Browsing: Arts and Entertainment

By Rebecca Fiedler Reporter This week, the story of “Dialogues of the Carmelites,” an opera by Francis Poulenc, will unravel…

Difficulty:
Moderately Easy

I was craving a whole lot of sugar a few days ago, so I had the bright idea to make something super unhealthy. These brownies are the perfect combination of cookie, Oreo and brownie. I admit I got lazy and just bought a tub of cookie dough for the bottom layer. I found this recipe at www.whatsgabycooking.com. You can also use premade cookie dough and brownie mix instead of making them from scratch.

Watch out, Wild West — Melody Ranch is back in action as Waco’s largest country dance hall.

The Melody Ranch, located off the traffic circle on Robinson Drive, reopened this month after a nearly 13-year hiatus.

The Ranch first opened in 1972 and brought in large crowds for big-name artists, including George Strait, Willie Nelson and Tim McGraw, who played at the Ranch early in their careers.

All is not lost for the Hippodrome.

A development company has big plans to renovate and manage the once great movie theater that hosted everything from Broadway plays to silent film to children’s shows.

The Hippodrome, located at 724 Austin Ave., has received $423,900 in Tax Increment Financing zone funds approved by the Waco City Council last week. The council approved $1.4 million total in downtown renovations including the Hippodrome.

It’s that time of year where the countdown to spring break is what most students have to look forward to. The same goes for the Baylor A Cappella Choir.

This semester marks the choir’s 4th concert tour conducted by Dr. Alan Raines, associate professor of ensembles and director of choral activities. Raines is also the Mary Gibbs Jones Professor of Music.

They can be found walking around college campuses in their vintage clothes, listening to the strange music of obscure artists through their headphones.

Many people follow their style precedent, yet many find them too egotistical to stand. They are hipsters, and they are taking America’s thrift shops and record stores by storm.

Zero Dark Thirty is a spy-thriller that blends fiction with details dug up by the film’s creators in conjunction with the CIA. Even the film’s trailer, which shows censor bars being erased from the title, implies that secrets will be uncovered. “Thirty” recounts the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

For those of you that saw “The Hobbit,” please hear me out. If you disagree with my views, feel free to contact me, and we’ll hold a public forum at your earliest convenience.

Reactions to these kinds of movies can always be divided into two categories: 1) those that have read the books 2) those that haven’t. I fall into the former.

If you haven’t read the books, most of this column will not apply to you.

So deep is my passion for coffee that I’m excited each night to wake up to it each morning. I love the ritual of grinding beans, pouring filtered water and brewing, because it results in a product that looks, smells and tastes divine.

A small group of people is trying to change Waco’s image in the music and film world.

The group is Waco Arts-Media and their event is the Waco Independent Media Expo.

Baylor University sees its share of talent come and go as it often hosts famous guests, and it will uphold that legacy by hosting critically acclaimed pianist, Joyce Yang.

Yang will perform at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Roxy Grove Hall, as part of the Lyceum series. Yang will be treating audience members to a plethora of musical pieces, from works of Chopin and Beethoven to George Gershwin’s “The Man I Love.”

Yang’s concert is free and open to the public.

After almost two years of operation, Legacy Café and Art Gallery is looking to energize its clientele. James Lafayette, owner and manager of the café, has announced plans to open a private club in the upstairs section of the building that has been largely unused.

Lafayette said the club would feature a TV/lounge area where customers can relax. There will be two adjacent rooms, one for foosball and air hockey and other arcade-like games, and one quieter room for cards, chess or reading.

America’s Got Talent television program will hold auditions Saturday and Sunday in San Antonio at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention…

Despite Baylor’s place in Waco, there could not be a further distance between the two in terms of the live music scene.

Or so it seems.

Amid all the fast food chains on Valley Mills Drive lies one of Waco’s most popular family-owned restaurants, Poppa Rollo’s Pizza.

This unique pizzeria has served the Waco community since Roland Duty opened it in 1969. The award-winning restaurant moved to its current location in 1979 and continues to boast the title “best pizza on Earth.”

As a Baylor student and self-proclaimed “foodie,” I had to visit this Waco legend.

There’s nothing like waking up to a warm breakfast. Sizzling bacon, a fluffy home-style biscuit topped with sausage gravy, or a stack of apple cinnamon granola pancakes with cinnamon butter. You can find all this and more at Waco’s new restaurant, The Egg & I.

With the exception of perhaps pop singer Kelly Clarkson, no “American Idol” graduate has had as much career quality control and album-making vision as 29-year-old Carrie Underwood.

She knew she was a country star since before her 2005 season on the show, and this has allowed her to focus — on her image, as an elegant, beautiful Faith Hill successor; on her songwriting, which relies on subtle detail and classy metaphors; and, most of all, on her singing, which can both hammer a high note and draw out a nuance.

With the exception of perhaps pop singer Kelly Clarkson, no “American Idol” graduate has had as much career quality control and album-making vision as 29-year-old Carrie Underwood.

