05-06-14 Jive

Good evening, Its Tuesday May 6^th. This is the Jive at Five – our 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.  During 2014 WESU is celebrating 75 years of Community radio. Please help keep us going for another year by making a pledge of support during our current Spring Pledge drive. You can make your donation online at www.wesufm.org

 

Here’s a rundown of some of what’s happening in our area this week.

At Wesleyan University, a veritable fireworks finale of performances wraps up the spring semester:

Tonight at the CFA Hall, it’s A Celebration of Silent Sounds, celebrating the writing excellence of students in Middletown Public Schools grades 6 through 12, who will read their winning submissions of essays, short stories, and poetry from the annual literary magazine “Silent Sounds.” 

Also tonight, at 7 p.m., there will be a concert of South Indian music, with Wesleyan students performing their annual recital of music from the Karnatak tradition of South India. That’s at World Music Hall.  Yet another performance tonight will be the WesWinds Spring Concert, featuring pieces for winds and percussion at Crowell Concert Hall.

 Thursday at Wesleyan’s Memorial Chapel, it’s the Annual Organ Romp, with Wesleyan student organists performing new music, pop, rock, jazz, and other unlikely pieces, with other musicians, instruments and percussion, costumes, video, and more. 

Friday afternoon at 3, the Center for the Arts presents a West African Drumming & Dance Concert, in which choreographer Iddi Saaka and Master Drummer Abraham Adzenyah will perform with their West African dance students. That’s in the CFA Courtyard, unless it rains and the show moves inside Crowell.

Friday night at 8 in World Music Hall, it’s Toneburst Electroextravaganza, with Wesleyan’s Toneburst Laptop and Electronic Arts Ensemble, directed by Assistant Professor of Music Paula Matthusen, performing works written by ensemble members.  More information about all these Wesleyan events can be found online at www.wesleyan.edu/cfa or by calling 860-685-3355.

Tonight at 6pm, at the Buttonwood Tree in Middletown, brings Laughter Yoga with Mimi Claire, which includes a vegetarian potluck. Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Buttonwood, Writers Out Loud, a literary prose open mic session, meets. Friday at 8, the duo Stefilia’s Stone plays piano and guitar. Saturday morning, it’s the usual offerings of quigong (Chi Kung), tai chi, and community yoga. Then Saturday night at 8, Sissy Castrogiovanni, performs Intra Lu Munnu, which means Inside the World. It’s a blend of  Jazz, Mediterranean and World Music, with a touch of classical and African influences, all blended into Sicilian lyrics, rhythms and old folk traditions.On Sundays, Food Not Bombs serves food outside the Buttonwood at 1 pm; all are welcome. You are also invited to help prepare the meal beforehand at 11 am at First Church Congregational on Court Street.  Also, you can check out the shoreline artwork of WESU’s own Bill Revill, host of Acoustic Blender, on the walls of the Buttonwood throughout May.  More at www.buttonwood.org

Up in Hartford, at Blackeyed Sally’s on Tuesday nights you can catch Michael Palin’s Other Orchestra, an 18-piece big-band, working out out new material.  On Wednesday, Sally’s long running weekly Blues Jam,  will be hosted by Ed Bradley. Thursday, The CT Blues society challenge continues at Blackeyed Sally’s, with bands competing to represent CT at the finals in Memphis. Friday at 9, it’s the award-winning Delta Generators. Then Saturday, it’s Joe Louis Walker, who was inducted last year into The Blues Hall of Fame. Sunday brings a Mother’s Day Gospel Brunch to Blackeyed Sallys, featuring live music by the Mary Taylor Soul Band. There will be two seatings www.blackeyedsallys.com .

Tonight, down at Toad’s Place in New Haven, you can catch VNV Nation, with Whiteqube. Thursday’s Jammin Thursdays lineup includes All Good, The Before, Breakfast on Neptune, Indigroove, and ZWS. Friday, Conagra presents Hunter Hayes, the 24-Hour Road Race to End Child Hunger, an effort to break the Guinness World Records record for the Most Concerts Played in multiple cities in a 24-hour period. Also on tap are Dan & Shay. That’s followed at 9 by a night of electronic Dance Music. Saturday at Toad’s, it’s Shakedown, playing The Dead and beyond; along with The Mushroom Cloud and The Remnants. www.Toadsplace.com

Also in New Haven, tonight, at Café Nine, you can catch The Standells, along with Bronson Rock.  Tomorrow/Wednesday, Oddball Events brings Drivin' N' Cryin' to Café Nine, along with The Ivory Bills. Thursday, it’s Dead Wives and Fins, with Steve Hartlett and James Fonicello. Then Friday brings Ports of Spain, Surfing, and Spectral Fangs to Café Nine. Saturday afternoon’s jazz jam session is with Tony Dioguardi & Friends. The Original Sunday Night Jam is with the George Baker Band. www.cafenine.com

Manic Productions presents a number of shows this week, starting tonight at 8 at The Outer Space in Hamden with Mutual Benefit, Conveyor and Mercy Choir. At Bar in New Haven on Wednesday, Manic Productions presents Juan Wauters (of The Beets), Milksop:Unsung, Dan Soto & the High Doses, and DJ SWAY. On Sunday, at The Ballroom at The Outer Space in Hamden, Manic Productions presents Sharon Van Etten and She Keeps Bees. www.manicproductions.org.

