Twenty years after its blood-spattered arrival, a premature C-section from the womb of thrash metal, extreme metal still suffers from a pandemic preoccupation with violence. Though the subject matter presents fertile ground for artists to delve into unexplored depths of the human psyche, today’s metal is overpopulated by bands that traffic in base, puerile imagery and keep the genre perpetually bound to clichés. Like the few bands that rise above this standard—Napalm Death, Carcass, Pig Destroyer, to name a few—the work of Cephalic Carnage has a distinct personality. No one else in the genre has quite the knack for making terrifying government conspiracies or paranormal horror sound like fun—and they mean every word of it. Musically, Cephalic Carnage push complexity to spastic new realms, while onstage the band’s humor and shockingly tight musical command grip audiences the way few extreme metal shows can. Headliners A Life Once Lost provide a toned-down but fitting counterpoint. Admirably taking the remnants of spent sub-genres like nu-metal and deathcore, A Life Once Lost forge new territory and succeed at engaging the listener—despite antagonistic and violent lyrics. Chalk it up to intangible stage presence, but these grim vibes come to life onstage with full dimension and something unmistakably human at their core. Rcktwn –SABY REYES-KULKARNI MUSIC THURSDAY, 11TH THE COAL MEN One of Nashville’s hardest-working club bands, these roots-rock miners have strengthened their sound over the years by stripping away non-essential elements. Leader Dave Coleman and his trio—augmented by former members of Son Volt and the Jayhawks—create simple, straightforward tunes that carry a lot of weight. On the new album Beauty Is the Moment, they balance spare, sweet tunes rich in harmony and melody with crunchy guitar stompers. In both cases, every note is in the right place, revealing a focus on taste rare among young rockers of any stripe. In addition to this CD release show, they also play The Basement on Wednesday the 17th. ( www.thecoalmen.com ) Mercy Lounge —MICHAEL McCALL MANDARIN MOVIE Rob Mazurek is a Chicago new music cornet player who has moved steadily into electronics, forming the bands Isotope 217 and the Chicago Underground Duo/Trio and becoming known as a member of the city’s post-rock community. Now based in Brazil, his Mandarin Movie group has two bass players at its foundation, with drums providing forward motion and electronics, guitar, and wind instruments floating over and amid the rest. Mazurek has said that his goal with this band is “to project sound at a very dense and fairly wide frequency.” The two basses give the group’s sound a super-dense quality in spots. Also on the bill are Blastocyst, a band from New York with free jazz proclivities and a strong footing in percussion, and Sharks With Wings, a Providence noise band. There are two local acts as well: Derek Schartung and Angela Messina’s shape-shifting duo Taiwan Deth, and Hands Off Cuba, where members of Lambchop construct tuneful electronic landscapes that unfold patiently. Ruby Green –DAVID MADDOX FRIDAY, 12TH GLOVEBOX When dance music gets it right, it does what its name implies by actually making you wanna shake it. Electropop outfit Glovebox deliver the goods with accessible beats made for workin’ it and lyrics ripe for sing-alongs. Most tracks on the band’s self-titled debut (some of which are already chart-toppers in their native Australia) are slick and instantly danceable, largely due to the band’s skillful application of a ’70s disco sensibility to modern electronic pop. (Hello, car commercials.) On the lead track, “Superstar,” singer Mishka and composer Grainger Lock get the beats right—and their priorities. “When the memory’s gone, way over the hill / And I can’t even recall who the hell you are,” Mishka belts, putting on her best cyborg Macy Gray over an infectious groove. “You’ll be sitting alone, about to swallow a pill / I’ll be off making love to a superstar.” The Basement –TRACY MOORE PARTHA BOSE AND ESHA BANDHOPADHYAY Sitar is to North Indian music what the guitar is to rock or the saxophone to jazz—the virtuoso instrument ne plus ultra of the genre. It was Ravi Shankar’s instrument and the sound George Harrison worked into “Norwegian Wood.” However, as in Western music, the human voice has a central place in Indian music, conveying lyrics and setting the ideal of expression for the instrumentalists. This concert at Sri Ganesha in Bellevue features both, with the husband and wife combination of sitarist Partha Bose and vocalist Esha Bandhopadhyay accompanied by Gouri Sankar on tabla. All three musicians come from Calcutta, one of India’s primary cultural capitals. Bose is a well-established practitioner from the same school of playing that produced