Listings, February 28-March 6

music

DINS ENDANGERED: DON’T FEED THE ANIMALS. And certainly don’t feed them gin and tonics. But what about the Harvard Din and Tonics?  Appearing on stage with a yet unannounced guest group, the Dins will mix up their trademark jazz a capella with dash of comedy.  Saturday, March 1 at 8 p.m. Tickets $10, $7 students, available at the Harvard Box Office or by phone (617) 496-2222.  Sanders Theatre. (SNJ)

BLACK ARTS FESTIVAL. The “Performing Arts Showcase” at this year’s festival features the inspiring singing of the Kuumba Singers of Harvard College and several of Harvard’s black cultural performing groups. Friday, Feb. 28 at 8 p.m. Tickets $7, $5 students and seniors, available at the Harvard Box Office or by phone (617) 496-2222. Lowell Lecture Hall. (MSH)

HARVARD POPS ORCHESTRA. The Pops perform theme music from the silver screen in “Pops Goes to the Movies.” Saturday, March 1 at 8 pm. Tickets $10, $7 for students and seniors, available at the Harvard Box Office or by phone (617) 496-2222. Lowell Lecture Hall. (MSH)

HARVARD JAZZ BAND. The jazz band celebrates the Black Arts Festival with “Jazz Band Brunch” at the Sheraton Commander Hotel. Sunday, March 2 at 11:30 a.m. Tickets available at the Harvard Box Office or by phone (617) 496-2222. Sheraton Commander, 16 Garden St., (617)-537-4800. (MSH)

WYNTON MARSALIS. Controversially backward-looking trumpeter and titan of the contemporary jazz world tours the country with his father and brothers. Monday, March 3. Symphony Hall, 301 Mass. Ave., (617)-266-1492. (MSH).

BACH AND HAYDN: MUSICAL OFFERINGS FIT FOR A KING. An instrumental ensemble from the Handel and Haydn Orchestra plays landmark works written for King Frederick the Great of Prussia and Joseph II of Austria. With Grant Llewellyn, directing J.S. Bach’s The Musical Offering, BWV 1079 (Super Thema Reale) and Haydn’s “Emperor” String Quartet, Op. 76 No. 3. Saturday, March 1 at 3 p.m. Tickets $9-$56, available at the Harvard Box Office or by phone (617) 496-2222. Sanders Theatre. (TIH)

BERLIOZ BIRTHDAY BASH. The Harvard Wind Ensemble, along with the Northeastern Concert Band, honors the bicentennial of Hector Berlioz with a concert conducted by Harvard Assistant Band Director Nathaniel H. Dickey, and Northeastern Band Director Allen Feinstein. Each ensemble performs its own repertoire followed by a joint performance of Berlioz’s “Grande Symphonie funèbre et triumphale.” The concert also includes classic works for winds like Walter Piston’s “Tunbridge Fair,” Gustav Holst’s First and Second Suites for Military Band, as well as music by Percy Grainger, Giovanni Gabrieli, and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Sunday, March 2, at 8 p.m. Tickets $8, $5 students and seniors, available at the Harvard Box Office or by phone (617) 496-2222. Sanders Theatre. (TIH)

CHARLIE HUNTER QUINTET. The eight-string guitar innovator form Berkeley, California brings his brand of Latin and Rock influenced jazz to Cambridge. The band does not have a keyboard or bass because Hunter lays down the bass line, comps, and solos all at once! Wednesday, March 5 at 9 p.m. The House of Blues, 96 Winthrop St., (617)-497-2229. (MSH)

DJ KRUSH. Expect cutting-edge beats and wizened sample play from this former Yakuza member and Japan’s premier turntablist export. Krush is joined by Seishi and DJ Reazon. Sunday, March 2 at 8 p.m. Tickets $12 advance, $15 door. The Middle East, 462-480 Mass. Ave., (617) 864-EAST. (RJK)

