A shift in venue—from the Vanderbilt Marriott to the downtown Hilton—is reportedly not the only change brewing at the eighth annual gathering of film and TV writers, which runs Friday through Sunday. Organizers say they’re juicing up the conference with new names—including writer-directors Mary Harron (whose The Notorious Bettie Page is still enjoying unprecedented success at the Belcourt) and Charles Stone III (Drumline, Mr. 3000)—along with new events and a restructuring that offers more access to the visiting talent. Wanna be a horror writer? A staffer on a hit TV show? Help with these questions and more is promised. The keynote event is Friday’s sneak peek at the Stephen King miniseries Nightmares and Dreamscapes at the Belcourt, with writers April Smith and Lawrence D. Cohen (who also scripted Carrie) attending. Budding scribes can also seek wisdom from (or face time with) Without a Trace writers Jan Nash and Greg Walker; Amok Books co-founder Brian King; CBS senior vice president of current programs David Brownfield; HBO senior vice president of miniseries Kary Antholis; and a strong lineup of visiting music supervisors that includes Julia Michels (The Devil Wears Prada), Howard Paar (the upcoming Germs biopic What We Do Is Secret), Warner Brothers Pictures senior vice president Darren Higman and Disney VP of creative music and soundtracks Kaylin Frank. But the guest who may be most exciting is writer-director James Gunn, whose Dawn of the Dead script showed how to rethink a classic in style—and whose recent Slither is an underseen gem destined for a huge cult audience. For more information, see the website, www.nashscreen.com. —JIM RIDLEY MUSIC THURSDAY, 1ST THOSE TRANSATLANTICS The lush harmonies and orchestral pop-rock of Michigan’s Those Transatlantics sometimes recall The Cowsills and The Monkees, but the updated sonic textures minimize the retro potential. Here, the instruments have personalities as distinct as the vocals of multiple singers, and with no spotlight-hogging solos to disrupt the band’s spirit of community, the result is a unifying, family-like cohesion. The proof’s on their new CD Knocked Out, and as long as the close confines of Springwater don’t wreak havoc on the acoustics, its title ought to describe the reaction of most listeners. ( www.thosetransatlantics.com ) Springwater —COLLIN WADE MONK ALL WE SEABEES With its songs of schoolgirls gone wrong, alcoholic fathers and mother’s little helpers, All We Seabees’ debut EP, Gorilla, is a Last Exit to Brooklyn for the indie-rock age. Like the 1964 Hubert Selby, Jr. novel, which takes an unvarnished view of lower-class Brooklyn, The Seabees turn the social and sexual depravity of the Detroit suburbs into unselfconscious commentary. The characters in songs like “Little Maggie” (a teenaged prostitute), are pointed and self-deprecating. Like Selby’s semen-stained barflies, the Seabees’ characters also draw narrative power from moral vacancy and their author’s unwillingness to provide even a glimpse of redemption. Notable, too, is the Seabees’ musical range, which runs from jangly, riff-driven punk to subdued chamber pop. The band recently relocated to Nashville; Gorilla will be available in late-June. (http://www.myspace.com/allweseabees ) Springwater —PAUL V. GRIFFITH FRIDAY, 2ND PINK MOUNTAINTOPS Vancouver’s Black Mountain made quite a splash in indie-rock circles last year with their self-titled full-length, which topped many critics’ best of 2005 lists. Songwriter and main mountaineer Stephen McBean’s other neo-psychedelic band, Pink Mountaintops, has, at best, blurred distinctions between its more Sabbath-influenced counterpart. The difference in title seems trivial, as McBean seems to have purposely eliminated each band’s singularity. Both groups share much of the same personnel, have releases with the same album artwork and mostly just sound a whole lot alike. Pink Mountaintops are a bit more subdued, trading monolithic riffs for a more stoned and country approach. One could think of the Pink Mountaintops as the Mount St. Helens to Black Mountain’s Mount Vesuvius. Regardless, if you’re a fan of one, you’ll probably dig the other. ( www.blackmountainarmy.com ) The Basement —MATT SULLIVAN BAD FRIEND Capable of rocking with the shaky expanse of early-’90s Luna, this Nashville quintet have evolved into a stable lineup and fashioned a devastating repertoire over the past several months. The band