Durham
Loggins & Messina
Durham Performing Arts CenterOver the years, Loggins & Messina have become a soft-rock punch linenot quite Air Supply, but in the ballparkwith “House at Pooh Corner” being Exhibit A. But their early records, with Messina fresh from Poco (after his Buffalo Springfield days) and Loggins a fresh-faced West Coast folkie, carried some of the 1970s’ warmest and catchiest roots-pop. The exuberant “Vahevala” will suffice as the defense’s Exhibit A. Sure, “Your Mama Don’t Dance” feels a bit toothless under three decades worth of harsh hipster light, but you’re gonna sing along just the same. Tickets range from $37 to $62, and the greatest hits begin at 8 p.m. For more, see www.dpacnc.com. Rick Cornell
Durham
The Blood of a Poet
Nasher Museum of ArtJean Cocteau’s brilliant cinematic career began with 1930’s Le Sang d’un Poete (The Blood of a Poet), an avant-garde look at the nature of art and reality. Funded by Charles, Vicomte de Noailles (who was horrified when some footage involving him turned out to be about a suicide), and delayed for a year before being released, Poet consists of four sections that use the medium of cinema to comment on the nature of art. In an essay about the film, Cocteau wrote, “I applied myself only to the relief and to the details of the images that came forth from the great darkness of the human body. I adopted them then and there as the documentary scenes of another kingdom.” He also denied that the film was surreal, though your opinion might differ. Tonight’s showing will be accompanied by excerpts from 2005’s Picasso and Dance, featuring the Paris Ballet’s performances of two ballets with costumes and sets designed by Pablo Picasso. The event is sponsored by the Nasher Museum of Art and the Program in the Arts of the Moving Image and starts at 7 p.m. It is free and open to the public. For more information, visit fvd.aas.duke.edu/screensociety/schedule.php. Zack Smith
