Art Gallery

By Kevin Lee Associate Editor

MOJO Jazz Jambalaya

Program: Honoring gypsy jazz

Where: Historic Gulf City Lodge,

601 State St.

When: Mon., June 25, 6:30 p.m.

Guitar impresario Django Reinhardt astounded audiences worldwide with a technically spectacular style of jazz rooted in his gypsy heritage. When he and violinist Stephane Grappelli launched Le Hot Club de France, they became international superstars even as the Nazi party was stretching its might across Eastern Europe.

The genre they gave the world has met renown but remains one of the most underexposed and demanding styles in existence.

Mobile band Roman Street will help the Mystic Order of the Jazz Obsessed highlight this oft-overlooked music at the end of June. The band’s sibling leaders, guitarists Noah and Joshua Thompson, count as mentors Tonic Strings, a Swiss gypsy jazz guitar duo that amazed regional audiences on American tours in 2003 and 2004.

For more info, call 459-2298 or e-mail mobilejazz@bellsouth.net

Shared Expressions- The Bay Area Art Partners

Where: Mobile Museum of Art

4850 Museum Dr., Langan Park

When: June 29- Sept. 16

Artistic pursuit can often seem a lonesome endeavor but there’s more community than many realize.

The Mobile Museum of Art has invited the Azalea City Quilters Guild, the Azalea Woodturners, Camera South, Clay Artists, the Mobile Art Association, the Mobile Watercolor and Graphic Arts Society, the Mobile Arts Council and the Shibui Chapter, Sumi-é Society of America to more clearly exhibit their impact on Port City life in a tour de force show.

Museum hours are Mon-Sat, 10-5 and Sun, 1-5. Entrance is $10 for adults, $6 for students.

For more info, call 208-5200 or go to www.mobilemuseumofart.com

Picnic

By William Inge

Where: Theatre 98, corner of Morphy & Church, Fairhope

When: June 20 – 24

Evening shows, Wed-Sat, 8 p.m.; Sun matinee, 2:30 p.m.

$15 adults, $10 students

Madge and Millie are sisters in bland Middle America who represent opposite ends of the teenage spectrum. When a mysterious drifter appears in town, the more straight-laced of the siblings warms up to the stranger and unmasks the community’s reserved appearance.

This winner of the 1953 Pulitzer Prize was once deemed a warm-hearted look at Middle America but now seems a quaint anachronism harkening to a nation only as realistic as television’s Mayberry.

For more info, call 928-4366 or go to www.theatre98.org

Kevin Lee is Lagniappe associate editor. Contact him at klee@lagniappemobile.com.

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