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First Friday: Cannonball Press presents Donkey Balls
5-9pm, free, All ages
Middle Eastern Night
8pm, $8 , 18+
Turgay Erturk was born and raised in Urgup, a small town in Central Anatolia, Cappadocia, Turkey. He started playing the longed neck lute saz (baglama) at the age of fifteen. A master saz player and singer, he performs Turkish village music from Anatolia, Balkins and Caucasus. Turgay also performs on the oud and yayli tanbur for Turkish classical (Ottoman) and urban folk music. And Portland-based Alhan plays classical and contemporary Arabic music with voice, violin, oud, nay, and percussion, featuring members of Tarpigh.
USM Philosophy Symposium Film Series:
Žižek!
7:30p, $6, free for USM students and staff with ID
Žižek! is a feature documentary exploring the eccentric personality and esoteric work of the "wild man of theory": the eminent Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Žižek. Žižek reveals the invisible workings of ideology through his unique blend of Lacanian psychoanalysis, Marxism, and critique of pop culture. Never ceasing to observe the paradoxes that underpin our perception of reality, little goes untheorized over the course of the film, particularly Žižek's recurring themes -- ideology, belief, revolution, and love. Erudite and outrageous, mixing innovative animations with uncensored interviews, Žižek! is both an unforgettable lesson in philosophy and a compelling portrait of an intellectual maverick.
Followed by discussion with Dusan Bjelic, USM Professor of Sociology
My Life is in Danger: Unlikely War Stories
7:30pm, $5, All ages
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals with Emilia Dahlin
Doors open @ 8pm / show @ 8:30pm, $8/advance, $10 day of, 18+
Meet Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, a Hammond B-3 organ-fueled blues-rock quartet with a panache for music from decades past. The quartet is led by 23-year-old phenomenon Grace Potter, whose vocal chops have drawn comparisons to legends like Aretha Franklin, Bonnie Raitt and Janis Joplin, while her scintillating work behind the B-3 conjures up visions of Stevie Winwood, Garth Hudson and Billy Preston. Potter's musical soulmates, the Nocturnals, are Scott Tournet (lead guitar, harmonica, vocals), Bryan Dondero (upright/electric bass) and Matthew Burr (drums/percussion). Potter grew up and still lives in a woodsy plot of land and dwellings in Waitsfield, VT, that locals refer to as "Hobbittville"; Grace and the Nocturnals now all live there together. Dondero succinctly explains their close bond: "We're all free thinkers; we come from parents who encouraged that, and we're into creating our own path."
The band's spirited and inventive blend of blues, americana and rock n' roll conjures up a nostalgic sound very much like what you'd find in a record collection from the '60s and early '70s-a collection these avid young vinyl junkies are well on their way to recreating. When asked to name their all-time favorite records, the responses come fast and furious: Taj Mahal's The Natch'l Blues, Stones' Beggars Banquet, The Band, Neil Young & Crazy Horse's Rust Never Sleeps, Derek & the Dominos' Layla, and Little Feat's Feats Don't Fail Me Now. They also name Dylan and a soulful Tulsa maverick who's wryly referenced in the album's memorable opener, "Toothbrush and a Table": "Give me back my hammer / Give me back my nail / Give me back my jeans / And my J.J. Cale." Yup, these kids know their stuff.
The Lunchbox Series with Sue Rama: A Curious City and SPACE event
11am, $5/person, $10/family, ages 4+
Rob Swift: As the Tables Turn
View trailer
7pm, $5 , All ages
Rob Swift knows all about evolution and its conceptual cousin, revolution—whether it’s the spontaneous kind that sparks radical change, or the vinyl-based kind that occurs at 33-1/3 revolutions-per-minute. His latest project, AS THE TABLES TURN, is a full length documentary which addresses some of the questions his fans have posed over the years: “How did you get your start? Why did you leave the X-ecutioners? What did it take for you to reach the levels of success you have as a DJ?” The film includes performances and/or interviews with Rob Swift and The X-ecutioners, Roc Raida, Total Eclipse, Mista Sinista, DJ Q-Bert, Mix Master Mike, Shortkut, The Large Professor & Neek the Exotic, Bob James, Dujeous? plus X-Men members Steve Dee, Sean Cee & Dr. Butcher. Also includes classic battle footage from Rob Swift’s first battle in 1991, his first win in 1992, X-Men vs. Invisbl Skratch Piklz, and never before seen footage of The X-ecutioners touring Europe (1998), their home practice sessions (1993), and Dr. Butcher helping Rob prepare for the 1991 East Coast DMC battle.
