Ever since she entered the public’s consciousness with her unexpected 1981 hit “O Superman”—and before then, too—Laurie Anderson has forged a unique career with her one-woman theatrical productions combining music, art, film and storytelling. Nothing seems to be quite beyond her grasp: this is a woman who has designed a wireless musical instrument called the Talking Stick, done comedy with the late Andy Kaufman, lived with the Amish, worked as a cotton picker, and just a few years ago spent a summer flipping burgers at McDonald’s in pursuit of a new perspective on the nature of work. So perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that, in 2004, Anderson was selected to be an artist-in-residence by NASA, her two-year commission so far resulting in two pieces, including the cultural event Show & Walk, a video-cum-art-installation that debuted earlier this year at Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan. This Thursday, as part of Vanderbilt’s Great Performances Series, she’ll perform the other work she’s created under NASA’s auspices, The End of the Moon, in which the artist exploits her otherworldly research and marshals her skills as musician, spoken-word artist and purveyor of electronica to discuss war, spirituality and aesthetics. In advance of the 8 p.m. Nov. 17 date at Belmont University’s Curb Event Center, Anderson will also speak 6 p.m. Nov. 16 at Vandy’s Student Life Center. For tickets to the main event, phone 255-9600. —MARTIN BRADY Ever since she entered the public’s consciousness with her unexpected 1981 hit “O Superman”—and before then, too—Laurie Anderson has forged a unique career with her one-woman theatrical productions combining music, art, film and storytelling. Nothing seems to be quite beyond her grasp: this is a woman who has designed a wireless musical instrument called the Talking Stick, done comedy with the late Andy Kaufman, lived with the Amish, worked as a cotton picker, and just a few years ago spent a summer flipping burgers at McDonald’s in pursuit of a new perspective on the nature of work. So perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised that, in 2004, Anderson was selected to be an artist-in-residence by NASA, her two-year commission so far resulting in two pieces, including the cultural event Show & Walk, a video-cum-art-installation that debuted earlier this year at Expo 2005 in Aichi, Japan. This Thursday, as part of Vanderbilt’s Great Performances Series, she’ll perform the other work she’s created under NASA’s auspices, The End of the Moon, in which the artist exploits her otherworldly research and marshals her skills as musician, spoken-word artist and purveyor of electronica to discuss war, spirituality and aesthetics. In advance of the 8 p.m. Nov. 17 date at Belmont University’s Curb Event Center, Anderson will also speak 6 p.m. Nov. 16 at Vandy’s Student Life Center. For tickets to the main event, phone 255-9600. —MARTIN BRADY Music Thursday, 17th BLACKALICIOUS Given the eager-to-please demeanor and pop-friendly grooves of this Bay Area duo’s latest, some critics have conjectured a breakout/sellout worthy of Black Eyed Peas. But the Peas’ pre-mainstream efforts were mostly pedestrian, and cameos by Floetry and Lyrics Born hardly qualify as Fergie- or Justin Timberlake-level repositioning. Plus, Blackalicious’ music has been fairly pop-friendly since their 2000 debut. What distinguishes The Craft is its consistency; book-ended by two statements about the positive power of music, the collection is strong throughout. In any event, alt-godfathers De La Soul are a more apt point of reference. Not so much in the mix—Gift of Gab’s lucid delivery and Chief Xcel’s immersive production are their own—as in the intangibles: generosity of spirit, consciousness, a sense of community. The album’s many guest spots have the feel of neighbors dropping by for a chat, an inclusive vibe that extends to their live sets. (www.blackalicious.com) City Hall —SCOTT MANZLER BLACK TAJ If you were getting into indie rock in the ’90s, you inevitably came across Polvo, the Chapel Hill band who were the Sonic Youth of math rock. It was more than just non-standard tunings and odd time signatures; it was dissonant beauty with an exotic twang. But Polvo broke up in 1997, destined to remain one of the best bands that nobody’s ever heard of. Singer-guitarist Dave Brylawski kicked around