Glen Ellyn

Award-winning, singer-songwriter Greg Trafidlo will perform Friday evening, Nov. 27, at the Two Way Street Coffee House, 1047 Curtiss St., Downers Grove, where doors open at 7:30 p.m.

The tenor has appeared from Wrigley Field to the U.S. Capitol, from Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium to Cork, Ireland, and as far as Beijing, China, singing his distinctive blend of folk, country, blues and bluegrass.
 
He’s shared the stage with such artists as Bill Monroe, Kathy Mattea, Emmylou Harris, John Prine, Tom Paxton and John Hartford. National Public Radio airs his song “(I Got Stuck Behind) Buford” on its nationally syndicated show, “Car Talk.”

The late Mike Fleischer of WDCB-FM in Glen Ellyn said, “Greg Trafidlo’s songs tickle your fancy, tickle your funny bone, tickle your thought processes, tickle your heart, and tickle your soul.”

For ticket information, contact Two Way Street Coffee House at (630) 969-9720 or www.twowaystreet.org.
 

Anima-Young Singers of Greater Chicago, formerly the Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus, invites all third-, fourth- and fifth-graders who like to sing to come to an open rehearsal. It begins at 4:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 16, on the third floor of the Glen Ellyn Park District’s recreation center, 501 Hill Ave., Glen Ellyn.
 
Anima has been providing quality, performance-based choral music education since 1964. Sit in on a rehearsal, meet the conductors, and learn more about singing with Anima.
 
Its directors say chorus kids have fun, make new friends, learn new skills, travel to new places and mature and develop self-confidence.  
 
For more information, call the chorus office at (630) 858-2471 or e-mail sing@animasingers.org.

Village Theatre Guild will conduct auditions for “Rabbit Hole” by David Lindsay-Abaire. They take place at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8, at the theater at Park Boulevard and Butterfield Road, Glen Ellyn.

The show will be performed weekends from Jan. 15 to Feb. 6, directed by Bill Burghardt.

Performer Dee Dee Bridgewater has a spiritual connection to jazz legend Billie Holiday. At first, it was unsettling for Bridgewater — until she embraced it. Now, she celebrates the infamous “Lady Day” in her own way and in her own voice. Bridgewater performs “To Billie With Love: A Celebration of ‘Lady Day’” on Saturday, Nov. 7 at the McAninch Arts Center in Glen Ellyn. She will perform songs off her upcoming album that will be a tribute to the life and music of Holiday.

Dee Dee Bridgewater. SUBMITTED PHOTO

“Progress in Works,” a collection of paintings by Karl Arntzen, will be on display from Monday, Oct. 26, through November at the Wings student art gallery in the Student Resource Center’s room 1540 at College of DuPage, 425 Fawell Blvd., Glen Ellyn. A reception with the artist will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27, at the gallery.

The Naperville artist’s works include figurative imagery, portraiture and narratives, dealing with nostalgia, escapism and mass culture. His paintings are described as exploring different cultural realities, juxtaposing the self with the other to simultaneously embrace and critique our social landscape.

The Wings Gallery is open from 10:10 a.m. to 4:10 p.m. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays; and 3:30 to 6 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays. For more information, call Professor Marina Kuchinski at (630) 942-2423.

A smidgen of soul music, a fragment of folk, and a drop of rhythm and blues make up the melting pot musical stylings of Sisters in Soul. The group performs on Saturday, Oct. 24 at the McAninch Arts Center in Glen Ellyn. Solo recording artists Marcia Ball, Bettye LaVette and Maria Muldaur make up the soulful trio, each bringing their respective and award-winning sound to performances. Ball, who grew up in Louisiana, is all about that New Orleans rhythm and blues.  

(l to r) Bettye LaVette, Maria Muldaur and Marcia Ball make up the voices of Sisters in Soul. SUBMITTED PHOTO

As leafy canopies turn into rainbows, here are some of the best suburban vantage points to savor autumn’s splendor — from favorite trails to special events.

