Thursday 2-6-20

Good evening, it's Thursday, February 6th. 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 Ben Michael, WESU GM. Thanks for joining us today. Extra special thanks to our radioactive listeners who helped us complete one most challenging community pledge drive yet. Your support is essential to our continued existence and we are grateful to have you on board!

Now here's some of what's happening in our area this week:

Tonight, Bob Gotta hosts his long running monthly acoustic open mic at the Buttonwood Tree in Middletown. The Story City Troupe appears the The Buttonwood Friday. The Aligned With Source workshop happens Saturday morning, followed by the All the Write Ways Workshop with Briana Una McGuckin. It’s bluegrass at the Buttonwood Saturday evening with Redwood Hill. You can view the current exhibitions, “Were You Here” by Ryan Martin and “Blue Pearl” by Heather Cohen, throughout February. There will be a reception for the artists Saturday afternoon. www.buttonwood.org

In New Haven, at Café Nine tonight/Thursday, GA-20 and the Balkun Brothers take the stage. Friday’s 5pm live music Happy Hour set features Hatfield, and the late show’s got Home Body, Brain Bank, and The Forest Room. The Saturday Jazz Jam Session is with Gary Grippo, followed by Wayne Hancock and Roses Wild in the evening.. The Café Nine Sunday Buzz matinée features EG Vines and Bob Crelin. www.cafenine.com

At Black-Eyed Sally’s in Hartford, Liviu’s Invitational comes your way on Thursday nights. Singer/songwriter BRI takes the Sally’s stage on Friday night, and on Saturday you  can enjoy Gracie Curran and Her High Falutin’ Band. http://www.blackeyedsallys.com/

Up in Hartford tonight, The Webster Theater features the Have Mercy farewell tour and the Arch Street Tavern presents Mike and Mike hosting an open mic.

On Friday, Ray Harrington, Krystal Dyer, and Howie Mason are at the Polish Nation Home for Pierogis and Punchlines.

Also Friday, Rent Party: Funk Night with On the Black Hand Side is at Kamora’s Cultural Corner.

The Mark Twain House and Museum has the Mouth-Off with Chion Wolf, and there’s a tribute to Bob Marley at the Arch Street Tavern. On Saturday, the Connecticut Kids Fair is at the Convention Center, the Wadsworth Atheneum offers an afternoon with J. Hoberman, and Wiki: The OFFIE Tour is at the Webster. Full details on these and more at www.hartford.com/events/

The Middletown Arts & Culture Office reminds you that Friday, you can meet the jewelers of the Wesleyan Potters at a reception at the studio. And for live indie music, you can catch Francesca Blanchard, Olive Tiger, and Addy Edward at the MAC 650 gallery on Main St in Middletown on Friday. Saturday, Family Valentine’s Day Fun is offered by the Middletown Rec Department and Greg Sherrod is at La Boca. Details on these and more at www.facebook.com/CityArtsOffice/

At the Russell Library in Middletown, The First Friday Book Club meets at the RaMa LuNa Center to discuss “City of Girls” by Elizabeth Gilbert. www.russelllibrary.org

At Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts on tonight/Thursday, there’s an opening reception and artist talk for “Temporarily Censored Home” by Guanyu (Gary) Xu at the Mansfield Freeman Center. www.wesleyan.edu/cfa/

The Wesleyan RJ Julia Bookstore in Middletown continues their Winter Reading Program: Light Up Your Mind!, This week www.wesleyanrjjulia.com

At the State House in New Haven on tonight, Mandala, Chousand, Shy, and Fiction are on stage, and on Friday they’ve got Mick Foley and The Nice Day Tour. On Saturday, The State House presents Jay Critch Live. On Sunday, they’ve got Spotlights, Sperm Donor, and Glambat. www.statehousepresents.com

Tonight in New Haven Manic Presents brings They Might Be Giants to the College Street Music Hall. They headline The Wood Brothers and Kat Wright on Friday. www.manicpresents.com

Toad’s Place brings you another Blacklight Glow Party on Friday. On Saturday, it’s the Original College Dance Party, and Rapsody and more on stage on Sunday. www.toadsplace.com

Infinity Hall Norfolk brings you Ryan Montbleau on Friday. At Infinity Hartford, you can catch Big Eyed Phish on Friday and the Jay and Silent Bob Reboot Roadshow with Kevin Smith on Saturday. www.infinityhall.com

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

Hartford’s Real Art Ways continues their run 2020 Oscar-nominated short films this week. Check the website for details and screening times. www.realartways.org

Tonight, Trinity College’s Cinestudio opens a run of "Queen & Slim," about two contemporary outlaws, and on Sunday, they open the classic story of family relationships, “Tokyo Twilight.” Full details at http://www.cinestudio.org

Here's the rundown of tonight’s lineup here on WESU 88.1 FM Middletown as we work our way through week #2 of our new “Spring” program season:

Right after The Jive at Five, Stick around for Home grown with Rob DeRosa, the award winning CT connected music show featuring CT connected bands, interviews, concert information and more!

At 6:30, Karen Stein presents Imagine Radio, with a focus on helping spread peace on earth through good music from around the world and around the block.

At 8 until 9:30 stay tuned for Evening Jazz with Bill Denert featuring a mix of straight ahead and boundary pushing jazz.

at 9:30 stick around for Jazzalicious Definition with MC Magee, DJ Stocks'n'socks who strive to expose listeners to new artists, instruments, cultures, and genres that have been influenced by traditional jazz music.

at 10:30 Storytime with MT Spen comes your way to explore stories, both true and fictional through guests, songs, prose, and journalism.

at 11pm, Butterfingers specializes in Dropping funky tunes, one groovy slip at a time.

at midnight, This Just In with DJ Baby Ruth Provides soundtracks and reactions to the most eye-popping news stories of the week.

at 1am, Lil’ Kugel brings you Isn’t Life Strange featuring songs of any and all genres that epitomize our pasts, define our present selves, and predict our futures.

at 2am Louisiana Barn Dance brings us an hour of rootin tootin Cajun sounds until 3am when we’ll rebroadcast our noontime episode of Democracy Now! from Pacifica.

At 4am you can catch the BBC world report before we kick off our daytime public affairs block featuring programming from NPR, Pacifica and independent sources. Find the full schedule, archives, and a link to make a donation to WESU supporting the service we provide online at www.wesufm.org/pledge

Thanks so much for listening and once again, special thanks to those radioactive WESU listeners who helped us wrap up our long winded community pledge drive. Your support keeps community radio alive and well at WESU Middletown.   You can catch the Jive at five daily community calendar and rundown of night time programming at 4:55 daily M-F. Now, Stay tuned for a stiff does of Homegrown with Robbie DeRosa up next!