Performance poetry often lies flat on a record, but Williams, the star of the 1998 movie Slam and a legend at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, makes it work on his second, self-titled album. Out to reform rap music, he goes about the task with such conviction, and with such vivid, blood-and-guts poetry, that it’s hard to push aside his admonitions as finger wagging. Williams wants his listeners to expand their horizons, and he’ll go to any length, pasting rap’s standard images over industrial rock mashed up with punk and old-school beats. From the autobiographical “Black Stacy” and its hip-hop thump to the crunchy, Bad Brains-style metal he often employs, Williams shows us, as he puts it in “Grippo,”  “what the stars are made of.” Local artist D-Revolution will bring raw, street-life poetry as the opening act. The Bar Car —MARK MAYS Performance poetry often lies flat on a record, but Williams, the star of the 1998 movie Slam and a legend at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, makes it work on his second, self-titled album. Out to reform rap music, he goes about the task with such conviction, and with such vivid, blood-and-guts poetry, that it’s hard to push aside his admonitions as finger wagging. Williams wants his listeners to expand their horizons, and he’ll go to any length, pasting rap’s standard images over industrial rock mashed up with punk and old-school beats. From the autobiographical “Black Stacy” and its hip-hop thump to the crunchy, Bad Brains-style metal he often employs, Williams shows us, as he puts it in “Grippo,”  “what the stars are made of.” Local artist D-Revolution will bring raw, street-life poetry as the opening act. The Bar Car —MARK MAYS Music Friday, 21st PILE OF FACE Citing John Zorn and Mike Patton as influences, this New York City quintet present frantic horn work in a sometimes brutish rock context and make frequent, abrupt shifts in style. Their reach accommodates Middle Eastern-tinged jazz, thrashing beats and the sound of clanging bottles, to name just a handful of things. But no matter how hard Pile of Face try to emulate the forceful angularity of Zorn and Patton, they achieve consistency almost in spite of themselves, with an end result that lands closer to the Jesus Lizard and the Heroine Sheiks than, say, Mr. Bungle. One live recording ends with two minutes of rap music playing over a speaker system yet doesn’t lose its flow from beginning to end. This knack for making disparate pieces fit together not only sets Pile of Face apart from their fellow Zorn disciples; it threatens to one-up their predecessors in the listenability department without sacrificing their edge. Hair of the Dog; also playing Oct. 20 at The Boro —SABY REYES-KULKARNI Saturday, 22nd RONNIE BOWMAN Celebrating the release of his fourth solo album, It’s Getting Better All the Time, Bowman makes a compelling case for the inadequacy of genre labels. Rooted in bluegrass—he’s won three IBMA Male Vocalist of the Year awards—Bowman knocks out a couple of certified ’grass numbers on his new disc and applies its driving rhythms to much of the remainder. Yet even these have an unusual harmonic sophistication, with arrangements full of subtle touches and textures that go beyond the straightforward “let ’er go” layout and accompaniments typical of bluegrass. Then there’s the album’s title track, a wistful ballad co-written by Bowman that Brooks & Dunn took to No. 1 earlier this year; their version was fine, but Bowman’s is sparer and more restrained, and more heartbreaking. Accompanied at this show by a solid mix of band members (including his wife, Garnet Imes Bowman, a stunning singer), Bowman has retained the loyalty of the bluegrass faithful while earning well-deserved interest from Music Row. Station Inn —JON WEISBERGER JODY NARDONE Thanks to a dynamic style that can shift from the whispered beauty of Bill Evans to the percussive flights of McCoy Tyner, Nardone has emerged as one of Nashville’s preeminent jazz pianists. His reputation is also blowing up nationwide, where he is receiving raves in Downbeat and Jazziz for his role in the Crimson Jazz Trio, a Nashville-to-L.A. combo led by former King Crimson drummer Ian Wallace and former Vital Information bassist Tim Landers. The trio’s debut album, which is scheduled for mid-November release, transforms classic King Crimson titles like “21st Century Schizoid Man” and “Three of a Perfect Pair” into straight-ahead jazz, and the results liberate the tunes and the musicians. For this show, Nardone will lead his own trio through fresh interpretations of material drawn from jazz, fusion and rock. F. Scott’s —MICHAEL McCALL GIL GANN With considerable help from his guitarist and musical director Robert Edwards, Gann demonstrates his plaintive blues style and versatility on his well-varied EP, Day-to-Day Livin’. The interplay between Gann and his band Tha Manz is tight and evocative, allowing the entire crew to share the high points. Behind a forthright funk-blues groove, some heightened organ colorings and biting guitar fills, he carries off the title track, a lowdown salute to the street hustler in all of us. Another Gann original, “Broke a Good Mule,” plays his wearied, whining urge for release off a growling rage to set the table