SCENE: SEC Happy Hour tonight!

Southeastern Conference Happy Hour 6:00 PM EST:

NYC Southeastern Conference Happy Hour

Wednesday, June 24, 2009 at 6:00 PM EST

It’s time for another Southeastern Conference Happy Hour and here are the details:

· Firefly Bar & Restaurant

· 54 Spring Street

· Between Lafayette & Mulberry Streets

· New York, NY 10012

· Bar: (212) 966-8716

· Web Site: www.fireflynyc.com

· Time: 6:00 PM to 11:00 PM

Food & Drink Specials from 6 PM to 7 PM

SOUNDS: Patterson Hood in NYC 6/23 & 24

Patterson Hood will release Murdering Oscar (and other love songs) today on Ruth St. Records. The second solo record from the leader of the Drive-By Truckers has been 15 years in the making. The album was produced by Hood and long-time DBT producer David Barbe (Sugar). Most of his DBT band mates join him on the album as well as Don Chambers, Will Johnson and Scott Danbom from Centro-matic/South San Gabriel. This is also the first time Hood’s father David Hood, famed Muscle Shoals bass player, joins him on a record.

The album was recorded at Chase Park Transduction Studios in Athens, GA and will also be released on 180 gram vinyl. The vinyl release will include three exclusive bonus tracks. An a cappella version of “Range War” will also be available exclusively with iTunes. “Pollyanna” and “Pride of the Yankees” are available to preview on his Myspace page.

Hood and the Screwtopians will start the first leg of their tour in Nashville and end with a headlining slot at AthFest in Hood’s hometown of Athens, GA. Joining Hood on tour will be Brad Morgan (drums), John Neff (guitar/steel), Scott Danbom (keys/fiddle), Will Johnson (guitar) and David Barbe (bass), who has not toured since his days with Sugar. Will Johnson will open the shows. (source)

Patterson Hood plays the Music Hall of Williamsburg in BK tonight, and Bowery Ballroom tomorrow.

SCENE: U of ARK Chancellor tonight in NYC

Second Annual Academic Series Guest Speaker 6:00 PM EST: Razorback alum are excited to announce that Chancellor G. David Gearhart will be the Guest Speaker for their Second Annual Academic Series event tonight. All are welcome:

Papillon Bistro & Bar
22 East 54th Street
Between Fifth and Madison Avenue
Private Dining Room One
New York, NY 10022
Bistro: (212) 754-9006

Drink Specials: Draft Beer $5.00 per Pint in Private Dining Room One only.

SOUNDS: Avett Brothers Play NYC 6/12 & 13

photo by crackerfarm

If you put your ear to the street, you can hear the rumble of the world in motion; people going to and from work, to school, to the grocery store. You may even hear the whisper of their living rooms, their conversation, their complaints, and if you're lucky, their laughter. If you're almost anywhere in America , you'll hear something different, something special, something you recognize but haven't heard in a long time. It is the sound of a real celebration It is not New Year's, and it is not a political convention. It is neither a prime time game-show, nor a music video countdown, bloated with fame and sponsorship. What you are hearing is the love for a music. It is the unbridled outcry of support for a song that sings to the heart, that dances with the soul. The jubilation is in the theaters, the bars, the music clubs, the festivals. The love is for a band. The songs are honest: just chords with real voices singing real melodies. But, the heart and the energy with which they are sung, is really why people are talking, and why so many sing along. They are a reality in a world of entertainment built with smoke and mirrors, and when they play, the common man can break the mirrors and blow the smoke away, so that all that's left behind is the unwavering beauty of the songs. That's the commotion, that's the celebration, and wherever The Avett Brothers are tonight, that's what you'll find. (source)

NC's The Avett Brothers play NYC 6/12 & 13 @ The Fillmore at Irving Plaza. The Second Gleam has been in stores since July 08.

SCENE: Mississippi Day In The Park (6/13)

Mississippi Day in The Park: 2009 marks the 30th anniversary of the New York Mississippi Picnic. The theme for the 2009 picnic is “Celebrate Mississippi,” and it will highlight some of the best of what Mississippi has to offer: artists, authors, musicians and chefs.

