Late addition: listening party for new Black Keys album, tonight at Rainbow Records

Join the employees of Rainbow Records as they spin the new Black Keys album, El Camino, on vinyl.  6pm, Rainbow Records on Main St. (just behind their former store-front), Newark.  There will be pizza and "sweet door prizes", and the album of the evening will be available, on sale, on CD and vinyl (it was just released today). 

WVUD wants your input in who should headline their WVUD fest.

Survey here: https://qtrial.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_098BCbC32RYAVFi

The choice seems to be between these bands:

• No Age
• The Wombats
• Big D and the Kids Table
• Atlas Sound
• Every Avenue
• Andy Grammar

I know a couple of these bands have figured into my weekend listings, but other than that, I cannot begin to recommend one over another.  However, there's no harm in passing this along if any of these names really mean anything to you.

Upcoming festivals

There are two major festival periods in Delaware.  There are the weeks in May/June when the Greek Festival, Italian Festival, Chinese Festival, and more happen one after another.  September is the other one.  So get your lederhosen/mushroom recipes/polka shoes ready now.

I'll post more detailed info on the appropriate weeks, but here's a heads up if you want to plan in advance.

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• 104th annual Arden Fair.  Saturday Sept. 3, 10am-6pm (raindate is Sunday Sept. 4, 10am-5pm).  Free admission, except for the antique market.

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• Bethany Beach Jazz Funeral, September 5th, 5:30pm (a silly event that I shouldn't even acknowledge, really.  Everyone without kids knows summer lasts into October, or UNTIL I SAY IT ENDS.  I'm being facetious here, but seriously - every year when I see notices about this event, it depresses the bejeesus out of me.  Why do it soon?). http://www.bethany-beach.net/jazzfuneral.htm

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• Newark Film Festival. September 8th-15th, Cinema Center 3.  http://www.newarkfilm.com/

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• Kennett Mushroom Festival.  September 9th-11th, center of town.  http://www.mushroomfestival.org/

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• St. Hedwig's Polish Festival.  September 12th-17th, Wilm. riverfront.  http://www.polishfestival.net/

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• Wilmington Film Festival. September 15th-18th, Delaware Art Museum. http://www.newarkfilm.com/?page_id=12&show=wilmfilm

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• Oktoberfest.  September 16th-18th, off Salem Church Rd. in Newark.  http://www.delawaresaengerbund.org/v5_Oktoberfest.shtml

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• Taiwan Film Festival.  Sept. 4, Sept. 11, and Sept. 25th, Delaware Art Museum.  Details.

Home Grown in Newark offers 15% off lunches to servicemen and women, every weekday.

Their flyer:

I'm reposting this as a courtesy, and not because I have any affiliation with Home Grown. 

MuFu Fest at Newark's Cinema Center 3 on Tuesday.

The MuFu Fest will benefit the National Film Preservation Foundation.  There will be bands, a DJ dance party, and avante-guard film.  Featured bands are Mean Lady (who I've recently been very pleasantly surprised by), Stallions, Easy Pyramids, Robot House, Dr. Dash and Troubled Hips.  There will also be DJs.  The festival starts at 8pm and goes until 2am on Tuesday the 17th, at Cinema Center 3 on the east end of Main Street, Newark.

For more info: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=148515701885983

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Also under the category of "concert on a school night": Arctic Monkeys at the Electric Factory on Wednesday,  8pm.  Tickets $33.

Free Comic Book Day

Free Comic Book Day is Saturday, May 7th, from 10-4pm at Captain Blue Hen Comics in Newark.   There will be several comic book artists doing illustration demonstrations of popular characters, and attendees will have the opportunity to do their own drawings.  There will be ice cream from Caffe Gelato, and face painting for kids.  The store's blurb didn't mention the details of the free comics, but I would assume that, at some point in your visit, you will be receiving at least one free comic book, if that's your thing.

Captain Blue Hen Comics is located at the eastern end of Main Street, in the shopping center next to the erstwhile East End Cafe. 

Bear artist Alan E. Brown, or "Medusawolf", is featured in Huffington Post

Sometimes, being a cheerleader for the arts scene in Delaware can be challenging.  Your official stance is to show the world that the culture and arts in Delaware can be just as relevant as those in the larger urban areas nearby, but you find yourself secretly thinking "Come on guys - that's the best you can do?". 

