Mar 25, 2008
ARTS:
Manners' concerts offer coffeehouse sounds
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It was maybe as good as it gets in the folk music world — a quiet Sunday night in Ridgefield early in March with Barbara Manners hosting a Phil Ochs Song Night as part of her Acoustic Celebration Concerts.
The night was a tribute to the late great folk singer/songwriter produced by his sister, Sonny Ochs.
And what a tribute it was, with performances by Kim and Reggie Harris leading a slate of talented players. They played Phil Ochs pieces and their own music and the crowd that filled the temporary seats in the reception area at Temple Shearith Israel loved it. Especially a closing impromptu singalong.
Acoustic Celebration
Chalk up another win for Barbara Manners, whose non-profit Acoustic Celebration concerts provide Ridgefielders with affordable Sunday night acoustic treats with the feel and sound of a good coffeehouse experience. She’s even managed recently to provide the capability to access the events schedule and to purchase tickets online for upcoming events. Clicking AcousticCelebration.org will get you prices and details.
Coming Concerts
March 30 —Joe Crookston and Tim Grimm
April 6 — Ronny Cox Band
April 13 — David Jacobs-Strain with Barry Finch opening
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As with her summertime concerts in the Ballard Park, she is choosing artists who are, as she puts it, “performers that Ridgefielders wouldn’t normally hear locally.”
Each is vetted by her. “I don’t book anyone I haven’t heard live,” she said.
Finding the right talent is more than a Sunday stroll. She spends countless hours assembling the talent for her programs. She goes to festivals and to conferences where the subject is music of many genres: blue grass, country, jazz, soul, and blues.
“I just spent four days in New York attending an Arts Presenters conference,” she said. “I can’t tell you how much music I heard. You go from room to room, listening to the artists.”
Music and politics
Music was an early and enduring passion for Ms. Manners. CHIRP, her summertime concerts in Ballard Park, have become music staples for many Ridgefielders, playing to as many as 2,000 music enthusiasts on Tuesday nights in the summer.
CHIRP and the Acoustic Celebration are major activities in her musical life, though only a piece of it. Occasionally she goes farther afield with her involvement and recently took on the role as director of the Connecticut Folk Festival and Green Expo, a struggling New Haven festival that she has already given new life.
But politics and music have equal demands on her passions and involvement.
She is in her sixth term as selectwoman.
“Politics hopefully enables you to help people who need help and to share what you have with others,” she said.
She is on the Advisory Board of the Women’s Center in Danbury, an area-wide organization that works with women in need. She had served on its Board of Directors for three years, but her son, David, was young then and took more of her time.
“Two things that I pride myself on,” she said, “are the purchase of the Women’s Center Building in Danbury and the existence of the Ridgefield Playhouse. I pushed very hard for both of them,” she said.
Stuff of legend
Her comments are modest. Her doggedness in pushing through the renovation and conversion of the former high school auditorium into the beaux arts jewel of the town’s cultural attractions is the stuff of town legend. It has become a mile marker on her drive to bolster the arts in Ridgefield.
And while she was responsible for making the Playhouse a reality, she is quick to point out that it has been through the efforts of Allison Stockel that it has flourished.
“Allison is doing such a marvelous job there,” she said. “I love her to pieces for what she’s done. My only connection these days is to occasionally take tickets at the door.”
She was long active both with the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra as a board member and ABC, which is celebrating its 20th year of successfully guiding talented inner-city students through the Ridgefield School System on their way to prestigious higher educaton institutions.
She is a member of the League of Women Voters and past president of the Ridgefield branch of the American Association of University Women. In 1999 she received that organization’s Connecticut award for community leadership.
She is also chair of the Holiday Trust Fund Committee established by the Board of Selectmen six years ago to raise funds to support Halloween Walk and downtown holiday lights.
Raised in New York City she received her bachelor of arts and master of arts from NYU and her law degree from Fordham. She moved to Ridgefield in 1983.
She is married to Morgan Weber, also a former lawyer, and a willing partner in the care and feeding of the family dogs. Ms. Manners is active in canine rescue work and takes the work to heart — she counts several rescue dogs among her eight at home.
Yes, eight.
“They all had such needs,” she said.
© Copyright 2008 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers
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