Mon., Feb. 4, Jive

Let’s look at what’s going on in the community this week:

Over at the Buttonwood Tree in Middletown tonight at 7:30, it’s the “Anything Goes” open mic night.

Tomorrow brings Laughter Yoga with Mimi Claire and a vegetarian potluck supper to the Buttonwood, beginning at 6 p.m.

On Thursday, and every first Thursday, it’s Bob Gotta’s longstanding acoustic Open Mic at the Buttonwood,  Sign-ups start at 6:30 p.m. Friday brings the Alon Nechushtan ‘Words Beyond’ Jazz Trio, a hard-swinging and inventive piano trio, to the Buttonwood Tree. 

Saturday, it’s Saturday Morning Qigong (Chi Kung) at 7:30 a.m., followed by community yoga for beginners and intermediates at 8:30.

Saturday night at the Buttonwood, it’s the Grass Routes Bluegrass Band. Sunday, Food Not Bombs shares food at about 1 pm in front of the Buttonwood. All are welcome to enjoy a free vegetarian meal and to help prepare it beforehand at First Church at on Court Street at 11:30 am. For more information about all Buttonwood events, visit www.buttonwood.org.

Over at Café Nine in New Haven, tonight brings GET TO THE POINT! • Volume Three, the monthly series of storytellings and readings, this month with Terri Klein, who will do a words-and-music re-examination of Catherine the Great;  The event also features Daniel Smith, Fran Fried, Steve Bellwood; and Drew Gray.

Tomorrow’s early show at Café Nine is Soiree Brassens, with Joe Flood interpreting the songs of legendary composer George Brassens, followed by Sugarbat. Wednesday brings singer/songwriter Ada. And Thursday, it’s Anonymous, Inc., at Café Nine. Friday’s happy hour features Dan Green, followed by Chris Berardo & the DesBerardos.

Saturday, it’s the SATURDAY AFTERNOON JAZZ JAM w/ host Gary Grippo and Friends, followed by Broken. Sunday’s SUNDAY-AFTER-SUPPER JAM will be hosted by Dom Zullo and the Cafe Nine All Stars. www.cafenine.comfor details.

Up in Hartford at Blackeyed Sally’s, tonight is Jazz Monday. Tomorrow brings Michael Palin’s Other Orchestra, an 18-piece band, to Sally’s stage. And Wednesday it’s the Blues Jam with Ed Bradley. Thursday brings Heather Maloney and Them Damn Hamiltons, along with Rum Glass Serenade, to Sally’s as part of the Roots Music Series. And Friday, it’s Soul Tsunami. Saturday brings singer/songwriter/guitarist Debbie Davies to Blackeyed Sally’s.   www.blackeyedsallys.com for more info.

Over at Middlesex Community College on Wednesday from 4 to 6 p.m., there will be an opening reception for two exhibits: Michael Digiorgio’s “Drawn from Life,” and Sonya Suydam Gill’s “Color,” The “Drawn from Life” exhibit is in The Niche, located in Founders Hall across from the Registrar’s Office, and “Color” is in the Pegasus Gallery in Founders Hall. For more information, contact curator Matthew Weber at mweber@mxcc.edu.

At the Russell Library on Wednesday from 7 to 8:30 p.m., it’s Beekeeping for Beginners. a free lecture by the owner of A&Z Apiaries in Hampton.On Thursday at 7 p.m. at the library, it’s “The Beatles: Band of the Sixties,” a 90-minute presentation , supplemented by audio clips of music and interviews with the band. www.russelllibrary.orgfor more info.

At Wesleyan University on Wednesday from noon to 2 p.m., it’s the opening reception of “Traces of Life – Seen Through Korean Eyes, 1945-1992”, in the Freeman East Asian Studies Center gallery room.

Later on Wednesday, at 8 p.m. at Russell House, 350 High Street, author Adina Hoffman will read from her recent work.  She is the author of “House of Windows: Portraits from a Jerusalem Neighborhood” and the acclaimed biography “My Happiness Bears No Relation to Happiness: A Poet’s Life in the Palestinian Century.” A reception and book signing will follow the reading, which is free and open to the public.

Thursday brings the opening reception of “(Re)viewing Bodies – Selected American Photographs” to Wesleyan’s Davison Art Center . The opening reception is from 5 to 7 p.m., with a gallery talk by student curators at 5:30. The show includes more than fifty American photographs from the Davison Art Center collection.

Friday from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. brings a performance of work by Emily Faulkner ,  class of  ’86, to the Bessie Schonberg Dance Studio at 247 Pine Street. Schonberg is on the faculty of Movement Research and her choreography has been seen at venues in New York and Edinburgh.

