Comments (0) The Nashville Public Library is offering assistance on e-book downloads for an iPad, Kindle, Nook or Droid.
Instructions are online for each gadget. A library card is required for the download. Hands-on training will be available on select dates.
Visit www.library.nashville.org.
Here in the catacombs of the Scene edit bunker, you’ll be hard-pressed to find anyone who isn’t a fan of Re-Animator, the gonzo 1985 splatter movie freely adapted from the works of H.P. Lovecraft. (If they aren’t, they’re wise enough to keep it to themselves. Same with Pootie Tang.) That’s why we practically bobbled our severed head when we heard that actor Jeffrey Combs — yes, Re-Animator‘s scientific inquisitor Herbert West in the flesh — will be performing his one-man show Nevermore: An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe at the Nashville Public Library 7 p.m. Jan. 19.
The show’s a special treat for Re-Animator fans, as it reunites the star with director Stuart Gordon and co-writer Dennis Paoli. (They last collaborated on a Showtime “Masters of Horror” episode derived from Poe’s “The Black Cat,” which inspired this well-reviewed production.) It’s also likely to draw folks who’ve followed Combs’ career through stints on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Enterprise and The 4400.
There’ll be a reception at 6:15 p.m. followed by the play, which kicks off a promising new series called “Night at the Library” that expands the downtown library’s already plentiful cultural offerings. For more information, see the press release below.
Nashville, improbably, is yet to have a permanent memorial to the city’s pivotal role in the 1961 Freedom Rides and the young men and women who risked their lives to advance the cause of Civil Rights in America. This year marked the 50th anniversary of the Rides, and there were plenty of events and opportunities to pay tribute. Belcourt Theatre screened Stanley Nelson’s Freedom Riders documentary, which is based on Ray Arsenault’s book of the same name. A commemorative bus ride stopped in Nashville as it retraced the original Rides. Even Oprah welcomed the Riders for an entire show, acknowledging Nashville’s role and the leadership of the young Diane Nash, who shepherded new rides from the city after the first leg was met with extreme violence in Alabama. Meanwhile, an extraordinary art exhibit has quietly been keeping vigil for the Riders and their 1956 bus boycott compatriots at the downtown Nashville Public Library. Charlotta Janssen‘s portraits of the Boycotters and Freedom Riders, “Threads of a Story: History Inspiring Art,” are based on mug shots and other historic photographs of the period. It’s worth getting down to the Library in the next couple of weeks to see the exhibit before it makes its way to the Smithsonian. The dozen portraits composed of oil, acrylic, iron oxide and collage on canvas walk a line between pop and folk art, and are indeed “heroic portraits of courage” as the advertising material suggests. Included are Ernest “Rip” Patton, Hilmar Paber, Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, Cordell Reagon, Joy Reagon, John Lewis, John Seigenthaler, Diane Nash, Reverend James Lawson, Addie J. Hamerter and Charles Cox. It’s hard to separate these portraits from the stories they tell, and easy to get caught up appreciating an exhibit simply because one should. But put this out of your mind. Janssen’s portraits are excellent, and work both as an artful experience and a fitting tribute to the Freedom Riders and Bus Boycotters. Her choice of varying the sizes of the canvases has you stepping in and stepping back, getting a closer look and then taking it all in, not unlike how the Freedom Riders story should be digested. There is the larger, overarching and inspiring take, oft-times shameful when you hear what those kids (and yes, they were kids) went through. And then when you dig deeper, into the individual stories of the Riders and mechanisms of the Rides, there is even more inspiration and shame. Ultimately, though, there is triumph. Janssen uses collage here to great effect, including recreated clippings from “The Tennessean,” “Nashville Banner” and foreign papers. One such headline proclaims, “In the land of Ernest Hemingway, some people still fight for basic human rights.” Janssen, a Maine native who studied painting at the University of the Arts in Berlin, first got the idea for “Threads of a Story” after President Obama was sworn into office in early 2009. She wrote in her artist statement that she wanted to go back and thank those men and women who came before Obama, for their work and dedication in the Civil Rights movement that made this moment possible. “These are extraordinary humans who didn’t stand by idle,” she wrote. “Freedom Riders are a miracle to me that we all need to know about and build on what they started: the beloved community.” It’s a powerful statement. We’ve come to accept, and maybe even take for granted, the role of a filmmaker or writer in documentary history. But there are roles for visual artists, as well, and Janssen, like Arsenault and Nelson, has given us a great gift in these portraits. Unfortunately, they are only on loan to Nashville, which could use them permanently. “Charlotta Janssen: Threads of a Story: History Inspiring Art” is on view until December 31 in the Courtyard Gallery at the downtown Nashville Public Library.