for a slow-paced Delta boil. Here, the band lurks quietly behind growing storm clouds, echoing the singer’s futility, but not letting loose until the second turn of Edwards’ winding solo. Bourbon Street Blues & Boogie Bar —BILL LEVINE Sunday, 23rd GIL GANN With considerable help from his guitarist and musical director Robert Edwards, Gann demonstrates his plaintive blues style and versatility on his well-varied EP, Day-to-Day Livin’. The interplay between Gann and his band Tha Manz is tight and evocative, allowing the entire crew to share the high points. Behind a forthright funk-blues groove, some heightened organ colorings and biting guitar fills, he carries off the title track, a lowdown salute to the street hustler in all of us. Another Gann original, “Broke a Good Mule,” plays his wearied, whining urge for release off a growling rage to set the table for a slow-paced Delta boil. Here, the band lurks quietly behind growing storm clouds, echoing the singer’s futility, but not letting loose until the second turn of Edwards’ winding solo. Bourbon Street Blues & Boogie Bar —BILL LEVINE AMOS LEE Since he last played town, this folk-soul troubadour released his Blue Note debut and has toured the U.S. with Bob Dylan and Merle Haggard. His charm lies, on the one hand, with his well-crafted storytelling and, on the other, with the warm, nuanced R&B ethos that pervades his music. The result is a pleasing mix, owing as much to the dusty lyricism of Bob Dylan and John Prine as it does to the work of soul singers like Donny Hathaway and Bill Withers, with Lee’s lithe tenor fluttering through the album’s uncluttered arrangements. 3rd & Lindsley —JEWLY HIGHT Monday, 24th AUK THEATRE/MUDBOY/WIZZARDS When she isn’t working on her master’s degree in entomology at the University of Kentucky, Katja Seltmann lectures to the public about insects—not in some boring library slide show, but in imaginatively staged club performances. Under the name Irene Moon, she’s rendered the world of cockroaches, blood-feeding moths and other crawling, flying creatures in vivid human scale through her “Scientifically Speaking” lectures, which mix music and theater to make science not just entertaining, but palpable. When she comes to Nashville this week, Seltmann/Moon will be performing under another guise, Auk Theatre, a collaboration with Matt Minter of the noise band Hair Police. All of her projects combine an appreciation for playful absurdist humor, and as she explains on her website, Auk Theatre will address “only the best topics in consideration: shoes, cardboard, bats, wine, shapes and murder.” Expect a fever-dream of disembodied voices, sputtering noises and off-kilter melodies presented by fantastically dressed players. Providence, R.I.’s Mudboy plays warmly pulsing pieces on a modified church organ that sound like the perfect invitation to an extended head-trip, at once sweetly lulling and subtly unnerving. A collaboration between Lightning Bolt’s Brian Gibson and Rich Porter of Bug-Sized Mind, Wizzards take the dreamy psychedelia of Mudboy into deeper, more percussive territory. All together, it’s a bill that should leave listeners feeling pretty well transported by the end of the evening. 310 Chestnut St. —JONATHAN MARX BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME/CEPHALIC CARNAGE Extreme metal bands tend not to express the vulnerability that lies at the heart of their grim obsessions, and few have the good sense to display any sort of humor that would reveal their humanity. Fewer still find a way to convey humor via the music itself, rather than through, say, satirical or absurd lyrics. Predictably, Between the Buried and Me pepper their songs with sudden changes and stop-start passages that require chops to pull off. But when they throw in an unexpected round of hand-claps in the cadence of a schoolyard chant, or go into a double-kickdrum volley à la Dave Brubeck’s “Take Five,” they get their wit across without words and allow joy to shine through their playing. Similarly, humor keeps Cephalic Carnage in check despite qualities in their music that usually create distance with audiences—a spastic, grating sound that demands endurance and X Files-inspired lyrics rife with conspiracy theories and supernatural horror. Together, both bands prove how humor can deepen the severity of an extreme metal band’s attack. Exit/In —SABY REYES-KULKARNI Tuesday, 25th MICHAEL POWERS As he sings in the opening track of his current album, it took this singer-guitarist “20 years to be discovered overnight.” Though he played as a teen on the Ad Libs’ 1965 hit “Boy From New York City,” it was only last year that Powers received national recognition as a blues artist, garnering W.C. Handy nominations for both his latest album and, rather belatedly, “Best New Artist Debut.” With many years of playing NYC rock clubs under his belt, his covers take on a distinctive edge and draw from relatively untapped sources. He puts together a faithful arrangement—piping organ stops and all—of Doug Sahm’s “She’s About a Mover” that strips the original of its period markings, returning the song to its sources. The true surprise, though, is a Hendrix-inflected cover of Count Five’s “Psychotic Reaction,” which layers Powers’ densest solos over a pumped-up blues