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It is a good weekend for a trip into Boston. The Museum of Fine Arts’ new Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art opens tomorrow with ticketed parties beginning at 7 PM, 11 PM, and 3 AM. Sunday, the museum is open to the public from 7 AM to 7 PM — for free!

No matter what your taste in contemporary art, there should be much among the wide assortment of works in the seven new galleries for you to enjoy.

“I Dreamed I Could Fly,” by Jonathan Borofsky.

The entrance to the wing is impressive. The vaulted ceiling is alive with high-flying figures  by Jonathan Borofsky. Titled “I Dreamed I Could Fly,” the figures were made especially for this wide open space and are intended to convey a sense of equality and harmony. “They see and feel that human beings are all connected together and that we are all one–no divisions and no walls.”

There are neon sculptures (wall art) around the space, stating, for example, “All Art Has Been Contemporary,” by Maurizio Nannucci. There is a beautiful new gift shop with an extensive collection of art books and a new cafe and social area. The museum also encourages social media. The MFA recently began tweeting and encourages visitors to tweet about their visit. There is an online interactive magazine where you can learn more about the exhibit.

Malcolm Rogers, Ann and Grahm Gund Director of the MFA, and Ellsworth Kelly toast the new wing, the art, and the artists, surrounded by media representatives, September 15, 2011.

The featured exhibit is “Ellsworth Kelly: Wood Sculpture,” where 19 of his 30 wood sculptures (made over the course of 40 years, in a variety of woods) are on display. Kelly, of Spencertown, New York, is considered one of the most important abstract artists working today for his minimalist paintings, prints, and drawings, but his sculptural works have not received the same attention. This is one of the first exhibitions of his works in wood, which emphasize simplicity of form. He takes his inspiration from the world around him, the human figure, the landscape.

His “Curve XXI” is one of the most dramatic, measuring 14 feet across, inspired by the rolling hills near his studio.

Kelly, now 88, is better known for his large colorful artworks. One, “Blue Green Yellow Orange Red” (1968), is also included in the show, in an upstairs gallery. It is a large work, in bright, solid colors, cheerful and a simple receding shape. (Media representatives were given a bag of jelly beans grouped in these colors, and it looked like many more would be handed out this weekend.)

"Blue Green Yellow Orange Red: By Ellsworth Kelly

For more information on Kelly’s other work, see the Wikipedia article on him and a Youtube interview. His sculptures are mentioned only briefly, at the end.

Upstairs are more galleries, including a video room where three short films may be viewed.

Art is always a matter of taste, and enjoyment of contemporary art is certainly subject to personal opnion. In other words, there is a wide display of artworks here, and you may love some pieces, be intrigued by others, and be unmoved by others.

I tend to favor the whimsical in contemporary art, and the works that seek to make political statements. Among the pieces I enjoyed were:

“How to Wrap Five Waves,” by John Cederquist, is a light-hearted depiction of waves, in the Japanese painting style, tenuously contained in a top-heavy bureau of sorts. The waves in soft shades of blue, green, and gold are tied in boxes stacked on one another.

“How to Wrap Waves” may be found in the Peter and Daphne Farago Gallery of contemporary craft and design. The room contains 80 works in ceramics, wood, metal, glass, and fiber from the 20th and 21st centuries from the Daphne Farago collection. This is a beautiful collection, and well worth a look.

Rudy Autio’s “Messelshell Vessel,” of glazed and incised stoneware, is one of many vessels he created depicting intertwined women and horses. He began making these forms in the 1960s.

This jar by Michael Frimkess, with drawings by his wife, Magdalena Suarez Frimkess, is called “Blues for Dr. Banks.” Frimkess was briefly a professional jazz musician, and this jar was created for a pediatrician who loved jazz. Shown here is trumpeter Miles Davis. Also pictured are singers Billie Holliday and Sarah Vaughn.

"Sinuous" by Eva Hild.

In a room set off by silver and blue beaded curtains by Felix Gonzalez-Torres is another collection of artworks, the Ives Family Collection. Here, the physical form is explored. Eva Hild’s clay “Sinuous,” is graceful and flowing, a fluid concept of shape.

Picasso, "Rape of the Sabine Women."

In the same room, is Pablo Picasso’s “The Rape of the Sabine Women,” 1965, a statement against violence and dominance. Picasso’s work was described at the time as “a profound break with the past,” and it is included in this collection to show that yet another “profound break with the past” is underway.

"Sound Suit" by Nick Cave

“Sound Suit,” by Nick Cave, made of fabric with applique, found sequined materials, beading, crocheted and knitted yarns. Cave is a dancer and creates sound suits that he actually dances in, accompanied by the sound of the costume. “The elongated headdress and obscured face transform the wearer into a dazzling otherworldly creature.”

