Bacchanal Tidings:
Two Weekends of Wine

who: Carbondale Main Street

what: Downtown Art and Wine Fair

where: Town Square

when: Saturday, May 22 (Sunday, May 23 rain date) w/ Martin "Big Larry" Allbritton and the Down Home Blues Band / Giant City Slickers (western swing)

Carbondale Main Street's
Downtown Art and Wine Fair

by Jeff Hale

Martin "Big Larry" Allbritton.

For one price, visitors to the Downtown Art and Wine Fair can enjoy an afternoon and evening of the very best that Carbondale has to offer in the area of entertainment. The Giant City Slickers will take the stage at 3 p.m., providing musical fun and frolic with their own unique blend of western swing. Then, at 6 p.m., music lovers will be given an invitation to the blues as Martin "Big Larry" Allbritton and the Down Home Blues Band take over the stage for a sunset filled with Carbondale's favorite blues.

In the interest of environmental friendliness, the music stage will be entirely solar powered by Advanced Energy Solutions.

An art and wine fair would nothing without food, drink, and art. To that end, the Downtown Art and Wine Fair will include booths showcasing the works and wares of artisans and craftspeople from across Southern Illinois. Visitors to the fair are invited to browse the booths as they enjoy wine by the glass from the most popular regional wineries and vineyards. All participating wineries will offer wine by the glass for on-site consumption and by the bottle for take-home.

And if the music becomes too loud or the wind blows too much, fairgoers are invited to duck in to one of Carbondale's many downtown restaurants and watering holes for meals, spirits, or cups of coffee. Restaurants surrounding the fair area, including Thai Taste, Global Gourmet, the Newell House and Grotto, Tres Hombres, Longbranch Coffeehouse, D's Catfish, and the Blue Martin will offer food and drink specials during the fair. In addition, both the Blue Martin and the Town Square Market will offer food samples inside the tasting area.

Tickets to the Carbondale Main Street Downtown Art and Wine Fair are $10, which includes wine-tasting and entrance to both concert events. Non-drinkers are welcome to attend the event for a $2 cover charge. Ticket discounts are available for large groups, with $1 off each ticket for groups of ten or more, and a $2 discount for groups numbering more than twenty.

For more information about these and other Main Street activities, call (618) 529-8040 or visit <http://www.CarbondaleMainStreet.com>.

who: kite and wine enthusiasts

what: Kite Festival

where: Kite Hill Vineyards

when: Saturday, May 22

The Kite Festival

by Jennifer "Jay" Bull

Flying a kite is one of the simple joys of a windy day. To celebrate kites, a Kite Festival takes place Saturday, May 22 from noon to 5 p.m. at Kite Hill Vineyards. Veteran kite flyers will come to Kite Hill from six different midwestern cities, including the Windy City itself, Chicago.

"The east side of the lake is going to be used for [professional stunt kite flyers] to put their kites up, and we're going to just allow them on that side of the lake so that no one gets entangled with anyone else's wires or cords," said Barb Bush, owner of Kite Hill. "That way everybody on the west side of the lake either at the winery or at the bed and breakfast-- where pretty much everything is going to take place-- everybody's going to be able to see everything."

Those who enjoy flying kites of all kinds are welcome to enjoy the festivities as well.

"They will be getting up different kites, different styles of kites, super, super big ones, as well as ones they call a sport kite," Bush said. "They are going to have ground displays also, which should be pretty cool, too, so there's going to be a lot to see."

In addition, many other activities, including frisbee kayaking, will take place.

"Randy Osborn from the Boys and Girls Club and Kathy Renfro from the [Carbondale] Park District-- they are going to do the frisbee kayaking," Bush said. "Randy does boomerangs, and he's going to do boomerangs on the front part of the property. We have a big fishing-tour guide. We have Extreme Canine-- they are going to do a dog-obedience seminar. People from PAWS are going to bring critters out, some little babies that need homes, so they are going to be there for adoption. 4-H is going to work with kids to help them build kites, and then toward the end of the day we are going to have them try to get their kites to fly, and so we'll have a kite-flying contest."

The event will also feature music, refreshments, drinks, and opportunities to buy kites.

