Mountain Views News          Saturday, September 13, 2014

11

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Mountain Views-News Saturday, September 13, 2014

Jeff�s Book Picks By Jeff Brown

SEAN�S SHAMELESS REVIEWS: 

VANCE JOY


The Miniaturist: A 
Novel by Jessie Burton 
Set in seventeenth century 
Amsterdam, a city ruled by 
glittering wealth and oppressive 
religion, a masterful debut 
steeped in atmosphere and 
shimmering with mystery. On 
a brisk autumn day in 1686, 
eighteen-year-old Nella Oortman 
arrives in Amsterdam to begin a 
new life as the wife of illustrious 
merchant trader Johannes 
Brandt. But her new home, while 
splendorous, is not welcoming. 
Johannes is kind yet distant, 
always locked in his study or at 
his warehouse office�leaving 
Nella alone with his sister, the 
sharp-tongued and forbidding 
Marin. But Nella�s world changes 
when Johannes presents her 
with an extraordinary wedding 
gift: a cabinet-sized replica of 
their home. To furnish her gift, 
Nella engages the services of 
a miniaturist�an elusive and 
enigmatic artist whose tiny 
creations mirror their real-
life counterparts in eerie and 
unexpected ways . . .Johannes� 
gift helps Nella to pierce the 
closed world of the Brandt 
household. But as she uncovers 
its unusual secrets, she begins 
to understand�and fear�the 
escalating dangers that await 
them all. In this repressively pious 
society where gold is worshipped 
second only to God, to be different 
is a threat to the moral fabric of 
society, and not even a man as 
rich as Johannes is safe. Only one 
person seems to see the fate that 
awaits them. Is the miniaturist 
the key to their salvation . . . or 
the architect of their destruction? 
Enchanting, beautiful, and 
exquisitely suspenseful, The 
Miniaturist is a magnificent story 
of love and obsession, betrayal 
and retribution, appearance and 
truth.


Beethoven: Anguish and 
Triumph by Jan Swafford
This magnificent new biography 
of Ludwig van Beethoven peels 
away layers of legend to get to 
the living, breathing human 
being who composed some of 
the world�s most iconic music. 
Swafford mines sources never 
before used in English-language 
biographies to reanimate 
the revolutionary ferment of 
Enlightenment-era Bonn, where 
Beethoven grew up and imbibed 
the ideas that would shape all of 
his future work. Swafford then 
tracks his subject to Vienna, 
capital of European music, where 
Beethoven built his career in the 
face of critical incomprehension, 
crippling ill health, romantic 
rejection, and �fate�s hammer,� 
his ever-encroaching deafness. 
Throughout, Swafford 
offers insightful readings of 
Beethoven�s key works. More 
than a decade in the making, this 
will be the standard Beethoven 
biography for years to come. 


The Keeper of Lost Causes: 
The First Department Q 
Novel by Jussi Adler-Olsen 
This is the first book in the 
N.Y.Times bestseller Department 
Q series. Carl M�rck used to 
be one of Copenhagen�s best 
homicide detectives. Then a hail 
of bullets destroyed the lives 
of two fellow cops, and Carl�
who didn�t draw his weapon�
blames himself. So a promotion 
is the last thing he expects. But 
Department Q is a department 
of one, and Carl�s got only a stack 
of Copenhagen�s coldest cases for 
company. His colleagues snicker, 
but Carl may have the last laugh, 
because one file keeps nagging at 
him: a liberal politician vanished 
five years earlier and is presumed 
dead. But she isn�t dead � yet. 
Darkly humorous, propulsive, 
and atmospheric, The Keeper of 
Lost Causes introduces American 
readers to this bestselling series.

By Sean Kayden

 Australian James Keogh, 
the man who performs 
under the moniker Vance 
Joy is getting quite the 
attention these days. His 
ukulele-driven single, 
�Riptide� has been a huge hit over the airwaves this 
summer. The pop-folky sound has been played out 
over the years, but Vance Joy somehow makes it all 
fresh again. This rare feat makes up his debut record, 
�Dream Your Life Away.� His record continues upon 
this folk revivalism movement made by bands prior 
to Vance Joy. The 13-track album is a beautiful, 
emotionally packed unit that is relatively upbeat but 
with a lyricism that has both your mind and heart 
in a complete whirlwind. The debut is a dreamy, 
warm, easy going ride. It�ll tug on the strings of 
your endearment, which should be a warning that 
�Dream Your Life Away� will undoubtedly have you 
contemplating your own life choices. 

