Thursday's Jive

Good evening, it’s Thursday July 19th, and this is the Jive at Five, WESU’s daily community calendar and run-down of nighttime programming here on 88.1 FM WESU Middletown. Thanks for making WESU your listener-supported source for NPR, Pacifica, independent and local public affairs and free-form community radio. I’m J-Cherry producer and host of VOICE of the CITY airing on Tuesdays from 6:30 to 8PM Showcasing live and local music, arts, and culture. Thanks for tuning in.


Here in Middletown, Tonight the Mattabesett Canoe Club at Harbor Park presents Thursday Nights’  “Jazz on the River “  from 6:00 – 10:00 pm. For info and reservations call 860-347-9999


Also here in Middletown tonight Grammy-nominated and National Endowment for the Arts crowned “Jazz Master” saxophonist David Liebman and his quartet perform in Wesleyans Center for the arts Crowell Concert Hall tonight.  www.wesleeyan.edu/cfa 


Tonight down In New Haven at café nine, the John D’Amato band to the stage, and Friday Night will see Nona Hendrix, of the funk/glam/rock group ‘Labelle’ Café Nine’s Saturday afternoon Jazz Jam will be hosted by the George Baker Experience this week. Saturday Night the rock and roll cats from the Cape, The Spampinato Brothers, w/ Big Fat Combo, will be performing live. More can be found online at cafenine.com

Tonight brings Real Art Ways’ monthly Creative Cocktail Hour gathering. This month’s event celebrates the opening of Brad Guarino’s: What Manner of Men which features large-scale figurative paintings exploring masculinity. The night also features music by DJ LOCK MESS and bite-sized theatre by Bated Breath. www.realartways.org




Friday at Tools Bar and Grill, in New Britain, the Latin Quarter Jazz Collective take the stage, followed by the D. Smith Blues Band on Saturday night. More can be found at Toolsbarandgrill.com

Friday in Hartford at Black Eyed Sally’s, storyteller and deep roots guitarist known as ‘The Sauce Boss” will take the stage at Sally’s, followed by the Randy Oxford Band on Saturday night. For more information, you can check out blackeyedsallys.com

Also here in Middletown Mondays through Thursdays, from 10am-noon through July and August, Stacey Stroka leads The Buttonwood Tree’s Open Arts & Crafts program. Everyone is welcome! Tonight will be the Middletown Gallery Walk, which will continue every third Wednesday of the month from now until October from 5:00-8:00 pm. Friday night, California performers Mark Lemaire and Twilight bring their ‘beautiful two-part harmonies and virtuoso guitar’ to the Buttonwood Tree. Saturday at the Buttonwood Tree is a double bill starting off with ‘contemporary jazz guitar innovators’ Sheryl Bailey and Vic Juris, followed by a little Rock n’ Roll with Ray Mason. Show begins at 8:00 pm.

Food Not Bombs shares food about 1 pm in front of the Buttonwood Tree every Sunday. All are welcome and invited to help prepare vegetarian food at the First Church at 190 Court Street at 11:30 am. More information about all Buttonwood events can be found at buttonwood.org or by calling 860.347.4957


The Hamden Arts Commission continues its 2012 Summer Concert Series with Southside Johnny & The Asbury Dukes this Friday at 7:30 pm at the Town Center Park at Meadowbrook, Hamden.

This week brings the return of the Gathering of the Vibes to Seaside Park in Bridgeport. Kicking off Thursday and running through Sunday, this music festival features dozens of national and international performers. Highlights include STEEL PULSE, PRIMUS, PHIL LESH & FRIENDS, BOB WEIR & BRUCE HORNSBY WITH SPECIAL GUEST BRANFORD MARSALIS,  THE MICKEY HART BAND, GEORGE PORTER JR, THE GREYBOY ALLSTARS, ZAPPA PLAYS ZAPPA, THE STEPKIDS, THE MCLOVINS, MATES OF STATE, DEEP BANANA BLACKOUT, SOULIVE AND LETTUCE, plus much much more with MASTER OF CEREMONIES WAVY GRAVY! details can be found online at gatheringofthevibes.com

