Two of Nashville’s more-innovative theatre companies—Mockingbird Public Theatre and Green Room Productions—join forces this week to present this new adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry V. Gifted actor/director Mark Cabus directs his own script and performs along with four other talented players—David Alford, Ruth Cartlidge, Todd Denning, and Jenny Littleton—in a unique staging that blurs the lines between actor and audience and incorporates cinematic techniques like quick cuts and flashbacks. Besides offering a stirring portrait of “Harry the King” and his rise to power, Cabus’ adaptation also addresses the problem of producing a history play for today’s audience unfamiliar with the background story. To that end, he weaves into the text portions of other relevant Shakespeare works, with an eye toward maintaining continuity of character and plot. Sometimes playing up to eight different characters, each actor will switch personalities instantly in front of the audience, incorporating a selection of anachronistic props and costume pieces and bridging the gap between history and contemporary sensibilities. The production opens Friday for a two-weekend run at TPAC’s Polk Theater.

—M.B.

Thursday, 12th

Saddlesong Brothers Courtney and Carter Little lead this fantastic local country outfit, which deploys deep electric twang and light acoustic picking to shape a buoyant, deeply affecting style, reminiscent of Scud Mountain Boys and Whiskeytown. If you’re lucky, after checking out their set at 3rd & Lindsley, you’ll have the opportunity to pick up their self-released six-song CD, which strikingly presents Saddlesong’s multi-instrumental, multi-tiered approach to city-haunted rural music.

—N.M.

The Out-of-Towners Featuring Christopher Williams & Richard Julian On his CD The Silence in Between, recorded with help from David Wilcox and Los Lobos’ David Hidalgo, Cambridge-based singer-songwriter Christopher Williams sounds like the kind of guy who greets his sweetheart every day with flowers, coos adoring words of love, and swells with emotion at every sunset. Meanwhile, on his self-titled CD from a few years back, New Yorker Richard Julian sounds like the kind of guy who’d sneeze on you in an elevator, not apologize, and snicker at your stupid haircut in the bargain. Which is my way of saying I don’t trust this Williams guy any farther than I can throw him, and Julian shouldn’t be missed. They perform 9:30 p.m. at Radio Cafe; local hero Tom Kimmel plays an early set at 7:30 p.m.

—J.R.

Quinn Loggins Equal parts new waver, classic rocker, and blue-eyed soulster, Loggins knows when to use his head and when to wear his heart on his sleeve. In other words, he’s the kinda guy who gives sincerity a good name. Loggins and his band, the Inbetween, play 6 p.m. at 12th & Porter.

Ricochet This popular hard-touring rockin’ country sextet rolls home for a big gig at the Wildhorse Saloon, benefiting the Fraternal Order of Police.

Friday, 13th

Jeep Led by Jeep MacNichol—the former drummer for jazz-pop cult favorites The Samples—this power trio features its titular leader on guitar and vocals. Jeep’s percussive origins are clear in the polyrhythmic drive behind the surging guitar-pop of his new band’s eponymous debut album. The press release cites Ladysmith Black Mambazo and The Police, but Jeep’s music more closely resembles the creamy, distortion-laden rock ’n’ roll of late-’80s college-radio staples The Wonder Stuff. Jeep will be running smooth at The End.

—N.M.

Ani DiFranco The “Righteous Babe” is nothing if not prodigious, and Revelling/Reckoning, her 15th full-length album in a decade, is easily her most ambitious record to date. The first disc, which features cameos from trumpeter Jon Hassell and James Brown/George Clinton saxman Maceo Parker, is a folk/funk/punk odyssey that amply lives up to its skylarking title. The second CD, which is just Ani and her acoustic guitar, is more contemplative, more suited to reflecting on the social and interpersonal issues it probes than to revelling. But doubtless there will be plenty of both when DiFranco and her band play the Ryman Auditorium. Incisive, Rhode Island-based alt-folkie Erin McKeown opens.

—B.F.W.