Shankar, and he and Bandhopadhyay have performed and toured extensively within India and internationally. Sri Ganesha Temple –DAVID MADDOX JAMES TAYLOR After 30 years in the spotlight, James Taylor has managed to remain just as down to earth and genuine as he was when he first debuted “Country Road”—his voice is still as clear, his guitar picking just as deceivingly simple as it is intricate. In his latest acoustic tour, the grand architect of the singer-songwriter genre attempts to take the format of an intimate concert one step further by using photos and stories to invite the audience behind the scenes of each song. Sure, there’s many a songwriter who will tell an entertaining vignette about a song, but how many will bring a laptop and slide projector to illustrate them? The best thing about Taylor is that he takes his audience with him, no matter where he goes. ( www.jamestaylor.com ) Ryman Auditorium, May 12th & 13th —JESSICA FRIEDMAN HILDEGARD, SAPAT, JOSEPHINE FOSTER AND THE CHERRY BLOSSOMS Singer Josephine Foster has a creaky, pre-Raphaelite voice, and she writes songs that have an uncanny resemblance to the ancient gems 1950s folksingers uncovered in field recordings, songbooks and memory. On this show, she appears with Nashville’s Cherry Blossoms, who have their own instantly identifiable, vulnerable female voice in Peggy Snow. The relationship between Foster and the Cherry Blossoms includes Foster’s cover of the CB’s song “The Golden Window” for a compilation in The Believer magazine. More recently, they have recorded and performed together, and the connection seems to be growing. Sapat is a large free improvisation group from Louisville. They’ve recorded with jazz trumpet player Roy Campbell, Jr., putting them in the same company as Yo La Tengo. The show’s headliner is Hildegard, a project from Daniel Presnell and Jenni Pace out of South Carolina, which revolves around well-constructed collections of drones and loops. Dino’s Diner –DAVID MADDOX Charlie Wilson He may have donned the cowboy look in his glory days as the creative force and vocal leader of the Gap Band, but Oklahoma native Charlie Wilson spawned an entire generation of hip-hoppers and new jack swingers who’ve sampled the most urban of grooves from his songs. Now, the man who made dance floors shake with “Burn Rubber (Why You Wanna Hurt Me?)” and “Early in the Morning” is enjoying a career resurgence as a solo act, with the younger generation coming full circle: R. Kelly produced and co-wrote for 2005’s Charlie, Last Name Wilson, and appearances by Snoop Dogg and (arggh!) Justin Timberlake give the man his props. War Memorial Auditorium —BILL LEVINE TOMMY GIAMPIETRO Having returned to Nashville after completing a grad degree in jazz education, drummer Tommy G is taking a stronger role than ever as a leader and composer. He’ll be playing with a couple of familiar faces from his work with Jeff Coffin, guitarist Pat Bergeson and bassist Alanna Rocklin. With trombonist Roy Agee as the only horn out in front, it’s as good as having an entire section. Giampietro’s combo will be performing mostly his originals. His music comes from eclectic places, but what binds it together is a strong melodic center. As much as he writes for the unique voices of each band member, their solo parts aren’t just showcasing their instrumental prowess, but are wholly continuous with the melodic flow. Nashville Jazz Workshop —BILL LEVINE John Ellis Modern jazz and jam-band fans likely know tenor saxophonist John Ellis from his work with eight-string guitar wonder Charlie Hunter, but he’s a strong bandleader and composer in his own right. Though currently a New Yorker, he spent several years in New Orleans working with heavyweights like Steve Masakowski and Jason Marsalis, and the Crescent City’s slinky grooves can be heard in many of his compositions. Like Hunter, Ellis writes music that is accessible without being “lite,” featuring strong melodies that counterbalance the improvisational excursions. His band will feature bassist Alan Hampton, guitarist Mike Moreno (a member of the Joshua Redman Elastic Band) and drummer Derrek Phillips (another Charlie Hunter alum who, rumor has it, is moving to Nashville in the near future). With the exception of occasional concerts at the Nashville Jazz Workshop, opportunities to see any of jazz’s young lions perform in Nashville are rare; a lineup this strong (for a mere 10 bucks!) is a can’t-miss event. Scojo’s Cafe —JACK SILVERMAN SATURDAY, 13TH LARRY GOLDINGS Jazz B-3 stalwart Larry Goldings may be playing before some of the largest crowds he’s ever seen right now. He’s in town to back Sweet Baby James Taylor on keyboards, but thanks to a last-minute booking coup, Goldings will be giving a clinic and performance at the Jazz Workshop early this Saturday. One