Here's what's going on this week:
Thursday, October 2
- From 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Flying Squirrel, Marcy Rein, and Cliff Ross will discuss Until the Rulers Obey: Voices from the Latin American Liberation Movement. [source: Flying Squirrel website, 2014-Sep-29]
- Tonight through Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and on Sunday at 2 p.m. at the MuCCC is Diversions and Delights by John Gay.
Diversions and Delights by academy Award Nominee John Gay is a one-man play about Oscar Wilde starring Peter J. Doyle. The play is set in a Parisian concert hall on the Rue de la Pepinier in 1899 — about a year before Wilde's death, at the age of 46. In an attempt to earn some much-needed money, Wilde is speaking to the audience about his life, his works and about his love for Lord Alfred Douglas. This will be the First production of this play in a community theatre in the country. It has not been performed since Vincent Price's highly acclaimed tour back in 1977. Mr. Gay has given his permission for the production.
[source: MuCCC website, 2014-Sep-29]
- Tonight at 8 p.m., the Dryden will screen Noises Off (Peter Bogdanovich, U.S. 1992, 104 min., 35mm).
A cast of American actors is in the final rehearsals for their out-of-town opening of a British sex farce. But the leading lady can't remember when to put down the sardines, the actor playing the crook is always drunk, and the British accents are all over the place. Michael Frayn's stage hit has been cleverly adapted to the screen by Peter Bogdanovich with the hilariously game cast of Michael Caine, Carol Burnett, John Ritter, Marilu Henner, Christopher Reeve, Julie Haggerty, Mark Linn Baker, and Nicolette Sheridan. Stereotypes and clichés are lovingly enshrined here. These people really do exist.
[source: Dryden website, 2014-Sep-29]
- Charlie Parr performs at the Bop Shop tonight starting around 8:30 p.m.
Many people play roots music, but few modern musicians live those roots like Minnesota's Charlie Parr. Recording since the earliest days of the 21st century, Parr's heartfelt and plaintive original folk blues and traditional spirituals don't strive for authenticity: They are authentic.
[source: Bop Shop website, 2014-Sep-29]
- Starting around 8:30 p.m. at the Bug Jar is Pujol, effortlessly tight, fast, hard-pop-rock from Routine Involvements, and Small Signals. [source: Bug Jar calendar, 2014-Sep-29]
- Rockin' rockabilly from Krypton 88 will be at Sticky Lips BBQ Juke Joint from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. [source: Sticky Lips website, 2014-Sep-29]
Friday, October 3
- This evening starting at 7 p.m. at the Flying Squirrel is a screening of The Great Incarcerator, Part 2: The Shadow of Lucasville (D. Jones, U.S. 2013, 60 min.) followed by a call-in question-and-answer with Bumani, one of the men accused by the state of organizing the uprising in Lucasville in 93.
The Shadow of Lucasville revisits the 1993 uprising at the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility, one of the longest in U.S. history, while exploring the fight for human rights and media exposure through inmate uprisings in response to mass incarceration and dehumanization supported by the prison industrial complex.
[source: Flying Squirrel website, 2014-Sep-29]
- At the Rochester Contemporary Art Center is the Opening Reception for Question Bridge: Black Males from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., on display through November 16.
Question Bridge: Black Males is a project that facilitates a dialogue between black men from diverse and contending backgrounds. Artists Chris Johnson, Hank Willis Thomas, Kamal Sinclair, and Bayeté Ross Smith traveled the country to collect over 1,500 question and answer videos from over 150 men. The resulting video installation attempts to present the full spectrum of what it means to be "black" and "male" in America. Through Question Bridge, "Blackness" ceases to be a simple, monochromatic concept. Question Bridge has been featured at art centers and museums throughout the United States.
[source: venue e-mail, 2014-Aug-11]
- Starting at 7 p.m. at Writers and Books is Wide Open Mic, hosted by Norm Davis. [source: Writers and Books website, 2014-Sep-29]
- John Curran, director of Tracks (John Curran, Australia 2013, 113 mins.) will be on hand to discuss his film at the Little after the 7 p.m. screening tonight and tomorrow.
Curran (The Painted Veil, We Don't Live Here Anymore) and the producers of The King's Speech bring you Tracks, which tells the remarkable true story of Robyn Davidson (Mia Wasikowska), a young woman who leaves her life in the city to make a solo trek through almost 2,000 miles of sprawling Australian desert. Accompanied by only her dog and four unpredictable camels, she sets off on a life-changing journey of self-discovery. Along the way, she meets National Geographic photographer Rick Smolan (Adam Driver) who begins to photograph her voyage.
