FREEKS AND GEAKS

Yeah, that’s how it’s spelled, and if you’re questioning our editing skills, may you be banished to eternal hell-fire with the rest of the lost souls who don’t heed the apocalyptic warnings of Col. J.D. Wilkes, the backwoods-preachin’, carnival-barkin’ frontman of Th’ Legendary Shack Shakers, and one of three artists featured in this exhibit at Plowhaus Artists’ Cooperative. Wilkes’ Southern gothic nightmare permeates his artwork every bit as much as it does his music—this show will feature one of his new sideshow banners, the just-completed cover design for the Shack Shakers’ next album and drawings from his upcoming graphic novel, Blasphemy. (Comic book maven Brett Warnock calls Blasphemy “genuinely creepy”—and from the Colonel we’d expect no less.) Wilkes’ bandmate, Shack Shaker drummer Brett Whitacre, finds discarded objects—windows, suitcases, TVs—and uses spray paint and masking tape to turn them into vibrant pieces reminiscent of pop art masters Andy Warhol and Peter Max. Sealing the fate of this unholy trinity is Philadelphia artist James G. Mundie, who, like Wilkes, has a distinct carnival aesthetic. Unlike Wilkes’ wild and colorful banners, though, Mundie’s finely detailed black-and-white drawings of what he refers to as “anomalous humans” (bearded ladies, two-headed creatures and such) are more like Victorian portraiture than midway broadsides. (Hopefully the show will include Mundie’s particularly poignant illustration reimagining André the Giant as Saint Christopher.) The show opens with a reception from 7 to 11 p.m. Friday, July 20, and runs through Aug. 5. Check your innocence at the door. —JACK SILVERMAN

MUSIC

THURSDAY, 19TH

DIANA KRALL What’s this jazz powerhouse been doing lately? Not much, other than giving birth to twin boys last December. (Krall and hubby Elvis Costello are now the proud parents of Dexter Henry Lorcan and Frank Harlan James.) And oh, yeah, she made that überhip and sexy Lexus commercial last spring. But Krall is now back doing what she does best: singing jazz and pop standards, playing piano and touring the U.S. with her quartet. Now 42, Krall has been making records since the early 1990s. But it was 2001’s sensational The Look of Love that catapulted her to international fame. Her mezzo-soprano vocals were at their smoky best on that CD, and she proved she could croon with the best of them in such standards as “ ’S Wonderful” and “Cry Me a River.” On her latest album, From This Moment On, Krall establishes her big-band bona fides, performing in the great swing tradition of Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan. Schermerhorn Symphony Center —JOHN PITCHER

UMBRELLA TREE Umbrella Tree are one of several local bands on the cusp—they’ve generated a healthy dose of local buzz and seem poised to take the next step to some national recognition. In their corner is a distinct, infectious sound that oscillates from gothic to raucous to downright strange. Singers Zachary Gresham and Jillian Leigh trade off lead vocals—her sweet, feminine soprano providing the perfect contrast to his strained yodel. It’s difficult to know what to expect from their live shows—we’ve seen a band uniform, some cheerleader duds and all manner of entrances—but these upcoming performances will follow a stricter format. The Family Wash show will be an acoustic run-through of their excellent debut What Kind of Books Do You Read? (The album includes the wistful “A Horse That Will Come When I Whistle,” one of last year’s most haunting tracks.) And The Basement show will be an electric rendering of their much-anticipated sophomore release The Church and The Hospital (out early next year). Thursday at The Family Wash; Saturday at The Basement —LEE STABERT

FRIDAY, 20TH

LEFT CAN DANCE W/PROTOMEN, MAKEUP & VANITY SET It’s been a while since Vandy DJs Left Can Dance organized a shindig, but they’re back in action with a robot-rock soiree that mixes the decks and the dorks—gamer faves The Protomen and electro-house dance-beat project Makeup & Vanity Set are both on the DJ bill. The Protomen recast Mega Man in a rock opera revival, spaghetti-Western-outlaw-style, so if their DJ setlist is anything like their shows, hopefully we’ll see a battle between good and evil and a Nintendo power glove or two. Speaking of video game consoles, it’s still up for debate whether Nintendo-core purveyors are merely peddling nostalgia or wielding the warble of the future, but if you’ve got a weak spot for that primitive 8-bit blurp and a boy named Link, pick up a copy of the joint venture with Makeup & Vanity Set on sale at this show, a CD of 8-bit covers of Protomen songs that’ll have you digging for your old Legend of Zelda game. The End —TRACY MOORE