"Grater Divide," by Mona Hatoum

Nearby was “Grater Divide,” by Mona Hatoum, a room-divider size cheese grater, opened to show three panels. Though perhaps not a room divider for every home, it brings a smile.

Josiah McElheny, "Enlessly Repeating Twentieth Century Modernism"

Lovely to look at and intriguing to behold is Josiah McElheny’s “Endlessly Repeating Twentieth Century Modernism,” a large cube with views of glass bottles, their images stretching to infinity. McElheny blows the glass bottles and the mirrors to create the illusions. The mirrors reflect only the bottles, not the curious visitors.

From "Blood from a Stone" by Kate Gilmore

Kate Gilmore’s 8-minute film, “Blood from a Stone,” shows a daintily dressed woman hauling heavy (75 pound) white cubes to a series of shelves above her head. Once placed, the boxes begin to drip white paint, creating their own artistic expression. The film represents women’s struggles, and evokes similar films of difficult tasks by women artists of the 1970s.

There is much, much more. For a preview visit the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Linde Family Wing for Contemporary Art.

Kate Whouley, author of the just-published “Remembering the Music, Forgetting the Words: Travels with Mom in the Land of Dementia” (a wonderful book–see my review in the Enterprise on Friday, September 9), has written remembrance on the September 11 terrorist attacks, a gentle statement on the devastating impact of the attacks and the small, but important ways that people cope: Eating Cake on 9/11 (published in Obit, an online magazine about Life, Death, and Transition).

Kate had planned a business trip to New York on September 11, 2001, but changed her plans at the last minute. She has reserved the evening for a cook-out and cake to celebrate her mother’s 67th birthday, but was shaken by the events of the day and wanted to cancel the festivities.

“Should we still have the cook-out tonight?” I asked my mother when I called to report Tina [Kate's friend--an airline stewardess based in Boston] was fine—or at least on the ground.
I hoped she’d postpone.  In the face of so much loss, it felt wrong to fire up the grill and keep on living. Maybe by the weekend, I thought, we won’t feel so numb, so sad. But my mother did not favor a change of plans.

“This is not a time,” she said, “for us to sit in our separate houses.”

Her mother, even then in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, couldn’t have phrased it better. The nation came together after 9/11 in mutual shock and grief. And patriotism, as flags waved from every post.

Many lives were devastated on 9/11, and almost everyone has a 9/11 story. For me, it is also a story of being with others. In 2001, I worked, as I do now, as a freelance editorial consultant, primarily writing indexes for books and websites. On September 11, I had an index due for a publisher in Manhattan. I was in the midst of an e-mail conversation with the editor when I heard on the radio (WUMB–folk music, only rarely interrupted by news) that a plane had struck the World Trade Center. I assumed it was a small plane, tragically off course, but turned on the television to see what had happened.

I immediately became physically sick; I watched the events unfold on the television from the door of the bathroom for a time, unable to move. Eventually I got back to the computer, where I learned that the editor had watched the plane from her window and saw the terrifying impact, the flames, the smoke, stunned by the unreality of it all.

Somehow I finished the project I was doing for her, but I must admit I had a sense of hopelessness about it. It seemed to be the end of the world.

It was a Tuesday, and on Tuesday evenings I had a standing rehearsal with our trio: 2 flutes and a cello. We were playing Haydn’s London Trios. I played first flute, Paul played second flute, and Eric played cello. I loved these trios, still love them. They are easy, as chamber music goes, but Paul and I were having problems staying together. Eric, a much better cellist than we were flutists, was patient and helpful. He played with a strong, rich certainty, and I always had the feeling I was playing amid a wonderful “cello forest” of sound.  (At the time I had just recently started cello lessons myself, and now I play the cello on these trios with another group of musicians.)

I wondered whether we should still meet, given the horrors of the day. I knew I wanted to play, but wondered if it was appropriate to do so. Neither Paul nor Eric called or e-mailed to cancel, and I did not contact either one of them, fearful that one would cancel. I went to rehearsal. Both were there. I don’t remember if we talked much about the attacks, but I do know it felt good to play the music, even imperfectly, even just for ourselves.

This year, I plan to go to a concert–the Boston String Quartet is playing at the Cape Cod Museum of Art on Sunday, September 11, at 4 PM, and it sounds like it might be just the thing for me. The Boston String Quartet will present their program, WorldSong, described as “fresh and original blend of music from throughout the world….a mix of music including Zydeco, Taiwanse folk, American fiddle, Bulgarian, gospel, salsa, and more. (See link below for their performance of “Winter in Buenos Aires from Piazzola’s “Four Seasons.]

It is a sad anniversary, but there is much to be gained in the coming together.

