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Broad Sheet: Rocked By Women

Broad Sheet: Rocked By Women

These are female-centric entertainment highlights you can't miss this week.

In this, our newest recurring feature, you'll get you the low-down on all the can't-miss, female-centric entertainment highlights coming up this week. Just think of it as our list of Totally Awesome Things That Will Remind You Why It Rocks To Be A Woman. Don't worry, you can thank us later. 

10. LP: Light Up Your Lantern by Lynx

By the time she released her first LP, Bay Area-by-way-of-Colorado artist Lynx was already an old friend and longtime collaborator of Beats Antique's Tommy Cappel, Matisyahu, Bassnectar, and John Popper. So perhaps it's no surprise that the haunting melodies on her 10-track debut LP embrace echoes of folk, Celtic-sounding violins, and a surprisingly seamless integration of electronica. With the commercial success of electro-pop bands like Imagine Dragons and OneRepublic, I'm hoping Lynx has chosen exactly the right moment to burst onto the scene with Light Up Your Lantern. Imagine if Mumford and Sons had a love-child with Florence Welch of Florence + The Machine, and that love-child was every bit as hot and talented as you'd expect, and you've got Lynx. Watch the stunning music video for the album's title track below, and get the LP on October 22 at Lynx's websiteSunnivie Brydum 

9. Theater: A Play Date With Dyke Drama

Chicago’s Pride Films and Plays presents an evening of new lesbian short plays by Windy City scribe Allison Fradkin. The program includes The Bloom Is Off the Heteros, Royally Screwballed, I Love Lezzie, Lady Parts, and Lesbo and Cupid’s Arrow. David Zak directs a cast featuring the company’s ensemble members and guest artists. Wednesday night only, at Stage 773, pay what you can at the door. Get more information here. —Trudy Ring

8. DVD: Robot Chicken Season 6!

The wickedly witty, Emmy Award-wining Robot Chicken has finally returned to Blu-ray and DVD in the latest release from Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. The stop-motion television series from co-creators Seth Green and Matthew Senreich, continues bringing pop-culture parodies to life in the most uniquely animated variety/sketch show on television. Featuring all 20 episodes from last season, Robot Chicken Season 6! is packed full of behind-the-scenes footage, special features, and extensive commentary guaranteed to keep you laughing for hours in your mom’s basement. In addition to the regular cast of animated characters, action figures, and claymation droids, viewers can expect an hilarious slew of special guests to include Elizabeth Banks, Sarah Chalke, Kat Dennings, Whoopi Goldberg, Megan Hilty, and Olivia Wilde. Robot Chicken Season 6! is available now on Blu-ray and DVD — Find both versions here. –Michael Regula

 

7. Music: Anna Calvi, One Breath

Anna Calvi, a 2012 nominee for Best British Breakthrough at the BRIT Awards, released her latest album One Breath on October 8. Produced by John Congleton and released by Domino Records, the album touches on “themes of lust, love, and death,” ravesThe Guardian, while delving into the “theatricality of passion and sadness.” Featuring sultry vocals merged with masterful guitar, One Breath follows the English singer’s self-titled successful debut album, which was nominated for the 2011 Mercury Music Prize.

“One Breath is the moment before you’ve got to open yourself up, and it’s about how terrifying that is,” the 33-year-old musician said. “It’s scary and it’s thrilling. It’s also full of hope, because whatever has to happen hasn’t happened yet.” Calvi will bring her world tour to the United States in November, when she will perform in New York City’s Music Hall of Williamsburg on the 11the, Los Angeles’s Royce Hall on the 16th, and San Francisco’s The Independent on the 17th. For more information, visit the artist’s website. Watch the music video for Calvi’s song, “Sing To Me,” below. Daniel Reynolds

