Editor’s note: This article was initially published in The Daily Gazette, Swarthmore’s online, daily newspaper founded in Fall 1996. As of Fall 2018, the DG has merged with The Phoenix. See the about page to read more about the DG.
Been to Bryn Mawr recently? Me neither. But tonight there’s a great reason to take that exciting shuttle ride. Fiddler Eileen Ivers and her band, Immigrant Soul, are playing at the Goodhart Theater. A Bronx native, Ivers is one of the foremost Irish fiddler players in the world, combining traditional techniques with new ideas and influences ranging from jazz to electronica. She is a nine-time winner of All-Ireland fiddling championships, and was called “the future of the Celtic fiddle” by the Washington Post. Tickets are $12.50 for Tri-Co students, and it starts at 8:00 p.m.
Dead female companions are invading movie theaters this weekend. “Just Like Heaven” is a new romantic comedy with impossibly bad timing. Though it makes a light comedy about some of the same issues recently faced in the Terri Schiavo case, it amazingly seems to still be a good time. Starring Reese Witherspoon as Mark Ruffalo’s, well, dead girlfriend, it actually has gotten some decent reviews and looks like prime date movie material. “It’s not heaven, exactly, but after the purgatory of the late summer movie season, it may be close enough,” said A. O. Scott in the New York Times. The more easily explained entry, “Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride,” is a stop-motion animation horror oddity. Like most of Burton’s films, it appears to be on the weird side, but that’s most of the fun.
Hip-hop fans probably haven’t been to the Kimmel Center very often. (Not to hear hip-hop, at least.) But tonight is an exception, when The Roots with special guest Jill Scott take over Verizon Hall, the home of the Philadelphia Orchestra (whose season starts in a week). Formed in Philadelphia, the concert is a homecoming of sorts, and they will perform their innovative mix of hip-hop, soul, and rock with additional guests Shawn Hewitt and The National Strike, TV On the Radio, and Deerhof. Tickets start at $30. Have a great weekend!
