07-04-14 Jive

Good evening! It’s Friday, July 4th and this is the Jive at Five – our daily community calendar and rundown of night time programming here on 88.1 FM, WESU Middletown, your listener supported station for NPR, Pacifica, independent and local public affairs by day, and the best in free-form community programming nights and weekends. 

I'm Dr.Helen Evrard, host of Mind Matters, a show that brings your information and stories about the brain conditions that we call mental illness.  Join me Wednesdays at 6 o’clock to hear more.

Thanks to all of the WESU friends and family who made our Spring 2014 Pledge Drive a success! With your support, WESU closed out our fiscal year a few days early, but we’re always continuing our capital campaign to upgrade the studios.

WESU is proud to present our Doo Wop Extravaganza at the Middletown High School Performing Arts Center on July 12. It’s headlined by The Tokens, who recorded the mega hit The Lion Sleeps tonight.  There’s also The Super Girls Group, with five amazing female singers from hit-making groups of the 50’s and 60’s.  This fundraising concert brings world-class entertainment to Middletown. Tickets and info online at www.wesufm.org .

Happy Birthday USA!  Here a rundown of some of the Independence Day Celebrations in our area:

The postponed City of Middletown Fireworks Festival takes place tomorrow starting at 6:30 p.m., featuring music performances by the High School Jazz Ensemble and the Middletown Symphonic Band.  More at 860-638-4801, www.arts2go.org, or www.middletownct.gov.

New Haven's Fourth of July celebration has also been rescheduled for tomorrow, at the Summit of East Rock Park, 41 Cold Spring St., New Haven. Live music, free horse-drawn carriage rides, food, and a soldiers and sailors monument tour are part of the fun, finishing with the fireworks show at 9 p.m. There’s also a celebration with historical reenactments at Fort Wooster on New Haven’s East Shore from 12-4 p.m.  Info at 203-946-8378 and www.cityofnewhaven.com

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New Britain's Great American Boom has also moved to Saturday, starting at 5 p.m. at Stanley Quarter Park, with food and a concert by Latanya Farrell and the Bookman Styles Band.  The fireworks display will happen around 9:15 p.m. There is a fee for participation. Info at 860-826-3360, and www.newbritainct.gov. 

Brownstone Exploration Park in Portland has moved the Food Fest to Saturday, from noon to 4 p.m.  They’ve also got their 5^th annual Top Dog Hot Dog Eating Contest.  Information at 866-860-0208, or www.brownstonepark.com.

Manchester Community College hosts the 31st annual James Dutch Fogarty Independence Day Celebration from 4 to 10 p.m. on Saturday,  featuring children's activities and musical performances Fireworks begin at 9:30 p.m. Information: 860-647-5235 or www.townofmanchester.org.

Now here are some other events happening in our area this weekend:

At the Buttonwood Tree, tomorrow evening they’re offering singer/songwriter and Middletown native Joe Flood, who performs “Busker Stories, Blues, Brassens. . . and Beyond.” 

Sunday at 1 p.m., Food Not Bombs serves food outside the Buttonwood Tree.  Anyone is welcome. You’re invited to help prepare the meal at the First Church on Court Street at 11:30 am. Sunday evening at 7 there’s the Great Make Believe Improv Show. More at www.buttonwood.org

Up in Hartford, at Blackeyed Sally’s, tomorrow night you can catch the Rich Badowski Blues Band, winners of the 2012 Connecticut Blues Band Challenge.

www.blackeyedsallys.com 

Saturday night, Terravita Mantis takes the Toads Place Stage down in New Haven at 9 p.m., and on Sunday Manic Productions presents Swans, along with Xiu Xiu.  www.toadsplace.com

Also in New Haven tonight, Café Nine’s got The Big Fat Cafe9 BBQ and Rhythm & Blues Marathon, with The Convertibles, The Langley Project, and The Crown Street Orchestra.  On Saturday their weekly Jazz Jam will be hosted by Mike Coppola and Friends at 4:30, followed by a 9 p.m. show with Big Bad Johns, and The Incorrigibles. Sunday at 3 they offer The Del Rios, and at 8 there’s Blues Boot Camp with Greg Sherrod. www.cafenine.com

Tonight, Manic Productions brings you Mission Zero, along with Jay Prince (of Eurisko), and Rudeyna, at The Outer Space in Hamden. www.manicproductions.org

Every Friday at 9 p.m., Dave Downs hosts a new weekly open mic and invites songwriters to perform at The Nest, located at 129 Church Street, Middletown. Info at 860.788.2736.