craft a sound that draws on both the plaintive, somber side of singer-songwriters past and the crunchy anti-symphonic shred of lo-fi rocking, though there’s likely too much genuine emotion in the band’s material to comfortably slot them in with most of the young rock bands making headlines. Still, songs like “Lemonhead Loser” and “24 World” harness the melancholy most country artists would kill for into Pixies-size barrages of noise, taking no prisoners in the process. The Basement —JASON SHAWHAN ELEVADO Part of Elevado’s shtick is that they eschew their influences. It’s a neat trick if you can pull it off, but given the recyclical nature of rock (indie or otherwise), it’s increasingly hard to do. Like The Notwist or Tindersticks, there are bands that make it hard to play the “Guess what’s on their iPod?” game. Elevado’s 2005 recording, Dedicated to the Memory, has that sort of unprecedented character. But in the case of their forthcoming 7” single, “Our Turn Came Tonight,” it’s better to be good than original. As cutting edge as Dedicated to the Memory is, its squawky guitar tones and odd time signatures make it a tough hang. “Our Turn Came Tonight,” on the other hand, is danceable trance-pop that has the familiar ring of Joy Division, Depeche Mode and The Fixx, albeit with peerless Elevado touches like creative short-circuiting and amp modification. ( www.elevado.com ) 12th & Porter —PAUL V. GRIFFITH NEW MONSOON It isn’t saying much to point out that jam bands often stretch their songs into long, meandering pieces in concert. But as the 2004 album Live at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival documents exquisitely, this San Francisco seven-piece have a superb knack for creating a sense of flow and keeping your attention over those long stretches. The standouts in the jam band realm allow you to forget classification while you’re listening, forcing you to rethink your genre definitions on the way home. Sure, the heavy percussion and basis in bluegrass might be genre hallmarks, but you can abandon your expectations right there: New Monsoon mesh Indian, Latin/Brazilian, and Appalachian rhythms into a seamless whole. It’s become cliche for jam artists to speak of creating something “organic” out of their improvisation. New Monsoon create a new organism entirely—these jams soar. And you won’t have to suspend any of your prejudices or aversions toward jam clichés, as New Monsoon’s music thankfully doesn’t fulfill any. Exit/In —SABY REYES-KULKARNI JEFF COFFIN MU’TET WITH FUTUREMAN The difference between saxophonist Jeff Coffin’s role in The Flecktones and the Mu’tet could hardly be more striking. When Coffin is playing foil to Fleck’s banjo, he tends to keep things fairly melodic and inside. The Mu’tet brings out an entirely different animal in Coffin. He is more adventurous and seems to be having a lot more fun. His solo compositions and the timbre he uses bring to mind the style and sound of jazz legend and Miles Davis sideman Julian “Cannonball” Adderley. Coffin, like Adderley, has an avid interest in exploring all the sonic possibilities of the music without leaving the audience behind in the process. Another member of The Flecktones, Futureman, will play drums for the Mu’tet. The band will feature Kofi Burbridge from the Derek Trucks Band on keyboards, Rod McGaha on trumpet and the explosive Roy Agee on trombone. The show is all-ages and smoke-free. 3rd & Lindsley —COLLIN WADE MONK SATURDAY, 3RD DONNIE FRITTS He’s a Muscle Shoals stalwart and Kris Kristofferson’s long-time compadre; he co-wrote Dusty Springfield’s gorgeous “Breakfast in Bed”; his 1974 solo album Prone to Lean is selling for $75 a pop as an import on Amazon; and he played roughnecks for Sam Peckinpah in two of his grimiest, grittiest early ’70s classics, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid and Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia. What is this guy doing on a 6:30 bill at the Bluebird? The same could be asked of the other folks on this odd lineup: veteran Nashville songsmiths Chris Gantry and Gary Nicholson, and former Tonic frontman Emerson Hart, who recorded his new solo album here. But none of them ever got blown away on screen by Warren Oates. If you own a copy of the recent Peckinpah Westerns DVD box set—or Dusty in Memphis, or Fritts’ own pleasing 1997 Oh Boy release Everybody’s Got a Song—make the trip to Green Hills. Bluebird Café —JIM RIDLEY