Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra presents winter concert
’Tis the season for music, art and books
UPPER DARBY » The Lansdowne Symphony Orchestra will perform a holiday concert Sunday, Dec. 4 at 3 p.m. at the Upper Darby Performing Arts Center, 601 N. Lansdowne Ave., Drexel Hill.
The orchestra will continue its Dvorak symphony journey, and features a Christmas-themed work by Allen Molineux, an UDHS graduate who’s gone on to be a prolific and celebrated composer.
The concert will include Florence Price’s “Dances in the Canebrakes,” in William Grant Still’s colorful arrangement of his friend’s three piano pieces.
Finishing up with a festive theme, their final piece will be Leroy Anderson’s “Sleigh Ride,” conducted by LSO Music Director Reuben Blundell.
Tickets are $5-$20. To purchase, visit https://www.eventbrite.com/e/december-concert-tickets-462587821627/.
Sports Legends Museum holds holiday book-signing extravaganza
It’s that time of the year again, when the Sports Legends of Delaware County Museum offers an opportunity to purchase holiday gifts to please every local sports enthusiast at the annual Holiday Book Signing Extravaganza, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10.
The museum is located inside the Radnor Township Municipal Building, 301 Iven Ave., Wayne. Five popular Delaware County authors will have copies of their books available to purchase and be signed.
“The Secret Apartment,” written by Tom Garvey, an airborne Ranger and special forces officer, who served as an A-team leader in Vietnam, is about his experiences when he returned home from Vietnam and began working as a parking lot supervisor at Veterans Stadium. That is when he started spending nights in an empty concession stand at the stadium, which eventually turned into a furnished apartment, where he lived from 1979 to 1981.
Garvey describes his eccentric living quarters as his very own offthe-wall South Philly version of the “Phantom of the Opera.” His unique and interesting story proves the ageold fact that in some real-life experiences, truth is indeed stranger than fiction.
“Finished Business”, written by Ray Didinger, a retired sportswriter, radio personality, sports commentator, author, screenwriter and a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame as part of the Writer’s Honor Roll, is a memoir told in his familiar style, which captures his enthusiasm for sports and his affection for the fans who still mourn the pennant that eluded the Phillies in 1964. Didinger has become synonymous with Philadelphia sports, and his memoir is as passionate as an autumn Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field.
In “Amazing Phillies Feats,” written by Rich Westcott, the former newspaper sportswriter who has now authored 27 books, selects 33 of the most thrilling, unforgettable and amazing accomplishments in Phillies team history. When it comes to the history of the Philadelphia Phillies, Westcott has an encyclopedic knowledge that is beyond comparison.
“Philadelphia’s Boxing History Scrapbook” written by Chuck Hasson, is a one-of-a-kind book. The author’s knowledge of the history of boxing has no match. Hasson, who is a voting member of the International Boxing Hall of Fame and was inducted into the Pennsylvania Boxing Hall of Fame in 2013, has written a 270-page book with over 750 images covering Philadelphia pro and amateur boxers from 1843 to 2020.
Hasson is widely regarded as the ultimate expert on Philadelphia boxing history, and this book is a culmination of his decades of work on that subject. It is a must for all boxing fans.
Rich Pagano, who has been writing a sports history column for local Delaware County newspapers for over 30 years, has authored “The Baron of Leiperville: The Life and Times of James F. Dougherty.” Dougherty, also known as the “Baron of Leiperville,” was a larger-than-life sportsman whose hotel, bar and fight arena in Leiperville, Pa., was a mecca for boxing from 1916 to 1947. During that time, he was the owner of one of the busiest fight camps in the country.
Pagano brings back the era in this thoroughly researched account of those exciting times.
The first 50 people who come to the book event will receive a recently published Bill “White Shoes” Johnson statue dedication commemorative book, with text by Rich Pagano.
For more information on the event or the museum, contact JIm Vankoski at 610-909-4919.
Knights of Columbus’ pancake breakfast
The Knights of Columbus Council 3876 will sponsor a pancake breakfast on Sunday, Dec. 11 at Our Lady of Charity on Upland Road in Brookhaven. Breakfast will be served from 8 a.m. to noon. A visit from Santa will highlight the event.
Cost is $8 for adults and $4 for ages 12 and under. Everyone is welcome.
Wallingford Presbyterian presents concert to benefit Philabundance
Flutist Elisa Muzzillo will present an afternoon of music Sunday, Dec. 11 at 3 p.m. as part of Wallingford Presbyterian Church’s Concerts for a Cause. The series celebrates great music and makes a difference in the community.
An active and versatile flutist in Philadelphia and its environs, Muzzillo has performed with ensembles such as Symphony in C, Wayne Oratorio Society, Pennsylvania Philharmonic, Servant Stage Theater Company and the music collective ENAensemble. An equally passionate recitalist, she co-founded the flute and voice duo Primari Qolors with mezzo-soprano Tessa Romano, performing at Spectrum NYC, Princeton University and the Free Library of Philadelphia.
The concert will feature a classical, contemporary and Christmas repertoire. Muzzillo will be accompanied by pianist and church Director of Music Lee Hagon-Kerr.
The suggested donation is $15 and each concert benefits a different local cause. Proceeds will be given to Philabundance, a nonprofit that works to drive hunger from local communities.
Wallingford Presbyterian Church is located at 110 E. Brookhaven Road, Wallingford. For more information, visit http://www.wallingfordpres.org or the church Facebook page.
New art exhibit opens this week at Swarthmore Borough Hall
Swarthmore Friends of the Arts will present December’s mixed media art exhibit “When the Student is Ready, the Teacher Appears,” featuring the artwork of local artists Michele Southworth and Nancy Barch, Thursday, Dec. 1 to Sunday, Jan. 1 at Swarthmore Borough Hall, 121 Park Ave.
The public is invited to the artist’s opening reception on Saturday, Dec. 3rd, from 2 to 4 p.m. Both the exhibit and the reception are free. Light refreshments will be served.
In 2011, Southworth was a ceramicist who had come to a turning point and needed to work in a new medium to refocus and refresh her creative eye.
Barch was a mixed media painter, much admired for her striking and innovative abstract work, who offered classes and workshops in the Delaware Valley area. Since their first encounter in a 12-week mixed media painting class at the Community Arts Center in Wallingford, their artistic relationship and friendship has developed and grown.
Barch, whose art studio is located in Clifton Heights, began her career as a freelance illustrator in Philadelphia.
She left the commercial art field to enter the fine art arena, initially focusing on watercolor, and then transitioning to mixed media to create her paintings. She has garnered numerous awards for her work and maintains an active teaching schedule, which allows her to share her knowledge and passion for art with others.
Southworth’s day job is as a family therapist and therapist trainer/educator at Council for Relationships in Philadelphia, where she derives great satisfaction and fulfillment from work that deeply engages the verbal and cerebral side of herself.
For more information on the artists, visit https://nancybarch.com or https://michelesouthworthart.com/.
The free exhibit is sponsored by Swarthmore Friends of the Arts. For information or to submit a request for a future show, visit http://www.swarthmorearts.org or contact Martha Perkins at martha.perkins@gmail.com/.