TEGAN AND SARA. The much-hyped Canadian duo bring their punkish brand of pop to the U.S. The twin sisters have played with the likes of Ryan Adams and Rufus Wainwright, among others. Wednesday, March 5 at 10:45 p.m. Tickets $8. T.T. the Bear’s Place, 10 Brookline St., (617) 492-0082. (RJK)

visuals

STEVEN HOLL: LIGHT, MATERIAL AND DETAIL. The highly celebrated American architect enjoys a double exhibition across MIT’s campus. Holl’s buildings foreground the subjective experience of their inhabitants. Works examined include the Helsinki Museum of Contemporary Art, Holl’s expansion to the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City and MIT’s very own Simmons Hall dormitory. Through April 16. Free. Hours: Mondays through Fridays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Wolk Gallery, MIT School of Architecture and Planning. Mondays to Fridays 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m, Compton Gallery, MIT Museum. (RJK)

CAROLEE SCHNEEMAN. Multi-disciplinary artist Schneeman gives a lecture on her work titled “Disruptive Consciousness,” which focuses on discourse on the body, sexuality and gender. Her video, film, painting, photography, performance art and installation works have been shown at the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art, NYC, the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York City. In 2002, MIT Press published Schneeman’s “Imaging Her Erotics—Essays, Interviews, Projects.” Thursday, March 6, at 6 p.m. Carpenter Center Lecture Hall, 24 Quincy St., (617) 495-3251. (TIH)

IMAGE AND EMPIRE: PICTURING INDIA DURING THE COLONIAL ERA. The exhibit features about 50 different works of art that capture different views of colonial India. The paintings, decorative objects, figurines, photographs and sketches not only document the colonial era (17th-20th centuries) in India, but also demonstrate the cross-pollination between British and Indian artistic traditions. See full story in the Feb. 7 Arts section. Through May 25. Hours: Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. $6.50, $5 students/seniors, free for Harvard ID holders, Cambridge Public Library card holders and to people under 18. Group rates available. Sackler Museum, 485 Broadway, (617) 495-9400 (CWP)

BUDDHIST ART: THE LATER TRADITION. This comprehensive exhibit at the Sackler of Buddhist art from China, Korea, Japan, Tibet and India spans more than 1000 years. Surveying the transmission of Buddhism throughout East Asia from the 10th through the 18th centuries, the exhibit feature 72 pieces, including scroll paintings, Buddhist “sutras” or sacred texts, Chinese censers and Tibetan bell handles. See full story in the Feb. 14 Arts section. Through Sept. 7. Hours: Mondays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sundays, 1 to 5 p.m. $6.50, $5 students/seniors, free for Harvard ID holders, Cambridge Public Library card holders and to people under 18. Group rates available. Sackler Museum, 485 Broadway, (617) 495-9400. (CWP)

BETWEEN ROCK AND A HARD PLACE. In keeping with the trend of interdisciplinary art, check out a group of creative minds whose lifestyle of rock music has spilled over into other art forms. This exhibit is a multimedia, 21-artist display which includes video, photography, furniture and painting. Features such mainstays as Roger Miller and Reeves Gabrels as well as new arrivals like former Weezer bassist Mikey Welsh. Through March 2. Zeitgeist Gallery, 1353 Cambridge St., (617) 876-6060. (ESH)

THE COLOR YELLOW: BEAUFORD DELANEY. The exhibit, which is the first retrospective of an African-American artist at a Harvard University museum, is also Delaney’s first retrospective since he passed away in 1979. It features 26 highly textured, vibrant paintings by the underappreciated 20th-century African-American expatriate artist, most of which are dominated by warm, vivid shades of yellow See story on page B-3. Through May 4. Hours: Mondays through Saturdays, 10 to 5 p.m.; Sundays 1 to 5 p.m. Free. Sert Gallery, Carpenter Center, 24 Quincy St., (617) 495-9400. (CWP)

