Dan's Papers - October 5, 2007 - Take Five 2007 with Jan Silver

This Columbus Day week is filled with good music, theater, independent films, interesting speakers and many special events. Singer/songwriter Kenny Rankin is at Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center on Saturday followed by blues great Keb' Mo' on Sunday evening. The Hampton Theatre Company just opened its production in Quogue of the award-winning play Proof and Sag Harbor's Bay Street Theatre has a new-play reading on Saturday afternoon. Ola presents two outstanding new Spanish language films at the Parrish Art Museum tonight (free), and the Picture Show at Bay Street Theatre screens two Anthony Hopkins films this weekend.

Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons (ARF) has a dog walk Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon from Mulford Farm at East Hampton's village green strolling two miles to the ocean; there will be complementary identity microchips for dogs, photos, tee shirts, an agility course and refreshments (call 631-537-0400 or online www.arfhamptons.org to register). The Artists Alliance of East Hampton has a reception tonight at the Walk Tall Gallery, 62 Park Place, and then a Saturday and Sunday self-guided tour of artists' studios ($50 donation; call 631-324-2225 or online www.artistsstudiotour.org). This weekend is Montauk's 26th Annual Fall Festival on the village green, with children's games and activities, beer and wine tastings, and Grucci Fireworks at 7 p.m. Saturday at Umbrella Beach on Old Montauk Highway. There's a Save Sag Harbor (stop big-box stores) party on Sunday, 4 to 7 p.m., at the Old Whalers Church on Union St. Alexa Ray Joel will perform, and most of the local artists, photographers, restaurants and shops (Christie Brinkley, Jimmy Buffett, E.L. Doctorow, April Gornik, etc.) helped organize the party which includes food, music, a big auction and children's activities. A $50 donation is suggested but $25 for adults will be accepted (no charge for children 16 and under); more information is on the website www.savesagharbor.com.

Tickets are now on sale for the 15th year of the film festival. More than 100 films will be screened in East Hampton, Southampton, Sag Harbor and Montauk including 17 world premieres and 11 U.S. premieres. There are feature films, documentaries, short films and student films plus an interview on Thursday, October 18, 3 p.m. at Bay Street Theatre with actress Vanessa Redgrave, who will be honored with HIFF's Lifetime Achievement Award. The public is also invited to an interview with acclaimed actor/director Sidney Lumet at Bay Street Theatre on Friday, October 19, 3 p.m. There will be a "green" presence in the HIFF tent on the LVIS's lawn, Main St., East Hampton with a presentation from Al Gore's Climate Ambassadors and another by Tom Rousch of the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

There are ticket packages and parties. Individual tickets start at $9 for early afternoon screenings, $12 for regular screenings, $20-$35 for Spotlight films (independent films with well-known actors scheduled for later release), and $25 for the celebrity interviews. The schedule is online and ticket purchases can be made at www.hamptonsfilmfest.org or at the HIFF ticket office, Design Within Reach, 30 Park Place, East Hampton, (631) 747-7978.

The Hampton Theatre Company's production of the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play Proof by John Patrick Shanley, about a priest's possibly dubious behavior with a parochial schoolboy, just opened at the Quogue Community Hall. The show plays Thursday to Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. through October 28. Tickets are $22 for adults, $20 for seniors and $10 for students; call (631) 653-8955 to reserve seats.

Bay Street Theatre, Sag Harbor, continues its "Tea at 3" new-play readings on Saturday, 3 p.m., with Road Rage by Wendy Hammond. The story involves a woman on the run who experiences a defining moment in rural mid-America. There is no admission charge; tea and cake are sold at the concession stand for $3.

Singer/songwriter Kenny Rankin, whose mellow, versatile voice and guitar playing encompass his personal blend of jazz, folk and rock, will be at Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center on Saturday at 8 p.m. (tickets $20-40). On Sunday at 8 p.m., Grammy Award-winning blues artist Keb'Mo' takes over the PAC stage ($50-80). Tickets are sold at the box office after noon (631-288-1500) or online at www.whbpac.org.

Recommended entertainers at local clubs and restaurants this week: Montauk - live bands weekend afternoons at 668 Gigshack; Amagansett - at the Stephen Talkhouse (631-267-3117) on Fri.- Long Island Street Survivors (Lynryd Skynrd tribute band), Sat.- soul/r&b with Annie Morgan Band; Estia Cantina (631-267-6320) - salsa Thurs. with Mambo Loco. East Hampton - jazz Fri. at Almondito; Fri. pop and jazz standards with Jane Hastay and Peter Martin Weiss at Coco Restaurant (Maidstone Arms), pianist Paul Gene at Babette's Sat.; Sagaponack - Twilight Thursdays (5-7:30 p.m.) at Wölffer Estate Vineyard with live music. Sag Harbor - Annie Morgan Band on Fri. at Mumbo Gumbo; Bridgehampton - World Pie jazz brunch Sun. with Stefanie Cardinali Group, Pierre's Restaurant - light jazz with Dennis Raffelock on Sun. and Jody Carlson next Tues., Monica sings at One Ocean on Thurs.; Water Mill - guitarist Steve Fredericks at Muse on Thurs; Southampton - reggae band Project Vibe late Fri. at Publick House; Westhampton Beach - musicians Thurs., Fri., Sun. at The Patio, musicians Fri. & Sat. at Annona; East Quogue - Annie Morgan Band on Sat. at Docker's.

Ola presents two award-winning Spanish-language films (with English subtitles) tonight at Southampton's Parrish Art Museum starting at 6:30 p.m. The first film is Cama Adentro (Live-In Maid) and the second is Derecho de Familia (Family Law). There is no admission charge. The Hampton Library, Bridgehampton, continues its Hispanic film series on Sunday, 2 p.m., with the comedy Madeintheusa (Peru, 2005); there is also no admission charge.

The Parrish Art Museum has a sneak preview of "Art:21," the PBS series on contemporary art and artists. On Saturday, 7 p.m., the new segment "Protest" will be shown. It features four artists whose work engages politics, inequality, poverty and injustice: Jenny Holzer, Alfredo Jaar, An-My Le and Nancy Spero. There is no admission charge.

The Picture Show at Bay Street Theatre, Sag Harbor, continues its classic film screenings with two Anthony Hopkins movies this weekend. The Bounty (1984) with co-stars Mel Gibson, Laurence Olivier, Daniel Day-Lewis and Liam Neeson goes on at 8 p.m. Friday, and Amistad (1997) with Morgan Freeman, Djimon Hounsou and Matthew McConaughey is the Saturday 8 p.m. feature. Tickets are $5 and the box office opens at 7 p.m.

Sag Harbor's 300th anniversary celebration continues this Saturday and Sunday at the Sag Harbor Whaling Museum with two authors talking about their local books from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. Stephen Longmire with discuss his photo-and-text tome Keeping Time in Sag Harbor, documenting the changes over the years, and Ruth Crocker will talk about Mrs Russell Sage, a founder of the Sag Harbor library.

Lucette Lagnado will be at BookHampton, Sag Harbor, on Saturday at 6 p.m. to talk about her popular memoir The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit. At BookHampton, East Hampton, on Saturday at 8 p.m., Betsy Carter will read from her new novel Swim to Me.