SATURDAY, 21ST

JIMMY WEBB From 1966 to 1969, there was no bigger songwriter than Jimmy Webb. Just 20 years old at the time, Webb wrote the Grammy-winning hits “By the Time I Get to Phoenix,” for Johnny Rivers, and “Up Up and Away,” for the Fifth Dimension. Not long after, Glen Campbell would take the classic haunting ode “Wichita Lineman” to the top of the charts, where it was soon joined by Webb’s career-defining hit, “MacArthur Park.” A wonderful craftsman from lyrics to arrangement, Webb’s (usually piano-driven) songs have an honesty that allows them to endure, but his average singing voice has held back his solo career, along with indifferent promotion from the majors. Since 1977’s terrific El Mirage, he’s only released four solo albums, each quite good, though greeted by indifference commercially. The latest, 2005’s Twilight of the Renegades, is a lavish, imaginative album of baroque pop (think Burt Bacharach), populated by a wide gamut of wryly sketched characters, from “Paul Gauguin in the South Seas” to the “Class Clown” to the Mercedes-driving, coke-snorting denizen’s of L.A.’s “High Rent Ghetto.” But don’t worry about Webb—even if he weren’t working in movies and television, he’d be set for life with the royalties from all the hit songs he’s written. Belcourt Theatre —CHRIS PARKER

SUNDAY, 22ND

SARAH BORGES The self-mocking plaint of a reformed party girl, Sarah Borges’ Diamonds in the Dark juices its influences with rock ’n’ roll overstatement. The 29-year-old Massachusetts native owns an enormous, precise voice with a faintly metallic aftertaste. On Greg Cartwright’s “Stop and Think It Over,” Borges sounds like a forgotten dream of ’60s girl-group singing, and she picks great material. The cover of “False Eyelashes,” a 1968 Dolly Parton album track, teeters on the edge of absurdity, but when Borges sings, “The truth is, I don’t have a car / And I’m ashamed to go back home,” she makes failure sound intriguing, if not downright sexy. Her trio, The Broken Singles, charge along like a mythical Stiff Records house band, so Diamonds suggests that refined taste might be pop’s last refuge, but the record is no retro joke. Borges can write, too, as her sad, funny “Belle of the Bar” demonstrates. 3rd & Lindsley —EDD HURT

MURPHY’S LAW Hardcore music may have near-religious significance to its devotees, but it’s never been much fun. Thrilling? Absolutely. But fun? Hell no. Considering that most of his peers couldn’t crack a smile if their lives depended on it, or that his band’s music suffers from a terminal lack of gratitude, the fact that frontman Jimmy Gestapo has kept Murphy’s Law going into the 21st century truly gives us reason to celebrate. The band may label itself hardcore and share a website with Agnostic Front, but its party anthems and sunny riffing always leaned closer to the good-time sing-along vibe of The Ramones. In fact, one would be hard-pressed to find an act more worthy of carrying The Ramones’ torch. Other hardcore frontmen break down band-audience barriers by playing up your working-class misery; Gestapo, a weed-hungry P.T. Barnum figure for our time, passes around a communal bottle of Jägermeister at every show. Exit/In —SABY REYES-KULKARNI

MARION JAMES James started out singing soul music in the girl-group heyday, when Motown was the dominant force in pop music—check out the 1966 hit “That’s My Man.” Forty-plus years later, the indomitable James has developed a voice that’s powerful, scarred by time and loaded with the emotional weight and wisdom of age—basically, perfect for the blues. The Country Music Hall of Fame’s Night Train to Nashville exhibit and record documented her importance to the history of blues music in Nashville. And James continues to influence the local community with philanthropy and performing. The Marion James Blues Society raises money for local musicians and the children residing around the corner of Jefferson and Scoble streets, the area where Nashville’s soul and R&B musicians once flourished. She released Essence in 2003, a record that showcases her ability to sing a wide variety of music, from Irving Gordon’s “Be Anything (but Be Mine)” to her country-blues take on the torch song “I Want to Be Loved (but Only by You). When James prefaces O.V. Wright’s “Let’s Straighten It Out” with a litany of things she did for her wayward man, she flips the song into a sex-positive feminist anthem. Listening to that track might lead you to think her enduring popularity is a function of her raucous personality as much as her ability as a performer. Belle Meade Plantation —MARK MAYS

