Dan's Papers - August 3, 2007 - Take Five 2007 with Jan Silver

Another jam-packed midsummer week ushers in a great variety of entertainment. Billy Joel is the headliner at Saturday's Social@Ross luxe dinner/show in East Hampton. Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival has two edgy fusion programs this week plus a classical Sunday concert. Guild Hall's musical theater salute to Broadway's Rodgers and Hart with KT Sullivan and Eric Michael Gillett is Sunday night, and this is the final weekend for Bay Street Theatre's world premiere run of the rock opera Turandot: The Rumble for the Ring.

They Might Be Giants play at Amagansett's Stephen Talkhouse tonight. Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center has the leading Beatles tribute band Fab Faux for two shows on Saturday, and Benin-born singing sensation Angelique Kudjo performs there on Sunday. There are several interesting speakers here this week including A.M. Homes reading Saturday in Sag Harbor, former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Daniel Ayalon speaking about the Middle East in Westhampton Beach, a sex-expert panel late Sunday afternoon in Sag Harbor, and renewable energy guru Gordian Raacke in East Hampton next Thursday. There are four independent films at local venues this week, and Robert Wilson's Watermill Center for the fine and performing arts opens its doors to the public Saturday from 2 to 5:30 p.m. (definitely worth the trip!).

The benefit scene mellows from overheated to just busy this weekend. My recommendations are: Perlman Music Program's concert & dinner (Friday, 7:30 p.m., Shelter Island campus, $100 attendees 45 and under, $250 for "seniors" 45 & up, 631-749-0740); Guild Hall's 61st Clothesline Art Sale is Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., East Hampton, rain or shine (free admission--buy original art, photos, crafts directly from the artists); Southampton Hospital's "On the Town" huge summer dinner dance hosted by WNBC-TV anchorman Chuck Scarborough honors Judy and Rudy Guiliani and benefits the emergency room services (Sat., Southampton, 6:30 p.m., call 631-726-8700); Peconic Land Trust's "Farms and Fields Country Luncheon" (this is their major annual benefit--Sunday, noon, Ocean View Farm, Bridgehampton; call Robin at 631-283-3195 or email rharris@peconiclandtrust.org.

In the ring at Sag Harbor's Bay Street Theatre the final performances of the rock opera Turandot: The Rumble for the Ring. This is a raucous, rollicking show with dynamic young performers. Check at the box office (631-725-9500) for tickets--$65-75 plus student discounts--or go online to www.baystreet.org. The Charles Busch satire The Lady in Question is Bay Street's final summer offering; it begins performances on August 14 (pay-what-you-can night).

The first of two Guild Hall "American Musical Theatre Salutes" is Sunday, 7:30 p.m., at East Hampton Studios in Wainscott. The composer and lyricist being honored by Broadway/cabaret performers KT Sullivan,Eric Michael Gillett and James Followell are the titans Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart. Theater historian Lee Davis hosts the evening. Tickets are $50 ($45 for Guild Hall members) and a reception to meet the performers follows the show (631-324-4050 or www.guildhall.org).

The very successful film-and-television theme composing band They Might Be Giants is at Amagansett's Stephen Talkhouse 8 p.m. tonight ($65-80, 631-267-3117). Tomorrow evening in East Hampton, Long Island's own rock & roll king Billy Joel performs in the exclusive Social@Ross School dinner/show series ($3000; www.discoversocial.com or 800-803-6644).

Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center has the leading Beatles tribute band Fab Faux playing two shows on Saturday ($40-60) and the renowned Benin-born songstress Angelique Kudjo performing her mix of West African/funk/jazz/r&b/Latin music on Sunday (8:30 p.m., $40-70). Call the box office at (631) 288-1500 or go online to www.whbpac.com for tickets. Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival starts the week with its "(Offbeat)" fusion concert by the new piano/cello/drum trio Real Quiet tonight, 7:30 p.m., at the Children Museum of the East End's outdoor amphitheater ($25). On Sunday, the "Piano4Hands" program features Mozart, Brahms, Beglarian and Bartok, 6:30 p.m., in the air-conditioned Bridgehampton Presbyterian Church. Next Wednesday at 7 p.m., the second "(Offbeat)" fusion music concert is at CMEE ($25). Call the Bridgehampton box office at (631) 537-3507 or online www.bcmf.org.