An estimated 11,000 people ran the Falmouth Road Race on Sunday August 14. Most of them were not expecting to win, but their participation was no less meaningful. For many, just finishing the grueling 7-mile race was a victory. Some trained for a the whole year to complete the race. Some run alone, and others are part of a larger group effort, to raise money for charitable causes and/or to increase awareness of issues.

Such was the case for a group of runners from Genesis and Fairwinds, two clubhouses for people recovering from or dealing with mental illness. Member of Genesis, of Worcester, have been running for five years, and this year they have a group of 28 people participating. Fairwinds of Falmouth is in its second year of participation.

Gail Blakely, a gourmet cook who writes the food column for the Enterprise, sponsored a meal for the runners of both teams the night before the race at the home of her sister and brother-in-law in West Falmouth. I was there to do shoot some video for Valerie May Douglas’s FCTV show on the Falmouth Road Race. Only snippets of my interviews will be used in Valerie’s final show about all aspects of the race, so we agreed that I would post the full interviews here.

Kevin Bradley, the executive director of Genesis, said that the Falmouth Road Race is important for three basic reasons. It helps raise considerable funds for the organizations, as each runner is committed to raising a certain level of donations to participate; it motivates club members to improve their fitness, and it “brings mental illness out of the darkness,” by showing other runners and race watchers that people with mental illness are part of the community.

But let him tell you in his own words:

Noah Totten spoke for Fairwinds. Last year, Fairwinds members raised $48,000, which they used to help buy a new building for the club.

As did Karen Troup-Gallent, director of Fairwinds:

and Rachel Grinnell, who was running for Fairwinds:

Jonathan Feeney is not running this year; shorter races are more to his liking, but he may do so in the future:

Eddie Sanborn  is not running this year due to injuries, but he attended to support the others.

Chelsea Graves is running for Genesis. She got involved because of Kevin Bradley, a neighbor and friend:

Gail Blakey explains her interest in mental illness and the Falmouth Road Race.

The meal, by the way, was delicious:

Kevin Bradley spoke after the meal about the race and his mission make people more aware of mental illness:

As did Noah Totten:

And it ended with a singalong, the “Genesis Song,” dedicated to people with mental illness at Worcester State Hospital who were buried in unmarked graves. It is time to bring mental illness out of the darkness.

Almost every week this summer, Lin Whitehead, director of the Falmouth Town Band, has turned over her baton to a new guest conductor to lead the band in “The Stars & Stripes Forever.” It has been fun for the band, the audience, and, the guest conductors, some of whom have never conducted before, and some who have chosen very unlikely batons.

From my vantage point in the flute section, I have recorded these guest appearances.

Mildred Allen conducts the Falmouth Town Band.

On Thursday, July 28, 102-year-old Mildred Allen conducted. This was her third appearance as guest conductor; she began conducting when she was 100. Mildred is also a poet and keeps active by going to Town Band concerts and other local events.

On August 4, Elizabeth (Liz) McGonagle conducted, dressed appropriately in red, white, and blue, and using a blinking star, also in patriotic colors, to  lead the band. McGonagle has served as  assistant superintendent and director of curriculum and instruction of the Falmouth Public Schools. She recently resigned to take a job elsewhere.

There was no guest conductor on August 11, but a highlight of the concert was Tom Borning’s performance of “A Tribute to Harry James” on the trumpet. Borning is head of the music department in the Falmouth public schools.

 On August 18, there were two guest conductors: Stephanie Weaver, director of the Cape Cod Conservatory, and George Scharr, director of the conservatory’s Falmouth campus and director of education for the Cape Cod Symphony Orchestra. Here is Lin’s introduction of the duo:

and here is their performance. George is wearing a hockey uniform to honor Stephanie’s interest in hockey.

Next week, Thursday, August 25, may be the last concert of the summer, as students head back to college and summer residents leave. But there may be a performance the following week, September 1, if there are enough band members available. The band plays a mix of show tunes, movie themes, popular and rock-and-roll favorites, big band songs, marches, classical music, and more.

There are no auditions to join town band; there are people of all ages, from junior high students through people in their 90′s, from professional musicians to those just beginning to play, or starting again after putting their instruments aside for years. Rehearsals start in the spring, and concerts start again the week before the 4th of July.

"Beverly, Lois, & Gladys," by Ricky Bernstein. Photo by Gene M. Marchand.

It is unlike any glass exhibition ever seen at the Sandwich Glass Museum. Ricky Bernstein’s “Kitchen Dreams” fills two rooms at the museum with his floor-to-ceiling Pop Art creations: warm and vibrant “visual stories” of the life he knew growing up in the 1950s, embellished a bit, in bold and colorful painted glass and aluminum.

"Dog Dreams," by Ricky Bernstein. Photo by Gene M. Marchand.

