A recent issue of Entertainment Weekly, that paragon of sophisticated literary criticism, included a 100-word pooh-poohing of Peter Guralnick’s latest musical biography, Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke (Little, Brown). “Let’s face facts,” the reviewer insisted. “Great as he may have been, Cooke simply isn’t as iconic as some of [Guralnick’s] previous subjects (Elvis Presley, Robert Johnson), and slogging through 700-plus detail-choked pages sometimes feels like an exercise in enervation.” The biography “feels overstuffed,” the writer concluded, “like a five-CD boxed set by an artist with just one great album to his credit.” This appraisal is, besides condescending, more than a little nutty. As anyone with even a passing familiarity with 20th century popular music should know, Cooke was no one-album wonder. As a singer, star, songwriter, label owner, talent scout and producer, he helped gospel music go pop, and, along with fellow soul music creator Ray Charles, he made pop go gospel. It would require significantly more than five discs to summarize adequately Cooke’s contribution to the musical world that we now inhabit. Which is why Guralnick’s exhaustive but never exhausting take on the Cooke story is so welcome. Dream Boogie highlights the author’s diligent attention to the small details that made his earlier Elvis biographies so impressive. In some respects, Dream Boogie even improves upon those achievements. The social and political events of the period he’s writing about—in this case, the civil rights movement—are part of the story here, instead of studiously placed out of frame as in the author’s previous books. Guralnick also drops his usual illusion of objectivity, allowing himself at times to write from the point of view of key characters. Dream Boogie is a model of good biography, energizing rather than enervating. Guralnick will talk about the book 3 p.m. Nov. 12 in the Ford Theater of the Country Music Hall of Fame. He’ll sign copies afterward. —DAVID CANTWELL Music Thursday, 10th DIOS (MALOS)/SWORDS If you can remember the last time you thought seriously about what Ronnie James Dio was up to these days—and even if you can’t—there’s little chance that you’d confuse his band, Dio, with the Hawthorne, Calif., band formerly known as dios. Be that as it may, Ronnie James threatened legal action against the group, who now, after submitting to said threats, are known as dios (malos). Begrudging nomenclature, suggestive parentheses and all, the band continue to make enjoyable psychedelic pop. You might know their song “You Got Me All Wrong” from the soundtrack of a certain television show set in the Golden State. They’ll be joined by Portland’s Swords, who also recently took a new name (they toured with Stephen Malkmus as The Swords Project). Their latest album, Metropolis, is smart, laid-back and overeducated-sounding in the best kind of way. Exit/In (www.diosmalos.com) —STEVE HARUCH GOAPELE This silky-voiced neo-soul singer comes by her heightened social and political consciousness naturally: she’s the granddaughter both of Holocaust survivors and of grandparents who lived through Apartheid. Not only that, her name (pronounced “Gwa-pa-lay”) means “to move forward” in Sitswana, a South African language. Her forthcoming album, Change It All, thoroughly embodies the positivity implied in its title, combining lush, bumping grooves and lustrous pop-soul melodies with lyrics brimming with resistance, dignity and hope. The music often evokes expansive, harmonically rich classics by Stevie Wonder and Earth Wind & Fire, albeit with a contemporary R&B and hip-hop sheen provided by producers who have worked with acts ranging from Jill Scott and Bilal to Christina Aguilera and Bay Area rapper E-40. The likes of Talib Kweli and The Roots reportedly are fans; chances are, she’ll eclipse headliner Lyfe Jennings (see below). War Memorial Auditorium —BILL FRISKICS-WARREN LYFE Not many cats serving a 10-year sentence come out of prison with an acoustic guitar and a record deal. Yet that’s what happened to “Lyfe” Jennings. A month after his release, he was onstage at the Apollo and soon signed to Sony. His debut album, 268-192, is packed with laments over his troubled past and admonitions against emulating it. If that was all he had to offer, there wouldn’t be much