Mon., Nov. 19 Jive

Good evening, it’s Monday, Nov. 19^th, and this is the Thanksgiving week edition of 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 Maria Johnson, host of Reasonably Catholic: Keeping the Faith, which airs every 1st, 3rd and 5th Tuesday, from 4 to 4:55, right before the Jive. It’s a thoughtful discussion of progressive issues of faith and action, with interviews and commentary. Look for it tomorrow, when I interview Democratic U.S. Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro about her Catholic faith and film producer Jules Hart, creator of the documentary Pink Smoke Over the Vatican, about women who’ve dared to be ordained Catholic priests.

Thanks for tuning in.

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

Tonight, at the Buttonwood Tree in Middletown, it’s the Anything Goes Open Mic Night.

Saturday evening at the Buttonwood, the jazz trio Frank Varela & Upstream performs.

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 Street and all are welcome to the meal.

Learn about all Buttonwood events at www.buttonwood.org

Friday kicks off Middletown’s Holiday on Main Events. There will be a free holiday crafts fair at the MAC650 Gallery from 2-8 P.M., a chance to support the local economy and local artists with your holiday dollars! Baked goods and hot beverages provided!

There will be a Festival of Wreaths from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Friday at Liberty Bank.

From 2 to 5 p.m., the Middlesex County Historical Society will host an open house at the General Mansfield House, 151 Main St.

From 4 to 8 p.m., the Middletown Lions Club will be staffing the popcorn-and-hot-pretzel stand in front of the Chamber. Holiday music will be played by Harvest Woods Audio.

The Middletown High School Crew Team selling hot chocolate in front of the Church of the Holy Trinity!

On Saturday, the Holiday on Main festivities continue with various civic and school organizations manning the booths. There will be a visit by Santa; free hayrides along Main Street;  and free train rides on the sidewalk around downtown.

Webster Bank is sponsoring a “giving tree” to benefit the Middletown Parks & Recreation’s Holiday Program, providing presents for disadvantaged children. Take an ornament off the Giving Tree, buy a suggested gift and return it with the ornament to Webster Bank during the week, or to the Middlesex Chamber during Holiday On Main Street on Saturdays. All items should be new, unopened and unwrapped.

Down in New Haven at Toad’s Place on Wednesday, Deep Banana Blackout plays, as well as Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds. Wednesday is also the weekly EDM Night.

Friday brings Chris Webby to the Toad’s stage, with D. Lector, PR1MO, TGIF and Dublin.

Also on Friday at Toad’s, Manic Productions presents Bomb the Music Industry, with The World is a Beautiful Place & I am No Longer Afraid to Die; Hop Along; and LVL UP.

Saturday, NRBQ comes to Toad’s, along with Remember September and DizzyFish.

More about all Toad’s shows at toadsplace.com.

At Café Nine in New Haven tonight, the Fistful of Jokes Comedy Series takes the stage. Tomorrow brings the Elm City Americana Series, with Milksop: Unsung.

Wednesday, Safety Meeting presents Lord Fowl; w/ The Naked Heroes.

Thursday evening Dean Falcone and Friends present the Thanksgiving Vomitorium, in which otherwise good songs are overcooked. Watch friends & enemies battle their way through songs they don’t know! Watch in amazement as audience members are unwillingly dragged to the stage to sing! See who fills the Vomitorium buckets with holiday cheer! See all your favorite bar stars!! Special guests to be announced!

Friday, Sal Paradise plays during happy hour, followed by the Casa de Warrenton presentation of You Scream I Scream; w/ MT Bearington and Weird Beards.

Saturday, the Afternoon Jazz Jam is hosted by George Baker, followed by the Duke Robillard Band; w/ Paul Gabriel.

Then Sunday, it’s the Sunday-After-Supper Jam with host Kevin St. James and the Legendary Cafe Nine All-Stars.

More can be found at cafenine.com.

Up in Hartford at Blackeyed Sally’s, tonight’s Jazz Monday featured performance is JB’s Birthday Bash.

Tomorrow, it’s Michael Palin’s Other Orchestra, an 18-piece band jamming and working out new material.

Wednesday, it’s the weekly Blues Jam, hosted this week by Gene Donaldson.

Then Friday, Christine Ohlman & Rebel Montez take the Sally’s stage.

And Saturday, it’s Roxy Perry’s All Star Revue.

More can be found at blackeyedsallys.com.

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

At Real Art Ways in Hartford, Photographic Memory continues tonight through Wednesday.

Friday and Saturday, it’s a screening of Ingenious, in which a small-time inventor of clever but impractical products finally comes up with the Big Idea, the one he’s been waiting for to save his business and marriage. Wild money-raising schemes ensue.

Friday and Saturday also brings the Best of the New York International Children’s Film Festival, a family favorite, to Real Art Ways. This colorful collection of short films from around the world features audience and jury favorites from the 2012 festival and is suited for children ages 4 to 8.

Friday through most of next week, it’s Knuckleball, the story of a handful of pitchers in the entire history of baseball who throw a ball so slowly and unpredictably that no one wants anything to do with it.

Then on Sunday, the Story of Film: An Odyssey continues with Part 7, “New Boundaries: World Cinema in Africa, Asia, Latin America” and “New American Independents & the Digital Revolution.”

More details can be found at realartways.org.

Over at Cinestudio, Trinity College’s movie theater, 17 Girls plays tonight and wraps up tomorrow.

Wednesday begins screenings of The Master in 4K, in which a charismatic trickster played by Philip Seymour Hoffman claims to heal people by separating them from the trauma of past lives.

Then Sunday through Tuesday, it’s Easy Money, a Swedish thriller which director Martin Scorsese helped bring to the States. It’s described as sharing with the best gangster movies a sense of morality and a critique of society.

Learn more at cinestudio.org.

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

Then it’s A Hate Supreem, from 11:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. with DJ AWOL and the melodic, improvisational, and off-kilter groove of jazz coupled with the overtly technical, rigidly composed, and aggressively loud elements of metal.