THURSDAY 2/21

Spiritual MusicTRYIN’ TO GET HOME: AN EVENING OF SACRED BLUES FEAT. BUDDY MILLER, JIMMY HALL, ASHLEY CLEVELAND & KENNY GREENBERG These four roots-music veterans know about the darker temptations, but in following their own paths they’ve found greater power in heading toward the light. Still, they’re blues players at heart, and no one says a sanctified song can’t soar with emotion or get down-and-dirty with a carnal groove. Miller and Cleveland have both won significant awards for albums of spiritual music that carried as much swagger and soul as any rocker. Hall has been testifying like a street-corner preacher since his days with Wet Willie. Greenberg, now one of Nashville’s ace guitarists and producers, cut his teeth playing with Hall going on 25 years ago, and, as the wedded partner of Cleveland, creates symbiotic rockin’ blues that will shake the devil from most any sinner. Praise the Lord and turn up the amp. 7:30 p.m. at Downtown Presbyterian Church —MICHAEL MCCALL

TheaterNAKED PLAYS Mark Cabus’ Naked Stages sponsors this trio of works by up-and-coming female writers: Dependence Day by Anne Nelson, The Half-Life of Joy by Lauren Gunderson and Letters for Sala by Arlene Hutton. Nelson is known to Nashvillians as the author of 9/11-themed drama The Guys. Gunderson and Hutton both have temporal roots in the South, but, like Nelson, have enjoyed attention-getting Off-Broadway and regional productions of their plays. The plots here are rather different—divorce, a genius girl coming of age, the Holocaust—but the theme of family runs throughout. Audience talk-backs follow each show. For tickets, visit greenroomprojects.org. Feb. 21-23 at Bongo After Hours Theatre —MARTIN BRADY

MusicSUB-ID CD RELEASE Nashville has no shortage of versatile musicians, but few span stylistic divides as cavernous as does bassist Alana Rocklin. In between her high-profile gigs holding down the bottom end for folk mainstay Nanci Griffith, she’s promoting BFF, the new album from Sub-ID, her tripped-out jazz/electronica collaboration with her producer/electronic wizard husband Brad Bowden. The album is being released on Sound Tribe Sector 9’s 1320 Records, and shares STS9’s penchant for combining live instrumentation with heavy electronic flourishes—though Sub-ID has a distinctly jazzier vibe. In fact, with its polyrhythms, face-melting timbres and fluid bass lines that at times recall Jaco Pastorius, BFF could be thought of as Weather Report for the 21st century. Opening for Pnuma Trio. 9 p.m. at Exit/In —JACK SILVERMAN

MusicWHO’S BAD: A TRIBUTE TO MICHAEL JACKSON Thriller is all grown up. Twenty-five years after inception, this album has taken on a life of its own, becoming such a cultural behemoth that its quality and relevance overshadow the absolute insanity of its author. Seriously, the dude is nuttier than squirrel shit, but every song on the record is damn near perfect. So close to perfect, in fact, that it had an entire generation of impressionable minds wearing one glove, grabbing their crotches and screaming “HEEEEEEEE” in public places. 9 p.m. at Mercy Lounge —SEAN L. MALONEY

ComedyJOHN WITHERSPOON Friday, Next Friday and Friday After Next are modern comedy classics. But it takes a talented mind to parlay second-banana hilarity into—wait for it—a greeting-card line. At bangbangbangbang.com $25 nets a 10-pack featuring the man otherwise known as Willie Jones done up like Santa, the Easter Bunny, a baby—and even waving a clean-picked femur at the camera with the tagline, “I’ve got a bone to pick with you!” Or you could just check out the live version at this Def Comedy Jam-approved stand-up show. Feb. 21-24 at Zanies Comedy Club —JULIE SEABAUGH

