November Highlights

University Community Service Center
Neighborhood Tour: Pilsen
10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 13
A bus will provide transportation from campus. http://communityservice.uchicago.edu. Free.
Advance registration is required; email dhays@uchicago.edu or call 834-1159 to RSVP.

The University Community Service Center invites the public to explore Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood. Community leaders will take participants on an interactive tour showcasing the treasures of this historic Mexican-American community on the Southwest side. The tour will include a trip to artistic and cultural institutions, such as the Mexican Fine Arts Center; local businesses, like the Jumping Bean Cafe; historic murals; and community organizations.

Rockefeller Memorial Chapel
Sweet Honey in the Rock
8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 12
5850 S. Woodlawn Ave. 702-7059. $25 general, $10 seniors and students. Group tickets available.

This Grammy Award-winning female a cappella ensemble has deep roots in the sacred music of the black church—spirituals, hymns and gospel—as well as jazz and blues. Founded in 1973, the group of African-American women creates a blend of lyrics, movement and narrative that relate history while identifying injustice, encouraging activism and singing the praises of love.

The University of Chicago Presents
Le Concert Spirituel
8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 5
Mandel Hall, 1131 E. 57th St. 702-8068. http://chicagopresents.uchicago.edu. $30 general, $11 students with ID.

The Howard Mayer Brown International Early Music Series will launch its 2004-2005 season with a performance by the French early music ensemble Le Concert Spirituel. Under the direction of Herve Niquet, the ensemble of 13 singers and 16 instrumentalists will perform an all-Charpentier program in their Chicago debut. Included in the program, titled “Summoning Spirit: The Music of Marc-Antoine Charpentier,” are Messe de Monsieur de Mauroy, Marche pour les trompettes and Te Deum.

Center for East Asian Studies
“Toward a Political Modernism? Critical Japanese Cinema of the 1960s and 1970s”
Thursday, Nov. 11 through Sunday, Nov. 14
Film Studies Center, Room 307, Cobb Hall, 5811 S. Ellis Ave. Free. For a full schedule, visit http://ceas.uchicago.edu/pmconf/. For reservations, email japan@uchicago.edu.

Sponsored by various University departments, this symposium will explore the poetics and politics of “independent” cinema in 1960s and 1970s Japan. Films from the period, which will be screened at the symposium, reveal a cinema that contested dominant narratives present in modern Japan. With screenings and panels, the symposium will analyze the decline of mainstream studios and the development of alternative venues for the cinema, as well as the importance of political radicalism to filmmaking during this period. One of the central figures of post-new wave Japanese cinema, Yoshida Yoshishige will attend a panel discussion on his films, Eros & Massacre (1969) and Martial Law (1973). The Yoshishige screening will begin at 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 13.