Fear the Mullet The broom-shaped ’do gets its due at this night of underground Nashville music hosted by Chris Davis, avant-skronk’s answer to Billy Ray Cyrus. Laying on the coif syrup will be Dave Cloud, Those Donnelly Boys, and pathetic Music Row sell-outs The New Faggot Cunts—who, bowing to commercial pressure, are now known as The New Oyster Cunts. Also included in the ticket price is culinary adventurer Darius Filigree’s SweetPaw Meat Orgy, an elegy for the good old days of unfettered carnivoredom. Hors d’oeuvres will be served, if you dare. Showtime is 9:30 p.m. at Springwater.

Friday, 13th-Saturday, 14th

REVOLUTION NASHVILLE FEST Indienet continues its tradition of diverse shows with one that runs the gamut from indie pop to hardcore. The Revolution Nashville Fest sees Murfreesboro stalwarts Kill Devil Hills teaming up with Nashville pop darlings Silent Friction and the emo-rock of The Sincerity Guild. If that weren’t reason enough to catch the all-ages show, Rookie of the Year, Christiensen, Modern Zero, Not Waving But Drowning, and The Lyndsay Diaries are also among the plethora of bands playing the two-day fest.

—T.A.

Friday, 13th & Monday, 16th

The Gypsy Hombres Nashville’s premier “hot” jazz unit does a lot more than Django Reinhardt repertory. Their sets include originals, smart reworkings of vintage jazz, some rock and pop, and plenty of blazing solos and spirited ensemble interaction. Audiences can see them this week in two settings: Friday night they’ll be backing Annie Sellick at Cafe 123; Monday night the trio will perform at F. Scott’s.

—R.W.

Saturday, 14th

Mose Allison Mose Allison confounded audiences and critics alike when his album Back Country Suite initially appeared in 1957. Here was a wonderful pianist who also sang definitive country blues, wrote biting lyrics, and knew every type of tune from churning R&B to soul, gospel, and show tunes. Allison still doesn’t confine himself to any genre, and hopefully he will demonstrate that raging variety and performance unpredictability during his set at the Bluebird Cafe Saturday night. With a little luck he’ll also include “Your Mind Is on Vacation” during the set.

—R.W.

ROCK♦A♦TEENS Sounding like a manic cabaret act set somewhere in the North Carolina hills, Georgia’s Rock♦A♦Teens bump and grind like nothing you’ve heard before. The foursome, on the ever-diverse Merge Records label, hits Murfreesboro’s most interesting venue, The Red Rose Cafe. Somewhere between espresso and claret lies the perfect drink to accompany this band.

—T.A.

Rosie Flores Good as they are, Rosie Flores’ records rarely capture the fire and energy of her live shows—which means if you like the simmering rockabilly and boogie on her new Eminent record Speed of Sound, you’ll be absolutely floored by her in person. Especially since her taste in material is as astute as ever, from Buck Owens’ nifty nugget “Hot Dog” to Robbie Fulks’ “I Push Right Over,” a song whose mix of saucy sexuality and honky-tonk hip was made for her deceptively sweet voice. Flores amps up at 9:30 p.m. at the Radio Cafe, and if you get there early, award-winning singer/songwriter Mark Aaron James (who moved to New York from Nashville recently) is back in town for a 7:30 p.m. set.

—J.R.

The Butchies The Butchies grew out of Team Dresch, the Portland/Olympia, Wash., trailblazers who helped put “lesbionic rock” on the map. Now based in Durham, N.C., the pop-punk trio, which explores the convergences of the personal and the political as well as anyone, will release their guitar-charged third album, 3, next week. The Butchies also back Indigo Girl Amy Ray on her new solo album, just as they will after they open for her at 12th & Porter. Hard-hitting singer-songwriter Rose Polenzani opens.

—B.F.W.