dance

GHUNGROO: A SOUTH ASIAN CULTURAL SHOW. The Harvard South Asian Association presents a cultural celebration featuring sets, songs, award-winning folk dances and comedy. Definitely high-energy and certainly never boring. See sidebar. Thursday, Feb. 27 through Saturday, Mar. 1 at 7:30 p.m and a matinee on Saturday. Tickets $8, Thursday evening and Saturday matinee; $9, Friday and Saturday evenings. See preview. Tickets available through the Harvard Box Office or by phonoe (617) 496-2222. Agassiz Theater. (ILS)

theater

HIGHWAY ULYSSES. Written by Rinde Eckert specifically for the performance at the American Repertory Theatre (ART), this play combines the talents of the ART Acting Company and the Cambridge-based band Empty House Cooperative to reinvent Homer’s Odyssey in the musical world of jazz, rock and blues. Here, Ulysses is a war-veteran-turned-hermit who embarks on a journey upon receiving an urgent message from his estranged son. Saturday, March 1, through Saturday, March 22. Tickets $34-$68. American Repertory Theater, Loeb Drama Center, 64 Brattle St. (617) 547-8300. (SNJ)

THE HOUSE ANSIEDADE BUILT. An original movement thesis piece by Shelby J. Braxton-Brooks ’03. In Brazil, the party never stops, and there are samba, bossa nova, capoeira, caipirinhas and palm trees. Racism? Heck no. Americans? Welcomed with open arms. But there’s more than meets the eye. Reality and fantasy collide to produce disillusionment, and this play combines folklore, theater, music and movement in relation to cultural anxiety in Brazil and in the United States. Friday, Feb. 28, at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday, Mar. 1, at 2:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Free. Tickets available at the Loeb Box Office. Loeb Experimental Theater, 64 Brattle Street, (617) 547-8300. (TIH)

IT’S A WONDERFUL AFTERLIFE. Where would you like to visit after you die? The Hasty Pudding Theatricals’ 155th spoof takes you through Heaven, Hell, and Limbo in a production of Divine Comedy proportions. Meet Rabbi Noah Fense, Nun Taken, and the Roman General Curtis Interruptus. Hilarious. Wednesdays through Fridays at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., Sundays at 3 p.m. Tickets $25 weekdays, $27 weekends. Group discounts available. Through Wednesday, March 19. Hasty Pudding Theater, 12 Holyoke St., (617) 495-5205. (TIH)

readings

BLACK WRITERS’ READING SERIES. Poet Rita Dove and author John Edgar Wideman read from their highly acclaimed new works. Dove, the nation’s new Poet Laureate, is the first African American to have earned the distinction, as well as the youngest. She is also the wordsmith behind the stunning “Thomas and Beulah,” which won the Pulitzer Prize. Wideman’s Hoop Roots, an exploration of the author’s passion for basketball, is a complex and dynamic work that touches upon black language and music. Wednesday, March 5 at 5 p.m. Sackler Museum. (RJK)

MARTHA MINOW. The author’s new work, Breaking the Cycles of Hatred, collects three essays by Minow and a number of responses by prominent legal and political thinkers. The fascinating (not to mention quite relevant) discourse revolves around ways in which violence begets violence, and explores issues such as the roles played by collective memory and legal action. Sure to be an enlightening and thought-provoking event. Friday, Feb. 28 at 3 p.m. Harvard Book Store, 1256 Mass. Ave. (RJK)

JEDEDIAH PURDY. Purdy, whose anti-irony tract “For Common Things” made a stir a few years ago, is promoting his newest work, “Being America,” a post-Sept. 11 exploration of foreign attitudes towards America. Tuesday, March 4 at 7 p.m. WordsWorth Books, 30 Brattle St., (617) 354-5201. (BJS)

