To recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day, the Puffin Cultural Forum will host an Open Mic Poetry Slam at 7 p.m. Saturday. Talented guest artists are scheduled to perform, and members of the community are encouraged to sign up and share what they have to say. There’s a $5 suggested donation, but the first seven people who sign up at 6:30 p.m. with a poem that’s less than three minutes will get in free. The winner of Saturday night’s poetry slam, which will be determined by audience applause, will be the guest poet for the Puffin’s next Poetry Café. And, as a guest poet, that individual is …

  From learning how to play the drums at the age of 10 and singing in his church choir to studying at the Berklee College of Music and performing all over the world, jazz musician Tim Horner has led a life immersed in music. In his 30 years of being a professional musician, Horner has been featured on more than 200 CDs as a sideman. At 8 p.m. Saturday, Horner and seven other talented musicians will perform at the Puffin Cultural Forum to celebrate Horner’s first CD as a leader. His recent release, titled “The Places We Feel Free,” features 10 original compositions and will be available for …

Offering a humorous twist on Charles Dickens’ classic A Christmas Carol, the Garage Theatre Group presents the play this Sunday from the angle of a radio broadcast. Audiences will be taken back to 1948 and will watch 10 actors in a radio studio scramble to play all the roles and recreate all the sounds and effects, said GTG Artistic Director Michael Bias. “You have two people standing at the sound-effects table, and when they’re talking about someone walking in the snow, you’ll see some shoes going through a box of Rice Krispies to make all the sounds,” he said. As a holiday gift to the …

Ten teenagers will sing their hearts out Saturday night for a chance to win free recording-studio time as part of the Teaneck Community Chorus’ Teaneck Teen Idol competition. The event, which will begin at 8 p.m. in the Teaneck High School auditorium, also will feature a performance from last year’s winner Sumner Perera and will be moderated by Anthony Johnson of Channel 7 Eyewitness News. “This year there’s quite a variety of songs being sung, including Broadway tunes, R&B, pop and country,” said Gail Smith, co-director of Teaneck Teen Idol and president of the Teaneck Community Chorus (TCC…

Thanks to Teaneck resident Ariella Steinreich, becoming a volunteer has never been easier. Steinreich, who works in public relations and is the former community service coordinator at Ma’ayanot High School, recently launched a website called allchesed.com that pairs people with volunteering opportunities locally and in Israel. The website, which is open to anyone of any age, displays a monthly calendar with a daily listing of volunteer activities. Users can simply click on the highlighted entries and obtain contact information for the organization(s) in need of assistance. This Sunday from 10…

After leading a mural walking tour through Spanish Harlem earlier this month, artist George Zavala is now set to unveil the latest exhibit at the Puffin Cultural Forum. Curated by Zavala, “The Writings on the Wall: Labor in the U.S.” will include the works of artists Virginia Ayress and Mike Alewitz and will focus on the history of labor, unions and workers’ rights. The opening reception begins at 5 p.m. Sunday at the Puffin. “One of my ideas for these two artists (Ayress and Alewitz) to talk about on the opening night and to try to show through their work is that I don’t think you can …

From an international film festival to local theatre performances, the arts are in full swing this weekend in Teaneck. TEANECK NEW THEATRE Beginning tonight, Teaneck New Theatre presents a staged reading of “If We Are Women,” which is a drama about family relationships written by Joanna McClelland Glass. This weekend’s performances, which take place at the Ethical Culture Society, are as follows: 8 p.m. tonight 8 p.m. Saturday 3:30 p.m. Sunday Admission is $15, and seniors and students pay $12. Groups of 10 or more pay $10 per person. Opening night only pricing: two for the price of one on $…

Beginning this weekend, artist John Porcellino’s pencil sketches, ink drawings and photographs will adorn the walls of BLAST Gallery. The opening reception for his exhibit, which runs through Nov. 28, kicks off at 6 p.m. Saturday evening. The popular cartoonist, who’s well-known for his “King-Cat Comics” series, was born in Chicago in 1968 and has been drawing and writing for more than 25 years. “I was raised/trained in the fine arts as a painter,” Porcellino said. “About 20 years ago, I gave up painting to focus on comics. My comics are mostly short, slice-of-life-type autobiographical …

On Saturday evening, visitors to the Puffin will go on a zigzag musical tour with the ZigZag Quartet. The group, which is comprised of Alexander Wu on piano, Francisco Roldan on guitar, Hilliard Greene on double bass and Danny Mallon on percussion, will take listeners on a journey through various countries, time periods and genres. “We’re kind of touching on well-known styles of sounds that people will recognize,” Wu said. “We sometimes split into solo, duo or trio performances so people can appreciate each instrument’s qualities.” Wu said the group formed about five years ago. “It started …

Following a sold-out performance in February, jazz guitarist Warren Battiste returns to the Puffin Cultural Forum Saturday night to perform selections from “The Great American Songbook.” Battiste, who was born in New Orleans in 1925, learned how to play the guitar from his father, who was a talented banjo player. Battiste has been playing the guitar for more than 75 years and has performed with legendary jazz artists such as Dizzy Gillespie, Barry Harris, Jimmy McGriff, Charlie Parker and Sarah Vaughn. Joining him on the stage area at the Puffin will be Rave Tesar on piano, Ron Naspo on bass…