The Malladi Brothers Sri Ganesha Temple continues its concert series, which serves the dual purpose of providing a living cultural link to the local Hindi population while introducing Nashvillians to its rich cultural legacy. The temples’ 16th anniversary and the Tamil New Year’s Day weekend celebrations provide the perfect setting to welcome the Malladi Brothers, whose depth of expression and adherence to tradition make them rising stars of Carnatic classical music. The show starts at 6 p.m.; call 356-7207 for more information.

—C.D.

Liz Johnson With vocalist Annie Sellick almost a sure bet for stardom sometime soon, Nashville’s next jazz stylist deserving of wider recognition is saxophonist/vocalist Liz Johnson. A frequent participant at Bean Central jam sessions and performer at Jazz Workshop engagements, Johnson and her quartet will be headlining a 1 p.m. concert Saturday at Jazz @ Bellevue Center.

—R.W.

Bob Marley Belated Birthday Celebration Marley may be even hotter right now than at any time since his passing nearly 20 years ago. His entire Island catalog is being reissued this year, with a glorious deluxe two-disc edition of Catch A Fire due any day now. Mystic Meditations are helping to keep the Marley vibe alive with their 9th annual Bob Marley Belated Birthday Celebration 8 p.m. Saturday night at the Boys and Girls Club, 916 16th Ave. N.

—R.W.

Stomp Club 2001 328 Performance Hall hosts a night of local metal, featuring Medicine Mann, Peel, Abraid, Lowboy, and Malfunction Crew—the latter of whom recently won The Battle of the Bands at Outer Limit.

Tuesday, 17th

Blind Mississippi Morris Blind Mississippi Morris is a solid interpreter of classic Delta blues, and equally convincing on contemporary material. A fine live performer, Morris doesn’t specialize in the type of rock-oriented numbers that can help blues acts get crossover attention. Instead, he resembles the traditional storytellers and performers who are never affected by such variables as audience size or setting. He plays at Bourbon Street Blues & Boogie Bar.

—R.W.

Some Awful Bridge This batch of local home-recording enthusiasts make their live debut with a free show at Springwater, where they promise a multimedia experience that should alone be worth the price of admission. The band’s self-released CD Posthumous Men is also intriguing as a Flaming Lips/ Sebadoh-inspired pastiche of rolling rhythms and guitar fuzz. It’s not exactly exceptional, but it’s on the right track.

—N.M.

Wednesday, 18th

Jets To Brazil Quickly developing into one of the most accomplished acts in the “sonic sincerity” subgenre of punk known as emo-core, this quartet of New York punk veterans stunned many last year with their melodically complex, emotionally direct second album Four Cornered Night. Lead singer Blake Schwarzenbach (late of Jawbreaker) croons like a tuneless Evan Dando, which is a definite handicap, but the adventurous structures and succession of hooks that comprise JTB’s songs put them several lengths ahead of their bashier contemporaries. Schwarzenbach and company play The End.

—N.M.

Blair Composers Forum It’s the most unlikely thing: a ghetto at Vanderbilt? But the university setting serves as such for serious composition students whose work and art may never gain a larger forum than the semesterly student recital scheduled for them by Blair School. Student instrumentalists will perform works composed by their peers in Turner Recital Hall, and while some of these works may not be fully formed, you may never hear any of these pieces again. And if you do, you’ll be able to say you heard it first. Call 322-7651 for more information.

—C.D.

Barely Heroes The hype surrounding this local rock quartet has reached a high enough level that the band has landed a choice opening slot for Ray Benson and Asleep At The Wheel at The Ryman, as part of a Belmont-sponsored showcase. Give them credit for hustle: Barely Heroes’ solid but unspectacular self-released debut CD has gotten write-ups in newspapers across the Southeast, largely based on a press kit that makes dubious claims about the band’s popularity, citing a “feature” in Billboard Magazine that’s actually more like an advertisement, with copy cribbed from Barely Heroes’ own press kit. Musically, the band is okay—not much worse than the average modern-rock act, yet not significantly different—but for promotional chutzpah, they’re remarkable.

—N.M.