Rob Swift
10pm, $5 , 18+
USM Philosophy Symposium Film Series:
The Pervert's Guide To Cinema
7:30p, $6, free for USM students and staff with ID
NEW ENGLAND PREMIERE!
An exhilarating ride through some of the greatest movies ever made. Serving as presenter and guide is the charismatic Slavoj Žižek, the Slovenian philosopher and psychoanalyst. With his engaging and passionate approach to thinking, Žižek delves into the hidden language of cinema, uncovering what movies can tell us about ourselves. The Pervert's Guide To Cinema offers an introduction into some of Žižek's most exciting ideas on fantasy, reality, sexuality, subjectivity, desire, materiality and cinematic form. Whether he is untangling the famously baffling films of David Lynch or overturning everything you thought you knew about Hitchcock, Žižek illuminates the screen with his passion, intellect and unfailing sense of humour.
Natural Artefacts with Mystic Outbop
8pm, $10 advance, $15 day of, 18+
Documentary Film: Iraq in Fragments
View trailer
Co-Sponsored by Peace Action Maine
2pm, $6, All ages
American director James Longley (Gaza Strip) spent more than two years filming in Iraq to create this stunningly photographed, poetically rendered documentary of the war-torn country as seen through the eyes of Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds. An opus in three parts, Iraq In Fragments offers a series of intimate, passionately-felt portraits: A fatherless 11-year-old is apprenticed to the domineering owner of a Baghdad garage; Sadr followers in two Shiite cities rally for regional elections while enforcing Islamic law at the point of a gun; a family of Kurdish farmers welcomes the US presence, which has allowed them a measure of freedom previously denied. Winner of Best Director, Best Cinematography and Best Editing awards in the 2006 Sundance Film Festival documentary competition, the film was also nominated for a 2006 Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. (94 m)
Documentary Film: Iraq in Fragments 7:30pm, $6 , All ages
Documentary Film: Iraq in Fragments 7:30pm, $6 , All ages
9pm, $6 adv / $8 day of, 18+
9pm, $7 , 18+
Since Constellation issued their self-released debut record in 1998, Do Make Say Think have made one critically-acclaimed album after another. They are one of the most consistently inventive instrumental rock bands of the past decade, and one of the most self-realised: DMST members themselves have recorded, mixed and mastered all the band’s work, developing a highly original and finely detailed approach to audio production. Their newest record, You, You’re A History In Rust is their fifth record and a brilliant extension of the band’s unique sonic narrative, and was just release in February.
9pm, $8 , 18+
Doc. Film: Escuela
7:30pm, $5 suggested, all ages
Sponsored by Maine Migrant Health Program
High school is a uniquely formative experience in American life, evocative of "happy days" nostalgia on the one hand and the pitfalls of teen angst on the other. But for vivacious Liliana Luis, her debut as an all-American high school freshman is immeasurably complicated by the fact that her Mexican-American family makes its living following the harvests from Texas to California. As shown in director Hannah Weyer's film "Escuela," an entire system of educational support has emerged to facilitate the movement of migrant worker families across the Western U.S. But bureaucracy does little to shield Liliana and teens like her from the social and educational dislocations of the migrant economy, or the jarring contrasts between the middle class culture of high school and the stark realities of migrant life.
Sponsored by Maine Migrant Health Program (MMHP), which works to further its mission of improving the health status of migrant and seasonal farmworkers (MSFWs) and their families by providing culturally appropriate care and services. Through a combination of mobile clinics and a voucher referral program, the MMHP annually provides care to over 1,000 MSFWs. Mobile units, outreach teams and camp health aides/promotoras travel throughout the blueberry, apple, eggs, Christmas wreath, tree-planting and broccoli camps offering not only medical and nursing care, but also access to dental services, health education, case management, transportation, and interpretation to MSFWs and their families.
9pm, $15 , 18+
Antibalas is the spirit of Afrobeat reincarnated as a hard-hitting collective of musicians in New York City. The group carries on the soul of Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, founder of the unique Afrobeat sound, which unites highlife, jazz, funk, and traditional African elements with unabashed political messages. Antibalas-which means “anti-bullets” or “bullet-proof”-shoots out monstrous horns and bass layered over polyrhythmic beats coupled with furious lyrics inciting insurrection in English, Yoruba, and Spanish. With fifteen band members, Antibalas--which is run as a collective--cannot easily be described in a traditional biography. The group’s players come from such diverse professional, cultural, and personal backgrounds that only a spray of bullets can shed light on the foundation of this musical insurrection. This union of Latinos, whites, African Americans, Africans, and Asian Americans is based in Brooklyn, NYC.