in the ethno-folk project Idyll Swords, while Ash Bowie (usually credited with doing all the weird guitar stuff) played with Helium and now Libraness. “I may be old,” Brylawski says today, “but I have rock feelings.” And that’s evident in Black Taj, his new band featuring Grant Tenille from Idyll Swords and ex-Polvo bassist Steve Popson. Like Polvo, Black Taj can’t be bothered with verse-chorus-verse constructions, but this isn’t proggy meandering—Brylawksi’s retrofit hooks always bring the listener back. Nashville connection: although now in NYC, Brylawski lived in Nashville for a few years, where the majority of the material for Black Taj’s self-titled album was written. (www.amishrecords.com) The Basement —TRACY MOORE BIRDS OF AVALON When Birds of Avalon played The Basement for the first time a few weeks back, a hum of expectation energized the crowd. Fans of the late Cherry Valence wondered what their old heroes would do in new uniforms. (The band features two CV alums.) When the Birds took the stage and tore through the Mount Olympus of rock that is their song “Superpower,” jaws dropped, beers were hoisted and the place went nuts. Led by a pair of guitarists who seem, by sheer force, to be powering their amplifiers rather than the other way around, Birds of Avalon make thunderous, precise rock that gives you that chugging-beers-with-Thor feeling, with enough proggy smarts to keep you on your toes. (myspace.com/birdsofavalon) The Basement —STEVE HARUCH Friday, 18th CALVIN JOHNSON/TENDER FOREVER Over the last two decades, in his bands Beat Happening and Dub Narcotic Sound System, Calvin Johnson has built a career around making exuberant, nakedly honest music, often stripped down to just the simplest beats, his deep, gravelly voice and not much else. And at his best, as on Beat Happening’s bashed-out garage-pop confections, he can be inspiringly, endearingly original. On his new solo album, Before the Dream Faded…, Johnson employs a variety of musical approaches, with varying results, but he’s fostered a reputation as an entertaining live performer, because he understands that getting up and playing in front of people should be all about seizing the moment. His last show in town, with the extra-funky Dub Narcotic trio, was an honest-to-goodness dance party, and even his most song-oriented material can serve as a vehicle for his prankish spirit and rhythmic style. When he comes to town this week, he’ll be joined by Melanie Valera, whose one-woman band Tender Forever is one of the most recent—and best—signings to Johnson’s long-running label, K Records. Blending simple guitar-based tunes with keyboards, multi-tracked vocals and unerring electronic textures, Tender Forever’s music is so unguarded that it’s at once startling and exhilarating. Valera hails from the south of France, and her voice, which has the same sensual, breathy qualities that always seem to come out when French people speak in English, perfectly fits her songs of lust, love and intense longing. When she plays live, she accompanies herself with a drum machine—a gambit that works because she’s utterly unafraid to feed off the electricity in the beats. (www.kpunk.com; www.takemybreathaway.net) The Chapel; also playing a 5 p.m. in-store at Grimey’s —JONATHAN MARX BEAR VS SHARK Though the members of this Detroit-area band stress the diversity of their influences, you’re not necessarily going to hear traces of The Commodores or Les Savy Fav in the Shark’s brand of post-hardcore. You will, however, hear how overused emo hallmarks like urgent vocals, sing-alongs and driving beats can be presented with just enough of a twist to suggest a broader musical palette. If Bear Vs Shark don’t seem like they’re trying to be innovative, they do exude a sense of comfort, as if they know their playing has character. It helps that they wield a playful edge with expert balance, sounding neither goofy nor overly dour. (www.bearvsshark.com) The Muse —SABY REYES-KULKARNI Friday 18th-Sunday 20th TIERNEY SUTTON At this late point in the history of interpreting the Great American Songbook, few would think there’s much room for even the most poised, most gifted or best trained singers to make original statements, but Sutton and her trio of 10 years continue to make it new. Sutton’s strikingly self-possessed manner, rangy voice and impeccable dynamics should have granted her the same degree of