Film

The Wind Will Carry Us/The Idiots There’s a simple reason Abbas Kiarostami’s latest film didn’t turn up on any local lists of 2000’s best movies: It wasn’t shown here. Thanks to Bill Myers’ Nashville Film Society, Nashville Premieres, and the Sarratt Cinema, the movie finally makes its local debut next Tuesday and Wednesday. (See the review on p. 45.) It’s the last film of the season for Nashville Premieres, which also sponsors one last screening of Lars von Trier’s The Idiots 3 p.m. Sunday at Sarratt. For more information, see our Film Listings.

—J.R.

When Brendan Met Trudy Novelist Roddy Doyle (The Commitments) wrote this zippy romantic comedy about a nerdy movie geek of a schoolteacher (Peter McDonald) who falls hard for a sexy burglar (Flora Montgomery). Filled with funny nods to everything from Breathless to The Searchers, this is basically High Fidelity for cinephiles—both a gentle ribbing and a cheerful indulgence of pop-culture obsession. The second film in the current Shooting Gallery film series touring the country, this opens Friday at the Belcourt; see the review in our Film Listings.

—J.R.

TWO BY JOHN FORD The Belcourt offers one of the week’s must-see experiences, a double-feature of classics by director John Ford: 1941’s How Green Was My Valley and 1946’s My Darling Clementine. In a halcyon week for moviegoing—check the Film Listings if you don’t believe us—this ranks right at the top.

—J.R.

Ratcatcher Thanks to a last-minute one-week booking at Green Hills last month, coupled with indifferent promotion, scarcely a soul saw Lynne Ramsay’s drama of hard living and unexpected tenderness among Glaswegian street kids. That’s a pity: The movie placed highly on many year-end best-of lists, and many hard-core movie nuts never even knew it played here. The Belcourt is giving the movie a second chance with a weeklong booking.

—J.R.

Faithless In the twilight of his career, a master scriptwriter (Erland Josephson) dramatizes an episode of infidelity that cast its shadow over his life; the creation takes on a life of its own as the central character (Lena Endre) begins an affair with devastating repercussions. That the screenplay was indeed penned by a master, Ingmar Bergman—and that it was directed by his great collaborator and former lover, Liv Ullmann—should add further layers of fascination. The acclaimed drama opens Friday at Green Hills.

—J.R.

The Lady in the Lake Legendary as one of Hollywood’s most audacious failed experiments, this 1946 Raymond Chandler yarn is shown through the eyes of private dick Philip Marlowe (actor/director Robert Montgomery)—whose face appears onscreen only when reflected in a mirror or window. The oddball first-person thriller gets a rare screening at the Watkins Film School’s free Friday-night video series.

—J.R.

Kingdom Come The play Dearly Departed, a hit several seasons back for the Mockingbird Public Theatre, reaches the big screen with LL Cool J, Jada Pinkett-Smith, and Whoopi Goldberg among the members of a huge and awesomely dysfunctional family reunited by a funeral. The comedy opens Friday at local theaters.

—J.R.

Bridget Jones’s Diary Renee Zellweger plays the heroine of Helen Fielding’s international bestseller, a peek inside the thoughts of a 32-year-old “singleton” struggling with exercise, a parcel of cherished vices, and romantic woes. The comedy, which co-stars Hugh Grant and Colin Firth, opens Friday at area theaters.

—J.R.

Josie and the Pussycats The cartoon kitties become live-action lynxes Rachael Leigh Cook, Rosario Dawson, and Tara Reid in this musical comedy adapted loosely from the animated ’70s TV series. The movie opens Friday at local theaters, along with David Spade in The Adventures of Joe Dirt. For more details, check our Film Listings and Movie Clock.

—J.R.