"The New York Mississippi Picnic was started in 1979 as the brainchild of a handful of native Mississippians living in New York City. The group joined together to create an event to highlight Mississippi’s attributes and help change the perceptions others had about the state as well as New York City. The first picnic attracted some 500 individuals, and that number has steadily increased over the years; the 2009 picnic is expected to attract more than 2,000 picnic-goers! In addition to the picnic, the hard work of this group of individuals resulted in the creation of the New York Society for the Preservation of Mississippi Heritage. Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, the state’s lead economic development ambassador, will be joining this year’s festivities. In fact, every Mississippi governor since the picnic’s inception has attended this exciting event!"

Central Park’s East Meadow
97th Street and Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10128
Time: Noon to 6:00 PM

Food Specials:

$10.00 Lunch Plates includes Mississippi farm-raised, southern-fried catfish and hushpuppies from Simmons Catfish in Yazoo City.

Drink Specials: $1.00 of McAlister’s Deli ice cold sweet tea.

Music: Many of the state’s talented musicians will be providing live entertainment.

The event is free but donations are accepted and appreciated to benefit the New York Society for the Preservation of Mississippi Heritage.

For more information, contact Rachel McPherson at (718) 788-2988 or email nymspicnic@yahoo.com.

Rain Out:

Arsenal Gallery
830 Fifth Avenue
At 64th Street & Fifth Avenue inside Central Park
New York, NY 10065
Telephone: Dial 311 Parks & Recreation for information, outside NYC call (212) New York
Web Site: www.nyc.govparks.org

SCENE: Alabama Poet Jeanie Thompson in NYC 6/10 & 13

Highly esteemed Alabama poet Jeanie Thompson will be in NYC to share work from her new book The Seasons Bear Us this week.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10 @ 7:30Pm at
The Southern Writers Reading Series
at the Happy Ending Lounge in lower Manhattan

SATURDAY, JUNE 13 @ 7PM at
KGB Bar's "Trumpet Fiction" night
in the East Village

Jeanie Thompson, MFA (poetry). Jeanie Thompson has published four collections of poetry, The Seasons Bear Us (River City Publishing, 2009), White for Harvest: New and Selected Poems (River City Publishing, 2001), Witness (Black Belt Press, 1995), and How to Enter the River (Holy Cow! Press, 1985), three chapbooks and has co-edited The Remembered Gate: Memoirs by Alabama Writers, (University of Alabama Press, 2002) with Jay Lamar. Witness won a Benjamin Franklin Award from the Publishers Marketing Association in 1996. Her poems, interviews with writers, and critical articles have appeared in Antaeus, Crazyhorse, Ironwood, North American Review, New England Review, and Southern Review. Jeanie holds the MFA from the University of Alabama, where she was founding editor of the literary journal Black Warrior Review. She has taught at the University of New Orleans and the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts, as well as in the poetry-in-the schools program in New Orleans and in Alabama. Jeanie has received Individual Artist fellowships from the Louisiana State Arts Council and the Alabama State Council on the Arts and was a Walter Dakin Fellow at the Sewanee Writers Conference 2000. Jeanie is founding director of the award-winning Alabama Writers' Forum, a statewide literary arts organization in Montgomery.

EAT: Louisiana Crawfish and Shrimp Boil (6/11, 18 & 25)

THURSDAY evenings in June @ Duane Park restaurant
Louisiana Crawfish and Shrimp Boil,served with creole fries and roasted local corn.
Crawfish are flown in from Louisiana on Thursdays only and price will vary according to market price. Get your hands dirty while listening to the cool sounds of Jazz.

Of Duane Park, Eater says: As for food, the menu here follows the roots of chef Shawn Knight, who cooked for years in New Orleans with Emeril Lagasse, and features a number of Southern-influenced dishes.

READING: Warren St. John @ McNally Jackson tonight

In Outcasts United New York Times reporter (and Alabama native) Warren St. John tells the story of a group of refugee boys from all over the world (Sudan, Congo, Kosovo, Liberia, Iraq, Afghanistan….) who all play on the same soccer team, The Fugees, in Clarkston, Georgia. The story of the boys, their Jordanian coach, and the reluctant refugee haven of Clarkston itself form an unforgettable picture of community and identity.

St. John reads tonight at 7PM @ McNally Jackson Booksellers in Soho.

