ALSO KNOWN AS ’39S VS EDDIE 9V’

Earthwise productions announces the first combination Alfred Hitchcock movies and live music festival in Downtown Palo Alto May 4 thru June 2.

On May 4, DJ Sep spins reggae and dub music for free at Lytton Plaza, from 3 pm to 5 pm and then fans of suspense can pay $7 to see “Shadow of a Doubt” from 1943 which Halliwell gives *** and features Joseph Cotton. “Shadow of a Dub” is what the cognoscenti will call it — dub is a type of music from the Caribbean that Sep spins. (This is also the first Earthwise event that features a dj but not live music).

On May 10, Earthwise welcomes a new quartet of rock/roots music led by guitar wiz Jim Campilongo at 6 pm followed by, for $7, Lifeboat at 7:30. Spellbound plays at 5:30 and 9:20 and total weirdos can start their evening at the movies, pop out to catch the band, called Spaghetti, and then go back into the movies for as long as four more hours. The Spaghetti band features Jim Campilongo guitar, Scott Amendola drums, Matt Muntz, bass and Sam Reider accordion or keyboards. We call this combo “Spaghetti Spellbound” — there is no spaghetti allowed in the theatre, not ice cream, but the pop corn starts at $1.

On May 17, Earthwise welcomes Cien Mil Mangos to Johnson Park which is four blocks from the theatre, at Waverley and Hawthorne approximately. The show is from 6 to 7:30 or so; sunset is 8:13. At precisely 7:30 the Stanford Theatre will show Vertigo. Alternately, for $7 you can see The Man Who Knew Too Much at 5:20, stay for about an hour then huff it or hoof it over to Johnson Park to dance salsa. “The Man who Got Vertigo Dancing Salsa (with Stanford Students). Que sera sera!

May 24 at Mitchell Park – -which is not downtown but only five miles south — brings Mark Lettieri quartet. He is the guitarist for Snarky Puppy jazz band, and hails from Menlo Park. The show is from 6 pm to sunset and then you can zip north — towards Menlo Park but still on this side of the crick, still Santa Clara County — to see all but the start of North By Northwest and then To Catch a Thief at 10 pm. Let’s call this Lettieri by Lettieri Or: To Catch A Riff.

TO CATCH A RIFF

May 30 is Nels Cline Trio for $20 — quite a bargain, frankly — at The Mitch El Palo Alto Room — which, is stated above is about five miles south of the actual El Palo Alto where Portola camped in 1769. The Nels Cline Trio features Nels Cline guitar, Scott Amendola (from the May 10 show) on drums and Phillip Greenlief on reeds. For an additional $7 plus another buck for popcorn –you can do Nels Cline and then I Confess. We call this I Clinefess. Which means nothings. Da da. I confess that I’m not familiar with “I Confess” other than to say that Halliwell or what I might call Halli-Nels says its from 1953 is rated ** and starts Montgomery Clift. Or, if you really don’t have $20 or don’t like virtuoso rock guitar with jazz or improv stylings, you can pay only $7 — only $5 if you are a senior – -and come to think of it Nels Cline is a senior so if he goes to the movies after his show he will pay $5 — you can see “The Wrong Man” at 7:30 – or if you confuse Nels Cline and Jeff Tweedy and you show up at the concert say “this is the wrong man” we would refund your $20 and in fact if you are reading this and you are the first person to buy a ticket to Nels Cline at The Mitch and say ‘This is the wrong man” I will rebate your $20.

On Sunday June 2 Earthwise is hosting Eddie 9V (with opener from San Jose Jimmy Dewrance band) at Mitchell Park Bowl and then at 5:30 you can catch Psycho and then Strangers on a Train at 7:30. Ideally I would see all the above just to know how they go with the music but if I only hit one film of the 26 or so on the Stanford Theatre schedule it would be “Strangers on a Train” because I am reading the book by Patricia Highsmith: maybe next year I will promote a combination book festival, concert series and movies