difference between Lyfe, who has a voice that evokes visions of a hot Mississippi summer, and 50 Cent. If only the album were as interesting as the artist: 268-192 is burdened with plodding, trendy production. Lyfe’s live shows tend to be more minimalist, which allows his talents to emerge more fully. War Memorial Auditorium —MARK MAYS COWBOY TROY Troy Coleman’s self-described “hick-hop” has been celebrated by some for merging country, rock and rap—and castigated by others for the same reason. In truth, he’s neither expanding country music nor murdering it; he’s simply a crafty guy drawing on several basic, blue-collar genres to forge his own style. Underneath it all, he’s a populist who likes big chords, catchy choruses and easy-to-follow melodies. Closing his 2005 debut Loco Motive with the exhortation, “Shake a hand instead of shaking a fist,” he’s a unifier, not a divider—a 6-foot-5 Texan in a Stetson who raps in five languages, including Mandarin and Japanese. Wildhorse Saloon —MICHAEL McCALL Friday, 11th P.F. SLOAN Although he’s best known as the author of 1960s anthems like “Eve of Destruction” and “Secret Agent Man,” Sloan enjoys an underground reputation as a fine singer and guitarist in his own right. In between writing hits for Herman’s Hermits, Johnny Rivers, Barry McGuire, The Association and The Turtles, Sloan made a series of superb solo records, including 1968’s Measure of Pleasure, produced in Muscle Shoals by Tom Dowd. Over the last decade, he’s played a few dates to rapturous reviews, mostly in his native Los Angeles. His Bluebird show will mark his first-ever Nashville appearance; in town recording a set of new songs with producer Jon Tiven, he’ll likely mix up some of his current material with the classics. You might be surprised at how many of his songs have stuck in your memory banks, and maybe one of his in-the-round partners will essay Jimmy Webb’s great, troubled tribute to the man, “P.F. Sloan,” just to make the evening complete. Bluebird Café —EDD HURT THE DONNAS By most accounts, The Donnas have broken into the mainstream. An appearance on a teen movie soundtrack and 2002’s major-label Spend the Night kicked off the usual late-night-appearances, Billboard-charts whirlwind. But it’s still unclear where The Donnas fall on the rock spectrum. Maybe it’s because the all-girl quartet have relied too heavily on a cock-rock-hijacked-by-bad-girls shtick for the better part of six albums, and the sameness of their classic-rock exercise in female misbehavior was a turnoff. But the new stuff on Gold Medal is as grown up as we’ve heard from the formerly prickly jailbaits, with slower numbers that are more polished and complex. The Donnas even are incorporating a broader range of influences in their material, like The Beatles—and broader subject matter, like relationships and shit. Now all they have to do is write their “Beth.” Memorial Gym, Vanderbilt University —TRACY MOORE KINGS OF LEON The Followills have made quite a name for themselves overseas, but over here, brothers Nathan, Caleb and Jared (and cousin Matthew) are readily overlooked. Too hip to be cool and too cool to be hip, the Kings have resisted the current trends in American popular music, opting instead to create a unique brand of rock that doesn’t fit neat marketing niches and thus hasn’t yielded a hit single. The band’s latest album, Aha Shake Heartbreak, is full of heavy, rugged beats juxtaposed against wrenching vocals. On songs like “Slow Night, So Long” and “Four Kicks,” Nathan’s strong, methodical drumming and Caleb’s scratch-dry vocals combine with Matthew’s pressing riffs for a sound that recalls a mix of Ramones-style punk and Exile-era Stones. Memorial Gym, Vanderbilt —DAVE RUDOLPH Saturday, 12th ALISON BROWN QUARTET This banjoist and her band make the time-honored Opry-to-Station-Inn dash Saturday in support of her latest album, Stolen Moments, issued on the Compass label Brown and her husband and bassist Garry West started 10 years ago. Elegant and animated, the disc shows ABQ stalwarts Brown, West and pianist John R. Burr at their best, helped out by guitarist John Doyle, drummer Kenny Malone and other guests. Continuing her habit of picking left-field but winning covers, Brown leavens a strong and varied set of original instrumentals with “Homeward Bound,” folkgrass favorite “One Morning in