Jive for Friday 05-18-12

Good afternoon. It’s Friday, May 18th, 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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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
Here’s a rundown of some of what’s happening in our area:

Happenings at The Buttonwood Tree’s this week beginning with tonight are The Press Gang Band blending their skill in traditional Irish music with their curiosity for other styles. Saturday The Buttonwood goes on the road to bring the 3rd Annual Music Festival to Halfinger Farms in Higganum – this to benefit The Buttonwood Tree. This year’s performers will pay homage to their mothers and invite you to do the same! Bluegrass will set the stage. Live animals, face-painting, dancing, and more. Featured artists include Andy Buzzi, Charter Oak Bluegrass Band, Poor Old Shine, South Carolina Broadcasters and others! Additionally, there will be food from local eateries and tours of the farm and greenhouses. This event is free and open to the public!

Food Not Bombs shares food starting around 1 pm in front of The Buttonwood Tree on Sundays, all are welcome. Consider yourself invited to help prepare vegetarian food at the First Church on 190 Court Street at 11:30 am in preparation for this weekly event. More can be found online at foodnotbombs.net

This Sunday afternoon at 4pm The Buttonwood’s Monthly Poetry Potluck presents an opportunity for enthusiasts to get together to share and discuss their favorite poetry. More information about Buttonwood events is available online at www.buttonwood.org

Oddfellows Playhouse on Washington Street in Middletown presents their closing performances of “Our Town” by Thornton Wilder this weekend.  Performances are tonight and tomorrow at 7:30 pm.  “Our Town” is famed for daring both the actors and audience to interact in order to weave the themes of family, marriage, death, and eternity into the story of what was daily life. Tickets are available online at oddfellows.org

Today kicks off the Middlesex Community College 2012 Arts & Media Festival in Chapman Hall, at MXCC 100 Training Hill Rd, Middletown. There’s a Reception starting at 6, and Film And Multimedia Project Screenings begin at 7 pm. For more information call (860) 343-5800 or visit www.mxcc.commnet.edu

The Russell Knitters invite you to join them at the Russell Library in Middletown this Saturday at 11:00 am to share your expertise and learn from other members. More online atwww.russelllibrary.org

Wesleyan University’s Center for the Arts presents: Thesis Art Exhibitions at Zilkha Gallery featuring the work of the Class of 2012’s thesis students in the Department of Art and Art History’s Art Studio Program. The show features drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, sculpture, mixed media and architecture and is curated by Professor of Art Tula Telfair. Gallery Hours are Tuesday through Sunday, noon to 4pm through Saturday, May 26 in the Ezra and Cecile Zilkha Gallery. The exhibit is free and open to the Public. More information can be found online at wesleyan.edu/CFA

Sunday afternoon at 4pm, The Greater Middletown Chorale presents “Come, Let Us Sound With Melody!” a concert for spring – American Spirituals and Sacred Music at the Second Congregational Church of New London United Church of Christ.   Tickets and info can be found online at gmchorale.org/ or by calling 860 316 4854.

This Sunday, The 5th Annual “Thank the Lake Day” at Lake Pocotopaug, Sears Park, 68 North Main Street in East Hampton is from 1-5pm. It’s a free celebration of the waters open to the public…featuring the traditional Cheyenne flute and drum of Joseph Firecrow, the Gypsy reggae of Hannah’s Field and the spoken word of Sympetalous…sponsored by Positively Clean

Auditions for CT Gilbert & Sullivan performances of Trial By Jury and H.M.S. Pinafore begin Sunday.  Auditions are at 7pm on Sunday & Tuesday, May 22 at The Church of the Holy Trinity, on Main Street in Middletown. Performances are September 14-16 at the Performing Arts Center at MHS. For info call 800-866-1606 or visit ctgands.org

Now here’s a rundown of some of what’s happening outside the main stream of cinema in central CT:

Tonight through Saturday, Cinestudio in Hartford, celebrates the 45th anniversary of The Classic Film, “The Graduate” starring Dustin Hoffman about a recent graduate of an elite East Coast College who refuses to settle for his preplanned future.  Sunday Cinestudio Kicks off a run of “In Darkness” which is based on the true story of a Polish petty thief and sanitation worker, and the disparate group of Jews hiding in the sewers who must rely on him for protection during World War II. Showtimes and tickets can be found at cinestudio.org

Tonight Real Art Ways begins a run of “Delicacy”, the new French drama about life, loss, and love. Later tonight and Saturday you can catch “How to Grow a Band”, a film about Chris Thile, of the band Nickel Creek and his plans to move forward following his failed marriage and the dissolution of the band. For more information and tickets, visit realartways.org

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And now let’s take a look at tonight’s programming on WESU.

Right after the Jive At Five from 5:05 to 6:00pm it’s
 The Brittle Diameter
 w/Josh Sharp – 
A varied blend of brand new and time honored independent music, presented in a mixtape aesthetic.  Continuity and cohesion are the watchwords here.

From 6:00 to 6:30pm 
it’s Free Speech Radio News from The Pacifica Network – An independently produced half hour daily national and international radio news program focusing on peace and social justice issues in the US and around the world. FSRN is collectively run by its workers and reporters.

At 6:30 until 7pm, listen in to The Middletown Youth Radio Project – A weekly radio program featuring the thoughts, voices, creativity and talent of the kids in the WESU neighborhood.

From 7pm to 8:30pm we have the Universal Sound Wave with Sistah Tee – Informing listeners about local and global issues with health, nutrition, and stress reduction tips, featuring a wide range of music including African, reggae, gospel, R&B, Latin, and blues.

Next up until 10pm, we take it
 From the Otherside with 
Rok-A-Dee – The Voice of Hartford, featuring local artists from Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Spotlighting Caribbean R & B, Soca and international music.

From 10 until 11:30pm, take in
 the sounds of Rumba en el Patio 
with Michael
- Classic Salsa for the dancers, Afro-Latin Big Band for the discerning ear. Join us as we adventure through the history of Musica Latina!

At 11:30pm until 1am Saturday it’s 
N.E. Tempo with 
DJ Berk
- Serious turntablism – Dubstep, DnB, techno, ragga jungle, breakbeats mixed live.

At 1am we go 
In the Master Bedroom, Under the Bed with 
Dope Dave 
until 3am – Celebrating conscious hip-hop and its offshoots & influences. Acrobatic emcees and down-tempo poets mix it up over varied oceans of sound.

At 3, to 4am it’s the Hour of Slack from The Church of the SubGenius Radio Ministry with Bob – The compendium of the best and newest from all SubGenius radio & stage shows, bands, ranters, media barrage collage artists, plus the weirdest of the indie audio underground.

Then, we bring you
 Sing Out! 
from 4 to 5am, on a mission to preserve and support the cultural diversity and heritage of all traditional and contemporary folk musics, and to encourage making folk music a part of our everyday lives.

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
 – Traditional and contemporary music with a Celtic connection.

And now that the coffee’s hot enjoy Caffe Italia from 7:00 to 8:00am 
with Francesco Fiumara
 – A weekly roundup of news, music and memories from Italy.

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 from Kevin Norton’s Metaphor Quartet, a CD entitled Not Only In That Golden Tree . . . featuring (the late) Wilber Morris, Masahiko Kono, Hitomi Tono’Oka and Kevin Norton, the selection “not drunk, but stunned” and it’s out on clean feed records.

If you didn’t get a chance to write down some information for an event mentioned in our jive at five –we’ve published the script for today’s jive online at

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!