The Hartford Public Library presents the Hartford Artisan Weaving Center Exhibit:  “Let’s Weave Historic Overshot,” with pieces inspired by historic patterns, through August 10th at the library’s downtown location.  www.hlpct.org

The Buttonwood continues its month-long art exhibit with the AMO Glassware Design Showcase by Alexendra.  www.buttonwood.org

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

At Real Art Ways in Hartford, the run of  “We Are the Best,” a Swedish film about three girls in the 1980’s who decide to form a punk band starts tonight.  In addition, they’re showing “Cold in July,” starring Don Johnson, a drama about a small town hero in Texas who’s life is changed after he kills a low-life burglar.  www.realartways.org

Cinestudio, The Trinity College cinema in Hartford, starts a run of “A Hard Day’s Night,” the stunning 50th anniversary restored edition of a Beatles classic, tonight.   More at www.cinestudio.org

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

Right after the Jive At Five, from 5:05 to 6:30 tonight it’s
 Chocolate Cake with DJ Rob. This hour-long musical sugar high includes Power-pop plus Brit-pop, as well as singer/songwriters from the 60's to today.

Coming in at 6:30 it's a half-hour with Earth Out Loud/Youth Radio- which digs into learning about our habitat! For more info on this lively youth project visit www.wesleyan.edu/earthoutloud

At 7 until 8:30pm we have the Universal Sound Wave with Sistah Tee, informing listeners about local and global issues about health and nutrition, including stress reduction tips.  There’s also a wide range of music including African, reggae, gospel, R&B, Latin, and blues.

Next up until 10:30pm, we take it
 From the Otherside with 
Rok-A-Dee, The Voice of Hartford, which features local artists from Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. He’s also got upcoming artists performing Caribbean R & B, Soca and international music.

Then at 10:30pm we go 
In the Master Bedroom, Under the Bed, with 
Dope Dave.  This show celebrates conscious hip-hop, and all its offshoots and influences. Acrobatic emcees and down-tempo poets mix it up over varied oceans of sound.

At Midnight until 4am Saturday we go into OVERDRIVE with Clarence Scott and Shantay Scott, offering Urban Contemporary, Hip Hop, and Traditional gospel music.

Sing Out! Radio Magazine with Tom Druckenmiller comes on at 4 until 5am with a weekly, hour-long magazine format program, featuring interviews and live and recorded traditional folk music.

And we bring in the daylight from 5:00 to 6:00am with the 
BBC World News 
- a daily News roundup from the British Broadcasting Corporation.

Staying on the other side of the Big Pond, from 6:00 to 7:00 a.m. it’s
 the Celtic Café
 with Pat Laffan and Mark Gallagher, presenting traditional and contemporary music with a Celtic connection.

After you’ve made your morning coffee, enjoy Caffé Italia from 7:00 to 8:00am 
with Francesco Fiumara, the former host of WESU's own WESParla, a weekly roundup of news, music and memories from Italy.

That’s all for today’s Jive At Five, tune in each and every weekday at 4:55 pm to hear about what’s going on in the community and on the air right here at 88.1 FM WESU, a community service of Wesleyan University since 1939.

The Music behind today’s Jive At Five is from the Anthony Braxton Quartet, 8 Standards (Wesleyan) 2001, featuring Anthony Braxton, Kevin O'Neil, Andy Eulau, and Kevin Norton. The selection is Nuages and it's out on Barking Hoop Records.

The written form for what you've heard on today’s jive is online at wesufm.org/jive

And if you value WESU as a source for information and entertainment in your life, please continue to support the station with a donation. You can make one online at wesufm.org anytime. Thanks for listening!  Enjoy your holiday weekend, and be safe out there!  Stay tuned for Chocolate Cake with DJ Rob.