ANDY BELLIN. Get those cards out and put on your best poker face. Andy Bellin’s new book, “Poker Nation,” is subtitled “A High-Stakes, Low-Life Adventure into the Heart of a Gambling Country.” Should be a rollickin’ good time. Monday, March 3 at 7 p.m. WordsWorth Books, 30 Brattle St., (617) 354-5201. (BJS)

film

VIETNAMESE FILM SERIES. The Harvard Vietnamese Association, The Harvard Foundation and the Harvard International Relations Council present a screening of three documentaries by award-winning filmmaker Tran Van Thuy. The films are “The Story of Kindness” (1985), “The Sound of the Violin in My Lai” (1998) and “A Story From the Corner of a Park” (1996). Refreshments and discussion with the director to follow. Saturday, March 1 from 6:30 to 10 p.m. Fong Auditorium, Boylston Hall. (TIH)

CITIZEN KANE. Citizen Kane was an instant classic upon its 1941 release. The American Film Institute named it the best movie made—ever. Yet the film was an epic flop at the Academy Awards, converting just one of its nine nominations, taking the award for Best Original Screenplay. (WWII propaganda classic Mrs. Miniver swept the top prizes.) Citizen Kane, it seems, has gotten the last laugh. Secretary, take heart. Citizen Kane screens March 10 at 5, 7:30 and 10 p.m.

SECRETARY. The Brattle Theatre continues its ongoing series, “Not Nominated (By the Academy),”a selection of critically acclaimed movies that did not receive a nomination for next month’s Oscars. The Brattle’s next feature from the series, Secretary stars James Spader and Maggie Gyllenhaal and is a dark comedy about finding love through S & M. In considering possible reasons for Secretary’s Oscar snub, the Brattle asks the obvious: “Could it be the spanking?” Secretary screens March 12 at 5:30, 7:45 and 10 p.m. (NKB)

HARVARD SQUARE LOEWS

10 CHURCH ST., (617) 864-4580

ABOUT SCHMIDT. About Schmidt, in a bizarrely somber, comedic fashion, is possibly the most depressing film of Jack Nicholson’s long career. His performance as a retired insurance executive is a deeply complex and hilariously tragic portrayal of the most banal aspects of one man’s post-mid-life crisis. Director Alexander Payne, famous for his digressions on suburban angst in films such as Election and Citizen Ruth, keeps the tone light and the characters archetypally and delicously bizarre. About Schmidt screens at 12:15, 3:15, 7 and 10 p.m. (CJF)

ADAPTATION. At its core, Adaptation is an analysis of the intellectual diseases that plague every writer, from editorial pressure to sibling rivalry to unrequited love. But its narrative edges make it a unique experience. Nicolas Cage plays writer Charlie Kaufman (the real-life writer of the film), who becomes consumed by his assignment to adapt Susan Orlean’s meditative nonfiction novel The Orchid Thief and his own personal eccentricities. Like Kaufman and director Spike Jonze’s previous film Being John Malkovich, several plots overlap and intertwine with surprising at dramatic twists, creating a frustrating, complex film that is infinitely insightful and weirdly moving. Adaptation screens at 12:30, 3:30, 6:15 and 9:15 p.m. (CJF)

THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE. Kevin Spacey stars as Professor David Gale, an anti-death penalty crusader accused of murdering a fellow activist (Laura Linney) in this issue movie from Alan Parker (Angela’s Ashes). Once Gale reaches death row, he gives his side of the story to an ambitious reporter (Kate Winslet). The film’s trio of Oscar darlings and hot social topic should lend some class and relevance, respectively, to the reportedly twist-heavy story. The Life of David Gale screens at 12, 3, 6:30 and 9:30 p.m. (BJS)

