Mapping the Dark, the stage version of Ros Casey’s 2003 installation of same name, runs at Live Arts through the weekend. I caught a performance on Wednesday, and true to director Fran Smith’s promise, it is a multimedia extravaganza that draws on the talents of a wide range of locals and brings the tiny UpStage Theater into the 21st century. The ambition alone compensates for the hiccups that remain—check it out before next weekend. Tickets, go.
Music lovers may already know that this Saturday is Record Store Day, a day that celebrates an increasingly rare species: the independent music shop. Celebrate at any of three such beasts locally. Sidetracks Music hosts local rockers ranging from Sarah White to the Hill and Wood’s Sam Bush (disclosure: I’m playing there too) and Melody Supreme has a wide range of special releases in honor of the day. Ah, but the biggest such event happens at Plan 9’s new location, where the famed country-rock act Drive-By Truckers warm up for that evening’s Pavilion gig with a free show—we’re talkin’ goose egg, zilch, $0, nada. Deets are here.
Don’t be worried if you see people drinking beer outside—warm weather means it’s Fridays After Five season again. The Rock River Gypsies kick off the season (the season is posted at the Pavilion’s site) tonight with some bluegrass rock and roll.
Aimee Mann became a pop-culture figure with her excellent, brooding contributions to Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia, songs that mixed the smokey-throated delivery of Lucinda Williams, the melancholia of Elliott Smith and the studio tinkery of her longtime producer Jon Brion. Her reworking of 2005’s The Forgotten Arm into a musical is is part of an ongoing bid to join the likes of Williams in songwriting’s highest echelon. Catch her mid-quest tonight at the Paramount.
Aimee Mann’s "Video," from The Forgotten Arm
What else is going on this weekend?