THE GREATER HARTFORD FESTIVAL OF JAZZ Kicks off Friday and continues through Sunday at Bushnell Park in Hartford.  Gates Open at 5pm on Friday and the music starts at 7pm after opening ceremony.Sunday’s line up starts at 3p.m. with Destiny Africa Children’s Choir followed by  Dana Lauren, Afro-Semitic Experience, and closes with a 7:30 – 9:00 pm performance from The Hartford Symphony Orchestra performing a tribute to the music of  “Cannonball” Adderley featuring Erica von Kleist. More online at http://www.hartfordjazz.com/

Saturday mornings at 11, The Russell Knitters meet and work at The Russell Library here in Middletown. All are welcome to share their expertise and experience. More can be found online at russelllibrary.org

Finally, in Middletown, on a social justice note, on Saturday, July 21, at 1 p.m., Encuentro will meet on Middletown’s South Green. Encuentro  (en-kwen-tro) is a gathering of individuals who are struggling for housing, education, health, freedom, justice, a voice, space to exist, peace, respect, community and dignity, and for humanity to counter the current tendency to prioritize big business over the general welfare. For more information, call 860-342-1070.

 ‘Tis the season for farmers’ markets and here’s a few in our area:

The Durham Farmers’ Market is open every Thursday on the Town Green on Main St, from 3 to 6:30 pm, through September.

The longstanding Middletown Farmers’ market at the South Green is open on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8 am to 1 pm through October.

The Middletown North End Farmers Market is now open 10 am to 2 pm every Friday and is located at the corner of Liberty and Main Streets in Middletown.

That’s it for our community calendar. For the latest in local arts and entertainment beyond the Jive At Five, you can visit www.arts2GO.org– the City of Middletown’s new website for anyone interested in what’s going on in Middletown.

Now here’s a quick rundown of cinema off the beaten path herein central CT this week.

Opening tonight and running through next Tuesday, Cinestudio, the Trinity College cinema in Hartford will present a new work by American director Wes Anderson entitled, ‘Moonrise Kingdom’ which took the opening slot at the Cannes Film Festival. Show schedules and descriptions can be found online at www.cinestudio.org

This Friday through next Tuesday, Real Art Ways in Hartford will be showing ‘Polisse’, a film that follows the daily lives of a tight-knit team of men and women working for the Child Proctection Unit of the Parisian police force. Tickets, times, and more can be found online at  www.realartways.org

Now stay tuned.  Here’s what’s playing on our Summer program at WESU tonight: 

Right after the Jive at Five,

5:05-6pm

Homegrown with Rob DeRosa

The best crop of Connecticut-connected music presented for a global audience.

6-6:30pm

Free Speech Radio News From The Pacifica Network

Your daily dose of alternative international news and reporting from the Pacifica Network.

6:30-8pm

Total Praise with Minister Latrecia

A diverse and inspirational blend of contemporary gospel music to uplift your spirit!

8-9:30pm

Evening Jazz with Bill Denert

Where hearing is the best experience. A broad range of swing, be-bop, and avant garde as well as a sprinkling of new releases

9:30-11pm

Art Projects with Aaron Berger

Going far in the name of artistic expression, but never losing hold of anchors in quality control and cultural relevance. Shoegaze and Garage meets Psych-Folk and Ambient Drone; HipHop and Soul meets 2-Step and Grime. It’s all fair game. Mixed with auditory bric-a-brac for optimal digestion.

11pm-12:30am

Alphabet Soup with DJ Blaze

An anti-genre, request-based melting pot. Each episode, we randomly select a letter from the alphabet, and play bands or artists whose names start with that letter. A wild romp through the annals of WESU’s music library, supported and guided by the interests of our listeners.

12:30-1:30am

Sunspot Loops

Let’s explore what’s new in the world and rearrange what exists into a form we can claim to understand. Listen to everything. Nothing gets hyped on. (micro-genres)

Friday, 1:30-4am

The Graveyard with DJ Otto Nation

An eclectic mix of music from the WESU collection of new releases.

The BBC World News Service kicks on at 4AM and we begin tomorrow’s broadcast at 5am with 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 to jive@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. Stay tuned for Homegrown with Rob Derosa.