6. Theater: Romeo and Juliet

The Curio Theatre Company in Philadelphia puts a new spin on Shakespeare’s classic romance — in this production, the young lovers are both female. The casting, according to the company, proves the “universality” of the tale. The progress of the marriage equality movement, director Krista Apple tellsPhiladelphia magazine, “means we’re arriving at a point when this casting choice can simply be another version of this timeless story. Another lens to see it through, with new eyes.” The character of Tybalt is also portrayed as a woman, “and there’s no Lord Capulet,” Apple adds. “Lady Capulet runs the house.” Aside from some changed pronouns and a few other minor tweaks, though, audiences will hear the dialogue as the Bard wrote it, she promises. The play has its official opening tonight, after a week of previews, and runs through November 2. Find tickets and info here. —Trudy Ring

5. Music: You See Me, PitchBlak Brass Band 

If you're like me, and you complain that hip-hop ain't what it used to be, and those young whippersnappers don't know how to play any real instruments, then PitchBlak Brass Band will cure what ails you. The ten-person ensemble features two out musicians in drummer Ashley Baier (who also plays in the queer-heavy band Melissa Li & The Barely Theirs) and smoking-hot sousaphonist Chanell Crichlow. Need a theme song for riding the 2 Train over the East River? They've got it. It's called "Ulysses," and it's one of the singles off their new album, You See Us. Definitely worth a listen. And check out PitchBlak's "Doppelgänger" below. Michelle Garcia

 

4. Blu-Ray: The Exorcist 40th Anniversary

I saw The Exorcist when I was 5 years old after a classmate’s clueless mom took us to the drive-in theater and then had to deal with the horrendous sleepover aftermath when I couldn't stop worrying about Satan. It was 1973 and The Exorcist — the now-famous story in which Linda Blair plays a young girl in a gripping battle for her soul during a demonic possession — scared the wits out of plenty viewers who were over 18, as well. Thanks to feminist academics, I now understand that Blair's possession was an allegory for female puberty and so much more, which makes it all the better to get this new Blu-ray special edition that includes the extended director's cut, the theatrical version, a 40-page book in which the director, William Friedkin, talks about his on-set experiences, a featurette on the author of the book that inspired the film, and vintage tapes of a priest documenting a real case of possession (which of course inspired the author who wrote the book that inspired the film that scared the pants off me). A collector's must. —Diane Anderson-Minshall

3. Film: The Snow Queen

What's not to love about this newest kid's flick, The Snow Queen, a Russian-made 3D-animated adaptation of a Hans Christian Andersen's story that is produced by the guy who did Angelina Jolie's brilliant film, Wanted? In the film, which hit both theaters and VOD this week, the bad guy is a woman (the titular Snow Queen, who wants to turn the world into a frozen, joyless landscape where people have no free will) and the hero is a young girl (Gerda, who must rescue her brother despite the frozen tundra, many obstacles, and that bitchy queen). Bonus for gamers: since this is an English version of a Russian film, many of the American voice actors are familiar voices from video games. (Gerda, for example, is played by Jessic Straus, who has done dozens of anime and games, including many female voices in the World of Warcraft series.) —Diane Anderson-Minshall

2. Dance: Sarah Bush Dance Project, Rocked By Women

San Francisco's Sarah Bush Dance Project will perform excerpts from its Rocked By Women show at ODC Theater on October 12 at 8 p.m. A discussion panel will also explore the relationship between feminism and artistic expression from 1970 until today. Panelists include Melanie DeMore, Richelle Donigan, Lauren Elder, Lisa Ruth Elliott, Rev. Barbara Hamilton-Holway and Zoe Nicholson. Rocked By Women is a multimedia performance celebrating the dynamic artists of the women's music movement who overcame gender barriers and established themselves as forces to be reckoned with. Get more tickets hereNicholas Cimarusti

1. Book: Yokohama Threeway and Other Small Shames

New York Times bestselling author Beth Lisick is a sly and hilarious storyteller-slash-memoirist and her newest book, Yokohama Threeway and Other Small Shames (the latest in the City Lights/ Sister Spit series which is out October 15), is proof that she's ready to knock David Sedaris off his mantel and take his place. The book is sharp-witted, intelligent, and delightfully neurotic recounting of Lisick's most embarrassing moments and bad judgement calls. I already can't wait for the next one. Find more info here.  —Diane Anderson-Minshall 

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