FRIDAY 2/22

Opera for KidsTHE UGLY DUCKLING Nashville Opera’s education program presents the world premiere of composer Andrew Duncan and librettist Steve Malone’s adaptation of the classic Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale. The cast features members of the opera’s Mary Ragland Young Artist Program, which provides developing professionals valuable experience on their way to successful careers. Principals include soprano Kate Oberjat and baritone Jonathan Green (both seen recently in H.M.S. Pinafore at TPAC), mezzo-soprano Jami Rhodes and tenor Chad Hilligus. This 40-minute show will be playing at many Middle Tennessee schools through March, but will also be performed publicly eight times between Feb. 21 and March 13 at various Maury, Williamson, Davidson and Franklin county venues, including the Belcourt Theatre, Belle Meade Plantation and the Country Music Hall of Fame. For the complete schedule, visit nashvilleopera.org. —MARTIN BRADY

MusicTHE OUTTA SIGHT RECORDS SUPER-BAD SOUL REVUE Shake it up, shake it down, move it in, move it around, Disco Lady. Atlantan Harvey Scales, who co-wrote Johnnie Taylor’s ’70s soul classic (the very first platinum single ever), not to mention recorded for Stax, Chess, Mercury and Casablanca, is one-third of this incendiary lineup showcasing the roster of upstart Nashville soul imprint Outta Sight Records. The label that gets up for the down stroke is also presenting the Nashville debut of Atlanta funk sensations The Soulphonics & Ruby Velle—musical kindred spirits with the final act on the bill, Nashville’s own Dynamites, featuring Charles Walker. The mighty ’Mites are on a roll after a successful fall European tour that found them sharing the stage with old-school flag-bearers Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, and are heading on the road for a string of dates that includes South Florida’s answer to Bonnaroo, the Langerado Music Festival. 9 p.m. at Mercy Lounge —JACK SILVERMAN

Forget It, Jake…NASHVILLE FILM NOIR FESTIVAL: CHINATOWN More than a few critics have compared Daniel Day-Lewis’ Daniel Plainview—the rotten robber baron of There Will Be Blood—to John Huston’s monstrous Noah Cross, the cancerous heart of Roman Polanski’s bleak Los Angeles noir. At stake in both movies is the corruption of California and the plunder of its resources, and in both films the sanctity of “blood”—family relation—is thoroughly undermined. For three days, you can see them back to back in local theaters: the land onscreen may be dry as dust, but for Nashville moviegoers this is a veritable downpour. Feb. 22-23 & 25 at the Belcourt; TSU instructor Jeff Thompson introduces the 7 p.m. screening Feb. 23. —JIM RIDLEY

TheaterWHO LOVES JUDAS? This dark comedy written by local playwright Dane Dakota is a special theater project produced in association with ACT 1 and Actors Bridge Ensemble. An ambitious bank executive tries to impress her boss by hosting a dinner party, but her alcoholic artist-husband and an old friend in serious recovery threaten to foil the evening’s festivities. Dakota’s themes include the masks we wear socially, our judgment of others, hypocrisy and forgiveness. The production includes partial nudity and strong language. Feb. 22-March 1 at Darkhorse Theater —MARTIN BRADY

TheaterA MEMORY, A MONOLOGUE, A RANT AND A PRAYER The V-Day phenomenon, now in its 10th year, continues to spur performers into activist stance against domestic violence. Actors Bridge Ensemble sponsors the Nashville premiere of this collection of monologues, commissioned by Vagina Monologues creator Eve Ensler and featuring the writing of noted authors Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, Moises Kaufman and others. Vali Forrister directs the vignettes, which are by turns inspiring, funny, angry, tragic and beautiful. Contributing author Carol Gilligan will read her own monologue from the collection on opening night. Proceeds from the production benefit ABE’s Act Like a GRRRL performance and empowerment program for young women. Feb. 22-23 at Belmont University’s Black Box Theater —MARTIN BRADY

MusicYONDER MOUNTAIN STRING BAND Though no members of this Boulder quartet grew up listening to bluegrass, the band has managed to win favor in both jam and bluegrass circles with its keen respect for the form. But Yonder Mountain don’t consider themselves staunch traditionalists, instead setting out to give bluegrass a modern treatment. On their latest album, the band enlisted Beck/Foo Fighters/Elliot Smith producer Tom Rothrock and incorporated electric guitars, drums and production polish for the first time. Despite the flourishes, you barely notice anything other than their native instrumentation of banjo, acoustic, standup and mandolin. According to frontman Jeff Austin, that was intentional, and you can count on any future stylistic deviations to be as discreet. 9 p.m. at City Hall —SABY REYES-KULKARNI