[source: Little Theatre website, 2014-Sep-29]
- The Eastman Percussion Ensemble performs in Kilbourn Hall tonight at 8 p.m. [source: Eastman School of Music calendar, 2014-Sep-29]
- Tonight at 8 p.m., the Dryden will screen I compagni (The Organizer, Mario Monicelli, Italy/France/Yugoslavia 1963, 126 min., Italian w/ subtitles, 35mm).
"Labor unions. Don't be afraid. This is a funny movie." Thus described in its original publicity, The Organizer (actually, Comrades) has been hailed as one of the great Italian films of the 1960s. It features Marcello Mastroianni as a socialist labor organizer in turn-of-the-century Turin who helps textile workers fight for better working conditions. Director Monicelli (Big Deal on Madonna Street) likened Mastroianni's character to the sheriff in a western—redressing wrongs but "filled with astonishment, doubts, weaknesses, and somewhat ludicrous."
[source: Dryden website, 2014-Sep-29]
- Starting around 9 p.m. tonight at the Bug Jar, The Lobby presents Televisionaries, Buffalo Sex Change, Ian Downey, Homeless along with a Live Mural on The Stage Wall on Monroe by Dip Dripper, and new art from Hannah Weidner, Brittany Williams, Rachel Dow, and Topher Martin. [source: Bug Jar calendar, 2014-Sep-29]
- Great modern-Americana one-man-band Hieronymus A. Bogs, The Crawdiddies, and The Jon Lewis Band perform at the Lovin' Cup starting around 9 p.m. tonight. [source: Lovin' Cup website, 2014-Sep-29]
Saturday, October 4
- Today from 12:15 p.m. to 1 p.m. in the Curtis Theatre at George Eastman House is a Focus 45 lecture with Joe Struble, collection manager in the Department of Photography where he "will discuss his selections for the History of Photography Gallery, on the opening day of the newest rotation." [source: Eastman House calendar, 2014-Sep-29]
- From 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. at in the Fisher Meeting Room of the Pittsford Community Library is a lecture titled What the Buzz About Our Bees?
Why do we need to help save our declining honeybee population and what can we do to help? Sweet Beez, Inc. is a Rochester nonprofit that advocates for the well-being of the local honeybee population through education and research.
[source: Monroe County Library website, 2014-Sep-29]
- From 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Writers and Books, is an acoustic performance by New City Slang, featuring poet Sean Thomas Dougherty titled Poetry Meets Punk. [source: Writers and Books website, 2014-Sep-29]
- This afternoon at 3 p.m. at the Little is a screening of Adoptees in the Wild (John C. Sanvidge, U.S. 2013) followed by a panel discussion with John Sanvidge, Julie Young, and Milton Washington. [source: Facebook, 2014-Sep-29]
- Patty Larkin performs at the First Unitarian Church tonight at 7:30 p.m. [source: WBER Concert Schedule, 2014-Sep-29]
- The Dryden will screen The Congress (Ari Folman, Israel/Germany/Poland/Luxembourg/France/Belgium 2013, 122 min., DCP) tonight at 8 p.m.
The impact of digital filmmaking on our culture—and on artist rights—is explored in this remarkable blend of fact, fiction, live action, and animation. Director Ari Folman began his work on The Congress in 2008, basing it loosely on The Futurological Congress by Stanislaw Lem. Incorporating aspects of Robin Wright's personal and professional lives, the film has an almost hypnotic appeal as it bends reality into a bleak and empty future in which the banality of escapism has become the narcotic of the masses.
[source: Dryden website, 2014-Sep-29]
- Updated: Tonight at 9 p.m. at Cure is WAYOTHON, "a way out fundraiser for WAYO 104.3 FM". [source: Facebook, 2014-Oct-2]
- Over at the Bug Jar starting around 9 p.m. is William S. Burroughs Night featuring complex, multi-faceted, musician's rock-band Ian Downey is Famous, Cody Sparks, awesome electronic rock from Ahura Mazda, and Gary Trainer along with readings and presentations by Dan Beaumont, Hexterminator, and Rheytchul Kimmel. [source: Bug Jar calendar, 2014-Sep-29]
Sunday, October 5
- From 9:45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m., David Cay Johnston will discuss The Perils of U.S. Inequality at the Sunday Forum at the Downtown United Presbyterian Church (121 N. Fitzhugh St.) [source: City Newspaper events calendar, 2014-Sep-29]
- At 2 p.m., the Dryden will screen the excellent film Salt of the Earth (Herbert J. Biberman, U.S. 1954, 94 min., 35mm).
Rightfully featured in the National Film Registry, Salt of the Earth has fulfilled the hope of its blacklisted creators that it be recognized as "the first feature film ever made in this country of labor, by labor, and for labor"—a film that celebrates the greatness of minorities and the worth and dignity of working-class women. The film recounts the saga of Mexican-American zinc miners striking for equal pay and shows the daring efforts of their wives in taking over the picket lines when a court injunction is served against the workers. Salt of the Earth is a testament to the art of the moving image as well as evidence of one of America's darkest periods of political persecution.