stardom as Diana Krall. Since Sutton’s move to Telarc Records, however, her last two albums have risen near the top of the jazz charts, largely because she doesn’t have to go over the top of what’s basically familiar material to leave her mark on it. Giving compelling readings without being a drama queen, she finds “the soul of the song” by listening to and interacting with her working trio. Christian Jacob’s resourceful choice of piano chords, for instance, can lay the ground for Sutton’s inventive modulations, tonal shifts and phrasing improvisations. Scatting and singing through a multi-tempo romp of “Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead,” she is at one with her rhythm section, jazzing up a peripheral standard. Sutton will give concerts Friday and Saturday nights, a clinic on Saturday at 2 p.m. and a free young people’s concert (for ages 17 and under) on Sunday at 3 p.m. Nashville Jazz Workshop —BILL LEVINE Saturday, 19th STEEP CANYON RANGERS This young bluegrass quartet from North Carolina saw their two most prolific members earn slots on this year’s IBMA songwriters’ showcase. It was a solid indication of the strength of the songs that make up their second Rebel Records release, One Dime at a Time. Produced by former Del McCoury bassist Mike Bub, the CD reveals that the Rangers are more intent on digging into the mother lode than on milking the modest bit of hype they’ve gotten for their appeal to hip, rock-leaning audiences. Their wealth of originals sound great on the stage of even the most fiercely traditional festivals, while endless gigging has put an extra coat of self-confidence on the group’s tight singing and playing. In a field where neo-traditionalists of varying abilities come and go with infuriating frequency, the Rangers are both dedicated to excellence and in it for the long haul. Station Inn —JON WEISBERGER HANDS DOWN EUGENE With a flexible cast of musicians from the loosely amalgamated Trey Deuce collective, including proud new papa Andy Snyder (who also plays with The Bubblegum Complex), Hands Down Eugene mix the psychedelia of The White Album with the melodic charms of Built to Spill. Led by Ole Mossy Face bassist Matt Moody, they’re a study in mellow pleasures and celebratory sing-alongs replete with a loping low end, jangling chords and the interlocking guitar riffs of Andy Wilhite. Their album Full Blast features a total of 29 musicians, and their live set manages to convey the sense of a communal happening—joyous, pliable and welcoming. (myspace.com/handsdowneugene) The Basement —STEVE HARUCH THE VERONICAS If modern pop were an Archie Comics storyline, these identical twins from Australia would play the vampy, gum-smacking brunette to Ashlee Simpson’s cloyingly sweet Betty. Their first single for Sire Records, “4ever,” opens with a choppy, catchy guitar riff that could’ve been ripped from the Buzzcocks, only to give way to the lipstick sneer of the first stanza and a sing-along chorus. That the tune suggests to a would-be lover that a night together will make them feel like they’ll live forever—well, some teen-aged truths never change. That they’ll aim a well-placed heel into the backsides of headliners Ryan Cabrera and The Click Five isn’t saying much, so just arrive on time. Rcktwn (theveronicas.com) —MICHAEL McCALL Monday, 21st MUSIC ROW BENEFIT FOR THE HOMELESS ANIMALS OF THE HURRICANES You might not think “warm and fuzzy” when you think of country newcomer Keith Anderson, he of randy “XXL” fame. Yet he’ll be one of several artists lending a hand at this benefit. Chely Wright, a longtime animal advocate and mom to two dogs, will join him, along with Radney Foster, The Kinleys, Little Big Town, Skip Ewing, Bonnie Bramlett and others. The swift rescue efforts of the Humane Society and the ASPCA saved more than 8,000 animals in the aftermath of 2005’s devastating storms, but while the animals await adoption or reunion with their owners, the cost of sheltering them is steep. Beginning at 5:30 p.m., the event includes a silent auction, food and a cash bar. Tickets are $75 each and are available at the door or at www.animalhurricanefund.org, where you also can make an independent donation. Loews Vanderbilt Hotel Ballroom —KATIE DODD ANDREW BIRD On his new album, The Mysterious Production of Eggs, Bird dissolves and reconstitutes his songs with everything from spaghetti-Western guitars and