<FILM>
Jan. 4-25
Women’s Film Festival
` There is a strange and interesting lineup of films at the Ursuline Sisters’ Women’s Film Festival, the sort of list that flies in the face of most festival programming. Strange because, for one thing, the screenings have been spread across a full month (January). One film shows every Thursday night at 6 p.m., starting on the 4th. For another thing, although the subject matter sticks nominally to the theme of obstacles confronting women, the overall appeal of the lineup is much more generalized. There are highly recommended films on globalization, homelessness, torture, the war on terror, etc. Here is the full schedule:
Jan. 4: “Outlawed” — A documentary on torture and disappearance at the hands of the U.S. government. Also showing, “Panihari, the Water Woman of India” — The story of a woman’s triumph over tradition and history to save her family from starvation.
Jan. 11: “Osama” — The story of one Afghanistan family, all women, who have no choice than to put their lives in danger to live in seemingly impossible conditions.
Jan. 18: “It Was A Wonderful Life” — A documentary about the hardships and triumphs of six “hidden” homeless middle-class women living out of their cars.
Jan. 25: “Born Into Brothels” — A group of feisty and resilient daughters and sons of prostitutes in Calcutta’s red-light district learn that art can offer hope and redirect their challenged lives. —Paul Kopasz
Ursuline Motherhouse Library
3115 Lexington Road
212-1750
www.ursulineslou.org
Free; 6 p.m.
<ART>
Jan. 5-Feb. 10
Photographs by Sarah Lyon
Rosie the Riveter would be proud. This World War II symbol (and real person from Kentucky who worked in a Michigan aircraft plant) for women military factory workers has inspired another generation of women who are not afraid to pick up tools and get their hands really dirty.
Photographer Sarah Lyon believed it was her job to find them. As a part-time motorcycle mechanic and carpenter, she wanted to create a wall calendar featuring female mechanics in their workplaces. The result is a far cry from the typical shop calendar of scantily clad females in provocative poses, suggestively holding a screwdriver. These females are shown working on such things as motorcycles, cars and airplanes, and many have owned their own shops for years.
The exhibition features the photographs used in the calendar as well as the finished calendar itself (it sells for $20), plus Lyon’s own motorcycle and tool box. Also on display are works from her other series. The opening reception is during the Jan. 5 First Friday Gallery Hop from 6-9 p.m. —Jo Anne Triplett
Zephyr Gallery
610 E. Market St.
585-5646
www.zephyrgallery.org
Free; 11 a.m.-6 p.m. (Wed.-Sat.)
<TRIBUTE>
Saturday, Jan. 6
Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Breakfast
The Shawnee Connection Coalition for Student Achievement will play host to its Ninth Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Observance Day Celebration Breakfast this Saturday in the Shawnee High School cafeteria. The celebration not only honors the late Civil Rights leader King, but also features special recognition for Shawnee High School students who have excelled in school or public service, and adults in the community who volunteer to help Shawnee students and their families. The featured speaker will be Pastor Gerald J. Joiner of the Zion Missionary Baptist Church. Proceeds benefit the Martin Luther King Jr. College Scholarship Fund. —Kevin Gibson
Shawnee High School
4018 W. Market St.
485-3823
$15/person, $105/table of eight; 9-11 a.m.
<MUSIC>
Saturday, Jan. 6
Squarewell
Squarewell rings in 2007 with the release of a new album on the local Shrodinger Records. The album, a split with the Swiss band Fugo, contains some previously released material, as well as unreleased songs and tunes from the band’s early days. This healthy billing is aided in no small way by Consumer Consumer, Ultra Pulverize and Slithering Beast. —Mat Herron
Uncle Pleasant’s
2126 S. Preston St.
634-4147
$5; 7 p.m.
All ages
<MUSIC>
Saturday, Jan. 6
Old School Band
Eight members, four of whom are singers, make up the Old School Band, an R&B and funk outfit that formed in 2004. Drummer Kenneth “Chuck” Hooten says the band draws inspiration from classic Motown artists like Marvin Gaye and the Temptations, as well as Earth, Wind & Fire.
“It started out as just being fun,” says Hooten, who drives when he isn’t laying down the beat. “We decided to go and take it a little bit further.”
The Old School Band is working on writing its first single, but they’re staying tightlipped about the name.
“It’s an old-school club, and an old-school band,” says Miss Emma, the band’s manager. —Mat Herron
Cole’s Place
2928 W. Kentucky St.
893-3897
$7; 8 p.m.
21+
<SPORTS>
Jan. 6-April 1
‘Reel Heroes: Black Athletes on Film’
Louisville Slugger Museum will celebrate Black History Month a little early when it opens an exhibit featuring film posters and clips about movies starring black athletes. Titled “Reel Heroes,” it will include special kid-friendly interactive activities as well.
As part of the exhibit, admission will be free on Sundays throughout January and February.
Not only are some of these movies classics in sports cinema, they’re also among our most telling examples of the hypocrisies of race in the United States. Look at Jackie Robinson. One day, you’re not allowed on the field to play. The next, you’re the MVP. While other African-Americans are not allowed on screen (save as slaves and maids), he stars as himself in “The Jackie Robinson Story” (1950), one of the best baseball movies of all time.
So often, we can only see the obvious when it’s put on a silver screen. —Alan Abbott
Louisville Slugger Museum
800 W. Main St.
(877) 775-8443
www.sluggermuseum.org
<THEATER>
Jan. 9-Feb. 18
‘Divorce Southern Style’
Oh, those stories of the wacky women of the South. This one — about a woman named Eleanor who plots to get her ex-husband of 15 years to remarry her and reconstitute her finances — comes to you via Derby Dinner Playhouse. Her scheme involves using as bait her daughter’s upcoming wedding (after her fifth engagement to her finance), which has presumably been agreed upon because of pregnancy. The ex brings along his current squeeze, an old classmate and nemesis of Eleanor’s. Of course, hilarity ensues. —Elizabeth Kramer
Derby Dinner Playhouse
525 Marriott Drive, Clarksville
(812) 288-8281
www.derbydinner.com
$32-$40; Tue.-Sun.
<FORKS>
Through March 24
Kitchen Eclectic exhibit
For Christmas this year, I got one of those can openers that you simply place on top of a can, stand back and watch as it cuts off the lid. No cords, no cranks, no mess. We’ve come a long way in the world of kitchen appliances. In recognition of this very fact, the Jeffersontown Historical Museum has an exhibit up now examining the evolution of kitchenware from the 1800s through the 1950s. Included among the various cookwares, utensils and appliances on display are a Frigidaire stove from the 1950s, a Speed Queen washing machine from the ’40s and Scheirich cabinets from the ’40s. Also featured as part of the exhibit is a Mystery Utensil Contest, where you can take a stab at identifying 12 strange-looking tools and possibly win yourself a Barnes & Noble gift certificate. Sorry, Betty Crocker and Martha Stewart, you are not eligible to compete. —Sara Havens
Jeffersontown Historical Museum
10635 Watterson Trail, Jeffersontown
261-8290
Free; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. (Mon.-Fri.), 10 a.m.-2 p.m. (Sat.)