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FRIDAY | 12.1.06
Arts. 
It's once again time for JC Fridays, the day-long arts happening in downtown Jersey City. You can check their site for a complete set of listings, but we'll briefly touch on a few highlights. All day long at Janam Tea, there will be a "50 Under $50" sale, featuring small works for sale from local artists. Sounds like holiday shopping time? As they say on the TeeVee, "the price is nice." If you're down in Newport, Kim's is screening short films by James Broughton, the Californian avant-garde filmmaker from 1-10 pm. From 6-8 pm, Mana Fine Arts has an exhibit of black and white images that explore "themes of internal and external politics" -- and there will be live jazz from Bassoon in the Wild. All day long at the Brunswick Window, cut paper works from indie icon Jad Fair (ex-Half Japanese) will be on display. While you're up on that end of town, head over to Another Man's Treasure, where there's a 1960's Swinging London Cocktail Party with live music by the Black Hollies from 8-11 pm. A few doors down at the Residue Gallery, they're hosting their first-ever silent auction from 8-midnight. Down Columbus at the Lex Leonard Gallery, there's an opening party for "eLEmental, my dear, ELeMENtal,” by Karina from 7:30-8:30, followed by a spoken word performance featuring Dujuana Sharese, Rico Steal, Beth Bentley and Mike Brown from 8:30 -11 pm. For late night options, check out the party at Rock Soup Studios, the Waterbug Hotel's Basement Soul party, or check out our next listing.
Concert. 
When I say "a stripped-down two-piece playing raw, bluesy garage rock -- with a female drummer," you might think of the White Stripes. If so, you need to narrow your geographic outlook at check out your own backyard -- Jersey City's Youth Against Nature play stripped-down dirty, trashy punk rock that's catchy as hell and makes me wish I drove a huge Cadillac or some such automobile. They're playing a free show tonight at the Iron Monkey in JC with the always-popular-when-you've-been-drinking Brine and Bastards, the punk-country pirate band. It all starts at 10 pm.
SATURDAY | 12.2.06
Concert. 
Like many others around the state, we've sung the praises of New Brunswick's Screaming Females here before. We've also touched on the deteriorating state of New Brunswick's once-thriving basement show scene, as more houses decide not to have shows and face police harrassment and huge fines. Well, 42 Comstock recently received such a noise violation, and to help defray the costs, the Screaming Females are auctioning off some vinyl when they play there this evening. Beyond that, though, it's a great bill. It all starts at 6 pm with Button, a guitar&drums pop-punkish band with male/female vocals who've got a great song about a 23-year-old's "midlife" crisis. Gary Coleman Death Squad, who have more than a great name, play next -- they've got some weird trashy punk songs, kinda like Ween on more uppers. Two bands from North Carolina round out the bill,
Something's Wrong and Trouble Trouble Trouble.
SUNDAY | 12.3.06
Film. 
If you've been half-alive recently, you might have heard the term "peak oil" -- which is when we reach the peak of the earth's oil production. From then on, oil production would be in constant decline, which, of course, is cause for some alarm. Whether or not we've reached peak oil is something for other people to argue about, but either way, we're close and we need to cut some shit out before we're totally screwed. I think most rational folks can agree with that. The title of the film "The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil," then, is a bit misleading. But what the film tries to do is apply the way Cuba dealt with its own personal "peak oil" situation -- when they lost half of their oil imports after the fall of the Soviet Union -- to the oncoming worldwide peak oil crisis. The documentary talks with ordinary Cubans about how the dealt with the loss of all that oil and ultimately overcame the adversity. The film is screening at 4 pm today at the Carl A. Fields Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding in Princeton, accompanied by speaker Michael Kane.
WEDNESDAY | 12.6.06
Film. 
Ever wonder how America gets into inhumane tragedies like Iraq and Vietnam? Why We Fight, the 2005 documentary, explores the history of America's military industrial complex over the last 50 years, with an emphasis on the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The film features interviews with John McCain, Gore Vidal, William Kristol, among others. It shares the stories of a Vietnam veteran whose son died on 9/11 and then had his son's name written on a bunker bomb sent to Iraq; a 23-year-old soldier who enlisted after financial difficulties; and a Vietnamese refugee who now makes weapons for the US military. The film is being screened tonight at the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship at 7 pm.
THURSDAY | 12.7.06
Concert. 
Tonight, Maxwell's has a really excellent bill of weirdo, quasi-experimental rock. First up are the Thunder Kids, the instrumental space-folkers from central Jersey with members Estella, Hope, Star & Browning, and The Post Office Gals. Brooklyn's Flying is up next -- they play a schizophrenic brand of full-band dreamy psych-folk with lovely intertwined male/female vocals. Lewis and Clarke bring their quiet acoustic jams up from somewhere around Philly. Headlining are Brooklyn's Moon and Moon, who take electric jazz cues (heavily reverbed trumpets and keys and endless hypnotic grooves) and combine them with tribal rock traditions (ie, lots of floor toms and chants) - the end result is tribal, and resembles recent efforts by Liars, but with slightly more straightforward songs.
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