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Leave work early, I guess. Starting, thirty minutes ago, Dirtbag and DJ Discipline are spinning at Rock City Kicks in Hillcrest as part of the monthly Shop-n-Sip event. Rockst'r is doing a live set later on. Unlike most S-n-S events, this one is probably gonna go on for awhile.

Al Green refers to himself in the third person. Calmly, reflectively, like, “I think Al Green is still growing.” Passionately, like “Al Green can sing to that!”

It's a common affliction of fame: the ego swells beyond the man. But Green, 62, has another explanation. On NPR's “All Things Considered,” he told the host Michelle Norris, “It's not me that's speaking. It's another individual singing through me.”

It's tempting to interpret that as Green claiming to be possessed — by a cherubic-voiced alien, by the Holy Spirit, by take your guess — but I think, more likely, he's talking about empathy. Al Green's songs move us, make us dance, make us make babies because Al Green understands us deeply and wholly.

Local rap wunderkind Max Farrell has put together a big get-down Friday at Downtown Music. Here's a self-produced track to whet your appetite.

Maxx- Rap Like So

The Little Rock Film Festival, the Little Rock Film Commission and the Arkansas Film Commission will present an advance screening of the new Mike Myers comedy "The Love Guru" on Wed., June 18 at Breckenridge. Conway native Graham Gordy co-wrote the screenplay. He'll be on hand for the sneak peek and an after-party to follow.

The release is below.

 

Jonesboro native Wes Bentley seems set to continue his streak of starring in morbid films seen by few.

The Hollywood Reporter says that Bentley will star, with American Idol alum Katherine McPhee, in "The Storyteller." According to HR, Bentley plays a "writer who goes on a downward spiral when his father dies, causing his assistant (McPhee) to start investigating whether his muse as well as narrator for his stories is a figment of his imagination."

Sounds like a sure hit.

Here are Bentley's last few film roles:
"Weirdsville" (2007) Stars as a slacker who tries to dump the body of his dead girlfriend in the basement of  a drive-in movie theater where a satanic cult performs ritual sacrifices.
"Ghost Rider" (2007) Plays Blackheart, a demon and Ghost Rider's nemesis.
"The Ungodly" (2007) Maybe you missed it at the LRFF. Stars as a fledgling filmmaker who blackmails a serial killer to let him make a documentary about him.
"P2" (2007) Stars as a kidnapper/stalker.
"The Last Word" (2008) Stars as a man who makes his living composing suicide letters. With Winona Ryder.
"Edgar Allan Poe's Ligeia" (2008) Plays a writer who falls for and, ultimately, assists a woman who steals people's souls.

Might be time to mix it up.

Alan Ball's adaptation of Magnolia author Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Series is coming to HBO in September.

"True Blood" stars Anna Paquin and less famous people. The show, like the books, is set in a small Louisiana town, where vampires and humans co-exist (Japanese-made synthetic blood plays a role). Paquin plays Sookie Stakehouse, a telepathic waitress who falls in love with a vampire.

If you're a huge geek, you'll appreciate this just-launched viral marketing campaign.

Here's a fairly tepid review of the pilot (or what this reviewer thought was the pilot). With promises of graphic vampire-human sex!