"I'm just excited," Bush said. "This should be a lot of fun. I'm trying to keep it cost effective, so I am trying to charge the least amount possible and still cover the things I put out, so we are doing $5 for adults and $3 for kids. That way families can afford to do it, because that is kind of what it is all about."

Kids, Bush said, can enjoy any other number of things taking place during the day.

"A lot of people, when they come out to the winery, they enjoy the frozen wine drinks that we have," Bush said. "I'm working on trying to come up with one for kids so that kids can have something, but you can tell that it is nonalcoholic because it will be blue."

Attendees should feel free to bring lawn chairs and blankets. For more information, visit <http://KiteHillVineyards.com>.

who: Friends of Murphysboro

what: Shawnee Hills Wine Trail Arts Festival

where: Riverside Park

when: Saturday and Sunday, May 29 and 30

The Friends of Murphysboro's
Shawnee Hills Wine Trail Arts Festival

by Leah Williams Wright

James Barnes.

Murphysboro may be known for its Apple Festival every fall, but partygoers itching for a good time do not have to wait until September to enjoy Southern Illinois's fruitful city. The Shawnee Hills Wine Trail Arts Festival spotlights the best tastes in culture that the area has to offer. Sponsored by the Friends of Murphysboro as well as the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail, the third annual event is set to take place Saturday and Sunday, May 29 and May 30 at the city's Riverside Park.

Tickets for the festival are $15, which includes a souvenir wine glass, complimentary wine tasting, and a $5 coupon toward the purchase of a bottle of wine. Those who opt not to drink can enter the fest for only $3.

This year's event will feature many of the same crowd-pleasing features of years past. Artists and vendors will be on site with their various creations. A handful of performers, including Homegrown Harmony, the James Barnes Band, Michael Jacobs, and the Kevin Lucas Orchestra will set the mood.

The Shawnee Hills Wine Trail Arts Festival will also feature a vintage base ball game. Hometown favorites the Murphysboro Clarkes will square off against a visiting team for a traditional tournament held at the Riverside Park baseball diamond.

The Friends of Murphysboro and Shawnee Hills Wine Trail will unveil a special limited-quantity wine vinted exclusively for the festival. The wine, named Riverside Rosé , will be sold at the festival and for a limited time at select local liquor stores throughout Memorial Day weekend. Only about two-hundred bottles of the semi-dry table wine, made at Blue Sky Vineyard and Winery, will be produced for the festival.

The Friends of Murphysboro are a nonprofit group formed to raise funds to revitalize Riverside Park, which is the seventh oldest park in the state.

For more information about the Shawnee Hills Wine Trail Arts Festival, visit <http://www.FriendsOfMurphysboro.com>.

who: Friends of McLeod Summer Playhouse

what: The New Oldywed Game (live gameshow and McLeod Summer Playhouse benefit)

where: Communications Building McLeod Theatre

when: Friday, May 21

The New Oldywed Game

by Jennifer "Jay" Bull

The New Oldwyed contestants (left to right): Tallon and Mary
Brown; David and Helen Coracy; Robert and Marilyn Martin;
Steve and Bonnie Wheeler.

"The New Oldywed Game is a new event for McLeod Summer Playhouse, and it's going to take the place of what was our Singing with the Stars," said Vincent Rhomberg, McLeod's publicist. "They decided to have The New Oldywed Game because it is new for us and all these are people who have been married a while. These are not newlyweds, these are some of the more established members of the married set in Carbondale."

"In previous years we've held the popular Singing with the Stars event, but we wanted to do something different this year," said Friends of McLeod Summer Playhouse president Trish Welch. "The idea of an Oldywed Game sounded like so much fun. I can't wait to see what the couples have to say about each other, or who kills who saying it."

Doors open at 7 p.m. for wine and soft drinks, with the contest starting at 7:30 p.m. Couples are competing for the honor of Playhouse Couple of the Year, with the winners receiving free passes to the McLeod Summer Playhouse season of four plays. Contestants include Tallon and Mary Brown, David and Helen Coracy, Robert and Marilyn Martin, and Steve and Bonnie Wheeler. Bryan Rives of Southern Lights Entertainment will moderate the game, while George Sheffer of Murdale True Value will serve as the evening's judge.

