JUNE Friday 26
Only a symposium on the JFK assassination could bring together the likes of deposed house speaker Jim Wright, actor and political do-gooder Ed Asner, and comedian cum diet-promoter Dick Gregory. Wright, who rode in the fateful Dallas motorcade in November 1963, serves as master of ceremonies at a dinner tonight to kick off two days of lectures on various assassination-related topics at Northwestern’s downtown campus. Gregory and Asner will deliver keynote addresses starting at 6 at the Marriott, 540 N. Michigan. The weekend lectures take place in Northwestern’s Thorne Hall, 375 E. Chicago, from 9 to 9 Saturday and 9 to 5 Sunday and feature authors Robert Groden (High Treason), Dr. Charles Crenshaw (JFK: Conspiracy of Silence), and Craig Zirbel (The Texas Connection). The organizers–a group of researchers called the Third Decade based in Fredonia, New York–claim that this will be the largest-ever gathering of experts on the killing. The dinner costs $55; another $55 buys the weekend’s worth of lectures. Call 800-323-4961, extension 450, for details or registration.
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Ralph Bakshi–the famed animator of the naughty Fritz the Cat movies of the 1970s and, more recently, the rather nicer update of the Mighty Mouse Saturday-morning cartoon–is back with a new flick called Cool World, which integrates animation and live action. Gabriel Byrne and Kim Basinger star in the story about a cartoonist who ventures inside his own cartoon. Cels and drawings from the movie are on display at the Animation Plus! gallery at 790 N. Milwaukee, and Bakshi himself will be there from 6 to 9 tonight. It’s free to go look; call 243-8666. Seven-oh-eighters can see him tomorrow between 1 and 4 PM at the gallery’s Highland Park digs in Port Clinton Square, 600 Central Ave. Call 708-926-9501 for more.
Tellers of tales representing traditions from Japan, Italy, Puerto Rico, Poland, and more will show off their talents at the free third annual Storytelling Festival at Navy Pier, 600 E. Grand, from 11 to 3 today. The sponsoring Maathian Storytellers Network gets its name from the Egyptian goddess Maat, who symbolized balance and harmony. The network believes that story telling similarly preserves balance in society by encouraging communication between people. Call 791-7437 for details.
Thursday 2
We’ll tell you one difference between the media in Canada and in the U.S.: Canadians don’t have to contend with Willard Scott. Ohio native Ron Kish has worked for Canadian television for the past 13 years and is now the network’s national news editor. This summer he’s teaching a class at Roosevelt University on “International Issues in Journalism,” but today he gives a free public talk on The Canadian and U.S. Press: Similarities and Differences in the university’s second-floor Sullivan Room, 430 S. Michigan, at noon. Call 341-3510 for more.