SUNDAY, 4TH JOE ELY If you were to put on a show for a fidgety audience of West Texas cowhands, Class of ’77 Britpunks and gallery-bound fine artists, Ely’s the one performer who might keep someone with a Stetson, a Mohawk or a palette from flying through the plate-glass window. The Lubbock singer-songwriter and bandleader has roofed houses, survived a kicking by a circus horse, and kicked ass onstage with everyone from Springsteen to the Clash (with whom he toured). And no matter what persona he assumes in song—a resentful acquaintance of Billy the Kid, or a luckless lover who never hears the “loving tongue” of Spanish until his girlfriend says “Adios”—it always sounds true, and it always sounds like him speaking his own mind. His New Orleans-themed album isn’t due until later this year, and his current tour is solo, but don’t worry: even acoustic, Ely is electric. Show up early for Tommy Womack, who’s gonna make him work to earn that headliner slot. Exit/In —JIM RIDLEY TWILIGHT SINGERS Greg Dulli has been exploring and exploiting all manner of neuroses for almost 20 years now, first with grunge-era guitar heroes the Afghan Whigs and more recently with his moody collective The Twilight Singers. Dulli’s flair for the dramatic remains undimmed on latest release Powder Burns. The album alternates between churning guitar rock and smoky, brooding torch songs, providing a suitably tense backdrop for the dual themes of drug addiction and sexual obsession. A newly sober Dulli recorded the album in New Orleans last year amid the chaos of Katrina, and the city’s various ghosts and demons haunt the music throughout. Dulli has always made a habit of sprinkling choice covers throughout his fierce, sweat-drenched sets, and recent shows have seen the band tackling the diverse likes of Gnarls Barkley, Aerosmith and Springsteen. Listen to the Scenecast this week for a chance to win one of three Twilight Singers posters courtesy of Navarre Distribution. Mercy Lounge —JASON BENNETT CATTLE DECAPITATION Cattle Decapitation—the name says it all. The band’s preoccupation with gore might be clichéd, and, for such an extreme metal band, it’s definitely predictable. But Cattle Decapitation’s aesthetic isn’t as easily dismissible as that of their contemporaries. They aren’t simply paraphrasing Carcass. Early in the band’s decade-long existence, back when it was generally regarded as simply a Locust side-project, the accusation probably would have stuck. Whereas one couldn’t possibly take a word of Carcass’s Reek of Putrefaction seriously, these days Cattle Decapitation is more effectively using their gory death metal as a vehicle to promote their pro-vegetarian ethos and attacking what they perceive as the failures of mankind. With past album titles such as Human Jerky, Homovore and Humanure, it’s apparent that these fellows don’t particularly view most of us in very high regard. The Muse —MATT SULLIVAN BRANDTSON Like the once geeky couple that now turns heads at parties, disco beats on the arm of indie rock are now regarded as the sexy couple everyone wants to be. But what happens once the initial thrill is gone? Usually it’s the realization that the beats are easy as hell to abuse and that many of those couplings didn’t have more than a shallow attraction going for them in the first place. The music of Cleveland’s Brandtson report in from the mature, post-infatuation, let’s-make-this-work stage of the disco-indie relationship. And if the band can summon even half the driving power of its beats at their live show, your body simply won’t be able to resist. Their song “Nobody Dances Anymore” tells you everything you need to know about Brandtson’s intentions. 12th & Porter —SABY REYES-KULKARNI BEEGIE ADAIR If you drive far enough off the interstates and keep your AM band on, you’re still likely to pick up an AOR station that hasn’t changed its format since the early ’60s. This was the peak moment for elegant yet popular piano ensembles that could lightly embellish the common stock of Tin Pan Alley and big band standards. The ballad and easy swing pace of most arrangements, along with their decorous re-phrasings, enriched a song’s melodic sweetness and poignantly conveyed its wistful or buoyant mood in no more than three-and-a-half minutes. This is the slice of Americana that Beegie Adair cultivates better than anyone else, and has increasingly preserved for us since her recording career as a featured