Entertainment

Things seem hard, in Brattleboro. It’s been a long winter, and spring is very sought for and very over due.

When things get hard, one of the best remedies I know of, is to launch a UFAUX. So we went and bought the supplies needed for a really BIG one. We hope to do so on Gallery Walk, in May. Yes, I know that is a long way away. But hopefully it gives us enough time to plan it well. Also, we can celebrate more spring like weather then !

So, look to the skies, in May, and smile.

This week a mix of poetry, cosmic vibrations, and space philosophy. A discussion of magic and myth to help cleanse and transcend. Sun Ra can help guide us to a deeper reality with a trip with his Arkestra.

Not part of history, but part of mystery.

This is a documentary about jazz musician Sun Ra, who comes from Saturn.

The Snack Theatre’s production of Cabin Fever, a benefit for Strolling of the Heifers, continues on Friday and Saturday nights at 8 p.m. at the River Garden. The one-act play, dubbed a “comedy of menace” features (from left to right) Bill Hickok, Beth Kiendl and William Stearns discussing what cabin fever is really all about.

Admission is $15, more if you are so inclined, and includes yummy home-baked goodies. For reservations, phone the Stroll office at 802-246-0982.

A handful of concerts are “legendary” shows, and the Beatles playing their last live performance on the roof of Apple in London is certainly near the top of the list.

I’ve always liked this footage from Let It Be. The rooftop is an interesting and unusual space to play, and the shots of people in the streets realizing what’s going on are classic. The band seems to be having a lot of fun. A little bit of rule-breaking reminds Londoners they are alive, at least for a short while, until the police shut things down. Imagine if they had let it go for even a few more minutes.

Crack this word puzzler, and get $20 Gift Certificate for Mocha Joe’s. Below is a word puzzler for your fun.Crack it, and you will see a brief and grammatical correct message. Whoever solves it first, should email me for the prize at rolf . ParkerHoughton at gmail .com

If you can’t crack this word puzzle, but still would like to get $20 worth of coffee for only $15, you can
donate to the campaign to help farmers in Cameroon obtain organic certification.

It’s 1982 and Joe Jackson was just releasing ‘Night and Day,’ with the soon-to-be-hits ‘Steppin’ Out’ and ‘Breaking Us In Two.’ He also had a minor hit with ‘Real Men.’

This is “the new Joe Jackson band” according to the host. The old band, responsible for ‘Look Sharp!,’ ‘I’m The Man,’ and ‘Beat Crazy’ had broken up, and Jackson had taken a break by putting out his ‘Jumpin’ Jive’ album before returning to pop hits.

The 2014 Winter Sunshine Series of Family Performances at Sandglass Theater in Putney continues on March 8th with the award-winning piece, An Arabian Adventure,  by the Tanglewood Marionettes of Massachusetts.

Told with beautifully crafted marionettes in a storybook setting, An Arabian Adventure is a swashbuckling tale set in exotic lands. A Persian prince is thrown into a dungeon because of his love for a beautiful princess. Facing danger at every turn, the courageous prince uses his wits to escape his prison, defeat the diabolical vizier and save the princess from a tragic fate. Tanglewood Marionettes received an  for this piece (one of puppetry’s highest honors!)

Brattleborians of a certain age have long waited for the return of the Snack Theatre, an irreverent troupe that illuminated the aughts with a series of theatrical evenings augmented with libations and delectable sweets, before entering a period of hibernation.

The wait is over. In a production that will benefit the new home of Strolling of the Heifers, Snack veterans Beth Kiendl, William Stearns and Bill Hickok will reprise “Cabin Fever” — a “comedy of menace” penned by Joan Schenkar.

The entirety of the play takes place on a rural New England front porch, represented by a set designed by Clay Coyle, whose design credits range from off-Broadway to regional theatres in the East Coast and New England.

Judy Garland had a CBS Sunday night TV show in the early 1960’s – The Judy Garland Show.

It comes at a somewhat depressing point in her life. After years of being fed uppers and downers by movie studios, getting divorced, and getting into some serious debt and contractual problems, she was in a difficult spot. TV success, those around her reasoned, might be the only thing to pull her life back into order.

She was 40 years old when this was filmed. It got four Emmy nominations.

Come in from the icy cold! The Classic Matinee Film Noir Series at Brooks Memorial Library runs on Wednesday afternoons at 2 pm.

Today, Wednesday, Feb 26, at 2 PM, warm up with some intrigue and suspense in a mythical South American community involved in a war-surplus contraband racket. For title information please contact the Brooks Library. 

What is film noir? Literally it means “black film” and it is a Hollywood genre of crime movie of the 1940’s and 50’s that developed mostly out of the Great Depression crime fiction.

Joni Mitchell released a double live album in 1980, “Shadows and Light”. This is video from live performances, with a rather stellar line-up of accompanying musicians. They were recorded at the Santa Barbara County Bowl in September 1979.