On Thursday at 6:30pm in the Russell Library’s Hubbard Room, the Hampstead Stage Company Presents Hercules & the Heroes, geared toward children in grades 3 and up. Epictitus, the mask-maker, and Ovid, the poet, lead a journey of the imagination, exploring the ancient Greek heroes. Also on Thursday, at 7 p.m., Elisabeth Petry continues to lead The Veterans' Writing Group. That’s in the library’s meeting room 2. Friday and Saturday, the Friends of the Russell Library host their monthly book sale. Details about all events at www.russelllibrary.org.

Also on Thursday, at 7 p.m., the Art Guild of Middletown invites you to their May Demonstration: Graffiti Made Legal!, featuring graffiti artists whose large-scale works are displayed throughout New England and Canada. That’s at Middlefield Federated Church, 402 Main St., Middlefield.

The Riverwood Poetry Series, concludes this Thursday with a featured reading by Allison Meyers  at the Asylum Hill Congregational Church in Hartford (right down the street from Union Train Station). The evening begins with an Open Mic . Admission is free and everyone is welcomed. More online at www.RiverwoodPoetry.org and on Facebook:

On Fridays in Middletown, Argentine Tango is taught at the First Church, 190 Court St. The beginners’ session is at 7:30; the intermediates’ at 8:30 and at 9:30 there’s a tango social which includes snacks. Teacher Jorge “Gem” Duras has information at 203-543-8099.

Also on Friday, Dave Downs hosts an open mic at The Nest, 129 Church St. in Middletown. As president and CEO of The Highly Unsuccessful Songwriters Association, he invites songwriters to bring their best and worst songs to perform, starting at 9 p.m. Details at 860-788-2736.

Friday also brings an opportunity to experience the unveiling of the Jazz Samaritan Alliance in CT, who will help Jazz composer, pianist, and educator Noah Baerman conclude his release tour for his recent CD, “Ripples”. The concept behind the Jazz Samaritan Alliance is to create and present socially conscious jazz. This event happens at Firehouse 12 in New Haven. Info and tickets at http://firehouse12.com/

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

At Real Art Ways in Hartford, the films Mamele and Alan Partridge continue through Thursday. Opening Friday is the documentary Finding Vivian Maier. She's now considered one of the 20th century's greatest street photographers, but was a mysterious nanny who secretly took over 100,000 photographs that went unseen during her lifetime. Also opening Friday is Mistaken for Strangers, hailed by filmmaker Michael Moore as one of the best documentaries about a band he’d ever seen. It’s described as a truly hilarious, unusual, and moving film about two brothers, Matt (lead singer of The National) and Tom Berninger. Details at www.realartways.com.

At Cinestudio, Trinity College’s cinema in Hartford, tonight I your last chances to catch, The Great Beauty, winner of the Oscar for Best Foreign Film. Opening Wednesday and running through Saturday is Le Week-end, a bittersweet love story that gets real about the ups and downs of longtime marriages. It’s described as “sad, sweet, dark, funny and possibly even redemptive.” Sunday brings Nymph()maniac, Vol. One, about a woman’s erotic adventures with the chilly intellectual who found her collapsed on a Parisian street. www.cinestudio.org.

Now, here’s a rundown of tonight’s programming on WESU.

Right after the jive at Five stay tuned for Explorers Hour with DJ Pickup Sticks for an hour of indie pop rock and experimental music.

At 6pm, stay tuned for The Production Report with Kiley and Allis, who will report some entertainment industry news, deliver predictions, review new movies and shows, and interview industry professionals.

Bill Revill is in the chair for a 90 minutes of Americana roots music on Acoustic Blender at 6:30.

J-Cherry and the Strawberry’s host an hour of live local arts and entertainment from 8-9pm.

At 9pm  DJ Cheshire Cat offers presents a free form music show called, Wonderland.

At 10:30-catch This Southbound Train with Mary Barrett for bluegrass, newgrass, and other acoustic sounds. 

At 11:30pm Young & Restless with DJ Sleepy Girl asks: You know what the Midwest is?   Then advises…  Hold your questions: only yeses. Come and get it.

At 12:30am  Theme Party with Peninz and Stormin’ Norman is a radio show centered on a specific idea, time period, region, or subgenre every week.

 At  1:30 Excursions on a Wobbly Rail with DJ Shoelace, DJ Sandwich, and $pace Cadet will discuss a person/animal/phenomenon/historical event and play music tangentially related to the subject.

From 2:30-3:30 Carpe Noctem with “DJ Struggles” and “DJ Animal Ad” is where music meets the real world. 

From 3:30-4am its How We Met the Mother with Mizael Robledo features the diverse music that is background to the story of the television show, How I Met Your Mother.

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 

2014 marks 75 years of alternative music, public affairs, and community service for WESU. Look for information on special programming and events online at www.wesufm.org where you can also help kick off our Spring Pledge drive by make a donation in support  this great community resource!