DVD/Video

Boy Meets Girl/Mauvais Sang/POLA X French critic-turned-filmmaker Leos Carax is best known on these shores for a movie that was all but unreleased: 1991’s astonishing Juliette Binoche-Denis Lavant romance Les Amants du Pont-Neuf. That movie alone was enough to secure his status as one of the most volatile, unpredictable, and exciting talents at work in movies today. But Carax completists will appreciate WinStar’s new DVD and video editions of his remaining three films, from his 1984 debut Boy Meets Girl to last year’s exhilarating Melville-derived folly POLA X. The prize of the bunch may be 1986’s Mauvais Sang (Bad Blood), a long-unreleased, sci-fi-tinged caper movie with Binoche and Lavant that’s been on the wish lists of U.S. cinephiles for years.

—J.R.

Roma/Satyricon Two of the mid-period films from the late Italian expressionist Federico Fellini make it to DVD via MGM. 1972’s Roma is a free-roaming love letter to the master’s favorite city, while 1969’s Satyricon returns to Rome’s ancient days of decadence and splendor. Neither DVD has any extras of note—just the movies that helped define the term “Fellini-esque.”

—N.M.

Live Flesh/Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown Fans of Before Night Falls star Javier Bardem should pick up the new MGM DVD of Pedro Almodovar’s biting, oddly romantic Live Flesh, which stars Bardem as a paraplegic ex-cop-turned-basketball-player. It’s one of Almodovar’s best, as is his breakout success Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, also newly available on DVD, but unfortunately devoid of extras.

—N.M.

How I Won The War/King Of Hearts MGM is on a roll this week, transferring cult favorites and classics of world cinema to DVD, extra-free. These two films would fall into the former camp—How I Won the War being the Richard Lester-directed, John Lennon-starring wacky anti-war screed, and King of Hearts being the late ’60s midnight-movie perennial about a soldier who wanders into a townful of asylum escapees and finds true happiness. Both films are products of their times, but their influence lives on in pictures as far afield as Three Kings and Chocolat.

—N.M.

Theater

Love You to Death Staged readings of plays have become pretty common around here, but the Darkhorse Theater hosts something unusual: a staged reading of a screenplay by Nashville writer Syd Lovelace and his San Diego writing partner Vera Caccioppoli. The comedy involves a New Age follower who hires a handyman to give her workaholic fiancé a near-death experience; it’ll be read by actors Brian Russell, Frank Raines, Beth Sturgeon, and Ed McCarty 5 p.m. Saturday. It’s free, and afterward there’ll be an informal Q&A with the authors, who have received bites from agents and development execs and want their script in the strongest possible shape.

—J.R.

NEW DIRECTORS WORKSHOP SHORT PIECES The New Directors Workshop— founded last year by Alicia Benjamin-Samuels—will be showcasing works this week at two different venues: Apr. 12 at the Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center at Vanderbilt, and Apr. 14 at Davis-Kidd Bookstore in Green Hills. The program consists of excerpts from Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf (directed by Benjamin-Samuels) and original short pieces directed by Tara Mayfield and Marie Ullrich.

—M.B.

WINNIE-THE-POOH Along with his equally loveable pals Eeyore, Rabbit, and Piglet, Pooh Bear takes on various missions, including the catching of a Heffalump, in the new production by the generally excellent Nashville Children’s Theatre. Based on A.A. Milne’s timeless tales of life in the Hundred Aker Wood, this version, which runs Apr. 16-May 11, features a dramatization by Le Clanché Du Rand, music by Allan J. Friedman, and lyrics by Kristin Sergel (with an assist from Mr. Milne himself). NCT rules the children’s-theater world in Nashville and, for both young and old alike, this one promises to be a winner.

—M.B.

Art

Cumberland Gallery John Folsom’s manipulated photographic paintings are paired with Kit Reuther’s oil paintings in the latest show at this Green Hills gallery. Folsom, a former Nashvillian now living in Atlanta, photographs secluded landscapes, then dices the image into small squares that he reassembles on board and enhances with oils and encaustics. The resulting works have an old-world beauty that evokes the passage of time. In contrast, Reuther’s oil paintings are reductive, surreal, and monochromatic, but they summons mixed associations of unease, solitude, anonymity, and what the artist calls “the presence of absence.” Meet both artists at the opening reception 6-8 p.m. Apr. 14.