“Dog Dreams” takes up one whole wall of the exhibit, stretching 21 feet from one dog to another. Made up of 75 pieces of glass and aluminum that fit together like a wonderfully complex jigsaw puzzle, the work depicts a life-size man and woman, Bob and Beverly, asleep in their gaily colored pajamas on their orange and purple couch.

“I Love Lucy” plays on the television, and their three oversized dogs, Butch, Spike, and Mongo, take advantage of the situation by raiding the fridge, their arms (they walk on two shoe-clad feet and wear eye-catching clothing) laden with sandwiches, cake, ice cream cones, and a bag of Fritos.

Beverly, like Ricky’s mother, Phyllis, loves to clip coupons, and she has fallen asleep with scissors and coupons in hand and curlers in her hair. Bob, dog treats in his lap and empty boxes of dog treats at his feet, dreams of the tricks he will teach Spike over the weekend.

It is a quite a concept, and a lot to take in all at once. Do take the time, savor the details, both of these marvelous works of art and the whimsical stories behind them. Look closely at this one and you can see that the pair of scissors that Beverly holds is not glass, but a real pair of scissors. And they are authentic to the period, as are Mr. Bernstein’s grandfather’s scissors.

Ricky Bernstein, during the installation of "Beverly, Lois, & Gladys" at the Sandwich Glass Museum. Photo by Gene M. Marchand.

On the opposite wall is “Beverly, Lois, & Gladys,” seven feet high, 14 feet long, and 14 inches deep. Three rumpled, somewhat lumpy housewives share a cup of coffee and ponder a big decision in the kitchen. But Mr. Bernstein describes the scene so much better:

While Gladys puttered around the kitchen, Beverly and Lois dropped by for a cup of coffee (‘cuppuh kawfee’) and some lively conversation. Gladys had slept late and was just finishing up her hair. How she loved her Dippity-do. She and Bob were going to the office party and naturally, she was agonizing over which shoes to wear. After several days, Gladys had narrowed the choice down to the red or blue pumps, but Lois thought she should definitely go with the pink polka dots. As usual…Beverly couldn’t make up her mind. ‘They all look so gaw-ghiss on you, Gladys,’ she gushed. That made Gladys all the more confused. Oh, what’s a girl to do? In the end she nervously decides on the pink pumps and worries about it all night.

In another piece, “Voila,” Gladys makes light work of dishwashing by dumping the dirty dishes in the garbage can, rather than in the sink.

Mr. Bernstein seeks to bring back a simpler, less sinister, time with his art, by recalling his childhood in the 1950s, his parents, particularly his mother, and her friends and relatives.

His caricatures of them, he said, are done with love and are in no way meant to be demeaning to women. “I am poking fun,” he said, “at the foibles of pop culture, at my own upbringing.”

His “balance” series, though comical, reflects his respect for the many roles and responsibilities that women juggle, maintaining a precarious balance. “The Big Night” shows a woman practicing for her husband’s office talent show. She is balancing bowling balls on top of coffee cups, suddenly realizing that a soft-boiled egg placed atop a bowling ball is what she needs for the trick to succeed.

Another aspect of his concern for women is the fact that Mr. Bernstein has directed, for the past 20 years, Hands in Outreach, an organization that provides literacy education for girls in Nepal, where girls have far less access to education than boys.

Mr. Bernstein’s pieces start out as stories, often autobiographical, but with plenty of imagination and exaggeration. His mother was a stay-at-home housewife, as were most mothers in the 1950s. She clipped coupons every night. She wore hair curlers. She watched “I Love Lucy.” She spent a lot of time in the kitchen, cleaning up, cooking, sharing coffee with friends. If you look closely, you will see her spatula in “Beverly, Lois, & Gladys.”

A cartoonist since he was 7 and growing up in Providence, Rhode Island, Mr. Bernstein always knew he would be an artist. He has worked full time as one since 1974 and has been “making a living” at art since 1979, when he opened his own studio. He began creating his glass figures and scenes about 20 years ago, after working in glassblowing, ceramics, and stained glass panels. He lives and works in the Berkshires.

Mr. Bernstein describes himself as a cross between Red Grooms, who is known for his detailed multi-media constructions of contemporary life, and Gary Larsen’s “Far Side” cartoons, which are known for their improbable situations.

Or, perhaps, he said, “Woody Allen in another genre.” There is clearly a similarity in his fond, but gently mocking, quirky depictions of an era gone by.

He wants people to respond to the story when they look at his art, to try to figure out what is going on in the picture, rather than wonder about how it was made. Still, it is interesting to look behind the scenes, to see the layers of glass and the bolts holding them together and to the wall.