CHICAGO. The potential revival of the Hollywood musical is upon us with Chicago—for better or worse. Ignoring its politicized ramifications as a genre revival, Chicago on its own is a pretty wild ride, showcasing once and for all that the new school of glitzy film stars can sing better than Jennifer Lopez. Catherine Zeta-Jones, Renee Zellweger, and especially John C. Reilly are surprisingly watchable in this furiously edited, expensive adaptation of the murderous Broadway classic. Die-hard Bob Fosse fans may leave screaming in disgust, but fortunately for the rest of us director Rob Marshall knows the difference between film and theater, and milks it with remarkable excess. Chicago screens at 1, 4, 7:30 and 10:10 p.m. (CJF)

THE HOURS. This adaptation of Michael Cunningham’s Pulitzer-winning novel is unapologetically Oscar bait, a solemn, century-spanning “what is life?” treatise backed by a triumvirate of A-list actresses (Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore) and directed by Billy Elliot vet Stephen Daldry. Yet for a film of its ostensible weight, The Hours certainly takes easy shots at its lead trio—three colossally boring straw women who rediscover their lost vitality in drearily obvious ways as the picture progresses. Perhaps The Hours’ greatest value rests in its side-by-side comparison of Moore, the greatest actress of her generation, and Streep, the most acclaimed actress of hers; when judged head-to-head, Moore ends up easily topping Streep, if for no other reason than that Streep persists in being an actress onscreen while Moore is content to be a person. The Hours screens at 12:45, 3:45, 6:45 and 9:45 p.m. (BJS)

KENDALL SQUARE CINEMA

ONE KENDALL SQ., (617) 494-9800

25TH HOUR. Spike Lee’s latest film isn’t much of a narrative departure from his previous efforts. Money and shattered dreams rule this story of drug dealer Monty Brogan’s (Edward Norton) last day of freedom before his seven-year jail sentence begins. The final act packs a phenomonal punch, but its dealer-with-a-heart-of-gold premise is predictable and derivative, typical of Lee’s long-time filmic obsession with the soft side of seemingly reprehensible humanity. 25th Hour screens at 4 and 9:10 p.m. (CJF)

ALL THE REAL GIRLS. In the age of Joe Millionaire and How to Lose a Guy in Ten Days, being the recipient of the Sundance Film Festival’s Prize for Emotional Truth is at best a dubious honor. Audiences aren’t exactly storming multiplexes in search of the next great cinematic treatise on life and love. All the Real Girls isn’t going to alter the situation, a shame for both moviegoers and the film’s perpetually underappreciated stars. The mischievous Zooey Deschanel (Almost Famous, The Good Girl) finally gets a lead role, playing an 18-year-old poet whose cynical worldview is tempered as she discovers desire, love and sex, and Patricia Clarkson (Far from Heaven) once again finds unexpected depth in what could easily have been a one-dimensional role. All the Real Girls screens at 2:05, 4:45, 7:15 and 9:45 p.m. (NKB)

BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE. Michael Moore’s quintessential documentary on red-neck Americana and its political basis has turned more heads in curiosity than a gun show in Harvard Square would. Criticized for its self-indulgence and questionable objectivity, Bowling for Columbine is nonetheless a dazzling example of the power of politically charged cinema. Probably the most talked-about film of the year, Columbine effectively condenses nearly a decade of American history into a digestible, moving meditation on the sources of American gun violence. That’s no small feat. Bowling for Columbine screens at 1:10 and 6:45 p.m. (CJF)

CITY OF GOD. Brazilian Fernando Meirelles’ high-energy depiction of gang warfare in the titular Rio de Janeiro slum has been met with critical raves and comparisons to the mob pictures of Martin Scorsese. The protagonist, a young photographer named Rocket, succeeds in evading the gang lifestyle; his childhood friend fails to follow suit, instead succumbing to the temptations of crime and power. Dynamic, darkly funny and spitting electricity, City of God presents a strife-ridden world lurching towards destruction. City of God screens at 1, 3:50, 6:35 and 9:35 p.m. (BJS)