May” and Jimi Hendrix’s “Angel,” sung by Beth Nielsen Chapman. Dense chords, nuanced textures and ornate melodies abound, yet no matter how complex, Brown’s playing (and that of her bandmates) stays economical, making each note count. They sometimes stretch out in concert, and after having had a taste of playing on the Opry stage, they may be in a mood to do so here. Station Inn —JON WWISBERGER NIGHT TRAIN TO NASHVILLE SALUTES SAM COOKE That so many of the artists set to perform at this tribute have so little obviously in common with Cooke is its own kind of tribute. There was a time when folks knew they’d been influenced by the trailblazing Cooke and his elegantly swinging, deceptively simple music even if their own music sounded quite different. To wit, Elvis acolyte Billy Swan will demonstrate the ways in which Cooke compositions like “Cupid” and “You Send Me” touched country music and rock ’n’ roll. Ditto for Dan Penn, who’ll draw lines between his brand of down-home soul and Cooke’s more urbane approach to the blues, and for Bobby “Sunny” Hebb, who’ll make those sorts of lines vanish—just as Cooke so often did. Others on the bill include Clifford Curry, Earl Gaines, Frank Howard and Charles Walker. B. B. King’s —DAVID CANTWELL THE STRUGGLERS On “Rejection Letter,” from The Strugglers’ new album, You Win, singer Randy Bickford sounds just a bit like Richard Buckner, a fellow he gets compared to a lot, and a little like a less evangelical Randy Travis. The song builds on a simple acoustic guitar arpeggio and has the spare beauty of a traditional folk ballad, but Bickford’s creased, lonesome voice rolls and aches across the notes in a way that few back-porch singers would. The struggle in which Bickford and his mates are engaged is that of carving something beautiful with the tools of invention, while somehow managing to keep the substance of tradition intact. The Basement (thestrugglers.org) —STEVE HARUCH Sunday, 13th MOUNTAINS The name Mountains suggests something overwhelming and imposing, like Mt. Everest. But the more appropriate response, in the case of this New York City duo, is contemplative awe. Brendon Anderegg and Koen Holtkamp take the sounds of field recordings, guitars, keyboards and other instruments and process them electronically until they hover delicately in the air, punctuated by the sounds of careful plucking, or gentle clicks, or what could be sheets of falling rain. There’s a whole subgenre of musicians today building on the ambient works that Brian Eno pioneered, and Mountains are among the best because their music stays firmly moored to the earth even as it expands into the atmosphere. The four disparate tracks on their self-titled CD invite the listener to become attuned to the unique tonalities of sounds that surround us every day, and to find in them something transcendent. “Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass” is an extended guitar instrumental that draws on folk styles even as it introduces subtle electronic effects; the title seems to reflect the idea of finding a calm space in the midst of a bustling city. By the time the CD reaches its climax, there’s a sense of ecstatic release, as slowly mounting celestial tones, shimmering hums and shifting textures gradually fade out, to be replaced by what sounds like a needle on a scratchy old record. It’s hard not feel like you’ve been transported somewhere. (www.staartje.com) The Chapel —JONATHAN MARX BEN FOLDS “The whiz man’ll never fit you like the whiz kid did,” Folds sings on the first track on Songs for Silverman, and if his “Ain’t I clever?” attitude from the 1990s still lingers, the guy clearly knows there’s an expiration date on that kind of shtick. Folds is still a bit of a smartass—his live shows this spring included covers of songs by The Cure and Dr. Dre and featured dorkily hilarious, accordion-playing Meat Loaf clone Corn Mo as the opening act. Yet all of it was tempered by a more observant focus that made his barbs that much sharper when they did land. “You’ll be a lady soon,” he sings to his little girl on the sweet “Gracie.” “But until then / You gotta do what I say.” Hey, it’s not a joke if it’s true. Ryman Auditorium —MARC HIRSH DESCENDENTS OF REALITY The local duo of Kim “Brownie” Vaughn and Sharese “Reecy” Jackson have built a following among neo-soul fans through