But this guy - this Alan E. Brown - makes art that is just as current and relevant and inspiring as anything I've seen in my travels.  Bands - take note - hit this guy up for some promo or album art.  He's the real deal.  Kudos to Medusawolf for the national press.

The article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/03/beautifuldecays-studio-vi_n_856666.html#s273059

Want to influence how the business is run at a food co-op?

Newark Natural Foods is accepting "letters of intent to run" for its Board of Stewards.  The catch is the deadline is Saturday April 30th. 

In their words, from the store's Facebook page:

"Upstanding women and men of our community, we can use your expertise, vision and guidance on our Board of Stewards. Submit your letter of intent to run by Saturday, April 30th.

Generally, the Board governs the Co-op. Individual responsibilities include attending monthly meetings, committee work and jobs related to the person's area of expertise."

No indication of who to submit this letter to, so going to the store (east Main St. in Newark) is your best bet. 

To celebrate National Poetry Month, Delaware's poet laureate will be giving a reading tomorrow in Newark

The poetry reading will take place from 2-4pm Saturday, at the Newark Free Library, and will be hosted by poet laureate JoAnn Balingit.  Her reading will be followed by an open mic.   The event is free, but call to register: (302) 731-7550

Tonight at UD's Trabant Theater: A showing of the film "Food Inc."

The movie is open to the public, is presumably free, and starts at 7:30 pm tonight (Tuesday) at the Trabant Center off of the western end of Main St., Newark.  Food Inc. is a documentary about the food industry in America - where our food comes from, how the food supply chain in America has changed rapidly over the past 50 years, the question of corn syrup and how it's affecting us, etc. 

In theater news, Chapel Street Players are tearing it up at regional competitions with their latest production.

Just this week CSP won "Best Overall Production", "Outstanding Actor", and "Outstanding Direction" for their performance of Edward Albee's "The Zoo Story" at the Eastern States Theatre Association Festival. 
The Chapel Street Players will soon be following up these accolades with their first ever appearance at the American Association of Community Theatre National Competition.   Very impressive.

The community theater company, now in its 77th year, is based in Newark, and they have a pretty full schedule this year.  They're looking for people to volunteer as ushers, incidentally.  For more info, visit:
http://www.chapelstreetplayers.org/

Quick notes: New Delaware Theatre Co. play, the endless hilarity of college paper writing, "curriculum-based" pole dancing

Paramount Records was an early blues, jazz, and spiritual label out of the midwest that put out recordings by Blind Lemon Jefferson, Louis Armstrong, and Lawrence Welk, among others.  Such recordings were, according to the Paramount website, early inspiration for Elvis Presley, Muddy Waters,  B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf, Bob Dylan, and Eric Clapton.   Delaware's own Kevin Ramsey, who has also written musicals about Sam Cooke and the Louisiana Bayou, has put this history to song.

"Chasin' Dem Blues", the story of paramount records, is debuting today at 8pm at Delaware Theatre Company, on Water Street.  Tickets are $35-$49, with discounts for students and seniors.

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Light mockery warning:  I giggled my way through an article (I won't say where) this morning about a benefit concert for WVUD that occurred recently.  The best part:

"Some performers who gained popularity after participating in the concert in the past were Dr. Dog, whose music was featured on a Fox TV show, and The Walkmen, who were featured on the Spiderman 3 soundtrack."

You know, Dr. Dog - you may know them from that Fox TV show that featured their song!  Or how about The Walkmen - you know, from the Spiderman 3 soundtrack?

The author knew she had to emphasize these bands' successes, and of all the examples she could have given (regulars on the late-night talk show circuit, Coachella and Bonnaroo, world tours), she settled on "music featured on a tv show" and "music featured in a movie".   Because, you know, there is no  pinnacle for a band like ... Spiderman 3. 
Alright, enough ribbing.   Congrats to local bands The Common Room, Stallions, and Lower Case Blues, who played this benefit concert.  May their futures be filled with Fox TV placements that'll make the hometown proud.
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And for ladies needing a brush up on pole dancing skills: there's a "Flirt Level Pole Class", just in case you were afraid of becoming too putan about it ("it's not about gyrating your body for money and/or narcotics - it's just flirting!"), and a "Pole Fusion Class", which is being advertised as a curriculum-based program.  Curriculum-based!  I love it.  Who gets together to create this curriculum?  What does such a conference of pole experts look like?  Both classes are on Thursdays at Physique Pole Studio in Pike Creek.  Bedroom community, indeed.