Arts Fuse critics select the best in music, film, theater, visual arts, author readings, and dance that’s coming up in the next week.

By The Arts Fuse Staff

Dance

skybetter and associates
June 6
Mills Gallery, Boston Center for the Arts
Boston, MA

Against the background of Jordan Eagle’s wall pieces and sculptures made from the fresh, “aged” and dessicated blood of slaughtered cattle encased in plexiglass, the formal dances of New York-based skybetter and associates should have a weird resonance. This showing of The Personal, Near Abroad, and a preview peek at Game of Minutes is free.

The Memory Suite by Zullo/Raw Movement
June 7-8
The Dance Complex
Cambridge, MA

The trauma of two boys’ sexual exploitation as imagined by Boston novelist Scott Heim in his Mysterious Skin serves as the framework for the righteous outrage of choreographer John Zullo’s Memory Suite. Local guest performers appear in Zullo’s work, and the program is filled out by an appearance by Dance Complex director Peter DiMuro’s ongoing project, Public Displays of Motion.

— Debra Cash

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Visual Arts

Jim Hodges: Give More Than You Take
June 4 through September 1
At the ICA, Boston, MA

Boston’s Institute of Contemporary Art weighs in for the warmer months with a show featuring the Spokane born, New York-based installation artist. He is best known for fixing poignant moments of the human experience — life, loss, death, love, the fragility and temporality of all things — in a mixture of found objects (the latter include lightbulbs and silk flowers) to traditional media, including ink, graphite, and gold leaf. The show surveys Hodges work from 1987 to the present and was organized by the Dallas Museum of Art and the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis.

Convergence: Jazz, Films, and the Visual Arts
June 6 through December 13
Bates College Museum of Art
Lewiston, ME

“Convergence” is a media buzz word these days, suggesting the blending of all content and all media into a single, 24/7 stream. This show uses the word to suggest the strong cultural influence of the bumps, dips, recycled melodies, and out-on-the-ledge ad-libbing of American jazz. Organized in another convergence between The David C. Driskell Center for the Study of the Visual Arts and Culture and the African Diaspora at the University of Maryland and the American Jazz Museum in Kansas City, the exhibition naturally has a strong focus on African Americans. It features artists like Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, and Faith Ringgold, among others. The Bates College Museum of Art in Lewiston, Maine is one of the show’s two venues.

Read My Pins: The Madeleine Albright Collection
June 9 through July 20
Davis Museum, Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA

One of the most unusual exhibitions this summer has to be this show at Wellesley College, organized by the trendy Museum of Arts and Design in New York. It features more than 200 pins from the personal collection of the former secretary of state and (probably not coincidentally) celebrated Wellesley alumna. “Before long,” Albright writes of the aftermath of a professional encounter with Saddam Hussain, “and without intending it, I found that jewelry had become part of my personal diplomatic arsenal. Former president George H. W. Bush had been known for saying ‘Read my lips.’ I began urging colleagues and reporters to ‘Read my pins.’” The selection ranges from dime-store pieces to designer creations and family heirlooms, many used to send subtle or not-so-subtle messages to Albright’s diplomatic counterparts.

— Peter Walsh

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Rock

Morrissey
June 7
Boston Opera House, Boston, MA

The Boston Opera House is not your typical location for a rock show. Then again, Morrissey is not your typical rock musician. The animal-rights crusader and former lead singer for seminal ‘80s band the Smiths will release his tenth solo album next month, which is entitled World Peace is None of Your Business. Catchy moniker, though not as catchy as the title of the album’s second track, “Neal Cassady Drops Dead.”

Damon Albarn
June 9
Royale, Boston, MA

There have been few musicians of the ‘90s era more prolific than Damon Albarn. Not that you’d ever know it, as most of the time he releases music under names like The Good, the Bad & the Queen, or (a bit more famously) Gorillaz. And of course, he was (and technically still is) in Blur. His solo album, Everyday Robots, twas released this past April under his own name, and to critical acclaim. Not too shabby after all these years.

