February 2006

2.1.2006 | Wed

Jason Webley with Dead End Armory

8:30p, $5, 18+

Jason Webley quit his day job, picked up his accordion, and hopped on a Greyhound bus with the intention of playing in the streets until his money ran out. Seven years, four albums and over a dozen countries later, Webley is still rambling across state lines and howling at the tomato moon. His musical genre spans a mix of gypsy, folk and punk but Webley’s shows are much more than musical events. Stories, puppet shows and sing-alongs fill in the spaces between songs. Beyond the accordion, Webley plays a variety of instruments - guitar, piano, and most memorably a plastic vodka bottle full of pennies. The evening opens with local 5-piece Dead End Armory with creaky, fascinating vocals atop a sound that mixes country, folk, indie pop and straight ahead rock & roll.

2.3.2006 | Fri

First Friday
5-8p, free, all ages

The Reverend Crank Sturgeon with Phantom Buffalo
8:30p, $5

Part 2 of The WORKNOT Vivification League, a collective congruency between Maine based artists and artists from across country. The opening Night Extravaganza features all new large-scale works by Maine’s Colleen Kinsella, cutting edge sculptures by California’s Tom Hall, photography by Pittsburgh’s Pete Spynda, ground breaking installation and performance by Maine native Tim Folland, comics and paintings by California’s Matt Leunig, and alien crafts by Rhode Island’s Ulanda Denosky. Later in the evening we’ll host special performances by two local favorites. The Rev. Crank Sturgeon, local performance artist and world renowned magician of contact microphones and fishy freak outs, flexes his gills with the musical musings of Portland favorite Phantom Buffalo.

2.4.2006 | Sat

Worknot presents: BROKE/ Avoid This; a choreographic in(ter)vention

8p, $5, All ages

Flora Jennings presents “a broke neck dance needed fixin; a southern-belle-from-hell, choreographic in(ter)ventor heeded the call. Expect thrills, spills,and splints a’plenty in this re-constructivist roller coaster ride through the hills and valleys of one dancer’s dilemma (amidst cohorts who help to set her straight). Flora Jennings is an independent choreographer whose work has been presented in NYC and at various festivals and colleges in both the Northeast and Southern United States. She has much in common (but is not to be confused) with Buffy Miller. Ms. Miller is a former principal danceer with Ballet Tech (NYC) where she performed over 50 ballets by choreographer Eliot Feld for which she received a Bessie (New York Dance and Performance Award) in 2001. She received a Maine Arts Commission Choreography Fellowship in 2000, and is the co-founder of Stillhouse Studio Theater. This is her first (public) performance since “The Big Fat Wait” (A Stillhouse Run) in 2003.

2.6.2006 | Mon

SOUND IN THE DARK

7pm and 9:30pm

each film:
$6 /$5 for members
series Pass:
$15 /$12 for members

KEEPINTIME: A LIVE RECORDING / BRASILINTIME

The premise is simple: place three revered soul drummers at their kits next to three leading hip-hop DJs on their decks – and capture their interaction. Shot in one afternoon, the resulting 15-minute short is a touching portrait of what happens when old school meets new school, and a deft illustration of the lineage of improvisation that connects be-bop to hip-hop. Keepintime was hatched by veteran hip-hop photographer B+ and is broken into two parts, the original 13-minute short film/conversation and a 43 minute live set featuring the drummers and DJ's collaborating live together (with DJ's Cut Chemist, Babu, Madlib, JRocc, Numark & Shortkut). Also, a sneak-preview 13-minute extended-trailer for the forthcoming Brasilintime, which follows the drummers and DJ's to Brasil to connect with veteran percussionists there.

Website: http://www.keepintime.com

2.8.2006 | Wed

Worknot Artist Talk with Colleen Kinsella, Matt Leunig, and Tim Folland

7pm, free, All ages

Colleen Kinsella’s work straddles the line between archaic and graceful, nostalgic and other-worldly. Comic artist Matt Leunig’s political Zine “Red Rover” has bitten into the current state of affairs with smart sharp teeth. His comics for the SF Weekly expose cultural obsessions with consumerism, vanity, and banality. Tim Folland, a painter who’s drive to create is as strong as his need to destroy. Folland’s art and performances use humor to deconstruct traditional ideas.

2.9.2006 | Thurs

Worknot Presents: Fence Kitchen and Alex Lukashevsky

8p, $5, All ages

www.northeastindie.com

Solo composers Tim Harbeson and Alex Lukashevsky debut their latest efforts of musical beauty. Harbeson, a recipient of the Maine Arts Commission’s Individual Fellowship, presents “Fence Kitchen” -- music to melt the ice off of a February evening. Lukashevsky’s smoky vocals and Spanish blues guitar guts your insides and turns your heart to jelly.

2.11.2006 | Sat

The Lunchbox Series with Marc Tauss: A Curious City and SPACE Event

11a, $3 person / $5 family, All ages

Winner of Portland’s Mock Caldecott Medal for the Best Picture Book of 2005, Marc Tauss will demonstrate the machinery and robots he created for his time-traveling photography book SUPERHERO. Lunchbox kids will create their own robots and time machines for their black and white portraits.

2.11.2006 | Sat

P.O.S. with Sims and Mac Lethal

9p, $8/ $10 at Door, 18+

P.O.S fuses the angst and sincerity of punk rock with the bass, wit, and lyricism of underground hip-hop. His songs are shorter, punker, louder and overall more abrasive than usually found in hip-hop, while remaining grounded in the genre. He’s a musician that is self-taught on guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, and he can still ride a skateboard. From seventies funk to eighties hardcore to nineties rap, P.O.S incorporates his influences into a cohesive style that’s not contrived. Sims and Mac Lethal open the evening.

