Our Critics' Picks

THURSDAY 11/15

Poster PartyTHE ART OF ROCK Anyone who’s ever flown solo to a rock show and arrived a bit early has no doubt spent some time perusing the upcoming show posters—it’s amazing how the perfect splash of color or irreverent image can grab your attention. Incidentally, in addition to cool indie bands, cool indie labels and cool indie record stores, Nashville also has its fair share of accomplished indie screen printers. This event will meld regional artisans with the events they promote, showcasing the art and music side by side. Print Mafia, Ten Sixty Six, Boss Construction, Grand Palace, Rock-C-Art, Cotton & Steel and Status Serigraph will all have work on display. On the bill are Von Guarde, Cougar Fight, Glossary and Kyle Andrews, who recently released the wonderful EP Find Love. Let Go. Check out “Lackluster Love” immediately—though if you’re feeling down, it’s plaintive magic might just be the nail in the coffin. 8 p.m. at Exit/In —LEE STABERT

Start Whistling “Sweet Georgia Brown”DR. “JUMPIN’ JOHNNY” KLINE With today’s athletes skating through sham degree programs just to get to the big-dollar game, the tale of Jumpin’ Johnny Kline is particularly inspiring. After a 1950s stint playing hoops with the Harlem Globetrotters—a game that’s impossible to lose—Kline returned to Detroit in the 1960s and descended into a nine-year bout with drug addiction, a game that’s impossible to win. After cleaning up his act, he returned to Wayne State University, earning bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees in history and the philosophy of education. Kline, who recently moved to Brentwood, will give a presentation titled “From Harlem Globetrotter to Addict to Ph.D.,” in which he’ll talk about his storied past and promote the national launch of his Youth Athletic Enrichment Program, an after-school outreach program for middle-school athletes. 5-7 p.m. at Vanderbilt’s Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center —JACK SILVERMAN

MusicJAMES KING King James, as bluegrass wags like to call the soulful Virginia singer, recently suffered a health scare, but updated reports had him out at the bowling alley, so he ought to be in good shape—and good spirits—for his first Nashville appearance in some time. A favorite on the Rounder Records roster, King is an artist so heavily invested in his material that he can bring himself to tears in the course of a three-minute song, and so convincing that he can drag all but the most hard-hearted audiences along with him. Energetic banjo man Adam Poindexter is back for a second stint in the band, adding his experience with the King style to that of right-hand man Kevin “Waldo” Prater (mandolin, tenor vocals), while more recent arrivals John Wade (bass) and Adam Haynes (fiddle) provide steady, sympathetic support. 9 p.m. at Station Inn —JON WEISBERGER

MusicCEDRIC BURNSIDE Mississippi native Cedric Burnside never hesitated to follow in the footsteps of his blues iconoclast grandfather R.L. Burnside. Long his grandfather’s drummer, Cedric began his musical career at 4 as the story goes, when he started playing alongside his uncle Garry, then 6, one of R.L.’s sons. Now nearing 30, Cedric and Garry call themselves Burnside Exploration. They specialize in modern, sturdy electric blues covers and originals that immediately call to mind the fun-loving mentality of R.L.’s best. (Sample song title: “Bitch, You Lie.”) The duo have played before big crowds around the country in recent years, opening for jam bands like Widespread Panic and North Mississippi Allstars. Cedric himself has played with performers like Kenny Brown and Bobby Rush, and even has a claim to Hollywood: He played drums alongside Samuel L. Jackson in last year’s Black Snake Moan. 9 p.m. at The Basement —BEN WESTHOFF

FRIDAY 11/16

MusicTHE PHYSICS OF MEANING There’s a casual majesty to this Chapel Hill, N.C., chamber-rock troupe. They’re led by one-time Polyphonic Spree violinist Daniel Hart, who moved from Texas to the Triangle and joined the Bu Hanan Collective. Working with talented songwriter/musicians such as David Karsten Daniels and Alex Lazara (The Prayers and Tears of Arthur Digby Sellers) among others, Hart picks up where the Spree and his earlier outfit, Go Machine, left off. His rotating cast delivers earnest, elegantly alluring music which lilts and glides—sometimes quite simply, on melancholy strums and a wash of glimmering keyboards, other times overflowing with orchestral grace and a fluttering pace reminiscent of John Vanderslice or a heavily sedated Beulah. It still rocks, but with a measured, textured gait recalling the passage-driven arrangements of Yes and Peter Gabriel. 9 p.m. at the 5 Spot —CHRIS PARKER