- Happy birthday, Mr Johnson
Celebrate the life and legacy of Samuel Johnson with wine and cake, on the cusp of his 300th birthday, today at 5.30pm in the Sir Clifford Skeggs Gallery, Municipal Chambers, the Octagon. A selection of Johnson's poetry and prose will be complemented by music. Featuring: The Rare Byrds string quartet; Dr Paul Tankard (senior lecturer in English, University of Otago) and Dr Ken Smith (senior research fellow in literature, University of Bradford). Free.
- From the African streets
Gain insight into urban art from West Africa, where vibrant painting styles mix with modern influences and pop culture. Otago Museum communicator Shelly Johnson helps you create your own work of art on Sunday, from 1pm-4pm. Tickets available at the museum's information desk.
- Last chance to see . . .
My First Time by Ken Davenport, directed by Jeff Szusterman, at the Fortune Theatre, 231 Stuart St. It closes on Saturday.
• Gigs
Alibi, the Octagon.
Tonight, 9pm: Spring Breaks 09 featuring Brazil Beat Sound System.
Fridays, from 10.30pm: Hemi and Bede.
Bath St.
Tonight, 10pm: DnB with DJ Sideshow.
Friday, 10pm: DnB: U*T*U.
Saturday, 10pm: State of Mind with support from Satch, Titts Magee and Syrus.
Wednesday, 9pm: SPOR (UK) with support from Future Sound Of Dunedin.
Cellars Bar, Stafford St, Dunedin.
Tonight, 9pm: Entropy Trio and Mbryo
Chicks Hotel, Port Chalmers.
Tonight: Ping Port Pong Political Party (PPPPP); Friday: Dear Time Waste, Brains; Saturday: Sex With Bowie, Tono, The Gideons, Thundercub.
Circadian Rhythm Cafe, 72 St Andrew St.
Fridays, 5.30pm: Philtre Jazz Trio.
Dunedin Musicians Club, 12 Manse St.
Thursdays, 5pm: open mike night.
Saturday, 8pm, Stark Raving. All welcome. Donation.
Gardies, 697 Castle Street.
Friday, 7.30pm: Rhythm & Vines Sound Check, featuring Brazil Beat Sound System.
Isis Lounge, 68 Princes St.
Every Wednesday, 8pm: I Jazz.
Every Thursday: Oxo Cubans jam night, from 8pm.
Every Friday, 8pm: Oxo Cubans, party night. The Mint Bar, WanakaTomorrow: King Kapisi.
Pequeno, the Savoy.
Thursdays: Mojaz, lounge music from 8pm.
Refuel, Otago University.
Tonight, 9pm: King Kapisi with Maitreya (NZ), Scalper (UK) and Tha Feel Style (NZ).
Friday, 9pm: Onanon, Operation Rolling Thunder and General Winter's Freak Train.
Saturday, 9pm: Dear Time's Waste and Street Beat Spring Tour, with Haunted Love.
Tuesdays, 8pm: Jazz in the Pocket.
Wednesday, 9pm: Pint Night Presents Tommy Gunners and Guests. Free.
Revolver, Queenstown.
Saturday: King Kapisi
Robbie Burns Pub, 374 George St.
Thursdays: Calder Prescott Jazz Quartet, 8.30pm.
Rosie's Bar, Victoria Hotel.
Thursdays, 9pm: open mike night. Gear provided.
Terrace Bar, the Octagon.
Friday: Joe Setefano and Amanda Goodwin.
Saturday, 10pm: Livewire, classic rock covers.
• Family fun
Blueskin Bay Library.
Pre-school story time, every Friday, 10.30am. Excludes school holidays. Free.
Knox Church, 449 George St.
Friday, 1.30pm-2.30pm: Pre-school music for children 0-5 and carers.
Mosgiel Library, Hartstonge Ave, Mosgiel.
Pre-school story time, every Tuesday, 11am.
Otago Museum, 419 Great King St.
Explorer backpacks for 7-12-year-olds (free).
Guided tours daily at 11.30am and 3.30pm. Meet at the information desk.
Weekends, 10.30am and 2pm, Atrium level 1: children's creative activities.
Every Saturday and Sunday during September, 12pm and 3.30pm, Atrium Level 1: Interactive Trolley: Tea. Discover the difference between tea varieties, its history and some of the tools and crockery associated with tea.
Saturday and Sunday during September, 2.30pm, Search Centre: "Snap Happy to Snap Savvy" - learn what all those settings on your camera are really for and how they affect the image.
Sunday, 1pm, Atrium Level 1: West African Art Workshop Series: "Painting Urban Art".
Port Chalmers Library.
Pre-school story time, every Wednesday, 10.30am.
September 16-17, 1pm-4pm: "Portal to the Orokonui Eco-sanctuary".
