Arts & Entertainment

David Render, a local musician will be the opening act at Traders Ed, a Seafood Pub in Troy on September 20 from 8-11pm. Admission is free.

Render has been playing music since the age of twelve when he started a small soul/rock band called “The Epics”. The band gained a lot of success for the five years they were together, playing many events in their home town of Chicago. Render gained a lot of knowledge about playing the guitar during the time The Epics were together; so much that when the band went their separate ways he continued learning to play.

Crossing many musical genres, Render learned to play a variety of different styles and was greatly influenced by the music of the early 60’s. It was the late 80’s when Render decided to follow his talent and establish himself a dedicated solo career.

Troy Night Out is attempting to reach out to the needier members of the community while bringing the community as a whole together this month.

Held Friday September 26th, 2008 between 5-9pm, Troy Night Out describes itself on its website (troynightout.org) as a “monthly arts and cultural event.” Metroland and Times Union have declared it the Capital District’s “best local arts scene.”

This month, Troy Night Out is hosting a food drive to benefit local food pantries. Participants are encouraged to bring canned goods, non-perishable food items, cleaning supplies, toiletries and other house hold items. Karen Schlesinger, who co-chairs Troy Night Out with Elizabeth Young, told the Hudsonian that they’re doing it because “there has been a lot of need that we’ve learned about in our community.” Donations can be dropped off at numerous places, a list of which may be found on Troy Night Out’s website.

The theatre club will present “And Then There Were None”, a murder mystery based on Agatha Christie’s novel, as well as “Life Under 30”, a story about life’s lessons. According to Theatre Club Advisor Ian LaChance, “turnout [for the auditions] has been really good,” with a show of 30 to 40 people.

The first play of the year will be “And Then There Were None”, based on Dame Agatha Christi’s novel of the same title. Theatre Club Advisor Mat Cantore stated, “Christie is considered one of the classic authors. Her work is appreciated and well respected. It is a very good draw for an audience.”

On September 25, the Maureen Stapleton Theater will be showing the documentary movie “Daughters of Wisdom” at noon. The movie was directed by Manhattan-based director Bari Pearlman and was shot on location in Nangchen. It includes exclusive in-depth interviews with Tibetan nuns as well as a glimpse into their daily lives. “Documentary filmmaker Bari Pearlman has taken her cameras to a harshly beautiful corner of rural Tibet, where an unlikely movement toward female empowerment is taking place,” says Maureen M Hart of the Chicago Tribune.

For the women in rural Tibet, daily life is focused on survival. Tibetan women often do not have enough time to pray or pursue their religion or education because of the twin trials of labor and starvation. They lived in horrible conditions for thousands of years. Additionally, the concept of educating women was considered to be a foolish waste of time and money until recently. Only men had opportunities to advance themselves.

Born on October 10, 1963 in Princeton, New Jersey and raised in Encino California, Daniel Pearl was the son of UCLA Professor Judea Pearl. Pearl attended Stanford University as a communications major and graduated with honors in 1985. During his time at Stanford, he co-founded a new student newspaper, The Stanford Commentary and was inducted into the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society for outstanding academic achievement.

After Stanford, Pearl spent the summer abroad traveling to the former Soviet Union, China and Europe, returning to America to reside in Western Massachusetts. While there, he held positions at the North Adams Transcript and then the Berkshire Eagle as a writer.

Last month, The Academy Is... released their third album, titled “Fast Times at Barrington High”- an obvious homage to “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” combined with a subtle reference to bassist Adam Siska and vocalist William Beckett’s alma mater, Barrington High School. 

The record, as the title would leave you to believe, is about the experiences of being in high school and being young. This leads to the question: Is the band experiencing early onset nostalgia or simply trying to appeal to the younger generation? With a generic sub-par pop-punk style that sounds like everything else their age-market has on their iPod, it definitely seems like the latter. Titles like “Summer Hair = Forever Young” and familiar themes such as love, infidelity and graduation support this theory.

Montreal-based quintet Simple Plan stopped by Albany Broadcasting to play an acoustic set with The Fly Morning Rush last Thursday, promoting their new self-titled album Simple Plan, supported by about 20 listeners who won V.I.P. passes to attend the Breakfast Jam.

“We’re pretty regular down-to-earth guys. We don’t date crazy celebrities or anything,” said lead singer Pierre Bouvier. Although the celebrities they do have in their cell phones include Avril Lavigne, Mark Hoppus from Blink-182, Boys Like Girls and Hilary Duff.

A fan asked them how it felt to inspire so many people and Bouvier answered “I think it’s great to know our music impacts so many people.”

In celebration of V-day and female empowerment, the Hudson Valley Community College Theatre Club put on Eve Ensler’s, “The Vagina Monologues,” a collection of female stories. The gamut included tales of vaginal rejection, discovery and angry hilarity, giving the audience insight into the many issues woman face with their own sexuality.

The cast responsible for the portrayal of these issues included actresses Felicia Schaller, Tanya Springer, Cat Noel, Suzette Havenbrook, Krista Toni Gentile, Melanie Diaz, Steph Ellett, Bethany Gillam, Heidi Donlon and Hallie Hodenfield and Director Mat Cantore.

Students are encouraged to support a fellow student Matthew Eck, by attending the reception of his photography exhibit on March 7th 2008 from 5pm-8pm to meet the artist, socialize with others, while discussing Eck’s art over a few refreshments.

The show will be held at the “Rusty Matcutter” in Glens Falls at 21 Cooper Street.

The pieces at the show include Eck’s current collection of work, covering many different ideas and emotions through photography. Krystal Hullet, a fine arts program classmate of Eck’s stated, “It takes a lot of guts for a student, especially one whose work is so controversial. I think he’s taking a huge step and a lot of people would have backed out or not taken the opportunity but I think his show at the Rusty Matcutter is a really great achievement.” Hullet considers his work to be experimental. She said, “He’s unpredictable and [his] work is just as erratic as he is. He’s gone from gender bending to surrealist photography.”

Looking for a spiritual down-to- earth and up-into-space ride? It can be found in Erykah Badu. The sultry hip-hop queen delivers an album of grace and awareness on the back of everything old school and good.

The opening track “Amerykahn Promise,” a contract with the demonic voice of America itself, gives rise to the psychedelic funk of the 70’s. Meanwhile songs “The Cell” and “Twinkle” hold sinister tones, emphasizing the poor fates of life, through the use of eerie arrangements and a futuristic robot anthem of alien synthetic swells.

New Amerykah succeeds in not blending, but splicing the quasi sound of the present day earth and the unknown, apparently isolated, future. The album is also a search of self and those around us as expressed in “Master Teacher” and the melancholy rastafarian-gospel pleas of “That Hump.”