Our Critics' Picks

THURSDAY 6/12

Just When You Thought It Was Safe…MOVIES @ MAIN: JAWS Is there a better time to dust off Steven Spielberg’s 1975 movie version of the Peter Benchley novel—the film that permanently tilted the scale of summer moviegoing toward teen-friendly thrill fare? Before anyone starts tsk-tsking, let it be noted that Spielberg’s titanic thriller—where life is a chum cabaret—remains one of the brightest spots in a landmark year that reached from Nashville, Barry Lyndon and Jeanne Dielman to Death Race 2000 and Switchblade Sisters. If you’ve never seen it on the big screen, the downtown public library’s nice digital projection system and large auditorium are as close as you’re likely to get. Free and open to the public. 5:30 p.m. at the Nashville Public Library—JIM RIDLEY

Read LocalDANIEL KILLMAN What do an Episcopal priest, a country music star, a prostitute and a lawyer have in common? They’re all characters in The Row and the Boulevard, Daniel Killman’s novel of the good, the bad and the ugly of Nashville. Killman, a local songwriter and composer, has borrowed storylines from his own life and local headlines to knit a tale about the collision of the music business and high society—Music Row and Belle Meade Boulevard. The cast is large, the dreams are many and anyone who’s lived in Music City for more than two months will know several of the players in this debut drama. The struggles with booze, sex and money—with a touch of mystery tossed in for good measure—are the stuff of many a water-cooler gab fest, and even more country songs. 7 p.m. at Davis-Kidd Booksellers —CHRIS SCOTT

Once More With FeelingI AM MY OWN WIFE Originally scheduled for presentation in March and then cancelled, this Naked Stages production has endured a few snags getting launched. Following on the heels of Actors Bridge’s A Bright Room Called Dayin Belmont’s Black Box Theater, I Am My Own Wife will again visit Germany in upheaval. Doug Wright’s Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning play captures the life and times of one Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, a transvestite with a violent childhood past and an incredible run of survival through Nazi and communist regimes in East Berlin. It’s a one-man show, and company founder Mark Cabus takes on the challenge of 40 different characters—outstripping the 30 or so he renders in his acclaimed solo version of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol. Wright’s well-researched script explores how von Mahlsdorf (born Lothar Berfelde) became a noted collector and curator, as well as a key player in artistic and gay circles, eventually claiming the German Medal of Honor. Cabus’ tour de force effort is under the direction of Belmont University theater professor Kate Al-Shamma. Mature content. June 12-15 in Belmont’s Black Box Theater —MARTIN BRADYFRIDAY 6/13

MusicRR 10TH ANNIVERSARY Ten years ago, D. Striker left his parent’s house, headed to Kinko’s and stapled together the inaugural edition of RR Magazine. It happened to be Friday the 13th, and ever since that legendary day, every numerically cursed Friday has been blessed by the release of this modest little publication and celebrated with a big ole party and plenty of live music. In celebration of a decade of mayhem, Striker will be joined on the bill by The Virginia Reel and fellow Lust List honoree Caitlin Rose. Expect country-tinged tunes and lots of drunk people feeling lucky. Price of admission gets you your very own copy of the rag and an album recorded in honor of the occasion. 7 p.m. at The 5 Spot —LEE STABERT

MusicKELLEIGH BANNEN CD RELEASE SHOW Radio Sky is the first album from Kelleigh Bannen, a Nashville native who moved away before her musical aspirations drew her back to town in recent years. (She’s also the designer of her own Diva Today jewelry line.) Bannen’s debut contains 11 tracks of roots-inflected country that have a good chance of appealing to mainstream country audiences with a taste for the more traditional and organic leanings of Chely Wright or Deana Carter (though her voice isn’t quite as effortless as either of theirs). Bannen does well at covering her nostalgic bases. Radio Sky opens with a fiddle-sweetened “they don’t make country songs like they used to” ballad, followed by a “heading back home to a simpler life” country-rock number, then a raucous bluesy romp about her no-good man and a particularly fetching brokenhearted ballad. In the hands of formidable players like Bryan Owings, Frank Swart and Casey Driessen, the songs are treated well. 7 p.m. at The Basement —JEWLY HIGHTMusicPAT COIL SEXTET Pianist Pat Coil has the kind of résumé (Woody Herman and Vince Gill, Carmen McCrae and Trisha Yearwood, Natalie Cole and Travis Tritt) that can only belong to a member of that rare subspecies—the top-notch jazzer living in the country music capital. (Actually, there are more of them than you realize, though, like the Dalai Lama at an NRA convention, they don’t get the respect the deserve.) Coil’s latest, Bird House, holds its own with anything on the national jazz scene, largely because of his emphasis on composition and arrangement. Highlights include the Crescent City grease-fest “Way Down,” the Latin-tinged “Think Again” and the hard-boppin’ title track. This show also features a harbinger of summer, a Jim White sighting—now a jazz prof at University of Northern Colorado, the überdrummer still spends the off-season in Music City. 7 p.m. at F. Scott’s —JACK SILVERMAN