Hip-hop docs
Kicking off the four-day film series “Fresh Mode: Exploring the Four Pillars of Hip Hop” is a night of short films about DJ-ing. “Keepintime: Talking Drums and Whispering Vinyl” talks to some notable drummers whose legacy lives on through samples, and includes cameos from DJ Cut Chemist and James Gadson of Charles Wright & the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band (of “Express Yourself” fame).
7 p.m. Thursday, Claudia Cassidy Theater at the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St., 312-744-6630.
— Jessica Hopper
Toys From the Attic
Unless you’re one of the vehement anti-stuff folks, we all have it … stuff, that is. It’s in boxes, in attics and crawl spaces. What makes you think that public institutions are any different? The Elmhurst Historical Museum will lay it all out in “50 Years of Collecting: You Won’t Believe What’s Here.” For example, we don’t know how many hats poet Carl Sandburg had, but the Elmhurst museum has one.
Through May 27, 120 E. Park Ave., Elmhurst. 630-833-1457 or www.elmhurst.org/elmhurst/museum.
More Top Picks Vases
— Kevin Williams