SATURDAY 2/23

MusicTHE WORSTIES EP RELEASE PARTY On their latest EP Put Your Babe On, local pop rockers The Worsties come full force, ripping through five tracks of mean riffs, surfy guitar licks, FM-ready melodies and layers of ball-busting female vocals. Highlights include “Tone Deaf,” which kicks things off with the kind of razor-sharp angst and polished punk attitude that would sound right at home on the Warped tour, and “Drop Your Panties and Roll,” a refined spin on raw garage-rock grooves. The Worsties unleash it into the world this Saturday with a release party at The 5 Spot featuring fellow power poppers Mean Tambourines and local slicked-up rock ’n’ roll purists Gone City. 9 p.m. at The 5 Spot —SETH GRAVES

MusicLADIES’ NIGHT OUT TOUR FEATURING KEITH SWEAT, BELL BIV DEVOE & TONY! TONI! TONÉ! To complete its journey from the underground to the mainstream in the late 1980s, rap required a radio-friendly sheen. Meanwhile, the era’s super-slick R&B was in need of the edginess hip-hop could offer. It didn’t take long for the two styles to merge into New Jack Swing, a sweaty blur of pounding beats, randy rhymes and plenty of lover-man suaveness. Still, selling this lineup of leading New Jacks—crooner Keith Sweat (“I Want Her,” “Twisted”), New Edition offshoot Bell Biv DeVoe (“Poison,” “Do Me!”) and neo-soulsters Tony! Toni! Toné! (“If I Had No Loot,” “Feels Good”)—as the “Ladies’ Night Out Tour” seems a little beside the point. While it’s certainly true that all three offered female-friendly seductions, each made music that had a major impact on the current pop landscape—and still swings today. 8 p.m. at Municipal Auditorium —CHRIS NEAL

They Called It RockTHE LOWE NUMBERS: JESUS OF COOL 30TH ANNIVERSARY RESURRECTION Maybe you know Nick Lowe’s 1978 debut Jesus of Cool under the U.S. version’s even groovier name, Pure Pop for Now People, but by any name, this rose of England is still as sweet: a pub-rock gem that forms a missing link between Merseybeat, punk, Nashville and the razor-bladed wink-wink bubblegum that would come to be known as power pop. In honor of Yep Roc’s lavish 30th-anniversary repackaging, an offshoot of The Long Players featuring Bill Lloyd, Steve Ebe, Steve Allen, Cheap Trick bassist Tom Petersson and the usual surprise vocalists will perform the record in its entirety. As much as we can’t wait to hear who does “Marie Provost”—Lowe’s infamous ode to a real-life silent film star devoured by her dachshunds—the highlight may be “Tonight,” a parody of teen-angst love songs wedded to one of the most gorgeously cooed melodies ever. Even when he said he was only joking, the prankish Lowe was only joking. 9 p.m. at The Basement —JIM RIDLEY

TheaterAN EVENING OF ONE-ACTS Community Players presents this bill of five interesting one-act plays, which includes works by David Ives and Robert Anderson, plus an original by J. Spurlock. Many performers are solid veterans of the Nashville theater scene, among them Kellye Mitchell, Bob Roberts and Angela Gimlin. Admission is free; donations are welcome. 7 p.m. at Cedar Ridge Community Church —MARTIN BRADY

DrumlineSAN JOSE TAIKO This Bay Area percussion ensemble has been mesmerizing audiences both home and abroad since 1973 with its mastery of the taiko drum, an ancient, barrel-shaped Japanese instrument that lends itself to potent, propulsive sounds. Through the years, SJT has broadened its style to unite traditional Japanese drumming with world rhythms (African, Balinese, Brazilian, Latin, jazz). Visual excitement is added through energetic choreography and colorful costumes. The group’s music is completely original, and even if you don’t groove with the intended “singleness of mind and spirit” (which you probably will anyway), the intensity of pieces like Roy Hirabayashi’s “Nana-shi” will certainly feed the soul. 2 p.m. at TPAC’s Polk Theater —MARTIN BRADY