After round one and before the final bonus round, an appetizer buffet from Hunan will be served with desserts from Lipe Orchards. To complete the festivities, a silent auction will include interesting and unusual items, such as a command performance by Lori Merrill-Fink, Tim Fink, and Margaret Simmons.

Tickets are $50 and include wine, soft drinks, the buffet, dessert, coffee, and lots of laughs. For tickets or more information, stop by the theater box office on the south side of the Communications Building, call (618) 453-3001, or visit <http://playhouse.siu.edu>.

> Opening this week in Carbondale (Friday unless otherwise noted).
>> Opening Friday, May 28.
< Leaving Carbondale this Friday.

by Bryan Miller unless otherwise credited.

< The Back-up Plan (PG-13, *1/2): Jennifer Lopez makes an entirely unsolicited return to the big screen in this low-rent romantic comedy about a sort-of career woman desperate to have a family who meets the man of her dreams (Patrick Dempsey knockoff Alex O'Loughlin) on the very day she is artificially inseminated. What starts as a potentially grueling farce in which Lopez does her best to hide her pregnancy from her new beau mercifully gives way to a slightly more thoughtful relationship/child-rearing comedy. The potentially interesting premise is squandered on a series of lame slapstick and cheap grossout gags (complete with dog vomit, people poo, and bloody ultrasound wands). Worse, though, is the film's impossible implied message that you can own your own quirky business, save the earth, have kids, live in a posh Manhattan apartment, and look great all at the same time.

Date Night (PG-13, **1/2): TV-comedy titans Tina Fey and Steve Carell team up for this thoroughly mediocre romp from Night at the Museum director Shawn Levy. The two stars play a bored married couple whose bland suburban lives get far too interesting when they're mistaken for a pair of grifters trying to extort a mafia don (Ray Liotta). It's a pretty standard-issue one-crazy-night comedy that plays a bit like Martin Scorsese's After Hours drained of all the surrealism and interest. Levy manages to make New York City look like the world's biggest, most generic soundstage, an appropriately bland setting for a ridiculous plot that would have seemed cheesy in the early 1990s, much less twenty years later. The two stars evince zero chemistry-- they seem like a brother and sister forced to play married-- but they're funny enough to maintain forward momentum sufficient to bring viewers mostly unharried to the mercifully quick climax. Featuring Taraji P. Henson and Mark Wahlberg and brief appearances by James Franco, Mila Kunis, and Kristen Wiig.

< Death at a Funeral (R, ***): Remake of the British movie of the same name made way, way back in 2007, this time with an all-star African American cast. Chris Rock and Martin Lawrence costar as brothers who learn more about their recently deceased father than they ever wanted to know on the day of his funeral, a calamitous day made even more chaotic when their beautiful cousin Elaine (Zoe Saldana) brings her nervous boyfriend (James Marsden), who has inadvertently been dosed with LSD. The script is a sometimes uneven mish-mash of character-driven humor, farce, and slapstick, but most of the wrinkles are ironed out by the cadre of talented comic actors who turn this would-be disaster into one of the funnier movies of the year so far. Featuring Danny Glover, Keith David, and Peter Dinklage (reprising his role from the original).

How to Train Your Dragon (PG, ****): Conventional but delightful computer-animated children's movie about a scrawny Viking boy (voiced by Jay Baruchel) who wants to impress his warrior father (Gerard Butler) by slaying one of the dragons that besiege their village. But when our scrappy hero actually traps one of the great beasts, he befriends it rather than slays it, and in the process learns hidden secrets of the dragon world. While the plot might sound like boilerplate family adventure fodder, the execution is nearly pitch-perfect. As with most of the Pixar films, this sharply written and beautifully realized movie doesn't dole out schlock for the wee ones and slip in entendres and in-jokes for the adults, but rather wins over an all-ages audience with likeable characters, clever dialogue, and some stunning visuals-- better in 3D, but dazzling in 2D as well. Wholesome without being moralizing and heartwarming without stooping to sticky sentimentality, it's an absolute pleasure from start to finish. Also featuring the voices of Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, and Kristen Wiig.

