DECEMBER 2007

Saturday, December 1, 8:00 p.m.
JAZZ CONCERT: Jamie Baum Septet
Award-winning flutist and composer extraordinaire Jamie Baum brings together a septet of band leaders for what will certainly prove to be a highlight of the Puffin "Comprovisation" concert series of music that creatively combines both structured composition and unfettered improvisation. Septet inludes: Ralph Alessi (trumpet), Doug Yates (alto sax and bass clarinet), Josh Roseman (trombone), Aaron Goldberg (piano), Joahnnes Weidenmeuller (bass), and Jeff Hirshfield (drums).

$10 suggested donation.

Sunday, December 2, 7:00 p.m.
AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Jeremy Scahill
Author of the pathbreaking reportage about the Blackwater mercenary group will be interviewed about this best-selling book by Joe Chuman of Ethical Culture Society of Bergen County. Blackwater is the dark story of the rise of a powerful mercenary army, ranging from the blood-soaked streets of Fallujah to rooftop firefights in Najaf to the hurricane-ravaged US gulf to Washington DC, where Blackwater executives are hailed as new heroes in the war on terror. Blackwater is the world's most secretive and powerful mercenary firm. Based in the wilderness of North Carolina, it is the fasted-growing private army on the planet with forces capable of carrying out regime change throughout the world. This is an extraordinary exposé by one of America's most exciting young investigative journalists.

Free and open to the public.

Tuesday, December 4, 7:00 p.m.
FILM: Salud!
(2006, 93 min.) Connie Field documentary.
English and Spanish with English subtitles.
A timely examination of human values and the health issues that affect us all, !Salud! looks at the curious case of Cuba, a cash-strapped country with what the BBC calls "one of the world's best health systems." from the shores of Africa to the Americas, Salud hits the road with some of the 28,000 Cuban health professionals serving in 68 countries, and explores the hearts and minds of international medical students in Cuba, now numbering 30,000 including nearly 100 from the U.S.A.

Free and open to the public.

Tuesday, December 11, 7:00 p.m.
FILM: Between Midnight & the Rooster's Crow
(2005, 66 min.) Spanish with English subtitles.
Nadja Drost exposes what Canada's EnCana oil corporation is doing in an Ecuadorean rainforest, why we should be concerned, and what to do about it. In the aggressive search for the 'black gold' that drives Western economies, multinational corporations are working to extract billions of dollars of oil reserves from beneath Ecuador's rainforest. This movie investigates the operations of the EnCana Corporation, a firm that, despite proud public declarations of its social responsibility, is shown to be answerable for widespread environmental contamination and human rights violations.

Free and open to the public.

Saturday, December 15, 8:00 p.m.
JAZZ CONCERT: Gerald Cleaver Trio
Master-drummer Gerald Cleaver is a powerhouse from Detroit who is now one of the most in-demand musicians in NYC. Gerald leads a band that includes young keyboardist sensation Craig Taborn, who has taken NYC by storm, hired immediately by the likes of Roscoe Mitchell and Tim Berne, and bassist William Parker, generally considered among the most important bassists working today and revered as the "Godfather" of the downtown NY jazz scene.

$10 suggested donation.

Tuesday, December 18, 7:00 p.m.
FILM: Our Daily Bread
Nikolaus Geyrhalter (2005. 92 min. Austria)
German with English subtitles.
"Our Daily Bread achieves what all great documentaries do: It forces us to face the reality of our human practices." (New York Film Festival)
A series of stunning visual compositions frames this evocative photo essay on our relationship to food. Without narration, the filmmakers convey the vast routinization and mechanization of the contemporary food supply system and the dual role of human workers as master and cog in the high-tech machine. A 2006 New York Film Festival selection.

Free and open to the public.