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Arts & Life
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- Written by: Elizabeth Larson
The movie will be shown beginning at dusk.
Come early to enjoy an evening in Middletown.
Bring chairs, blankets and a picnic to the park at the library and senior center at 21266 Calistoga Road.
All those attending must abide by California COVID-19 guidelines.
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- Written by: Kwame Dawes
Florence Price and Marian Anderson were two great American artists whose collaborations — Price as pianist, arranger and composer, and Anderson as exemplary singer — represented the triumph of art over adversity.
Marlanda Dekine’s moving poem “I Am Bound for de Kingdom” is named after a negro spiritual for which these two black women are famous.
Dekine reminds us of the difficult world of racism experienced by their “ascendants” and shows how, with their art, they would take the risk and “leave the driveway.”
I Am Bound for de Kingdom
By Marlanda Dekine
—after Florence Price and Marian Anderson
My granddaddy Silas was born on the Nightingale plantation
in Plantersville, South Carolina, on riverbanks that loved
three generations of my kin, captured
in a green-tinted photograph, hanging in my daddy’s den.
Tonight, my eyes will take each old-world bird from the cropped space,
send them home with their songs and favorite foods.
Look out for me I’m a-coming too
with rice, okra, hard-boiled eggs, and Lord Calvert.
My daddy says if I get out of my car on Nightingale land,
the folks who own it might shoot. My daddy says,
“Never leave the driveway.”
Glory into my soul
I watch all of my ascendants. Their faces reflecting me
in that photograph. Their eyes are dead
black-eyed Susans.
American Life in Poetry does not accept unsolicited manuscripts. It is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2021 by Marlanda Dekine, “I Am Bound for de Kingdom” from Oxford American, Issue 115, Winter 2021. Poem reprinted by permission of the author and the publisher. Introduction copyright ©2022 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Kwame Dawes, is George W. Holmes Professor of English and Glenna Luschei Editor of Prairie Schooner at the University of Nebraska.
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- Written by: Tim Riley
In showcasing the new series, Charlie Collier, CEO of FOX Entertainment, claimed his network entered the unveiling of programs as “the only company, no matter the platform, with advertising at its core.”
With Collier telling advertisers that “building barriers between our best content and our brand-partners isn’t our business model,” it’s the bottom-line that FOX holds back nothing from being available for free to viewers.
In another sense, FOX is holding back most of its new series for the midseason, including dramas and animated comedies, and fans of “9-1-1: Lone Star” will also have to wait for later in the season.
Animation remains a cornerstone of programming as FOX arguably got a big boost in its early days to become a viable fourth network when it launched “The Simpsons,” which is now the longest-running American scripted primetime series.
All-new animated comedy “Grimsburg” will star the voice of Jon Hamm (“Mad Men”) as Marvin Flute, the greatest detective ever to catch a cannibal clown or correctly identify a mid-century modern armoire. But there’s one mystery he still can’t crack – his family.
Back in the town of Grimsburg where everyone has a secret or three, Flute will follow every lead he’s got to redeem himself with the ex-wife he never stopped loving, even if it means hanging out with the son he never bothered to get to know.
Set in mythical Ancient Greece, “Krapopolis” is an animated series that centers on a family of flawed humans, gods and monsters that tries to run one of the world’s first cities without killing each other.
Richard Ayoade voices Tyrannis, the benevolent King of Krapopolis, who tries to make do in a city that lives up to its name. Tyrannis’ mother, Deliria (Hannah Waddingham), is the goddess of self-destruction and questionable choices. Other members of the family are a hot mess.
Gordon Ramsay, the volatile British chef and restaurateur, finds his “Hell’s Kitchen” cooking competition still running on FOX, and coming at some point will be brand-new competition series “Gordon Ramsay’s Food Stars.”
Hunting for the most exciting and innovative new food and drink entrepreneurs, Ramsay is now prepared to put his money where his mouth is, by backing the winner in an investment to take their idea to the next level.
To win Ramsay’s support, it will take more than just a great idea. As he pushes contestants to their limits through a series of relentless challenges, they’ll have to prove they possess drive, dedication, creativity, passion and talent to succeed.
Being the last entrepreneur standing will earn the winner a life-changing reward. That person will just need to survive Gordon Ramsay, the only angel investor. All we can say is good luck.
An American musical soap opera television series is nothing new. Only in the last decade, ABC’s “Nashville” chronicled the lives of various fictitious country music singers, with Connie Britton as a legendary superstar whose stardom began to fade.
FOX’s first new series to start in September will be “Monarch,” a Texas-sized, multi-generational musical drama about America’s first family of country music, in which Susan Sarandon plays tough as nails Queen of Country Music Dottie Cantrell Roman.
Dottie and her beloved husband Albie Roman (country music star Trace Adkins) have created a country music dynasty, and even though the Roman name is synonymous with authenticity, the very foundation of their success is a lie.
And when their reign as country royalty is put in jeopardy, heir to the crown Nicky Roman (Anna Friel) will stop at nothing to protect her family’s legacy, while ensuring her own quest for stardom.
“Alert” is a character-driven police procedural about the Los Angeles Police Department’s Missing Persons Unit. When officer Nikki Parker’s son goes missing, she joins the Unit to help other people find their loved ones, even as she searches for her own.
Six years later, her world is turned upside-down when her ex-husband, Devon Zoellner, shows up with a proof-of-life photo of their missing boy. Or is it? A heart-pounding, life-or-death search for a missing person takes place in each episode.
It’s a case-of-the-week show with a case-of-a-lifetime story running through it – a story that alternately brings the two main characters gut-wrenching heartache and heart-pounding joy.
Based on a British crime anthology comes the provocative series of “Accused” that takes one on the journey of the defendant. Each episode opens in a courtroom of the accused, with viewers knowing nothing about their crime or how they ended up on trial.
Told from the defendant’s point of view through flashbacks, “Accused” holds a mirror up to the current times with evocative and emotional stories.
Michael Chiklis (“The Shield”) guest-stars in the premiere episode as Dr. Scott Corbett, a successful brain surgeon, who faces the limits of unconditional love upon discovering his teenage son may be planning a violent attack at school.
Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.
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- Written by: Kwame Dawes
William Fargason’s “Elegy with Steam” never refers to his father’s death, but to the manner in which death represents a movement through veils of existence.
Fargason’s memory of fatherly care becomes a portal that allows him to hear his father’s voice “on the other side,” through the veil of a warm washcloth.
Elegy with Steam
By William Fargason
When I was sick with a head cold, my head
full of pressure, my father would soak a washcloth
in hot water, then ball it up, wring it out. He would
open it above my head, then place it against
my face like a second skin, the light around me
disappearing entirely except through the spaces
between the stitching. I would inhale the steam
in that darkness, hearing his voice on the other side,
otherwise almost devoid of any other bodily sense
but the warmth and depth of his voice, as if
I had already died and was on the other side
of life waiting for the sickness to lift, but I wasn’t.
I was still on this earth, the washcloth going cold
on my face, my body still sick, and my father still
there when I opened my eyes, as he always was,
there to give me warmth before going cold again.
American Life in Poetry does not accept unsolicited manuscripts. It is made possible by The Poetry Foundation, publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2022 by William Fargason, “Elegy with Steam” from The Maine Review, January 20, 2022 Poem reprinted by permission of the author and the publisher. Introduction copyright ©2022 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction’s author, Kwame Dawes, is George W. Holmes Professor of English and Glenna Luschei Editor of Prairie Schooner at the University of Nebraska.