'Four Sundays' returns to Academy

By JULIE BUTASH Bulletin Contributing Writer

Published on February 01, 2008

With snow and ice everywhere and spring still a ways off, the Northampton Arts Council gives Valley folks something to look forward to with its annual "Four Sundays in February" Series.

The series, which is in its 17th season, has become a winter tradition, offering 12 events this year, from silent films to musical performances, throughout the month in Northampton.

Starting off the series this Sunday is the ever-popular "Silver Chord Bowl," which features seven collegiate a cappella groups in an afternoon of vocal harmonizing at Smith College's John M. Greene Hall on Elm Street in Northampton.

Groups hailing from the five colleges include the Smithereens from Smith College, the Zumbyes from Amherst College and the Dynamics from the University of Massachusetts. Also performing are the ConnChords from Connecticut College, the Dartmouth College Aires, the Beelzebubs from Tufts University and the Rutgers University group Deep Treble, who are the current Mid-Atlantic Region Champions in the International Competition of Collegiate A Cappella.

This year's Bowl features Smith College sociology professor Rick Fantasia and Northampton Mayor Mary Clare Higgins as emcees. The show starts at 2 p.m. and tickets are $10 in advance and $12 at the door.

The following Sunday, Feb. 10, at 2 p.m., accordion-players from around the world will fill the auditorium of the Academy of Music. "Called The Big Squeeze," the event hosts both international and local musicians, who will coax an eclectic array of music from their accordions. Among the featured performers are Bulgarian accordionist Ivan Milev and the Ivan Milev Band, Guy Klucevsek, whose music falls under the heading of avante-garde, and Jeremiah McLane and David Surette, who will bring a fusion of Franco-American, Celtic and jazz sounds. Tickets are $10 in advance; $12 at the door.

On Feb. 16 at 7 p.m.,the third event in the series unites the moving picture with a live orchestra, when the Cambridge-based Alloy Orchestra provides accompaniment to Joseph von Sternberg's Academy Award-winning 1927 film "Underworld, credited as the first gangster film.

Sponsored by Smith College and the five-college film community, the event only costs $1.

The series continues the next day, Feb. 17, with a showing of the film "Hoppity Goes to Town," also known as "Mister Bug Goes to Town," the tale of a group of New York insects whose homes are being threatened with plans for a new skyscraper. The big screen's first full-length musical comedy cartoon, the film was created by the Fleischer brothers, the duo that introduced Betty Boop and Popeye the Sailor to television. The show starts at 2 p.m. at the Academy. Tickets are $3.

The film ushers in the week-long "KidsBestFest: Film Festival," which features family-oriented international, animated, and classic films. This year's fest includes a sing-along with the film "Singin' In The Rain," led by members of the city's internationally known Young@Heart Chorus on Wednesday, Feb. 20. All shows for the film festival are screened at the Academy at 2 p.m. Tickets are $3 at the door.

The series concludes on Sunday, Feb. 24, with "The Really Big Show." A derivative of 1950s variety show, "The Ed Sullivan Show," the event showcases a wide range of local talent, with Lord Russ of the Northampton band Aloha Steamtrain, standing in for Ed Sullivan. An array of performers can be expected, including acrobats, poets, marionettes and the local band "Who Shot Hollywood." Tickets are $6 in advance, or $8 at the door.

The Academy of Music is located at 274 Main St. in Northampton. Tickets are available at Food for Thought in Amherst, the Guild Art Centre, the Northampton Arts Council and State Street Fruit store, all in Northampton, and at World Eye Books in Greenfield. Tickets also will be sold at the door. For information, call the council at 587-1269.