venangago-go

This morning's Derrick has some photos from the history of the Barrow Civic Theatre.

Jerome Wincek and the Old Hats play Pittsburgh's Club Cafe tonight, Friday the 25th.

Veteran Status plays Edinboro's Eclectic Etceteras (118 Erie Street, Edinboro, Pennsylvania 16412) tonight from 5pm -7pm.

The Mules play a free show at Meadville's Artists’ Cup Cafe (231 Chestnut St, Meadville, Pennsylvania 16335) tonight at 6pm.

title me wrong plays at Seneca's Brother Bean from 7-9 pm tomorrow the 26th.

Tomorrow's Clarion-Venango Film Series Film is Offside (PG)

The ingenious concept of Offside puts most of the action at a large soccer stadium in Tehran, where a group of young women--banned from the game on the sole basis of their sex--have been captured by stadium guards after sneaking inside. Not only are they in a kind of holding pen awaiting arrest, the girls can't even glimpse the World Cup qualifying match between Iran and Bahrain, although they can hear the sounds of the crowd. (They've made themselves up to look like boys, thus risking serious consequences for the sake of their fandom, but the no-women-allowed rule is in place to "protect" them from the rough habits of men.) Panahi actually withholds the game itself, focusing on the interactions between the girls and their guards--a group of disaffected guys who would rather be watching the game themselves. At every turn Panahi illuminates some subtle point about the limits put on women, yet the film is full of humor. The viewer is left not with a political tract but with rich human comedy, and with the idea that the spectacle of a white ball pushed across a green field might bring people together in a way that transcends sex, class, or the oppressive rules of a regime. --Robert Horton

The film is free, in Rhoades Center Auditorium and starts at 7:30pm

Works are currently being accepted for the Erie Art Museum's 85th Annual Spring Show. All artists residing within 250 miles of Erie are invited to enter works not previously exhibited in the Erie area. A total of $10,000 in awards is offered, including $2,000 in juror's cash awards, the $500 Northwestern Pennsylvania Arts Association Award and at least $7,500 in guaranteed purchases. Each entrant may submit three works. The entry fee is $5 per entry for members of the Erie Art Museum and $10 for non-members. The Museum's regional competitive exhibition is juried this year by writer, gallery owner, and McArthur Foundation grant recipient, Dave Hickey.

I really like it when people recommend music for me to check out. Gwen, from Brother Bean sent me a note earlier this week that I should check out the Carolina Chocolate Drops:

Think of traditional African-American music, and the genres that come to mind are gospel, blues and jazz; few people think of old-time string band music. But the antebellum combination of banjo and fiddle used to be a tradition in most black rural communities in the South. The Carolina Chocolate Drops, a band of three young and talented musicians, are recognized as leading the revival of this venerable musical tradition.

Dom Flemons’ guitar and jug root the band in an infectious rhythm, and he plays harmonica for additional melody. Banjo and fiddle player Rhiannon Giddens became inspired by old-time music when she fell into contra dancing after graduating from Oberlin Conservatory of Music. Justin Robinson is the band’s primary fiddler. Trained in classical violin, he became interested in bluegrass and old-time fiddle music, as well as the fife and drum tradition of African-Americans in the Deep South.

Free and Legal downloads:

Carolina Chocolate Drops 2007-11-03 Forty Acres Concert Series, Chapel Hill, NC

Songs:illinoise has downloads of:

Starry Crown
Ricketts Hornpipe
Short Life Of Trouble

You can also buy Dona Got a Ramblin' Mind at Amazon.

The Carolina Chocolate Drops play February 16 atPittsburgh's Carnegie Lecture Hall

The ALA has released their Great Graphic Novels for Teens 2008

Slippery Rock University’s David Skeele, professor of theatre (and all around nice guy. I had the pleasure of organizing a play festival with him about a decade ago), has been named a semi-finalist in amazon.com's Breakthrough Novel Contest for his supernatural thriller Raised In Darkness.
Take a look at it here.

Apropos of that last post, it turns out you can make a killing in theatre, but probably not a living.

The Erie Art Museum opens Ancient Alloy: Bronzes from the Collection in the Museum's Ground Floor Gallery, 411 State Street today. Featuring objects from the Erie Art Museum's permanent collection of more than 6,000 objects, Ancient Alloy includes works which span four continents and 3,000 years.

It's part of Erie's Gallery Night (organized by the Erie Art Museum) tonight from 7-10 pm at the Erie Art Museum, Glass Growers Gallery, Urraro Gallery, Cummings Gallery at the Mary D'Angelo Performing Arts Center at Mercyhurst College, Schuster Gallery at Gannon University, Allen Stoneware Gallery, Kuhn's Framing and Gift Gallery, and ClaySpace. EMTA will provide FREE Bayliner trolley transportation, courtesy of the galleries, from 7-10:30 pm. Service will be provided every 45-minutes; a route map is available in advance at all participating galleries.
I was planning on going, but my golly, winter makes me lazy.

Occasionally, I link to a threadless T-shirt design that has fired my lust. Now, should you decide to buy one of those, check out the official Threadless coupon code blog first and save a couple of bucks.

KUT features Sam Beam of Iron and Wine with an interview and in-studio performance.