their fantastic voices and earthy lyrics. DOR’s live performances are dynamic, just as easily moving a crowd with a hot rap number like “M.R.S.,” pausing to inspire through a poem or rocking out by mixing a cheeky cover of Alanis Morissette’s “You Oughta Know” with their own “Flight and the Fallen.” Strongly influenced by the superb soul duo Floetry, DOR will be celebrating the release of their first full-length recording, Reality: Necessary, this weekend. The Bar Car —MARK MAYS Monday, 14th BRIGHT EYES What the old folks don’t know, the little suicide girls and boys understand. Conor Oberst, the sleep- and sun-deprived Nebraskan behind Bright Eyes, hasn’t become an icon for a new generation of indie-philes because he’s their Dylan but because he is them. “When everything is lonely I can be my own best friend,” he warbles, and his naked disaffections and neuroses sound exactly like his listeners wish the world would let them be—alone, screwed up, with a journal and a pen. Oberst isn’t just sincere; he is, it would appear, too pure of heart to find the right key or bother with editing. But his anti-commercialism isn’t just a pose; it galvanizes his audience because it means something that he still records for Saddle Creek, the label he started in high school. And he doesn’t just bitch about Clear Channel, he refuses to play the leviathan’s venues. As with Bright Eyes’ lyrical confessions, so too its sound: once past Oberst’s gawky quaver, the musical amateurism can be quite seductive. Far from binary, the homespun electronica of Digital Ash in a Digital Urn and the open-mic twang of I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning (both released this year) lay bare pretty, almost archetypal melodies, suggesting that even the most tormented of indie wunderkinds knows how to have sonic fun. Ryman Auditorium —ROY KASTEN FEIST Spencer Tracy used to say that all anyone needed to know about being a good actor was learn your lines and don’t bump into the furniture—which is all well and good if you’re Spencer Tracy. It’s the same with Leslie Feist, whose talk about paring down her singing style to the bare essentials neatly overlooks the fact that there’s only so far that it would get her if she didn’t happen to have the talent to begin with. But she does, and however she got there, the songs on her recent Let It Die benefit immensely from her unadorned vocals, which capture the thrill of simple home life and the defeated agony of heartbreak with equal aplomb. Ryman Auditorium —MARC HIRSH Tuesday, 15th DAVID BROMBERG/ANGEL BAND Most folks don’t associate the words “folk music” and “entertainer,” but Bromberg’s music connects them as naturally as anyone’s does. Long before the term “Americana” came into vogue, he drew on blues, country, folk, rock and jazz to create a personal sound that’s loose and celebratory. He also built a reputation with ebullient live shows delivered with witty commentary and a broad smile. Now semi-retired, Bromberg rarely tours, instead focusing on learning the craft of violin-making and running his violin shop in Chicago. Recent shows, which include his side bluegrass project, Angel Band, have received enthusiastic responses. Belcourt Theatre —MICHAEL McCALL Classical NASHVILLE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA This weekend’s symphony program, Nov. 11-12 at Jackson Hall, links Charles Ives’ Symphony No. 3 with John Adams’ indirect response to his musical forebear, “My Father Knew Charles Ives.” Though they seem to come from different worlds compositionally, both Adams and Ives employ the vernacular forms of their times while remaining attentive, if idiosyncratic, students of European classical traditions. Ives’ symphony, “The Camp Meeting,” reflects his memories of revivals in the Connecticut countryside, taking hymn melodies as the point of departure for his characteristically nonconformist developments. With his biological father’s musical tastes in swing hovering about his fanciful tribute, Adams thickens the palette of his minimalist ethos with linear shapes and lyrical colors. It’s not so much Ives’ music as his Yankee gumption that’s invoked. Brahms’ First Symphony anchors the program. —BILL LEVINE ALIAS Now beginning their fourth season as Nashville’s most adventurous chamber ensemble, Alias again offer a local premiere of a