Mr. Bernstein begins each piece with a story idea, from which he develops paper patterns, which are used not only to plan and cut the pieces, but also to map out their placement on a wall. He blows sheets of glass, cuts them to the shapes he needs, colors them with acrylics, oils, or colored pencil, maintaining his vision of matte and shiny surfaces.

Working with glass is a high-tech process he said; making the pieces is incredibly difficult. Asked why he chose to work in glass, rather than some easier material, such as plywood or canvas, Mr. Bernstein said, “Glass chose me. Glass and aluminum suit my needs. If it is not hard to do, it is not worth doing.”

It took him and his assistant, Bill Cary, three days to install the artwork in the glass museum, painstakingly following his paper patterns and hanging each piece on aluminum armatures. Sometimes the placement is not exact.

“There is a little morphing each time I hang it,” Mr. Bernstein said, “a little reworking “of angles and distances between pieces, sometimes depending on the venue. The limited wall space in the Sandwich Glass Museum, for instance, required that “Dog Dreams,” normally 25 feet across, be compressed to 21 feet.

The end result is well worth the effort, and well worth a trip to the Sandwich Glass museum to see. “Kitchen Dreams” will be there through October 30.

The museum, at 129 Main Street in Sandwich, is open daily from 9:30 AM to 5 PM. Admission is $5 for adults and $1.25 for children 6 to 14. For more information, call 508-888-0251, or visit www.sandwichglassmuseum.org.

For more on Ricky Bernstein, visit www.rickybernstein.com

Jason Danieley and Kelli O'Hara

Even at 1:30 PM or so, when we arrived in Hyannis on Sunday for the 26th Annual TD Bank Pops by the Sea concert, it was hard to find a place to park. We got the last quasi-legal space in one of the parking lots behind Main Street, and headed over to the Hyannis Village Green, where the Boston Pops  Esplanade Orchestra was scheduled to perform from 5 to 7 PM.   

It was a gray, cold, windy, and rainy day, but the Boston Pops concert is a wonderful tradition, and has some very loyal fans. Most of them probably decided to wait for the concert in the shelter of a Main Street restaurant or shop, as the Village Green was almost empty when we arrived.   

We had jackets, hats, and umbrellas, and, when we checked in, were given bright white plastic rain ponchos with cheery TD Bank logos in green. We headed for the press tent, where two people from Hyannis Patch, the online newspaper, had already set up a video camera for a time-lapsed photographic record of the Green filling up with people.   

Except that the green did not fill up quickly. There were a sprinkling of people near the side stage where valiant bands were performing the pre-show concert, only minimally sheltered from the rain. We arrived too late to hear the Bart Weisman Klezmer Swing Group, who began performing at 1 PM. I had seen them play at the Falmouth Arts Alive Festival and was sorry to have missed them. Led by percussionist Bart Weisman, the group includes Clayton March on clarinet and saxophone, Monica Rizzio on vocals and violin, Alan Clinger on guitar, and Laird Boles on string bass.   

We did catch a bit of Funktapuss (please forgive the shakey footage, as I was trying to balance the camera and my umbrella):   

and Lydia Warren:   

But it was raining heavily, and the wind was turning umbrellas inside out. A few brave souls camped out to watch and listen, and to show their appreciation with whoops and hollers.   

By then a crowd had gathered in the press tent. Not press people, but people who preferred standing under the capricious shelter of an open tent to sitting in their $50 seats out in the wind and rain. Some of them shared their cheese and crackers with us. One of them happened to be a radio weatherman who told us that the front was moving east, that the end of the deluge was in Mashpee, and the skies would clear just in time for the Boston Pops.   

Another weather guy came by and said there was another storm front behind the first. The man next to me said he chose to believe the first guy.   

Despite the weather, there was a festive air. “I wonder if people will want their money back,” I ventured, looking at the sea of green where the lawn ticket holders usually sit, and the rows of empty $50 and higher-priced seats.   

“No,” said one. “This is a fundraiser for the arts, and people understand that. They want to contribute.” The annual concert raises money for the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod, which uses the money throughout the year to support Cape Cod arts and culture.   

I was also worried about the instruments, particularly the string instruments. The orchestra is under a canopy, but open to the elements, and wooden instruments do not take kindly to raindrops. When I asked him what precautions were being made to protect the instruments, the orchestra’s public relations person told me that Dennis Alves, artistic director, was “keeping all the string instruments (20 violins, 8 violas, 8 cellos, 6 string basses) on the truck.” Only one string bass would be played, by principal bass player, Robert Caplin, and some planned numbers would not be played.   

Strings make up half the orchestra, and, of course, offer a different sound from the winds and brass instruments, so this was a huge change in the program, requiring, Mr. Alves said, a couple of songs to be dropped.   

