By Frederick Jerant It’s like a trip back in time: The room is packed with a sea of dancers, awash in tie-dye, paisley and fringes. They’re mesmerized and excited by the driving rhythms provided by keyboards, guitars, drums and voices. The only thing missing is the aroma of incense (and some other stuff). What you’re experiencing is the closest you’ll get to a swingin’ ‘60... »
by Ann Wlazelek Allen High graduate Chris Manley nearly ditched his dream of making movies or TV shows while studying film at Temple University in Philadelphia. “I got the feeling that because I was in Philly, a career in film was kind of impossible. I almost changed my major to English to teach creative writing,” he said in a recent phone interview. “It seemed more sensib... »
by Liz Reph Celebrated throughout the world for its top-quality instruments, C. F. Martin & Company has been headquartered in Nazareth for the past 175 years. Although they are best known for guitars – which have been famously played by performers such as Eric Clapton, Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Kurt Cobain, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Eddie Vedder and Woody ... »
By Carole Gorney Jacqueline Meyerson freely admits to having gone through a mid-life crisis, but unlike some others in the same predicament, her crisis led to a career-changing decision. It turned a bored accountant into a prolific, award-winning artist. Since 2011, she has won five juried awards, and has been featured in nearly a dozen art exhibitions, including the Paste... »
By Ann Wlazelek While still in college, jewelry-maker Laura Beth Love hit upon the idea of creating something new and pretty from something old and broken. Some customers immediately recognized the colorful flowers, birds and wallpaper-like borders at the heart of Love’s necklaces. Others gasped when they realized why the patterns seemed familiar: they came from pieces of ... »
By Ann Wlazelek The pieces of Nathan Breininger’s career as a mosaic tile artist fell into place in a basement in Catasauqua. That’s where the then 19-year-old was laid up with a herniated disk from the back-breaking, knee-crunching labor of laying conventional tile in people’s bathrooms. “I had been saving all this beautiful glass from other jobs, laying on my side in the... »
By Ann Wlazelek Amanda Danziger was on a mission in Rwanda when her future as a filmmaker came into focus. A student at Drexel University at the time, the Allentown native decided she’d rather work at an orphanage in the East African country than do an internship in digital media. She bought a $300 video camera to chronicle the experience for the people who financed her tr... »
By Ann Wlazelek As an expert at card magic, Joseph Keppel hates to ask people to “pick a card.” So many magicians do that, he reasons, that the audience believes they know what is going to happen next. Instead, Keppel opens a new deck of cards, takes out four aces and turns them into kings in front of people’s noses. The trick might take a lot longer to learn, he said, but... »
By Ann Wlazelek Stephanie Smith saw an image on the Internet and was instantly intrigued. It was a mandala, or circular art form created in one siting while meditating. She took out her notebook, started drawing and could not stop. “I liked the repetition,” she said of the circular designs that calm her creative clamor. That was almost seven years ago. Today, the 44-year-o... »
By Ann Wlazelek Photo By Frank Mitman When New York’s Four O’Clock Flowers and The Down Hill Strugglers took the stage at Allentown’s West Park band shell during Art-in-the-Park in June, most of the people listening and clapping had no clue they were part of an experiment. Event organizers wanted to see if musicians other than the park’s popular yet traditional municipal a... »
