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.

Parlez-vous 'Opera'?

So, you start to wonder about that English-speaking opera revival movement at Harvard. With three operas staged this year, and an additional one in the works for next year (bringing the grand total to four), your fifteen minutes of high culture fame may be here.

Dunster House Opera is looking for musical directors, opera directors and a whole slew of people to help with next season's productions. It's a great opportunity to be involved in some musical theatre of true quality and a warm and friendly circle of people to boot. Don't be afraid--opera isn't as intimidating as it may seem at first. Get in touch with your diva (or techie) side and get involved. Chances are you'll enjoy it.

Alternative Earth Day

On Saturday, April 25th, nearly 100 environmental exhibitors and crunchy folks will gather at the Hatch Shell to celebrate Mother Earth. The Esplanade will be the location of EarthFest 1998, hosted by WBOS.

With performances including the regrouped 10,000 Maniacs, and the other Paul Simon, Marc Cohn, the EarthFest promises warm music and good cheer. In the past, the show has been held in the panopticon called City Hall--which has been markedly less grassy and more about bricks.

So if you need something to do while hosting your pre-frosh next weekend, consider celebrating our planet musically.

Fest Fever

Tis spring. Tis the season for Harvard students to emerge from a foreboding stack of papers and re-enter the world of sunshine and warmth. Tis the season for a healthy host of Harvard "fests." Coming up this weekend is the much-heralded Thropstock at Winthrop House (and you're all invited--even if you don't live there!) Thropstock promises to be a veritable confluence of fabulous music, with several student bands on the day's bill. In addition to the bands, there will be several arts and crafts areas--and the folks over at Winthrop House don't mean left-over PTA projects. There will be tattoo design, weaving, face painting and Ukranian egg design, among others fabulous arts activities. This year also marks the revival of fabled jello-wrestling. That may or may not contribute to the arts scene at Thropstock... After this week's fling, look forward to SpringFest next week and Arts First the week after. This, dear readers, is as good as it gets.

Springtime Blues

They're painting the Yard. You're gazing out of your 11 o'clock class, it's sunny, and you notice that the Yard has been transformed from its hopeful-looking greenishness into turquoise. Turquoise. Azure. Teal. One might expect--and even accept--a nice hunter green, even kelly green, but the color of the Yard is now currently bordering on blue. The administration has not gone crazy, of course. Commencement is coming up in June, and the Yard would be even uglier than it is now if thousands of students, alumni and parents trampled the Yard into a muddy pulp. The overall artistic effects of the grassy Commencement Yard greatly outweigh the currently blue Yard. With the return of Blue is the return of that smell, the smell of that fertilizer which embodies for so many of us springtime and summer at Harvard. (You know the cool, acidic smell--the blue smell). There is always a day in springtime when one wakes up and finds the grass green for the first time, but it is only at Harvard that the magical springtime moment happens when one wakes up to the blue Yard.