Meet Sue, one of the people developing the Orokonui Eco-Sanctuary.
Also: Eco-Sanctuary display September 13-20.
Visitor Information Centre, Octagon.
Daily, 11am: Walk Dunedin, inner-city walking tours. Meet at the Visitor Centre.
• Music and performance
Dunedin Town Hall, Moray Pl,
Saturday, 8pm: Southern Sinfonia present "The Glory of Haydn". Knox Church, 449 George St.
Today, 12.30pm: Lunchtime recital: Organ recital featuring organists Denis McCombe, Rhys Thorn, Karen Knudson, Peter Stockwell and some of Karen's pupils.
Sunday, 7pm: The Knox Church Choir performs Haydn - "Missa Brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo".
Marama Hall, Otago University.
Lunchtime concert, Wednesday, 1pm: A Celebration of Commemoratives - celebrating 40 years on stage with Judy Bellingham, soprano, and Terence Dennis, piano.
Otago Museum, 419 Great King St.
Lunchtime music every Friday and Saturday, noon.
This week, Friday: Sandra Crawshaw and Charlotte Francis; Saturday: Gail Quayle and Kevin McLoughlin.
Sir Clifford Skeggs Gallery, Municipal Chambers, The Octagon.
Today, 5.30pm: "Turning 300: A Celebration Of Samuel Johnson", featuring poetry and classical music. Free.
• Plays
Allen Hall Theatre, corner Union and Leith Sts,
today and tomorrow, 1pm: Lunchtime Theatre: The Christmas Monologues by Thomas Sainsbury; directed by Thom Adams.
Fortune Theatre, Stuart St.
Until September 12: My First Time.
• Talks and films
Artbay Gallery, level 1, 32 Rees St, Queenstown.
Monday, 5.30pm: Art talk by Otago Polytechnic lecturer in creative studies Shaun Burdon.
Croque-o-dile Cafe, Dunedin Botanic Garden.
Tuesday, 9am: "Mind the Brain" coffee morning for parents. Guest speaker: Judith Curran, series producer, Natural History New Zealand.
Dunedin Film Society, Red Lecture Theatre, Great King St.
Wednesday, 7.30pm: Roy Andersson's "You the Living", a series of comedic sketches. .
Dunedin Public Art Gallery, the Octagon.
Saturday, 3pm: Artist's talk - Ceramicist Raewyn Atkinson will discuss her art practice and her coming projects.
Sunday, 3pm: Curator's talk - Curator Aaron Kreisler on the new acquisitions, loans and gifts that feature in the exhibition "Kind of Blue".
Otago Museum, 419 Great King St.
Free daily talks, 2pm. Topics in September: Monday: "New Zealand Lizards"; Tuesday: "The Wreck of the Penguin"; Wednesday: "The Extinct New Zealand Huia"; Thursday: "The Rocks of Otago"; Friday: "Sheep Farming in Southern New Zealand"; Saturday: "The Prehistoric Plesiosaur"; Sunday: "The Three Bears of Otago Museum".
Daily at 4.30pm: Special Exhibition Gallery talk: "West African Cultures".
Presbyterian Church Hall, Cromwell.
Tuesday, 7.30pm: Nigel Latta presents a talk: "Parenting in the First Decade".
University of Otago, Common Room, Union Building.
Wednesday, 7.30pm: Pecha Kucha Night.
• Exhibitions
Aigantighe Art Gallery, 49 Wai-iti Rd, Timaru.
Until October 11: Jane Zusters' "Wall Talking" and Terrence Johnston's "Mystery".
Anchorage Gallery, 19 George St, Port Chalmers.
Until September 27: "The Westland", a collaboration with Lynn Taylor (Dunedin) and Joanne B. Karr (Scotland).
The Artist's Room, 2 Dowling St.
From Saturday: New works by Neil Driver.
Aurum Wines Cellar Door, 140 State Highway 6 (1km north of Cromwell).
Until the end of September: Tribal Eastern rug exhibition.
Bellamys Gallery, Macandrew Bay.
Until September 20: "Matters of the Heart", etchings and monoprint by Pauline Bellamy.
Open Wednesday to Sunday, noon-5pm.
Blue Oyster Gallery, basement, Moray Chambers, 30 Moray Pl.
"Unstable Institutional Memory: 10 Years at the Blue Oyster," curated by Ali Bramwell.
Open Tuesday-Friday 11am-5pm, Saturday noon-3pm.
Brett McDowell Gallery, 5 Dowling St.
Until September 17: Laurence Aberhart.
Central Stories Museum and Art Gallery, 21 Centennial Ave, Alexandra.