SCREEN: The Wild And Wonderful Whites of West Virginia

If you happened to miss the premiere of The Wild And Wonderful Whites of West Virginia at the Tribeca Film Festival in April, you can catch it this weekend down on Long Beach Island, NJ at the Lighthouse International Film Festival.

Synopsis: Shoot-outs, robberies, gas-huffing , drug dealing, pill popping, murders, and tap dancing --- what do these all have in common? These are just a few of the parts of being a member of the Wild and Wonderful White Family.

Nestled deep in the Appalachian Mountains, the White family lives an existence more like something from the Wild West than modern day suburbified America. The legendary family is as known for their wild, excessive criminal ways as they are for their famous mountain dancing members, including Jesco White, the star of the cult classic documentary Dancing Outlaw.

Exploring both the comic and tragic sides of life on the other side of the law, this stylish, fast-paced family portrait exposes the powerful forces of corruption, poverty, and West Virginia’s environmentally and culturally devastating coal mining culture that helped shape the White family, a dying breed of outlaws preserving a dying form of dance.

Over the course of one tumultuous year, the Whites deal with a stabbing, criminal sentencing, attempted murder, death and birth. On top of all this, Jesco, the family’s dancing muse, comments on the family through his performances accompanied by legendary country singer Hank Williams III.

Watch as an older generation of the White family comes to terms with the lives they have lived while the younger generation struggles to decide whether they will join their outlaw forefathers or break from the family’s criminal traditions.

SCREEN: Tennessee opens 6/5 in NYC

A moving and gripping drama of sacrifice and self-discovery, Tennessee is the story of three people who strive to realize their dreams. Brothers Carter (Adam Rothenberg) and Ellis (Ethan Peck) set out on a road trip to their childhood home in a desperate search for their estranged father, who may hold the key to their future. Along the way, they are joined by Krystal (Mariah Carey), who is trying to escape a troubled life. These unlikely traveling companions are guided in their mutual journey by the conviction that the only way to a new life is by overcoming their past. Official Web Site

Tennesee opens tomorrow (6/5) at Landmark Theatres Sunshine Cinema.

EAT: The Brooklyn Star

A recent nod from Daily Candy:

EAT
The Brooklyn Star
What: Fried green tomatoes, Dr. Pepper ribs, fried chicken wings, dumplings, biscuits, and other divine artery-clogging delights.
Why: This from a man who used to make your Momofuku dreams come true.
When: Daily, 5:30-11 p.m.
Where: 33 Havemeyer St., b/t N. 7th & N. 8th Sts., Williamsburg (718-599-9899).

RE-POST! BOOK: Take Me To The Water by Jim Linderman & Luc Sante

OUT NOW! Take Me to the Water: Immersion Baptism in Vintage Music and Photography 1890-1950. With essays by photograph collector Jim Linderman and noted author Luc Sante. Click here to view the CD's track list and to listen to audio samples.

I finally have this book in hand and it's just wonderful. Reading it feels invasive, like you've stumbled upon a forgotten box of family photos hidden in a mildewed corner of the basement.

Take Me to the Water from Dust-to-Digital on Vimeo.

SCENE/SPORT: UK Belmont Bash/Casino Night (6/4)

University of Kentucky

Belmont Bash/Casino Night

Thursday, June 4, 2009 at 6:30 PM EST

Hopefully everyone has recovered from Derby and ready for some Belmont action and here are the details:

· Meadowbrook Pointe

1100 Corporate Drive Westbury, NY 11590 (516) 843-7646

Time: 6:30 to 11:00 PM

Transportation: The University of Kentucky NYC Chapter has chartered a bus to leave from a destination in Midtown Manhattan and return. Wine and champagne served on the bus.

Event Schedule:

· Cocktails Hour starts at 6:30 PM.

· Three Course Dinner & Casino Games start at 7:30 PM includes Open Bar, Live Music & Dancing.

Cost:

· $250.00 per person after May 14. 2009.

· For payment information contact Nick Brown, nbrown@sidley.com.

· To mail payment contact Nick Brown, 455 East 86^th Street, Apt. 38C, New York, NY 10028.

If you have any questions, please contact University of Kentucky NYC Chapter President Heather Dueitt at (917) 421-2054 or email her at nycukalumni@yahoo.com.

University of Kentucky NYC Chapter Web Site