pianist took off belatedly about 15 years ago. Her current release, Sentimental Journey, pays tribute to the tunes that the “greatest generation” of WWII soldiers would’ve listened to. Backed by her trio mates Roger Spencer and Chris Brown and joined by several local guests, Adair will celebrate 45 years as a working musician in Nashville in this free concert at Centennial Park. Centennial Park Bandshell —BILL LEVINE JB’S MUSIC PROGRAM BENEFIT Thanks to a boatload of talent and an easygoing spirit, it’s taken only a few years for Atlanta transplant Jon Byrd to root himself deeply in Nashville’s Americana and alt-country circles. So when the singer-songwriter/picker decided to host a benefit for the music programs at the rural Alabama (Frisco City) high school from which he graduated, it was easy to line up volunteers. Standouts in the crowded bill include The Wrights, whose spare, rootsy 2005 debut was among the year’s most engaging; Elizabeth Cook, who’s responded to major label disappointment by deepening her country singing and songwriting abilities; Suzanna Spring, a sweet-voiced singer-songwriter who’s just now getting the first of what ought to be many Music Row cuts; and Chris Richards, whose Tumblers & Grits (2004) offered some nifty country-rock. No cover charge, but donations will be taken at the door. The Basement —JON WEISBERGER MONDAY, 5TH TRE HARDSON It might seem as if Hardson is the last of the members of The Pharcyde to hit the comeback trail. Actually, he’s the one who has been most actively recording since the band’s official split-up, and he appears best adjusted to life outside of the public eye. While former band mate Fatlip still wrestles with demons that plagued him ten years ago, Hardson has released Slimkid’s Café, a record that’s subtle and mature, probing spaces of spoken-word poetry and jazz, and he even delves into singing with his live band Fuqwai. In The Pharcyde, he was among a group of outsized personalities, and perhaps his cohorts all had voices that carried further. However, Hardson has remade himself into a thought provoking, intellectual figure in rap music, a voice that deserves to be heard. 3rd & Lindsley —MARK MAYS PIGEON JOHN The war over artificial boundaries in rap music rages: commercial vs. underground, crack rap vs. conscious rap, with each arguing that what they bring to the game is the embodiment of the style present at rap’s creation. But early on, rap music was all about play and getting your party on. Pigeon John treads lightly through pop rap’s demilitarized zone, armed with enough wit to make the hardest gangsta or rap philosopher crack a grin. Like rap pariahs Black Eyed Peas, he’s as interested in the genre’s power as he is its escapist fun, though like his Quannum label mates, he believes in its power to edify. His upcoming record, Pigeon John and the Summertime Pool Party, is a curious mix of breezy pop and danceable bop with some melancholic dirges from the underground tossed in. Pigeon John’s sing-songy flow traverses each disparate style effectively, whether he’s rhyming over the ’80’s dance-pop of “Brand New Day” or the grimy funk of “Freaks! Freaks!” Pigeon John’s homeboys and horn section provide most of the album’s bounce, but the power and substance comes from exterior sources. Brother Ali, underground legend J-Live, and RJD2 drop heavyweight ordinance on the record, and accordingly Pigeon John really steps up his MC game on their cuts, especially the RJD2 track, “The Last Sunshine.” He opens for former Pharcyde member Tre Hardson. 3rd & Lindsley —MARK MAYS KEITH LOWEN’S 8 OFF 8TH Before Next Big Nashville, there was Keith Lowen’s 8 Off 8th, a mini local music festival where the current bassist for The Privates and De Novo Dahl organized his own lineup of Nashville’s pop and rock best. OK, so he puts his own band on the bill sometimes, but it’s his party. The weekly writer’s night was already in gear under this moniker at the Mercy Lounge, but here the bill bears Lowen’s stamp of approval. Last time, he featured The Pink Spiders on deck with newbies like Umbrella Tree, and the show is quickly becoming the best bet for new bands looking to get some initial exposure, make contacts and align themselves with veteran acts. This third outing features acts like Bang Bang Bang, How I Became the Bomb, The Comfies, Sam Ashworth and Hotpipes, with DJ Kidsmeal opening and spinning between sets. The shows are free, but