https://chestertownspy.org Nonpartisan and Education-based News for Chestertown Thu, 08 May 2025 15:29:26 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/05/08/spy-art-review-photorealism-at-the-academy-by-steve-parks/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/05/08/spy-art-review-photorealism-at-the-academy-by-steve-parks/#respond Thu, 08 May 2025 15:29:17 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=184055 “Urban Landscapes,” the subtitle of the new photorealism exhibit at Easton’s Academy Art Museum, has been the subject of Richard Estes’ lifelong career as a fine art painter.’ Estes, now 92, studied art at the prestigious Art Institute of Chicago, starting in 1952 when his family moved to Illinois. By the early 1960s, the art-world […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/05/08/spy-art-review-photorealism-at-the-academy-by-steve-parks/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/19/spy-theater-review-man-from-earth-visits-oxford-by-steve-parks/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/19/spy-theater-review-man-from-earth-visits-oxford-by-steve-parks/#respond Sat, 19 Apr 2025 13:50:44 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/19/spy-theater-review-man-from-earth-visits-oxford-by-steve-parks/ To understand where a play entitled “The Man From Earth” comes from – aren’t we all men and women, etc. from Earth? – look to the author of the book on which the screenplay and subsequent stage drama was drawn as source material. The play evolved in stages from the mind of Jerome Bixby who […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/04/19/spy-theater-review-man-from-earth-visits-oxford-by-steve-parks/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/15/spy-theater-review-never-the-sinner-leopold-and-loeb-by-steve-parks/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/15/spy-theater-review-never-the-sinner-leopold-and-loeb-by-steve-parks/#respond Sat, 15 Mar 2025 14:07:00 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/15/spy-theater-review-never-the-sinner-leopold-and-loeb-by-steve-parks/ If a whodunnit is your murder-mystery cup of tea, “Never the Sinner” may not be up your alley. But if the psychology of a pair or murderous lovers who kill a teenage boy just for the thrill of it – for sport if you will – will always beg the question: “Why?” The senseless murder […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/03/15/spy-theater-review-never-the-sinner-leopold-and-loeb-by-steve-parks/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/18/spy-music-review-an-ascendent-interlude-concert-by-steve-parks/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/18/spy-music-review-an-ascendent-interlude-concert-by-steve-parks/#respond Tue, 18 Feb 2025 13:14:06 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/18/spy-music-review-an-ascendent-interlude-concert-by-steve-parks/ “The Lark” not only ascended but soared to the top of the program of Chesapeake Music’s Interlude matinee concert at the Ebenezer Theater Sunday, starring violinist Stella Chen and pianist Janice Carissa whose youthful exuberance was surpassed only by their extraordinary talent and technical virtuosity. Until just the night before, the concert was to be […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/18/spy-music-review-an-ascendent-interlude-concert-by-steve-parks/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/05/elizabethan-and-chamber-music-virtuosity-by-steve-parks/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/05/elizabethan-and-chamber-music-virtuosity-by-steve-parks/#respond Wed, 05 Feb 2025 13:03:40 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/05/elizabethan-and-chamber-music-virtuosity-by-steve-parks/ The Baltimore Consort performs a trio of concerts on or near Valentine’s Day – two of them on the Eastern Shore and one in Columbia. The subject is romance,  some of it drawn from the consort’s most recent album, “The Food of Love: Songs, Dances, and Fancies for Shakespeare.” That’s because the consort musicians are […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/05/elizabethan-and-chamber-music-virtuosity-by-steve-parks/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/01/mso-international-concerto-competition-and-more-by-steve-parks/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/01/mso-international-concerto-competition-and-more-by-steve-parks/#respond Sat, 01 Feb 2025 13:13:25 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/31/mso-international-concerto-competition-and-more-by-steve-parks/ The trio of finalists in the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra’s annual Elizabeth Loker International Concerto Competition have been chosen to play in concert with the full orchestra to be judged for first, second and third places. The concert will be held at Chesapeake College’s Todd Hall for the Performing Arts on the Wye Mills campus at […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/02/01/mso-international-concerto-competition-and-more-by-steve-parks/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/18/cars-as-movie-co-stars-and-museum-artworks-by-steve-parks/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/18/cars-as-movie-co-stars-and-museum-artworks-by-steve-parks/#respond Sat, 18 Jan 2025 16:57:48 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/18/cars-as-movie-co-stars-and-museum-artworks-by-steve-parks/ And just when you thought drive-ins were a thing of the past – particularly in the dead of winter –  Easton’s Academy Art Museum launches a monthly Drive-In Film Series in conjunction