tiptoe violins to dark synths and enough orchestral texture to make Sufjan Stevens jealous. Through it all, he sings like he’s got a thesaurus and a snifter of brandy on his desk, sometimes so gently and fleetingly that he seems absent from the song, though his voice is there, a hovering woodwind full of clever rhymes and sometimes startling images. Bird’s solo shows are famous for his serpentine, on-the-fly arrangements, improvised with a sampling pedal and a kind of bravery that verges on recklessness. He also whistles in a beguiling sort of way, but he’s less Whistler than Joseph Cornell, building intriguing dioramas from the minutiae of American pop and folk. (www.andrewbird.net) Mercy Lounge —STEVE HARUCH JUDITH OWEN Popular on the L.A. supper club circuit, Owen swings with a dry, arch touch that’s a little left of Diana Krall and a little right of Patricia Barber. A pianist who applies her sultry, deliberate voice and dry Welsh wit to originals that seesaw from the sardonic to the romantic, she’s as likely to turn “Smoke on the Water” into a droll jazz tune as she is to draw on the classic jazz songbook. She comes to town with a small combo featuring her partner, actor-radio host Harry Shearer, who leaves behind his Spinal Tap codpiece to pluck chords on the double bass. (www.judithowen.net) 3rd & Lindsley —MICHAEL McCALL Tuesday, 22nd ANDREW BIRD On his new album, The Mysterious Production of Eggs, Bird dissolves and reconstitutes his songs with everything from spaghetti-Western guitars and tiptoe violins to dark synths and enough orchestral texture to make Sufjan Stevens jealous. Through it all, he sings like he’s got a thesaurus and a snifter of brandy on his desk, sometimes so gently and fleetingly that he seems absent from the song, though his voice is there, a hovering woodwind full of clever rhymes and sometimes startling images. Bird’s solo shows are famous for his serpentine, on-the-fly arrangements, improvised with a sampling pedal and a kind of bravery that verges on recklessness. He also whistles in a beguiling sort of way, but he’s less Whistler than Joseph Cornell, building intriguing dioramas from the minutiae of American pop and folk. (www.andrewbird.net) Mercy Lounge —STEVE HARUCH HEAD OF FEMUR The brimming sound of these rockers from Chicago comes close to spilling over and making a mess, and it’s that chaos-on-the-brink that makes it all so appealing. Ben Armstrong, Mike Elsener and Matthew Focht form the core group of a live show that ranges from a trio to an octet and crams 30-odd players into the studio for recording. Lyrics weave in and out of horns, strings and even a xylophone or two as satire that would make Mark Twain proud snuggles with sugary vocals, yet refrains from taking itself too seriously. God bless first-class musicians with a hearty sense of humor. (www.headoffemur.com) Mercy Lounge —ELISABETH DAWSON Wednesday, 23rd AGAINST ME! Of all the subjects for a pop song,  few are as self-serving and played out as the music industry. So it’s saying something that this Gainesville punk quartet’s diatribe against the biz, “Unprotected Sex With Multiple Partners,” is so engaging. As the drummer pulls off a hi-hat slink, singer Tom Gabel snarls about percentage points for agents and parrots manager newspeak. Fed up, his preening strut peels off to reveal a sweaty shout-along that is Against Me!’s strength. With a throat as grit-lined as Fugazi’s Ian MacKaye, Gabel’s screeds about Ms. Condi Rice and the erosion of personal freedoms are catchy first and foremost. At times, their measures can’t quite hold the message, but ultimately, the hooks pull them through. (www.againstme.net) Exit/In; also playing a 6 p.m. in-store at Grimey’s —ANDY BETA DIAMOND NIGHTS Call it mustache rock or cock rock, but ’70s arena rock is complicit in the musical libido of New York strutters Diamond Nights. The EP Once We Were Diamonds and the LP they released after it, Popsicle, show the band straddling Thin Lizzy and Loverboy. With palm-muted guitars (twin lead, no less), dramatic keys and falsetto vocals, it’s muscle-car make-out music, only in this case it’s not quite as predatory as you’d expect. When, with a sultry come-on, singer Morgan Phalen asks, “Baby do you like to mess around?” in “Destination Diamonds,” you know he doesn’t wanna just go all the way, he wants to make you feel real special first. (www.diamondnights.com) The