San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Miss Bigelow
‘Beach Blanket’ scholarships.
Spirited teens rattled the rafters at Club Fugazi cheering talented high school seniors who recently
competed in the 17th Steve Silver Foundation Scholarships for the Arts hosted by “Beach Blanket Babylon” producer Jo Schuman
Silver.
But among longtime fans of this beloved musical revue, along with the award-winning panel of celebrity judges (including composer Gordon Getty, ODC Artistic Director Brenda Way, SFJazz Artistic Director Randall Kline, composer Jake Heggie and jazz artist Paula West) there was a mist of wistfulness knowing the “BBB” curtain closes forever this New Year’s Eve.
However, Schuman is always teary at this event, recalling the passion her late husband, “BBB” founder Steve Silver, held for supporting young artists to pursue their dreams.
All nine finalists who wowed in the disciplines of dance, theater and voice were winners. But only three took home the big “BBB”-size checks of $15K each: dancer Kyleigh Colchico (Clayton Valley Charter High School, Concord); actor Dante Cokinos (Novato High School) and singer Armand Akbari (Sacred Heart Preparatory, Atherton).
Between sets, emcee Don Bleu chatted with previous scholarship winners like Peter Chursin (2003), who revealed that he recalled thinking, as the Fugazi spotlight illuminated him back then: Don’t fall off this stage.
“I’ve been so fortunate to work my entire career as a dancer. But for every ‘yes’ you get there are a hundred ‘nos.’ So you fight through those moments of defeat because you’re doing what you love,” he enthused. “And that wouldn’t be possible without support from family, friends and amazing arts organizations like Beach Blanket Babylon.”
Fine print: It’s a new chapter in the Presidio at Arion Press, one of the nation’s last fine printers dedicated to preserving the art of typography, letterpress and book-binding by creating museum-quality books designed by renowned artists.
In December, master printer Andrew Hoyem and his wife, editorial director Diana Ketcham, retired from the enterprise he founded. But the crew of distinguished printers remain and hope to keep the Arion presses running.
So book lovers and belletrists turned out in force for the recent Spring Fete benefiting Grabhorn Institute, the press’ nonprofit that offers public tours and exhibitions while providing paid apprenticeships to new practitioners of this historic discipline.
“It’s definitely a craft in the medieval tradition,” joked longtime board member Philip Bowles. “Except the apprentices are not indentured.”
The evening also honored artists Elyse Pignolet and her husband, Sandow Birk, who created illustrations for Arion’s latest limited edition, “The Fairy Tales of Oscar Wilde.”
Following Birk’s conversation with gallerist Catharine Clark, printers led guests downstairs into the hot-metal heart of Arion’s composing room where they toured, among stacks of type, working vintage machinery and supped from a delish Betty Zlatchin cocktail buffet.
“In this high-tech, digital age, it’s fantastic and refreshing to experience how Arion makes books, even typeface, right here in the city,” noted Pignolet, who with Birk created the exquisite “Jazz and the City” mural at SFJazz. “But I mostly work in ceramics, which is also an antiquated way to make things.”
Big screen: While author-filmmaker and sauve dresser Robert Mailer Anderson awaits news of a distributor for “Windows on the World,” his latest indie feature is already attracting big buzz, and awards, on the festival circuit.
At its world premiere in March at the Sedona International Film Festival in Arizona, “Windows” won Best Humanitarian Film (Narrative Feature). The Method Fest in Beverly Hills conferred Anderson and his cousin, co-writer Zack Anderson, with Best Screenplay. “Windows” also earned Best Narrative Feature from Los Angeles Film Awards, while actor Ryan Guzman nabbed Best Feature Actor; co-star Edward James Olmos won Best Supporting Actor, and his son, Michael D. Olmos, received Honorable Mention: Best Director.
The heartfelt, and surprising, film tells the story of a father who leaves his family behind in Mexico to make money in the United States as an undocumented kitchen worker in Windows on the World, the restaurant that crowned one of the World Trade Center towers. When 9/ 11 strikes and the family has no news, one of his sons makes the daunting trek to Manhattan to find his father.
Anderson began working on the film shortly after 9/ 11, which, like everyone, affected him deeply. He was devastated by the New York Times coverage, including a photo essay of people around the world faithfully holding portraits of their loved ones — hoping they’d escaped the building.
Last month “Windows” drew full houses of friends, family and fans at the Vogue Theater where Anderson hosted two screenings co-presented by SFJazz and SFFilm.
“Zack and I try to express that sense of immigration and labor by people who are unseen. There were definitely some dark hours shooting this,” Anderson shared with the audience. “We’re doing a 9/ 11 film in funeral halls. Not the brightest of places.”
But he was buoyed by his SFJazz Collective pals, including pianist Edward Simon, who composed music when Anderson had written his own tune (and a very fine one, too) for “Windows” after blowing their budget on licensing Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York.”
“I was born in San Francisco. And this theater is like a second home where Zack and I cut our writing teeth,” said Anderson, with a joking reference to “Pig Hunt,” his inaugural cinematic effort. “This isn’t a spoiler alert. But for those who know that film, this one does not involve any large animatronic pigs.”