Mon., May 6 Jive

Good evening, it's Monday, May 6, and 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 week nights and weekends. Thanks for Tuning in. I'm Maria Johnson, producer and host of "Reasonably Catholic: Keeping the Faith," which airs every 1st, 3rd, and 5th, Tuesday afternoon, from 4 p.m. to right before the Jive at Five. On tomorrow's episode, Catholic Wesleyan students about how that’s working out for them. You won’t want to miss it and if you do you can find it later tomorrow night at reasonablycatholic.com. One more thing before we get to our rundown of what's happening in the community this week. It may be hard to tell, but you're listening during our spring pledge drive. We've decided to take a subtler approach to fundraising this season -- there is no one manning the phones -- but we still need to raise $15,000 by the end of July. Please go to wesufm.org and click on DONATE NOW. Any amount means so much.

Okay, on with the Jive!:

Here in Middletown at 8 tonight, it's the Anything Goes open mic night at the Buttonwood Tree on Main Street.  Tomorrow at 6 brings Laughter Yoga to the Buttonwood, along with a potluck dinner. Wednesday at 8 is Evening Oasis, a belly dancing demonstration. Thursday at 7 is the Writers Out Loud open mic night. Friday at 8 is folk musician Arlon Bennett’s CD release concert, celebrating “World of Possibility.” Saturday morning at 7:30 brings weekly Quigong (Chi Kung) to the Buttonwood, followed by community yoga. Saturday night, there will be a double bill of folk music with Terry Kitchen and Mara Levine & The Levins. And, of course, on Sunday, Food Not Bombs serves food outside the Buttonwood Tree. You're invited to help prepare the vegetarian meal at 11:30 a.m. at the First Church on Court Street. Information about all Buttonwood events can be found at buttonwood.org.

Tonight at 8 p.m. at Wesleyan is the Ebony Singers Spring Concert, conducted by one of New England's leading authorities on gospel music, Dr. Marichal Monts, Wes class of  '85. That’s at Crowell Concert Hall, 50 Wyllys Ave.

Tomorrow at 6:30 p.m. at Wesleyan’s Center for the Arts is a celebration of “silent sounds,” featuring the writing of students in Middletown Public Schools, grades 6 through 12. Hear their winning submissions of essays, short stories and poetry from the annual literary magazine, “Silent Sounds.”  For more information, visit the CFA website. Also tomorrow evening, the The Wesleyan Wind Ensemble, under the direction of Sarah Stockton, performs at Crowell Concert Hall. On Thursday, the Wesleyan Center for the Arts presents Javanese Gamelan and Dance. That’s at 7 p.m. in World Music Hall.

Friday afternoon at 3, the Center for the Arts presents West African Drumming & Dance. Choreographer Iddi Saaka and Master Drummer Abraham Adzenyah will perform with their students in West African Dance courses, as well as guest artists and drummers.That’s in the CFA Courtyard (rain site: Crowell Concert Hall), Washington Terrace. Friday at 8, the Toneburst laptop & electronic arts ensemble, directed by Assistant Professsor of Music Paula Matthusen, begins with a series of works for live electronics, including premieres of new works written for the group by Professor of Music Ronald Kuivila and Carl Testa '06. That’s at World Music Hall. On Saturday afternoon, at 2 at World Music Hall, the Center for the Arts presents Middletown Remix, a festival of art and sound.  After a year of exploring, sharing, and remixing the sounds of Middletown on the Wesleyan University's MiddletownRemix website, celebrate the city's acoustic identity at a festival featuring four world premieres of works commissioned for the festival, three live DJ sets, two art/sound installations, a laptop orchestra, food trucks, graffiti art, improv sketches, and a gallery walk.

Master of ceremonies is DJ Arun Ranganathan and there will be a flash mob dance at 2:30 p.m.

MiddletownRemix is a collaborative, place-based sound project that enables people to develop and express the acoustic identity of greater Middletown. details online at www.wesleyan.edu/cfa

Photographic scenes of Middletown by experienced and up-and-coming local artists are featured in the "Hear More, See More" exhibition, which accompanies Wesleyan University's Middletown Remix "Hear More, See More" festival on May 11 from 2-5 p.m.
  
