FRIDAY
Poems poems and more poems: Start your weekend early with a visit to the VOICE reading at Krannert Art Museum beginning at 3:30 p.m. to hear Dana Burchfield, Heather Salus and Eduardo Gabrieloff each read from their work. The reading will last for about an hour, after which time you’ll be able to spend the weekend telling friends, family and strangers about the poetry reading you attended.
Behold! Your tax dollars hard at work: From 4–5 p.m., take a final tour of the Lincoln Hall foyer and theater as the architect describes historic preservation efforts. Bring a Lincoln penny, too! All pennies collected at the kick-off will be incorporated into the restored structure. (Location to be revealed later.)
Fill the Void: Head over to the Canopy Club’s Void Room for a night of rock featuring Chicago’s The Sweeps and C-U’s Jet W. Lee and JigGsaw. Jet W. Lee (right) is the new project of ex-Post Historic frontman Jesse Johnson; check out the demo of “Gun Shy” on their myspace, or an interview with Johnson from earlier this summer.
The show’s scheduled to start at 9:30 p.m., and cover is $7.
SATURDAY
You’re a wuss: Prove me wrong by destroying your competitors in a tuba hurling contest! No, I did not mis-speak, I said a tuba (as in the lowest pitched and largest brass band instrument known to man) hurling contest, which will be held from 12–1:30 p.m. at Freer Hall Swimming Pool, 906 S. Goodwin, Urbana. Tis the first event of its kind, and it seems to be too awesome of an idea to go to waste, so see to it that it isn’t the last. Wuss.
Whirlwind tour of the arts: It sounds like a bad high-concept movie conceit: You have only four hours to sample all the arts organizations available at the University of Illinois and you have no money; what do you do, smart guy? Well, rather than shooting the hostage, how about you head over to Taste of the Arts at Krannert Center from noon to 4 p.m.? A baker’s dozen of local troupes will vie for your attention, in the following procession:
Noon Gah Rahk Mah Dahng
12:15 Josh Brickman
12:30 3SPOT Dance Troupe
12:40 Expressions Theater Troupe
1:00 Illini Wushu Club
1:15 Legend Dance Company
1:25 Mithya
1:40 Ka Melia Hula
2:00 Illini Folk Dance Society
2:50 Floor Lovers Illinois
3:00 Toxic Motion Dance Company
3:30 The Rip Chords
3:45 Velocity Dance
You’re not out any cash, and then you can drop phrases like “Ka Melia Hula” and “Gah Rahk Mah Dahng” into conversation without being a complete poser. It’s a win-win!
SUNDAY
A transformative experience: Head over to the Virginia Theatre for a matinee showing of Jekyll & Hyde, performed by the Champaign-Urbana Theatre Company. Showtime is 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, and tickets are $19 for the general public and $17 for students.
Oooooh, banned books!: The Urbana Free Library is hosting a reading of The Bookseller of Kabul at 2 p.m. as part of their recognition of Banned Books Week, which was earlier this month. From the event announcement: “Norwegian [Asne] Seierstad is one of the first journalists to enter Kabul in 2001, after the fall of the Taliban. In a bookstore she meets the owner, Sultan Khan, and slowly cultivates a friendship. Fascinated, she decides she’d like to write a book about him and his unique family; he permits her to move in. What she finds is unexpected. This memoir is Seierstad’s portrait of a fragment of Afghan culture.”