Friday 22
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Country-folkie Darden Smith, most recently of Austin, Texas, isn’t doing anything really modern–he’s most comfortable espousing a relatively enlightened country style, and even at his poppiest (on a bouncy number like “Frankie & Sue”) he achieves a 70s sound reminiscent of the Sanford-Townsend Band’s “Smoke From a Distant Fire.” But he has an intimate, cozy way with a melody–the one on the shimmering “2,000 Years,” for example, efficiently overwhelms the song’s kinda dumb apocalyptic visions–and his newest album, Trouble No More, is questioning, calm, and likeable. Smith plays at 10 tonight in an acoustic performance, accompanied only by percussionist Paul Pearcy, in the intimate confines of Schubas, 3159 N. Southport. Tickets are $10 in advance, $12.50 at the door. Call 525-2508 or 559-1212.
The modern DJ is part music mixer, part turntable king, part acrobat–in other words, an artist in his (or her) own right. The records become subordinate, and finally beside the point, as the person behind the console scratches, twirls, bangs, and slams the discs and records around. You can hear some of the most flamboyant DJs in the world at the American Disc Jockey Mixing Championships, held in Chicago this year at the Riviera Night Club, 4746 N. Racine. Eight semifinalists from the four American regionals will compete to represent the U.S. at the world finals in London next month. The show starts at 8 PM and should go late; admission is $12 in advance, $15 at the door. It’s open to all ages. Call 769-6300 for details.
While it’s true that a few of the worst movies (Out of Africa comes to mind) and worst performances (Richard Dreyfuss in The Goodbye Girl, say) ever committed to celluloid have been granted Oscars, at least most members of the academy don’t have contempt for the medium that enriches them (like the record-industry pudding brains that vote on Grammys). Plus Myrna Loy is being granted an honorary award this year. Tonight’s benefit for the Chicago Film Festival ought to be a nice setting for hobnobbing with film people while keeping a jaundiced eye on the awards. $75 ($50 for Cinema/Chicago members) gets you drinks, a buffet dinner, and bunches of monitors to watch tonight’s awards and highlights from past shows (our favorite is Bernardo Bertolucci saying, “New York may be the Big Apple, but L.A.–it’s the big nipple!”) Things get under way at 7 at Montgomery Ward’s Electric Avenue, 825 W. North. Call 644-3400.
Thursday 28