challenging work by a contemporary composer, Nov. 16 in Blair’s Turner Recital Hall. Written in 1970 for string quartet, George Crumb’s “Black Angels” approaches a subject that at the time had not penetrated the boundaries of high art: the anarchic devastation of the Vietnam War. While the theme of the fallen angel embarking on a voyage into spiritual emptiness is kept in sight, the chaotic and elegiac mood of the piece conveys the surreal soundscape of a haunted, eviscerating battleground. Babel-like, multilingual death counts, inverted bowing techniques, off-center string amplifications and percussive undertones all surround the tonal pockets and bits of tissue that connect “Black Angels” to classical works of repentance. A duet for violin and harp by modern Israeli composer Sergiu Natra will complement works by Bach, Dvorak and Brahms that mark subtly innovative points in their careers. —BILL LEVINE

FESTIVAL OF MUSIC BY LIBBY LARSEN As the capstone event of Larsen’s two-day residency at Austin Peay, members of the music faculty, students and guests performing commissioned works will offer selections from one of the most accessible and multifaceted living American classical composers, Nov. 15 in Austin Peay’s Music Mass Communication Building. Larsen’s sensitivity to the human voice, in both poetic recitation and sung lyrics, has enriched her body of writings. Among them are an allegorical adaptation of Frankenstein for opera, revisionist approaches to folk myths in Cowboy Songs and other inventive vocal works, such as cantatas and oratorios based on the lives of Eleanor Roosevelt, Mary Cassatt and the characters of Virginia Woolf. Larsen’s interest in pioneering figures comes through in the buoyancy of her compositions and settings, and the program—small and large chamber works, solo and choral vocal recitals—speaks to the diverse, inclusive spirit of her music. —BILL LEVINE

Dance ORISSA DANCE ACADEMY This world-renowned institution based in Bhubaneswar, India, exports the art of Odissi classical dance, which traces its origins back to the first century B.C. The themes of Odissi are almost exclusively religious in nature, most commonly revolving around the Hindu deity Krishna. The musical instruments used to accompany the dance include the pakhawaj (a barrel-shaped drum similar to the tabla), the bansuri (bamboo flute), the manjira (metal cymbals) and the sitar. The Orissa troupe, featuring nine dancers and four musicians, performs at 2:30 p.m. on Nov. 12 at Sri Ganesha Temple. For information, call 356-7207. —MARTIN BRADY NATIVE AMERICAN TRADITIONS  Global Education Center teacher and craft artist Gary Cady draws upon his Iroquois heritage  for this performance comprising traditional and social dances of the Omaha Nation. The musical component features songs of the Native American wind flute, which Cady carves himself. The concert is Nov. 11, 6:30-8 p.m., in Harambee Auditorium at the Scarritt-Bennett Center. For information, phone 340-7500. —MARTIN BRADY Theater SEUSSICAL This tuneful musical by the team of Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (Ragtime, Lucky Stiff, etc.) made its Broadway debut in late 2000 and had a decent six-month run. There have been a couple of national touring companies, but the show’s growing popularity appears to have gotten a significant push with the release of regional performing rights. Nashville Children’s Theatre presents the professional Tennessee premiere of a work that brings to life the mirthful fantasy worlds found in the books of children’s author Dr. Seuss, Nov. 14 through Jan. 15 at NCT’s Hill Theatre. Phone 254-9103 to find out about weekend family shows. —MARTIN BRADY DISNEY’S BEAUTY AND THE BEAST Boiler Room Theatre gets into the Disney swing of things by mounting a lavish production of this modern-day classic. With the 2004 release of regional rights to the stage version of the blockbuster animated film, theater companies everywhere have moved to put their own imprint on the heartwarming tale, with its hummable Alan Menken-Howard Ashman score. Performances are Nov. 11-Dec. 22 at The Factory at Franklin. —MARTIN BRADY Art KRISTINA ARNOLD: “WELCOME HOME” What do you get when you fly home from an art exhibit in Slovakia, get married, inherit two preteen kids, begin a new job and move to another state? If you’re Kristina