Weekend Events: Additions & "Healthy" Video

Vinnie's Jump & Jive, Main Street, presents "Barefoot Boogie" Saturday evening at 8 p.m. I can't say it any better than they do: "Come as you are, kick off your shoes and dance the night away to an eclectic blend of music - old, new, world music, dance music, pop and much more. You get t pick what we dance t by signing up for a DJ spot and bringing your favorites on an iPod, mp3 or a CD mix. No rights, no wrongs, moving your own way, as you like, just for the fun of it." Want to know more? Go to www.vinniesjumpandjive.com or call 347-6971, extension 3777.

This missive from Professor Neely Bruce: On Sunday September 27, at 4:00, local artists and enthusiasts will celebrate the memory of Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), the first non-European to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Tagore, a remarkable polyartist and educator, is equally prominent in his native India as a poet, playwright, essayist, composer and political thinker. A farsighted and radical educator, the school he founded in India at Santiniketan still flourishes, and his educational ideas were crucial in the establishment of Dartington College in England and many other schools in the West. Knighted by the British Crown in 1915, he later renounced his knighthood to protest British imperialism. At the age of sixty he took up painting, producing a number of striking images in an original and multifaceted style. Hailed early in the twentieth century as “the finest poet India has produced” and considered a saint in his native Bengal, his reputation in the West is in eclipse.

To remedy this situation, several Tagore enthusiasts in Middletown have organized " A Tribute to Tagore" at South Congregational Church. Soprano Phyllis Bruce, with her husband Neely at the piano, will perform the song cycle "Gitanjali" by John Alden Carpenter—settings of texts taken from the 1912 book of poetry that earned Tagore the Nobel Prize. Edwina Ranganathan, who taught at Santiniketan for three years, will read the poems in English. Stan Scott and Saiyara Fahmi will sing several of Tagore’s own musical compositions in the original Bengali. Six prints of Tagore’s paintings will be on display, and Jennifer Barber will dance. Ushakumari Williams, who was born into an Indian family in Tanzania, will speak on the political, social and spiritual conceptions of Tagore. This unique event will have something for everyone—poetry, music, dance and ideas, all suitable for all ages.

"A Tribute to Rabindranath Tagore" is free and open to the public. An offering will be taken to benefit the new organ stop at South Church. For more information contact Neely Bruce at 347-3003 or by email: nbruce@wesleyan.edu.

Next week, I'll be posting an article about the Wesleyan "creative music" connection and, specifically, 3 graduates who have studied and performed with Professor Anthony Braxton and all of whom are connected with Firehouse 12, the fine recording studio, performance space and bar (hey, got to pay the rent) located at 45 Crown Street in New Haven. The venue's fall 2009 Concert series started last Friday and continues (every Friday save for Thanksgiving weekend) through December 18. Find out more about the series and venue by going to www.firehouse12.com.

In the meantime, tonight (9/25) the Firehouse presents the Matt Wilson Quartet at 8:30 and 10 p.m. (separate admissions.) Wilson, a drummer/composer who has worked with many great musicians, has a great sense of the jazz tradition and a wicked sense of humor. To that end, here's a video of "Martha The Juicer" - it should be self-explanatory.