—A.W.

Off 12th Records Art lovers who like to think “outside the frame” should check out the exhibit adorning the south wall of Off 12th Records. The show, purportedly by Linda Burdgess, combines found correspondence and photographs, hilarious cartoon drawings, and a whimsical realignment of pop-culture icons. The offhand presentation obscures the fine quality of the drawings and the extreme wit of the artist, whose work—specifically a flyer depicting a larger-than-life Eazy-E looming over a late 1800s map of Vanderbilt—directly recalls that of an artist described by Jim Ridley as “the Ernie Kovacs of Nashville rock.” Eazy’s back...for good.

—C.D.

12th & porter Plywood manipulator and “self-proclaimed rock star” Dawn Cooper and mosaic artist Dickie Soloperto host “XXX,” an assemblage of “pin-up girls and more” in wood and mosaic. The show opens 8 p.m. Saturday at 12th & Porter and continues through May 12.

Comedy

Bill Bellamy A former MTV VJ who has starred in such feature films as How to Be a Player, Any Given Sunday, and the current comedy-drama The Brothers, Bellamy brings the stand-up talent that got him noticed in the first place to Zanies Friday and Saturday.

Events

Spring Art Hop Grab the kids and hop on over to Cheekwood for this annual celebration of spring and Easter traditions. The youngsters will love searching for brightly colored Easter eggs in the Mustard Meadow, communicating with an interactive dragon sculpture on the Wills Terrace, and going on a scavenger hunt along the Carell Woodland Sculpture Trail. The event takes place 11 a.m-4 p.m. Apr. 14.

—A.W.

Picks written by Todd Anderson, Martin Brady, Chris Davis, Bill Friskics-Warren, Noel Murray, Jim Ridley, Angela Wibking, & Ron Wynn.

—J.R.

DVD/Video

Boy Meets Girl/Mauvais Sang/POLA X French critic-turned-filmmaker Leos Carax is best known on these shores for a movie that was all but unreleased: 1991’s astonishing Juliette Binoche-Denis Lavant romance Les Amants du Pont-Neuf. That movie alone was enough to secure his status as one of the most volatile, unpredictable, and exciting talents at work in movies today. But Carax completists will appreciate WinStar’s new DVD and video editions of his remaining three films, from his 1984 debut Boy Meets Girl to last year’s exhilarating Melville-derived folly POLA X. The prize of the bunch may be 1986’s Mauvais Sang (Bad Blood), a long-unreleased, sci-fi-tinged caper movie with Binoche and Lavant that’s been on the wish lists of U.S. cinephiles for years.

—J.R.

Roma/Satyricon Two of the mid-period films from the late Italian expressionist Federico Fellini make it to DVD via MGM. 1972’s Roma is a free-roaming love letter to the master’s favorite city, while 1969’s Satyricon returns to Rome’s ancient days of decadence and splendor. Neither DVD has any extras of note—just the movies that helped define the term “Fellini-esque.”

—N.M.

Live Flesh/Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown Fans of Before Night Falls star Javier Bardem should pick up the new MGM DVD of Pedro Almodovar’s biting, oddly romantic Live Flesh, which stars Bardem as a paraplegic ex-cop-turned-basketball-player. It’s one of Almodovar’s best, as is his breakout success Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, also newly available on DVD, but unfortunately devoid of extras.

—N.M.

How I Won The War/King Of Hearts MGM is on a roll this week, transferring cult favorites and classics of world cinema to DVD, extra-free. These two films would fall into the former camp—How I Won the War being the Richard Lester-directed, John Lennon-starring wacky anti-war screed, and King of Hearts being the late ’60s midnight-movie perennial about a soldier who wanders into a townful of asylum escapees and finds true happiness. Both films are products of their times, but their influence lives on in pictures as far afield as Three Kings and Chocolat.

—N.M.

