Mon., July 15 Jive

Good evening, it's Monday, July 15, 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 to right before the Jive at Five. Tomorrow:being homosexual and Catholic. You can find archived audio of the show, as well as the uncut versions of the interviews, after the show airs by going to www.reasonablycatholic.com. 

Okay, on with the Jive!:

Here in Middletown, at the Buttonwood Tree, at 8 tonight, it's the Anything Goes open mic night.  Tomorrow from 6:15 to 7 p.m., the Happiness Project meets. Come learn to be happy. That’s followed at 7 p.m. by Laughter Yoga with Mimi Claire. Wednesday at 7, the Buttonwood Film Night features “A Bird of the Air,” about a man in search of his past, and a woman who lives in the moment, brought together when they pursue the origins of a stray parrot in this comedic and romantic drama.On Thursday evening at 7:30 at the Buttonwood, Mr. Ho’s Orchestrotica, a vibraphone quartet voted “Boston’s 2012 Best World Music Act,” performs global jazz and exotic chamber music with world-music flavors sourced from Asia, the Middle East, the Balkans, and Latin America.Friday brings Rabbit in the Rye, a progressive folk rock trio, to the Buttonwood at 8 p.m. Saturday morning at 7:30 it’s weekly Quigong (Chi Kung) at the Buttonwood Tree, followed by community yoga. Saturday night at 8, the duo Jann Klose and Jeffrey Gaines, two friends with great voices who usually perform separately, present a songwriters-in-the-round evening of pop. On Sunday, Food Not Bombs serves food outside the Buttonwood Tree, as Rumpus, your chance to express yourself rhythmically on drums and other instruments, occurs simultaneously. You're invited to help prepare the vegetarian meal at 11:30 a.m. at the First Church on Court Street. Later on Sunday, at 4, there will be a Poetry Potluck, an opportunity to share and discuss favorite works. It will occur on the third Sunday of each month. Go to www.buttonwood.org for details about all events.

The Mattabessett Canoe Club at Harbor Park offers an open mic night tonight at 7:30. Tomorrow brings music by Greg Rose. Wednesday is an Irish session. Thursday brings Karen Frisk & Co. Friday it’s the Burt Teague Trio. Saturday, All Good performs. And Sunday, it’s Nekita Waller. Go to www.mattabessetcanoeclub.com for more.

 Down in New Haven tonight at Cafe Nine, the Fistful of Jokes Comedy Series is at 7:30. Tomorrow at 8 brings Yung Life and Ports of Spain. Wednesday at 8, it’s The Well-Informed, with Them Damn Hamiltons. Then Thursday, Oddball Events Honky Tonk Throwdown presents New Country Rehab, with The Silks. Friday, That Tragically Said performs. The Saturday Jazz Jam Session, at 4:30, is hosted by Tony Dioguardi and Friends. Then Sunday, it’s the Sunday After Supper Jam at 8. Go to www.cafenine.com for details.

Also in New Haven, at Toad's Place, tonight and every Monday night brings A Night of Smooth Jazz with Rohn Lawrence & Friends. Thursday is a local showcase featuring Grinning Dog, Ice Brothers, Insano Vision, Kamikaze Fighter Pilots, Kim Torrance Fusion Band, Kings Of Nothing and The Raw Revival. Friday at 8:30 brings Shakedown, playing The Dead and Beyond, with Relative Souls and Full Spectrum. They’re followed at 10 by Black Schwarzenbach, of Jawbreakers and Jets to Brazil, in Lilly’s Pad, along with Wolves at Bay and New Year’s Resolution. Saturday, the B. Willie Smith Band with Bobby T plays Toad’s, along with Washboard Slim & the Blue Lights. Go to www.toadsplace.com for details.

At Blackeyed Sally's in Hartford, tonight at 8 it’s Jazz Monday. Tomorrow at 8 brings Michael Palin's Other Orchestra, an 18-piece band working out new material. Wednesday’s Blues Jam at 8 is hosted by Ed Bradley. Friday, B. Willie Smith plays Sally’s. And Saturday night brings Doug Deming and Dennis Gruenling w/ the Jewel Tones. Go to www.blackeyedsallys.com for details.

Back in Middletown, tomorrow, Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts presents a free talk at noon by theater and scenic designer Marcela Oteiza. She is currently working on a video-documentary about street performances. The talk will be at CFA Hall on Washington Terrace in Middletown. On Thursday, the Center for the Arts presents hip hop artist Marc Bamuthi Joseph and "Word Becomes Flesh."  The play documents letters from a young single father to his unborn son using spoken word, dance, and live music. It features an ensemble cast of six emerging poet-performers, who fuse deep honesty, tender stories, playful wit, purposeful rage, and raw physicality to examine the legacy of patriarchy and male privilege, the continuum between fathers and sons, and the relationships between women and men.For more information, please visit the CFA website.

Also in Middletown, tomorrow at 7 p.m., the Kenn Morr Band plays as part of Summer Sounds on the South Green/Union Park. The Middletown Commission on the Arts presents the Tuesday evening concerts throughout the summer. (The rain location is the sanctuary of South Congregational Church.) Learn the full schedule of bands by checking out www.arts2go.org.