[source: Dryden website, 2014-Sep-29]
- From 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Vertex is the Vertex's Late Risers Alternative and Gothic Garage Sale. [source: Facebook, 2014-Sep-29]
- Dear Rabbit, Passive Aggressives Anonymous, The Honey Smugglers, and Hannah Weidner perform at the Bug Jar tonight starting around 9 p.m. [source: Bug Jar calendar, 2014-Sep-29]
Monday, October 6
- Updated: This evening at 6:30 p.m. at the Interfaith Gospel Tabernacle (32 York St.) is a discussion with Green Party Candidate for Lt. Governor, Brian Jones about "the problems of urban education in New York and how to make our schools work better in Rochester." [source: Facebook, 2014-Oct-2]
- This evening at 7 p.m. at the Mendon Public Library is a Meet-n-Greet with the Honorable Elizabeth Wolford.
Join us for a relaxed conversation with the first woman to be a U.S. District Judge, Western District of New York. Judge Wolford will briefly describe her judgeship and the path leading to this historic appointment, and then answer questions. For teens, adults, and seniors.
[source: Monroe County Library website, 2014-Sep-29]
- At today's Monday Mayhem at the Flying Squirrel from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., Ryan Acuff will discuss a Theory of Structured Momentum within the Strategic Nonviolence Tradition. [source: Flying Squirrel website, 2014-Sep-29]
- Ossia performs tonight in Kilbourn Hall starting at 8 p.m. [source: Ossia New Music website, 2014-Sep-29]
Tuesday, October 7
- From 12:12 p.m. to 12:52 p.m. in the Kate Gleason Auditorium of the Bausch and Lomb Library Building is another Books Sandwiched-In with John C. Ninfo II discussing House of Debt: How They (and You) Caused the Great Recession, and How We Can Prevent It from Happening Again by Atif Mian, and Amir Sufi. [source: Monroe County Library website, 2014-Sep-29]
- Starting at 7 p.m., the Flying Squirrel will screen COINTELPRO 101 (Claude Marks, U.S. 2010, 56 min.) as part of the People's History of the FBI Film and Discussion Series.
COINTELPRO may not be a well-understood acronym but its meaning and continuing impact are absolutely central to understanding the government's wars and repression against progressive movements. COINTELPRO represents the state's strategy to prevent movements and communities from overturning white supremacy and creating racial justice. COINTELPRO is both a formal program of the FBI and a term frequently used to describe a conspiracy among government agencies—local, state, and federal—to destroy movements for self-determination and liberation for Black, Brown, Asian, and Indigenous struggles, as well as mount an institutionalized attack against allies of these movements and other progressive organizations.
[source: Flying Squirrel website, 2014-Sep-29]
- The Dryden will screen 7th Heaven (Frank Borzage, U.S. 1927, 118 min., 35mm) at 8 p.m.
Winner of three Academy Awards (best actress Janet Gaynor, best director Frank Borzage, and best writing, adaptation, Benjamin Glazer), 7th Heaven was one of the highest grossing American silent films and one of the most beloved. A romance set in Paris on the eve of the First World War, this was the first film to team Gaynor and Charles Farrell, a partnership that proved so popular they would go on to make eleven more films together. This print is accompanied by its 1927 Movietone soundtrack.
[source: Dryden website, 2014-Sep-29]
- Starting around 7 p.m. at Abilene is Chris Eldrige, and Julian Lage.
Chris Eldridge, the guitarist and singer from The Punch Brothers and Infamous Stringdusters, and Julian Lage, the young virtuosic Grammy-nominated jazz guitarist, have formed a wonderful duo project. Armed with their 1939 vintage Martin guitars, Chris' warm voice and bluegrass harmonies combine with Julian's shredding improv chops to make for an evening of foot-stompin' Americana.
[source: Abilene website, 2014-Sep-29]
Wednesday, October 8
- Cammy Enaharo, and Folkfaces perform at Abilene tonight probably starting around 8 p.m. [source: Facebook, 2014-Sep-29]
- The Dryden will screen Pirate Radio (Richard Curtis, U.K. / Germany / France 2009, 117 min., 35mm) tonight at 8 p.m.
Based on the true adventures of the unlicensed radio stations that broadcast rock-and-roll across the U.K. from boats in the North Sea at a time (the mid-1960s) when Bbc Radio wouldn't touch the stuff, director Richard Curtis's (Love Actually) fictionalized romp follows a motley crew of daring Djs (including Philip Seymour Hoffman) as they engage in a high-seas culture war with the priggish government minister (Kenneth Branagh) determined to shut them down. The result is a fast-paced blast of comedy and color, set to a soundtrack that plays like the best '60s mixtape you've ever heard.
[source: Dryden website, 2014-Sep-29]