groove. Bourbon Street Blues & Boogie Bar —BILL LEVINE NEW BLACK A self-described “two shirt/two skirt” crew, these Chicagoans build their foundation with a solid adaptation of cut-and-slash grrl punk, moody pop-punk and a caffeinated vibe replete with angular backbeats and warbling analog synths. All of these things work to create a space in which everything is somewhat amiss and intense emotions are held precariously in check, sometimes spilling over in the dynamic interplay between singers Pattie Gran and Liam Kimball. The group’s new album, Time Attack, covers a lot of stylistic ground convincingly, from fierce to vulnerable to spaced-out, without ever seeming to dabble. The 5 Spot —STEVE HARUCH Tuesday, 25th AQUA VELVET Like the swanky cologne that shares its name, this side project by Nashville jazz artists Jim Hoke and Randy Leago has one purpose and one purpose only (cue lubricious Barry White voice): settin’ the mooood for luuurve. An audio lounge stocked with whatever the November 1965 Playboy deemed necessary for romantic conquest, it’s a reworking of gushy 1950s and ’60s pop songs like “You Showed Me” and “Come Softly to Me” as lush, mildly psychotropic instrumentals, awash in sitar, kalimba, flutes, water glasses and the odd Jew’s harp. Yes, it’s kitschy, and yes, the players are all in on the joke—which, mercifully, they play straight enough that their CD Vol. 1: “Hey Everybody, Let’s Fall in Love!” actually rewards multiple listenings. The live lineup includes Leago and Hoke on sax, Richard Bennett on guitar, Neil Rosengarden on trumpet, the rhythm section of bassist Glenn Worf and drummer Steve Ebe, and vocalist Kristi Rose inviting you into her satin sheets of sound. Bring your own waterbed. 3rd & Lindsley —JIM RIDLEY Classical NASHVILLE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA Friday and Saturday at TPAC’s Jackson Hall, the Symphony premieres “Animal, Vegetable, Mineral,” a concerto grosso by contemporary composer Steven Mackey featuring the saxophone quartet PRISM. Mackey follows in the very short line of composers whose primary instrument was guitar. (His most notable predecessor was Hector Berlioz.) As a guitar player of the late 20th century, this means he grew up playing rock music, which gave him formative experiences like playing for hours on end as a teenager to provide the musical backdrop while his brother and his friends dropped acid. Mackey has written several pieces that include electric guitar, and several that rely on significant amounts of improvisation from the performers. Even when he gets the electric guitar going, his writing has a classical composer’s sophisticated asymmetry (and a sense of humor) that keeps things from devolving into overcooked prog-rock. There is no electric guitar in the piece the Nashville Symphony will play, but there is a saxophone quartet. Four sax players make extremely rich, meaty sounds, as jazz bands through the decades have found out, and classical players bring particular sonic focus and technical range to the configuration. The other major work on the program is Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony, one of his most majestic works. —DAVID MADDOX BELLE MEADE BAROQUE Early Music is arguably the liveliest area of classical performance these days, with first-rate ensembles exploring new repertoire and finding new and distinctive sounds. Even composers who you’d think have been well picked over are delivering surprises: two-and-a-half centuries after his death, Johann Sebastian Bach has hit the concert circuit with a new aria, discovered earlier this year by a researcher in Weimar. This work will receive its Nashville premiere at Belle Meade Baroque’s concert, sung by soprano Barbi McCulloch. Keeping up with the firsts, the 2 p.m. Sunday concert at St. George’s Episcopal Church also features Nashville’s first professional countertenor, John Alley, performing songs by Henry Purcell. The countertenor is a trained falsetto voice singing in the range of a woman’s voice, with a distinct, glassy timbre. Alley probably isn’t doing a ton of Music Row sessions, but it is a great sound. The rest of the program includes instrumental and vocal works by Gabrielli, Telemann, Handel, Campert and Loeillet. —DAVID MADDOX Theater 1776 Tennessee Repertory Theatre opens its new season with this modern musical classic. Sherman Edwards and Peter Stone’s unlikely reworking of the story of American independence won a Tony Award and ran on Broadway for nearly four years, and in the 35 years since, it has become a staple of the regional repertoire. Director René Copeland challenges tradition with her staging, which will eschew the usual colonial period costumes and powdered wigs that audiences have come to know and love. Instead, this production takes a storytelling approach, mixes contemporary and historical settings, and uses 20 racially diverse actors (male and female, with some cross-casting) to perform 27 roles. It sounds a little risky, but the goal is to reinvigorate the familiar conventions surrounding what we know about the signing of the Declaration of Independence, to breathe new life into austere historical figures, and to imbue the concepts of democracy, independence, justice and the struggle against tyranny with fresh relevance. The