Events

By the mid-’60s, Ingmar Bergman had already conjured many of the cinema’s most unforgettable images. But with the radical Persona, he attained new levels of visual poetry. In the first of a series of legendary performances for Bergman, Liv Ullmann plays a stage actor who has inexplicably gone mute; an equally mesmerizing Bibi Andersson is the garrulous young nurse caring for her in a remote island cottage. While isolated together there, the women undergo a mysterious spiritual and emotional transference. Performed with astonishing nuance and shot in stark contrast and soft light by Sven Nykvist, the influential Persona is a penetrating, dreamlike work of profound psychological depth (Criterion).

Alice and Josh are a folk/rock duo that is both woodsy and jammy. Improvisation is a specialty of both performers, and they will often “go off the beaten track” often in order to keep every show fresh and spontaneous.

Angelic vocals singing infectious melodies while simultaneously laying down a mesmerizing groove on the bass and drums — The PRVLG, a set of twins hailing from Memphis, Tennessee. Simmered in soul from the birthplace of rock and roll, the pair has crafted a sound that is radically authentic, vintage but modern.

An inside look at The Elephant 6 Recording Co., the ’90s rock collective that launched Neutral Milk Hotel, The Olivia Terror Control, The Apples in Stereo, and other bands. Around 1985, a group of Louisiana high schoolers began experimenting with whatever random instruments and gear they could find. Influenced by psychedelia, and with little to distract them, they birthed a musical revolution.

Celebrate the opening of the autumn/winter exhibitions by Ahmad George, Noah Thomas Miller, and Coe Lapossy with an evening of art, conversation, and food at Crosstown Arts. The menu for the evening is prepared by Chef Cole Jeanes, founder of Kinfolk Restaurant, and the food is generously provided by Ben E. Keith Co.

Stalwarts of the Memphis music scene for over 30 years, The Reba Russell Band has traveled the world, released eight albums and four singles. The band received a prestigious Brass Note on Beale Street in 2018 and continues to record and perform their dynamic original blues to audiences everywhere. Vocalist, producer, songwriter Reba Russell is a prolific studio backing vocalist on a variety of projects including artists, Al Green, Tracy Nelson, Duane Betts, U2, and a host of others. A song recently written by Russell, WHY NOT YOU, (Sister Lucille Band) is currently nominated for Song and Video of the year by the Josie Awards, based in Nashville.

Memphis Listening Lab/WYXR’s Record Swap and Crosstown Arts’ eighth annual Zine Fest are coming together for one awesome event in the Crosstown Concourse Central Atrium!

Larry & Joe is the duo of Joropo maestro Larry Bellorín (Monagas, Venezuela) and GRAMMY-nominated bluegrass and oldtime star Joe Troop (Winston-Salem, North Carolina). These two virtuosic multi-instrumentalists fuse their respective Venezuelan and Appalachian folk traditions on the harp, banjo, cuatro, fiddle, upright bass, guitar, and maracas to prove that music has no borders. Their bilingual (esp / eng) program includes storytelling, humor, and singalongs.

Memphis Listening Lab/WYXR’s Record Swap and Crosstown Arts’ eighth annual Zine Fest are coming together for one awesome event in the Crosstown Concourse Central Atrium!

An off-the-wall comedy documentary about the greatest rap band that never was. Documentary filmmaker Nina Blackburn (Kasi Lemmons) infiltrates the behind-the-scenes world of rap's most controversial band. Meet the fast-talking philosophical Ice Cold (Rusty Cundieff), the short-tempered militant Tasty-Taste (Larry B. Scott), and their spiritual center, D.J. Tone Def (Mark Christopher Lawrence). See them in the recording studios, jam with them on stage, hang with them and hear their philosophies on music and life. Featuring hilarious videos of all their biggest hits, plus the “gangstas”, the girls and the guns. A wonderfully funny spoof.

Pedal and lap steel guitar ace Roosevelt Collier, so proficient he’s affectionately known as “The Dr,” released his solo debut, Exit 16, on GroundUP Music. It’s a potent mix of blues, gospel, rock and, in his words, “dirty funk swampy grime,” as overseen by producer and Bokanté bandmate Michael League (from the Grammy-winning Snarky Puppy). Brought up in the House of God Church in Perrine, Florida, Roosevelt built his “sacred steel” guitar prowess alongside his uncles and cousins in The Lee Boys, known for their spirited, soul-shaking live performances.

Already being hailed as “the next Woody Guthrie,” DC resident Crys Matthews is among the brightest stars of the new generation of social justice music-makers. A powerful lyricist whose songs of compassionate dissent reflect her lived experience as what she lightheartedly calls “the poster-child for intersectionality,” Justin Hiltner of Bluegrass Situation called Matthews’s gift “a reminder of what beauty can occur when we bridge those divides.” A former drum major and classically-trained clarinetist turned folk singer, Matthews is using her voice to answer Dr. Martin Luther King’s call to be “a drum major for justice.” Crys Matthews’s thoughtful, realistic and emotional songs speak to the voice of our generation and remind us why music indeed soothes the soul.