2.13.2006 | Mon

SOUND IN THE DARK

7pm and 9:30pm

each film:
$6 /$5 for members
series Pass:
$15 /$12 for members

AFRO-PUNK

Afro-Punk explores race identity within the punk scene. More than your everyday, Behind the Music or typical "black history month" documentary this film tackles hard questions, such as issues of loneliness, exile, inter-racial dating and black power. We follow the lives of four people who have dedicated themselves to the punk rock lifestyle. They find themselves in conflicting situations, living the dual life of a person of color in a mostly white community. The documentary inter-cuts interviews from scores of black punk rockers from all over the nation with scenes from the four protagonists' lives. They come from different regions, generations, genders, and sexual preferences but their stories are amazingly similar. Afro-Punk features performances by Bad Brains, Tamar Kali, Cipher, and Ten Grand. It also contains exclusive interviews with members of Fishbone, 247- Spyz, the Dead Kennedys, Candiria, Orange 9mm and TV on the Radio.

Website: http://www.afropunk.com

2.17.2006 | Fri

Worknot presents: Harpswell Sound, The Extraordinaires, and Threads

8p, $5, 18+

The finale of WORKNOT features Harpswell Sound, local original Alt-Country rockers blazing the night away with their spirited anthems; The Extraordinaires, Philadelphia’s finest harmonic 6-piece married to tight and quirky songwriting; and Maine’s acoustic folk powerhouse Threads (of Cerberus Shoal). Expect a toe-tapping, tear-jerkin’ experience that almost feels like being in the kitchen.

2.18.2006 | Fri

Northeast Performer Presents: Fancy Trash, The Red F, Ryan Lee and the Mindless

8:30p, $6, 18+

Fancy Trash, “with its semicountrified, punk-influenced music that recalls Neil Young, Clem Snide, the Flaming Lips, and an assortment of ‘90s alternarock bands, ... doesn’t simply pull off acoustic trio rock, it makes it seem natural.” The Red F plays thoughtful melodic story-songs on the guitar. Ryan Lee, of Ryan Lee and the Mindless, sings mostly spare, melodic songs of pain, depression, and regret. If that sounds like too much of a downer, they’re pretty songs, beautifully sung, and he occasionally kicks in a thick, head-kicking layer of distortion to keep the energy level up.

2.20.2006 | Mon

SOUND IN THE DARK

7pm and 9:30pm

each film:
$6 /$5 for members
series Pass:
$15 /$12 for members

BE HERE TO LOVE ME: A FILM ABOUT TOWNES VAN ZANDT

"Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the world and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that!" -- Steve Earle.

The ultimate songwriter's songwriter, Townes Van Zandt had a profound impact on generations of musicians, from Bob Dylan to Norah Jones, yet he avoided the commercial success enjoyed by many of his own fans. Be Here To Love Me provides an intimate portrait of the legendary artist's haunting music and life, detailing his earlier exposures to shock-therapy and later abuses of drugs and alcohol. Filled with interviews with the artists who knew Townes and his work, director Margaret Brown's haunting and lyrical film gives a glimpse into one of the most respected country and folk artists of his generation.

Website: http://www.townesthemovie.com

2.25.2006 | Sat

Charlie Hunter Trio

8:30p, $15 adv / $18 at door, 18+

Eight-string guitar wizard Charlie Hunter returns to Portland with his earthshaking trio featuring John Ellis and Derek Phillips. Hunter’s journey started at the age of 12, when he bought his first guitar for $7. The fact that Charlie plays an instrument of his own invention is just one manifestation of his unique musical concept. Charlie’s roots are in jazz music, drawing from modern jazz harmony and organ players like Jimmy Smith, Larry Young, and Big John Patton. However, Charlie voraciously listens to and studies music from within the States and around the globe, including rock, funk, and soul, as well as the music of Cuba, Central and South America, and Africa. The inspiration that Charlie takes from these styles is so subtly blended that the result can only be 100% pure Charlie Hunter.

2.27.2006 | Mon

SOUND IN THE DARK

7pm and 9:30pm

each film:
$6 /$5 for members
series Pass:
$15 /$12 for members

FEARLESS FREAKS: FEATURING THE FLAMING LIPS

This intimate film looks at one of today’s most acclaimed alternative rock groups. Filmmaker Bradley Beesley, the band’s long-time friend and director of all of their music videos since 1992, gives us an insider’s look at their 20-year transformation from Oklahoma outsiders to GRAMMY®-winning elder statesmen of the weird and the wonderful. This fascinating documentary features revealing interviews with band members past and present, and includes amazing footage from their entire career—truly capturing their eccentric and inventive world.

Website: http://www.fearlessfreaks.com

2.28.2006 | Tues

Man Man

8:30p, $7, 18+

Gravel-throated Ringmaster Honus Honus has assembed a motley crew of likeminded shamans to help perform Man Man’s many song exorcisms; sweaty, sexy swamp boogies rest easily alongside no-wavey guitars, melancholy funeral dirges, french new wave soundscapes, and exiled river-bed gypsy jams. Man Man fastens together Screaming Jay Hawkins, Etta James, 80’s pop and Iggy Pop; drawing on Soda Popinski, Mexican funeral marches, religious cults, bad luck, and the pervasive mythology of two-headed wolves and wrangling out something entirely else: peculiarly brilliant, acrobatic, unsettling, romantic, unpretentiously ordered.

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