The music speaks for itself this week.

The Brattleboro Rotary Club is raising money to help upgrade the radio station KILI, a non-profit radio station broadcasting to the Lakota people on the Pine Ridge, Cheyenne River, and Rosebud Indian Reservations, part of the Great Sioux Nation in South Dakota.

On Sunday, March 2, 2014, from 4-8PM at the New England Youth Theatre, the Brattleboro Rotary Club will be sponsoring the fifth annual “International Film & Food Festival,” with proceeds benefiting KILI which serves 30,000 people on the three reservations and seeks to preserve Native American culture and instill pride in the peoples’ unique heritage.

Most of us became familiar with Sheila E via Prince and her album The Glamorous Life.

The “E” in her name comes from her family name Escovedo, and the family is best known for afro cuban latin jazz percussion. Her father, Pete, is a percussionist. Tito Puente is her godfather. The musical family (brothers, uncles, cousins, etc.) has ties to Santana, and they’ve played and collaborated with numerous other artists.

My Guilford friend Belinda, who’s a prime mover for Brattleboro Winter Carnival, asked me to help get the word out about this evemt, so of course I immediately tuned into ibrattleboro. dm

What happens at the Legion, stays at the Legion… well at least when this year’s theme is ‘Murder in Las Vegas’! Take a roll of the dice and see if you can figure out who the murderer is before all is revealed! You can bet it’s going to be a great dinner, with lots of friends and a fabulous show! The Vermont Theater Company will be our entertainment and dinner will be served by Brattleboro’s One and Only BMH Ladies Auxiliary. Get your tickets early to be sure you get a seat for this evening of fun, you won’t want to miss it!!

Escape the cold with a Classic Matinee Film Noir Series at Brooks Memorial Library. Wednesday Feb 12 at 2 pm we are screening a film about a juicy double murder in a jealous pique. 

What is film noir? Literally it means “black film” and it is a Hollywood genre of crime movie of the 1940’s and 50’s that developed mostly out of the Great Depression crime fiction.

After the film stick around for a little discussion lead by cinephiles Tom Bedell, golf/beer journalist and lover of film; and Tim Metcalfe, veteran Hollywood screenwriter and Brattleboro Film Festival Advisory Board member.

Okay, punks. Ready to stage dive? Let’s hit rewind on the time machine and head back to 1982 to see Washington, DC’s Bad Brains take to the stage at the legendary CBGB club in NYC.

Bad Brains are a weird and pleasant mic of reggae, funk, rock, and hardcore punk all mixed up together. Wikipedia says they started as a fusion jazz group, which makes a bit of sense. Bad Brains were musical in their madness.

They didn’t have it easy, though. Many DC clubs banned them around 1979. One might guess that the owners of the clubs were more worried about the customers than the band, judging by the CBGB crowd. Bad Brains did what any self-respecting punk band would do. They wrote a sing called Banned in DC and moved to New York.

In the mid-1960’s, Pete Seeger hosted a black and white folk music show on television station WNJU in NY. He would host and play songs, and invite guests such as Doc Watson, Judy Collins, and Buffy Saint-Marie to come and share songs and stories.

It was an important show for Seeger, who had spent many years blacklisted from television. Tapes of the show were rescued and restored in the 1980’s.

Please check out DJ Pockets on “buttahmilk” this tuesday Fe.4th from 6-8pm on Brattleboro Community Radio-107.7fm…www.wvew.org

Dr. Curtis Duncan is a holistic health expert, herbalist and avid researcher. possible topics of discussion: feminization of males and the chemicals that are behind the reason why, testosterone levels have been declining, impotence, dropped sperm counts, smaller penises, genital birth defects, autism, ADHD, cancer, low libido and more. These chemicals also have gender bending effects and cause men to act and behave like women and women to act and behave like men, even altering sexual preference.

Remember the early days of music television? It was typically regulated to late Saturday mornings after the cartoons were over but before the sports programs got going, or very late on weekend TV. If you wanted to learn what songs would be popular on the radio, you would tune in to Dick Clark and watch his American Bandstand. If you wanted to learn how to dance, though, you’d switch over to Don Cornelius and the Soul Train.

One of the highlights of the show (in addition to the funky animated train logo) was the line dance. Pairs of dancers would take turns dancing their way toward the camera while others stoof around, watched, and clapped while waiting for their turn to shine.

This one is for keyboard players, musicians in general, and Steely Dan fans.

I like to hear musicians talk about their craft. This week I’ve decided to feature a video in which Warren Bernhardt sits with Donald Fagen in Woodstock, NY to talk about songwriting techniques such as harmony and melody, and the blues.

It is a master class in piano playing, but it is also a look at Steely Dan’s songs Chain Lightning, Peg, and Josie, and shows how they were constructed. It’s an up close and personal demonstration of each song followed by a performance.