Celebrating Bethlehem's Southside Culture
On June 25th, Artsquest and Steelstacks hosted another “Levitt in Your Living Room” free concert to share the “sultry sound, clear tone, [and] funky groove” of Gina Chavez. The concert, shared on a live stream from Gina Chavez’s living room, featured Chavez playing as a one-woman band, and interacting with listeners through chat on Facebook….
As many of us remain in quarantine, Southsider returns to the Banana Factory for a deeper dive into the beauty of one of their digital exhibits.
Hippo Campus invigorated the SteelStacks crowd on November 5th at the Musikfest Café. The band performed a dynamic line-up of alternative rock pieces with jazz inspired roots after a rousing opening by indie rock band The Greeting Committee. The concert brought a nice mix of Bethlehem locals and students together to enjoy a high energy…
I was astounded by the turnout of Aardvark Sports Shop’s evening group run. Growing up, I worked at a similar shoe store. Even with the incentive of free beer, usually only around ten athletes showed up to our runs. By contrast, the run that I attended at Aardvark had around 40 participants! The large attendance…
Lehigh Valley SoccerFest & Viewing Party (SoccerFest) at SteelStacks has drawn thousands of visitors in the five short years since its creation. Featured as part of Fox Sports’ nightly World Cup wrap-ups, this year’s festival offered screenings of the U.S. women’s matches on giant, outdoor LED screens at SteelStacks. Each viewing party had live music,…
Seldom do we think of the little things in our daily lives. Sounds in particular, such as offhand remarks, unusual questions, overheard exclamations, and lingering phrases, bounce off the ear without a second thought. However, artist Martha Rich appears hyperconscious of these moments. Rich is a Philadelphia-based artist whose art primarily involves drawing, painting, and…
For Valentine’s Day, Musikfest Café presented Top of the World: A Carpenters Tribute featuring Debbie Taylor. Despite the chill in the air and the snow on the ground, music lovers poured into café seating to experience the best-selling music of the Carpenters over three decades after Karen Carpenter’s early death. It is not entirely accurate…
The Frank Banko Alehouse Cinema is part of the massive ArtsQuest complex which was once the Bethlehem Steel company. The steel stacks themselves, icons of Bethlehem, stand tall over the scene, lit up green and blue so they draw the eye at night as powerfully as during the day. They’re an emblem of a community…
When I was a kid, I counted down the days until the Christmas season came around. I couldn’t wait until my dad and I put up and decorated our tree while my mom “supervised” from the living room, wrapped every available railing in garland, and set out the wide array of nutcrackers my parents had…
When my friend asked me to attend the Found Footage Festival with her at SteelStacks, I can’t say that I knew what to expect. The only background knowledge I had was that the festival consisted of a series of recovered VHS tapes, and I wondered if it would be a similar experience to watching an…