Fans of Star Trek Deep Space Nine‘s Jeffrey Combs will be able to see the actor perform a one-man show in Nashville next month.
Combs will be appearing at the Nashville Public Library at 7 PM on January 19, where he will be performing Nevermore, An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe.
Nevermore, An Evening with Edgar Allan Poe, is “a dramatic recreation of the readings that Poe performed during the final years of his short life. Set in 1848 a year after the death of his beloved young wife Virginia, and at the height of his fame as the author of The Raven, the audiences watches as he is undone by his own self-destructive tendencies, or in his words: ‘the imp of the perverse.’”
“Our goal is to present a sense of the fascinating man behind the poetry and brilliant tales, a man who could be his own worst enemy, and whose life was even more bizarre and tragic than his strangest story,” said Director Stuart Gordon.”
Combs’ appearance is part of a new series, “Night at the Library.” The event will be held at the main branch, located at 615 Church Street in Nashville.
Midland County Public Library users will have the option of downloading music rather than borrowing CDs in a new program launched this week.
“It gave us access to a lot more songs than if we had spent the same amount of money just buying CDs,” said Diana Decker, liaison between the library and the Commissioners’ Court. “Plus, there’s something for everyone.”
The library joined what’s known as the Library Ideas’ Network of Public Library websites, which offer access to “Freegal Music.” The service includes songs from Sony Music’s catalog.
Midland County paid a $7,500 annual subscription fee that provides access to the catalog.
Library users will be limited to three songs per week and will be able to keep the song in their digital files permanently, said John Trischitti, library director.
“You get it forever. You have a limit of three per week,” he said. “It’s not like a downloadable book.”
Other libraries participating in the launch of the service include the Princeton Public Library in New Jersey, the Maricopa County Library District in Arizona and the Nashville Public Library in Tennessee.
Those with a Midland County Public Library card can download songs in an MP3 format from the library’s website, Trischitti said. They simply need their library card number.
He said they anticipate the service will be popular with patrons and also hope it will help in the overall marketing of the library’s programs.
After three songs have been downloaded in one week, Library Ideas allows users to put other songs on their “wish list” so they can come back and download them at a later time.
Brian Downing, co-founder of Library Ideas, said in a statement that the service is meant to give libraries another way to excite users about the library and its offerings.
“Sony Music has an incredibly expansive and popular catalog and we are really excited to partner with them on this, a very important product for libraries,” Downing said. “A library is a focal point of the community that requires many tools to excite people about library resources. More than anything, that is the reason for the service.”
Kathleen Thurber can be reached at kthurber@mrt.com.
Online: www.co.midland.tx.us/lib
Read more: Midland County Public Library launches music downloading option – Mywesttexas.com: Top Stories http://www.mywesttexas.com/top_stories/article_ca6cfe1d-e18c-51ab-a2db-26ca04aef489.html#ixzz1hmAp95Yr
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution
Locals interested in the environment and sustainable agriculture can attend a free screening of Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai and view projects in a student-led sustainability fair beginning at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Nashville Public Library’s main branch, 615 Church St.
When:Sat., Dec. 17, 2:30 p.m. 2011
Site search (will not locate items in catalog):
Press Room is powered by WordPress. Panorama Theme by 
Themocracy