the place fills up fast. And we already have a suggestion for Lowen if he fears running out of enough good local bands to showcase: start having local bands cover each other’s songs. Who’s up for Lylas performing a set of Be Your Own Pet songs? Mercy Lounge —TRACY MOORE WEDNESDAY, 7TH STARLIGHT MINTS Bidding to become more than just the other oddball psych-pop band from Oklahoma, The Starlight Mints have pulled out all the stops on latest release Drowaton (hint: read it backwards). On first listen, the quirky instrumentation and kitchen sink production may seem a tad overambitious, but at its core the new record recalls the sound of swinging London circa 1966 more than it does the panoramic soundscapes of their home-state homeboys The Flaming Lips. The Mints specialize in taut little tunes that burst at the seams with bouncing rhythms and rambling, hall-of-mirrors arrangements. The catchy choruses help, but it’s really the woozy strings and crazy-quilt piano that lift “Seventeen Devils” and “Inside of Me” into the realm of the exceedingly infectious. With all the swirling melodies and shape-shifting time signatures, even if you don’t imbibe at the show you’ll probably still go home feeling a little drunk. www.starlightmints.com Exit/In —JASON BENNETT JOANNA COTTEN When her debut album Funkabilly comes out on WB-Nashville later this summer, Cotten promises to deliver on the hot-grits sound that she left Julliard (and a classical vocal curriculum) to return to. Having grown up 45 minutes west of Memphis, she’s absorbed the rural currents of the blues, country and gospel along with her continual appreciation of what the Stax and other Bluff City R&B folks accomplished in their glory days. Now on staff as a writer for EMI, Cotten has penned 9 of the 11 tracks on the forthcoming CD, with “Burnin’ Love” writer Dennis Linde responsible for the other two. A few old-school horn productions are in the works for the recording, but for now, her frequent gigs at 3rd & Lindsley pump up the soul with organ grooves that take her voice to higher places. ( www.joannacotten.com ) 3rd & Lindsley —BILL LEVINE SHEMEKIA COPELAND As Aretha Franklin, Koko Taylor and Ruth Brown approach their twilight years, it’s reassuring to witness the potent, fiery vocal performances of 26-year-old Shemekia Copeland—not that the elder divas have gotten too old to belt out rhythm and blues. But the daughter of late Texas bluesman Johnny Copeland, already eight years and four albums into her career, still has a good long time to devote to the health of soul-blues. In a genre that’s sorely lacking in young performers, Copeland’s presence is significant. On her 1998 Alligator Records debut Turn The Heat Up!, her formidable gospelly growl and feisty, worldly-wise delivery belied her young age (18 at the time). Last year’s installment, The Soul Truth, pairs Copeland’s blues-shouting with a punchy, unmistakably Stax-influenced sound, thanks to the production work of legendary Memphis session man Steve Cropper. A natural marriage of raw vocal power, R&B roots and womanly swagger like this doesn’t come along terribly often. Mercy Lounge —JEWLY HIGHT MARTY STUART’S LATE NIGHT JAM This annual midnight concert is to the CMA Music Festival what Marty Stuart is to country music. That is, he brings something traditional yet bold and vital to the proceedings, saluting the historic and unafraid to step out on the cutting edge. Stuart loves the rock of ages yet he also digs the rock of this age, and his fifth annual Jam is the unofficial launch party of the festival. It includes country music veterans like Travis Tritt, Kathy Mattea and Connie Smith as well as the legendary a cappella gospel group The Fairfield Four. Also on the bill are new country artist John Stone, punk-a-billies Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers, master percussionist Jim Brock and the little-known but can’t-be-missed Don Chambers and Goat, who sounds like Tom Waits if he’d grown up in the North Georgia mountains. Stuart will perform with his outstanding quartet, The Fabulous Superlatives. Once again, profits go to MusiCares, the non-profit company that aids professional musicians in need. Stuart’s already made moves to put the organization in touch with the families of Charles Lilly and Daniel Patton, who died along with Grand Ole Opry star Billy Walker and his wife Betty in a car accident while returning from a show in Alabama. Ryman