of the most adaptable jazz organ players, he’s no doubt adding all shades of color to Taylor’s crooning of his familiar pop catalog. But Goldings is really at his best in the classic trio format, where the organ covers the bass parts and trades off on melodies and harmonies with a soul-jazz guitarist who can rattle off lowdown dirty licks. (Pat Bergeson, quite an adaptable guitar player himself, will be playing this role on Saturday.) What separates Goldings from the pack is a sense of tact and subtlety, even on the most raucous, upbeat burners. The clinic and performance starts at 11:00 a.m., and it’s open to the general public. Nashville Jazz Workshop (www.larrygoldings.com ) —BILL LEVINE JAKE LEG STOMPERS Sometimes preserving tradition can be the emotive equivalent of a dead butterfly impaled on a straight pin. But the retro-jugband outfit Jake Leg Stompers is not an attempt to exhibit specimens of long-dead song form. Instead, JLS resurrect the rent-party vibe of music in feast-or-famine America between the World Wars. Akin to Bruce Springsteen on his CD The Seeger Sessions, The Stompers perform with joyous abandon, as opposed to historically accurate (and often loveless) renditions of old songs. JLS sing and swing traditional songs on traditional instruments—washboard, banjo, trombone et. al.—and guzzle tradition like vintage port from a Bama-Jelly jar. Well-worn tunes like “Limber Louie,” “Cocaine Blues” and “Viper’s Drag” get painted with a broad brush but bear no weight of paint-by-numbers construction, giving the rest of us a reason to recollect our musical inheritance in all its vital glory. ( http://www.jakelegstompers.com/ ) Station Inn —COLLIN WADE MONK DAVID CASSIDY Polyester pop pinup David Cassidy was tacked firmly to the bedroom walls of teenage girls everywhere in the late ’70s. The yin to Farrah Fawcett’s yang, Cassidy’s poster boasted flared pants and non-threatening looks in spades. A few decades and a couple Behind the Music episodes later, this original American idol mollifies Nashville’s estrogen-laced masses with a special Mother’s Day performance at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center. The full concert will feature a Solid Gold blueprint of chart-topping mania, including the peppy anthems “Come On Get Happy” and “I Think I Love You.” (www.davidcassidy.com ) Acuff Theatre —JOEY HOOD THE WRECKERS Just three years after Michelle Branch, at 17, debuted to rave reviews with “Everywhere,” the singer-songwriter made the unusual decision to return to The Wreckers, a country duo with longtime pal Jessica Harp that pre-dated her solo career. Happily, their forthcoming debut, Stand Still Look Pretty, sounds much like the literate, exuberant folk-pop that garnered Branch multi-platinum success, enhanced by a rootsier bluegrass backdrop and deepened with sweet harmonies. Branch insists The Wreckers is no side project—she’s changed direction for good—which may shock fans. But with new music this appealing, it’s hard to be disappointed. The Wreckers make their Opry debut this weekend. (www.thewreckers.com ) Grand Ole Opry House —KATIE DODD SUNDAY, 14TH DAVID MEAD This pop-rock wunderkind can’t help but experiment with classic melodic song structures. With his new Tangerine, made with Nashville producer Brad Jones, Mead fully unfurls his magical popscape for the first time since his 1999 RCA debut. Over the last few years, he’s either tried to streamline his carnivalesque qualities to meet record label expectations, or he’s committed to side projects like his fine acoustic effort, 2004’s Indiana. With Tangerine, he finds fresh fruit by indulging all of his wild impulses, which can take in everything from tunes based completely on harmony vocals to those that fit in every kitchen-sink idea he has. The pay-off comes in watching him find new ways to express his innate talents. ( www.davidmead.com ) 3rd & Lindsley; Grimey’s on the 16th —MICHAEL McCALL TUESDAY, 16TH ERIC CHURCH Granite Falls, N.C., native Eric Church has a passion for self-definition. Again and again on his upcoming debut album, Sinners Like Me, he returns to strident statements about who he is and what he believes, declarations with an undercurrent of class (self) consciousness and working-class bitterness roiling underneath. The best example is the current country hit “How ‘Bout You,” a rednecks-rule anthem kicked into relevance by Church’s appealingly rough-edged voice, a Waylonesque four-on-the-floor groove and a banjo riff that’s nearly psychotic in its relentlessness. Exit/In —CHRIS NEAL WEDNESDAY, 17TH KIERAN KANE, KEVIN WELCH & FATS KAPLIN Even in their most commercial work, these three hard-traveling veterans always drew on folk music as an influence. Lately, though, they seem to be searching for the dark grail at the heart of