Theater

Love You to Death Staged readings of plays have become pretty common around here, but the Darkhorse Theater hosts something unusual: a staged reading of a screenplay by Nashville writer Syd Lovelace and his San Diego writing partner Vera Caccioppoli. The comedy involves a New Age follower who hires a handyman to give her workaholic fiancé a near-death experience; it’ll be read by actors Brian Russell, Frank Raines, Beth Sturgeon, and Ed McCarty 5 p.m. Saturday. It’s free, and afterward there’ll be an informal Q&A with the authors, who have received bites from agents and development execs and want their script in the strongest possible shape.

—J.R.

NEW DIRECTORS WORKSHOP SHORT PIECES The New Directors Workshop— founded last year by Alicia Benjamin-Samuels—will be showcasing works this week at two different venues: Apr. 12 at the Bishop Joseph Johnson Black Cultural Center at Vanderbilt, and Apr. 14 at Davis-Kidd Bookstore in Green Hills. The program consists of excerpts from Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf (directed by Benjamin-Samuels) and original short pieces directed by Tara Mayfield and Marie Ullrich.

—M.B.

WINNIE-THE-POOH Along with his equally loveable pals Eeyore, Rabbit, and Piglet, Pooh Bear takes on various missions, including the catching of a Heffalump, in the new production by the generally excellent Nashville Children’s Theatre. Based on A.A. Milne’s timeless tales of life in the Hundred Aker Wood, this version, which runs Apr. 16-May 11, features a dramatization by Le Clanché Du Rand, music by Allan J. Friedman, and lyrics by Kristin Sergel (with an assist from Mr. Milne himself). NCT rules the children’s-theater world in Nashville and, for both young and old alike, this one promises to be a winner.

—M.B.

Art

Cumberland Gallery John Folsom’s manipulated photographic paintings are paired with Kit Reuther’s oil paintings in the latest show at this Green Hills gallery. Folsom, a former Nashvillian now living in Atlanta, photographs secluded landscapes, then dices the image into small squares that he reassembles on board and enhances with oils and encaustics. The resulting works have an old-world beauty that evokes the passage of time. In contrast, Reuther’s oil paintings are reductive, surreal, and monochromatic, but they summons mixed associations of unease, solitude, anonymity, and what the artist calls “the presence of absence.” Meet both artists at the opening reception 6-8 p.m. Apr. 14.

—A.W.

Off 12th Records Art lovers who like to think “outside the frame” should check out the exhibit adorning the south wall of Off 12th Records. The show, purportedly by Linda Burdgess, combines found correspondence and photographs, hilarious cartoon drawings, and a whimsical realignment of pop-culture icons. The offhand presentation obscures the fine quality of the drawings and the extreme wit of the artist, whose work—specifically a flyer depicting a larger-than-life Eazy-E looming over a late 1800s map of Vanderbilt—directly recalls that of an artist described by Jim Ridley as “the Ernie Kovacs of Nashville rock.” Eazy’s back...for good.

—C.D.

12th & porter Plywood manipulator and “self-proclaimed rock star” Dawn Cooper and mosaic artist Dickie Soloperto host “XXX,” an assemblage of “pin-up girls and more” in wood and mosaic. The show opens 8 p.m. Saturday at 12th & Porter and continues through May 12.

Comedy

Bill Bellamy A former MTV VJ who has starred in such feature films as How to Be a Player, Any Given Sunday, and the current comedy-drama The Brothers, Bellamy brings the stand-up talent that got him noticed in the first place to Zanies Friday and Saturday.

Events

Spring Art Hop Grab the kids and hop on over to Cheekwood for this annual celebration of spring and Easter traditions. The youngsters will love searching for brightly colored Easter eggs in the Mustard Meadow, communicating with an interactive dragon sculpture on the Wills Terrace, and going on a scavenger hunt along the Carell Woodland Sculpture Trail. The event takes place 11 a.m-4 p.m. Apr. 14.

—A.W.

Picks written by Todd Anderson, Martin Brady, Chris Davis, Bill Friskics-Warren, Noel Murray, Jim Ridley, Angela Wibking, & Ron Wynn.