MagicDAVID COPPERFIELD Just mentioning the title of Copperfield’s new show conjures snickers—particularly in lieu of those nasty rape allegations. He’s calling it “An Intimate Evening of Grand Illusion,” and the question screaming from the poster is “Are You Next?” Well, we certainly hope not. Okay, that’s all in terribly bad taste: He’s innocent until proven guilty. It’s magic until proven hoax. And until either time thereof, we’re just going to sit back, scratch our heads and try to believe that anything’s possible. 6 & 9 p.m. at TPAC’s Andrew Jackson Hall —JULIE SEABAUGH

Happy BirthdayROCKETOWN’S FIVE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY This all-ages venue with a heavenly agenda is celebrating five years at its downtown location. Over the years, the teen center has grown from a 300-capacity coffee house in Franklin to a 40,000-square-foot entertainment complex boasting the state’s largest indoor skate park. More importantly, it draws an influx of kids both secular and saved by promoting screamo and hardcore acts, creative after-school programs, thought-provoking movie nights and teen-centric entertainment, all without sacrificing founder Michael W. Smith’s Christian values (or hitting you over the head with them). This daylong celebration will feature video games, dodge ball, a skateboarding competition and a slew of bands, including local acts such as metal/hardcore band The Melee Dilemma, middle-school rockers LoveFire and lo-fi pop act Junior Cotillion. Noon-midnight at Rocketown —TRACY MOORE

MusicTHE WHIGS W/THE SPINTO BAND & UMBRELLA TREE The Whigs’ pugnacious garage rock is anchored by frontman Parker Gispert’s desperate howl and drummer Julian Dorio’s pure, unadulterated awesomeness. The ATO Records signees recently brought aboard bassist Tim Deaux and continue to tour relentlessly behind a rambunctious sound that somehow manages to impress frat boys and indie kids alike. Also on the bill are mid-Atlantic region stalwarts The Spinto Band, whose ragged power pop and democratic songwriting process have won them a strong cult following. Local standouts Umbrella Tree round out this excellent Saturday night lineup, fresh off the Tuesday release of their excellent sophomore album The Church & the Hospital. 9 p.m. at Mercy Lounge —LEE STABERT

Grammy GuyJIM LAUDERDALE PERFORMANCE & AUTOGRAPH SIGNING This year’s Bluegrass Grammy winner is a regular performer at the world-famous Station Inn, so opportunities to see him up close aren’t all that infrequent, but even that venue isn’t quite as intimate as the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum gift shop. Lauderdale’s latest album drops this week, and the NARAS award is a timely reminder that the country singer-songwriter has an enduring engagement with bluegrass. Indeed, The Bluegrass Diaries is a thoroughly modern collection, cut with the cream of today’s ’grass crop, and its songs—not to mention Lauderdale’s deliciously slippery vocal style—are perfectly suited for the “gather ’round” atmosphere at the store. 3:30 p.m. at the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum —JON WEISBERGER

SUNDAY 2/24

The Envelope, Please…OSCAR NIGHT AMERICA 2008 Root for Peter Kurland—the veteran Nashville sound mixer and career-long Coen brothers collaborator, who’s an Oscar nominee for his amazing work on No Country for Old Men—at the Belcourt’s annual blockbuster red-carpet gala. Watch the city’s beautiful people tread velvet in evening finery, then see the festivities broadcast live from Hollywood in HD on the theater’s big screen. Gourmet goodies, a well-stocked bar and a silent auction featuring everything from Southwest Airlines and Walt Disney World to Zola and Tayst guarantee that everyone goes home a winner. Tickets range from $75 individually to $1,000 for a table of four. 5:30 p.m. at the Belcourt —JIM RIDLEY

Soup for the SoulSOUP SUNDAY Remember the story Stone Soup, in which every member of a hungry village contributes just one ingredient to a pot of boiling water and the next thing they know they’ve got soup for everyone? Well, substitute generous restaurateurs for hungry villagers and you’ve got Soup Sunday. City House, Flyte, Macke’s and 50 other restaurants will ladle out their signature soups to benefit Our Kids, a nonprofit organization that protects children from sexual abuse. Balloon artists, clowns, magicians, caricaturists and massage therapists will be on hand to amuse and entertain at this family-friendly event. $10 kids; $20 adults; $40 for the whole family. Tickets available at Ourkids.com. 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at LP Field —CARRINGTON FOX

