Thursday 6-8-17 Jive

Good evening, it's Thursday, June 8th. This is the Jive at Five, our daily community calendar and rundown of nighttime programming here on 88.1 FM WESU Middletown. By day, WESU offers talk radio from NPR and Pacifica, as well as independent and local public affairs sources. Weeknights and weekends our student and community volunteers bring you the best in free-form programming.

I’m Maria Johnson, producer and host of Reasonably Catholic: Keeping the Faith, which this summer airs every Tuesday, from 4 to right before the Jive at Five. Check out www.reasonablycatholic.com for all the podcasts, including last week's, a visit with a Jewish chef at a Catholic monastery. A reminder that our spring pledge drive is still $6,000 from its goal; we're trying to make up for the loss of $7,000 in city and state underwriting income. So please give what you can at www.wesufm.org/pledge. Thanks!

Here's a rundown of what's going down in our area this week.

In New Haven at Café Nine, tonight/Thursday, you can catch Mid Atlantic Title, Barrows, and Western States. Friday’s Happy Hour set at 5pm features The Sulls, followed by the evening show with Pleasure Beach and Reduction Plan. Saturday Café Nine’s weekly afternoon Jazz Jam Session is with Gary Grippo & Friends. The Saturday late show features Dangerous Animals, Flight of Silence, and The Right Offs. The Sunday Buzz Matinee brings you Diane Cluck and An Historic, and they finish out the weekend with a jazz jam brought to you by the George Lesiw Band. http://www.cafenine.com/

Up in Hartford at Black-Eyed Sally’s, on Thursday nights, Sally’s house band, The Po Boys, takes the stage. On Friday you can enjoy funky blues and soul with Ray Morant’s Soul Tsunami. Saturday, SNL band vocalist Christine Ohlman & Rebel Montez return to the stage at Sally’s. http://www.blackeyedsallys.com 

At Toad’s Place in New Haven tonight (Thursday), CT’s Finest presents “Return of the Real” featuring Spark Kent, Stubs, BRILLiant Mindz, and more. On Friday it’s a Local Showcase Summer Spectacular with a variety of performers on two stages including The Radio Dawgs, Freighthopper, Gray Haven, Just a Pipe Dream, On the Fritz, Reality Bomb and many more! On Saturday the Rick Derringer Band takes the stage for a seated event along with Remember September.   Info at www.toadsplace.com

Tomorrow/Friday, The Buttonwood Tree in Middletown presents an evening concert with guitarist Sinan Bakir and his new trio. The Aligned with Source Workshop and Meditation happens Saturday morning, and in the evening it’s the World of Women Voices with singer/songwriters Sharon Goldman, Bev Grant, and Villa Palagonia featuring Allison Scola.  http://buttonwood.org/

Tonight / Thursday Manic Presents offers The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, appearing with Beverly, and Ablebody at The Ballroom at the Outer space in Hamden. Then, Manic has three nights in a row at the College Street Music Hall starting tomorrow/Friday with City and Colour and Noah Gundersen, Saturday with Demetri Martin and the Let’s Get Awkward Tour, and Sunday Manic Presenst Trombone Shorty &Orleans Avenue, appearing with the New Breed Brass Band at College St. Manic also has Twin Peaks, Ron Gallo, and Dirt Devil on Saturday at The Ballroom at The Outer Space plus they’ve got Elvis Depressedly and more at The Ballroom on Sunday. http://www.manicpresents.com/

At Russell Library, Children’s author Minh Le shares his book, “Let Me Finish!” at The Library on Friday. There’s a Friends of the Library Book Sale this weekend.  You’re invited to register for the Adult Summer Reading program, offering a chance to win gift cards to local venues. The exhibit of photographs celebrating the Middletown Summer Hoopfest is ongoing.  www.russelllibrary.org

The Art Guild of Middletown hosts its annual Juried Exhibit this week, with an opening reception and awards ceremony will be held Friday at 7pm at the Zilkha Art Gallery on the Wesleyan campus. Full details at www.middletownartguild.org

Tonight in Hartford at Mortensen Riverfront Plaza, you can catch Thursday Nights on the Plaza, with free music and more www.riverfront.org You can enjoy more on Friday with the Pratt Street Music Series, featuring Bruce Gregori this week.  www.hartford.com/events/


