Art Film Club NBO (Nairobi) kicks off the series with maybe the most hardcore selection: Werckmeister Harmonies, by the late Hungarian auteur Bela Tarr. Perhaps no director has had a more singular, uncompromising vision.

For one thing, Tarr was the master of the long, unedited shot. WH is a 2.5 hour film with only 39 shots, powerfully filmed in haunting black and white.

The surrealistic arrival of a stuffed whale, a demagogic figure, and brooding MAGA-like masses in the town square, building to a final explosion of violence, all tests the wide-eyed main character Janos as much as our own viewing expectations.

From a 2024 Criterion Channel review:

A good deal remains murky and unexplained in Werckmeister Harmonies […]. But what comes across with chilling clarity—as visible as the cold breath of the characters or the fog that periodically rolls into the cobblestoned square—is the mood and miasma of fascism, the conditions for its breeding, the mundane mechanisms of rumor and suspicion by which the mindset takes hold, locally and at ground level. “At first, we don’t notice the events we are witnessing,” János says, as he recounts the workings of an eclipse to the tavern regulars in the opening scene, though he could just as well be speaking of the incidents that will follow.

Fascism is even less of an abstract concern today than it was in 2000. Hungary has been under Viktor Orbán’s strongman rule for over a decade now. In the present-day American context, it is hard to watch the riot scenes without flashing on the violent mobs—the white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia; the election deniers of the January 6 insurrection—that have been a recurring feature of the Trump era. We leave Werckmeister Harmonies haunted by the increasingly stricken gazes of János, the film’s watchful presence […] This monumental film has only gained force and stature in the decades since it was made. It stands as a Janus-like marker, both summative and prophetic, a capstone of the century past and an omen for the one to come.

(In-person by invite only)

Vocal Takoma will be resuming on Farmers Market Sundays at the Takoma Park Clock Tower this weekend (Sunday, April 12), from 11am to 12:30pm.

Vocal Takoma is an artist pop-up gathering in the public realm, creating a space for our community to raise creative voices as an artistic response to the times. It is completely informal and ongoing, running throughout the spring and summer as weather permits.

Please join us with your own song, poem, or dance!

Is your favorite app tracking you? Likely so. Is that just a necessary evil for the conveniences of modern life? No! There are great options now that you will love.

This is a free workshop for people who want apps that better protect their privacy and align with their values.

The platforms we've gotten used to - like Google, Meta, and Amazon - have created dependency on a surveillance, data-harvesting model largely owned by our problematic billionaire class.

Many people realize that's a problem and would like to change, but don't know where to start.

Reclaim control over your data by moving away from invasive platforms to more ethical, privacy-respecting alternatives.

It's now easy to switch to greater 'digital sovereignty', let me help. I've done the research so you don't have to.

As a 'starter kit' we will mainly cover replacement apps for:

• Messaging

• Email

• Browsers/Search

• Maps

• AI

Plus we will briefly discuss VPNs, social media, shopping, and phones.

This will be an overview and we will move fast, but I will help you walk out emancipated with some new apps and tech choices. Bring your laptop and/or your smartphone, a way to take notes, and a willingness to make changes.

Is your favorite app tracking you? Likely so. Is that just a necessary evil for the conveniences of modern life? No! There are great options now that you will love.

This is a free workshop for people who want apps that better protect their privacy and align with their values. (Session will repeat Wed 4/8 at the same time/place.)

The platforms we've gotten used to - like Google, Meta, and Amazon - have created dependency on a surveillance, data-harvesting model largely owned by our problematic billionaire class.

Many people realize that's a problem and would like to change, but don't know where to start.

The good news is there are now options to free you from toxic tech. Reclaim control over your data by moving away from invasive platforms to more ethical, privacy-respecting alternatives.

It's now easy to switch to greater 'digital sovereignty', let me help. I've done the research so you don't have to.

As a 'starter kit' we will mainly cover replacement apps for:

• Messaging

• Email

• Browsers/Search

• Maps

• AI

Plus we will briefly discuss VPNs, social media, shopping, and phones.

This will be an overview and we will move fast, but I will help you walk out emancipated with some new apps and tech choices. Bring your laptop and/or your smartphone, a way to take notes, and a willingness to make changes.

Sanctuary is a place of refuge and solace, but its meaning has been appropriated and misrepresented in these politically divisive times. Please join us for an evening of poetry, music, and spoken word where more than 20 local poets and musicians will share their talents that embrace a sense of sanctuary and community.

This free event is organized by Takoma Park Poet Laureate David Alberto Fernández, the City’s Takoma Park Arts series, and Vocal Takoma (co-founded by Fernández and Bill Crandall). Donations will be collected to support We Are CASA, a nationwide nonprofit organization that builds power and advocates for working-class Black, Latino/a/e, Afro-descendent, indigenous, and immigrant communities.

Poetry and music are artistic languages that communicate heart to heart and create a sense of sanctuary, Fernández said.

“It only takes a glance at the news, social media, or our local listservs to be fully aware that we are living in dangerous times,” Fernández said. “This is a moment when we need community and sanctuary, a place and a sense of safety where we can fully be ourselves. All of us. We need to reclaim the words that have been taken from us, and we need to raise our cultural voices that some are working very hard to silence as a means to help, to comfort, to support, to resist, and to restore.”

Event photos by Nyle Leddy

Takoma Park Poet Laureate David Alberto Fernández and positive creative force Bill Crandall talk sanctuary.

They say 'pics or it didn't happen'. Well, no pics, sadly, but happen it did! As a kind of teaser for our Vocal Takoma project, David Alberto Fernández and I debuted a song-poetry hybrid in a 15 minute performance last night. It was at Washington MusicViva, my neighbors' long-running classical house concert series.

David and I had worked out a way to weave together our material instead of just taking turns.

Join the Night Nurse, Madona Tyler LeBlanc, and special guest & co-host, Bill Crandall, as we trade tunes and discuss ‘future music,’ featuring tracks from Bill’s New World Voyage album & a live studio performance.