Doing it for money

Even if you hate classical music to death for its staid canonical values that place a tradition on feigned understanding of expressive abstraction, or even if soloists who reach levels of technical sophistication matched only by the complete void of emotion don't float your boat, well, here's a good cause for you, featuring none other than yummy Joe Lin. This violinist, who is promoted prominently in windows at Claverly, will hold a charity solo concert for the HARMONY program, a community service organization that provides free music lessons to Cambridge public school children. Out of the classroom and into the practice room, goes the cry, and I will play music for you for money, goes Lin's great-hearted reply. You can't go wrong here, as Mozart, Brahms and Gershwin will receive the breath of life from Lin's tenderly-stroked strings. Take a little bite out of the musical educational apple this Saturday at 8 p.m. at the formerly-of-Cocktail-Party- fame Winthrop House Junior Common Room.

Seasonal Clout

Month in, month out, the Harvard Film Archive reminds us of the Mumia Abu-Jamal case through a screening of Mumia Abu-Jamal: A Case for Reasonable Doubt?, directed by John Edington. This has been promised to continue until the trial is brought true justice. This month is no different, the description discreetly tucked into the corner of the monthly schedule, though lacking the usual explanation for the regularity of its screening. When we've been particularly lucky, we've been blessed with an accompanying booksale, right by the theater doors. This weekend, you can see the movie for yourself and judge whether this monthly treat should continue to be monthly and should be the curator's treat to give. What happened to the monthly Metropolis screening?

Happy feet

Resurrecting the famed dance programs of Radcliffe years past can't be in a flick of the bunioned toe, but a few years of concentrated effort might help. And the past couple of years has seen a fairly sustained interest in...an attempt. But it's valiant, as memories of past organized summer dance programs worm their way into our heads. Of course, you've probably heard most about one big extravaganza, but first thing's first: metaphysics.

In what is described as a "medley" of dance, the Caribbean Club Dance Troupe and Expressions Dance Company roll out Manifestations of Soul tonight at 7:30 p.m. The performance space will be Lowell Lecture Hall, thanks to the intense e-mail lobbying efforts of those administrative people who determine who gets what space ("student leaders," you know them well). But for whom, may we ask, is one night of Harvard dance enough? Well, let's avoid that question and move on to: the Harvard-Radcliffe Ballet Company presents dancers for dancers' sakes. No more "passion sequences" a la 70s mainstage musicals. This is the real thing: bits from all over, Bach's Toccata in Fugue, Rhapsody in Blue, Firebird, and Mainly Jazz's peculiar Starbucks blend. Both April 17 and 18, 8 p.m., at the Reiman Dance Center.

Grab Grandma, It's Poetry

For the third year in a row, April is National Poetry Month. The first harbingers of this nationwide phenomeon are already manifest, namely the Magnetic Poetry boards installed at T-stops across the city. But this is only the tip of the iceberg, according to the latest press release from the Academy of American Poets. Projects include "distibut[ing] 100,000 free books of poetry in supermarkets, hotels, jury waiting rooms, schools, libraries, literacy centers, highway rest stops, on Amtrak trains and in other public place." Reacting to what appears to be the growing irrelevance of poetry in American culture, the big-hitters of American poetry will be coming out in droves to support the genre, a veritable LiveAid for the literary world. Aside from a brief spate of spoken-word spots on MTV, pop culture seems to have forsaken poetry altogether. Which makes us wonder, can a nationwide publicity blitz sway today's younger readers? What America really needs now is Courtney Love, wearing a diaphanous nightie, reading Czeslaw Milosz from the roof of the Viper Club. Now that would be something.

Bah Bah Bah Bum

Get ready to rumble! Tonight, for one night and one night only, the two Teutonic titans of timbre go head-to-head in Sanders Theatre. At 8 p.m., The Harvard Radcliffe Orchestra (HRO) performs Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 and Mahler's Symphony No. 4. Music fans will also enjoy "Luonnotar," composed by the furious Finnish frenzy known only as Sibelius. Catch the opening event pre-concert lecture at 7 p.m. with Professor of Music Dr. Karen Painter. Tickets are available from the Sanders Theatre Box Office.

More Happy Feet

Wondering where dance at Harvard is hiding? You may not hear a lot about them, but they're here nonetheless. The Harvard-Radcliffe Ballet Company and Mainly Jazz are having a recital this weekend, to the tunes of "Firebird" and "Mainly Jazz." If the groups' past shows are any indication of what Friday and Saturday night will bring, than ballet-goers are in for a true treat.

In addition to performing, the two companies will inaugurate the new Radcliffe facility and pay tribute to dance on campus.

Both companies may be small, but all of their dancers exude grace, talent and a whole lotta spunk. Boston Ballet may be slightly more professional, but the Rieman Dance Center (next to the Agassiz) is a lot closer, a lot cheaper and will be holding a marvelous show this weekend only.