GERRY. Gerry, the minimalist buddy drama starring Matt Damon, reflects such a drastic shift in director Gus van Sant’s style and tone that many critics have been tempted to label the film “penitence” for van Sant’s unabashedly commercial recent efforts (Good Will Hunting, Finding Forrester). But penitence means internal reflection and self-punishment, not suffering imposed on others. Nevertheless, suffering is the primary experience for viewers of this interminable, plot-free bore. Damon and Casey Affleck star as friends, both nicknamed Gerry, lost and wandering somewhere in Death Valley. The film is slow-witted where it should be thoughtful, pretentious when it should be sincere. As the two title characters drift aimlessly under the merciless desert sun, it’s hard not to look forward to the bitter end. Gerry screens at 2:45, 5:10, 7:35 and 10 p.m. (NKB)

LOST IN LA MANCHA. Visionary director Terry Gilliam’s ill-fated recent effort to make a Don Quixote movie is chronicled in this new documentary. After a difficult pre-production period, Gilliam’s film is slapped with a malicious case of Murphy’s Law once it begins shooting. Six days of location work, flash floods, screaming jets and an injured star force the production to shut down, leaving insurance agents to smooth over the chaos and Gilliam fans to ponder what might have been. Jeff Bridges, who starred in Gilliam’s The Fisher King, narrates. Lost in La Mancha screens at 2:35, 5, 7:30 and 10:05 p.m. (BJS)

THE QUIET AMERICAN. Director Philip Noyce’s adaptation of the 1956 Graham Greene novel stars Oscar-nominated Michael Caine as Thomas Fowler, the middle-aged London Times foreign correspondent covering the French-Indochina war in Saigon. Fowler, who lives in Vietnam with a beautiful ex-taxi dancer named Phuong (Do Thi Hai Yen), finds this lifestyle imperiled when a young American doctor, Alden Pyle (Brendan Fraser), falls in love with Phuong and tries to wrest her away. As the eponymous “quiet American,” Pyle is rather the opposite—his naive idealism and fervent democratic bent wreak havoc in issues apart from the cynical Fowler’s true love. Not only is love at stake, however: Pyle’s presence also leads Fowler to uncover disturbing information about America’s involvement in the war. Though Pyle turns Fowler’s life topsy-turvy, Noyce keeps his film uncomplicated—and the esteemed Caine is also unlikely to disappoint. The Quiet American screens at 2:15, 4:40, 7 and 9:50 p.m.; Saturdays and Sundays at 11:45 a.m. (TIH)

RIVERS AND TIDES. A documentary about erosion may sound as appetizing as a plate piled high with General Wong’s Chicken, but filmmaker Thomas Riedelsheimer has apparently met the challenge and created an erosion movie worth seeing. Rivers and Tides tracks artist Andy Goldsworthy, a Scottish sculptor of what he dubs “earthworks,” organic creations positioned in a fashion and location that leaves them vulnerable to the elements. Works of stone, ice and wood are placed on land or in the sea in such a way that they are beaten into uselessness or oblivion. Sounds like an Ingmar Bergman PBS documentary. Rivers and Tides screens at 2:25, 4:50, 7:20 and 9:40 p.m. (BJS)

TALK TO HER. With Golden Globes and the Oscars just around the corner, the only recognition that Pedro Almodovar’s pretentious Talk to Her deserves is as the year’s most overrated film. Though beautifully shot and populated with a set of unusually complicated characters, Talk to Her shamelessly and outrageously asks its audience to sympathize with a rapist. The film manages, paradoxically, to be both sloppily edited and deadeningly self-conscious. As it progresses, the audience is slowly but surely ushered into a stupor very closely resembling that of the coma victim at the story’s inane center. Talk to Her screens at 2, 4:30, 7:10 and 10 p.m. (NKB)

—Happening was compiled by Stephen N. Jacobs, Michael S. Hoffman, Tiffany I. Hsieh, Nathan K. Burstein, Benjamin J. Soskin, Clint J. Froehlich, Christopher W. Platts, Emily S. High and Ryan J. Kuo.