 Nearly fifty minutes of pure folk-pop rock, �Dream 
Your Life Away� is infectiously appealing. The 
simplicity is refreshing, the lyrics are heartfelt, and 
the honesty is fierce. While similarities can be drawn 
to Mumford & Sons, Keogh�s record is no imitation. 
Even if it feels like a Jack Johnson meets Mumford 
& Sons kind of album, I think the comparisons are 
merely on the surface. When you dig deeper, which 
won�t be difficult with such an effective piece of work, 
you�ll discover all similarities aside are fruitless. 
Keogh�s skillful writing abilities, beautiful melodies, 
and adept guitar playing are impressive on all levels. 
�Winds of Change� kicks off the record in a brief 
way. Under two and a half minutes, it�s a wondrous 
intro to what�s to come in the next 12 tracks. �Mess is 
Mine� feels like another radio-friendly tune. It starts 
off slow before erupting into something ethereal. The 
lyrics grab you like a long lost love seeing you for the 
first time in years. Many of Vance Joy�s songs are 
painstakingly romantic. At least the best ones are. 

 �We All Die Trying To Get It Right� is another 
melancholy take on love. When he hits the 
right chords, everything feels like magic. This 
abovementioned tune awakens the spirit when it 
seems to need it the most. It�s one of my favorite 
songs of the year. �Georgia� is a mellow, guitar-
picking tune that showcases Keogh�s downright 
superlative vocal powers. The closing track, �My 
Kind Of Man� is brimming with beauty and 
saccharine vocals. �Dream Your Life Away� features 
the hit single, �Riptide,� but it�s one of these rare 
instances that many of the album�s other tracks 
outweigh the depth of the single. I hope Vance Joy 
doesn�t just ride the coattail of his radio-friendly 
single because there�s a lot to love here, a lot to 
discover and a lot for the listener to connect with. In 
a world where it�s getting more and more arduous to 
connect on a human level, something like �Dream 
Your Life Away� comes along to remind us that 
there is beauty still left to be found and cherished. 


Grade: 8.5 out of 10 

Key Tracks: �Mess Is Mine,� �We All Die Trying To 
Get It Right,� �Georgia,� �My Kind Of Man� 


On the Marquee: Notes from the Sierra Madre Playhouse


The Sierra Madre Playhouse continues making 
strides in its quest to join the first rank of small 
theaters in the greater Los Angeles area with its 
announcement this week of a new Mission adopted 
for the Playhouse and a new Management Team 
to lead it into the future. The new management 
team is comprised of Estelle Campbell as Managing 
Director, Ward Calaway as Director of Operations 
and Ben Womick as Technical Director, and most 
importantly, Christian Lebano as Artistic Director - 
the first at the Playhouse in nine years. 

Christian is a familiar face on and off the Playhouse 
stage as the leading actor in To Kill a Mockingbird, 
Our Town, and God�s Man in Texas and the 
director of Driving Miss Daisy, Woman in Mind, 
and Battledrum. As Artistic Director, he will be 
responsible for the overall artistic vision and quality 
of the theater through the selection of its season and 
the hiring of directors, designers, and other artists 
for each production. Christian has been the driving 
force behind the Field Trip Series, the Playhouse�s 
new educational outreach program which brought 
over 1700 students to school-day performances 
of Battledrum last Spring, and the Sunday Music 
Series: Emerging Artists at the Playhouse, the 
Playhouse�s collaboration with the prestigious 
Colburn Conservatory of Music bringing young 
classical musicians to Sierra Madre in concerts 
programmed by them with input from Christian. 

Recognizing that the Playhouse�s role in our foothill 
community has evolved since the theatre was first 
constructed in 1923 its newly defined mission 
reflects that change. The new Mission Statement 
reads: 

The Sierra Madre Playhouse is dedicated to the 
American creative experience. It produces American 
plays and puts them into a historical context. It 
celebrates and produces music by emerging artists. 
It encourages and fosters an appreciation of live 
performance in people of all ages. 

As Christian told us, �What better place to celebrate 
the American experience than in the All-American 
small town of Sierra Madre. Our vision is to make 
the Playhouse a cultural center in the San Gabriel 
Valley with a programming mix of superior theater, 
exciting musical performances, and quality family 
fare, supported by special events that put the work 
in an enlightening context.� �I want to make SMP a 
destination theater � to encourage people to come 
for the day to hike the beautiful trails, shop in our 
stores, have a great meal, and see a wonderful show.� 
�We ask you to join us as the Playhouse continues 
to grow and evolve. If you haven�t attended a play 
recently or know someone who has never visited our 
theater, summer presents the perfect opportunity 
to come home to the Playhouse and introduce it to 
your friends. Our next production, the delightful 
romantic comedy, 6 Rms Riv Vu, opens on August 
1and plays through September 6 � we hope to see 
you there.� 

The Playhouse will be announcing their new Season 
next week and Christian promises a season with 
something for everyone, mix of comedies and 
dramas, a charming holiday show, and a rip-roaring 
musical.