Parquet Courts
June 10
TT the Bear’s Place, Cambridge, MA

The first time I heard Parquet Courts, I thought “This is what I thought the Strokes were going to sound like!” That is to say, the band’s music sounds like it was written at 3 a.m. and recorded at 4 a.m. with all the other hours of the day spent listening to the Velvet Underground. Rock and roll!

James Blake
June 10
Berklee Performance Center, Boston, MA

As British music fans know, James Blake’s second album, Overgrown won the 2013 Mercury Music Prize. This puts the album in the company of Screamadelica, Suede, and Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not. Blake’s music isn’t easy to categorize. It’s electronic and soulful all at once. So if that’s your thing, Blake is your guy.

Upcoming and On Sale…

Peter Murphy (6/12/2014, Paradise Rock Club); Terry Kitchen (6/12/2014, Jamaica Plain Branch Library); Eagulls (6/18/2014, Great Scott); Beyonce and Jay Z (7/1/2014, Gillette Stadium); The Kills (7/8/2014, Paradise Rock Club); Queens of the Stone Age (7/14/2014, Providence Performing Arts Center); Queen + Adam Lambert (7/19/2014, Mohegan Sun Arena); Queen + Adam Lambert (7/22/2014, TD Garden); Nine Inch Nails & Soundgarden (7/29/2014, Xfinity Center); Arcade Fire (8/19/2014, Comcast Center); Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers (8/30/2014, Fenway Park); Boston Calling Music Festival feat. The National, Lorde, The Replacements (9/5-7/2014 City Hall Plaza); Bombino (9/5/2014, The Sinclair); The Black Keys (9/21/2014, TD Garden); Kasabian (9/26/2014, Paradise Rock Club); The Orwells (10/9/2014, Brighton Music Hall); Peter Hook & the Light (11/8/2014, Royale)

— Adam Ellsworth

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Jazz

Momentum Quintet
June 2, 8 p.m.
Outpost 186, Cambridge, MA.

Swiss-born singer Gabriela Martina is the ringmaster for this experimental quintet featuring pianist Josh Rosen, bassist Bruno Råberg, guitarist/oud player Jussi Reijonen, and drummer Giuseppe Paradiso.

Jeff Ballard Trio
June 4, 8 p.m.
Scullers Jazz Club, Boston

Drummer Ballard (Brad Mehldau Trio, Fly) alto saxophonist Miguel Zénon and guitar wizard Lionel Loueke come to Scullers in support of their exciting Time’s Tales.

B. Mez
June 5, 8 p.m.
Outpost 186, Cambridge, MA.

B. Mez — featuring Birdsongs of the Mesozoic members Ken Field on alto saxophone, guitarist Michael Bierylo, and Rick Scott on synthesizer — are joined by guests Forbes Graham on trumpet and saxophonist Michael Cerra. Everyone except Cerra will also be playing some combination of electronics and loops.

Mike Pope & the House of Cardinals
June 10, 7:30 p.m.
Regattabar, Cambridge, MA

Bassist Mike Pope is probably best known for his work in Chick Corea’s Elektric Band. On the new Cold Truth, Warm Heart he plays both acoustic bass and electric bass guitar in a mix of jazz swing, proggy rock-beat fusion, a couple of lovely ballads, and Chopin’s “Prelude in E minor, Opus 28 No. 4.” The last is arranged as a kind of bossa nova for bass guitar — and it succeeds in spite of itself. Pope comes to the Regattabar with vibist Joe Locke and drummer Maurice Zottarelli from the album as well as young piano phenom Eldar Djangirov and saxophonist Bob Franceschini.

— Jon Garelick

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Film

Boston Area Film Schedules – What is playing today, Where and When

Fed Up
Now playing
Kendall Square Cinema, Cambridge MA, and West Newton Cinema in West Newton, MA

There currently are some terrific films in local theaters. Fed Up, however, like the films Super Size Me, Forks Over Knives, Food, Inc, and King Corn just might make a change in your life. Co-produced by Katie Couric and Laurie David (An Inconvenient Truth), Fed Up reports on a 30-year campaign by the food industry, aided by the U.S. government, to mislead and confuse the American public, resulting in one of the largest health epidemics in history. Director Stephanie Soechtig says “I want the audience to leave the theater with a sense of hope, but also obligation. he system isn’t going to fix itself — we all need to get involved if we want things to change.”

