Mon., Sept. 3 Jive

Good afternoon, it's Monday, Sept. 3 – Happy Labor Day! This is the Jive at Five - WESU's Daily community calendar and rundown of night time programming here on 88.1 FM WESU Middletown, your station for NPR, Pacifica, independent and local public affairs by day and the best in free-form community programming weeknights and weekends. I'm Maria Johnson. Thanks for joining us today.

Here's some of what’s happening in our area:

At the Buttonwood Tree tonight and every Monday, it’s the "Anything Goes" Open Mic, a chance for budding artists to showcase their talents in a nurturing environment. Recite a poem, sing a song, dance – the microphone is yours for the asking. Congas and a piano provided, or BYO instrument. Sign-ups start at 7:30. The show runs from 8 to about 10.

Tomorrow at 7 p.m. at the Buttonwood Tree, it’s the Open Improv Jam/Performance, an evening of improvised theater games. Come either to perform or to watch as players engage in improvised scenes and sketches.

Thursday evening at 7, it’s the every-first-Thursday Open Mic with Bob Gotta at the Buttonwood Tree.

Friday at 8 p.m. at the Buttonwood, two of Connecticut’s finest cellists, Ringrose & Freeman, play songs from Ireland and Scotland, interweaving traditional jigs, reels, hornpipes and haunting slow airs with poetry, history, laughter and song.

Food Not Bombs shares food every Sunday at about 1 p.m. in front of The Buttonwood. All are welcome and invited to help prepare food at the First Church on Court Street at 11:30 am. More information about all Buttonwood events at buttonwood.org or 860.347.4957.

Starting tomorrow and running through September, drawings, paintings and sculpture by inmates of Connecticut prisons will be displayed at Russell Library in Middletown. The exhibit is sponsored by Community Partners in Action, which operates on the belief that the arts are an integral tool for inmates to develop valuable life skills while also providing  the general public a unique window into an important, but often unseen, part of our community. For information, call 860-347-2528.

Every Wednesday from 7 to 9:30 p.m., the Middletown Scottish Country Dancers leads Scottish dancing classes for beginners and experienced dancers, staring at 8 p.m. at the First Church at 190 Court Street . Partners not necessary; wear soft-soled shoes. More information is at 860-347-0278.

Tomorrow evening is the final performance of the Middletown Symphonic Band in the Summer Sounds on the South Green (Union Park) series sponsored by the Middletown Commission on the Arts. Come hear popular tunes performed by the 50-plus-member band. The concert begins at 7. For more information, call the City Arts Office at 860.343.6620 x201.

Beginning tomorrow and running into December, the Wesleyan Center for the Arts presents "Performance Now,” explaining how performance has come to be integral to the latest developments in contemporary art and culture. A survey of the world’s most experimental currents of the last 10 years, the exhibit runs from noon to 5 each day at the Zilkha Gallery on campus. For more information, contact the Center for the Arts at Wesleyan.edu/cfa.

On Friday at 8:30 p.m., Wesleyan’s Center for the Arts presents “Bach to School,” a student performance of concertos for two organs, to be performed downstairs in Memorial Chapel on two pipe organs in separate rooms, with the musicians coordinating their performance via their smartphones. The show will also include university organist Ronald Ebrecht’s performance of works by Bach, Mozart and others. Admission is free.

Playing down in New Haven at Café Nine tonight as its Labor Day BBQ and Blues event continues, are, in this order, the Langley Brothers, the Convertibles, the Crown Street Orchestra and the Travis Moody Band.

Tomorrow, the Café Nine early show at 7 p.m. features Joe Flood Soiree Brassens, an interpretation of the songs of legendary French composer George Brassens. Then the late slow at 9 is Uber Dami’s Birthday Bash. Wednesday, Hadoukan Presents Bang-a-Rang #8, Dread the Woods, Eyes of the Dead and Mortifica.

And Thursday’s Two-Headed DJ Funky Chicken Party features Dooly-O, playing old-school funk and soul. The Friday happy hour brings uke player Moe Porn, followed by Anonymous Inc., with Crunk Witch, Jesse Dangerously, Adam Warrock, Mikal K. Hill, and indie, folk and hip-hop from Fake Four Record.

Saturday, it’s the Afternoon Jazz Jam with host Gary Grippo and Fiends, followed by the comedy series Fistful of Jokes’ Special Summer Showcase Edition.  Sunday, it’s the Sunday After Supper Jam, with host Kevin Saint James and the Legendary Café Nine All-Stars.

More at cafenine.com

Over at Toad’s Place tonight, it’s A Night of Smooth Jazz with Rohn Lawrence & Friends. Doors open at 9; show starts at 9:30. Wednesday, it’s the Dubstep Dance Party. Thursday, Starlife Presents Beanie Sigel, featuring Run Way Ty, King Dreams, M.A.R., and Gold.

Friday, it’s Shakedown, playing The Dead and beyond, and Carbonated Insight. Doors open at 7:30; show starts at 8:30.

More information at www.toadsplace.com.