with its current “Bugatti: Reaching for Perfection” exhibition running through April 13. Cars play significant roles in each of the movies in the […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/18/cars-as-movie-co-stars-and-museum-artworks-by-steve-parks/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/17/presidential-pasts-and-an-impending-future-by-steve-parks/ https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/17/presidential-pasts-and-an-impending-future-by-steve-parks/#respond Fri, 17 Jan 2025 13:00:47 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=181914 Former president and now president-elect Donald Trump will be inaugurated again – this time to a non-consecutive second term. (The first since Grover Cleveland, elected in 1885 and 1893.) Although I was disappointed, to say the least, about his victory over Vice President Kamala Harris in November, it is clear that Trump was elected fair […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2025/01/17/presidential-pasts-and-an-impending-future-by-steve-parks/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/12/12/spy-art-review-start-your-engines-at-aam-by-steve-parks/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/12/12/spy-art-review-start-your-engines-at-aam-by-steve-parks/#respond Thu, 12 Dec 2024 14:00:46 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/12/11/spy-art-review-start-your-engines-at-aam-by-steve-parks/ Now and for the next few months, Easton’s Academy Art Museum’s main galleries are transformed into automobile showrooms – except these vehicles are historically artistic expressions of engineering on wheels that you could never afford even if any of the few such cars left in existence were for sale. But while Concours d’Elegance – vintage auto shows […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/12/12/spy-art-review-start-your-engines-at-aam-by-steve-parks/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/12/06/spy-concert-review-msos-joy-to-the-season-by-steve-parks/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/12/06/spy-concert-review-msos-joy-to-the-season-by-steve-parks/#respond Fri, 06 Dec 2024 13:58:33 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/12/06/spy-concert-review-msos-joy-to-the-season-by-steve-parks/ A “Holiday Joy” concert by the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra, led by maestro Michael Repper, is a lot more than Jolly St. Nick, “Joy to the World” and carols galore. This season, you’ll also hear arias about character assassins and deadly ones, too – both in French – plus an English poetry reading with symphonic sound […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/12/06/spy-concert-review-msos-joy-to-the-season-by-steve-parks/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/11/09/spy-concert-review-mso-performs-beethovens-5th-by-steve-parks/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/11/09/spy-concert-review-mso-performs-beethovens-5th-by-steve-parks/#respond Sat, 09 Nov 2024 13:30:38 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/11/09/spy-concert-review-mso-performs-beethovens-5th-by-steve-parks/ If there are any four notes in all the classical music canon that almost everyone recognizes – even those who wouldn’t know Mozart from Muddy Waters – it would be the bah-bah-bah-BOHM of Beethoven’s Fifth. But how many aficionados would recognize the first few bars of his “rookie” symphony No. 1 as Beethoven’s? When it […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/11/09/spy-concert-review-mso-performs-beethovens-5th-by-steve-parks/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/10/24/spy-theater-review-ghosts-haunt-the-avalon-by-steve-parks/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/10/24/spy-theater-review-ghosts-haunt-the-avalon-by-steve-parks/#respond Thu, 24 Oct 2024 11:44:16 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=180171 Not to take anything away from the cast and creators of “Stage Fright,” now playing twice daily through Sunday at the Avalon Theatre, but the true star of this production is the Avalon itself, which observed its first hundred years in 2022. Described as an “immersive theater experience,” the show is a largely fictional Halloween […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/10/24/spy-theater-review-ghosts-haunt-the-avalon-by-steve-parks/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/10/09/spy-review-isidore-string-quartet-interlude-by-steve-parks/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/10/09/spy-review-isidore-string-quartet-interlude-by-steve-parks/#respond Wed, 09 Oct 2024 12:17:57 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=179833   The Isidore String Quartet, riding high after back-to-back years as winner of Canada’s prestigious Banff International String Quartet Competition (2022) and an Avery Fisher Career Grant (2023) put their credentials to inspired effect in their Chesapeake Music Interlude concert Saturday night. Never mind that the program listed a trio of pieces by dead European […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/10/09/spy-review-isidore-string-quartet-interlude-by-steve-parks/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/09/27/spy-review-mid-atlantic-symphony-orchestra-season-opener-by-steve-parks/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/09/27/spy-review-mid-atlantic-symphony-orchestra-season-opener-by-steve-parks/#comments Fri, 27 Sep 2024 12:45:50 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/09/27/spy-review-mid-atlantic-symphony-orchestra-season-opener-by-steve-parks/ You