End —TRACY MOORE Theater SURRENDER ROAD By the time you read this, Marcus Hummon might be the owner of a CMA award, since his co-write of the Rascal Flatts hit “Bless the Broken Road” is nominated for Song of the Year. Win or lose, Hummon’s return from the Nov. 15 CMA ceremonies in New York City will find him  engaged in quite a different project: the world premiere of his musical drama Surrender Road, produced by Nashville Opera Association under the direction of John Hoomes. Ever traveling outside the boundaries of country-pop tunesmithing, Hummon has written a half-dozen other theatrical musicals, including American Duet, which is currently in development for off-Broadway. His new effort definitely leans toward the operatic, driven by dramatically regal piano chordings and accented by soulful saxophone, all in service of a tale of star-crossed lovers, a corrupt boxer and a struggling artist who meet in Times Square. There are 13 individual pieces in the ambitious hour-plus program, some as long as 10 minutes and others that sound very typically like pop hits. Hummon’s libretto rides primarily on the colloquial speech of his rough-and-tumble characters, yet on occasion interpolates excerpts from Shakespeare. Leading the cast are tenor Hugo Vera and mezzo-soprano Pilar Cragan, both of whom are making their Nashville Opera debuts. Performances are Nov. 18-20 at the Ingram Center for Performing Arts. For tickets, phone 255-ARTS. —MARTIN BRADY LITTLE WOMEN Stalwart fans of this musical adaptation despaired when it closed earlier this year after fewer than 200 Broadway performances. Yet its demise was justified. The score by Jason Howland and Mindi Dickstein is a dreadful mishmash of meandering, overblown, at-times laughable “empowerment” numbers that sound as if they were stolen from Alan Menken’s trunkful of Disney outtakes. The song titles say it all—“Our Finest Dreams,” “Some Things Are Meant to Be”—and even devotees of Louisa May Alcott’s famous novel will find themselves working hard to feel entertained. Kim Scharnberg’s arrangements trot out every predictably cornball horn and string accent that went out of style with the musicals of Jerry Herman. So what to do when you’ve got a flop on your hands? Take it to the hinterlands, of course! Reprising her New York performance, pop singer and actress Maureen McGovern leads the cast of the touring company, now playing through Nov. 20 at TPAC’s Jackson Hall. (Everyone else from the Broadway production apparently got out alive.) The market here is for those who like old-time, “feel-good” musicals. Phone 255-ARTS for tickets. —MARTIN BRADY LADY CHABLIS The former Benjamin Edward Knox of Quincy, Fla., is now Brenda Dale Knox of Columbia, S.C., but is best known as Lady Chablis, a drag queen who first gained regional notoriety as a performer in Savannah. Author John Berendt introduced her to the world at large in his “nonfiction novel” Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, after which Lady Chablis published her own 1996 memoir, Hiding My Candy and subsequently made an appearance in Clint Eastwood’s 1997 film based on Berendt’s best-selling work. Chablis brings her comedic instincts and flair for the outrageous to the Showbar at Play for an 11 p.m. gig on Nov. 18. Phone 322-9627. —MARTIN BRADY Art Art MARK MOTHERSBAUGH: POSTCARD DIARIES TOUR 2005 The costumes, record sleeves, cutting-edge videos and films that accompanied DEVO’s music always spoke to frontman Mark Mothersbaugh’s visual creativity. In its second show spotlighting Mothersbaugh, TAG Art Gallery presents images the artist has pulled from a body of disciplined work he has been creating over the last 30 years. During his downtime between world tours with his band, Mothersbaugh began to paint postcards for friends and family. Gradually, this practice became an obsessive personal diary never intended for public viewing. The postcards are inhabited by strange cartoon characters, enigmatic text, graphic elements and photo images that overlap and intersect to create boldly colored messages from a parallel universe where the weird and wonderful tea-party with the sweet and sinister. Just as his band embodied the post-punk electronic edge of the first MTV generation, so too Mothersbaugh’s art is a vital contribution to the inspired graphic work coming out of his adopted hometown of Los Angeles. TAG will host an opening