Friday's Jive - April Fools' Day 2016

Good afternoon, it's Friday, April 1^st – April Fools Day - and this is the Jive at Five - WESU's Daily community calendar and run down 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. I'm Stephan Allison, host of River Valley Rhythms heard Thursdays at 4 pm here at WESU. Thanks for tuning in.

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Now, here’s a rundown of some of what’s scheduled in the community this weekend.

In Middletown, at The Buttonwood Tree this evening the comedy rock band The Coconuts take the stage. On Saturday; it’s a morning class of Transitional Tai Chi followed by the Aligned with Source meditation, guided by spiritual and holistic healer Annaita Gandhy. Saturday afternoon brings the International Beat Poetry Festival to The Buttonwood, and in the evening at 6:30pm there's a Master Class on playing Brazilian rhythms in a jazz context, with the Danny Green Trio. Then at 8, the very same Danny Green Jazz Trio will conclude the evening with a performance. On Sunday at 7pm, it’s the Great Make Believe Society Improv Show. New paintings by WESU DJ Bill Revill, host of Acoustic Blender, are on display at the Buttonwood Tree during the month of April. Visit buttonwood.org

On Sunday at 3pm, the live opera, Faust, is being presented by the Greater Middletown Concert Association at the Performing Arts Center @Middletown High School. Visit greatermiddletownconcerts.org

And it is a busy time at Wesleyan University's Center for the Arts with dance concerts, the Shanghai Quartet, and senior recitals happening this weekend. Visit wesleyan.edu/cfa for all the details on weekend activities.

Right about now at New Haven's Café Nine, Bruce & Loralee Crowder play for the Weekly Wind Down Happy Hour and later Rhett Miller (of The Old 97s) performs with The Zambonis. The Saturday afternoon Jazz Jam Session is with Mike Coppola and Friends. Saturday evening, The Mountain Movers, Stefan Christensen & Friends, And Pieces Of Fruit share the bill. Cygnus Radio and Cafe 9 present “The Sunday Buzz” Matinee, featuring Wolf Harbor, Psychoala and Coastal Notion. Sunday night, Manic Productions & Safety Meeting present Acid Mothers Temple with Mounds and Nothing Israel to wrap up the weekend. cafenine.com is their website.

Meanwhile New Haven's Toad’s Place, this evening features Turkuaz with Lespecial and West End Blend. Saturday night it’s The Original Saturday Night College Dance Party with DJ Action & Marc. Visit toadsplace.com

Saturday Manic Productions presents The Mountain Goats featuring William Tyler (of Silver Jews and Lambchop) at College Street Music Hall. manicproductions.org has details.

At Hartford's Black-Eyed Sally’s this evening, Danny Pease and The Regulators (DPR) offer their style of “Dirty Punk Reggae”  blending the style of ska, reggae, rock and hip-hop. Saturday night, you can catch Jane Lee Hooker, a blues legend tribute band. Leran more at blackeyedsallys.com

At Middletown's Russell Library Saturday afternoon, the Drumming Circle with Jocelyn Pleasant meets. Visit russelllibrary.org

Tonight Hartford's Real Art Ways hosts Speak Up, an evening of true stories centered around the theme “Newcomers.” You can also catch the special exhibits from creators and artist Alina Gallo, artist and architect Mohamad Hafez; and sculptor Heidi Lau. Visit realartways.org

This week at the Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center in Old Saybrook, tonight through Sunday you can catch the performance of Bye Bye Birdie presented by the performing arts school BroadwayKids&Company. Visit katharinehepburntheater.org

ConnPIRG is holding a grassroots meeting focused on taking action on campaign finance reform here in Middletown. This meeting will be held on Sunday at 3PM at It's Only Natural Restaurant on Main Street. Come meet people and learn what you can do to help "get big money out of politics!"

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

At Hartford's Real Art Ways, tonight and through Sunday you can watch Michael Moore’s new film, Where To Invade Next, exploring and confronting American values and mentalities. Opening today are the films The Last Man on Earth, a documentary about Apollo astronaut Eugene Cernan, and Songs My Brother Taught Me, director Chloe Zhao’s story about two Lakota siblings from the Pine Ridge Reservation attending Little Wound High School. Both films run through Thursday. Visit realartways.org

Meanwhile Trinity College’s Cinestudio is showing The Big Short, Oscar nominated film about the 2008 financial crisis tonight and Saturday. Saturday afternoon, She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry, sponsored by The Women of Gender Resource Action Center at Trinity College screens. The film series, April in Paris 2016, begins on Sunday and continues for 9 days featuring a different film each day as the 17th annual Festival of French and Francophone Cinema explores how filmmakers have portrayed artists on screen. Visit cinestudio.org

For the latest in local 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 and what’s to do with a highlight on the arts in Middletown. That's arts2GO.org

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And now let’s take a look at tonight’s programming on WESU and to be safe, it's best to check the WESU website for the up-to-date schedule.

Right after the Jive At Five from 5:05-6 pm, it'll be Wild Wild Live with Ethan and Rachel. A sneak peek into the magical live music scene of Wes. Tune in for in-station sets from campus bands and recordings of up-and-coming artists' campus shows.

From 6 to 6:30pm it's Progress for the Planet w/Eric Hagen. Environmental news with a pro-green stance, including some environmentalist music from a variety of genres.
          
From 6:30-7pm it's the Middletown Youth Radio Project. A weekly radio program featuring the thoughts, voices, creativity and talent of the kids in the WESU neighborhood.

At 7 until 8:30pm we have the Universal Sound Wave with Sistah Tee - offering listeners a wide range of music including African, reggae, gospel, R&B, Latin, and blues. Plus health, nutrition, and stress reduction tips.

Next up until 10pm, we take it From the Otherside with Rok-A-Dee where 60% of the show is love songs of different genre and the others Reggae Dancehall, R&B, and new artiste.    
                                                        
Then from 10 to 11pm it's People, Places and Things with jackalope. Each week brings a new theme, each theme brings an exciting smorgasbord of songs relating to it.

That's followed until Midnight by Easy List-ening with DJ Rebag whose lists, particularly at their most strange and offbeat, can be some of the best ways to organize countless songs. He tackles something new each week.

At Midnight until 3am Saturday we go into OVERDRIVE w/Clarence & Shantay Scott - offering Urban Contemporary, Hip Hop, and Traditional gospel music.

And then, from 3 until 5am you are taken to Wonderland with DJ Cheshire Cat, who has a song in his heart, a chemical imbalance in his head and a musical library at his fingers. From krautrock to post-rock, grunge to garage, novelty to New Romantic, punk to prog, Wonderland has a place for it.

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

And staying on the other side of the big pond, from 6:00 to 7:00am it’s
 the Celtic Café
 with Pat Laffan and Mark Gallagher presenting traditional and contemporary music with a Celtic connection.

And now that the coffee’s hot enjoy Caffé Italia from 7:00 to 8:00am, serving up a slice of Italy every Saturday morning. You don't have to speak Italian to taste it: just relax, listen, and enjoy!

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 the title track from Talking Drums' Some Day Catch Some Day Down, re-issued and re-mastered as a cd on the innova label in 2011. The original vinyl was released in 1987.

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, how about supporting the station with a donation? You can make that donation online at wesufm.org anytime. Thanks for listening!