Things to Do, May 1-8, 2015

Joshua Redman
Jay Blakesberg
Joshua Redman performs with Cornell musicians in a tribute to John Coltrane, "A Love Supreme at 50," May 3.

Ezra and company

The Tompkins County Public Library is hosting a new exhibition featuring the contributions of 15 illustrious Cornellians, including Ezra Cornell, Belle Sherman, Robert H. Treman and Beverly J. Martin.

“Cornell Off Campus: The Impact of Cornellians on Tompkins County 1865-2015” has an opening reception during Gallery Night, May 1 from 5 to 8 p.m. Free and open to the public.

Curator Julee Johnson, M.A. ’85, will give guided tours of the exhibition and provide details on Cornellians not featured. Thirty-minute tours begin at 5:15, 6:15 and 7 p.m.; after 6 p.m. enter the library through the door behind the bus shelter on Green Street.

Spring Writes

The Spring Writes Literary Festival, sponsored by the Community Arts Partnership, will feature Cornell talent as part of a weekend of more than 30 literary events – readings, workshops, panels and performances – in downtown Ithaca.

The Starry Mountain Sweetheart Band, “Ithaca’s premier writer rock band” made up of Cornell MFA students and faculty, will play an acoustic “Swansong Show” Friday, May 1 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Argos Inn. The band, which includes professor of English and fiction writer J. Robert Lennon, will perform new songs along with selections from their two albums, a self-titled CD and “The Hate of Love.”

Emeritus professor of biology Tom Gavin, who maintains a website as a field biologist and naturalist, participates in a “Writing About Nature” panel, May 2 from 3 to 4:15 p.m. at Buffalo Street Books, featuring area nature writers and journalists.

Events are free; donations will be accepted to pay participating artists.

Redman, Cornell, Coltrane

The Cornell Wind Ensembles (CU Winds) and Cornell University Jazz Band will celebrate the 50th anniversary of John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” with Grammy Award-nominated saxophonist Joshua Redman, May 3 at 3 p.m. in Bailey Hall. Free and open to the public. Presented by the Department of Music.

The concert, “A Love Supreme at 50,” features a new arrangement of Coltrane’s masterwork, under the direction of jazz band director Paul Merrill and CU Winds conductor James Spinazzola; and music by Gordon Jacob and Ralph Vaughan Williams.

Guy Davis concert

Storyteller, songwriter and blues musician Guy Davis returns to WVBR’s “Bound for Glory” live at the Anabel Taylor Café, Sunday, May 3 at 8 p.m. Admission is free and open to all ages.

Now in its 48th year and hosted by Phil Shapiro, M.A. ’69, since its first broadcast in 1967, “Bound for Glory” airs Sunday evenings throughout the year on WVBR-FM. Concert broadcasts feature three sets of live music at 8:30, 9:30 and 10:30 p.m.

‘The Hunting Ground’

A screening of the documentary film “The Hunting Ground” and a related panel discussion on sexual assault will be held May 4 from 7 to 9:30 p.m. in Willard Straight Theatre. Free and open to the public.

The film addresses the issue of sexual assault on college campuses and is relevant for anyone working or studying at colleges and universities today.

The panel will be led by Susan Murphy, senior vice president of student and academic services; with panelists Cornell Police Chief Kathy Zoner; Balch Hall resident advisers 
Qurrat Ahmad and Olivia Davis; Renee Alexander, associate dean and director of intercultural programs; associate dean of students 
Joe Burke, director of residential and new student programs
; and 
Laura Weiss, Cornell Women’s Resource Center director.

For more information, contact pm75@cornell.edu.

Freedom songs

The Cornell Language Resource Center presents a free screening of “Amandla! A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony,” May 5 at 7 p.m. at Cornell Cinema in Willard Straight Theatre. Free and open to the public.

The event will highlight the center’s courses in Arabic, Swahili, Wolof, Yoruba and Zulu, and provide an opportunity to meet African language faculty. The 2002 documentary will be introduced by Sandra Sanneh and Mariame Sy, who teach video-conferenced Zulu and Wolof courses at Cornell and direct African languages programs at Yale and Columbia, respectively.

Taking its title from the Zulu and Xhosa word for power, “Amandla!” depicts the struggles of black South Africans against the injustices of apartheid through the use of music, focusing on South African “freedom songs” that came to represent the 20th century struggle for racial equality. The film was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Audience Award and the Freedom of Expression Award.

The screening will be preceded by a reception with African refreshments and a poetry reading in Wolof and English. The event is co-sponsored by the Shared Course Initiative, the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies and the Office of Academic Diversity Initiatives. Information: Lisa Sansoucy.

A full schedule of Cornell Cinema programming continues through May 16.

Korean Festival

The sixth annual end-of-year Korean Festival will showcase the work of students in the Korean Language Program, May 5 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall. Free and open to the Cornell community.

The cultural event features free Korean food and performances by Shimtah and E-Motion. To raise awareness of the program and promote enrollment in Korean language courses, students will present on what they have learned and achieved during the year, and those who began with elementary Korean and completed three years of the language will be acknowledged.

The festival is sponsored by the Department of Asian Studies and the East Asia Program, and supported by the Joh Foundation. For information, email Meejeong Song or Ji Hye Lee

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Joe Schwartz