WEST BANK SOCIAL CENTER

This Thursday night WBSC hosts diskurs, a monthly film and discussion series. Stop by at 7PM for an awesome & somewhat obscure movie followed by a discussion (over drinks) with a group of people who have awesome & somewhat obscure ideas.

This Month….

Black Sunday: The Mask of the Devil or La maschera del demonio Dir. Mario Bava 1960 // 87 minutes

Post-film discussion: We shall endeavor, collectively, to answer the question, “What’s scary?” Bring your ghost stories, personal experiences of fright and reasons why you like horror films.

BYOB or grab a drink/soda downstairs. A small donation is always helpful!

In January, when our friend Jeff Hnilicka spent time as “Someone in Residence” at WBSC, he was often seen carrying a deck of tarot cards with him around the space. When I asked, he told me that he always reads one card before leaving the house, and does a full reading for himself about once every week, just to meditate on all the crazy things he has going on (like many of us, he has a lot going on).

When he read my cards, I was surprised at how helpful it was to talk for a few minutes with someone else about a question I would otherwise have left stewing in my own head.

Jeff will be trading tarot readings for food and other necessities this Wednesday night at WBSC. If you’re in the neighborhood, bring him something and he’ll tell you what the future has in store. Conveniently, there are a number of businesses in the neighborhood where you can get food or other things to trade.

RSVP here or swing by anytime after 6:00PM.

S.H.M.

Guest DJ Dance Party // Saturday, February 20th @ 10PM

You and you and you and I are the DJs. There are just four simple rules:

1) Bring yourself (and your friend(s))
2) Bring your iTunes compatible music library (e.g. iPod)(don’t sweat it if you don’t, WBSC will have a guest music library available)
3) DJ a three-song set off another attendee’s library
4) Dance and dance and dance

Hope to see you there… and dancing your pants off! RSVP, if you want.

If you’ve missed the Claiming Space mini-lecture series, you’ve got one more chance this Saturday, February 13 at 2pm with what should prove a fascinating talk by T. Harlan Morehouse: “Better Living through Future Catastrophe, Or, How I learned to appreciate ‘The Revelation of Saint John the Divine…’”

Here’s a taste of what Harlan’s got to say:

The End of the World – or, its rougher (albeit more agreeable) equivalent: the collapse of societal order – seems to be much en vogue these days. Whether we conjure it in conspiratorial whispers, or it comes to us in the creping anxiety of insomniac thought, we often seem struck dumb by the horror of total collapse and, in turn, write it off as nonsensical. However, what if the specter of societal collapse could be understood in less pessimistic terms? What if it could serve to reorient us to our present with liberation in mind? That is, in what ways could future catastrophe offer positive visions for how we might relate to each other and the environments within which we carve out the trajectory of our lives? In this lecture I draw from field research conducted at a ‘primitive’ survival skills school located in rural Vermont in order to advance a theory of better living through future catastrophe. To do so I focus on three aspects of life in the shadow of collapse: (1) Preparatory skills for post-societal lifestyles; (2) Methods of radical reorientation of self-to-environment; and (3) Techniques of struggle for community autonomy.

Note: This is a change from Harlan’s original lecture topic. If you were geeking out about geological depths and the subterranean, come out anyways. Maybe he’ll let you pick his brain about it.

Tonight our friends at diskurs host the second in a series of monthly film discussions, this one on George Manupelli’s Dr. Chicago, its ongoing political relevance, and its use of satire. More information about the film and diskurs here.

Hope to see you!

-Shanai

WBSC is excited to host a series of Saturday afternoon lectures in conjunction with the exhibit Claiming Space - The Material and Immaterial of Site and Language at the Regis Center for Art from January 22nd to February 18th. The lectures, which start this Saturday, begin at 2PM.

This Saturday, February 6 @ 2PM

Travis Freeman - Infinite Space in James Cameron’s Avatar and My Mind
With the movie as his launchpad, Freeman will move through the relationship between virtual space and spiritual space.

Morgan Adamson - Multiplication and Negation, Study #3 (@ 3PM)
For her Saturday afternoon lecture, Morgan Adamson will map the impossible boundary between life and money in the era of finance capital.

Saturday, February 13 @ 2PM:

Harlan Morehouse - The Future Beneath
We are accustomed, it seems, to privileging the earth’s surface over its depth. An understandable bias, perhaps - after all, it is upon the surface that we trace the trajectories of our lives. Yet, cannot the same be said of the deep? That is, cannot life and its associated risks, fears, hopes, goals, etc. be traced in the subterranean as well? In this lecture I wish to trouble the boundary between ‘the above’ and ‘the below’ and explore the relationships among the surface, the subterranean, and time by looking at three cases studies: The WIPP nuclear waste site in New Mexico; the Corbis high-security underground film preservation facility in Pennsylvania; and, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway.

More about the lecturers here.

If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, a rent party is where our friends help us throw a party with really great music, dancing, talking, hanging out & a few surprises. Everyone shows up, has a good time and throws a few bucks in a jar on the way through the door.

It’s been awhile, but we find ourselves with a heating bill that is totally ridiculous (even by Minnesota standards) and so we need your help. Help us heat this place.

The harder you dance, the warmer it gets.

Saturday, January 30th
From 9PM to the Future
$1 to get in, $4 to leave.

HOT PANTS DJs spin original 45s: northerns, funky ones, R&Bs, crossovers, lowrider rolas, boogaloos as well as the hardest local blues and dance rarities. Dedicated to bringing you the finest in underplayed records from the 60’s and 70’s.

We’re excited to welcome Crystal Meisinger & Elissa Johnson of You Beast, You Gem back to WBSC tonight for their second collaborative night of queer performance, film, music & rabble-rousing.

Performances by the Default Project’s Loveless Ladies, Barton Stink, Mysti & Sissy La Poo, Mr E Krumpin Clown, Acroyoga Troupe & Marsha Stoned with Muscle Twitch. Come early to see a dj set by Lillith Fair & a short set by locals Brute Heart. YourSteppaDuJour will be taking over music duties after the first set of performances and will close out the night. Unkle Sinan of Minneapolis Art on Wheels will be playing videos through out the night as well!

It’s gonna cost you kids $3-5 bones to get in. Things get started at 9pm.