MONDAY 2/25

MusicRYAN BINGHAM & THE DEAD HORSES Ryan Bingham has three ingredients that instantly authenticate a Texas songwriter: a gritty, colorful backstory—involving border towns, transience, jukeboxes and rodeos—dusty, desolate imagery from a wandering cowboy’s lexicon and a gravelly, lived-in, chain-smoking sort of voice. Which is why the 26-year-old’s proper debut album—Mescalito (out last year on Lost Highway)—is getting attention from some of the same ears that usually perk up to an earlier generation of Texas outlaw singer-songwriters. Bingham’s voice—the most instantly striking thing about his music—has been compared to Tom Waits, but it’s less cavernous and shape-shifting than that. A meeting of John Fogerty (with more drawl and less blues inflection) and Steve Earle (with less snarl) is more like it. Joining Bingham and his country-rock-dusted Dead Horses for the evening are Southern pop rock foursome Georgia and whimsical folk-pop singer-songwriter Basia Bulat. 7 p.m. at 3rd and Lindsley —JEWLY HIGHT

Antonioni vs. De Palma: The SmackdownNASHVILLE FILM NOIR FESTIVAL: BLOWUP/BLOW OUT To paraphrase: Godard said that film was the truth 24 frames per second, while Brian De Palma countered that it’s actually 24 frames per second of lies. Who’s right? Watch this double feature and you tell me, if your head doesn’t explode. Michelangelo Antonioni’s enigmatic, color-saturated 1966 portfolio of Carnaby Street chic snares mod photographer David Hemmings in his own viewfinder; De Palma’s 1981 thriller about an ethically tormented soundman (John Travolta, never better) breaks cinema down to individual frames and rebuilds it before your eyes. Feb. 25-27 at the Belcourt; Jason Shawhan introduces the 9:10 p.m. show Feb. 25. —JIM RIDLEY

MusicANA EGGE It’s no surprise that this Saskatchewan-born singer-songwriter just put out an album called Lazy Days consisting entirely of cover tunes about taking it easy. Egge often strums the guitar like she’s strolling through the music at a leisurely pace. She also sings patiently, pouring her voice—like thick, slow-falling pancake syrup—over top of the verses. Her sly cool lends itself to the intimacy of a live show, and her well-traveled life experience couples well with the dreamy images she likes to spin in her own songs. 7 p.m. at The Basement —SABY REYES-KULKARNI

The Iraq War: 5 Years and CountingTHE WAR TAPES There is already a small canon of films contending with the conflict in Iraq—something that would have been unthinkable during Vietnam. To commemorate the fifth anniversary of the invasion, Vanderbilt hosts a five-week film series examining the war from various angles. The series starts Saturday with Iranian filmmaker Bahran Ghobadi’s wrenching refugee drama Turtles Can Fly; it continues tonight with Deborah Scranton’s soldier’s-eye report, shot by National Guardsmen stationed overseas. All films are free and open to the public. For a full schedule, see vanderbilt.edu/iraqwarseries. 7 p.m. at Sarratt Cinema —JIM RIDLEY

TUESDAY 2/26

MusicSONGS FOR SUDAN It’s always easier to part with your hard-earned dollars when you know they’re going to a great cause—and it’s even easier when that cause is specific and tangible. Aid Sudan promises that 100 percent of the proceeds from this evening of music will go directly to training teachers and building schools in post-war South Sudan. On the bill are Suzy Bogguss, John Barlow Jarvis, Steve Leslie, Will Barrow, David Crossman and Will Kimbrough. For information, visit aidsudan.org. 7:30 p.m. at the Belcourt —LEE STABERT

WEDNESDAY 2/27

Rain DateREGINA SPEKTOR If fans can apply the wisdom of love to the complex lives of pop singers, there’s not an advice columnist in the world who’d tell us to show up for the now third promised date with Regina Spektor. Oh, we understood the first time (Nov. 13), when Spektor collapsed during soundcheck and had to reschedule. Bygones, we said, until the makeup date (Dec. 6) was cancelled again. Excuses, excuses. Listen, lady, we’re starting to think that, you know, maybe you’re just not that into us. 7:30 p.m. at the Ryman. –TRACY MOORE