Iron Man II (PG-13, **1/2): The sequel to the surprisingly adroit first installment retains some of the charm of the original-- ninety-nine percent of that charm being star Robert Downey Jr.-- but plays like a two-hour long trailer for Marvel's planned Avengers movie in 2012, which is set to feature some incarnation of Iron Man. When the movie isn't too busy setting up its own sequels or introducing characters of future use to the Avengers movie, most notably a sexy spy played nicely by Scarlett Johansson, it pits Downey's Tony Stark against a rival industrialist (Sam Rockwell, having fun with a bumbling villain role) and a psychotic Russian tech savant (Mickey Rourke) who both want a piece of Iron Man. Director Jon Favreau once again proves deft with character-building and humor, but all but one of his action sequences lack any real verve, and they're few and far between. Nothing hyped this heavily should be so tedious.

Letters To Juliet (PG, ***): Pleasant enough romance about an American abroad (Amanda Seyfried) who discovers a lost love letter at the Verona home of Shakespeare's most famous leading lady. When she attempts to track down the writer (Vanessa Redgrave) and its intended recipient, she inadvertently stumbles onto a Romeo of her own (Christopher Egan). It's a predictable, unambitious trifle, but it delivers the goods to its target audience of middle-aged women efficiently and not entirely without charm. Redgrave still has charm and presence to spare, and both Seyfried and the Italian countryside are worth staring at for two hours or so. Egan, however, is far less interesting than Gael Garcia Bernal, who plays Seyfried's distractible and obviously doomed fiancé .

A Nightmare on Elm Street (R, **): Tepid Michael Bay-produced remake of the 1980s slumber-party horror classic about an undead killer who returns from the dead to slay unsuspecting kids in their dreams, which has bloody real-world consequences. Jackie Earle Haley fills the razor glove made famous by Robert Englund, but he fails to conjure the same menace, thanks to his diminutive stature and an excess of makeup that robs him of expression. Haley is the best part, however, of a weak movie that is merely content to recycle, poorly in most cases, images and scenes from the original. Freddy's dreamworld is a limitless playground for moviemakers with an imagination; unfortunately, no one involved in this project seems to have one.

Robin Hood (PG-13, *1/2): Director Ridley Scott and star Russell Crowe reteam for this joyless, mud-smeared, faux-historical take on the legendary adventurer, who here isn't a gentry-robbing outlaw but rather a soldier battling on behalf of his usurped king (Danny Huston) against a corrupt government bent on taxation. This seeming ode to the Ron Paul Revolution is politically convoluted, but worse, it's just plain boring, dragging on for nearly two-and-a-half hours and only delivering a recognizable Robin Hood in the final fifteen seconds. Featuring Cate Blanchett, William Hurt, and Max Von Sydow.

Also in or Coming to Local Theaters

Just Wright (PG): Romance about an unlucky-in-love physical therapist (Queen Latifah) who falls for a basketball star (Common) she's nursing back to health-- and who happens to be dating her best friend (Paula Patton).

> Macgruber (R): Will Forte turns his forty-second Saturday Night Live sketch into a feature-length movie in which our mulleted, multitalented special agent must retrieve a bomb from his arch enemy, Dieter Von Cunth (Val Kilmer). Featuring Kristen Wiig, Ryan Phillippe, Maya Rudolph, and Powers Boothe.

Oceans (G): This Disney-produced nature documentary takes viewers beneath the surface of each of the planet's oceans to examine the strange and incredible creatures that live there. Narrated by Pierce Brosnan.

>> Sex and the City II (R): A married Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) takes a lavish trip to Dubai, land of anti-feminist sexual repression and oil spoils, with her aging gal pals (Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon, Kristin Davis), where she runs into old flame Aiden (John Corbett).

> Shrek Forever After (PG): In the fourth installment of the computer-animated fart-joke-and-pop-culture-reference series, Shrek (voiced by Mike Myers), bored with married life, wishes for one more day of bachelorhood. Rumpelstiltskin grants the wish, sending him to a bizarre alternate universe. Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and Antonio Banderas return. In 3D and 2D versions.

>> Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (PG-13): In this big-budget adaptation of the popular computer-game series, Jake Gyllenhaal does a brownface act as a swashbuckling Persian prince who must stop one of those evildoers Bush was always talking about from using a Sandstorm of Mass Destruction. Featuring Gemma Arterton and Alfred Molina.