The free opening reception is May 10 from 6 to 9 p.m. at MAC 650 Gallery, 650 Main Street, Middletown.

The show, originally called "Angles of Middletown," is curated by Carolyn Reeves, president of the MAC 650 Artist Coop, as part of the North End Gallery Walk. The photographic tribute to Middletown features images from novices to professionals, and shows a variety of shots of the city.



Details at the CFA website and Middletown Remix. Finally, on Sunday, at 4 p.m., the Shaped Note Singers meet at Wesleyan University’s Downey House, at the corner of High and Court Streets. Information about all Wesleyan events can be found at Wesleyan.edu.

Down in New Haven at Toad's Place, tonight brings A Night of Smooth Jazz with Rohn Lawrence & Friends. Wednesday it's the weekly EDM Night. Thursday is a local rock extravaganza with Action Potential, The Alpaca Gnomes, Broadcast Hearts, Disable Time, Funk You Up, Great Blue, Red December, Samsara, and Vienna. Friday brings Ghostface Killah’s 12-Reasons-to-Die-Tour, with Adrian Younge's Venice Dawn, Debo, and Rowdy City. That’s followed by Gorilla Music Presents Black Heart Heros’ Birthday Suit Bash, with Victim of Innocense; Esrede; Simple Machinery; Runamuk; Lightsbane; Raven Down; Kudra; and Mind over Master. Saturday, it’s Project/Object, the Music of Zappa & More, with five Zappa alumni: Ike Willis; Ray White; Ed Mann; Tom Fowler; and Denny Walley. That’s followed by Electron, featuring Marc Brownstein and Aron Magner from the Disco Biscuits, Tommy Hamilton from Brothers Past, and Mike Greenfield from Lotus on drums.  www.toadsplace.com for details.

Also in New Haven, at Cafe Nine, tonight is Get to the Point, performances by writers, hosted by Chris Arnott. Tomorrow at 8, it’s Peter Case, with Joe Flood. Wednesday at 8 brings The Railers, with Calvin DeCutlass to Café Nine. Thursday, it’s Moving Broklyn, with Chaser Eight and Chris Gallo. Friday’s happy hour features Solin. Friday, Manic Productions Presents: Lady Lamb the Beekeeper; w/ Xenia Rubinos; and Double King • Saturday’s Afternoon Jazz Jam is hosted by Gary Grippo and friends. That’s followed at 9 p.m. by Big Sandy & His Fly-Rite Boys; w/ Girls, Guns, and Glory • Sunday’s After Supper Jam is  hosted by the Legendary Cafe Nine All Stars, w/ master of ceremonies Dom Zullo.  www.cafenine.com for details.

Up in Hartford at Blackeyed Sally's, tonight is Jazz Monday. Tomorrow brings Michael Palin's Other Orchestra. Wednesday is the Blues jam with Brandt Taylor. Thursday, it’s the CT Blues Challenge and Friday brings the Chris O’Leary Band to Sally’s.. …plays Sally's stage. Then Saturday, it’s the legendary Roomful of Blues. Go to www.blackeyedsallys.com for more.

Back here in Middletown,Thursday through Saturday, Oddfellows Playhouse’s Teen Repertory Company presents Nightmares & Streetscapes: An Evening of One Act Plays.The evening features comedies and dramas by Edward Albee, Christopher Durang, Eric Lane and Peter. Tickets are available online at Oddfellows Playhouse or by calling 860-347-6143.

Friday and Saturday, The Friends of Russell Library hosts its Book Sale. Learn the times at www.russelllibrary.org. Also on Saturday, at 2 at Russell Library, is Roger Ceresi’s All Starz Concert , featuring an eight-piece horn band.

The Friends of the Godfrey Memorial Library will sponsor a program by Connecticut Gravestone Network founder Ruth Shapleigh-Brown on Saturday at 1:30 p.m. at the Godfrey Memorial Library, 134 Newfield Street, in Middletown. The mission of the Connecticut Gravestone Network is “to educate the public on the importance of old graveyards and cemeteries in our history.” Shapleigh-Brown will give a talk on how to preserve and study our cemeteries as a way of connecting with the past. For more information, please call Ray L’Heureux at 203-237-3614.