ST. CHARLES PADDLEWHEEL RIVERBOATS
ADDRESS 2 North Ave., St. Charles
PHONE (630) 584-2334
WEB www.stcriverboats.com
Leave dry land for a little time travel, taking in the scenery from aboard a St. Charles riverboat on a four-mile round trip on the Fox River. Tickets aboard the replica paddlewheeler cost $7.50 for adults and $6 for youth ages 2 to 15. A boat will set out at 2, 3 and 4 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through Oct. 18, leaving from Pottawatomie Park. Before autumn fades, you also can book charter excursions by reservation.

THE MORTON ARBORETUM
ADDRESS At I-88 and Route 53, Lisle
PHONE (630) 968-0074
WEB www.mortonarb.org
Think trees, think Morton Arboretum. “Fall colors (can) be especially impressive because of the wide variety of trees and other plants from around the world,” says Ed Hedborn, Arboretum botanist and “Color Scout” who chronicles the changes in hues week by week. To take in the vistas, visitors can hike the 16 miles of trails, bicycle or drive the nine miles of roads, or hop a tram. Hedborn reports his weekly color findings at www.mortonarb.org/colorupdate and on the Bloom ‘n Color Hotline at (630) 719-7955. The Arboretum’s Fall Color Festival this month offers events for the whole family, such as art shows, a “Theatre-Hike” musical, wine tasting, pumpkin decorating, taffy apples and the lakeside Scarecrow Trail.

Take a ride on a St. Charles riverboat and scope beautiful
foliage lining the shores of the Fox River. SUBMITTED PHOTO

Glen Ellyn’s McAninch Arts Center will be rocking to string music from the fiddle-playing foursome, Fiddlers 4. The group that puts a new and refreshed spin on traditional string quartets is composed of some of the most versatile and influential fiddle players in bluegrass today including Darol Anger, Michael Doucet, Bruce Molsky, and cellist Rushad Eggleston. Anger, an award-winning composer who has developed and performs with several other string ensembles, believes the state of bluegrass music today is a positive one.

Fiddlers 4. SUBMITTED PHOTO

DO IT
A belief that wild animals who have been orphaned or injured deserve a second chance is what motivates the nonprofit Fox Valley Wildlife Center. “We have an open house coming up from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 27, (with) games, refreshments, presentations and tours,” says Kaitlin Zordan, education coordinator.

Caring for and tending to wild animals who have been orphaned or injured is a shared passion for volunteers with the nonprofit Willowbrook Wildlife Center in Glen Ellyn. The center hopes the passion will spread to even more possible volunteers. “We have a very active program of volunteers,” says Chris Linnell, volunteer services coordinator. In the last fiscal year, 206 people volunteered more than 18,000 hours to the center, Linnell says. “They share an affinity with wildlife. They definitely want to help.”

Music from the 1840s will be played by the Scatlin Reunion Band at the Glen Ellyn Historical Society’s Tavern Day between 1 and 4:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 27. Other festivities take place on the grounds of Stacy’s Tavern Museum at Main Street and Geneva Road, providing a glimpse into the lifestyle of the pioneers who raised their families in the area that is now the village of Glen Ellyn.

The band will present a “Celebration of Old Time Music and Dance” in the Prairie Rose Opera House, 800 N. Main St. Members are hammered dulcimer player Dona Benkert; mountain dulcimer, concertina and penny whistle player Dan Benkert; fiddler Rick Veras; and guitarist Glen Ferrell. The entire band has a passion for researching the historical content and stories behind the music. Veras is a music instructor, as well as performer; Ferrell provides the rhythm foundation for the group and is a history buff; the Benkerts own a music store in Warrenville and are founders of the Warrenville Folk Music Society. Tavern Day visitors will receive a program that lists the times of the concerts, dances and music demonstrations throughout the afternoon.

The Goodrich Farm, just outside the village of Glen Ellyn, has been in the family since the 1930s. Marilyn Goodrich (center) is shown with great-grandsons Cosmos Barraclough, 9, (from left), Vixen, Ginger, Ollie Barraclough, 7, and Ponch. The boys, students at Churchill Elementary School, help the family with the animals, and will be at Tavern Day sharing their farm adventures with visitors. Marilyn Goodrich, daughter Bonnie Paganis and granddaughter Sia Paganis keep the 11-acre farm going with Nubian goats and chickens. Goodrich was honored at the DuPage County Fair for being a 4-H leader for more than 50 years. SUBMITTED PHOTO