Open 10am-4pm. Until September 24: "Our Wider World", photographs by Gilbert van Reenen, matched to poetry by Brian Turner. Dunedin City Library, 230 Moray Pl, Reed Gallery, third floor. Until November 1: "Samuel Johnson 1709-2009: Life & Afterlife".
Dunedin Public Art Gallery, the Octagon.
Until November 8: Joanna Langford: "The Landless". Joanna Langford is known for creating magical worlds in which architectural structures are formed from ephemeral materials.
Until September 20: Russian Art in New Zealand.
Until October 25: "Frances Hodgkins: femme du monde" and "Frances Hodgkins: family and friends".
Ongoing: "Poseur". Portraits from the gallery's collection.
Until December 6: "Kind of Blue: new acquisitions and loans".
Until February 2010: Bill Culbert and Ralph Hotere: "P. R. O. P".
Forrester Gallery, 9 Thames St, Oamaru.
Until September 27: "Kurow . . . Looking Up", by Waikouaiti artist Gill Hammond.
Gallery at Glenfalloch, Glenfalloch Gardens.
Contemporary works by six peninsula artists.
Gallery De Novo, 101 Stuart St.
Until September 18: "The Shape of Things to Come", new work by Janet de Wagt.
Gateway Gallery, 27 Ross Pl, Lawrence.
Perpetual Collective: Ron Esplin, Bob Wyber (jewellery), James Stewart (chair-maker), Pamela Brown, Gay Webb (masks and torsos), Ray Ansin (glass), Ben Woollcombe, Margaret Palmer-McKenzie, Blue Hall (wood), Murray Ayson, Gilbert van Reenen and others.
Open Thursday-Monday.
Harris Smith Art, 86-88 Bond St.
Paintings by Jeffrey Harris, sculptures by Nicole Page-Smith.
Open Monday-Saturday, 1pm-2pm, or by appointment.
Hocken Gallery, corner Anzac Ave and Parry St.
Until October 8: "Charles Brasch - In the Company of Artists".
Hullabaloo Art Space, Melmore Tce, Old Cromwell historic precinct.
Hours 10am-4pm daily. Closed on Mondays.
Until September 13: "Seasonal Imprints", new solo exhibition by Robyn Urquhart.
Lakes District Museum, Arrowtown.
Until October 26: "Speaking of Change - Memories of the Wakatipu 1900-1980".
Luminous Gallery, George St, Port Chalmers,
Until September 30: "Works of Light", art by Karijn Molema.
Maritime Museum, Beach St, Port Chalmers.
Until late September: "Capturing Port: D. A. De Maus and his photos of early Port Chalmers".
Milford Galleries, Dunedin, 18 Dowling St.
Until September 16: "Inland" by Garry Currin and "Pahuretanga o wa" ("Passage of Time") by Jon Tootill. Milford Galleries, Queenstown, 9a Earl St.
Until September 23: "Seeking the Light" by Luke Jacomb.
Nadene Milne Gallery, 16 Buckingham St, Arrowtown.
From tomorrow until October 16: Ans Westra, Fiona Pardington & Peter Peryer.
North Otago Museum, 60 Thames St, Oamaru.
Until October 1: "Potions Emporium in the Time Ma-Shed".
Otago Art Society, in the OAS gallery at Dunedin Railway Station, 1st floor, open daily 10am-4pm.
Until September 13: Youth Art Awards. Ages 5-13 years.
Otago Museum, 419 Great King St.
Until May 16, 2010: "Charles Darwin: Evolutionary Thinking", Nature Galleries, level 3, free.
Until October 4: "Charles Brasch - A Great Good Man", People of the World Gallery. Free.
Special exhibitions gallery: "West Africa: Rhythm + Spirit". Free.
Otago Settlers Museum, 31 Queens Gardens.
Until October 11: "Paint-box Pioneers: Visions of the Past", from the museum art collection.
Ongoing: "Across the Ocean Waves", Otago immigration in the age of sail.
Until June 2010: "Willkommen to Dunedin: A History of German-speaking People in Otago".
South Seas Gallery, 1088 Brighton Rd, Brighton.
Weekends, 1pm-5pm.
Until September 19: "By the Sea", recent paintings by Janet Weir.
Stuart St Potters Co-operative, 14 Lower Stuart St.
Until September 19: Louise Thompson Parker and Jo Howard.
Taieri Gallery, 123 Gordon Rd, Mosgiel.
Until September 29: "Acrylics on Canvas" by Mosgiel artist Marie Reid.
Toi O Tahuna Fine Art Gallery, Church Lane Queenstown.
Until September 23: Jane Gray and Annie Smits Sandano.
Tell us Promote your event by giving details to the Otago Daily Times. Information must arrive by 3pm on Tuesday for Thursday's paper. Email playlist@odt.co.nz
