SICA will host a special musical presentation Friday by Daniel Higgs, with special guest Daniel Carter. Baltimore-based Higgs is the singer and lyricist of the band Lungfish. He is also a poet, a tattoo artist and fine artist, and plays the jew’s-harp. Carter has been operating on the grass-roots level in New York City since the 1970s. He is a musician’s musician, and a writer of Joycean prose and poetry. The show starts at 8 p.m.; there is a $5 cover charge. SICA is located at 20 Third Ave., Long Branch. For details visit www.sica.org or call (732) 263-1121.
David Sedaris, National Public Radio humorist and best-selling author, will appear at the Count Basie Theatre, Sunday, Oct. 1, at 8 p.m. Sedaris’ sardonic wit and incisive social critique have since made him one of America’s pre-eminent humor writers. Tickets are $36 and may be purchased by calling (732) 842-9000 or visiting www.countbasietheatre.org.
A short film will be screened Sept. 25 at 8 p.m. at the Shore Institute of the Contemporary Arts (SICA) in Long Branch. A monthly Short Film Forum is held on the last Monday of each month. The Black Box at SICA presents short films of all genres: narratives, animation, experimental, music video, art videos, works-in-progress, etc., followed by an open discussion. Admission is $5. For information, call (732) 988-6337 or log on to www.asburypark-blackbox.org.
The Fall 2006 Visiting Writers Series at Brookdale Community College, Lincroft will open Sept. 26 with Barbara Hurd and Lori Soderland. The authors will read in the Warner Student Life Center, Navesink Room III beginning at 7 p.m. A $3 donation at the door is requested to support the English Club. Hurd is an award-winning author and essayist. Soderland is a journalist and essayist and teacher. For more information, contact Laura McCullough, director of the series at (732) 224-2053 or e-mail [email protected].
The Red Bank-based Monmouth Civic Chorus will sing Giacomo Puccini’s gorgeous opera “Turandot” in concert with the New York City Opera, the Westfield Symphony Orchestra and the Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, Sept. 27 at 8 p.m. at PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel. Tickets are free by mail in advance. For information or reservations call (732) 933-9333 or visit www.monmouthcivicchor-us.org or www.gsafoundation.org.
Act on your dream of becoming a screenwriter by taking an innovative eight-week workshop led by Peter Fox from Tripeg Studios. Fox will guide aspiring writers through the process of turning movie ideas into working screenplays, including the key creative and technical elements as well as how to pitch the finished product. The Inside Track Workshop, open to adults and advanced students, will be held at the Count Basie Theatre’s Cool School on Monmouth Street in Red Bank beginning Friday, Sept. 29, 6:30-8:30 p.m. Cost of the program is $325. For more information or for a registration form, visit www.countbasietheatre.org or call (732) 224-8778, ext. 106.
Brookdale Community College is again offering the oriented creative writing course “Free Yourself to Write” at the Lincroft campus on Newman Springs Road. The class will run for six Saturdays, 9:30 a.m. to noon, Sept. 30 to Nov. 4. Class size is 10 students, and the instructor is Helene Kylen, mental health writer and editor. The fee is $108. To register, call (732) 224-2315.
Experienced singers are invited to audition for the Monmouth Civic Chorus by appointment on Tuesday evenings, September through June. Auditions and chorus rehearsals are held at Trinity Episcopal Church, 65 W. Front St., Red Bank. Interested singers are invited to attend a rehearsal held 7:30-10 p.m. For an audition appointment or more information, call (732) 933-9333 or visit www.monmouthcivichorus.org.
Gordon Brown and Barry Dorsey’s “Writers in the Raw” will be held in the Pollak Theatre at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, Friday, Sept. 29, and Saturday, Sept. 30. Showcasing some of America’s most talented national touring singer/songwriters, “Writers in the Raw” will feature performances by Dan Bern, Melissa Ferrick, Cheryl Wheeler and Jane Siberry on Friday, while on Saturday, Dar Williams is scheduled, along with Lucy Kaplansky, Susan Werner and Vance Gilbert. The performers not only perform their songs, but also tell the stories behind their songwriting processes and play off one another as they perform. Admission will be $39 for one day and $60 for the weekend.