On Friday Cherry St. Station in Wallingford begins their Three Days of Riffs Weekend with Bone Storm, Gritter, and more. There’s a CD release party on Saturday featuring Sworn Enemy, No Honor Among Thieves, and others. https://www.facebook.com/CherryStreetStation/ for details

At Infinity Hall in Hartford, you can enjoy jazz on Friday with An Evening with Pat Metheny, appearing with Antonio Sanchez, Linda Man, and more. On Saturday it’s blues with Grammy nominee Tab Benoit. On Sunday, Indivisible Connecticut presents Songs of Despair & Hope with a live performance by The Shinolas, appearing along with other performers. A portion of sales will be donated to local action groups. the Divas. Details at www.infinityhall.com

Connecticut celebrates its 13th annual Open House Day on Saturday with a variety of free offerings across the state at diverse venues. Check out what’s happening at http://www.ctvisit.com/connecticut-open-house-day-june-10-2017

At the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, it’s Second Saturdays for Families this week with free admission, along with Juneteenth Family Day, celebrating African American history with a variety of activities. www.thewadsworth.org


The Brownstone Quorum and Town of Portland are co-sponsoring The Portland Riverfront Park Music and Arts Festival Saturday from 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Portland Riverfront Park. Rain date is June 11th. Enjoy continuous music, arts and crafts, food vendors, and more. The line-up includes Deep Ellum at noon, Seat of Our Pants at 1:00 pm, We Got Rhythm at 2:15 pm, The Mighty Soul Drivers at 4:15 pm, and Plywood Cowboy at 6:15 pm. Riverfront Park is located at 284 Brownstone Avenue, near the Brownstone Quarries. Full details athttps://www.facebook.com/brownstonequorum/

On Sunday, Hands On Drumming – CT sponsors a River Vibes Waterfront Drum Circle at 4 pm at Waterfront Park in Middletown. Bring your own or use one of theirs. The Circle will meet every second Sunday through the summer. https://www.facebook.com/CityArtsOffice/

Connecticut’s Farmers Markets are opening the 2017 season again. Enjoy home-grown goods and support local growers. Open now are: Cromwell, Fridays 4-7 pm; Durham, Thursdays 3-6 pm; and Glastonbury, Wednesdays 4-7pm. More to come as the season unfolds. Info at www.ctnofa.org

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

Through Sunday, Hartford’s Real Art Ways continues their run of “Obit,” a film that explores the world of obituary writers. Tonight they end runs of 2 films, “Like Crazy,” and “The Zookpeeper’s Wife,”  Friday they open “Sacred,” a documentary about religious practices and rituals from around the globe. Also opening is “The Lost City of Z,” the true story of a British explorer who discovers an unknown civilization in the Amazon. Both run through the weekend. On Sunday they screen “Before Homosexuals,” a documentary on same-sex desire, as part of the 30th CT LBGT Film Festival.  Details & screening times at www.realartways.org

Trinity College’s Cinestudio in Hartford continues screenings of selections for the 30th annual CT LGBT Film Festival, offering men’s shorts, women’s shorts, and more. On Sunday their National Theatre Live series brings you “Peter Pan. Next week the Theater will be closed for their summer break.  http://www.cinestudio.org/

Now here's what's on the air tonight. Right after The Jive at Five stick around for Homegrown with Rob DeRosa featuring Connecticut Connected music presented for a global audience.  

from 6:30-8pm Imagine with Karen Stein offering peace through music from around the workld and around the block!

At 8pm its time for Evening Jazz with Bill Denert "Hearing is the best experience". Until 10pm, Bill presents a broad range of swing, bebop and avante garde Jazz with a sprinkling of new releases.

From 10-11pm From the Archives with Sundermunich presents a mostly random selection of records from the studio and not-so-random from my personal archives.

At 11 going until midnight, David Whitehouse fills in for the Feminist Bloc w

And from Midnight-4am its Franco’s Studio 54 Disco Mix with 4 hours of disco and dance music from 70s and 80s.  

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

Thanx for listening! Now stay tuned for Homegrown with Rob DeRosa. And while you're grooving to Rob, how about helping out WESU by by donating to the station's spring pledge drive at www.wesufm.org/pledge? Thanks!