Today's Features

Richard Strauss’ sixth collaboration with librettist Hugo von Hofmannsthal, “Arabella,” contains all of the lushness one expects to hear from Strauss and has character depth and an enjoyable story, as well.
The story, about a destitute Count who is trying to marry off his older daughter, has humor in it, but underneath the humor is a thick layer of social commentary.  Although not as popular as some of Strauss’ other operas, “Arabella” is charming and entertaining.

Keeping family traditions alive is the main reason they are handed down to younger generations. They can range from a skill to a trade, to heirlooms. In Shelton Hank Williams’ III (aka Hank 3) case, music has trickled down through the generations.
His grandfather Hank Williams was a country western musician. His father, Hank Williams Jr. followed in those footsteps and brought his own form of “outlaw” country to the limelight. Hank 3 is paving his own way, however, mixing his country roots with punk and rock, making a kind of “hellbilly” fusion of diabolical country/punk/rock music.

Today
 Family Game Night at Mesa Public Library. Join the geeks and gamers from 5:30-8:30 p.m. in the upstairs rotunda for game boards galore. All ages welcome, please bring a parent or another adult if you’re 12 or younger.

“I Am Love” (Io sono l’amore), screening this week at Mesa Public Library, is tragic in the old-school, highly personal sense of the word, almost Shakespearean with sensual but forbidden love and sudden, horrifying death all tangled in a gritty knot.  
I’m talking high drama, with deep stares, meaningful prawns and powerful families on the brink of either triumph or destruction.
Luca Guadagnino’s award-winning film begins on Grandfather Recchi’s birthday, the day he announces who will inherit the family business as his successor.
It is also, rather significantly, the day his grandson Edoardo (Flavio Parenti) loses a race to the handsome, generous, cake-baking Antonio (Edoardo Gabbriellini).