Up in Hartford, Black-eyed Sally’s is closed tonight for the holiday. Tomorrow at 8 p.m., Michael Palin's Other Orchestra, an 18-piece band, works out new material. Admission is free.

Wednesday, at Sally’s, it’s the BLUES JAM, this week with DANNY DRAHER. One of the longest-running open blues jams in New England, it features a different host each week. Show starts at 8.

Friday at 9, it’s T. Rubble, bringing a blend of blues and rock to the Blackeyed Sally’s stage. Then Saturday at 9, it’s Rev. Raven & the Chain Smokin’ Altar Boys playing traditional blues.

Details at www.blackeyedsallys.com

Back in Middletown, the Russell Knitters meet from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Russell Library on Saturdays. The Russell Knitters are an enthusiastic group of knitters who are willing to share ideas and expertise. No registration is required. Bring your knitting projects! www.russelllibrary.org

For the latest in Middletown arts and entertainment anytime you're not hearing it on our Jive, go to arts2GO.org – the City’s website for what’s going on in Middletown.

Now here’s a quick rundown of cinema off the beaten path here in central CT this weekend:

Real Art Ways in Hartford is currently showing  'Ai Weiwei (pronounced I way way): Never Sorry'  through Thursday. This is a gripping documentary following the trials and tribulations of China's most famous international artist, and one its most outspoken domestic critics.

Also running through Thursday at Real Art Ways is the film “Elena,” winner of a special jury prize at Cannes  and offering a modern twist on the classic noir thriller.

Starting Friday and running through next Thursday, it’s “Sleepwalk With Me,” the story of a burgeoning stand-up comedian struggling with the stress of a stalled career, a stale relationship threatening to race out of his control, and the wild spurts of severe sleepwalking he is desperate to ignore. Based on the successful one-man show.

Playing Saturday for one late-night performance is “The Room,” described as “the best terrible movie ever.” It’s about a happy-go-lucky banker who sees his world fall apart when his friends begin to betray him one-by-one.

Tickets, info and times at www.realartways.org

At Cinestudio, the Trinity College cinema, “Safety Not Guaranteed,” winner of the Sundance Film Festival’s Best Dramatic Screenplay Award, continues through tomorrow.

Starting Wednesday and running through Saturday it’s “The Amazing Spider-Man.” Spidey is played by Andrew Garfield, the British actor who played Mark Zuckerberg’s roomie in The Social Network, and who won a Tony nomination for his role in Death of a Salesman on Broadway. As Garfield’s Spider-Man alternates between a moody, arachnid charm and the arrogance of a young man discovering his power, he is more than able to take on the worst that giant lizards and New York punks have to dish out.

Then Sunday at Cinestudio, at 2:30 p.m. and for one showing only, National Theatre Live presents a screening of the play THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME, which compellingly begins, “My name is Christopher John Francis Boone. I know all the countries of the world and the capital cities. And every prime number up to 7507.” The screening celebrates the installation of new equipment allowing Cinestudio to present High Definition presentations directly via satellite.

Sunday evening at 7:30 – and then again on Monday – it’s the acclaimed film “The Deer Hunter,”  one of the best films ever made about the Vietnam War and its devastating effects on one blue-collar community. Featuring a very young Meryl Streep, Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Savage, and the incredible John Cazale, who died shortly after the shoot ended.  The film won Academy Awards for Best Film and Best Director.

 Tickets and times at www.cinestudio.org

Now let’s take a look at tonight’s programming on WESU-FM.

Right after the Jive at Five Right stay tuned for Afternoon Jazz with Charles Henry.

Then from 6 to 6:30 pm it’s Free Speech Radio News for your evening dose of alternative international news and reporting from the Pacifica Network.

At 6:30, it’s Johnny Analog’s Life is a Killer. Moving through the blues diaspora from front porch country blues and big city electric blues to jazz, R&B and soul.

Then at 8:00 Lord Lewis presents:  the Rumpus Room for 90 minutes of scorching vintage and contemporary heavy funk, soul, club jazz, reggae, ska, afro and Latin dance floor grooves.

At 9:30 Tom Gatzen presents a two-hour weekly dose of loud and heavy music on Aaargh!!

From 11:30 - 12:30 Anvil Isle presents a musical monsoon of alternative rock, blues, dream, funk, hard rock, indie, punk, reggae, surf, and world music inviting you to bury your feet in the sand and hear the waves come crashing through your speakers.

From 12:30-3:00 Psychedelic Rick presents the late night Summer Concert Series featuring live concerts in their full glory.

From 3-4am Maximum Rock and Roll Radio features an hour of international loud rock and punk.

The BBC World News Service kicks on at 4AM and we begin tomorrow's broadcast at 5 a.m. with Morning Edition from NPR.

That’s all for today’s Jive at Five, if you didn’t get a chance to write down some of the information mentioned in our community calendar, the script is published online at www.wesufm.org/jive, and if you know of any events that you'd like to have announced on the Jive, send them to jive@wesufm.org

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Thanks for listening and stay tuned for an hour of commercial-free jazz with Charles Henry.