Performing arts co-op projetLIMB will take its cue from the trees, birds, sky and creek as its members dance through the Teaneck Creek Conservancy on Saturday. Artistic Director Gabriel Forestieri said visitors should expect to walk a little as they follow the dancers to selected spots within the conservancy. The group is comprised of five professional dancers and one professional musician. Forestieri has been running projectLIMB since 2004. “My goal in this piece is to reveal things that are always present but are usually hidden from our normal inhabiting of place,” said Forestieri. “The …

Jazz enthusiasts have two nights this weekend in which to enjoy great music. The Reggie Pittman/Loren Daniels Quartet performs at 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Jazzberry Patch at Classic Quiche. The band consists of Pittman on trumpet/flugelhorn, Daniels on piano/vocals, Mike Richmond on bass and Jonathon Peretz on drums. The quartet’s recently released CD is titled “Point A to Point A.” “Reggie and I have been performing at Classic Quiche Cafe about once a month for the last two years,” said Daniels. “In that time, we've built an audience for our music and had the opportunity to develop a working …

Throughout the month of September, the Teaneck Public Library’s Art Gallery features the watercolor paintings of resident Stanley Jakubaszek. His exhibit, titled "Urban and River Landscapes," includes 13 paintings depicting various scenes from a February trip to Sicily, as well as views of the Hackensack River, which is about a five-minute walk from his home. An architect by trade, Jakubaszek said he used watercolors early in his career with architectural drawings and was intrigued by the challenging nature of the medium. “The thing with painting with watercolors is that it’s unforgiving,” …

Editor's Note: Events may be canceled due to Hurricane Irene. Check before going and make sure to follow weather alerts. Area bat expert Joseph D’Angeli, who’s referred to as New Jersey’s “Bat Man” by those familiar with him, will bring the second day of his three-day Batstock benefit to Mexicali Live Saturday night. Money collected during the three-day event will go toward efforts to save the bat population from a cold-weather fungus that has killed a million bats since the winter of 2006. White-Nose Syndrome (WNS) refers to the disease caused by the cold-weather fungus. According to a press…

Bird and nature lovers can enjoy a Bird Walk and Talk field trip on Sunday at the Teaneck Creek Conservancy. The free event, which is hosted by the TCC and the Bergen County Audubon Society, will be led by Audubon Society Education Community Outreach Coordinator Don Torino. Torino explained that hikers will visit areas where migrating birds stop. Torino will help participants identify birds by sight and sound and will teach hikers about bird behaviors. Torino, of Moonachie, recommends that participants wear good shoes, such as hiking boots, and bring their binoculars (limited sets of …

Spirited drummer and Allman Brothers Band founder Jaimoe and his Jasssz Band will bring their American soul music to Mexicali Live tonight and Saturday night. Along with Jaimoe, the Jasssz Band includes Junior Mack on guitar and vocals; Dave Stoltz on bass; Mathais Schuber on keyboards; Paul Lieberman on sax, flute and piccolo; Kris Jensen on sax; and Teaneck resident Reggie Pittman on trumpet. Because of a previous engagement, Pittman said he won’t be able to make it out to the weekend performances. “They play all over the country, but the one time they’re five minutes from my house, I can’t…

The Melanie Charles Haitian Quintet will perform at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Puffin Cultural Forum. Lead vocalist Melanie Charles, who was nominated this year as Best Female Vocalist for the Haitian Music Awards, will share her own original songs, as well as arrangements of traditional Haitian music and original pieces by Monvelyno Alexis and Eddie Bourjolly, who are both guitarists in the quintet. Concert guests also will hear the sounds of Haitian drums and horns from quintet member Markus Schwartz and the electric and upright bass from final band mate Jonathan Michel. Charles said Haitian …

Classic theatre lovers can enjoy an outdoor performance (weather permitting) Sunday afternoon at the Puffin Cultural Forum. The Next Stage Ensemble (NSE), which is part of The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, will present William Shakespeare’s comedy “Love’s Labour’s Lost” at 4 p.m. The NSE provides budding career actors with the opportunity to train in ensemble-based performance techniques, states the group’s website. NSE participants work on two classic plays each summer. Last weekend at the Puffin, audience members were treated to NSE’s other performance of Jean Baptiste Moliere’s “…

A Phish cover band called The Lawn Boys hits the stage at Mexicali Live Saturday night. Keyboardist and vocalist Shoheen Owhady said visitors will witness the same sort of whimsical, intimate concert performance that early Phish fans experienced before Phish blew up in popularity.  The Lawn Boys formed in September thanks to a Craigslist post seeking musicians to create a Phish cover band. The group includes Owhady, Darren Rodney on guitar and vocals, Brad Weiger on bass and vocals and Angelo Shortridge on drums and vocals. The group gets its name directly from the Phish song “Lawn Boy.” “We’…

Sometimes it can be quite productive to get things off of one’s chest. For Allie Mulholland, the decision to vent his frustrations concerning the theatre eventually would lead to the formation of the Re:Group Theatre, which focuses its creative energy on reviving the depression-era plays of The Group Theatre – the forerunner of The Actors Studio. Mulholland described how one night he penned a 14-page “rant” about how to fix the theatre. He then shared his writings with his friends, who passed it along to their friends, and so forth. Eventually six people, including Mulholland, held the group'…