Back in Your LifeJONATHAN RICHMAN Back in the late ’70s, hard-rockers regarded Richman as a loon who backed off the VU-approved proto-punk of “Pablo Picasso” and “She Cracked” to sing twee little odes to rockin’ leprechauns and rockin’ shoppin’ centers and such. Today, their unguarded, mischievous, the-world-is-full-of-wonders goofiness sounds like a design for living—a model for how to grow up and grow old without growing jaded. Had Lou Reed pursued an entire career of “I’m Sticking With You,” he might have ended up with Richman’s winning, gently under-amped brand of rock. But it’s safe to say there’s no way in a million years he’d have written the line, “Abominable snowman in the market.... Looks like a dirty marshmallow with fangs,” or sung it with such full-hearted glee. JoJo plays two nights: let him know—to borrow a Richman line that sounds more urgent with each passing year—that he’s important in your life. And if he’s not, he should be. Feb. 27-28 at The 5 Spot —JIM RIDLEY

Modern Flamenco MusicGIPSY KINGS The Gipsy Kings surfaced amid the brief world-music craze of the 1980s, and 20 years later, they continue to create intense, exhilarating music that combines flamenco guitar with Brazilian rhythms. The eight-piece French band, heavy on acoustic guitars and Latin harmonies, consists of two sets of brothers, the Reyes and the Baliardos. The Reyes are sons of a late flamenco master, Jose Reyes, who was heralded by such iconoclasts as Miles Davis and Salvador Dali. The Gipsy Kings have occasionally flirted with Western stylings, but on recent recordings have stuck with their distinctive update on the flamenco tradition. They all reside in the south of France, and they’ve rarely appeared in Nashville over the years, so this is a one-of-a-kind treat. 7 p.m. at the Wildhorse Saloon —MICHAEL MCCALL

MusicBILL CALLAHAN Though his latest album, Woke on a Whaleheart, was released under his own name, most fans still know him best as the voice behind Smog, the grave, laconic, at times darkly comical one-man band whose albums put despair on repeat and spend the day trolling the shadows for poetry. Yet what would come across as defeatist navel-twisting in the hands of many singers, Callahan transforms into ringing pseudo-hymns, sung flatly over simple chord progressions with an air of detachment that belies their beauty. As Joanna Newsom’s rumored love interest, Callahan might be the target of some ribbing for his music’s sometimes dour outlook, but his website announces Wednesday night’s show with a wink: “Nashpudlians rejoice.” 9 p.m. at Mercy Lounge —STEVE HARUCH

International LensVANAJA Made for $20,000 as a Columbia University thesis project by writer-director Rajnesh Domalpalli, this Telugu-language drama follows an adolescent girl (newcomer Mamatha Bhukya) whose promise as a Kuchipudi dancer gets her accepted into the home of a culturally acquisitive landowner. There, the girl faces sexual advances and caste inequities as she butts against the household’s class strictures. To be shown on 35mm film, free and open to the public. 7 p.m. at Sarratt Cinema —JIM RIDLEY

Guitar-God Summit MeetingLARRY CARLTON AND ROBBEN FORD Like the jazz musicians who inspired them, guitarists Larry Carlton and Robben Ford extrapolate and improvise without losing sight of the blues. They’ve had similar careers—Ford once backed blues singer Jimmy Witherspoon, while Carlton lists B. B. King as a prime influence, and they both contributed to Joni Mitchell’s jazz-inflected albums Court and Spark and The Hissing of Summer Lawns. Carlton played the celebrated solo in Steely Dan’s 1976 “Kid Charlemagne.” Live, they’re the epitome of in-the-moment cool—their dazzle almost always bites. Few musicians display the pure joy that Ford radiates as he twists an old lick, and his 2007 collection Truth is a songful blues record with something to say about the everyday hassles that fuel the genre’s most baroque fantasies. Guitar gods don’t come any more tasteful than these guys. 7 & 9:30 p.m. at the Belcourt —EDD HURT