Night and Day

There's a Nobel laureate, famed for his writings as a Holocaust survivor. There's a maverick philosopher, who cites as an influence his experience as a child of parents who escaped the Holocaust. Both speak at Oakland University in the coming days. Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel's novel Night is considered a classic, and he's also known for his outspoken support of Israel and other issues. Peter Singer, meanwhile, has made a career of rethinking the sacredness of life and promoting an ethic of "a gradual moral approach to all sentient beings related to their capacities to feel and suffer." In the process, he's helped inspire the animal rights movement, and been called a Nazi by his detractors. His OU lecture revisits a topic that provoked controversy when he arrived in the United States from Australia a decade ago: the implications of sustaining life in terminally ill patients and severely defective newborns. Singer speaks at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Oakland Center Banquet Rooms. The lecture is free, but reservations are required: call 248-370-2650 or e-mail [email protected]. Wiesel speaks at 7 p.m. the following Tuesday; tickets are $25.

Wednesday & Friday • 3 & 5
Larry Vuckovich Jazz-Latin Trio
YOU MUST REMEMBER MAMBO

Student of Vince Guaraldi, 25-year (off and on) accompanist to Jon Hendricks, house pianist at San Francisco's famed Keystone Korner ... not bad for a classically trained kid from the former Yugoslavia who grew up listening to this thing called jazz on Armed Forces Radio during World War II, and the Voice of America afterward. He's a pianist so sly as to take "As Time Goes By," out of the ballad-time lovey-dovery and make it gallop to a mambo beat. That's one of the treats on his latest CD, Street Scenes (Tetrachord) along with jazz standards and oughta-be standards (Sonny Clark's "News for Lulu"), and originals that nod to influences from Red Garland to film noir. Wednesday at 8 p.m. at the Firefly, 637 S. Main, Ann Arbor; 734-665-9090. Friday at 11 p.m. and 12:15 a.m. (Saturday) at Jazz Café at Music Hall, 350 Madison Ave., Detroit; 313-887-8501.

Friday • 5
Siegfried
OPEN-AIR CINEMA

This summer, metro Detroit may have reached a critical mass of outdoor movies, where we may estimate a neighborhood by the kind of outdoor cinema it offers. Between the "drive-in" art movies at Detroit's MOCAD, Side Show Sinema from the Theatre Bizarre crew, and inspiring documentaries at Campus Martius, the films people choose say a lot about them. Which is why our ears perked up upon hearing that the folks on Kirby Street in Detroit had plans to screen Fritz Lang's 1924 German expressionist epic Siegfried, with an original rock score from Darling Imperial. Now that's some high-toned entertainment. The show starts at dusk, at Peck Park, corner of Kirby and Brush streets, Detroit. See myspace.com/kirbystreet for more details.

Saturday • 6
20 To Life: The Life and Times of John Sinclair
KICK OUT THE WEED

When John Sinclair moved into the Forest Arms Apartments back in '64, he was a pot-smoking grad student with a love for jazz and rhythm & blues. By the end of the decade he was a counter-culture revolutionary, founding the radical White Panther Party, managing the MC5 and getting jailed for the possession of two joints. Freed following John Lennon's timely tune "John Sinclair," the multi-faceted guardian of the arts followed his muse to New Orleans, where filmmaker Steve Gebhardt began filming Twenty To Life in 1991. Sinclair's story is told, from first communion on, to a churning soundtrack of Howlin' Wolf, Sun Ra and Michigan's the Up, as Gebhardt successfully weaves the poet of today with the agitator of yesteryear. Really good stuff. 7 p.m, at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD), 4454 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313-832-2700. Discussion with Sinclair and director Steve Gebhardt to follow screening.

Saturday • 6
Yard Sale in a Loft
LOFTY DESIRES

Certain pressures haunt the loft dweller: Is, for example, that stainless steel bar stool vintage or IKEA? Does the sofa's velour upholstery complement or detract from the skinny-jeaned derriere perched atop it? Is that vase phallic in a good way or a less-good-but-still-good way? In a one-stop loft shop, vendors will sell art, furniture and clothing at yard sale prices for the concerned-to-be-discerning decorator. Vendors include Mezzanine, purveying sleek, modern furniture; Urban Living, selling home goods like notebooks and pillows; and fashion from Wound Menswear, Michelle Rachelle and Superiorbelly. Between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. in a newly renovated loft on 4221 Cass Ave., Detroit; call 313-658-6400 for more info.

Saturday • 6
Back in Black
HOLD ME, WHIP ME

It's a chance to use that leather corset from last Halloween. Those latex thigh highs, bought on a kinky whim. The ball gag snatched from that, uh, "subdued" patron at the Eagle. The newest lesbian bar, Club Pink, will host "Back in Black," for partygoers to come out in their sexiest bondage, leather and latex wear. What's best, the party's hosted by the club's resident badass dom, Mistress Michelle. From 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. at Club Pink, 19910 Hoover, Detroit; call 313-521-8433 for more info.

Sunday • 7
Cash McCall
NO, FROM 'DEEEE-TROIT'

Perhaps you've driven by the Raven Lounge on Chene, seen the hand-lettered sign that advertises "Cash McCall Record Release Party," and wondered, Who the hell is Cash McCall. Despite sharing his name — and his profession as a blues man — with a legendary Chess Records guitarist from Chicago, this Cash McCall is as Real-Deal Detroit as it gets. Christened by the Rev. C.L. Franklin himself, it's not surprising that McCall often sounds like a funkified, very secular version of C.L.'s "The Eagle Stirreth Her Next." And hearing him is only half the equation: Though his bio concludes that he's 5 feet, 9 inches tall and "very pleasant to the eye," you probably won't notice his sharp dress and handsome looks when he's on stage, testifying with microphone-shattering fervor and punctuating every line with the most over-the-top screams this side of a young James Brown. That's because you'll be caught up in the McCall frenzy yourself; too busy workin' it out on the dance floor to notice anything but his cathartic way with a tune. McCall would like to see you for his birthday celebration tonight. "It's a cabaret," he advises, "so it's BYOB." Setups and food, however, will be provided. At the Detroit West Club, 14400 Wyoming and Lyndon, 9 p.m. 313-834-3233. $10.

Monday • 8
Born Into Brothels Screening
HARD ROAD

Filmmaker Zana Briski will host a screening of her 2004 Oscar-winning documentary, Born into Brothels. Briski spent time with the children of prostitutes in Sonagachi, Calcutta's red light district — and by giving the children cameras, they literally were able to produce "snapshots" of their day-to-day lives. Briski will hold a question-and-answer session following the film, which begins at 2 p.m. at the Michigan Theater Screening Room, 603 E. Liberty St., Ann Arbor; call 734-764-6005 for info.

Wednesday • 10
Regina Spektor
AIN'T SHE SWEET?

The cutesy, quirky lilt of Regina Spektor fluctuates: One moment, you're wrapped in the mesmerizing quality of her voice and accompanying piano, and then suddenly, a surprising lyric will snap you back into reality. That's what you'll get from a vet of the anti-folk scene — at once political, ironic and soulful. The Russian-born singer will perform at the Fillmore, 2115 Woodward Ave., Detroit; 313-961-5451 for more info. Tickets are $25-$35, and the show begins at 7:30 p.m.

Meghana Keshavan is the listings editor of Metro Times. Send comments to [email protected]