On Friday and Saturday evening at 8, Gallim Dance comes to the CFA Theater to perform the New England premiere of “Mama Call”, a contemporary tale of border-crossing, and “Pupil Suite”, set to the contagious music of Israeli band Balkan Beat Box with a pre-performance talk at 7:30 on Friday by Debra Cash.  For more information about the events, go to www.wesleyan.edu/cfa.     
       

On Friday at 7 p.m., the Greater Middletown Chorale sponsors McKay Jenkins, author of “The Last Ridge,” in a free illustrated talk about the 10th Mountain Division, its beginnings in World War II, its epic assault on Hitler’s troops in Italy, its impact on America’s ski industry and its service today in the Near East. The presentation will be in Middlesex Community College’s Chapman Hall, and a discussion will follow. The Greater Middletown Chorale presents the talk in connection with the world premiere of its newly commissioned work, Letter from Italy, 1944, scheduled for April 28.

Also on Friday, at 8 p.m., at the gallery MAC650, 650 Main St., there will be a fundraiser and dance party to raise money for an animation/video project, “Projected.”,  a pilot project to serve as an example for an after school program and  equipment to be used for movie and video game night at MAC 650. The event features  music from 8pm until 10 p.m. followed by dance music til midnight.

This Sunday At the MHS Performing Arts Center at Middletown High School, THE GREATER MIDDLETOWN CONCERT ASSOCIATION presents the high-energy Chamber ensemble, “Fireworks” in a program that moves from the bluegrass to Sacred Harp, Zydeco to Chicago Blues, plus rock and hip hop.  For info call (860) 347-4887or visit http://www.greatermiddletownconcerts.org

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

At Real Art Ways, Oscar-nominated short films, both animated and live-action, make up the bulk of the week’s schedule. Go to www.realartways.org for details.

At Cinestudio, Trinity College’s cinema, “The Central Park Five,” a documentary about the wrongful conviction of five black and Latino teens in New York City, continues through Wednesday. Thursday brings one showing of “Bound,” in which a female ex-con moves in next door to a low-level mafioso and his hot wife. As they devise a scheme to rip off a Mafia don, the two women’s friendship begins to heat up. Friday and Saturday bring “ARGO” to Cinestudio, and Sunday through Tuesday, it’s “Chasing Ice,” about the effects of global warming. More at cinestudio.org.

Now let’s look at what’s on tap here at WESU tonight as we kick off the spring schedule.

Right after the Jive at 5, from 5:05 to 6, it’s Afternoon Jazz with Charles Henry, a well-rounded jazz show for true jazz fans.

Then at 6pm each weekday, it’s Free Speech Radio News From The Pacifica Network, your evening dose of alternative international news and reporting.

From 6:30-8pm, Bill Revill’s Acoustic blender fill in for Johnny Analog’s Life is a Killer .

From 8-9:30pm, it’s Rumpus Room with Lord Lewis, the best in vintage and contemporary heavy funk, soul, club jazz, reggae, ska, afro and latin dancefloor grooves.

From 9:30-11pm, it’s The Attention Deficit Disk Jockey with Lee, the music of yesterday’s future, today.

Then from 11pm-12am, it’s A Hate Supreem with DJ AWOL, a mostly jazz and metal show.

 From midnight to 1 a.m., it’s Maelstrom of the Weird with Phil Void, surveying punk in all its innovation and abrasion.

That’s followed by Live From The Paris Hotel with The Sparrow, a  mercurial mixture of pop music and poetry.

From 2 to 3 a.m., catch a new show, Explorers’ Hour with Pickup Sticks, followed by another new offering,

From 3 to 4, it’s 88 Keys with Mads. Playing tracks hand-picked for their captivating piano features.

And then the BBC World News Service kicks on at 4AM followed at 5 by Morning Edition from NPR.

That’s all for today’s Jive at Five, if you didn’t get a chance to write down some of the information mentioned in our community calendar, the script is published online at www.wesufm.org/jive, and if you know of any events that you’d like to have announced on the Jive, send them tojive@wesufm.org If you tune in to WESU for information and music that you can’t find elsewhere, then we are counting on you to help support the service you depend on.

Please take a moment to make a donation of any size online at www.wesufm.org, every dollar counts and we need to hear from you. Thanks for listening!

The sound bed for Today’s Jive at Five features the sound “Irish Step Dancing” from the MiddletownRemix project, a collaborative, place-based  sound project that enables participants to develop and express the acoustic identity of Greater Middletown, and to explore and experience the soundscapes of the city. you can learn more online at www.middletownnremix.org

Now stay tuned for Afternoon Jazz with Charles Henry.