Auditorium —MICHAEL McCALL THEATER TELL IT LIKE IT IS! Interplay might be described as a mind/body-focused community with a “y’all come” sensibility. Fostering creative social interaction and artsy pursuits, Interplay is essentially about self-discovery, with emphasis on the power of affirmation and—no small feat—re-teaching adults the ability to be spontaneous. This Interplay-sponsored storytelling retreat, led by Emily Green-Cain, strives for a colorful combination of movement, sounds and words, with the moderator explaining simple techniques for performance and play. The program is 2-4:30 p.m. June 3 at the First Unitarian Universalist Church on Woodmont Boulevard; a “BodySpirit Celebration” follows at 5 p.m. For more information, visit www.interplaytn.org, e-mail diane@interplaytn.org or phone 884-8074. —MARTIN BRADY COMEDY WOO PIG SOOIE Actor/comedian/improviser Matt Besser brings this engaging and daringly funny one-man show into Bongo After Hours Theatre on June 7 at 7:30 p.m. Besser takes on all the major religious sacred cows and grinds ’em into hamburger. But he does it with intelligence, an honest sense of inquiry and tons of laughs. For tickets, phone 385-1188.  —MARTIN BRADY THE JUGG SISTERS Since 1997, Sheri Lynn and Brenda Kay have been running NashTrash Tours, a 90-minute bus excursion through downtown Music City. Tourists view historic sites and notable country-music-themed landmarks while the big-haired duo regale their passengers with funny, sometimes risqué insider stories that most country stars wish were left untold. The Juggs have extended their franchise to include “makeup tips for the trashy,” and they’ve got a best-selling cookbook, Cookin’ With the Juggs, which includes entries like “Mama’s Knock-Ya-Nekkid Margaritas.” In a rare appearance outside of the Big Pink Bus, the Juggs bring their tall tales and distinctively “local” personal charm to the Gordon Jewish Community Center for a dinner-comedy show on June 5 at 6:30 p.m. For reservations, phone 356-717. —MARTIN BRADY ART ARROWMONT RESIDENT ARTISTS When it comes to gallery-level crafts, Tennessee is an acknowledged leader, due in part to a couple of very well-regarded schools for the crafts in the state. One such institution is Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, which was founded in 1912 as a settlement school and over the years evolved into a leader in craft education. Finer Things Gallery, one of the city’s leading proponents of gallery-level crafts, will present a monthlong exhibit of work by the current crop of Arrowmont Resident Artists; the proceeds will benefit the school. The artists include furniture-maker Laura Yeats, painter Greta Songe, ceramicist Amy Santoferraro, metalsmith David Kissel and fabric artist Rowland Ricketts. Two of the artists are of particular interest: Santoferraro runs riffs on all sorts of vernacular ceramics and Ricketts works with plant pigments, letting the natural characteristics of the dyes suggest aesthetic forms. The show runs June 3 through July 1; there will be an artists’ talk at 5:30 p.m. June 3, followed by a reception until 8. —DAVID MADDOX PATRICK DEGUIRA: “THE LOVE/DEATH THING”/HAMLETT DOBBINS: “EVERYBODY” DeGuira is one of Nashville’s strongest practitioners of conceptually oriented sculpture. He makes large, carefully thought-through pieces, so each new offering is something of a major art event locally. On first encounter, his imagery can be cryptic, but he engages readily accessible questions like the nature of communications and relationships within a family, handled with humor as well as rigorous execution. Zeitgeist is pairing his new work with paintings by Memphian Hamlett Dobbins. Dobbins’ abstractions recombine patterns from various sources into clearly defined forms that are still fluid and painterly, not at all rigid. He was recently featured in a solo turn in the Frist Center’s CAP Gallery. The show opens with a reception, 6-8 p.m. Saturday, June 3, and runs through July 8. —DAVID MADDOX RICO GASTON, “AFRICAN FRACTALS” The new show in Cheekwood’s Temporary Contemporary Gallery features an artist who has appeared recently in several big shows in New York: “Freestyle,” at the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Brooklyn Museum’s “Open House: Working in Brooklyn,” and the “Greater New York” show at PS1. Gaston finds connections between traditional African decorative motifs and current notions about