was first performed at the Circle Repertory Company in New York and later moved to Broadway in April 1987 at The Longacre Theatre. Both productions were directed by the playwright and shared the same cast. The play is said to have been based on several 1940s mystery movies, including The Cat and the Canary, one of Bob Hope’s first films.
Bernice Roth is a perpetually thirsty lyricist and alcoholic. She is Roger’s partner. Bernice is very odd and emotional, frequently losing her composure and screaming. When Marjorie fails to respond to the second act opening number of “White House Merry-Go-Round,” Bernice is hugely offended, despite the fact that Marjorie was dead at the time. She spends the entire second act attempting to “fix” the play, even when she is held hostage.
The production at Candlelight features a standout cast of Susan Giddings, Chelsea Paradiso, Susan Wefel, Henry Glejzer, Walter Todd, Chris Fitting, Sarah Mackus, Robert Gene Pellechio, Samantha Ricciuti and Shaun Yates.
“The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940” is running now through June 25. Performances are Friday and Saturday evenings (doors 6 p.m./show, 8 p.m.) and Sunday afternoons (doors, 1 p.m./show, 3 p.m.). Tickets, which include dinner and a show, are $71.50 for adults and $33 for children (ages 4-12).
On June 16, 118 North (118 North Wayne Avenue, Wayne, www.118northwayne.com) will host the Gabe Stillman Band.
Stillman, an accomplished blues guitarist from Williamsport, seems to have found a home-away-from home in Delaware County. This will be his fourth concert at Jamey’s in the last year-and-a-half.
“I’ve stayed busy all through the last year-and-a-half,” said Stillman, during a phone call from his home in the birthplace of Little League Baseball.
Stillman was busiest during a two-week period in April 2021.
“I went to Austin in April and recorded my first album,” said Stillman. “It was produced by Anton Funderbergh at Wire Recording.”
Funderbergh is top-flight guitarist and the bandleader of Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets since 1978. Their style incorporates both Chicago blues and Texas blues. He is also one of the most respected producers in Texas’ capitol city.
“I met Anton at the International Blues Challenge a couple years ago,” said Stillman. “I’ve been a fan of his since I was a teenager. He’s in my top 10 list of blues players. And I loved his production work with other people.”
Stillman’s album, “Just Say the Word,” was released in August by the Vizztone Label Group.
“It’s a 15-song album – 13 originals and two covers,” said Stillman. “The covers were Bill Withers’ ‘Friend of Mine’ and Bobby Blue Bland’s ‘I’ll Take Care of You.’
“When the album came out in August, it debuted at Number 10 on the Billboard Magazine Blues chart. It was also named one of the top blues albums of 2021 by Roots Music Report.
“I brought my rhythm section Bassist Colin Beatty and drummer Ray Hangen – down to Austin. In the studio, we used Taylor Streiff, a piano player from St. Louis, Austin’s Texas Horns and had Sue Foley and Anton playing guitar on one track.”
It was a big step forward for Stillman, who has been studying guitar for almost a decade-and-a-half.
“I started taking guitar lessons when I was 11,” said Stillman. “I’m 25 now so I’ve been playing for 14 years.
“When I started out, I wanted to play heavy rock and heavy metal. Listening to guitarists in those genres, I realized that their playing was very fast and technically complicated. A teacher told me to learn rock by getting into the blues.
“So, I started listening to a lot of blues guitarists like B.B. King, Freddie King, Albert King, Buddy Guy and Elmore James. I was also listening to guitarists such as Duane Allman and Derek Trucks. I realized – hey, I can do this. I got hooked on blues and R&B – and jazz. When I was 13 or 14, I started to perform live.”
A key stage in Stillman’s development came at the Uptown Music Collective in Williamsport.
For 20 years, the Uptown Music Collective has been providing exceptional modern music education grounded in traditional educational principles. Its programs engage students through an emphasis on modern genres including rock, pop, soul, blues, country, R&B, and funk.
“I studied at the Uptown Music Collective when I was younger,” said Stillman. “I also taught there after I got out of college.”
Stillman spent his college years in Boston where he got a degree in “Professional Music” with an emphasis on guitar performance and songwriting.
“I started my band in 2015 after graduating from Berklee,” said Stillman, whose honors include making it to “Final Eight” of the 35th Annual International Blues Challenge in Memphis Tennessee.
“My band has been primarily a trio but at the Blues Challenge, I made it to the finals with the addition of a harmonica player in the group.
“My bass player Colin Beatty, who is also from Williamsport, has been with me the whole time. We’ve had different drummers come in and out. Right now, our drummer is Ray Hangen from Buffalo, New York.
“With the trio, we play mostly blues and American rock. There also is a little mix of R&B in there.”
Video link for Gabe Stillman — https://youtu.be/QGIJgb51Kw8.
The show on June 16 at 118 North will start at 8:30 p.m.
Tickets are $10.
Other upcoming shows at 118 North are Marc Ford on June 15, Brown Sugar on June 17, CTO Tribeca Band on June 18 and The 9’s on June 21.
Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center (226 North High Street, West Chester, www.uptownwestchester.org) is hosting Sail On, a band acclaimed as one of America’s Beach Boys tribute acts. On June 19, you can enjoy the holiday by watching a screening of “Jaws” at the Uptown at 7 p.m.
Kennett Flash (102 Sycamore Alley, Kennett Square, 484-732-8295, http://www.kennettflash.org) will present “The Last Laugh Showcase @ The Kennett Flash” featuring Chris Turner with Lamarr Todd on June 16. On Saturday, the venue will host its fifth Singer-Songwriter Showcase 2023 featuring Jordan Leitner, J.D. Webb, Pat Kate, and Samantha Poole.
On June 18 at 2:30 p.m., The Kennett Flash is hosting “Illuminating Bayard Rustin,” presented by People’s Light. This short performance is followed by a brief lecture and Q&A session with local activist-historian Penny Washington. After the presentation, there will be a Juneteenth Open Mic hosted by Leon Spencer at 3:30 p.m.
On June 20, The Grand (818 North Market Street, Wilmington, Delaware, www.thegrandwilmington.org) is presenting “Ben Folds — WHAT MATTERS MOST TOUR” (featuring special guest Tall Heights) in Copeland Hall. On June 16, The Grand is presenting Iris DeMent and Ana Egge at the Baby Grand.