could say that the Mid-Atlantic Symphony Orchestra trumpeted the opening of the fall arts season at the acoustically pleasing Easton Church of God Thursday night, except that it was mostly strings that heralded the “Violin Virtuoso” concert series, which continues with performances this weekend in Lewes, Delaware and Ocean Pines, Maryland. The 27th season […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/09/27/spy-review-mid-atlantic-symphony-orchestra-season-opener-by-steve-parks/feed/ 1 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/09/08/17th-annual-chesapeake-film-festival-and-the-man-behind-it-all-by-steve-parks/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/09/08/17th-annual-chesapeake-film-festival-and-the-man-behind-it-all-by-steve-parks/#respond Sun, 08 Sep 2024 15:09:24 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/09/08/17th-annual-chesapeake-film-festival-and-the-man-behind-it-all-by-steve-parks/ For the 17th annual Chesapeake Film Festival – opening Sept. 27 in Easton, preceded by a one-day mini-fest Sept. 12 in Chestertown – more than 200 films from five countries and 15 states were submitted of which 32 made the grade. Among those that were accepted by the festival team is the opening day documentary […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/09/08/17th-annual-chesapeake-film-festival-and-the-man-behind-it-all-by-steve-parks/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/08/14/mid-shore-arts-a-singer-songwriter-showcase-in-rock-hall-by-steve-parks/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/08/14/mid-shore-arts-a-singer-songwriter-showcase-in-rock-hall-by-steve-parks/#respond Wed, 14 Aug 2024 17:51:30 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/08/14/mid-shore-arts-a-singer-songwriter-showcase-in-rock-hall-by-steve-parks/ You could say it’s a “rock hall,” except that The Mainstay in Rock Hall, the historic burg by the Bay, presents far more than one genre of live music. On Sunday afternoon, Mainstay hosts a Singer-Songwriter Showcase outdoors on the venue’s Backyard stage – weather permitting. Matt Mielnick, director of The Mainstay, says the showcase […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/08/14/mid-shore-arts-a-singer-songwriter-showcase-in-rock-hall-by-steve-parks/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/07/19/mid-shore-arts-plein-air-easton-and-eslc-pair-up-to-promote-land-conservation/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/07/19/mid-shore-arts-plein-air-easton-and-eslc-pair-up-to-promote-land-conservation/#respond Fri, 19 Jul 2024 20:55:13 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/07/19/mid-shore-arts-plein-air-easton-and-eslc-pair-up-to-promote-land-conservation/ Plein Air Easton introduced a new collaboration during its just-concluded 20th anniversary festival with the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy. This invitational for past and current PAE artists was intended to connect art to the cause of – guess what? – land conservation. Eighteen artists participated in the exhibit that ran through the end of the […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/07/19/mid-shore-arts-plein-air-easton-and-eslc-pair-up-to-promote-land-conservation/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/07/18/spy-theater-review-tennessee-williams-a-streetcar-named-desire/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/07/18/spy-theater-review-tennessee-williams-a-streetcar-named-desire/#respond Thu, 18 Jul 2024 12:49:19 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/07/17/spy-theater-review-tennessee-williams-a-streetcar-named-desire/ The Factory describes itself as a “community arts project [providing] creative space for individuals to explore their passion for the performing arts.” And although I didn’t get a chance to see this stunning company debut in the “evocative atmosphere of our open-air venue,” I can say that the performance lived up to The Factory’s promise […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/07/18/spy-theater-review-tennessee-williams-a-streetcar-named-desire/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/07/16/plein-air-meet-the-artists-party-and-more-by-steve-parks/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/07/16/plein-air-meet-the-artists-party-and-more-by-steve-parks/#respond Tue, 16 Jul 2024 13:00:44 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=177897 Among the 58 artists competing in the 20th anniversary Plein Air Easton festival, one who planted his easel along a water view from the sumptuous greens of Wye Heights Plantation, was John Brandon Sills of Cockeysville, making his 17th appearance in one of the leading events of its kind in the United States. Of the […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/07/16/plein-air-meet-the-artists-party-and-more-by-steve-parks/feed/ 0 https://chestertownspy.org/2024/07/03/easton-art-galleries-host-plein-air-shows-by-steve-parks/ https://chestertownspy.org/2024/07/03/easton-art-galleries-host-plein-air-shows-by-steve-parks/#respond Wed, 03 Jul 2024 12:55:54 +0000 https://chestertownspy.org/?p=177614 On Plein Air Easton/s opening night, July 12, Trippe Gallery celebrates with its “Variations 3.0: 1 Photograph, 15 Painters” exhibit and party. This third annual “Variation,” like its predecessors, is in part a contest involving both artists and appreciators. Fifteen painters participating in the Plein Air festival create their own interpretations of a single photo […]]]> https://chestertownspy.org/2024/07/03/easton-art-galleries-host-plein-air-shows-by-steve-parks/feed/ 0