Activities, first November Weekend

There is a range of good music and entertainment in Ithaca this weekend.

Saturday: John Gorka. Maybe the third-best living songwriter from New Jersey (after Bruce Stringbean, and Richard Shindell). But the only one playing Ithaca this weekend. He has a pleasing and moving baritone voice, and is funny, as Jersey guys tend to be. A Cornell Folk Song Society Show. Kennedy Hall, Cornell, 8 p.m. Tickets $17 at the door, $15 at Small World Music.

Kathy Mattea. A country singer of the could-play-at-Grassroots type. Mattea draws from many traditions in her music: folk, bluegrass, gospel, and Celtic. At the State Theater, 8 p.m.


Sunday: Toshiko Akiyoshi and Lew Tabackin Quartet. Jazz at its finest and most exciting, from two great, veteran practicioners. Statler Auditorium, Cornell, 4 p.m. Tickets $25 and $20.

Lewis Black. From the Jon Stewart Show, the Screaming Jay Hawkins of comedic commentary on contemporary America. At the State Theater, 8 p.m. Tickets $38.50.

Hammell On Trial. Ed Hammell's label, Ani Difranco's Righteous Babe Records, describes him as "a one-man punk band - and by punk we mean (mostly) loud, fast music informed by politics, passion, energy and intelligence, played by a guy with a sharp tongue and a wicked sense of humor." At Castaways, 8 p.m.

Have fun -

Stephen Burke
for Ithaca Blog