On Saturday evening at 7:30, the Greater Middletown Concert Association presents Mozart’s “Don Giovanni” at the new MHS Performing Arts Auditorium at Middletown High School. The center is at 200 La Rosa Lane. E-mail BWA@aol.com for info or call (860) 347-4887 or (860) 346-3369

Also on Saturday evening, at 7, it’s ARTFARM’s Shakespeare Slam and Masked Bash, featuring interesting and unorthodox performances of Shakespeare, live music, costumed characters, celebrity host Chion Wolf of WNPR, food and drink, all in a festive Elizabethan atmosphere where masked adults have fun in a children's museum. Perform! Imbibe! Enjoy! It all happens at Kidcity in Middletown. Contact ARTFARM at (860) 346-4390 or email info@art-farm.org.

Now here's a rundown of cinema off the beaten track in Central Connecticut.

Through Wednesday, Real Art Ways in Hartford, continues its run of "Lore"

which follows 5 German children at the end of World War II, who undertake a harrowing journey that exposes them to the reality and consequences of their parents' actions. Real Art Ways is also showing the 2012 Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize winning comic fable "The Angels Share" through Wednesday. There will be no films shown on Thursday. Friday night RAW opens a run of the new film from renowned filmmaker Terrence Malick (Tree of Life, The New World), "To the Wonder." Friday, Real Art Ways also opens a run of "Hava Nagila," a documentary that makes the case that the film's namesake song  is much more than Jewish kitsch  and that it embodies an entire constellation of history, values and hopes for the future. www.realartways.com

Tonight and Tomorrow, CineStudio, Trinity College's cinema in Hartford, is showing "War Witch,"  about a 12 year-old girl living in war-torn central Africa  in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Wednesday Cinestudio begins a run of Pablo Berger's distinctive new silent film version of Snow White that pays tribute to the original Gothic dark romanticism of the Brothers'

Grimm. Details at www.cinestudio.org.

And now here’s a run-down of what's on the air here at WESU, 88.1 FM in Middletown:

 Right after the Jive at Five stay tuned for a well-rounded jazz show on Charles Henry’s Afternoon Jazz with Charles Henry until 6pm.

Weekdays at 6 Free Speech Radio News From the Pacifica Network offers a daily dose of alternative international news and reporting.

At 6:30 Life is a Killer with Johnny Analog Moves through the blues Diaspora from front porch country blues and big city electric blues to jazz, R&B and soul.

At 8pm The Rumpus Room with Lord Lewis offers the best in vintage and contemporary heavy funk, soul, club jazz, reggae, ska, afro and latin dancefloor grooves.

The Attention Deficit Disk Jockey with Lee, is in the air chair from 9:30-11pm bringing you the music of yesterday's future, today.

At 11pm its A Hate Supreem with DJ AWOL for an hour of melodic, improvisational,  jazz coupled with the overtly technical, rigidly composed, and aggressively loud elements of Heavy metal.

At Midnight it’s Maelstrom of the Weird with Phil Void, Surveying punk in all its innovation and abrasion - be it first wave, hardcore, post-punk, or noise.

At 1am Local Color with Peter Helman features local music scenes from a different state episode. Tune in to experience the diverse sounds of the union, from Brooklyn art-rock to Chicago house to Louisianan swamp-pop.

From 2-3am Venture into the infinity of the unknown via a synthesis of science, spoken word, and a lot of popular music on The Explorers’ Hour with Pickup Sticks.

From  3-4am 88 Keys with Mads hand-picks tracks for their captivating piano features, incorporating an eclectic mix of genres that demonstrate the versatility of one of the world's most time-honored instruments, including classical, singer-songwriter, alt rock, easy listening, and electronic.

Then the BBC kicks on at 4, followed by NPR's Morning Edition at 5.

And 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 wesufm.org/jive.

WESU needs to raise $15,000 dollars by the end of July. We'd like to avoid interrupting regular programming with the traditional Radio Pledge drive so help us out by making a donations as soon as you can.  If you tune in to WESU for information and music that you can’t find elsewhere, then we are counting on you to help support the service you depend on. Please take a moment to make a donation of any size online at www.wesufm.org. Every dollar counts and we need to hear from you.

Thanks for listening!

Now stay tuned for Afternoon Jazz with Charles Henry.