old-time American music. On the new Lost John Dean, an album credited to all three friends, they dig deeper into primitive mountain folk and stark deep-river blues, making percussive, driving acoustic music that’s starker and darker-toned than most of their previous work. Welch and Kane trade lead vocals and songwriting credits, while multi-instrumentalist Kaplin adds depth and shading. They’ve all three been at this awhile—Kane enjoyed the most high-profile success as a member of the ’80s hit country duo The O’Kanes, while Welch received raves for his Warner Bros. albums in the early ’90s and gypsy string man Kaplin has toured with The Mavericks and The Tractors and recorded with everyone from Garth Brooks and Waylon Jennings to Bad Company and Jason & the Scorchers. These days, they spend more time touring foreign soil than playing at home, which makes their rare hometown shows a treat. The Basement —MICHAEL McCALL STEPHEN SIMMONS Simmons’ second album strips away the clangy roots-rock of his attention-getting debut. This time out, he focuses primarily on solo acoustic guitar and his deep, resonant voice, which alternates between a dryly sardonic tone and the clear, unfettered directness of a midnight confessional. Drink Ring Jesus, the title of his new collection, sums up the yin-yang of his subject matter; his songs lay bare the struggle of moral men fighting with fever dreams and the pull of alcohol and other personal demons. He’s a first-rate storyteller whose experience seems beyond his young years, and he’s already building the kind of catalog that will carry him for the long haul. The Basement —MICHAEL McCALL RACHAEL SAGE Sage’s current release, The Blistering Sun, gathers her sophisticated folk-pop into a tight package of multi-textural arrangements. Though she’s based in the East Village, the substance and style of her everyday epiphanies hark back to a Laurel Canyon sound. The music is more self-consciously arty than Laura Nyro’s best work, and Sage’s frail delivery and slippery articulation make the listener turn to the printed lyrics to see what’s behind the shifting confessional tones. Still, there are a number of delicately handled contemplations on various forms of faith and betrayal, awash in mildly glimmering imagery. ( www.rachaelsage.com ) Bluebird Café —BILL LEVINE THEATER COLLECTED STORIES The Tennessee Women’s Theater Project was founded by Maryanna Clarke to present professional theater that provides opportunities for women onstage, backstage and in management. The company follows up last year’s inaugural production of A Single Woman with this mounting of Donald Margulies’ Pulitzer Prize-nominated tale of the relationship between two writers and the risks that come with friendship. Director Clarke’s two-person cast features Terry Occhiogrosso and RheAnn White Fuller. The show will be presented May 12-28 at the Looby Theater, 2301 MetroCenter Blvd. For tickets, visit www.twtp.org. For further information, call 327-0100. —MARTIN BRADY METAMORPHOSES You know a contemporary script is hot material when two local production companies mount it within three months of each other. John Holleman and Company gave Nashville its first taste of Mary Zimmerman’s innovative rendering of Ovid’s classic mythical tales back in February. Its setting at The Parthenon offered presentational grandeur but also disappointing logistical problems regarding sightlines and sound. The new Actors Bridge Ensemble version takes place at the Neuhoff Site, where it might be easier to meet the technical demands, in particular the critical placement of a symbolic pool of water. As opposed to Holleman’s minimalist approach, ABE looks ready to conduct baptisms in their old converted machine-shop space. Bill Feehely directs the cast of 12, which includes an intriguing mix of talented familiars (Brian Webb Russell, Rebekah Durham, Zak Risinger) and relative unknowns (Rebecca Robbins, Gabrielle Saliba, Steve Sandfort). Performances are May 12-21. For tickets, phone 341-0300 or email actorsbridge@comcast.net. —MARTIN BRADY ANNIE Who doesn’t like Annie? Actually, the late New York Times drama critic Walter Kerr proclaimed it a flop before it ever came to Broadway—then it went on to win seven Tony Awards, running on and off for six years on The Great White Way and serving as the launching pad for the careers of Andrea McArdle and, later, Sarah Jessica Parker. It’s not surprising that Annie became a hit during the presidency of Jimmy Carter, with the show’s cloying sensibilities (some might call it “warmth”) and its shamelessly upbeat score masking the cotton-candy emptiness within. Nevertheless, it’s got all those adorable orphan kids, and a dog, and tunes like “Tomorrow,” “It’s the Hard-Knock Life” and “I Don’t Need Anything but You,” which defy critical