reception on Saturday, Nov. 19, 6-8 p.m. —JOE NOLAN UNTITLED For its latest quarterly installation, the Untitled group thoroughly embraces the marriage of real estate and art. In big cities, one of the hallmarks of gentrification is the arrival of artists into a neighborhood where they establish a “hip” factor that opens the door for real estate developers and upscale housing. This transition in turn displaces the artists and the original residents, all the while breeding intense controversy on the street. This process has never been a huge factor in sunbelt Nashville, and the controversies have been a lot more muted. In this show, Untitled and Werthan Mills reverse the order of the process, with the North Nashville loft development bringing the artists into its neighborhood for one night, to mutual benefit. The developers and interior designers get to show off what they have available to what is typically a large turnout, and Untitled will get what it needs: space to hang an energetic plethora of art by 25 participants. The artists are donating 10 percent of their sales from this one-night show to a hurricane relief fund. The show runs 5-9 p.m. Friday, Nov. 18, at Werthan Mills, 1400 Eighth Ave. N. —DAVID MADDOX “AS I SEE IT: THE PRIVATE EYE OF JOHN LOENGARD” This Saturday, the Arts Company hosts a book signing by LIFE magazine photographer John Loengard, named one of American Photo magazine’s “100 Most Important People in Photography.” “As I See It” features a selection of images spanning Loengard’s 50-year career. He joined LIFE in 1961 and worked with contemporaries such as Alfred Eisenstaedt and Peter Stackpole. His subjects reflect postwar America through cultural icons like Marilyn Monroe and Ronald Reagan, but his work is also informed by a corrosive sophistication that doesn’t entertain beauty for beauty’s sake. “A Ming vase can be well-designed and well-made and is beautiful for that reason alone,” he’s quoted as saying. “I don’t think this can be true for photography. Unless there is something a little incomplete and a little strange, it will simply look like a copy of something pretty. We won’t take an interest in it.” The reception and book signing will be held from 2-6 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19. —JOE NOLAN ART-RELATED HOLIDAY SHOPPING OPPORTUNITIES Thanksgiving isn’t yet upon us, but some folks out there are already thinking about Christmas. Hence this weekend’s “Yart Sale” at Watkins College of Art & Design, at which students will have a wide range of affordable works for sale, ideal for getting ahead of the game with gift-giving. The event runs 10 to 5 p.m. Nov. 18-19, and cost of admission is donation of a canned or dry good to Second Harvest Food Bank. Meanwhile, in Green Hills, Cumberland Gallery maintains an annual year-end tradition with its “Small Packages” show featuring small-scale pieces by gallery artists including Nashvillians Kit Reuther, Sylvia Hyman, Marilyn Murphy, Johan Hagaman and Mark Hosford. Prices for art start at $100. The show opens this Saturday with a reception 6-8 p.m. and runs through Christmas Eve. —JONATHAN MARX “SUSPENDED” This one-night show organized by Beth Hartman-Peters and Abby Whisenant will feature photographs from 33 artists, most affiliated with Watkins College of Art and Design as students, alums or teachers. That’s a lot of photographers to include in one exhibit, and there should be a wide variety of styles, imagery and techniques on view. Whisenant is one of the more skillful students in the Watkins program, and her previous works in different media have expressed strong political passions but often with careful, even delicate compositional qualities. The show is 6-10 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19, in the Secret Show building at 310 Chestnut St. —DAVID MADDOX Books NORA GUTHRIE During his lifetime, Woody Guthrie made an indelible mark through songs that defined what it meant to be American within a framework of equality, justice and mutual support. It turns out he was a prolific visual artist as well, making drawings and watercolors that observed the same aspects of everyday life, society and politics that filled his songs. A generous selection of his art has now been published in book form, Woody Guthrie Artworks, under the editorship of Steven Brower and Woody’s daughter Nora Guthrie. The images in the book show a