cast is headed up by David Alford, Jeff Boyet and Henry Haggard, with musical direction by Paul Carrol Binkley, settings by Gary Hoff and costumes by Trish Clark. Performances begin Oct. 20 at TPAC’s Polk Theater and run through Nov. 5. Phone 255-ARTS for tickets. —MARTIN BRADY Art EDIE MANEY: “IF PAINT COULD TALK” Color serves as the guiding force in Edie Maney’s abstract works: paints are washed, smeared and dabbed on canvases, and the artist then scrapes and pushes her pigments until they arrive at the place where they belong. The resulting works play off the contrasts of darkness and light, entropy and precision. “My intention is to invite the viewer to become lost in my paintings, like a journey, feeling emotions of pleasure, playfulness and drama,” she explains. A longtime presence in the local art scene, Maney has shown at Centennial Art Center and the Tennessee Arts Commission, among other venues, and was included in the Tennessee State Museum’s “Best of Tennessee” show in 2001. Beginning this week, she’ll have a solo show at Harpeth Hall’s Marnie Sheridan Gallery, and she’ll be present at the opening this Sunday, 3-5 p.m. —JONATHAN MARX ARTCLECTIC Now in its ninth year, University School of Nashville’s Artclectic fundraiser is an ideal opportunity to see a wide range of art by more than four dozen artists from Middle Tennessee and beyond working in oils, watercolors, photography, fiber, printmaking and other media. Previous years have seen some strong work on view, and the weekend-long event offers several chances to take it all in. Artclectic kicks off with a $100-a-ticket Benefactors’ Party on Thursday, but at $10 a head, Friday night’s Collector’s Party is both festive and affordable. For those wanting to get a look at the work away from the mad rush of crowds—and without the cover charge—the show will be open 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sun. For more info, call 324-1447 or visit www.artclectic.com. —JONATHAN MARX Books TONY TAKITANI After the terrifying exhilaration of his novel The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, I decided to read anything I could get my hands on by Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami. I haven’t read the New Yorker short story that inspired Jun Ichikawa’s film, but its story of a lonely, emotionally stunted artist who finds piercing new love carries the author’s stamp of immersive obsession. The film opens this weekend at the Belcourt. —JIM RIDLEY NATHANIEL FICK In his autobiography, One Bullet Away: The Making of a Marine Officer, Fick examines the warrior mentality—its origins, applications and limitations—and relates his own experiences serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. The author will read from his insightful, gracefully written book, 6 p.m. Oct. 20 at Davis-Kidd. Click here for the review. Film ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS This keen 1957 suspense thriller about a murderer (Maurice Ronet) who watches fate unravel his perfect crime made a superstar of Jeanne Moreau and put 24-year-old director Louis Malle on the map. It’s also famous for its knockout jazz score by Miles Davis, mostly improvised with his combo. The movie’s been touring the country in a new print, thanks to the peerless revival distributor Rialto Pictures; it opens Friday at the Belcourt, with Nashville’s own master of mystery, novelist Steven Womack, introducing the 7 p.m. show. As a special treat, the theater offers a bonus attraction Friday and Saturday nights: Miles Davis 1970, a 38-minute film of Davis and his swaggering Bitches Brew-era electric sextet, filmed by Murray Lerner at the Isle of Wight Festival.  See the review on p. 63. —JIM RIDLEY TONY TAKITANI After the terrifying exhilaration of his novel The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, I decided to read anything I could get my hands on by Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami. I haven’t read the New Yorker short story that inspired Jun Ichikawa’s film, but its story of a lonely, emotionally stunted artist who finds piercing new love carries the author’s stamp of immersive obsession. The film opens this weekend at the Belcourt. —JIM RIDLEY BLOW-UP One of the 1960s’ defining films, Michelangelo Antonioni’s enigmatic thriller concerns the mysteries of human perception and what, if anything, art captures of the truth. David Hemmings plays the mod London photographer who may have caught a murder on film; Vanessa Redgrave is the woman who offers herself in exchange for the negatives. Carlo Di Palma’s psychedelic color camerawork is justly famous, but beware: Vanderbilt’s Sarratt Cinema has started projecting more of its movies on DVD—including this one, which plays Thursday and Friday nights. —JIM RIDLEY SUBURBAN TUMBLEWEED Twelve-year-old Ben Worley plays Noah Vanisher, a preteen superhero in a world of ghosts, bullies and flying saucers, in this 33-minute short shot in Franklin last fall by his brother Seth Worley. Tyler Torti, Darren Vandergriff, Jeff Venable, Dane Hale and Patrick Hunter co-star. I’ve been hearing good things about this; I’m glad to see it’s showing twice Thursday at the Belcourt, at 5 and 6 p.m., with the filmmakers in attendance. See the trailer at NoiseboxMedia.com. —JIM RIDLEY