the mathematical organization of phenomena. In addition to paintings on wood panels and freestanding shapes, this exhibit includes a video that takes footage of the 1974 carnival in Zaire celebrating Muhammad Ali’s victory over George Foreman and remixes it in ways that reveal additional cultural associations. Cheekwood hosts an opening reception from 6-8 on Friday, June 2, with a gallery talk by the artist at 6:30; the show runs through July 20. —DAVID MADDOX CENTRAL SOUTH ART EXHIBITION The Tennessee Art League will open its 41st annual Central South Art Exhibition on Thursday, June 1. One of the most prestigious juried shows in the region, the exhibit features 67 artists selected from 400 entries. Including sculpture, painting and drawing, the variety of work in this exhibit reflects the diverse backgrounds of the show’s artists, who hail from 11 different states. A reception honoring the artists will be held on Sunday, June 11, at 2 p.m.; the awards ceremony begins at 3.—JOE NOLAN BODY + PROCESS Performance art is the enfant terrible of the art world. It is not clearly aligned with one of the widely acknowledged artistic disciplines, and the performers sometimes engage in disturbing acts. At its best, performance art produces striking images and provides intense experiences. Of course, like any good source of iconoclasm, the medium has started to institutionalize, with its own body of scholarship and college classes. MTSU’s Art Department offers workshops in performance, and the students from the Body + Process workshop, led by professor Cindy Rehm, will present their performance works to the public at Ruby Green, for one night only, at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 1. —DAVID MADDOX R. LAND/WHITNEY LEE/NANCY SPEIR TAG Art Gallery’s announcement of “soft-porn latch-hook rugs” sounds like the perfect art scene come-on. The creator of this hybrid, Whitney Lee, started using images from Playboy.com in a spirit of protest but over time came to view her project with more humor. She combines the cheesecake images with country-style motifs in line with what you would expect on a homemade rug, like geese flying over a marsh. Her work will be on display with works by two artists grounded in cartoon-based styles—R. Land, whose pieces have the busy exuberance of obsessive drawing, and Nancy Speir, represented by soft-sculpture creatures that look like a misguided attempt by members of an underground rock band to create a mass-market toy line. Of course, the Teletubbies are pretty freakin’ weird. The show opens with a reception 6-8 p.m. Saturday, June 3 and runs through July 1. —DAVID MADDOX “FOURPLAY” Part of the fun at Plowhaus is watching the cooperative switch up the ways it uses its East Nashville space—large groups, solo shows and their “one wall, one artist” approach, which brings together four artists. This installment in the latter series includes Ben Vitualla, who creates mixed-media pieces from familiar elements like targets and toys combined into clear, strong designs; Samantha Callahan, a painter who symbolically investigates female medical conditions and body issues; Chris McDermott, who has a mixed-media work in this show that employs techniques of masking or erasure; and photographer Eric Denton. The show opens with a reception from 7 to 11 p.m. Saturday, June 3, and runs for three weekends. —DAVID MADDOX BOOKS GARY SLAUGHTER In Cottonwood Summer and the newly released Cottonwood Fall, Nashville author Gary Slaughter has created a detailed, intimate portrait of a small Michigan city in the third year of World War II. Both novels feature a plethora of eccentrics, humble heroes, grieving families and dastardly Nazis, with two 10-year-olds, Jase and Danny, at the center of it all. The boys skinny-dip in the city’s water supply, church-hop through Sunday mornings, milk cows on Grandpa’s farm and generally pursue every boy’s ideal escapades. Along the way, they also chase spies and get acquainted with local German prisoners of war, presidential candidate Thomas E. Dewey and the beloved Franklin Roosevelt. Slaughter’s rambling, memoir-like style makes these stories more languid reminiscence than taut adventure, taking time with the details of home-front life. The presence of POWs on American soil is a rarely explored part of history, and Slaughter makes the most of the fact that many German soldiers got on quite well with the locals, working on