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Is Luxury Dead?

The beginning of April thrills me. Baseball season begins, shoots of green poke through the matted brown of the still nearly frozen earth. And when the sun shines it warms the cockles of our hearts. This is also a time when we start venturing out of our nests to rediscover friends and neighbors. This helps foster the happiness quotient that we all require. Research indicates that what people need are not more goods but better social connectedness. So, gather your tribe and be happy this spring. There’s more than enough cultural offerings to go around.
 

 

• Speaking of that which makes us happy, The Community Library will host Michela Abrams, president of Dwell Media, for a discussion called Is Luxury Dead: the Changing Face of Affluence, at 6 p.m. tonight, Wednesday, April 7. Who are the New Affluents, and what are their attitudes, motivations, and behaviors? For more information on this or any other of the library’s events visit www.communitylibrary.org or call (208) 726-3493.

 

• Some of the best culture these days can be found in cyberspace. Visit www.wnyc.org/thegreenespace for a live video stream on Edible Estates: Attack On The Front Lawn, Thursday, April 8 at 7 p.m. It will be moderated by public radio host Leonard Lopate with artist, designer, radical gardener and author of Edible Estates, Fritz Haeg; MacArthur Fellow and founder of Growing Power, Will Allen; Manhattan Borough President and the force behind FoodNYC: A Blueprint for a Sustainable Food System, Scott M. Stringer; and co-founder of Rooftop Farms in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, Annie Novak.

 

• Sun Valley Brewery will host a return visit by the popular Austin, Texas band Wisebird, Thursday, April 8 from 8-11 p.m. This past year, the Brewery has become one of the most consistent spots to hear live music in the Valley. It’s located at 202 N Main St. in Hailey.

 

• At Papa Hemi’s Hideaway in Ketchum, on Wednesday, April 7 guitarist George Marsh will play his version of authentic Delta blues and slide guitar.
  
  On Friday, FourStroke Bus will play Appalachian folk, bluegrass and indie-pop. (FourStroke will also play at Whiskey Jacques on Saturday at 10 p.m.)
  
  At Papa Hemi’s on Saturday, Freehand with Sheryll Mae Grace will take the stage. All shows start at 6:30 p.m.

 

• Coming up next week on Friday, April 16, the Wood River Middle School Purple Team presents “The Taming of the Shrew.” Presented by the Utah Shakespeare Festival, this will have a Wild West setting. It is abridged for audiences of all ages. The proceeds will benefit Greg Cordovano Medical Fund.

Cordovano, the father of two graduates of the Wood River High School, has lived in the Valley for more than 20 years. In late July 2009, he was in a severe motorcycle accident that left him with a traumatic brain injury (TBI) and a decidedly uncertain future. After three months in various hospital situations in Boise, he returned for care at the Blaine Manor in Hailey. Currently, he is at Craig Hospital in Denver, which deals exclusively with spinal and brain injuries. His wife Denise deLisser, a local Pilates and dance instructor, has had to stop work to care for him.

“You have to totally live in the now,” she said Monday from Denver. “Every day there is something new and different.”

The tickets for “The Taming of the Shrew” are $10 and are available at Wood River Middle School in Hailey and Iconoclast Books, in Ketchum.

 

• I Spy: Surveillance and Security exhibition at the Sun Valley Center for the Arts continues through April 30. It considers the way in which surveillance and lack of privacy has become the new normal in our time. How has the increased governmental and corporate intrusion shaped our assumptions about what is private and public? Has it changed our behavior? What effect does the Internet have on our feelings about surveillance? Does the boom in social networking sites like Facebook signal that privacy is a thing of the past? Are we really more secure now than we were ten years ago? This multidisciplinary project will explore these questions in an effort to get audiences talking and thinking about the role surveillance plays in their own lives and communities.

Participating artists include Deborah Aschheim, Trevor Paglen, Paul Shambroom and Hasan Elahi.

Upcoming Center events include two workshops with Abby Christensen on social networking at The Center in Hailey. Part I: Exploring the World of Facebook is at 5:30-7:30 p.m. on Thursday, April 22. Then a week later at 5:30 p.m., Part 2: To Tweet or Not to Tweet, that is the Question. Register now at (208) 726-9491 or www.sunvalleycenter.org.

 

• The NexStage Theatre will continue it's run of JR Tolkein's "The Hobbit". The play runs Friday at 7 p.m, Saturday at 3 pm & 7 pm and Sunday, April 11th at 3 pm.
  
  For more information and to book your tickets call 726.4TKS