Arts & Culture

Rob Thomas, whose band matchbox twenty’s 1996 debut album “Yourself or Someone Like You” sold 12 million copies and produced four of the band’s dozen hits — “Push,” “3 a.m.,” “Real World” and “Back 2 Good” — will return to the center at 8 p.m. Jan. 16.

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Presents the Greatest Show on Earth will have seven performances at Allentown's PPL Center: 7 p.m. May 21 and May 22; 11 a.m., 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. May 23; and noon and 4 p.m. May 24, it was announced.

Culture Club and jazz singer Diana Krall are coming to the Wind Creek Event Center in separate shows in February.

The 15th annual German-themed festival, which ran Oct. 3-5 and Oct. 10-1 on the SteelStacks campus, had record-breaking attendance for the second straight year, ArtsQuest has announced.

Now in its fourth year, the awards ceremony recognized excellence across 17 categories, honoring everyone from seasoned entrepreneurs, actors, models, and filmmakers to emerging young talent. It was held at Archer Music Hall in Allentown.

Even after Hispanic Heritage Month ended, Northeast Middle School in Bethlehem was alive with the sound of salsa and the aroma of arroz con gandules during BASD’s annual Hispanic Heritage celebration.

Singer-songwriter Joshua Radin will perform at 8 p.m. Friday at Sellersville Theater 1894. Tickets, at $35 to $72, are available on the theater's website and are expected to be available at the door.

The annual holiday attraction is returning to Lehigh Parkway in Allentown for its 29th season with some new experiences.

Curt Mosel, ArtsQuest chief operating officer, called the occasion “another exciting milestone” for the incoming ArtsQuest Creative Factory powered by PPL, expected to open late next year at 25 W. Third St.

The production of "Macbeth" will take place at 8 p.m. Friday at the Labuda Center for the Performing Arts at DeSales University.

This year's honorees are abstract artist Michael Freeman, Lehigh University producer Steven Lichak, museum accessibility advocate Elise Schaffer, and members of the IceHouse Performing Arts Collaborative. The group will be honored at an awards ceremony in September.

The Struts performed Wednesday night at Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks. The focus of the concert was a celebration of the 10th anniversary U.S. release of their debut album, "Everybody Wants."

The two cultural institutions collaborated to offer a conjoined professional development experience for educators at the charter school.

To CEO Russell Fletcher, starting out as a small hyper-local business gave Mishka Premium Vodka a leg up to evolve at the rate it is right now. Soon, the vodka, which is distilled in Allentown, will be carried by yet another national chain.

The new eatery, Okatshe, will open at 947 W. Hamilton St., connected to The Moxy Allentown Downtown Hotel in mid-September, Garces announced in a release.

Cheap Trick, which had its first hit with “Surrender” in 1978 and 10 years later had its biggest hit with “The Flame,” will perform Oct. 22. And Jason Bonham, son of the late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham, with his Led Zeppelin Evening will perform Nov. 15.

The Struts stop at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 20, at Levitt Pavilion SteelStacks for a paid-ticket show in which it will play the entire album, as well as other songs.

The Great Allentown Fair returns Wednesday, Aug. 27, and so does the competition for fair royalty. Here are the four Lehigh Valley finalists hoping to be crowned the next Great Allentown Fair queen.

St. George Antiochian Orthodox Church held a festival for the community to raise money for families and victims of the deadly attack at Prophet Elias Church (Mar Elisa) in Damascus, Syria.

The Route 22 Filmworks Film Festival returns to Bethlehem’s Charles A. Brown Ice House for its third year on Saturday. The nine-hour event will feature 39 short films, including student work from several Pennsylvania universities.

A new documentary focusing on income and wealth disparity in America will premiere at Frank Banko Alehouse Cinemas at the ArtsQuest Center in Bethlehem. It was produced by Richard Master, founder and CEO of MCS Industries in Palmer Township.

Emblem3, best known for the 2013 song "Chloe (You're the One I Want)," will perform in Archer's Arrow room at 7 p.m. Nov. 14, it was announced.