Short Takes: A Glimpse at Weekend Entertainment
Tom Netherland/Special to Bristol Herald Courier
Published: March 19, 2008
Updated: March 19, 2008
IDI-ODYSSEY Published: March 19, 2008
Updated: March 19, 2008
There are many interpretations and adaptations of Homer’s “The Odyssey.” Most famously and obviously was the Coen Brothers’ loose retelling via their film “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”
So this way comes yet another take on “The Odyssey” via “Idi-Odyssey.” Slated to stage at the Renaissance Center in Kingsport on March 20, the Kingsport Theatre Guild’s Imagination! Theatre production employs Homer’s ancient Greek epic as a base from which new directions into comedy are launched.
As with “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”, knowledge of Homer’s classic isn’t required to enjoy the play. However, to catch the full comedic brunt, read “The Odyssey” and then see “Idi-Odyssey.”
IF YOU GO
What: “Idi-Odyssey”
When: March 20, 7 p.m.
Where: Renaissance Center, 1200 E. Center St., Kingsport
Info: (423) 392-8414 and 8427
Web: www.kingsporttheatre.org
Read Homer’s “The Odyssey” here: http://www.classics.mit.edu/Homer/Odyssey.html
DON RIGSBY
For most, Don Rigsby’s name probably doesn’t leap off the page. Star power shines elsewhere.
But Rigsby qualifies as one of the finest musicians in bluegrass. Critics love him. Musicians speak highly of him.
Hear why on March 21 when he mans the mandolin at the Down Home in Johnson City. There are better mandolinists, but Rigsby is superb. There are better singers, but Rigsby emotes wonderfully.
Rigsby wins while flying low under the radars of most. Yet this singer and picker of excellence emerged huge when he sang with legendary rocker John Fogerty on the former Creedence Clearwater Revival lead singer’s Grammy Award-winning album, “Blue Moon Swamp.”
To paraphrase from his cousin Ricky Skaggs, Don Rigsby rocks, and his bluegrass is cool.
IF YOU GO
Who: Don Rigsby
When: March 21, 9 p.m.
Where: Down Home, 300 W. Main St., Johnson City
Tickets: $16
Info: (423) 929-9822
Web: www.donrigsby.com
SIGEAN
Missed St. Patrick’s Day?
Then catch the green on March 22 with Sigean at the Paramount Center for the Arts in Bristol Tennessee.
Pronounced “she-gun,” the six-person, Tri-Cities-based, Irish-traditional Celtic band offers an active sound built into jigs and reels and perhaps a waltz or two.
Formed in 1997, Sigean shares music in a loose presentation as if playing for friends. So goes the beauty of traditional Irish music. It’s fun, accessible, danceable and downright party-like. Come one and come all, though you will have to raise a pint elsewhere.
IF YOU GO
Who: Sigean
When: March 22, 8 p.m.
Where: Paramount Center for the Arts, 518 State St., Bristol Tennessee
Tickets: $10-$12
Info: (423) 274-8920
Web: www.sigeanband.com
MUSIC NOTES
-- Happy trails to Bill Bolick. The pioneer in music, whose career reaches back to the1930s, died March 13 in Hickory, N.C. He and late brother Earl formed seminal country-bluegrass act the Blue Sky Boys. Their airtight and downright beautiful vocal harmonies sealed a sound at once impeccable, entertaining and influential.
Longtime residents of the Tri-Cities may recall the Blue Sky Boys from their summer 1949 stint on Bristol’s “Farm and Fun Time” on radio station WCYB. Bolick was 90.
-- March 25 looks like a big day for new albums. Panic at the Disco’s highly anticipated “Pretty.Odd.” Lead single “Nine in the Afternoon” bounces along with a 1960s influenced pop sound that if indicative of the album as a whole offers a peak into what could emerge as a pop-rock masterpiece.
-- Platinum-selling Counting Crows returns with its first album in five years with “Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings,” 1980s pepped-on-pop B-52s issues “Funplex,” and critical winning hip-hop hybrids Gnarls Barkley offers “The Odd Couple.”
-- Heads up while taking a peek across country’s fence. April 1 brings mighty George Strait’s new disc, aptly titled “Troubadour.”
-- Down the road a bit from the concert wire bounds a forthcoming date in particular. See the Boss, Bruce Springsteen and the E. Street Band, in Charlotte on April 27. Tickets range from $67 to $97 and are still available – but ya better hurry.
TOM NETHERLAND is a freelance writer. He can be reached at .
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