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Arts & Entertainment

Bruce Hornsby, Bela Flek in Windsor; "Something Borrowed" in Suffield; McLovin's Play Simsbury

Enrich your life, August 25 – September 1, 2011

SummerWind Presents Hornsby and Bela Fleck, and A Night on Broadway 

These guys need no introduction: Bruce Hornsby & the Noisemakers and Bela Fleck & the Flecktones perform August 26 when Windsor's SummerWind Performing Arts Center presents Blues Night, and what a night it promises to beOpening the show is the Allman Brothers' Jaimoe and his Jasssz Band.

Concert time is 6 p.m. Tickets range from $77.80 to $99.55. 

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On Aug. 27, SummerWind presents A Night on Broadway with the Hartford Pops. Vocalists Steven Mitchell and Kathryn Guthrie Demos are featured, performing timeless tunes with the Pops players under the direction of conductor Gary Partridge.

Concert time is 7:30 p.m. Tickets range from $17 to $35.

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 SummerWind is at 40 Griffin Road North, Windsor. For more information, visit www.sscsummerwind.org or call 800-317-7140.

Classical Guitarist Opens New Season at Windsor Art Center

New York-based classical guitarist Bret Williams opens the 2011-2012 music season at the Windsor Art Center in Windsor with a September 1 concert. Williams has been hailed as a guitarist of “spectacular energy and technical resource” (Nylon Review) and billed as a “rising star in the New York classical guitar scene” (New York Classical Guitar Society). Williams has performed alongside Metropolitan Opera tenor Ronald Naldi. Other notable concerts include Brooklyn Academy of Music in Brooklyn. N.Y., and the Kimmel Center for Performing Arts in Philadelphia.

Concert time is 7:30 p.m. Suggested donation is $10 at the door. The Windsor Art Center is at the corner of Central and Mechanic streets in Windsor. For more information, visit www.windsorartcenter.org or call 860-688-2528.

Something Borrowed and Romanian Drama On Screen in Suffield

You can borrow a best friend's sweater, borrow her favorite shoes, even perhaps borrow her car, but borrow her boyfriend? Not a good idea. The thin line between friendship and love gets tested in Something Borrowed when Ginnifer Goodwin's terminally single Rachel falls for her best friend's fiance. Kate Hudson plays the best friend with Colin Egglesfield as the too popular boyfriend material. The film screens for free this week at the Kent Memorial Library in Suffield. Screening time is 2 p.m. The film is rated PG-13.

On August 31, the library presents a free screening of the acclaimed independent film If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle. The film, a first feature from director Florin Serban, was Romania's entry for Best Foreign Film Oscar in 2010. Adapted from a stage play, it chronicles the story of a teenage prisoner who is two weeks away from release.

Screening time is 6:30 p.m. The film is not rated. Kent Memorial Library is at 50 North Main St., Suffield. For more information, visit www.suffield-library.org or call 860-668-3896.

Textural Paintings by Leslie Wayne at Joseloff

Colorful, layered oil paintings by artist Leslie Wayne are featured in a new exhibition opening August 30 at the Joseloff Gallery in West Hartford. "Leslie Wayne: Recent Work" features over 20 of the New York artist's dimensional, textural paintings, works that mine "the tension between material memory and morphogenesis," Wayne says. Inspired by landscape and geology, Wayne’s paintings are a secular contemporary and abstract response to 19th century Romantic landscape painting. Rather than paint pictures of landscapes, she aims to capture the corporeal essence of nature. 

The exhibition opens August 30. An opening reception is scheduled for September 8 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Joseloff Gallery. It is preceded by an artist's lecture from 2:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. at Koopman Commons at the Hartford Art School. The Joseloff Art Gallery is at 200 Bloomfield Ave., West Hartford. For more information, visit www.joseloffgallery.org or call 860-768-4090.

Day of Play at the Jewish Community Center

Thinking of signing up for a class this fall at the Mandell Jewish Community Center? To help you decide, why not start with a free sample of what's on offer? On August 28, you can do just that when the JCC hosts its Day of Play. Karate, arts and crafts, dance, sports and more are previewed for children and adults. Pre-school programs run from 10 a.m. to noon. Youth and adult programs are 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. The event is open to all. Admission is free. The Mandell Jewish Community Center is at 335 Bloomfield Ave., West Hartford. For reservations and more information, visit www.mandelljcc.org or call 860-236-4571.

Toy Story 3 Screens Free in Canton

Buzz Lightyear is back when the animated comedy Toy Story 3 screens on August 27 at the Shoppes at Farmington Valley in Canton. Pre-show entertainment is provided by the Stanley Maxwell Jam band.

The pre-show runs from 6 to 8 p.m. The free screening begins at dusk in the main parking area near the barn. The Shoppes at Farmington Valley are at 110 Albany Turnpike, Canton. For more information, visit www.theshoppesatfarmingtonvalley.com or call 860-693-3059.

Simsbury Author, Cancer Survivor Speaks at Library

At the age of 47, Simsbury's Pam Lacko was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Throughout her subsequent treatment, she wrote a blog that became a book, Laughing in the Face of Cancer. Lacko appears August 30 at the Simsbury Public Library to discuss her book, her experiences, and her approach to life. Lacko, a successful businesswoman, wife, and mother donates her spare time to the Simsbury chamber of Commerce, the Simsbury Public School system, and various cancer-awareness organizations in the area.

Lacko's talk runs from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. The Simsbury Public Library is at 725 Hopmeadow St., Simsbury. For more information, visit www.simsburylibrary.info or call 860-658-7663.

McLovin's at Simsbury Performing Arts Center

Soul, funk and rock; new tunes and old ones are on the playlist when the progressive jam band the McLovin's performs September 2 at Simsbury Meadows in Simsbury. The event is part of the Simsbury Iron Horse Concert Series. 

Gates open at 6 p.m. Tickets start at $8 for lawn seats. For more information, call 860-651-4052. The Performing Arts Center at Simsbury Meadows is at 22 Iron Horse Boulevard, Simsbury. 

Bushnell Presents Traces

If the world ended tomorrow, what would you leave behind? That's the central question in Traces, the acclaimed music, dance and acrobatics show by the Montreal-based troupe 7 Fingers. Fresh from a performance for Prince William and Kate as part of Canada Day and an appearance on NBC's America's Got TalentTraces arrives at Hartford's Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts where it runs September 27 through October 9. The production fuses the traditions of circus and street performance to create a high-energy hybrid. 

Ticket prices start at $50The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts is at 166 Capitol Ave., Hartford. For tickets and more information, visit www.bushnell.org or call the box office at 860-987-5900

Hartford Stage Presents Miller's Crucible

Arthur Miller's powerful 1953 drama about the dangers of unfounded superstitions, fear, and false accusations opens the new season at Hartford Stage in Hartford. Miller based his play on the Salem witch trials of 1692 and 1693, but it is widely understood to be his response to McCarthyism, a period during which the U.S. government blacklisted accused communists. Gordon Edelstein, artistic director of New Haven's Long Wharf Theatre, stages the production for Hartford Stage.

The Crucible runs September 1 through 25. For tickets prices and more information, visit www.hartfordstage.org or call 860-527-5151.Hartford Stage is at 50 Church St., Hartford. 

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