Eventually, most of the table seating filled up, and an announcement was made that the concert would start at 5:30 instead of 5, to give that weather front a chance to move through. Miraculously, at 5:30, the driving rain turned into a sporadic sprinkling, and the skies remained clear for a good part of the concert.   

After the entrance of the color guard, conductor Robert Bernhardt took up the baton (Keith Lockhart was in Asheville, North Carolina conducting the Brevard Music Center Orchestra concert with Yo-Yo Ma), and local American Idol contestant Siobhan Magnus stepped forward to sing a lovely “Star-Spangled Banner.”   

Then the concert got under way with a rousing “Strike Up the Band.”   

The Boston Pops then skipped a medley of Irving Berlin tunes (including, ironically, “Blue Skies”) and Richard Rodgers’ “Carousel Waltz,” moving straight to one of the highlights of the concert, Kenneth Alford’s “Colonel Bogey March,” from the 1957 film, “Bridge on the River Kwai,” conducted by the movie-making Farrelly Brothers, Peter and Bobby. They seemed to have an excellent time, adding a lot of humor to an already upbeat march.   

I put my video camera (it is a tiny FlipVideo) in my pocket after the performance, but forgot to turn it off. You can watch the video of my jacket pocket, while the brothers recite the “Guest Conductor’s Pledge.”   

Peter and Bobby Farrelly

The Farrellys were followed by the Patriotic Sing-Along, which I chose to sing along with, rather than record. Sing-alongs are always fun, but this one was bonding and uplifting as well, as the soggy crowd got a chance to participate in the festivities.   

Larry David was the special surprise guest. He said, “I would like to say it’s a pleasure to be here, but that would be a miserable lie.” He seemed to be referring both to the weather and to his reluctance to sing in public.   

Intermission was omitted, and the Pops went right into the second half of the show, “A Tribute to Cole Porter, starring Kelli O’Hara and Jason Danieley.” Only about half of the scheduled 14 songs were performed, but they were wonderful. Both Broadway stars, Kelli and Jason have stellar voices, and lots of personality. They paired up for a couple of songs, including “Friendship.”   

And each had a couple of solos. Here is Kelli’s “My Heart Belongs to Daddy.”   

And Jason’s “Night and Day,” “like the drip, drip, drip of the raindrops, when the summer shower’s through.”   

All too soon, it was over, as the Pops ended with “Stars & Stripes Forever.”   

The whole concert had lasted about an hour. But it was a great hour, filled with good music and, for the most part, high spirits. Attendance was way down from previous years, but those who came–and they were all ages, from infants in their mothers’ arms to elderly people in wheelchairs–took it all in stride, and made the most of a great tradition. Many that we talked to come every year, not only to hear the Boston Pops, laugh at the antics of the guest conductors, and hear outstanding vocalists in person, but to be part of this great celebration of arts on the Cape.   

Gus Nightingale

 Gus Nightingale was only 4 years old when he starred in his first movie, an experiment produced by his filmmaker father Sean Nightingale, who has created films for National Geographic and others.    

Inspired by Animal Planet’s wildlife biologist Jeff Corwin, Gus was a natural. The father-son team has since gone on to produce 30-minute shows for the “Gus Outdoors” series, in which Gus explores natural environments and the animals who live there. Gus teaches viewers about the animals he meets and does the voice-over narration as well, from scripts that are a collaborative effort between him and his father. The pair live in Providence, Rhode Island, with Gus’s mom, Amy, and his little sister Talus.     

Gus and Sean Nightingale

In his first film, “Gull Island” Gus explores seabird nesting sites on West Island, Little Compton, Rhode Island, and teaches other children about interesting things, like how seagulls regurgitate food for their young.     

Though most of the language is kept simple, Gus does use big words like regurgitation when they are needed, explaining the concepts in simpler terms for his audience.     

Gus and Sean’s latest film, “Gus Outdoors-Lizard Town,” will air at the Woods Hole Film Festival’s Kid’s Day Saturday, August 6,  at Redfield Auditorium, beginning at 2 PM. Gus, now 9, and Sean will be there and will talk to other children and their parents about the show. 

“Lizard Town” is a beautiful film about Gus’s trip to the Bahamas. We see his plane take off from Logan Airport and a map showing where the Bahamas are. He meets lizards, iguanas, snakes and more on land, and then snorkels in the pristine waters, meeting all kinds of fish and sea creatures. The film has won several awards, including Best Amateur Film at the International Wildlife Film Festival.     

To see the film, visit: http://www.cultureunplugged.com/documentary/watch-online/festival/play/6918/Gus-Outdoors–Lizard-Town    

Both “Gull Island” and “Lizard Town” may be purchased for $12.95 each at http://www.gusoutdoors.com/shop.html    

 Sean does all the writing (with Gus’s participation), photography, and editing himself, without support from networks or production companies. When he is not creating films, Sean works as an art director for a sailing company in Newport.     