MONDAY, 23RD

THE FOUNDRY FIELD RECORDINGS If Beulah were playing on a rocky shore, tugging on heartstrings in a jangly, indie-pop sort of way, then were slowly taken under by wave after wave of droning, overdriven guitar, which sent flotsam and feedback scattering in all directions, they’d sound something like The Foundry Field Recordings, at least on the song “Transistor Kids.” The Missouri band, enjoying a bit of a push from the blogosphere while managing to avoid the overhype (and subsequent backlash) that sometimes comes from excessive adoration, get terrific results from their blend of Martsch-like pop and Bloody undertow. Their record Prompts/Miscues, while a concept album of sorts—something about androids and the government—is mostly a solid collection of songs that in their dreaminess hark back to worthy sources while sounding fresh and real in the moment. The Basement —STEVE HARUCH

TOMMY TUTONE If you are in the position of Tommy Heath, leader of the band called Tommy Tutone, authors of the 1982 hit, “867-5309/Jenny,” you can either embrace your one-hit wonder status or run away from it. Heath and his mates seem to have wisely made peace with it, returning to record and play live after a long layoff. Tommy Tutone came out of San Francisco in the late ’70s and caught on during the nascent New Wave movement. “Angel Say No,” a basic rock shuffle, was an early semi-hit. “867-5309” was on Tutone 2, the band’s second album, and it only reached No. 4 on the Billboard charts. But the song just lives on, thanks to the irresistable hook of its driving chorus. It generated a million prank calls, but inflation and cell phones have made the line “For the price of a dime / I can always turn to you” quaint. 3rd & Lindsey —WERNER TRIESCHMANN

TUESDAY, 24TH

THE SIX PARTS SEVEN/RICHARD BUCKNER Kent, Ohio’s The Six Parts Seven play deceptively simple instrumentals that are easy to listen to, and as such may fool the uninitiated into treating them as background music. Though the moody, atmospheric soundscapes on their latest album Casually Smashed to Pieces reward repeated, sober listens, the band is easy to take lightly. The challenging anti-anthems of Brooklyn’s Richard Buckner, on the other hand, grab you by your Izod and demand you pay attention. Buckner alternately mutters and shouts his cryptic, dense tales of love and despair over chaotic acoustic and electric guitar structures. Just when it appears he’s giving you a tune to latch onto, he deflates a chorus or pulls back on a hook. In other words, pretty much the opposite of The Six Parts Seven. Yet somehow, when the bands come together in concert, the whole thing gels. Just as they did on the opening night of their tour earlier this month in Manhattan, The Six Parts Seven plan to play the opener and then serve as Buckner’s back-up band for the bulk of his set. This is a winning arrangement, as The Six Parts Seven’s sound is greatly enhanced by lyrical grounding, just as Buckner’s sound is vastly enhanced by a backing band. Mercy Lounge —BEN WESTHOFF

WEDNESDAY, 25TH

SPOT SST Records became legendary in the 1980s as one of the premier independent labels for America’s burgeoning hardcore punk scene. Eventually, along with Dischord Records, SST assumed the role of one of the genre’s primary purveyors, releasing landmark albums by Black Flag, Minutemen, Descendants and Hüsker Dü. Credited on most of these records was SST house producer/engineer Glenn Lockett—better known as Spot. After leaving SST, Spot eventually started his own label, No Auditions, but ultimately retired from producing in order to concentrate on performing his own music. As a performer, Spot’s music is worlds away from the punk rock with which he is associated, focusing instead on largely acoustic instruments and featuring jazzy renditions of Celtic music that stops just short of bluegrass. Joined by percussionist Albert Alfonso, Spot is touring in support of his recently finished album In the Bag. Springwater —MATT SULLIVAN

THEATER

EDGES This new musical revue by University of Michigan graduates Benj Pasek and Justin Paul has only recently been made available for regional production. Some adventurous Belmont University students are presenting the Nashville premiere July 19 to 21 and July 26 to 28 at Bongo After Hours Theatre. (All shows are at 7 p.m.) Billed as a song cycle with minimal dialogue, Edges aims to zero in on relationship challenges, maturity issues and questions of personal identity faced by the contemporary college-age crowd. The cast features James Lombardino, Maria Logan, Kara Farmer and Daniel Hainsworth, with Knox Ewing accompanying on the keyboards. Call 385-1188. —MARTIN BRADY