The Limitless Possibilities of Black and White
June 4 -22
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA

Following its series of classic Technicolor films, the MFA presents a series of ravishing newer (post 1971) black and white films. Featured this week are several films that if you haven’t seen them in many years, or ever, are well worth the trip. It starts Thursday with Dustin Hoffman’s tour-de-force performance as Lenny Bruce in Bob Fosse’s Lenny for which Valerie Perrine won an Academy Award as Best Actress. Others include Raging Bull, Manhattan, and the excellent Much Ado About Nothing by Joss Whedon. The Man Who Wasn’t There stars a superb Billy Bob Thornton along with James Gandolfini, Tony Shalhoub, Scarlett Johansson, Frances McDormand, and Jon Polito.

What is Cinema?
June 6th – June 12th
Brattle Theater, Cambridge, MA

Chuck Workman is best known for creating unforgettable Oscar montage sequences and for his award-winning documentaries. In What is Cinema? he demonstrates his command of cinematic language, creating a visual essay out of clips from films that pushed the boundaries of the art form and gave us ideas about what the future might hold. He weaves in new interviews with a number of eclectic filmmakers ranging from David Lynch and Jonas Mekas to Michael Moore. He also draws on archival interviews with the likes of Alfred Hitchcock, Robert Altman, Robert Bresson, Akira Kurosawa, and Chantal Akerman.

When Things Go Wrong: Robin Lane’s Story
June 6th 7:30
Regent Underground Theater
Arlington, MA

This is shameless plug for my own film, which earned a small re-screening because its previous showing sold out. The documentary explores the life and times of Robin Lane, a pioneer for women in rock and roll who has all but disappeared from the annals of rock history. Interviews, concerts, home movies, and 22 original songs explore what it was like to be in the music business for five decades. The theater is small and there will be a Q&A and performances by Robin, Jen D’Angora, Chris Toppin Linda Viens, Emily Grogan, Suzanne Boucher, and Cynthia Keefe.

— Tim Jackson

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Classical Music

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s Salieri & Mozart
Presented by Commonwealth Lyric Theater
June 8 (at 6 p.m.), 10-11 (at 8 p.m.)
Center Makor, Brighton, MA

Commonwealth Lyric Theater’s annual June production brings another little-known Russian opera, this year Rimsky-Korsakov’s Salieri & Mozart. (You can read about 2013’s excellent Aleko here.) The cast includes Mikhail Svetlov, who’s sung at the Bolshoi Theater and Metropolitan Opera, Alexander Prokhorov, Mikhail Yanenko, and Jonathan Price. Zachary Schwartzmann conducts.

— Jonathan Blumhofer

Nahant Music Festival
Friday, June 6 at 7:30 p.m.
St. Thomas Church, 248 Nahant Road, Nahant, MA

The festival’s opening night presents solos, duets, and arias from Donaudy, Rossini, Gounod, Denza, Moore and Massenet. The performers include artistic director and founder Donald Wilkinson, soprano Barbara Kilduff, tenor Martin Joseph Kelly, and pianist Brian Moll.

Emerson String Quartet
Friday, June 6 at 7 p.m.
Shalin Liu Performance Center, 37 Main Street, Rockport, MA

The excellent Rockport Chamber Music Festival opens tonight with the celebrated quarter playing Schubert’s Death and the Maiden and Shostakovich’s Quartet No. 13.

Violinist Stefan Jackiw and pianist Anna Polonsky
Saturday, June 7 at 8 p.m.
Shalin Liu Performance Center, 37 Main St., Rockport, MA

Rockport Music presents the pair in a program featuring Mozart’s Sonata in B-flat Major, Lutoslawski’s Partita for violin and piano, Saariaho’s Nocturne (in Memory of Lutoslawski), and Brahms’s Sonata No. 3 in D minor.

