Arts Roundup, November 17-December 10

Soulard Blues Band at BB’s Jazz, Blues & Soups

November 18, 7 p.m., What’s My Line? A Trivia Benefit for Observable Readings, Regional Arts Commission, 6128 Delmar

All of you liberal arts majors who have torn your hair out at mainstream trivia nights where all the questions are about baseball and TV, here’s your chance to shine. Emceed by poet and UM-St. Louis professor Steve Schreiner, the benefit includes food by Entre Underground and a silent auction featuring rare and first edition media by James Merrill, May Sarton, Iris Murdoch, Lawrence Durell and others. Some items are autographed or personally illustrated; see a gallery here. Individual tickets are $20, or $100 for a table of six. Admission includes appetizers, and beer and wine are available at a cash bar. Plus, the winning table gets a swell trophy. For more information or to buy tickets, visit the Poetry Center’s website.

November 19, 8:30 p.m., Dubb Nubb CD Release Party, Foam Coffee & Beer, 3359 Jefferson

Twin sisters Hannah and Delia Rainey of surreal-folksy duo Dubb Nubb are moving onward and upward. They played LouFest at the end of this summer, two weeks after they’d moved to Columbia to go to Mizzou. So they made the drive back just for that. Also, their big sister Amanda is now officially part of the band, so we should call them a surreal-folksy trio. Hannah and Delia will be home over Thanksgiving break, and Dubb Nubb is taking the opportunity to release its new 11-song CD, Sunrise Sleepy Eyed, a follow-up to the 2010 EP, New Bones, both issued by Special Passenger Records.The Raineys will be joined by Googolplexia, Mr. Hopindopalis, and Cassie Morgan and the Lonely Pine. If you miss them at Foam, you can also catch them at the  Rock N Roll Craft Show November 25 at 3 p.m. If you don’t know what they sound like, we suggest you start with the title track from New Bones, featuring footage of St. Louis Thanksgivng snow.

November 25, 8–11 p.m., Fifth Annual St. Louis Blues & Soul Revue, Sheldon Ballroom, 3648 Washington

Anyone who grumbles that St. Louis doesn’t honor its homegrown talent will have to soften that gripe just a bit after realizing this event has been going on for half a decade. This day-after-Thanksgiving concert features some of St. Louis’ finest blues and soul musicians, including vocalists Renee Smith, Ms. Monya, Vince Martin, and Marty Abdullah, plus River City Horns and the Soulard Blues Band, who will both be accompanied by pianist Matt Murdick. Art Dwyer, bass player for SBB, explains the revue format “is a throwback to the early days of Motown and Memphis STAX sounds. Each perforer’s set will open with a couple of instrumentals from the bands, then each singer will be introduced by Tom ‘Papa’ Ray.” Dwyer adds that each set lasts about 75 minutes, and that “there will be drinking and dancing” (always a good thing!). The price of general admission is $15, and $30 for reserved seating. Tickets are available through MetroTix, 314-534-1111, or at metrotix.com.

December 8, 6–9 p.m., Sound Waves: Buddhism and the Beats, The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts, 3716 Washington

The mainstream media of the 1950s turned the whole bebop-black turtleneck-Buddha-bongo-beatnik thing into a stereotype, but go back to the texts and the recordings themselves, and they’re still amazingly powerful. When poets like Kerouac, Ginsberg and Gary Snyder first incorporated jazz and Buddhism into their work, it was an unprecedented thing; it not only changed American poetry forever, but American spirituality, too. As part of its Reflections of the Buddha show, the Pulitzer has teamed up with KDHX for another series of Soundwaves performances, this time with the Dave Stone Trio (who’ll play era-appropriate bebop) and local poets and artists, who’ll read the work of Beat writers, including Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Diane di Prima, Harold Norse, Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen, Joanne Kyger, Albert Saijo, Lew Welch, Lenore Kandel, Will Petersen, Bob Kaufman, William Burroughs, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Michael McClure, Kenneth Rexroth, and Anne Waldman. Admission is free, and refreshments are complimentary. For more info, go here.

December 10, Downtown Dutchtown Holiday Open House,3200 and 3300 blocks of Meramec

There’s an interesting clutch of shops over in Dutchtown, some old and some new, including Twice Blessed Resale, Maude’s Market, Cool Stuff Really Cheap, Merb’s Candies, Feasting Fox, Iron Barley Eating Establishment, Refabulous, and Upcycle Exchange. These little shops are banding together for a holiday open house, old-school-style, with special deals at each store. There’s also a $50 drawing (if you visit five or more shops, you’re eligible to enter) and a voting ballot for best Christmas window (hooray for the return of authentic Christmas windows!) Santa Claus will be at Twice Blessed at 5 p.m. for kid pictures, and will the rendevous at Urban Eats Café with his “Spicy Elves.” (Not sure what that means, but I suspect it may allude to short skirts or the like, since the press release mentions holiday snapshots for grown-ups.) The cafe will be set up as a local crafters’ bazaar, complete with holiday specials and live music. More info, of course, online at the Dutchtown Business Association’s website.