WONDER OF THE WORLD David Lindsay-Abaire’s weird comedies have found wide favor in American regional theaters. In fact, two of his works, Fuddy Meers and Kimberly Akimbo, have both received recent Nashville performances. Now, Actors Bridge Ensemble takes on Wonder of the World, a two-act play about a woman who flees her husband in order to find herself. She hops a bus to Niagara Falls, that great mecca of self-discovery, but the playwright doesn’t allow her an easy ride. During her trip, she meets a lot of oddballs and teeters close to the psychological edge. Recent Belmont University grad Jessika Malone makes her professional directing debut, overseeing an especially strong cast featuring Rachel Agee, Rebekah Durham, Henry Haggard, Misty Lewis, Billy Rosenberg, Debi Shinners and Eric Ventress. Performances are July 20 to 22 and July 26 to 29 at the Darkhorse Theater. For reservations, call 341-0300. —MARTIN BRADY

THE BLACKS: A CLOWN SHOW This play finds French writer Jean Genet (1910-1986) at his controversial best. In The Blacks: A Clown Show, black actors reenact the rape and murder of a white woman for a kangaroo court, while dreamlike language reveals the pantomime’s deeper meaning. The 1961 New York production ran for 1,408 performances and featured an all-star cast, including James Earl Jones, Roscoe Lee Browne, Louis Gossett Jr. and Cicely Tyson. Tennessee State University’s Summer Stock Theatre Program presents this daring and provocative work, translated from the French by Bernard Frechtman. Performances are July 19 to 22 and July 26 to 29 at TSU’s Performing Arts Center. Barry Scott directs a cast that mixes students with veteran Nashville performers. Choreography is by Patrick Moore, and the striking makeup and costume designs are by J.K. Hunter. For more information, call 963-5742. —MARTIN BRADY

ART

THE LEGEND OF THE KOI And you thought this beast was just another stinky, slimy pond-dweller. In fact, it’s a thing of beauty, especially when it’s the subject of one of Nashville artist John Hung Ha’s prismatic paintings. Born in Saigon but raised here, Ha creates art that explores his Asian heritage from a Western perspective. His subjects—elephants, lotus flowers and most especially his beloved Japanese carp—are unmistakably Eastern. But his colorful and immensely approachable paintings are pure pop art. Ha’s exhibit opens with a reception from 6 to 8 p.m. on July 20 at the Parthenon. The show runs through Sept. 29. —JOHN PITCHER

FILM

RESPECT YOURSELF: THE STAX RECORDS STORY The wacketa-wacketa hi-hat intro to Isaac Hayes’ “Theme from Shaft,” the orgiastic climax of Otis Redding’s “Try a Little Tenderness,” the swaggering keyboard groove of Booker T. & the MG’s “Green Onions”—for these three moments alone, the legacy of Memphis’ mighty Stax Records would be assured. But the label’s trove of treasures runs Delta deep and Mississippi wide, and this hotly anticipated documentary from the team of Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville (Muddy Waters: Can’t Be Satisfied, Shakespeare Was a Big George Jones Fan: Cowboy Jack Clement’s Home Movies) commemorates Stax’s 50th anniversary with vintage film clips and contemporary interviews ranging from the label’s giants—Hayes, Sam Moore, Carla Thomas, Mavis Staples, co-founder Jim Stewart, even the Rev. Jesse Jackson—to fans Elvis Costello and Bono. In advance of the film’s airing on NPT-Channel 8 on Aug. 1, the doc screens 6 p.m. Wednesday, July 25, at the Belcourt, followed by a discussion with Stax performers Wayne Jackson (of the Memphis Horns) and Bettye Crutcher. To get free tickets, send a message to rsvp@wnpt.net with “STAX” in the subject line and your name and the number of people in your party by Monday, July 23. For more info, see belcourt.org. —JIM RIDLEY

 

THE 39 STEPS Of all the music halls in all the world, Robert Donat has to walk into the one where a femme fatale is being chased by assassins—and that’s just the windup for Alfred Hitchcock’s enormously enjoyable 1935 thriller, a sly mix of conspiracy yarn, screwball comedy and chase-movie picaresque. And watch those hands! The movie screens Saturday and Sunday afternoon as part of the Belcourt’s “Weekend Classics” tribute to Hitchcock; next month, the theater begins a salute to the father of African cinema, the late Senegalese director Ousmane Sembene (Black Girl). —JIM RIDLEY