This week is the annual giant tag sale benefiting Tabor House in Hartford, which serves formerly homeless men with HIV and AIDS. You're asked to bring your gently used treasures -- everything but books, clothing, large furniture and computers -- to the Sisters of St. Joseph Convent, 27 Park Road, West Hartford, tomorrow and Wednesday between 8:30 a.m. and 3 p.m. The sale is at St. Joseph Convent, 27 Park Road, West Hartford, at the corner of Prospect Ave., on Thursday at 5 p.m. with wine and hors d'ouvres, then on Friday from noon to 7 p.m. and on Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. The sale will feature a large silent auction of autographed sports items and tickets for many attractions, performances and services. For information or to volunteer, contact David at dtdyson@comcast.net or call Loretta at 860-563-9217.

 On Wednesday, at the Wadsworth Mansion in Middletown, the weekly Music at the Mansion series features Rani Arbo and Daisy Mayhem. Go to www.wadsworthmansion.com for details and the full schedule.

On Thursday, the much-anticipated ArtFarm performance of “Much Ado About Nothing,” with Musical Headliner Layah Jane, comes to the Grove at Middlesex Community College in Middletown. Performances are Thursday through Sunday, this week and next. The performances start with live folk and jazz music by Layah Jane beginning at 6pm. Bring lawn chairs, blankets and a picnic and enjoy professional music and theater in the beautiful Cedar Grove overlooking the Connecticut River Valley. Marcella Trowbridge and Brian Jennings team up as Beatrice and Benedick. Much Ado is directed by ARTFARM Executive Director Dic Wheeler and will be accompanied live by the ARTFARM Irregular Orchestra. For information please contact info@art-farm.org or call (860) 346-4390.

'Tis the season for farmers' markets and several in our area are in full swing. Here are some: In Middletown, on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. there's a market on the South Green, and another in Middletown's North End at 575 Main Street, on Fridays, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Go to northendfarmersmarket.org. In Durham, the farmers' market is on Thursdays, from 3 to 6:30 p.m. on the town green on Rte. 17. Go to www.durhamfarmersmarket.org. In Cromwell, on Wednesdays from 2 to 5 p.m., the farmers' market is at Covenant Village of Cromwell, 52 Missionary Road. In Higganum Village, on Fridays from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m., the market is on the town green, at the intersection of Rtes. 81 & 154. Go to HigganumVillageMarket.org. In East Haddam, there's a farmers' market from 4 to 7 p.m. on Wednesdays at the town grange on Town Street. Learn about farmers' markets all over the state by going to ctnofa.org/FarmersMarkets.htm.

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

At Real Art Ways in Hartford, this week is your final chance to see “Hannah Arendt,” about the influential German-Jewish philosopher and political theorist. Also continuing through Wednesday is "Dirty Wars," in which Investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill [ Skay-Hill] is pulled into an unexpected journey as he chases down the hidden truth behind America's expanding covert wars. Thursday at 6 is the Real Art Ways Creative Cocktail Hour. Then Friday is a rescheduled The Real Ride. Decorate your bicycles and take to the streets of Hartford, pausing to appreciate some of the street art before winding your way back to Real Art Ways. The film opening on Friday and running through next week is “Byzantium,” in which two mysterious women seek refuge in a run-down coastal resort. Oh, did we mention that they were born 200 years ago and survive on human blood? The Friday and Saturday late show is V/H/S/2: Inside a darkened house looms a column of TVs littered with VHS tapes, a pagan shrine to forgotten analog gods. Those obsolete spools contain more than just magnetic tape. They are imprinted with the very soul of evil. On the weekend, things lighten up, thank goodness, with the New York International Children's Film Festival’s Kidflix Mix, a kaleidoscopic showcase of the best short film and animation from around the world, for ages 3 to 6. Go to www.realartways.org for details about all events.

At Cinestudio, [Si-Neh-studio] The Trinity College cinema in Hartford, the new Danish thriller, "A Hijacking"runs through tomorrow. Then Wednesday begins a run of director Roberto Rossellini’s rediscovered and restored 1955 film “A Voyage to Italy,” starring the incomparable Ingrid Bergman. You can find show times and info at www.cinestudio.org.

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

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 it's 75 Percent Folk, with Michael Benson, a serving of contemporary folk and acoustic music, with side orders of blues, jaz, world, pop, movie soundtracks, readings and occasional live interviews.

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.

Aargh! with Tom Stoner, plays stoner cosmic doom psychedelia avant garde noise from 9:30-11:30 pm.

Then from 11:30 p.m. to 1 a.m., it's the Explorers' Hour, with Pickup Sticks, a synthesis of science, spoken word and a lot of popular music.

At 1 a.m. it’s Distilled Discographies with Cheshire Cat, distilling down the discography of an artist to an essential 60 minute career retrospective, sampling something from every cataloged release.

From 2 to 3 a.m., it’s Rootsworld Radio with Cliff Furnald, a tour across borders and genres.

That’s followed at 3 by the Graveyard Shift with DJ Otto Nation, an eclectic mix of music from the WESU library.

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.

And if you value WESU as a source for information and entertainment in your life, how about supporting the station with a donation? You can make that donation online at wesufm.org anytime.

Thanks for listening!

Now stay tuned for Afternoon Jazz with Charles Henry.