restless mind expressing itself in a continuous commentary: he filled notebooks, drafted designs for album covers, created illustrations for his autobiography, made stand-alone drawings and filled the margins of lyric sheets and diary entries. Nora Guthrie is coming to Nashville to sign copies of the book at Davis-Kidd on Monday, Nov. 21, at 6 p.m. —DAVID MADDOX Film WAL-MART: THE HIGH COST OF LOW PRICE After clobbering the Bush inner circle and FOX News, muckraker Robert Greenwald finally takes on a subject with some clout: the world’s largest retailer. Now touring the country in a hugely successful (and influential) grass-roots distribution effort, the documentary gets its first major public screening 7 p.m. Saturday at the Watkins Film School auditorium on MetroCenter Boulevard. (No word on any local screenings of Ron Galloway’s answer doc Why Wal-Mart Works and Why That Drives Some People C-R-A-Z-Y, but stay tuned.) Afterward, a panel of activists and union representatives will discuss the film, including Don Driscoll from SEIU Local 205 and Tony Garr from the Tennessee Health Care Campaign. The screening is sponsored by Democracy for Tennessee; if you miss it, you can probably buy the DVD from a floor display at Target. —JIM RIDLEY “JUDY” Darla Jackson co-produced and provided the story for this gut-wrenching 15-minute short about a young girl (Amy Shaw) graphically raped by her stepfather (veteran actor David Keith, who took the part out of his own campaign against child abuse). Effective as it is at conveying a victim’s helplessness and violation, I hated watching it—but as Jackson says, “It’s not the kind of film that you can say you like.” Directed by Jeff Wedding, written by Ryan Jackson and photographed by David Mellow, it makes its world premiere 7 p.m. Saturday at the Belcourt as part of the multimedia Fusion 4 the Arts show, featuring spoken-word performances, exhibits of local art, and music by Anthony Wayne. All proceeds go to Prevent Child Abuse Tennessee; call 389-0994 for information. —JIM RIDLEY TOUCH THE SOUND A human tuning fork, percussionist Evelyn Glennie adapts from experimental music to full-band salsa jams with fluid ease—in part because she is profoundly deaf and stays attuned to the world’s rhythms through her feet and body. Watching her perform, in concert with the space and clutter around her, is the joy of this remarkable documentary by Thomas Riedelsheimer (Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy Working With Time). It opens Friday at the Belcourt. —JIM RIDLEY USHPIZIN A funny, endearing feel-good fable about the power of faith and fellowship, made by a secular Israeli director, Gidi Dar, in collaboration with Orthodox writer-star Shuli Rand. A grass-roots hit gathering strong word of mouth in limited release, the comedy starts this Wednesday, Nov. 16, at the Belcourt; Rabbi Saul Strosberg of Congregation Sherith Israel will introduce the 7 p.m. screening Thursday. —JIM RIDLEY WALK THE LINE Johnny Cash took drugs? Director James Mangold better have some facts to back up this spurious accusation. Joaquin Phoenix plays the man who became the Man in Black; Reese Witherspoon is June Carter Cash—start ironing that Oscar dress, babe. —JIM RIDLEY VAMPYRE TALES As Bob Hope would say, it’s fangs for the mammaries as Countess Plasma (thinking man’s scream queen Debbie Rochon) spins a cryptload of horror yarns with the help of actor/writer/stuntman Jim O’Rear. Suck on this indie video feature directed by Ted Alderman, which screens 7:30 and 9:30 p.m. Monday at the Belcourt. —JIM RIDLEY HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE Oh boy! In a bold departure from the previous films, Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) must use his wizardly skills to battle evil doings at Hogwarts, while facing the usual challenges of adolescence. This year’s model comes equipped with director Mike Newell (Donnie Brasco) and supervillain-sans-schnoz Ralph Fiennes.  Opening Friday. —JIM RIDLEY HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE Oh boy! In a bold departure from the previous films, Harry Potter (Daniel Radcliffe) must use his wizardly skills to battle evil doings at Hogwarts, while facing the usual challenges of adolescence. This year’s model comes equipped with director Mike Newell (Donnie Brasco) and supervillain-sans-schnoz Ralph Fiennes.  Opening Friday. —JIM RIDLEY