Screening only for one weekend at Cinema Center, the new drama Palace is the remarkable feature debut from Taylor University graduate Andrew Paul Davis about the strength of communal bonds among turbulent times.
Shot entirely in Indiana (Grant County, specifically) with a $10,000 budget, the film has a clean and professional look that maintains a grounded aesthetic while also finding the unexpected beauty in its surroundings. With a tapestry of richly realized characters, Davis creates an authentic and vivid portrait of Hoosier life that is rarely seen clearly in either independent or mainstr... Read more

Still more changes are coming to the eclectic restaurant landscape in Fort Wayne.
With the demise of Sears and the closing of its longtime location at Glenbrook Square comes news that Portillo’s will be built in the parking lot adjacent to the site with the Sears store and car repair facility to be demolished.
This represents a dramatic change to the look of Glenbrook.
Sentimental attachment to Sears aside, plenty of Fort Wayne residents are already licking their chops at the notion of Chicago’s popular eatery joining PF Chang’s as high-profile additions to food options.
Still others... Read more

Before social media interaction defined what fan service means, the members of Umphrey’s McGee gave their fans atypical access.
“Before we did it on social media, we did it in real life,” said Joel Cummins, the keyboardist for Umphrey’s McGee. “As people, we’re mostly just six average guys who are in a band and who feel pretty lucky that we get to do that. So we have always made ourselves accessible to people.”
Umphrey’s McGee will make themselves accessible to Fort Wayne fans on Feb. 21 at The Clyde.
Indiana born and bred
The band formed 21 years ago at the University of Notr... Read more

Whether from the legendary 1980 film or subsequent reboots, the Blues Brothers of “Joliet” Jake and Elwood Blues are instantly identifiable in their black suits, cool shades, and Johnny Lee Hooker-inspired hats.
But for audiences of a certain age, that moment when John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd first took the Saturday Night Live stage in that iconic ensemble was electrifying. The laughs were there, but the laughter was not at the performance itself as most SNL sketches would be. It was at the joy that was coming off the screen.
Unlike many other musical sketches on the show — most notabl... Read more

Fort Wayne musician Kevin Hambrick has been making scrappy pop records for the better part of the 21st century, starting in 2001 with Blueberry Hurricane.
Then in 2006, Hambrick released the first Orange Opera album, Land of Tall. From there, Hambrick would alternate between the Orange Opera and albums under his own name at a consistent and epic pace.
Hambrick is readying the release of his newest solo album, Clitter and the Clatter. It is another stunning collection of jagged pop tunes that lie somewhere between Robyn Hitchcock, Badfinger, and the Beatles with a pinch of everything else in b... Read more

Andy Planck had been living in New York for five years, touring the country with musical productions and taking his shot at a career in theater. But his life in New York was interrupted when his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Coming back to his native Fort Wayne to be with her, Planck began to look around the city in which he’d grown up and where he found his love of performing. He saw potential and change that inspired him.
“Fort Wayne wasn’t producing a great deal of important and contemporary musical theatre for a variety of reasons,” he said. “But it had grown and evol... Read more

Most of us in the theater community know of Nancy Carlson Dodd. If you’ve met Nancy through her longtime connection with Fort Wayne theater — as an award winning actress, playwright — or as a teacher and mentor, newspaper writer, mortgage closer, or through church, then you have experienced the Nancy Carlson Dodd wit and humor.
It’s this distinguishing quality she has instilled into her original musical The Wedding Gift. I am honored to showcase the incredible talents of Nancy, Dori Erwin Collins, and Ryan Shirar who are the collaborative creators of this new musical. It’s a delight... Read more

One of the many organizations dedicated to keeping the local rivers vibrant is Save Maumee. The organization has been a vital part of the effort to revitalize Fort Wayne’s Maumee River by focusing on key areas that can benefit from the tender loving care the group has provided since its founding in 2005 by president Abigail Frost-King.
With Earth Day the primary focus of Save Maumee, the group has planted trees and, just as importantly, helped clear the areas surrounding and including the river itself.
“Our Earth Day event, which really takes place over the course of a weekend, is our bigg... Read more

What’s better than a whole night that showcases local musicians? One that features those same artists and bands performing the music of legends.
And better than that? Songs that made up the soundtracks of our lives in the 1990s.
Better still? Those performances taking place on the stage at Fort Wayne’s historic Embassy Theatre.
That’s exactly what happens on Saturday, Feb. 23, at Down the Line 13. Down the Line is a concert series that began more than a dozen years ago as a way to raise money for the Embassy and to highlight local talent.
“The idea is to take legendary performers an... Read more

Beth McLeish grew up a student by day and a professionally trained ballet dancer by night.
“I never had time to be with family or have any sort of normal life as a kid,” McLeish said.
Today, she is the founder and artistic director of a hidden gem: a Fort Wayne educational institute that allows young dancers the opportunity to have the best of both worlds.
The Project Ballet Academic Conservatory is designed for young elite performers to spend mornings learning reading, writing and arithmetic until 12:45 p.m., when they can begin training.
“So our concept was that by creating an all-... Read more

Fort Wayne has gained a reputation as the Midwest’s “Music City” with a prolific talent pool, the nation’s largest online music retailer, and a seemingly insatiable thirst for music. While the city has grown into a center for everything musical, nationwide there has been a burgeoning demand for well-trained people in the fields of music and music production.
There was a time that people in Fort Wayne felt compelled to look elsewhere for the proper education to prepare for a career in the music industry. But in the last few years, local universities have responded to this demand by crea... Read more

The Sweetwater Performance Pavilion is at it again with the announcement of the modern country act the Eli Young Band on Saturday, July 13, at 7 p.m. The Texas-based act has been going strong for nearly two decades and is currently out in support of their fourth major label release, Fingerprints.
Opening the show will be Mason Ramsey, the 12-year-old internet sensation whose foot-tapping video of the youngster yodeling in a Walmart went viral.
Tickets for the Eli Young Band go on sale Friday, Feb. 15, at 10 a.m. at the Sweetwater campus and online at eventbrite.com and sweetwaterpavilion.com... Read more

Say that not all works of beauty are willed.
For centuries freemasons tried to build
A spire 500 feet into the sky,
Which collapsed three times and was abandoned.
They settled for the real, but had to try —
Just one of the lessons it taught Rodin.
The Tule tree has the same architecture —
Chthonian, with buttresses, gargoyles,
All the result of a wild conjecture
And intent and the fruit of endless toils.
In truth, there’s nothing that’s not beautiful,
Nothing not made; even nothing is willed.
Everything is essence, blind, dutiful,
Perfect if at times imperfectly skilled.... Read more

Say that not all works of beauty are willed.
For centuries freemasons tried to build
A spire 500 feet into the sky,
Which collapsed three times and was abandoned.
They settled for the real, but had to try —
Just one of the lessons it taught Rodin.
The Tule tree has the same architecture —
Chthonian, with buttresses, gargoyles,
All the result of a wild conjecture
And intent and the fruit of endless toils.
In truth, there’s nothing that’s not beautiful,
Nothing not made; even nothing is willed.
Everything is essence, blind, dutiful,
Perfect if at times imperfectly skilled.... Read more