Column

Humanities speakers worthy of attention

One of the finest things in our fair state (oops, I'd better not say that, or some politician in Washington or Tallahassee will put it on the chopping block) is the Florida Humanities Council, a 32-year-old organization partially funded by the government, that, among other things, has a wonderful speakers bureau.

In the past couple of years, I've seen two Chautauqua portrayals, the name given to actor/speakers who take on the personas of famous Floridians and tell about them as though they were the famous people.

The latest, in June, was Betty Jean Steinshouser, who impersonated Gertrude Stein, Willa Cather and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings as they talked about Ernest Hemingway, in a performance at New Port Richey Library. She dressed as they would have dressed and spoke as they would have spoken. It was a mesmerizing to the packed house who came to see, hear and learn.

On Tuesday, another Chautauqua actor, Phyllis McEwen, will be at the library (5939 Main St., New Port Richey) to perform as Zora Neale Hurston, a black writer from Eatonville who once wrote, "There is no agony like bearing an untold story inside you."

Ms. Hurston told her stories in novels, short stories, essays, poems and even a play she wrote with poet/novelist/playwright Langston Hughes. Some were published during her life, but many weren't published until years after she died in 1960.

Perhaps her best known work is Their Eyes Were Watching God, written in 1937, the story of a young black girl who overcomes all kinds of adversity to triumph in the end. (Some people, it should be said, see a startling resemblance between this novel and Alice Walker's 1982 novel, The Color Purple.)

Many people compare Hurston with Rawlings, and her work does indeed capture the Florida feel very much like those of the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer.

McEwen's performance starts at 6 p.m. and is free. I advise arriving early, because those seats could fill up fast.

Those who remember the 1981 hit Angel of the Morning, or the rockabilly song Queen of Hearts will also remember Juice Newton, the slender blond with the raspy voice who sent those and other songs to the tops of the country and western and pop charts.

Newton had a string of hits during the 1980s -- The Sweetest Thing, Love's a Little Bit Hard on Me, Break It to Me Gently, You Make Me Want to Make You Mine, I'm So Hurt, Old Flame -- then went on the nightclub circuit for a decade. She began recording again in 1997 in the adult contemporary style. And now she's coming to New Port Richey on March 21 for a concert at the Bourbon Street Concert Club. (Call 727-843-0686)

Tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door. Opening act will be announced later.

Comedian Pat Cooper must like our Florida sunshine and our winning ways. He's come to perform at the Show Palace Dinner Theatre and the Palace Grand so often in the past few years that he's on a first-name basis with many in the always, always sold-out houses.

The sometimes profane Cooper, also known as "The King of the Belly Laughs," has finished his latest movie, Analyze That! with Billy Crystal and Robert DeNiro, and is coming back again, this time to do two shows at the Palace Grand in Spring Hill on May 8 and 9.

The shows are at 8 p.m. Doors open two hours before each performance for buffet and cash bar. Singer Peter Columbo will open both nights.

Dinner and show are $39.95. Call 863-7949 in west Pasco or toll free elsewhere at 1-888-655-7469.

Winners, winners, winners.

Musician Mike Jurgensen of New Port Richey won third place in the annual Will McLean Festival "Best New Song" competition, which means an invitation to perform at the festival March 15 and 16 at the Sertoma Youth Ranch northwest of Dade City.

The competition is fierce in this contest to produce a Florida song, and a third place win is quite an honor. Jeffrey D. Smith from Oviedo won first place, and Bettina Makley of Jacksonville won second. They'll also perform at the festival. Meanwhile, Mark Edwards of Brooksville won the Award of Distinction at the third annual For the Love of Art juried show and sale in New Port Richey last week. His metal sculpture Silent Reign was chosen by a panel of three judges over scores of entries from several states.

Other local winners were photographer Glen Trumble of Port Richey won second place in the two-dimensional category, and Michelle Mickle of Holiday won third in the same category for her pencil and graphite drawing.

Best of Show went to Marilyn Vaillancourt-Cole of Bradenton for her mixed media.

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