Mountain Views News          Saturday, January 31, 2015

11

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Mountain Views-News Saturday, January 31, 2015 


SEAN’S SHAMELESS REVIEWS: 

FOUR UPCOMING 

ALBUMS TO LOOKOUT FOR 

Jeff’s Book Picks By Jeff Brown

MY HEART IS AN IDIOT: ESSAYS 

by Davy Rothbart

Named a Best Book of the Year by Vanity Fair, 
Chicago Tribune, The Huffington Post, and NPR 
IN 2013. Davy Rothbart is looking for love in all the 
wrong places. Constantly. He falls helplessly in love 
with pretty much every girl he meets,and rarely is 
the feeling reciprocated. Time after time, he hops 
in a car and tears halfway across America with his 
heart on his sleeve. He’s continually coming up 
with outrageous schemes and adventures, which 
he always manages to pull off. Well, almost always. 
But even when things don’t work out, Rothbart 
finds meaning and humor in every moment. 
Whether it’s confronting a scammer who takes 
money from aspiring writers, sifting through a 
murder case that’s left a potentially innocent friend 
in prison, or waking up naked on a park bench in 
New York City, nothing and no one is off limits. 
And it’s all recounted in Davy’s singular, spirited 
literary voice, “an intriguing hybrid of timeless 
midwestern warmth and newfangled jive talk,” in 
the words of Sarah Vowell.

LEAVING BEFORE THE RAINS COME 

by Alexandra Fuller

A child of the Rhodesian wars and daughter of 
two deeply complicated parents, Alexandra Fuller 
is no stranger to pain. But the disintegration 
of Fuller’s own marriage leaves her shattered. 
Looking to pick up the pieces of her life, she finally 
confronts the tough questions about her past, 
about the American man she married, and about 
the family she left behind in Africa. A breathtaking 
achievement, Leaving Before the Rains Come is a 
memoir of grace and intelligence. It begins with 
the dreadful first years of the American financial 
crisis when Fuller’s delicate balance—between 
American pragmatism and African fatalism, the 
linchpin of her unorthodox marriage—irrevocably 
fails. Recalling her unusual courtship in Zambia—
elephant attacks on the first date, sick with malaria 
on the wedding day, she struggles to understand 
her younger self as she overcomes her current 
misfortunes. Fuller soon realizes what is missing 
from her life is something that was always there: 
the brash and uncompromising ways of her 
father, the man who warned his daughter that 
“the problem with most people is that they want 
to be alive for as long as possible without having 
any idea whatsoever how to live. Leaving Before 
the Rains Come showcases Fuller at the peak of 
her abilities, threading panoramic vistas with 
her deepest revelations as a fully grown woman 
and mother. Fuller reveals how, after spending a 
lifetime fearfully waiting for someone to show up 
and save her, she discovered that, in the end, we 
all simply have to save ourselves.An unforgettable 
book, Leaving Before the Rains Come is a story of 
sorrow grounded in the tragic grandeur and rueful 
joy only to be found in Fuller’s Africa.

LOVE’S QUIET REVOLUTION: THE END 
OF THE SPIRITUAL SEARCH 

by Scott Kiloby

Scott Kiloby points to the spiritual transformation 
sometimes called “enlightenment,” where the 
personal self is seen to be an illusion, leaving an 
inexpressible unconditional love and peace in 
its place. This book is essentially about present 
moment awareness and spiritual liberation.


By Sean Kayden

The Airborne Toxic 
Event – “Dope 
Machines” - One of the 
songs off the forthcoming 
record from The Airborne Toxic Event is called 
“Chains.” It’s a quiet rock tune from the start, but 
quickly escalates into a full-blown rock anthem. 
It’s the perfect song to get your year started if 
you’re still dragging a few weeks in. The band has 
changed their ways for their latest outing. While 
considered seasoned pros, The Airborne Toxic Event 
is embarking upon the year with their fourth studio 
album due out February 24th via Epic Records. 
Consistently delivering solid records throughout 
their career, the group is now echoing the sounds 
of 80s snyth-pop as it coalesces with their signature 
gritty rock rhapsody. If “Chains” is any indication 
of what “Dope Machines” will sound like, we will 
be witnessing the re-imagination of a band that has 
proven time and time again not to count them out as 
being this driving rock force in today’s mainstream 
music. 

Geographer – “Ghost Modern” – The 
third album from San Francisco electro-pop act 
Geographer is due out in March. This forthcoming 
record marks Geographer’s first material since 
2012’s Myth. Their first single, “I’m Ready“ is a 
warm tune that features honeyed melodies and airy 
vocals. It certainly brings a whole new degree of 
awesome to Geographer. The musing tune is a skillful 
demonstration of delicate arrangements paired with 
a heartbreaking cello. Geographer isn’t relying on 
wild, frantic noises but a peaceful, tender structure 
to captivate the listener. Lead singer Michael Deni’s 
most powerful instrument is his benign vocals that 
are utterly distinctive. He passionately announces the 
words, “I’m Ready,” and this opening track couldn’t 
be more apt for a band ready to conquer 2015 in ways 
they were always meant to do. 

