Thursday's Jive

J-Cherry… producer and host of, ‘VOICE of the CITY’  Airing on WESU 88.1 FM Middletown Tuesdays from 8-9PM Live and local… This ain’t no commercial radio! jcherrypresents.com

Good evening, it’s Thursday, Nov. 29th, and this is the Jive at Five – WESU’s 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 week nights and weekends. I’m J-Cherry producer and host of VOICE of the CITY,  Tuesday from 8-9PM, Showcasing live and local music, arts, and culture.Thanks for tuning in. Here’s a 

Here’s a rundown of some of what’s happening in our area:

Tonight at the Buttonwood Tree, The Music of Miles and Coltrane with the Noah Baerman Trio, featuring tenor saxophonist Jimmy Greene. The program is presented in conjunction with pianist and educator Noah Baerman’s course on Miles and Coltrain through Wesleyan University’s Graduate Liberal Studies program, and there will be a demonstration and Q&A session preceding the concert. Joining him and Jimmy Greene will be bassist Henry Lugo and drummer Vinnie Sperrazza.
Friday at the Buttonwood, it’s the Hartt School of Music: Classical Guitar Showcase. The Guitar Department at The Hartt School University of Hartford is the oldest performance-based guitar program in the country. The concert will feature ensemble and solo guitar music including guitar quartets, flute and guitar, as well as solos. Saturday night, the Eric Mintel Jazz Quartet, which played last year at the White House, performs favorite jazz tunes and originals. Sunday, and every Sunday, at about 1 p.m. in front of the Buttonwood Tree, Food Not Bombs serves vegetarian food. You’re invited to help prepare the meal at 11:30 a.m. at the First Church on Court.
Learn about all Buttonwood events at www.buttonwood.org.

Tonight, at Wesleyan’s Center for the Arts,  presents a festive concert of Ghanaian drumming and singing with Prof. Abraham Adzenyah and his advanced drumming class at Crowell Concert Hall.
Friday evening brings Music from East Asia to Wesleyan’s World Music Hall, featuring Wesleyan’s East Asian Ensembles presenting a variety of musical styles and repertories from East Asian cultures.
Also on Friday, at Crowell Concert Hall, there will be a West African dance concert, in which choreographer and Artist in Residence Iddi Saaka will be joined by students and guest artists for an invigorating performance showcasing the vibrancy of West African cultures through music and dance forms.

Saturday evening, at World Music Hall, it’s the Wesleyan Gamelan Ensemble and Javanese dance performance, an orchestra of bronze gongs, xylophones, drums.

Sunday brings the Worlds of Dance performance  to Crowell Concert Hall. For more information, go to www.wesleyan.edu/cfa.

Tonight through Saturday, the Oddfellows Junior Reporatory Company will present Huck Finn at the Oddfellow Playhouse on Washington Street.

Tonight, down in New Haven at Toad’s Place it’s Dopapod; Soule Monde, featuring Ray Paczkowski + Russ Lawton of the Trey Anastasio Band; and The Mushroom Cloud. Friday, The Machine performs Pink Floyd. And Saturday it’s the Original Saturday Night Dance Party. More information about all Toad’s shows can be found at toadsplace.com.

At Café Nine in New Haven tonight it’s, Jazz Haven presents The New Unity Quintet.
Friday’s happy hour brings Malcolm Marsden, followed by a Tribute to the Anthology of American Folk Music, to benefit the CT Food Bank. The performance by an extensive roster of musicians pays tribute to an anthology compiled by folklorist, researcher and musicologist Harry Smith. Originally released as a three-record set in 1952, the anthology went on to influence folk musicians of the ’50s and ’60s, directly presaging the folk revival and providing a basis for folk and Americana musicians who followed. Saturday’s Afternoon Jazz Jam will be hosted by the Mike Coppola Trio. That will be followed by Oddball Events’ and Café Nine’s presentation of Andre Williams; w/ Barrence Whitfield & the Savages; and Bronson Rock. Sunday, Manic Productions Simone Felice; w/ Smoke Signals will be performing. More can be found at cafenine.com.

Up in Hartford at Blackeyed Sally’s tonight, it’s the Roots Music Series, a folk-blues show, brings Detroit Rebellion and The Grimm Generation. Friday, it’s Eddie Shaw & the Wolf Gang. It was the original backup band for Howlin’ Wolf until his death in 1975. Saturday brings Bad Rooster to Sallys.More can be found at blackeyedsallys.com.

Now let’s take a look at cinema off the beaten track in Central Connecticut:

At Real Art Ways in Hartford, “Ingenious” continues through tonight, as does “Knuckleball”, the story of a handful of pitchers in the entire history of baseball. Opening Friday is The Loneliest Planet, in which a momentary misstep threatens to undo everything a young engaged couple believes about each other and themselves. Also opening Friday is Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters. Crewdson’s riveting photographs are elaborately staged, elegant narratives compressed into a single large-scale image. The film is a profile of the acclaimed artist, featuring fellow artists commenting on the motivation behind their friend’s haunting images. Sunday brings Improvisations, the artist-curated performance series, to RealArtWays.Then on Sunday, the Story of Film: An Odyssey, concludes with Part 8: “Cinema Today and the Future” (2000s). This and more can be found atrealartways.org.

Tonight over at Cinestudio, Trinity College’s cinema,begins “The Intouchables”, a comedy in which a caretaker to a quadriplegic Parisian aristocrat tries to break through his patient’s wall of loneliness.
Sunday begins a double-feature: Searching for Sugarman and Neil Young’s Journeys. For music and movie fans: one ticket, two unforgettable documentaries! Searching for Sugarman is about two South African fans’ search for Sixto Rodriguez, a ‘70s superstar who disappeared after rumors of an onstage suicide. Neil Young Journeys is directed by Jonathan Demme who gets the rock legend to share tales about his childhood and career, punctuated by classic songs as well as new ones. Learn more about what’s happening at cinestudio.org.

Now let’s look at what’s on tap here at WESU tonight.