Gus was 6 when the “Lizard Town” was shot during the family’s first trip to the Bahamas. They went back the following year to get more footage of some of the animals, and finally finished the film in September 2010, when Gus was 8.     

Talus, then 3, appears occasionally in the film and has since been taking on larger roles. She can be seen with Gus in a short piece (webisode) on hummingbirds on the Gus Outdoors website: www.gusoutdoors.com, where one can also find information about Gus and Sean’s other adventures.    

Gus has grown and matured remarkably over the four years they have been filming together, said his father. “He has learned to speak clearly and enunciate well.     

It has been an amazing education for both of us,” Sean said, not only about the natural world, but about the world of film production.     

They have spoken at five different film festivals, including the wildlife festival in Missoula, Montana, in May. There, they filmed another webisode, about sheepherding, which can be seen on their website. They would like to return to Montana to do a full-length show. For that one, Sean said he will seek out funding assistance.     

Sean is currently developing a new show about the water cycle, tracing the flow of water from Vermont down to the ocean, showing different activities that use water, like rafting and skiing, and different wildlife, incorporating some video of manatees that he has already shot.     

Working with children, especially one’s own, can be challenging, but Sean said that they have not had any serious conflicts. “We take breaks on a regular basis, so the kids can have fun. Very rarely do we work for more than an hour straight. The most difficult time is when we start a shooting day, trying to get motivated, but once we get a few shots under our belts it flows pretty naturally.”     

Gus said that he has learned a lot about animals that he did not know before, and that, as well as working with his father and sister, makes the filmmaking fun for him. He particularly enjoys traveling and exploring the various islands in the Bahamas and talking to other children about the films at film festivals.     

He would like to do shows about eagles and going to Africa. In his spare time, Gus likes to write and to play soccer, and he hopes that “Gus Outdoors” will encourage children to get outside more often.

NOTE: I wrote this story for publication in yesterday’s Enterprise (Friday, August 5). The film screened last night at the Woods Hole Film Festival. It was outstanding. Five of the actors (including Evan Sneider and Nate Krawshuk) were present and answered questions after the screening. I will write about that event soon.

Imagine it is cold outside, a late October day, and you have been told that you have to lie motionless in the mud, the cold mud, for a seemingly interminable time, as the clouds move across the sun, changing the shadows falling across your face.

Imagine you are 5 years old. No, you are not being held captive by thugs. You are acting in a movie. And your motivation is the promise of a big toy when it is all over.

Nate Krawshuk managed to hang in there long enough for the crew of “Girlfriend” to shoot the scene, and was rewarded with a big Star Wars lightsaber.

Nate Krawshuk

Now 7, Nate is the son of Kim and Michael Krawshuk of Natick. He has a big sister, Ashley, 9. His grandmother, Elizabeth P. Heald, is a year-round resident of West Falmouth, and the Krawshuk family are fifth-generation summer residents of Old Dock Road in West Falmouth.

Nate and his family will be at the screening of the independent film at the Woods Hole Film Festival tonight at 9 o’clock at Redfield Auditorium, along with the star of the movie, Evan Sneider for a question and answer session with viewers.

This is the New England premiere of the film, and Nate said he “can’t wait to see the whole movie.” He has only seen clips so far, his mother said, and she plans to cover his eyes during some scenes in the R-rated film tonight.

Nate plays the son of a single mother with financial problems and a volatile ex-boyfriend. She is being courted by a man who has loved her from afar, and who has suddenly come into a lot of money. The problem for her is that he has Down syndrome.

“Girlfriend” is said to be the first North American feature film starring an actor with Down syndrome. Writer/director Justin Lerner grew up in Wayland and went to high school with Mr. Sneider, who plays the role of Evan Gray in the film. Mr. Lerner wrote the movie for Mr. Sneider, seeking to portray Mr. Sneider as “a compassionate, empathetic young man with Down syndrome, possessing a surprising charm and disarming sense of humor,” living in a harsher world.

Evan Sneider and Jackson Rathbone

Mr. Lerner said that he knew “which kind of story would resonate the most—a story about something missing in Evan’s life that he profoundly desires—a real, loving relationship.”

Mr. Sneider, who has been acting all his life, has received rave reviews for his performance. He has been talking about his experiences at film festivals around the world and on television programs, praising his fellow actors.

The film has a few name actors as well. Amanda Plummer plays Evan Gray’s mother; Shannon Woodward (Sabrina on “Raising Hope” and Di Di Malloy on “The Riches”)  plays Candy, Evan’s love interest, and Jackson Rathbone (best known for his portrayal of vampire Jasper Hale in “The Twilight Saga”) is Candy’s abusive boyfriend, as well as one of the producers of the movie. Mr. Rathbone’s funk rock band, 100 Monkeys, provides the soundtrack for “Girlfriend.”

