The Philadelphia Inquirer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Page H12

H12 www.philly.com THE PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER Sunday, November 12, 2006 New Recordings Ratings: Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor RECORDINGS from Hll tender, nicely shaded relationship song, and "Stay" is a pleading ballad dripping with heartache, but those are exceptions on an album in which even a song about a devastating flood Blue ends up as a soaring, feel-good anthem. No storm will rain on this parade. Nick Cristiano Taylor Swift Taylor Swift (Big Machine ff (Beas lilf St, Amazing Illusions -k Life-Sized Puppets -k Original Music December 11-30, 2006 The Mandell Theater 7rcf 1 bl 33rd and Chestnut Streets, Phila 215-881-9899 Tickets: www.enchantmenttheatre.org Sign up for our Pre-Show Family Workshops Special Events Special Rates available for groups of 15 BESwUXUB S3 825 Walnut Street Visit us at WalnutStreetTheatre.org MtiRO Sfte JPftilaklpftia Inquirer Beneficia Foundation I FOUND TINY TIM! ENTRY FORM (1) PAGE ON WHICH I FOUND OTHER NIE AD WITH TINY TIM: DATE OF NEWSPAPER: THE BEST KNIGHTS OUT IN PHILADELPHIA! (2) PERSON WHO HELPS ME CARRY CHRISTMAS SPIRIT, AND HOW: So she likes Tim McGraw, and even uses the name of the hack superstar as the title of her (quite good) first single. It's hard to hold that against Taylor Swift after hearing this impressive debut. Just 16 years old, and from the Reading area, Swift wrote or cowrote all the songs here.

She displays a maturity beyond her years while retaining the freshness of youth, just as her slightly husky voice balances between open-hearted innocence and life-scarred experience. There's a feistiness to country-rockers "Picture to Burn" and "Should've Said No," but no bubblegum angst or melodrama. Much of the music has a bracing acoustic country texture that reflects the taste and restraint of the singing and writing. "Maybe I'm just a girl on a mission, but I'm ready to fly," Swift declares in "A Place in This World." She's got that right. Here's hoping the commercial pressures that success brings don't pull her back down.

N.C. BEST MUSICAL 2005 TONY AWARD9 (3) MY NAME: ADDRESS: NAME OF PARENTGUARDIAN: PHONE NUMBER: I MARCH 20 APRIL 8, 2007 Mail this entry to: A Christmas Carol, co News In Education, The Philadelphia Inquirer, PO Box 8263, Philadelphia, PA 19101. Or fax to: 215-854-5954. DEADLINE FOR ENTRIES IS DECEMBER 1. TV 51 11 tii A new musicalripped off from the motion picture Stefon Harris African Tarantella: Dances With Duke (Blue Note 12) Cue up "The Single Petal of a Rose" and it shows how vibraphonist Stefon Harris can play.

Spend a little more time with the CD, and it turns out Harris can also compose, arrange and lead. Harris chooses five cuts from two great Ellington works: The New Orleans Suite from 1970, near the end of the maestro's career, and The Queen's Suite from 1959, which Ellington wrote for Queen See RECORDINGS on H13 MONTY PYTKMHoly Grail SPAM is a registered trademark of Hormel Foods, LLC, used with permission here. ON SALE NOW! ACADEMY OF MUSIC, Broad 6 Locust Streets 215-731-3333 or www.kimmelcenter.orgbroadway Groups Save! (20 or more): 215-790-5883 'i' fl Crammy15-miming a BR0ADWAY5ACADEHY WPW-TV ilbun I As a Family Students and families can learn more about Central and South American culture Sunday, November 12 when Peruvian scholar and author Ramon Mujica Pinilla presents the Eda G. Diskant Memorial Lecture: Feathers of the Sun and the Warrior Angels of the Spanish Conquest. The exhibition TesorosTreasuresTesouros: The Arts in Latin America, 1492-1820 spans the centuries from the arrival of Christopher Columbus to the emergence of South American national independence movements.

But who was here when Columbus arrived? The MexicaAztec people lived in central Mexico and their descendants continue to live in and around Mexico City. The Mayas lived in southern Mexico and Central America and they continue to live in southern Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and El Salvador. The Incalnka people lived in the South American highlands of the Andes Mountains and their descendants live in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile. The Pueblo people lived in the North American Southwest and now live in the states of New Mexico and Arizona. The Taino people, who were the first encountered by Columbus, lived in the Caribbean Sea in what is now the Bahamas, Greater Antilles, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Jamaica.

In the News Native peoples created works of art from the natural resources they had at hand. What kinds of natural resources are available in this area with which artists could work? Search the photos in The Inquirer for examples of natural resources. Write a paragraph describing how an artist could use them to create artworks, and what those works might look like. EWMIb WIN A PAIR OF TICKETS To enter go to: http:COnteStS.philly.COITl TO SUBSCRIBE, CALL 1-800-222-2765 Ask about our Easy Pay program, and never write a check again..