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Medeski Martin & Wood

Medeski Martin & Wood go acoustic

Get jazzed and funky at An Acoustic Evening with Medeski Martin & Wood, presented by UAB’s Alys Stephens Center at 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 10, 2012, in the center, 1200 10th Ave. South.

Featuring keyboard/organ/piano player John Medeski, drummer/percussionist Billy Martin and hard-charging bassist Chris Wood, MMW began its journey by experimenting with contemporary hip-hop beats that could swing as hard as jazz rhythms, yet remained essentially simple and propulsive. The trio’s “avant-noise” music is known for hypnotic textures and sounds that are brimming with both improvisation and harmony.

Tickets to An Acoustic Evening with Medeski Martin & Wood are $45.50, $37.50, $29.50; student tickets are $20. Call 205-975-2787 or visit www.AlysStephens.org.

This performance is an ASC Junior Patrons Event; Junior Patrons can purchase a limited number of tickets for $20. Little Savannah restaurant will offer ASC Junior Patrons a three-course meal for $30. ASC JPs will need to make advance reservations and present their membership card to the waiter at time of service. For more details, please contact Katrina Watson at 205-975-5662.

In the Spotlight
Make It Happen Ensemble (2011)

Celebrate Black History Month with ArtPlay's talented teens

Join the talented students of ArtPlay’s Make It Happen Performing Ensemble Feb. 11, 2012, for “Our Journey: A History through Song, Dance and Spoken Word,” a celebration of Black History Month. 

“Our Journey” is a play within a play. The story is guided by abolitionist and women’s rights activist Sojourner Truth. A few of the iconic characters portrayed include American opera singer Grace Bumbry, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, civil rights activist Rosa Parks, Birmingham leader Richard Arrington, actress and singer Dorothy Dandridge and Phillis Wheatley, the first black American poet to publish her writing. This story of a family patriarch who learns to embrace his own history is performed and co-written by the MIH Ensemble, under the direction of ArtPlay Teaching Artist Alicia Johnson. 

“Our Journey: A History through Song, Dance and Spoken Word” will have two shows, at 10 and 11:30 a.m. Feb. 11 in UAB’s Alys Stephens Center, 1200 10th Ave. South. Tickets are $8 kids, $10 adults. Call 205-975-2787 or visit www.AlysStephens.org. 

The MIH Ensemble comprises 21 students from Ramsay, Minor, Center Point, Oak Mountain, Huffman and John Carroll high schools, Alabama School of Fine Arts, Bragg Middle School and W.J. Christian Academy. This show is part of the “ArtPlay Presents” series at the Alys Stephens Center and the “Meet the Artist” series of performances offered for local schools. Recently the Alys Stephens Center’s ArtPlay “Make It Happen” Performing Ensemble was named the Top Theatre Group by Birmingham and Alabama Baby & Child magazines’ Parent’s Choice Awards.