Perlman Music Program has an informal works-in-progress concert at its Shelter Island music camp on Sat., 7:30 p.m. (call 631-749-0740 to confirm schedule). Pianofest's weekly recital continues next Mon, 5 p.m. at Avram Theater, Stony Brook Southampton ($10 at the door). Classical/jazz guitarist Herb Levine & friends play Latin songs from Spain and the Americas at the East Quogue Methodist Church on Sun., 7 p.m. ($15). French-born chanteuse/pianist Frederique Trunk and bassist Hill Greene perform a program of classical, jazz, Latin music next Thurs., 7 p.m., at Southampton's Rogers Memorial Library (call 631-283-0774 ext.523 to reserve seats; no admission charge but donations are appreciated).

Recommended performers at local clubs and restaurants: Montauk--Wed. 9:30 p.m. comedy at Gurney's Inn; Amagansett - at the Stephen Talkhouse (631-267-3117) on Fri., They Might Be Giants at 8 p.m., and Booga Sugar, Sat.- Latin disco with Los Amigos Invisibles then ska with Second Step, Thurs. - Tommy Castro Band. Estia Cantina, Amagansett (631-267-6320) - next Tues. & Wed. jazz pianist/vocalist Daniela Schachter; salsa Thurs. with Mambo Loco. East Hampton - jazz Fri. at Almondito, pop and jazz standards with Jane Hastay and Peter Martin Weiss (Fri.) and country/pop/blues with Jim Turner (Sat.) at Coco Restaurant (Maidstone Arms); Prime 103 has Annie Morgan Band on Fri.; Turtle Crossing--Annie Morgan Band on Thurs., Mama Lee & Friends on Fri.; Fiddler's Cove has Jim Turner on Sun., East Hampton Point has reggae Sun, improv comedy at The Lodge on Tues. Sagaponack - Twilight Thursdays (5-7:30 p.m.) at Wolffer Estate Vineyard with live music. Bridgehampton - World Pie jazz brunch Sat. with Sari Kessler Trio, jazz brunch Sun. with Stefanie Cardinali Group, Pierre's Restaurant--light jazz with 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, jazz with Swingset Quartet at Westhampton Steakhouse weekends; Las Vegas Comedy Allstars then Billy Hill Band at Atlantica on Sat.; East Quogue - Paul Mahos Band on Fri. & Sun., Annie Morgan Band on Wed. at Docker's.

Journalist/screenwriter/playwright/actor Dennis Watlington is the Bridgehampton Library's "Fridays at Five" speaker today ($15; rainsite, Bridgehampton School). Canio's Books, Sag Harbor, has novelist A.M. Homes reading from her memoir The Mistress's Daughter and novelist Sheila Kohler reading from Bluebird, or the Invention of Happiness on Sat., 6 p.m. Former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Daniel Ayalon with speak at The Hampton Synagogue, Westhampton Beach, at 7:30 p.m. Sat. on "Israel and Strategic Developments in the Middle East." Poets from the North Sea Poetry Scene will read new work inspired by the Parrish Art Museum's current "Studio As Muse" exhibit, Sat. at 8 p.m.

At BookHampton, Sag Harbor, on Sat. at 2 p.m., Lori Bryant-Woolridge reads from Weapons of Mass Seduction; at 7 p.m., novelist Lizabeth Zindel reads from Girl of the Moment; and at BookHampton, East Hampton, on Sat. at 8 p.m., Doug Stumpf talks about Confessions of a Wall Street Shoeshine Boy. Manhattan's Skirball Center for Adult Learning brings a panel of sex experts (!) to Temple Adas Israel, Sag Harbor, to talk on Sun. at 5 p.m. Julie Sheehan and Kevin Bridge read from their work at Amagansett's Marine Museum's Poetry Marathon on Sun., 4 p.m., and novelist Leslie Schnur speaks at the Quogue Library on Sun. at 5 p.m. ($15). Renewable energy expert Gordian Raacke speaks next Thurs., 5 p.m., at The Nature Conservancy, 142 Route 114, East Hampton ($5 donation suggested).

Sag Harbor's John Jermain Library screens the Chris Rock comedy I Think I Love My Wife (2007) tonight at 6:30 p.m. (arrive by 6:15 p.m. for seating). Southampton's Parrish Art Museum's "Summer Classics" series begins this Friday with Ingmar Bergman's Wild Strawberries (8 p.m.; $5 members, $7 guests). The Rogers Memorial Library, Southampton, shows the prize-winning shorts from BeFilm's Underground Film Festival next Monday, 7 p.m. (631-283-0774 ext. 523). Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center shows the French comedy The Valet (2006) next Tues. through Thurs.