Dan's Papers - June 29, 2007 - Take Five 2007 with Jan Silver

With Independence Day arriving next Wednesday, local villages have scheduled fireworks and celebrations through next weekend. Southampton's big parade is July 4, with bands and floats from all over the region starting down Main St. at 10 a.m.

Entertainers on the South Fork this weekend are Manhattan cabaret favorites KT Sullivan and Mark Nadler at Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center on Saturday night followed by Buckwheat Zydeco on Sunday. Southampton's Parrish Art Museum has its first informal "Project" party for the under-40 set on Saturday. Dave Mason plays Amagansett's Stephen Talkhouse tonight and Saturday, and master jazz pianist Cedar Walton is at Estia Cantina's jazz club tonight and Saturday.

The Perlman Music Program and Pianofest continue their weekly classical music recitals, and this is the last weekend to see the well-acted U.S. premiere of the The Night Season at Sag Harbor's Bay Street Theatre. The Israeli quintet Reva L'Sheva Live performs Sunday in Westhampton and the improvisational comedy troupe Just Say Yes will be at East Hampton's Lodge restaurant next Tuesday. There are also several interesting speakers and a few independent films at local venues this week (see below).

This is a busy weekend for benefits. A few of the most enticing: the swinging jazz guitarist/composer/recording artist John Pizzarelli and his attractive vocalist/composer wife Jessica Molaskey entertain at a dinner for East Hampton's John Drew Theater tonight ($350; 631-324-0806); the wonderful all-American picnic for the Southampton Fresh Air Home tonight includes Grucci fireworks (7 p.m., tickets $250 adults/$100 young adults/$75 children, rain date Saturday, call 631-283-5847); East End Hospice dinner dance and casino night Saturday at Sandacres Estate, Quogue, emcee John Roland (7 p.m., $175 adults/$100 juniors, 631-288-7080); The Nature Conservancy's "Beaches and Bays" dinner dance Saturday in East Hampton hosted by Isabella Rossellini (call 631-329-3981 ext. 19).

Bay Street Theatre's wonderful production of Rebecca Lenkewicz's funny, poignant tale of an Irish family, The Night Season, concludes its U.S. premiere run this Sunday at the Sag Harbor playhouse. Performed by an accomplished cast of Manhattan actors, the show is directed by Lonny Price. Tickets start at $50; call the box office at (631) 725-9500 or go online to www.baystreet.org Just Say Yes, an improvisational comedy troupe of local veteran actors, will be playing at different East End venues during the summer. They start a weekly gig next Tuesday night, 8 p.m., The Lodge restaurant (the former Laundry location in East Hampton). Admission is $15 at the door.

Blonde beauty KT Sullivan, who can really belt out songs when she wants to, and her tap-dancing, piano-playing partner Mark Nadler - both Manhattan cabaret mainstays - will be at Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center on Saturday, 8:30 p.m. with "Time After Time," their selection of great American popular standards by Gershwin, Porter, Styne, Comden & Greene, and others ($35-65). On Sunday at the same venue, singer/accordionist Buckwheat Zydeco and his 11-piece band take the stage to play the great dance music of southern Louisiana ($45-75). Call the PAC box office for tickets (631-288-1500) or go online to www.whbpac.org.

The Perlman Music Program has its informal, classical music works-in-progress programs Friday and Saturday, 7:30 p.m., and a children's concert Sunday, 11:30 a.m., at the Shelter Island campus. There is no admission charge but the schedule can change, so please call 631-749-0740 to confirm performance times. "Project Eco-Vision" is an informal drinks, dancing, viewing evening at Southampton's Parrish Art Museum featuring eco-friendly art Saturday from 8 to 11 p.m. ($5 admission).

The Israeli singing musicians' quintet Reva LSheva Live will perform at The Hampton Synagogue, Westhampton Beach, on Sunday, 7:30 p.m. There is no admission charge and a dessert reception follows the performance. Pianofest has its weekly recital at the Southampton Cultural Center, Pond Lane, on Monday at 5 p.m. ($10 for adults, free admission for students).

Recommended performers at local clubs and restaurants: Amagansett - at the Stephen Talkhouse (631-267-3117) on Fri. (singer/songwriter Dave Mason then rock with Little Head Thinks), Sat. (singer/songwriter Dave Mason then 70s disco rock with Booga Sugar), Sun. (Dave Wakeling and The English Beat), Tues. (folksinger/songwriter Steve Forbert). Jazz club Estia Cantina, Amagansett (631-267-6320) - master jazz pianist Cedar Walton on Fri. (7 & 9) and Sat. (8 & 10), salsa with Bill Smith and Mambo Loco next Thurs. East Hampton - jazz Fri. at Almondito, Coco Restaurant (Maidstone Arms) pop and jazz standards with Jane Hastay and Peter Martin Weiss (Fri.) and country/pop/blues with Jim Turner (Sat.); Prime 103 has Annie Morgan Band on Fri.; Turtle Crossing has Mama Lee & Friends on Fri.; Fiddler's Cove has Jim Turner on Sun., East Hampton Point has reggae Sun. Sagaponack - Twilight Thursdays (5-7:30 p.m.) at Woelffer Estate Vineyard with live music. Bridgehampton - World Pie has jazz & pop standards Sun. afternoon with Stefanie Cardinali Group, Pierre's Restaurant has Dennis Raffelock on Sun. and Jody Carlson next Tues. Water Mill - acoustic guitarist Steve Fredericks on Thurs. at Muse. Southampton - Latin rhythms with Ludmilla on Thurs. at Le Chef, reggae Fri. at Wildthyme, open mike Thurs. at Tugboat's North Sea House. Hampton Bays - live music Fri. at Buckley's Inn Between. Westhampton Beach - acoustic musicians Fri.& Sat, in Annona's lounge, acoustic guitarist Steve Fredericks (Fri.) and Mambo Loco Cuban jazz band (Sun.) at The Patio; East Quogue - Paul Mahos Band on Fri. & Sun., Annie Morgan Band on Wed.

Shenole Latimer will talk about jazz from the early 1900s to the present at the John Jermain Memorial Library, Sag Harbor, on Saturday at 2 p.m. Well-known cookbook authors Sheila Lukins and Julee Rosso will be at Loaves and Fishes Cookshop, Montauk Highway, Bridgehampton, from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday to talk about the 25th anniversary edition of The Silver Palate Cookbook. Photographer Franco Marinari will introduce his limited edition photogravure art book Sag Harbor: Big Blue Gas Ball Dismantled on Saturday, 6 p.m., at Canio's Books, Sag Harbor.

Israeli Consul General Arye Mekel will speak at The Hampton Synagogue, Westhampton Beach, on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Art historian Gail Levin will talk about the subjects of her two critically-acclaimed biographies, artists Edward Hopper and Judy Chicago, at BookHampton, Southampton, on Saturday at 5:30 p.m. Novelist Helen Schulman will talk about her new novel A Day at the Beach at BookHampton, Sag Harbor, on Saturday at 8 p.m. Novelist Leslie Schnur will read from her new tome Late Night Talking at BookHampton, East Hampton, on Saturday at 8 p.m.

The Parrish Art Museum's film series feature Friday, 8 p.m., is Sydney Pollack's documentary on architect Frank Gehry including his work in Barcelona and Los Angeles' Walt Disney Concert Hall (8 p.m.; $5 Museum members, $7 guests). The Hampton Synagogue summer film series begins Monday, 7:30 p.m., at the Hampton Art Cinema, Westhampton Beach, with Three Mothers (Israel, 2006), the story of Egyptian-born Jewish triplets now living in Israel who remember their earlier lives (free admission).