Twin Shadow – “Eclipse” – This is going to be 
a massive year for Twin Shadow. It’s been over three 
years since their last record and “Eclipse” marks 
George Lewis Jr.’s major label debut. One of the 
songs off the album is called “Old Love/New Love.” 
The song cuts through multiple genres – synthpop, 
rock, EDM, afro-pop and much more. It’s purely 
intoxicating right from the moment you press play. 
There’s a convincing possibility “Eclipse” may very 
well be the most epic record 2015 will have to offer. 
Twin Shadow has already released two other songs 
off their upcoming third album, but “Old Love/New 
Love” is brimming with illimitable vitality that feels 
like absolutely nothing out there at the moment. 
“Eclipse” is out on March 17th via Warner Bros. 
Records and will surely be the can’t-miss record to 
hear.

James Bay – “Chaos and The Calm” – 
British singer/songwriter James Bay is only 24 years 
old, but will be making his major label debut in 
March with “Chaos and The Calm.” The Brighton 
Institute of Modern Music attendee, Bay has played 
virtually everywhere that would take him. He steps 
into the arena with classic influences on his sleeve. A 
distinctive guitar melody and warm vocals truly put 
this youngster in a whole new category. Reminiscent 
of Vance Joy, who went on to have a stellar debut 
LP this past September. The single, “Hold Back 
The River” touches upon blues, folk, and pop. 
Bay’s paints a visceral portrait with sincere lyrics 
and moving vocals. The true artistry on display is 
alluring, which makes one genuinely excited for 
the full-length album in two months. James Bay is 
shaping up to become the next breakthrough artist 
for 2015. 

ARCADIA PERFORMING ARTS CENTER 

PRESENTS THE FOUR TOPS


On the Marquee: Notes from the Sierra MadrePlayhouse


Arcadia Performing Arts Foundation continues its 
2015 Season with The Four Tops on Saturday, February 
21 at 8pm. The Four Tops is one of soul’s most legendary 
groups and shaped the Motown sound, as we know it.

 The Four Tops has had over 15, top 20 singles in the 
U.S. including “Baby I Need Your Loving,” ‘I Can’t 
Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch),” “”It’s The 
Same Old Song,” “Reach Out, I’ll Be There,” and “Ain’t 
No Woman (Like The One I’ve Got).”

 Tickets, available online by visiting www.Arcadiapaf.
org, are $39.50 to $109.50 with VIP Meet and Greet 
Packages available. The theatre is at 188 Campus Drive 
at North Santa Anita Avenue, Arcadia CA 91007. For 
more information please call 626-821-1781. 

More About The Four Tops

 The quartet, originally called the Four Aims, made 
their first single for Chess in 1956, and spent seven 
years on the road and in nightclubs, singing pop, blues, 
Broadway, but mostly jazz—four-part harmony jazz. 
When Motown’s Berry Gordy Jr. found out they had 
hustled a national “Tonight Show” appearance, he 
signed them without an audition to be the marquee act 
for the company’s Workshop Jazz label. That proved 
short-lived, and Stubbs’ powerhouse baritone lead and 
the exquisite harmonies of Fakir, Benson, and Payton 
started making one smash after another with the 
writing-producing trio Holland-Dozier-Holland.

 Their first Motown hit, “Baby I Need Your Loving” 
in 1964, made them stars and their sixties track record 
on the label is indispensable to any retrospective of 
the decade. Their songs, soulful and bittersweet, were 
across-the-board successes. “I Can’t Help Myself 
(Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch),” a no. 1 R&B and Pop smash 
in 1965, is one of Motown’s longest-running chart 
toppers; it was quickly followed by a longtime favorite, 
“It’s The Same Old Song” (no. 2 R&B/no. 5 pop). Their 
commercial peak was highlighted by a romantic 
trilogy: the no. 1 “Reach Out I’ll Be There,” “Standing 
In The Shadows Of Love” (no. 2 R&B/no. 6 pop) and 
“Bernadette” (no. 3 R&B/no. 4 pop)—an extraordinary 
run of instant H-D-H classics. Other Tops hits from 
the decade included “Ask The Lonely,” “Shake Me, 
Wake Me (When It’s Over),” “Something About You,” 
“You Keep Running Away,” “7-Rooms Of Gloom” 
and their covers of “Walk Away Renee” and “If I Were 
A Carpenter.” The group was also extraordinarily 
popular in the U.K.

