The annual dinner theater show from the Onondaga Hillplayers.

The program’s theme is “Blessings Abound” and musical selections will range from jazz standards to inspirational favorites, to hymns, all arranged in the jazz style..

We know what you’re thinking: Why can’t today’s movie marketing ad campaigns be as eye-poppingly cool as this? And the title tells it all, as sci-fi stalwarts such as Richard Carlson and Russell Johnson battle the extraterrestrial whatzits who land on Earth in this 1953 Universal thriller. As one of the more popular box-office items originally released in 3-D before the film fad flopped (and the current 3-D craze might crater again if exhibitors keep charging to-the-moon prices), those old 3-D specs will be required when the Syracuse Cinephile Society screens It Came from Outer Space on Monday, Oct. 4, 7:30 p.m., at the Spaghetti Warehouse, 680 N. Clinton St. Admission is $3 for non-members, $2.50 for Cinephiles, with a dining menu available. For information, call 475-1807.

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The Indiana-bred troubadour is slated to take the stage on Friday, Oct. 1, 8 p.m., at the May Memorial Unitarian Society, 3800 E. Genesee St. Grimm has four roots-related CDs in his catalog, with titles like Heartland that should pretty much sum up where the singer-songwriter’s rhythmic muse is headed. He’s also been an actor, mainly in key supporting roles, for two decades; maybe Grimm will chat about his turn as the West Virginia coach during a particularly fictitious sequence in the 2008 Ernie Davis movie bio The Express. Admission for this Folkus Project-sponsored show is $12. For details, call 440-7444.

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Nearly 80 years later, the Depression-era comedies from Paramount Pictures can still be counted on to deliver top-drawer guffaws, as the next double feature of 35mm classics will attest at Rome’s Capitol Theatre, 220 W. Dominick St. The full-blown anarchy of the Four Marx Brothers drives the 1933 laugh riot Duck Soup (right, with Chico, Zeppo, Groucho and Harpo), perhaps the funniest antiwar satire ever made, with ricocheting one-liners all over the place, although the movie does know when to shut up—during the smashed mirror sequence, when Harpo and Chico take turns imitating their perplexed brother Groucho. And 1934’s comic masterpiece It’s a Gift (below) provides W.C. Fields with his best vehicle, as a henpecked hubby who leaves behind his New Jersey grocery store and heads to California’s orange groves, although the plot is secondary to the movie’s recreation of creme de la creme skits from Fields’ vaudeville career. The movies will screen on Saturday, Oct. 2, 2:30 and 7 p.m. Admission is $5.50 for adults, $1.50 for children. For details, call 337-6453.

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The 11th annual shindig will pack a lot in just six hours, when the fest runs from noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 26, at the Jewish Community Center of Syracuse, 5565 Thompson Road, DeWitt. The expected components of any festival, such as arts and crafts, diversions for the kiddies and lots of food (albeit kosher), will be on hand, plus two separate stages boasting plenty of music acts. Buffalo’s fusion group Zetz! performs at 1 and 3:45 p.m., while national recording jazz artists Siora (pictured) will go on at 3 p.m. as they add the musical accompaniment to the creation of a “hora,” or circle dance. Admission is free. For details, call 446-7810 or 682-8489.

 

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The annual blowout presented by Cazenovia College gets started on Thursday, Sept. 23, with a 7:30 p.m. opening party on the lawn at the Brae Loch Inn, 5 Albany St., with performances by Tom Witkowski, Karl Sterling and Evan Knight. On Friday, Sept. 24, at the college’s Catherine Cummings Theater, 16 Lincklaen St., The Brubeck Brothers Quartet takes the stage at 7:30 p.m., followed by the 9:30 p.m. concert with Jane Monheit (pictured) and her band. Between those gigs, Larry Luttinger, the driving force behind the Central New York Jazz Arts Foundation, will receive this year’s Jazz’N’Caz Award for his work in keeping jazz alive in this neck of the woods. The theater hosts more acts on Saturday, Sept. 25, including the Cazenovia High School Vocal Ensemble (4 p.m.), the Salt City Jazz Collective (7:30 p.m.) and an all-star “swingtet” featuring Danny D’Imperio, Harold Danko, Linc Milliman, Ken Peplowski and Warren Chiasson (9:15 p.m.) Admission is free, although $10 donations would be welcomed. For information, call 655-7238.

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The Syracuse University football team is currently 1-1 with its first two road games, but the road back home for Coach Doug Marrone’s squad for the season opener inside the Carrier Dome should find a more hospitable environment, with thousands of Orange-clad fans on hand. SU matches up against the University of Maine (1-1) on Saturday, Sept. 18, 7:15 p.m., with gridiron great Floyd Little receiving honors during a halftime ceremony. Single tickets range from $25 to $115. Call (888) DOME-TIX for Dome ducats. MICHAEL DAVIS PHOTO

The longtime Southern-rock outfit, formed back in 1974 by mainstays Donnie Van Zant and Don Barnes, has enough of a hit-making catalog that the aural likes of “Hold On Loosely” and “Wild-Eyed Southern Boys” should make for quite a boogie night. Yet the band has turned up in seemingly unlikely spots, too, such as last June’s appearance at the Rochester International Jazz Festival. The boys will take over the Showroom at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino, off Thruway Exit 33 in Verona, on Friday, Sept. 17, 8 p.m. Tickets are $40, $45 and $55. For details, call 361-SHOW.

Figure out who done it before the on-screen sleuths do during the annual double bill of vintage thrillers, presented in 35mm prints, at Rome’s Capitol Theatre, 220 W. Dominick St., on Saturday, Sept. 18, 7 p.m. First up is 20th Century Fox’s 1939 programmer Charlie Chan at Treasure Island, with Sidney Toler (far left) as the Honolulu detective, followed by Chester Morris headlining Columbia’s 1945 entry After Midnight with Boston Blackie. Between the movies will be a short theatrical production performed by local actors that introduces a crime, clues and red herrings, with the solution announced after the second movie. Admission is $5.50 for adults, $1.50 for children. For information, dial 337-6453.