Cellist David Finckel and Pianist Wu Han
Sunday, June 8 at 5 p.m.
Shalin Liu Performances Center, 37 Main St., Rockport, MA

Rockport Music presents the celebrated pair in a program of sonatas by Debussy, Mendelssohn, Britten, Beethoven, and Bach.

— Susan Miron

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Theater

Gidion’s Knot by Johnna Adams. Directed by Karen MacDonald
June 5 through 22
Staged by the Bridge Repertory Theatre at the Calderwood Pavilion, the Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA

Celebrated local actress Karen MacDonald is at the helm of a play that fields a nasty collision among teachers, students, and parents. “Over the course of an unannounced parent/teacher conference, a mother and the teacher of her 5th grade child have a fraught conversation about the suspension of the mother’s son, Gidion. During the highly charged encounter, details of the boy’s behavior are revealed, while questions are raised about everything from school bullying to the nature of creative expression.”

— Bill Marx

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Author Events

Alexi Zentner and Andre Dubus III
The Lobster Kings and Dirty Love
Wednesday June 4 at 7 p.m.
Brookline Booksmith, Brookline, MA
Free

Alexi Zentner and Andre Dubus III come to Brookline to read from their latest novels. Zentner’s novel is inspired by King Lear, centered around a lobstering family and a fading patriarch trying to pass on the family legacy to his daughter.

Andre Dubus III comes back to town to read from his latest novel Dirty Love, based on the ways in which people seek gratification and peace through a variety of means – food, sex, work and love. Dubus’s characters work their troubles in a variety of ways, but their humanity is universal. His dad, the great short story writer and novelist, would be proud.

Fiction Fridays
Friday, June 6
Harvard Book Store, Cambridge, MA
Fridays this summer

Beginning on June 6, The Harvard Book Store will be offering 15% off of fiction titles from their in-store selection. Get your Nabokov or your Updike or your Molly Ringwald prose fix on the cheap, every Friday, all summer long.

David Sedaris
In-Store Book Signing
Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls
Harvard Book Store, Cambridge, MA
Saturday June 7 at 8 p.m.
Free

David Sedaris comes to the Harvard Book Store to sign copies of his latest work, which apparently encourages otherwise apathetic souls to reconsider the importance of the blood sugar levels in a specific genus of avian life. The reading sold out in the flap of a wing and the blinking of a bulbous, luminous eye, but you can still get Sedaris’s autograph if you come at 8 p.m.

Kevin J.H. Dettmar w/ Hugo Burnham
33 1/3: Gang of Four’s Entertainment!
Wednesday June 11 at 7 p.m.
Brookline Booksmith, Brookline, MA
Free

The newest entry in the venerable 33 1/3 series of essays on classic albums concerns Gang of Four’s classic agit-punk debut. Take a small crew of English university kids who find the intersection of punk, funk and the Frankfurt School, load them up on booze and stick them in a basement and voila! A classic! Author Kevin Dettmar sits down with Gang of Four’s drummer to talk about the making of a subversive classic.

Kate Racculia & Rory Flynn
Bellwhether Rhapsody and Third Rail: An Eddy Harkness Mystery
Monday June 16 at 7 p.m.
Newtonville Books, Newton, MA
Free

Kate Racculia and Rory Flynn come to Newtonville Books to read from their newest mystery stories. Bellwhether Rhapsody is a story about a supposedly haunted hotel, where a grisly murder/suicide once took place in room 712. Years afterward, a a group of high school musicians gather together in the hotel to play in a music festival. All of sudden one of the musicians disappears – could tragedy have struck again?

Rory Flynn’s Third Rail is an Eddy Harkness mystery, and the Boston-based novelist’s first crime novel. Harkness is a brilliant detective who is wrongfully accused of negligence in the death of a Red Sox fan after a game at Fenway Park. Harkness eventually loses his detective gig and then mysteriously loses his Glock, so he ends up navigating through the mean streets with only a plastic disc gun.

— Matt Hanson