“Girlfriend” was shot in the fall of 2009 in Wayland, just one town over from Natick. Ms. Krawshuk learned about the auditions from a friend who knew that Nate, only 5 at the time, enjoyed acting in preschool.

Nate spent five weeks on the set, from mid-September until late October. Scenes were shot out of order, so neither he nor his mother had a sense of continuity about the storyline.

He has speaking parts in 23 or 24 scenes throughout the film, said his mother, mostly small exchanges, or a few lines, leading up to the dramatic scenes near the end, in the mud.

Ms. Krawshuk, who has seen the film, said that it was “surreal” for her to see her son in the film. He was “very believable,” she said, “with a somewhat sad expression throughout the movie,” a child of poverty and a dysfunctional family.

Seeing Nate in a situation so different from his “somewhat privileged life with a happy family” made her realize that if he could do that, he could be very successful as an actor.

“He took direction very well,” she said. “The crew was surprised at how well he did.”

Being in “Girlfriend” has been a “great experience” for Nate. He has gone on to do commercials and other acting roles, including a part in “Limbus,” a film by a graduate student at the Boston University film school, which was shot around Boston.

He plays a boy with a heart problem in “Trouble,” a film set to preview at the end of the summer about a dog named Trouble who helps children who are struggling with something in their lives.

He has a manager, Bethany Constance, who has provided coaching on auditions, and has worked with Tim Ayers at Model Club Inc., both of whom have been very helpful.

Asked how he liked working on the film, he replied, “It was awesome! I liked working with famous movie stars. Justin was really nice, and Evan was really, really nice, too. The producers got me a present at the end of filming!”

Nate loves to act: “I like getting hired for jobs because it’s fun being on set. I don’t mind missing school but I hate to miss gym class…that’s my favorite.”

He wants to continue to act when he grows up: “Yes…I want to be a movie star…but I also want to be a hockey player.”

For now, Ms. Krawshuk said they will continue, as long as he continues to enjoy acting, and see where it leads.

“Losing Control” A quirky romantic comedy, with a bit of scientific method and international intrigue thrown in, “Losing Control” will be screened at 7 PM on Thursday, August 4, in Redfield Auditorium.

Director Valerie Weiss has a doctorate in biophysics from Harvard University, where Samantha, the main character in her film, is a graduate student. Samantha has been absorbed in science all her life, but is frustrated by the continued failure of her graduate project.

Her graduation depends on the success of her experimental solution, Y-Kill, that kills sperm cells containing disease-bearing Y chromosomes. As she nears graduation, she begins to doubt whether her boyfriend is really the one for her, and devises a scientific control study to date other men to find out.

The two story lines come together in surprising ways in this fun and endearing film.

“The City Dark” Ian Cheney explores light pollution in “The City Dark,” a feature documentary to be screened tonight at 5 PM in Redfield Auditorium.

An amateur astronomer, Mr. Cheney moved from Maine, where, as a teenager, he studied the stars through his homemade telescope, to New York City. There, the Great White Way and  myriad other artificial lights obscured all but a few stars. Mr. Cheney felt the loss of the night sky and decided to find out what the effects of a loss of darkness are, not only on humans, but on animals.

All over the world, cities are brighter than ever—even in Maine, where Mr. Cheney’s father installed a bright light on the barn to deter break-ins. When we lose that awe-inspiring sight of a sky filled with stars, Mr. Cheney says, we also lose an understanding of our place in the universe.

The film is magnificently photographed. We see what we cannot often see when we go outside at night: the stars, the Milky Way galaxy, in all their glory. We also see the lights of the city, and of the suburban shopping mall, as their brightness extends our day around the clock.

Light has non-utilitarian uses: it serves as art, celebration, and tribute. “We love the light,” Mr. Cheney says, “but we also need the dark.”

The film takes us to Hawaii, one of the few places where sufficient darkness can be found for telescopic study of the stars, planets, and asteroids. We learn how sea turtles and migrating birds depend on light from the stars to guide them in their travels, and how light pollution is disorienting them.

Artificial light has impacts on human health, too. Studies have shown that women shift workers who work at night have one and a half to twice the risk for breast cancer as those who sleep at night.

Mr. Cheney also looks at recent trends in light ordinances, intended both to save energy and preserve the night sky.

“The City Dark” is an enlightening look at a topic that is not frequently addressed. It is not jam-packed with scientific information, which makes it very accessible for the average filmgoer and for children, but some may want a more in-depth look at the topic. In any case, it is a beautiful film.