Arts & Culture

Take a look at stories that ran throughout the week of which we are most proud, had a profound impact on readers or that you might want to look at again.

As the North American Music Merchant's yearly show kicks off in California, music lovers in Nazareth can check out C.F. Martin's newest lineup at their local headquarters.

Jeff Dunham will headline the Allentown Fair's grandstand stage at 7 p.m. Sept. 1. The comic ventriloquist has sold more tickets at the fair than any other comedy artist.

Pentatonix, the five-member group whose self-titled album in 2015 and the follow up “A Pentatonix Christmas” in 2016 both hit No. 1, will perform at 7 p.m. Aug. 31.

An Arab-American comedy exploring the breakdown of a marriage and the its ripple effect on a family will play at the Zoellner Arts Center.

Brad Paisley will headline Allentown Fair for the third time. He performed there in 2009, and in 2007 had Taylor Swift as his opening act.

.38 Special, best known for the 1981 hit “Hold on Loosely” and 1982’s “Caught Up in You,” will perform Aug. 16 as part of the series at Univest Performance Center.

The Black Crowes, best known for its No. 1 hits "Hard to Handle" and "She Talks to Angels" will perform at 8 p.m. on May 3 at Wind Creek.

Brooks and Dunn, the country music Hall of Fame duo that had a dozen gold and platinum albums and more than 40 Top 10 Country chart hits before retiring in 2010, will reform for another tour, it was announced Monday.

El Sistema Lehigh Valley, an after school program that impacts over 120 students in the area, is one of the programs set to benefit from a unique new position at the orchestra

There are five dates left to see thousands of antique miniatures, including 44 dollhouses, all kept in a climate-controlled vault inside the Kemerer Museum. The dollhouses once belonged to Elizabeth Johnston Prime, whose grandfather was Bethlehem's first mayor and Bethlehem Steel chairman.

Alumni celebrated the PBS39 quiz show's 50-year run at the Iacocca Conference Center at Lehigh University on Friday. The celebration continued Saturday with a screening of a documentary at the Univest Public Media Center on the SteelStacks campus in Bethlehem.

Steep Canyon Rangers at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, June 22, stop at Musikfest Cafe at ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks. Tickets, at $39 and $49, remain available.

On Juneteenth, Allentown rapper and producer Red Mcfly and Pas Simpson presented "Hip Hop on the Wall" a new exhibition featuring pieces by local talent and well-known creatives at Art Haus. The exhibition will run through July 11.

About 900 feet above sea level, the nearly 100-foot-high beacon atop South Mountain sports 238 brand-new LEDs and a jump in wattage from 5.5 to 7 per lamp, according to Bethlehem Electrical Bureau Chief Greg Cryder.

Celebrate the start of summer with traditional folk dance and son jarocho music at the Charles A. Brown Ice House on Saturday, June 21.

ArtsQuest's new Movie Trivia Mayhem, a tournament-style movie trivia showdown, is set for 7 p.m. Aug. 16 at Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas in ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks.

The Smashing Pumpkins founder and frontman Billy Corgan played a two-hour, 22-song set with his new band The Machines of God before a near-sellout crowd of perhaps 1,500 at Allentown's Archer Music Hall.

A cappella group Straight No Chaser, best known for its viral internet video of “Twelve Days of Christmas” mashed with Toto’s “Africa,” will perform at the theater Dec. 7. And Wizards of Winter, the popular rock-music-holiday show, will return at 3 p.m. Dec. 21.

The five-story cultural hub, which will replace the Banana Factory, will house a recording studio, a 125-seat theater, STEAM classes, a glass studio and programming in English and Spanish.

Crumb has started a short tour that brings it later this week to Allentown's Archer Music Hall. Tickets, at $41.80 for general admission standing, with pop band Kassie Krut as opening, remain available for the Thursday show.

The fair said Monday that Ace Frehley, former guitarist for KISS, and 1980s hard rockers Quiet Riot and Great White will perform at 7 p.m. Aug. 30.