She knew she was a country star since before her 2005 season on the show, and this has allowed her to focus — on her image, as an elegant, beautiful Faith Hill successor; on her songwriting, which relies on subtle detail and classy metaphors; and, most of all, on her singing, which can both hammer a high note and draw out a nuance.

Common Grounds live event coordinator and musician Wes Butler lets the Lariat in on the secrets to success at CG’s rapidly growing backyard stage presence.

From the details on what exactly Butler looks for in an artist to the gigs CG is working on bringing to us next year, Butler reveals the details of CG’s backyard.

Cartoon pandas are usually pictured with a bamboo stalk, but Panda Joe Tacos has chosen a sombrero as its mascot’s prop.

The taco vendor at 900 S. 18th St., which has recently become its permanent location, draws customers in with the cute Mexican panda bear painted on its truck.

Stephen Heyde is the conductor of the Baylor Symphony Orchestra and the Waco Symphony Orchestra and is a prominent figure in the School of Music.

Sitting down with him, the Lariat learned about his views on the progression and future of music, as well as its role in peoples’ lives.

NBC has invited us all to the wedding of Ms. Elizabeth Miervaldis Lemon (Tina Fey) and Mr. Crisstopher Rick Chross (James Marsden) tonight. Thanks, but no thanks — we’d rather just watch (NBC at 7 p.m., “Mazel Tov, Dummies.”)

Few directors put up as convincing a mask as Alfred Hitchcock or were as adept at using that public face to sell their work to the wider world. But what was the master of suspense really like in his private moments?

The Rocket Summer, the stage name for solo artist Bryce Avary, is the prime definition of a self-made musician.

Getting the name of the solo project from a chapter title of Ray Bradbury’s “The Martian Chronicles,” Avary has been recording and performing since age 12.

Sitting down with Avary before a recent performance in Waco Hall, the Lariat learned more about Avary’s entry into the music scene and his life experiences so far.

Few directors put up as convincing a mask as Alfred Hitchcock or were as adept at using that public face to sell their work to the wider world. But what was the master of suspense really like in his private moments?

With Anthony Hopkins as the great helmsman and Helen Mirren as Alma Reville, his wife of more than 50 years, “Hitchcock” puts major league star power at the service of its peek-behind-closed-doors premise. But whatever that relationship was like in real life, this is one cinematic portrait of a marriage we could have lived without.

Buzzard Billy’s, also known as the Swamp Shack, offers one of the most serene views of the Waco Bridge. Dining on the deck with the sunset on the Brazos River proves that Waco does have some perks.

The entrance to the restaurant includes a walk across a bridge over a green marsh that makes you feel like you are on the History Channel show “Swamp People.” As soon as you walk in the door, the Louisianan decor lets you know exactly what style of food you’re going to get.

Baylor students who wander around town looking for a great bite but find the same old options can finally have a say in their dinner.

You may have seen their advertisements on your Facebook sidebars, “Something exciting is coming to Waco!” The website, www.1401Speight.com, is letting Wacoans choose the cuisine of their upcoming Waco restaurant, via voting on their website.

The website, started by Baylor graduates Vincent and Chelsea Harris, gives four options: gourmet tacos, upscale franks or sausages, a burger bar or “other,” where you can write in your own vote.

Baylor has a rich musical scene, and it’s about to get even richer with the third annual JaZZ and StanZaZ show tonight.

The show, hosted by the Zeta Phi Beta sorority and Diverse Verses Poetry group, will be held from 6:20 to 9 p.m. in the Bill Daniel Student Center Den.

Performances will include song and spoken word poetry selections by Baylor students from a variety of backgrounds.

Movies about the mentally ill tend to render them in cute, charming strokes — with only the occasional blast of ugly to remind us, “Oh yeah, this gorgeous, lovelorn soul is still crazy.”

And “Silver Linings Playbook” has a hint of that. You cast Bradley Cooper as a mentally ill man who probably got out of the psychiatric ward a bit too early, and Jennifer Lawrence as a young cop’s widow who isn’t really coping with that fact, and the Hollywood ending is written all over it.

A 2,500 year old Eurepides classic is getting a steampunk makeover in the Baylor Theatre’s production of “Hecuba,” showing nightly until the weekend.

The show itself was truly a work of art. From the beginning to the end, the actors and actresses, including Michael Griffin as Polydorus and Nellsyn Hill as Hecuba, helped bring the performance to life through pure emotion.

Though the story contains historical elements, Waco graduate student and director Christopher Peck says the play speaks for itself.

Today’s Baylor Symphony Orchestra concert will shine the spotlight on one of the School of Music’s outstanding student musicians.

Ricardo Hamaury Gómez, winner of the 2012 Baylor Concerto Competition, will perform Hungarian composer Béla Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2 today at 7:30 p.m. in Jones Concert Hall in the Glennis McCrary Music Building.