Barely a month ago, James William Buffett departed the beach party for good. But “Margaritaville” parties again just a short drive from Maryland’s beach capital, Ocean City. “Parrotbeach: A Tribute to Jimmy Buffett” throws a one-night-only dinner party and concert on Saturday evening, Oct. 14, at the Wicomico Youth & Civic Center in Salisbury. The Parrotbeach tribute band, with Remy St. Martin as Buffett fandom’s leading man, plays his greatest hits, from “Cheeseburger in Paradise” and “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes” to “Come Monday,” culminating, of course, with “Margaritaville.” Dinner starts an hour before the 7:30 show with a salad menu, key lime slaw, margarita chicken, Caribbean pork loin, Jamaican rice, and mac-cheese. Adult beverages – featuring margarita concoctions for sure – are available on your tab. Tickets are on sale until 4 p.m. Oct. 10.
wicomicociviccenter.org
Meanwhile, two more tribute events are coming up at the Avalon Theatre in Easton. “Forever Tina” features Suzette Dorsey in the title role of a theatrical show with 12 cast-and-crew members that has toured three continents to keep the music of Tina Turner alive. “Forever Tina” comes to the Avalon for one performance on Oct. 6.
A week later, on Oct. 13, The Weight Band takes the same stage for the evening. Led by Jim Weider, a longtime member of The Band and the late Levon Helm’s spinoff band, The Weight takes its name from one of The Band’s greatest hits, written by Robbie Robertson, who died in August. Also on the show’s playlist is “The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down,” “Up on Cripple Creek,” and a new song by The Weight Band.
avalonfoundation.org
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The national tour of the Broadway revival of “Funny Girl,” starring Katerina McCrimmon of the New York City Center’s Encore production of “Light in the Piazza” in the title role of Fanny Brice with Melissa Manchester as her mom and Stephen Mark Lukas as Fanny’s gambler boyfriend and later her jailbird husband. The musical runs for eight performances Oct. 24-29 at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre at the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center downtown.
france-merrickpac.com
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Whether or not you’re worried about the writers and actors strike putting new releases of movies in deep freeze, or even if you haven’t been to a movie theater since the COVID shutdown, the Chesapeake Film Festival has you covered every which way. Starting with a preview reception at the Academy Art Museum on Saturday, Sept. 30, the live festival presents 31 films – documentaries and features along with topical shorts – on opening night and Sunday, Oct. 1, at the Avalon Theatre and the Ebenezer Theatre in Easton. Among the live film presentations are the Maryland premiere of “Karen Carpenter: Starving for Perfection” and “The Life and Legend of Jane Goodall,” who devoted her life’s work to studying chimpanzees.
The virtual festival continues Oct. 2-8 with 37 films you can stream at home. Among them are “Delmarva and the Ground for Change,” about family-owned farms and the effect of climate change on local agriculture. A documentary short on a similar theme, “Dear President Biden,” asks the question, “How’s he doing?” regarding his promise as a candidate to do everything he can to address the “existential threat” of climate change on water, land, and air.
chesapeakefilmfestival.com
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The Phillips Collection, which opened on Washington, D.C.’s DuPont Circle in 1921 – eight years before Manhattan’s Modern Museum of Art – bills itself with apparent justification as “America’s First Museum of Modern Art.”
A century later, the Phillips, now at 1600 21st St. NW, opens a special exhibition examining the emergence of modern African and African-American artists in the post-World War II era. “African Modernism in America, 1947-67” runs Oct. 7-Jan. 7, 2024, featuring works by 50 artists from Africa and the United States – among them Jacob Lawrence, David Driskell, and Ibrahim El-Salahi. The exhibition draws on transcontinental connections between artists and curators to challenge racial assumptions about African artworks. Along with pieces from the postwar period, the show also includes “The Politics of Selection,” a 2022 commissioned work by Ndidi Dike addressing the absence of women artists in recognizing African modernity.
phillipscollection.org
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The 26th annual craft show of the Academy Art Museum, one of its most popular events, brings 70 artists from all over the United States to Easton for a preview event Oct. 27 and a two-day show and sale – from jewelry to woodworks, fabrics to glass-blowing – Oct. 28 and 29.
academyartmuseum.org
Steve Parks is a retired New York arts writer and editor now living in Easton.
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