Eighty years ago, half a world away and between world wars, two emergent art forms continued to evolve, innovate and fire the creative imaginations of their practitioners amid the Paris of the Lost Generation. That moment comes alive again for an evening when the
Hot Club of San Francisco performs at 8 p.m. in the Carlsen Center's Polsky Theatre at Johnson County Community College (12345 College Boulevard in Overland Park). Evoking the distinctive, early gypsy jazz stylings of Django Reinhardt and Stephane Grappelli, guitarist Paul Mehling leads his acclaimed string ensemble through the program
Silent Surrealism — classic arrangements and original compositions that accompany four black-and-white shorts from the silent-film era: Now You Tell One, It's a Bird, The Fall of the House of Usher and The Land Beyond the Sunset. Tickets cost $30; to order, call
913-469-4445 or see
jccc.edu/theseries.
— Brent Shepherd
Fri., Feb. 4, 8 p.m., 2011
