Barbara Trainin Blank, Author at CultureSpotMC.com

Home
Stories
Barbara Trainin Blank

Barbara Trainin Blank

A native New Yorker, Barbara Trainin Blank grew up on a steady diet of theater, opera, ballet, museums, and classic films, which predisposed her to arts writing. Now based in Silver Spring, she is a journalist, book author, grant writer, and aspiring playwright who contributes arts features regularly to culturespotMC.com and to other print and online publications.

Anyone who doubts that documentaries can capture the imagination as much as feature films needs only consider three hit movies of the season --"RBG," about Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg; "Won't You Me My Neighbor?" about Fred Rogers and his television series; and "Three Identical Strangers," about triplets forcibly separated at birth, then View more

Good things sometimes come in fives. Both the opening and closing films of the 2018 DC South Asian Film Festival (DCSAFF), taking place Friday through Sunday, Sept. 7, 8 and 9, have the number in their titles. The first offering in the festival, now in its seventh year, is "5 Rupya," starring Shabana Azmi, whom Manoj Singh, the festival's executive View more

Professor Gerald Muller has been called the Leonard Bernstein of Montgomery County. The apt comparison of the local composer, arranger, teacher and accompanist to the world-famous composer, conductor and educator whose centennial is being celebrated this year was made by Dr. Harry N. Dunstan, founding artistic director of the American Center for Puccini View more

When Marcy Marxer was a child, she found a ukulele in a trash can. Her partner Cathy Fink received a Gibson ukulele as a gift from an elderly friend who urged her to play it. The passion both women developed for the instrument, aka "uke," continued into adulthood. They have visited Hawaii, where ukulele music first came to the New World via Portuguese View more

Ariana Ross conceived of an organization that would connect artists of various disciplines, educators, business leaders and community members to bring the visual, performing and literary arts into the community to strengthen both communities and individuals -- through integrating the power of dance, storytelling, theater, music and visual arts.

In her youth, Carolyn Case wanted to be a graphic designer. One college drawing class inspired her to change direction. Now Case, who lives in Cockeysville, Maryland, teaches painting at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) in Baltimore. She won the Best of Show honor in the annual Bethesda Painting Awards, which comes with a $10,000 prize. View more

The festival has grown, this year featuring more than 50 arts and crafts vendors. It therefore takes place both inside and outside the museum, "with every corner of our property in use and parking available across the street," Keeley said. The Strawberry Festival began in June 1982 on the old Montgomery Hospital grounds in Olney. Cindy Chirtea created View more

"There is no 'serious' music or ‘unserious’ music, just good music and bad music." The quotation is sometimes attributed to Leonard Bernstein -- whose birth centennial we celebrate this year -- and sometimes to Louis Armstrong. Either would be believable, considering the genre blending that is characteristic of both musicians.

Although she had brains as well as beauty and sex appeal, the life of screen star Hedy Lamarr zig-zagged between delight and despair. And often the brains part was overlooked. Or else it did until British filmmaker Alexandra Dean wrote, directed and co-produced "Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story," a documentary that focuses on the actress's side career View more

The best time to see the Northern Lights, or aurora borealis -- natural displays of light from gas formations in the sky, seen especially in regions of high latitude and in parts of Norway and Iceland -- is from November through April. Even if you're not at an ideal location to see the sky dazzle, like a fluorescent light tube, you can catch a concert View more

Pages: