A Hollywood Murder Revisited
Note: The Casey Sherman talk on Aug. 29 has been canceled because of illness. The Wellfleet library hopes to reschedule.
Casey Sherman believes that one of the most notorious scandals in 1950s Hollywood was about a woman fighting back against domestic abuse: his new book, A Murder in Hollywood: The Untold Story of Tinseltown’s Most Shocking Crime, centers on actress Lana Turner, whose violent relationship with mobster Johnny Stompanato ended in 1958 with him dead on Turner’s bedroom floor.
At the time, Turner’s teenage daughter Cheryl claimed to have stabbed Stompanato to protect her mother during an argument. But Sherman believes Turner killed him after Stompanato threatened Cheryl. Sherman will discuss the book at the Wellfleet Public Library on Thursday, Aug. 29, at 7 p.m.
A graduate of Barnstable High School, Sherman began investigating the story after his agent suggested the notorious case as a follow-up to 2022’s Helltown: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer on Cape Cod. Sherman claims that by “putting pieces together as a journalist and seeing where they fit,” he came to question the official accounts of Stompanato’s death.
He writes about Turner’s Hollywood “discovery” at 15 by a possible sexual predator; how her studio “pimped her out” to older leading actors; how its dating ban led to multiple stormy marriages; and how mobsters likely tried to blackmail and rob her.
Sherman describes Turner’s superstardom at the time as akin to a “1950s Taylor Swift” — except that Turner, unlike Swift, was “victimized her entire life.”
“Lana Turner has been looked at, and, I think, miscategorized, by history as a femme fatale,” Sherman says. “The Lana Turner I met in my research is really a feminist icon and pioneer of the #MeToo movement, which is why I decided to champion her cause. She was the ultimate survivor.”
Sherman’s books include Hunting Whitey: The Inside Story of the Capture & Killing of America’s Most Wanted Crime Boss, which was adapted for a stage production last year in Boston.
The talk, which is free, will be followed by a book signing. See wellfleetlibrary.org for information. —Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll
The Indigo Girls Do It Again
Emily Saliers and Amy Ray — better known as the Indigo Girls — have been famous for almost four decades. In that time, they’ve produced 16 albums (four of them certified platinum), won a Grammy award (and been nominated for six more), and toured worldwide. After a two-year absence, they will return to Provincetown for a one-night-only concert at Provincetown Town Hall on Sunday, Sept. 1 at 6:30 p.m.
Their latest studio album, Look Long, was released in 2020, more than 30 years after the release of their first, Strange Fire. Throughout their discography, the Indigo Girls have settled comfortably into a style marked by parallel harmonies. Strumming guitar warms their sonic palette while drums kick the listener alert. The plain, rich timbre of their voices allows for a degree of storytelling that has come to define them: their lyrics sing of love and sorrow, religion and nature, anger and joy, loneliness and companionship.
More and more these days, Saliers and Ray are two independent women living individual lives. But while both have pursued solo projects over the past four decades, it’s their unified artistic vision that keeps bringing them back together. “We both embrace the struggle, share the same energy,” says Saliers in a press statement accompanying the show. “We are sisters in our embrace of life.”
Tickets for the show, which like other concerts in the Town Hall Series will raise funds for Sandy Hook Promise, are $75 to $200, plus fees. See ptowntownhall.com for information. —Dorothea Samaha
Paul Rizzo Makes It Up as He Goes Along
Painter Paul Rizzo has a way of making things without an end goal in mind and is never sure what the outcome will be. “Usually, it’s some combination of dream houses, self-portraits, and stream-of-consciousness collages,” he says. He’s also been exploring different ways to communicate using images and text.
Rizzo isn’t quite sure what gallerist Liz Carney and actor Cody Sullivan have in store for the opening of his new show, “Pieces and Parts,” at Four Eleven Gallery in Provincetown on Friday, Aug. 30 — though it’s rumored they have a vision of something called “Night of a Thousand Paul Rizzos.”
If that comes to pass, at least there will be a clear dress code. With his brightly colored clothes and shrunken, faded sailor caps (which have been getting smaller and more faded over time), Rizzo is a familiar sight around town. He’s also recognizable for his uniform of black Nikes with orange baseball socks that strap behind the knee; a white cutoff shirt with a rainbow pattern across the chest; and his signature navy kerchief and prominent mustache. Rizzo’s art — which includes still lifes, portraits of Kermit the Frog, and mixed-media collages — is as bright and intriguing as his fashion.
Born in Weymouth, Rizzo grew up in Marshfield and attended the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 2011. Fellow artists in his painting studio in Boston suggested he come to Provincetown, and he started his local career by making and selling work in the driveway of the West End Salon on Commercial St. in the summer of 2010. Aside from a brief stint living in New Orleans, he’s been here ever since.
Rizzo has exhibited his work at Four Eleven Gallery for five years. He currently lives in a cozy studio above the gallery and while he shares a studio on Conwell Street he also works in his apartment.
There will be an opening reception for “Pieces and Parts” on Friday, Aug. 30 from 7 to 9 p.m., and the show will be on view until Sept. 12. See fourelevengallery.com for information. —Pat Kearns
Sarah Jarosz’s Multilayered Folk Music
Four-time Grammy Award-winning folk and Americana artist Sarah Jarosz is returning to the Outer Cape for a concert at Payomet Performing Arts Center on Saturday, Aug. 31. Her new album, Polaroid Lovers, was released in January and features a cohesive lineup of catchy songs that play like one long poem. Jarosz’s sound and multilayered take on songwriting is reminiscent of the young Emmylou Harris, particularly Harris’s 2000 album Red Dirt Girl.
But Jarosz’s artistry is entirely her own. It’s especially evident in the first single from the newly issued expanded version of Polaroid Lovers, a song called “Wildflowers in the Sky,” which Jarosz wrote with producer, songwriter, and musician (and former guitarist for Emmylou Harris) Jon Randall.
“We were reminiscing about summertime memories in Colorado and how the landscape of the mountains evokes a sense of calm,” says Jarosz in a statement. “It can feel like you and your person are the only people for miles, floating above it all. It’s a little Colorado love song.”
Opening for Jarosz is BB Wisely, a trio composed of former New England Conservatory classmates Bridget Kearney, Benjamin Lazar Davis, and Will Graefe.
Tickets for the concert are $45 ($42 for Payomet members), plus fees. A limited number of $95 “V.I.P experience” tickets, which include a Q&A session with Jarosz, attendance at the pre-concert soundcheck, and a group photo, are also available. See payomet.org for information. —Hazel Everett
An Art Auction Celebrating ‘Creativity and Compassion’
For the last 17 years, the annual Art and Spirit Auction at St. Mary of the Harbor Church in Provincetown has been a main source of funding for its year-round community assistance programs, which address homelessness, health care, child care, aid for natural disaster victims, and food insecurity. This year’s auction begins on Friday, Aug. 30 and, as in previous years, all profits will support charitable activities sponsored by the church.
The auction reflects the church’s longstanding relationship with Provincetown’s artistic community. “Artists from Provincetown and elsewhere on Cape Cod have been a part of the parish’s history from its earliest days,” says the Rev. Brian Raiche, who calls the annual event “a collaboration of creativity and compassion.”
“Many have left a lasting imprint by way of works found throughout the church,” says Raiche. Nearly 50 paintings, drawings, photographs, prints, and mixed-media works by more than 30 Outer Cape artists, several of whom exhibit regularly in local galleries, are included in the auction. All items were donated by private collectors or the artists themselves.
Auction items can be viewed in person at St. Mary of the Harbor (517 Commercial St., Provincetown) from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 30 and Friday, Sept. 6., during Provincetown’s weekly art gallery stroll. Bidding will conclude on Saturday, Sept. 7 at 8 p.m. Visit stmaryoftheharbor.org for a preview of the auction and more information. —John D’Addario