farms, getting educations and in some cases learning to love their enemy. Slaughter will appear at the Cool Springs Barnes & Noble at 1 p.m. June 3 and at the Green Hills Library at 6:30 p.m. June 15. —CHRIS SCOTT J. WES YODER After Gideon Banks shoots his wife’s lover in the backseat of her car, he sets off on the back roads of Alabama with his emotionally damaged 19-year-old son, Merit, and the boy’s mentor, John Frederick White, an old black farmer who comments obliquely on life in song-chants. So begins Carry My Bones, the debut novel of Franklin native J. Wes Yoder. When John Frederick’s ancient car breaks down, the unlikely fugitives travel on foot, tramping along and encountering dead animals, litter, fences, cold temperatures and the kinds of details that most people miss, zipping along in their cars with money in their pockets. The one bond they share with everybody else is football: whenever they stop at a bar, hitch a ride or are taken in by kind or lonely souls, the Auburn or Alabama games cut across all divisions. Yoder writes with a loose, rambling style reminiscent of T. R. Pearson or even Faulkner (though more accessible); he leads his characters through a natural and human environment that most readers will find intriguingly alien. Yoder will read at Davis-Kidd Booksellers at 6 p.m. June 7, 6 p.m. —RALPH BOWDEN LAURIE R. KING In The Art of Detection, Laurie R. King combines her two best-known series—contemporary police dramas set in San Francisco featuring lesbian inspector Kate Martinelli, and the period stories of Mary Russell, wife of Sherlock Holmes—to create a fast-paced, compelling suspense novel. Martinelli investigates the death of Philip Gilbert, a Holmes fanatic who turned his apartment into an exact replica of the fictional detective’s and whose murder closely imitates one found in an unpublished Conan Doyle story (owned by Gilbert) that features everything from homosexual relations to turn-of-the-century drag queens. And while gay pride and Sherlock Holmes may not seem a likely match, King has meshed them with such ease that the flirtations between male prostitutes and the famously asexual detective seem perfectly natural. What makes a good mystery is, of course, the crime itself, and this one will not disappoint. King reads at Davis-Kidd Booksellers 6 p.m. June 6. —CLAIRE SUDDATH EVENTS ACT LIKE A GRRRL BENEFIT Local actress and Actors Bridge producer Vali Forrister works hard to encourage women in the arts. Act Like a GRRRL, founded in 2005, is Forrister’s summer writing workshop for young women aged 12 to 18 who come together from diverse socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds to gain exposure to positive female role models and to experience creative validation in a supportive environment. The three-week camp explores everything from hip-hop to film criticism to blogging to yoga, and culminates in an original performance piece at the Darkhorse Theater. This June 3 benefit kicks off at 7:30 p.m. with a reception at the Neuhoff Site in Germantown, followed by a performance by one of Nashville’s more successful and independently minded female artists, jazz chanteuse Annie Sellick, backed by a strong trio. For reservations, call 341-0300 or email actorsbridge@comcast.net. For program info, visit www.actlikeagrrrl.com. —MARTIN BRADY FILM THE DEATH OF MR. LAZARESCU Almost every review of Cristi Puiu’s feature contains some variation of this sentence: “You wouldn’t think a two-and-a-half-hour movie about an elderly man getting lost in the Bucharest hospital system would be engrossing. But....” So when Entertainment Weekly, the Onion AV Club and Cinema Scope agree that it’s amazing stuff, listen up. In Puiu’s film, a worldwide festival sensation, the destitute Mr. Lazarescu—whose first name is Dante—descends lower and lower rungs of health-care hell as he’s shuttled from one provider to another. The film opens Friday for one week only at the Belcourt. —JIM RIDLEY THE BREAK-UP After Bring It On and Down With Love, Peyton Reed is shaping up as one of the only directors in American movies capable of bringing some style to comedy. Here Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston play feuding exes kept together by finance, not romance, as they angrily share an expensive condo neither can afford alone. The rich supporting cast includes Judy Davis, Vincent D’Onofrio, Jason Bateman, Jon Favreau and Ann-Margret. —JIM RIDLEY