 After H-D-H split from Motown, producer Frank 
Wilson supervised the R&B Top 10 hits “It’s All In 
The Game” and “Still Water (Love)” at the start of 
the seventies. The Tops also teamed with Motown’s 
top girl group, the Supremes, post-Diana Ross. 
Billing themselves The Magnificent Seven for a series 
of albums, they hit with a cover of “River Deep - 
Mountain High.”

 When Motown left Detroit in 1972 to move to Los 
Angeles, the steadfast Tops decided to stay at home, 
and with another label. They kept up a string of hits 
with ABC-Dunhill for the next few years: “Ain’t No 
Woman (Like The One I’ve Got),” a Top 5 hit; the Top 
10 “Keeper Of The Castle”; and the R&B Top 10’s “Are 
You Man Enough (from the movie Shaft In Africa),” 
“Sweet Understanding Love,” “One Chain Don’t Make 
No Prison” (later covered by Santana), “Midnight 
Flower” and the disco perennial “Catfish.”

In 1980 the group moved to Casablanca Records. The 
following year they were at no. 1 again, with “When 
She Was My Girl,” making them one of the few groups 
to have hits in three consecutive decades. They also 
scored R&B Top 40s with the ballads “Tonight I’m 
Gonna Love You All Over” and “I Believe In You And 
Me,” the original version of the 1996 Whitney Houston 
smash. And the Tops were heard in the film Grease 2 
with “Back To School Again.” By 1983, riding the 
wave of the company’s 25th anniversary celebration, 
the Tops were back with Motown and H-D-H. The 
reunion resulted in the R&B Top 40 hits “I Just Can’t 
Walk Away” and “Sexy Ways.”

 They signed with Arista later in the decade, and 
there they racked up their final solo Top 40 hit, 
“Indestructible,” which was the theme of the 1988 
Summer Olympics. That year they also partnered with 
Aretha Franklin, a longtime friend from Detroit, for 
the Top 40 R&B “If Ever A Love There Was.” During 
this period, Stubbs stepped out and gained notoriety 
for voicing the man-eating plant Audrey II in the film 
musical Little Shop Of Horrors, for which he sang the 
cult classic “Mean Green Mother From Outer Space.”

 In 1990, with 24 Top 40 pop hits to their credit, the 
Four Tops were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall 
Of Fame. Though they would no longer have hits on 
record, the group continued to be a hit in concert, 
touring incessantly, a towering testament to the 
enduring legacy of the Motown Sound they helped 
shape and define. Following Payton’s death in 1997, 
the group briefly worked as a trio until Theo Peoples, 
a former Temptation, was recruited to restore the 
group to a quartet. When Stubbs subsequently grew 
ill, Peoples became the lead singer and former Motown 
artist-producer Ronnie McNeir was enlisted to fill 
Payton’s spot. In 2005, when Benson died, Payton’s son 
Roquel replaced him.

For Rolling Stone’s 2004 article “The Immortals – 
The Greatest Artists Of All Time,” Smokey Robinson 
remembered: “They were the best in my neighborhood 
in Detroit when I was growing up (and) the Four Tops 
will always be one of the biggest and the best groups 
ever. Their music is forever.” 

About The Arcadia Performing Arts Center

 The opening of the Arcadia Performing Arts Center, 
which anchors the northwest corner of the campus of 
Arcadia High School, on October 18, 2012, was the 
realization of a long-standing dream for the citizens 
of Arcadia to have a major center for arts and culture 
in the community. This 40,000 square foot, state-of-
the-art facility includes a main performance hall with 
seating for 1,150, a stage that holds 200 musicians, 
tunable acoustics and professional lighting and sound. 
In addition, the center boasts an orchestra room with 
practice rooms and music library, a dance studio with 
sprung wood floors, a professional stagecraft workshop 
and a Black Box theater with separate control room 
and flexible seating that can host 125 guests.

 The realization of the Performing Arts Center 
clearly shows the commitment of the Arcadia 
community to the arts. With this realization comes 
the need for another commitment – to the future of the 
building, arts education and arts programming. The 
Arcadia Performing Arts Foundation is dedicated to 
maintaining the Performing Arts Center as a nucleus 
for the arts, education and engagement where the lives 
of students and the greater community are enriched. 

 The Arcadia Performing Arts Foundation has 
currently set a fundraising goal $10 million that will 
result in an endowment to provide regular funding 
for the Performing Arts Center and the district arts 
programs. The Arcadia Performing Arts Center 
provides a first-class venue for the San Gabriel 
Valley where the public can enjoy major concert and 
performing arts attractions, and where student talent 
can be fostered and supported with a venue for their 
work.

 The 2015 Arcadia Performing Arts Foundation 
season sponsors are Alan and Sandy Whitman, Mickey 
and Lee Segal and Momentous Insurance.


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com