analysis because they’re so darn catchy. The new road production at TPAC’s Jackson Hall features Conrad John Schuck as Daddy Warbucks (Rock Hudson’s toady assistant in TV’s Macmillan and Wife); Mackenzie Phillips (whose own hard-knock life as a child of celebrity and substance abuser is widely known); and Marissa O’Donnell as the title moppet. Performances are May 16-21. Phone 255-ARTS for tickets. —MARTIN BRADY ART Contemporary Photography and the Garden: Deceits and Fantasies In this new show at Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Museum of Art, 16 renowned contemporary photographers, including Sally Apfelbaum, Gregory Crewdson, Lynn Geesaman, Sally Mann, Catherine Opie, Jack Pierson and Marc Quinn, investigate the forms, atmosphere and symbolism of the garden. Varying in style and scale, the 67 images depict gardens from across the globe and explore man’s interaction with nature and the lyrical beauty of the physical world. Given its theme, this traveling exhibition is a perfect fit for Cheekwood. The exhibit runs May 13-Aug. 20; a reception and gallery talk will be held from noon to 3 p.m. on Mother’s Day, May 14. —ARMON MEANS Looking East: Orientalist Art From Nashville Collections The Near and Middle East saw an influx of Westerners starting in 1798 with Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt. Throughout the following century, European artists and writers increasingly chose Islamic cultures as a topic, using the myth of the Orient as exotic and corrupt to articulate the hidden or illicit aspects of human nature that were considered taboo in the Western world. An exhibit of select 19th century Orientalist works from Nashville collections opens at Cheekwood Saturday and runs through Dec. 31. —CLAIRE SUDDATH Stalking the Vision This exhibit at The Madison Art Center features artwork by Bobbie Baker, Leslie Davis, Margaret Frey, Michael Gustafson, and LeAnne Johnson. Media represented include painting, drawing, photography, and mixed media, and the pieces include both fine and commercial art. An opening reception takes place 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, May 11; the exhibit runs from through June 21. —ARMON MEANS BOOKS SASHA ABRAMSKY In Tennessee, except in special circumstances, a citizen convicted of a felony is permanently barred from voting, a practice called “felony disenfranchisement.” In Conned: How Millions Went to Prison, Lost the Vote and Helped Send George W. Bush to the White House, Sasha Abramsky, renowned analyst of state incarceration policies, explains the theory behind these draconian laws, which date from Medieval Europe: when citizens broke the social contract, they suffered “civil death” and were forever barred from participating in the political workings of the community. The unfairness of such laws lies less in the laws themselves, Abramsky writes, than in the fact that felony convictions are disproportionately imposed on African Americans and the poor. In Tennessee, for example, up to one-half of the prison population is black, while blacks make up only 16 percent of the state’s population. Money talks and the rich man walks—or, as Abramsky puts it, “You’d have to be blind, deaf and pigheaded…to miss this particular connection.” Obviously, felony disenfranchisement can affect the outcome of close elections, and in the 2000 presidential contest over 500,000 people were disenfranchised in the pivotal state of Florida. Reform movements are under way in many states that still have such laws, though not in Tennessee. Perhaps this book will be a catalyst. Abramsky will appear at Davis-Kidd Booksellers 6 p.m. May 11. —WAYNE CHRISTESON RICK REILLY What would you expect of the sequel to a comic novel about a foursome of hard-drinking, bet-on-anything buddies who frequent “the worst golf course in America”? If you guessed chick lit, you would be wrong. The popular Sports Illustrated writer Rick Reilly’s Shanks for Nothing piles on the snappy dialog and Spike TV-worthy one-liners that made its precursor, Missing Links, a best seller 10 years ago. While there is a plot, even some character development (not to mention actual golf), mostly there are lines like this one, used to describe a clubhouse swordsman: “You have to understand, Dom not getting a girl is like the tornado not getting the trailer.” Later, amid a lengthy description of the sword in question, is this gem: “We always said if the Sox’s Manny Ramirez saw it, he might rub a little pine tar on it and take it to the plate.” Reilly reads at Davis-Kidd Booksellers 6 p.m. May 12. —MICHAEL RAY TAYLOR FILM THE NOTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE BURLESQUE SPECTACULAR Return to those glorious days of yesteryear when scantily clad sirens paraded their pulchritude for your perusal! On Friday night, the