Arnold, you get inspired. Presently the gallery director at Western Kentucky University, where she also teaches in the art department, Arnold left her own unique mark on Nashville’s art scene before she moved to Bowling Green at the end of the summer. The Tennessee Arts Commission’s 2005 Individual Artist Fellowship recipient in sculpture, she returns to Nashville to open her new exhibit, appropriately titled “Welcome Home,” at the TAC Gallery on Saturday, Nov. 19. Covering the walls and floor in pink bubble wrap, Arnold’s installation contains new craft pieces she has crocheted and knitted, transforming the gallery into an exploration of the life changes the artist has experienced in the last year. The environment speaks to motherly embrace and domestic suffocation alike; as the artist puts it, her exhibit “…is about protection—the desire for it, the desire to be able to provide it and maybe the fallacy that it even exists.” The opening reception will be held 5-7 p.m. Saturday. —JOE NOLAN ROLAND DELCOL The Belgian painter Delcol has exhibited his work over the past 30 years with the greatest hits of artists: Calder, Botero, Hockney, Magritte and Miró, to name a few. His photorealistic oil paintings are erotic and voyeuristic—some critics have said vulgar—bringing a nicely charged series of work to Sarratt Gallery on the conservative Vanderbilt campus. Delcol’s subject matter rotates between naked women in varying poses, Rembrandt-looking men with pointy beards, and miscellaneous animals and props in a sort of household still-life-meets-risqué peep show. The naked women lack any connection to the other people or elements within the works, making the paintings a disconcerting psychological window: we watch the women being watched, an unsettling yet compelling voyeuristic merry-go-round. The artist will give a talk at the opening reception on Friday, Nov. 11, at 4:30 p.m., with a reception to follow until 7 p.m. —NICOLE PIETRANTONI Books BILL FRISKICS-WARREN In his new book, I’ll Take You There: Pop Music & the Urge for Transcendence, music critic and Scene music editor Friskics-Warren proposes an existential definition of spirituality. “Spirituality is the stuff of who we are,” he says. “It is the overriding restlessness at the core of our being and how we respond to it.” The urge to respond, he continues, is especially pronounced in artists and musicians, the latter of whom serve as test cases in I’ll Take You There. Performers like Van Morrison, Eminem and Johnny Cash, Friskics-Warren maintains, are particularly adept when it comes to describing transcendent experiences, which occur “whenever something deeper and more abiding than the everyday breaks into and, if only fleetingly, transforms the present.” Friskics-Warren’s work, which is academic in tone, allows us to see in pop music an urge for “something more” that, though not necessarily religious, speaks to the very core of human experience. He’ll discuss his book—and play some of the songs that get mentioned its pages—5 p.m. this Saturday at Grimey’s Records. —PAUL V. GRIFFITH DARREN JOHNSON When Darren L. Johnson talks about letting go of stuff, he doesn’t mean the 10 pairs of jeans you’re keeping for when you actually lose those 10 pounds. In Letting Go of Stuff: Powerful Secrets to Simplify Your Life (InsideOut Learning), he’s more concerned with cleaning out the internal closet, getting rid of those negative thoughts that keep people trapped in unhappiness and afraid of change. Most of his tips, such as replacing negative self-talk with positive inner dialogue, are nothing new, but his unusual exercises should motivate people more comfortable reading self-help books than actually working on improving their lives. And the numerous examples from Johnson’s own life show that he practices what he preaches. He’ll appear as part of Local Author Day at Davis-Kidd Booksellers on Nov. 12 at 1 p.m. —FAYE JONES JOHN PRITCHARD Junior Ray Loveblood isn’t for the faint of heart. The protagonist of John Pritchard’s debut novella, Junior Ray (New South Books), he’s an ex-deputy sheriff in the small Delta town of St. Leo, Miss. Ill-tempered and misanthropic, he relates in his own foulmouthed, oddly charming way, his quest to capture one Leland Shaw, a shell-shocked World War II vet on the run. Mixed in with Junior Ray’s rants and