Film: Emerging Cinemas at Mos’Art Theatre in Lake Park has a treat for all children of the ’60s (which I proudly proclaim includes me). It is the hallucinogenic documentary Magic Trip, a celebration of author/guru Ken Kesey (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest) and his infamous 1964 cross-country ramble in a wildly painted school bus, with his posse of apostles aboard. Too young to be beatniks and too old for the hippie generation, they nonetheless were inspired by Jack Kerouac (On the Road) and inspired the next wave of the anti-establishment counter-culture. The film is a re-edit of Kesey’s home movies, finally synching audio and video and adding a loose narrative thread, with the voice of Stanley Tucci as our guide. So tune in, turn on and drop out for a couple of hours with a slice of ’60s history. – H. Erstein
Theater: Carbonell Award-nominated performances rarely return, but this weekend only, opportunity gives a second knock with a remarkable acting exercise by Karen Stephens, channeling some dozen and a half characters in the one-woman show, Bridge and Tunnel, by Sarah Jones. The chameleon-like Stephens inhabits the lives of denizens of a funky poetry slam coffee house and, along the way, draws connections between them and us, the audience of her show and the slam. Friday through Sunday only, Sept. 9-11, at the Willow Theatre in Sugar Sand Park. Boca Raton. Call (561) 347-3948 for tickets, a bargain at $15. – H. Erstein
Music: If you’re going to play the cello seriously, at some point you’re going to have to play the six cello suites of J.S. Bach. Written around 1720, these suites offer a remarkable display of what happens when a great composer runs dance music through a powerful, searching musical intellect. The Russian-born cellist Alexei Romanenko, principal cellist of the Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra, will play all six of the suites – more than two hours of music – on Saturday afternoon at the Calvary United Methodist Church in Lake Worth. As his website shows, Romanenko is a fine and compelling player, and there’s no better way to find out what his art is all about than hearing all of these suites. Admission to the 3 p.m. concert is only $5, and the church asks that you also bring one item of non-perishable food to aid its feeding program. That’s somehow appropriate: Few pieces of music are as nourishing and sustaining as these six suites of Bach. – G. Stepanich
This weekend at Delray Beach’s Arts Garage, it’s back-to-back music once again, this time with jazz songstress and violinist Nicole Yarling on Saturday evening as part of the Jazz Project. Yarling takes the stage at the Garage (180 N.E. 1st St.) at 8 p.m. On Sunday evening at 6, it’s Classical Explosion, with a South Florida Symphony-sponsored program of the Schubert String Quintet in C major (D. 956), one of the supreme works in this genre, and distinctive for its two cellos rather than two violas. Members of the Miami Music Project String Quartet (violinist Karen Lord-Powell, violist Yael Kleinman Hyken, and cellist Aaron Merritt) are joined by violinist Dina Kostic and cellist Claudio Jaffe for this monument of Romantic chamber music writing. Tickets for both shows are $25. For more information, visit www.delraybeacharts.org.
One of country music’s favorite contemporary performers, Brad Paisley, makes one of his frequent returns to South Florida this Saturday afternoon at the Cruzan Amphitheatre as part of his H2O II Tour. He’s joined by Jerrod Niemann and Blake Shelton, whose profile has risen substantially since his appearance as one of the judges on The Voice. The music starts at 4 p.m. Saturday, and tickets range (before fees) from $25 to $59.75. Visit www.livenation.com or Ticketmaster.
Art: The Armory Art Center will host the opening reception for “Hidden Florida,” a show by the collaborative group Photo Salon, beginning at 6 tonight. This exhibit showcases work by 25 local professional photographers, including Marie Marzi, who founded the collaborative. On view will be 35 photos of the often-overlooked, or never-before-seen, aspects of the Florida you know, as well as the Florida you may not know. Included are photos in color, black and white, digitally enhanced and manipulated, close-ups of nature, cityscapes, birds and horses. Some of the most fascinating images are of people in motion. The show is curated by Palm Beach gallery owner Holden Luntz, and runs until Oct. 15. The Armory Art Center is located at 1700 Parker Ave. in West Palm Beach. Exhibit hours are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. $5 admission for non-members. If you’re on Facebook, the Photo Salon group can be found at http://www.facebook.com/groups/228275850516073/ — J.M. Vogt
