Who: Kenny Loggins, Melissa Etheridge, Rhiannon Giddens, Bettye LaVette, Allen Stone, Glen Hansard, Taj Mahal & Deva Mahal, Living Colour, G. Love, Sarah Dash, Sam Moore, Ledisi, Todd Rundgren, Ceelo Green, Naomi Shelton, Richard Thompson, and Antibalas
What: Fundraising tribute to Aretha Franklin
Where: Carnegie Hall, Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, 57th St. & Seventh Ave., 212-247-7800
When: Monday, March 6, $48-$160, 8:00 (Live Rehearsal Show March 5 at City Winery, $40-$65, 8:00)
Why: Legendary R&B singer Aretha Franklin just announced her retirement from touring (she will still record at least one more album, with Stevie Wonder), so “The Music of Aretha Franklin” tribute being held March 6 at Carnegie Hall couldn’t be much more timely. City Winery owner Michael Dorf’s “Music of” celebrations, benefits for numerous music education programs for underprivileged youth, in the past have honored such musicians as Prince, the Rolling Stones, Neil Young, the Who, R.E.M., Bruce Springsteen, Joni Mitchell, and Bob Dylan; this year an all-star lineup pays R.E.S.P.E.C.T. to the Memphis-born soul superstar who will turn seventy-five on March 25; her #1 hits include “Chain of Fools,” “Think,” “Jump to It,” “Freeway of Love,” and, of course, “Respect.” In addition, on March 5, City Winery will be hosting the annual Live Rehearsal Show, in which many of the artists performing at the Carnegie Hall show will rehearse in front of an audience, led by house band Antibalas.
On June 2, 1958, Richard Loving and Mildred Jeter got married in Washington, DC. Shortly after returning to their Virginia home, Loving, a white man, and Jeter, a black and Native American woman, were arrested and imprisoned by the local sheriff, facing prison sentences because interracial marriage was illegal in their home state. Banished from Virginia, they spent nine years fighting in the courts, and their remarkable tale is now being told in the 2012 Oscar shortlisted documentary The Loving Story. First-time director Nancy Buirski, who founded the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, and editor Elisabeth Haviland James weave together never-before-seen archival footage shot by photojournalist Grey Villet, old news reports and interviews, and family home movies with new interviews with the Loving children and lawyers Bernard S. Cohen and Philip J. Hirschkop, who were ready to take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court if necessary. One of the many fascinating aspects of the film is that Richard and Mildred had no desire to be trailblazers fighting miscegenation laws; they were just a man and a woman who had fallen in love at first sight and wanted to live happily ever after, in a community that fully accepted their situation. They of course have the perfect last name, because The Loving Story is a story of love and romance as much as it is about an outdated legal system, bigotry, and white supremacy. And it is more relevant than ever, given the new administration that has just taken office. Told in a procedural, chronological format, The Loving Story is also absolutely infuriating, since this all happened not very long ago at all, with many of the protagonists and antagonists still alive — and race still being such a central issue in America. An HBO production that won a prestigious Peabody Award, The Loving Story is having a special Valentine’s Day screening at IFC Center as part of the “Stranger Than Fiction” documentary series and will be followed by a Q&A with Buirski, who is likely to also discuss Jeff Nichols’s Loving, the fictionalized retelling with Joel Edgerton as Richard and an Oscar-nominated Ruth Negga as Mildred that was based on her movie. The STF series continues Tuesday nights through March 28 with such other nonfiction films as David Farrier and Dylan Reeve’s Tickled, Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky’s Brother’s Keeper, and Amanda Micheli’s Vegas Baby.