storytelling are excerpts from Shaw’s journals, and both have the glint of the mischievous to them. In the hands of John Pritchard, everything is wilder, darker and more comical. In other words, his fiction is about as Southern Gothic-eccentric as it can get. Pritchard grew up in the Mississippi Delta and now lives in Memphis; he reads at Davis-Kidd Booksellers on Nov. 12 at 1 p.m., as part of Local Author Day. —LACEY GALBRAITH Events FIESTA MEXICANA Featured performers at this Sunday-afternoon family event, Sones de México are steeped in the music known as son, a full-bodied sound that incorporates a variety of distinct regional styles—some of which should sound familiar to anyone who’s ever enjoyed a live mariachi band. Combining diverse instrumentation, four-part vocals and choreography, they’ll give listeners a lively tour of a wide-ranging culture that tends to get reduced to the same set of clichés and stereotypes. Festivities start at 2 p.m. on Nov. 13 in the TPAC lobby, and the performance is at 3 p.m. in Jackson Hall. —JONATHAN MARX Film WILLIAM EGGLESTON IN THE REAL WORLD/STRANDED IN CANTON It took a renegade from Vanderbilt and the Webb School, Mississippi native William Eggleston, to legitimize color photography as an art form in the 1970s. In his documentary, filmmaker Michael Almereyda (Hamlet) attempts to apply Eggleston’s own gift of unfussy observation as he follows the legendary photographer from a study of Mayfield, Ky., to his home in Memphis. As a special treat, the Belcourt has secured a copy of Eggleston’s 1973-4 film Stranded in Canton, a famous and seldom-seen document of the oft-mythologized early-’70s Memphis scene. That makes Nashville one of the only cities in North America (after New York and Toronto) to show the movies in tandem. Miss it here, and it’s unlikely you’ll ever get another chance. Both films screen Friday night, with William Eggleston in the Real World running through Nov. 14. See the review on p. 69. —JIM RIDLEY DEAR WENDY The big difference between this and Dear Frankie? Frankie was a kid; Wendy is a gun—the possession of a teenage pacifist (Billy Elliot’s Jamie Bell) who starts a gun club in his average American town to combat crime. And there the logic begins to unravel. The Dogme 95 duo of director Thomas Vinterberg and screenwriter Lars von Trier reteamed for this daft handgun-violence parable, which co-stars Bill Pullman; it opens Friday at the Belcourt. —JIM RIDLEY NASHVILLE JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL The fifth annual festival continues 11:30 a.m. Thursday with Sam Gabarski’s romantic comedy The Rashevski Tango, then resumes Saturday with a closing-night selection that may be the festival’s most audience-friendly film: Dani Levy’s Go for Zucker!, a German comedy about a trash-talking, gambling atheist who pretends to be a devout Jew for his estranged relatives. All screenings are at the Belcourt; for info, see templenashville.org. —JIM RIDLEY LEST THEY BE FORGOTTEN The Belcourt commemorates Veterans’ Day Monday with a special screening of the first volume of Larry Cappetto’s documentary, an ongoing project gathering the recollections of World War II veterans. The first part focuses on the fateful and terrible landing at Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944, recounting the day through firsthand testimony and archival clips. The 2 p.m. screening Monday is free and open to the public; call 554-4099 for information. —JIM RIDLEY CAPOTE/IN COLD BLOOD In a smart and prescient bit of piggybacking, Sarratt Cinema managed to book the 1967 movie version of Truman Capote’s “nonfiction novel” the same week the highly touted Capote biopic with Philip Seymour Hoffman arrives at Green Hills. The Truman show starts Friday with Capote; In Cold Blood screens 7 p.m. Tuesday.  —JIM RIDLEY KISS KISS BANG BANG Writer-director Shane Black tweaks the buddy-cop genre that his Lethal Weapon screenplay defined, as a crook turned actor (Robert Downey Jr.) gets Method lessons from a gay detective (Val Kilmer). Sean Burns has a chat with Black and Kilmer on p. 69. Also opening, during an unusually promising week at the movies: Jim Sheridan’s 50 Cent vehicle Get Rich or Die Tryin’; the new Pride and Prejudice with Keira Knightley; and Jon Favreau’s version of the Chris Van Allsburg children’s fantasy Zathura. —JIM RIDLEY