Today, Luther Burbank Center for the Arts (The Center) announced the addition of three new performances to its 2016 lineup. On Tuesday, August 9, 2016 at 8 p.m., the famed British pop group Culture Club will make its Sonoma County debut. On Friday, October 21, 2016 at 8 p.m., Paula Poundstone, one of the country's foremost humorists, will also make her debut at the The Center for a special evening of comedy. On Sunday, November 27, 2016 at 3 p.m., the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus returns to The Center with their special festive holiday show, Home for the Holidays! Tickets for Culture Club range in price from $79-$149. Tickets for Paula Poundstone range in price from $29-$39. Tickets for the San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus range from $19-$50. All three shows go on sale Friday, May 20 at noon and are available online at lutherburbankcenter.org, by calling 707-546-3600 or at the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts ticket office (50 Mark West Springs Road in Santa Rosa).
Racking up seven straight Top 10 hits in the U.K. and nine Top 10 singles in the U.S., Culture Club is considered one of the biggest pop bands of the 80's. Central to the band's appeal is their flamboyant front man
Boy George, whose cross-dressing and heavy make-up created an image which was completely unique on the pop scene when he arrived. George is also noted for his biting wit, frequently coming up with cutting quips that won Culture Club media exposure on both sides of the Atlantic. Culture Club was the first band since The Beatles to achieve three top 10 hits from their debut album on the Billboard chart. Their hit single, "Time (Clock of the Heart)," has also been included on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of 500 songs that shaped rock and roll. This will be the group's first performance at the Center, as well as their first time in Sonoma County.
It has been said of Paula Poundstone that she not only shot through the glass ceiling, she never acknowledged it was there. She was never one to stereotype herself as a 'female comedian' or limit herself to comedy from a 'female' point of view. Over the span of her career, she has amassed a list of awards and accolades that include: The first woman to win the cable ACE Award for Best Standup Comedy Special (1992) and the first woman to perform standup at the White House Correspondents dinner (1993). She has starred in her own comedy specials on HBO and BRAVO. She won an American Comedy Award for Best Female Standup Comic, and in 2010 she was one of a select group voted into the Comedy Hall of Fame. You can hear her now as a regular panelist on NPR's #1 show, a rascal of a weekly news quiz show, Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me and this past year she was part of the talented cast in Pixar's critically acclaimed movie, Inside Out.
The acclaimed San Francisco Gay Men's Chorus (SFGMC) returns to the Luther Burbank Center for the Arts for the third year this November for Home for the Holidays! - an incredible holiday celebration, full of humor, personality and gorgeous choral music. The performance features classic holiday favorites, alongside some new works that are sure to warm audiences' hearts and put all in a festive mood. Audiences of all ages can expect over-the-top production numbers mixed with stunning, tender moments - all done up with SFGMC's trademark flair. This is SFGMC's 26th Annual Home for the Holidays! benefit concert in the North Bay. In the spirit of the season, a portion of the proceeds from
the concert will also benefit Sonoma County's own Face to Face AIDS Network, working to end HIV in Sonoma County and support those living with HIV/AIDS.
