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BMA performers

BMA Hall of Fame inductees Gang Green plus Sonya Kitchell, Melissa Ferrick, Damone and Amanda Palmer of Dresden Dolls top the list of performers for next week's Boston Music Awards, Sept. 27 at Avalon. As always, a "surprise" performer or two is promised. Tix to the 21+ event are $25 at www.ticketmaster.com. Proceeds benefit the Wang Center BMA Scholarship Fund for young musicians.

Berklee 4 Darfur

Berklee College of Music is releasing "We Are All Connected" ... to prove it. The CD of music by Berklee students, faculty, staff and alumni will benefit Mercy Corps relief efforts for the women and children of Darfur. Linda Mason, wife of Berklee President Roger Brown joined Liz Walker and others on a Mercy Corps visit to the war-torn region last year and introduced women there to two songs written for them by Berklee students. From that experience the Berklee Women's Network initiated the recording project, which includes field recordings of the women of Darfur. Meshell Ndegeocello and Abe Laboriel, Sr. are among the Berklee-friendly guests appearing on the disc, which is available at iTunes and CDBaby.

Morning reading

Interesting post by Geoff on a bad review of the BSO web site. But the most interesting fact is Mark Volpe's comment that the BSo did $6 million in online business last year.

Port fest

In Globe North this morning, I have a feature on the upcoming Newburyport Documentary Film Festival (formerly known as the Northern Lights film fest).

Concert listings thinning out

Today's upload from Live Nation: Alice Cooper at the Orpheum, Oct. 29, $29.50-$36, on sale Friday at 10 a.m.; Primus at the Orpheum, Nov. 12, $35-$40, on sale Saturday at 10 a.m.; and Brian Wilson at the Orpheum, Nov. 17, $35-$75, on sale Saturday at 10 a.m.

Eyes again on the prize

After some tough times - including the death of filmmaker Henry Hampton - "Eyes on the Prize" is coming back to PBS in October. The legendary chronicle of the civil rights movement, which debuted in 1987, returns to "American Experience"over three weeks beginning Oct. 2. And there will be a screening of the first hour at the Coolide Corner on Sept. 26, followed by a panel discussion. Hampton's sister Judi Hampton will introduce the film. The event is free to the public. Info: www.wgbh.org/eyesontheprize.

MIT honors playwright

Pulitzer Prize-winner Suzan-Lori Parks ("Topdog/Underdog") has been awarded the 2006-07 Eugene McDermott Award in the Arts by the Council for the Arts at MIT. She'll give a public reading at MIT on Oct. 26 before receiving the $70,000 prize the next day. Previous winners include sculpter Henry Moore, composer Tan Dun and ICA architects Diller + Scofidio. (Among Parks' previous awards is one of those MacArthur genius grants.) Parks will return to MIT next spring as an artist-in-residence.

Lend me your ears on Sept. 30

Wilson's last stand

August Wilson's final work is passing through the Huntington Theatre on its way to Broadway. Wilson completed "Radio Golf" shortly before his death last year, putting the capstone on a 10-play cycle exploring the African-American experience over the last century. "Radio Golf" feels very much like today's news, putting Wilson's grand themes of race and community in the world of Tiger Woods and Whole Foods and the consolidation of black radio. (WILD-FM anyone?)

Wednesday's opening was preceded by a short video about Wilson, spoken tributes, a wave from his widow in the audience and a special program note or two. Most of the 10 plays passed through the Huntington at some point or other, and no question there's a special tie here; consider the anecdote about Wilson sitting at a table outside the Pizzeria Uno next door while polishing dialogue. It's all very nice, but what matters is the work, and fortunately that's worth all of the above and more.

"Radio Golf" focuses on two friends, up-and-comers out of Wilson's home turf, Pittsburgh's Hill District, where many of the plays are set. Harmond Wilks is a developer and mayoral hopeful whose new project will bring a Whole Foods, a Starbucks and a Barnes & Noble to the 'hood. But will it also destroy something precious? Wilks' pal and partner is Roosevelt Hicks, a slightly nerdier and definitely more materialistic sort obsessed with his golf game and an opportunity in broadcasting.

The play takes place entirely in their project office, a hastily updated space in a crumbling building whose decay creeps in around the edges of David Gallo's excellent set. Eventually a couple of longtime neighborhood denizens ease into the office, threatening Wilks' sense of purpose, and his reaction could destroy the project and his political future, as well as his bond with Hicks.

I'm not sure "Radio Golf" is quite up to the level of "The Piano Lesson" or "Fences." Wilks' ambitious wife seems a throwaway character, and some of the revelations about neighborhood ties don't carry as much weight as they're intended to. But it's heartfelt and serious and sticks in the mind long after you exit. Hassan El-Amin is excellent as Wilks, a man constrained by trying to do several conflicting "right" things, while James A. Williams is busy and funny and back-stabbing in just the right proportions as Hicks.

Don't miss. Herald review is here, Globe here.

Marsalis hits it hard (and soft)

Branford Marsalis gave a fiery interview to Bob Young of the Herald this week on the state of jazz. But then he went out Tuesday night and provided the exception that proves the rule. Marsalis and his quartet played their new album, "Braggtown" from start to finish at the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts. It was heartfelt and creative and uncompromising, all the things Marsalis says too much jazz these days isn't.

Opener "Jack Baker" was a Coltrane-ish burner, built around a repeated phrase that Marsalis smacked into over and over again with his tenor, in between surges of sometimes furious soloing. This is the track that's stuck in my head now. "O Solitude" was an exquisite ballad, with Marsalis' sweet soprano at the opposite end of the spectrum from the tenor. At times when Marsalis stepped out of the spotlight, pianist Joey Calderazzo, bassist Eric Revis and drummer Jeff "Tain" Watts seemed like less of a unit than three talented players on their own courses. But when Marsalis returned to the stage, it somehow seemed to glue them together instantly.

Unlike the other two rhythm section players, Watts plays big most of the time, and I was less enamored of his composition for the album, "Blakzilla." But for the encore, Calderazzo ceded his seat to a young Berklee pianist whose name I didn't catch, a regular with Watts' band apparently, and they played Watts' "The Impaler." It was one of the night's highlights.

It's Marsalis Month in Boston, with the album coming out on Cambridge-based Marsalis Music, Branford picking up an honorary degree from alma mater Berklee (whose president introduced the quartet on Tuesday), and a bunch of Marsalis Music artists performing at the Beantown Jazz Festival at the end of the month. (Full disclosure, I'm moderating a panel.) In that context, Tuesday night was a worthy command performance.