Belcourt turns from arthouse to burlesque house for the premiere of Mary Harron’s fizzy biopic The Notorious Bettie Page, with Gretchen Mol as the Nashville girl who became the world’s most coveted men’s-magazine pin-up. Starting at 7 p.m., the gals of Lady & the Tramps—Lady Lola, Belle Bombshell, Miss Kitty Lee, Tequila Rose and Vera VaVoom—will make good on their promise of “no fake boobs, no stripper moves” with a demonstration of old-school varietease. Meee-yow! The $12 tickets are almost gone; if you missed the movie’s sold-out screening at the Nashville Film Festival, it’ll be playing throughout the week. —JIM RIDLEY POSEIDON Director Wolfgang Petersen has a $100 million trident, and it’s aimed straight at your ass with this remake of the Irwin Allen hell-cruise classic. Kurt Russell, Josh Lucas and Emmy Rossum are among the passengers fighting their way toward daylight in a capsized ocean liner, and this time Shelley Winters isn’t around to save them. —JIM RIDLEY ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL Money quote, from a former Watkins student: “Every student at Watkins should be forced to see this movie.” Cartoonist Daniel Clowes and director Terry Zwigoff follow up their Ghost World collaboration with this curdled peek behind the easel, as a budding artist (Max Minghella) learns that the world of peer evaluations and gallery shows is essentially high school with palettes. Co-starring Sophia Myles and John Malkovich, the film opens Friday at Green Hills; see the capsule review in our Movie Listings, with a full review online at www.nashvillescene.com. —JIM RIDLEY SIR! NO SIR! If nothing else, David Zeiger’s documentary performs a needed public service: refuting the oft-repeated myth of Vietnam protestors spitting on returning vets. Instead, Zeiger’s doc shows that resistance to the war from actual U.S. soldiers was far more widespread and organized than reported—from vet-published antiwar broadsides to questioning orders in the field. Featuring footage from such period documentaries as Winter Soldier and the even rarer F.T.A. (a record of Jane Fonda’s controversial anti-U.S.O. traveling show), the movie opens Friday at the Belcourt for a week’s run; longtime local journalist Warren Duzak from Middle Tennessee Veterans for Peace will introduce the 7:20 p.m. show Friday. —JIM RIDLEY TUCKER’S WORLD Affectionately called “the Mayor of Third Avenue” by photographer Dan Loftin, 47-year-old Dorcy Wayne Tucker has spent half his life on Nashville’s streets, either depending on the kindness of an auto shop for shelter or smoking crack and busting up pallets for firewood in the city’s back alleys. Unlike the vast majority of homeless people, though, he seems to have chosen his life, or at least thinks he has. In the first film from the new local production company 2.8 Productions, director Lee Cahn and cameramen Danny Proctor and Jason O’Brien follow Tucker over six months’ time, from court appearances to a bittersweet family reunion on Christmas Day. The documentary doesn’t need its dramatic score or overemphatic slow motion: its nonjudgmental recording of Tucker’s existence and his interactions with car-shop caretakers, homeless friends and family members resigned to his ways speaks volumes—as does the class photo of Tucker, reportedly a former schoolmate of Oprah Winfrey, beaming from a yearbook at age 17. The 45-minute film makes its public premiere 7 p.m. Monday at the Belcourt, with a reception preceding the screening; tickets are $5. For more information, see www.2.8productions.com. —JIM RIDLEY DVD FALSE PROPHETS Shot in Nashville in 2000 under the title Gas Station Jesus, Robert Kevin Townsend’s drama concerns a radio preacher’s son (Antonio David Lyons) who defies a fundamentalist cult leader (veteran heavy Patrick Bergin) to help a woman whose unborn child may be the product of immaculate conception—and who is considering an abortion. The movie arrives on DVD this week with lots of familiar local actors in the cast, including Jenny Littleton, Denice Hicks, Reegus Flenory, Peg Allen, Arita Trahan, Evans Donnell and Clay Steakley See www.falseprophetsthemovie.com for more info. —JIM RIDLEY TV NASHVILLE PUBLIC TELEVISION BENEFIT So you conveniently missed that last pledge drive, eh? Atone by visiting Davis-Kidd Booksellers in Green Hills Mall between 4 and 7 p.m. this Sunday, when 20 percent of all purchases will go to Nashville’s public-television affiliate NPT-Channel 8. As an example of what your money will buy, this week’s NPT programming includes the new documentary John Ford/John Wayne: The Filmmaker and the Legend (8 p.m. Wednesday); The Hawaiians—Reflecting Spirit (9 p.m. Thursday), which screened a few weeks ago at the Frist Center; and the local favorite The Royal Academy (9 p.m. Saturday). —JIM RIDLEY