Chris Johns

It may have come down to a cute soccer player, a seemingly frail grandmother, a tattooed loudmouth and a fat goat farmer, but the ultimate survivor is the country that most recently served as locale for Mark Burnett's reality series: Africa. (Any place that can withstand the media frenzy over 16 obnoxious backstabbers -- make that 15 obnoxious backstabbers and one cute soccer player -- vying for a million-dollar prize has to be a survivor.)

It's a place all-too-familiar to National Geographic photographer CHRIS JOHNS. For 13 years, he has documented the diverse peoples, wildlife and environments that make up the Dark Continent. And while Johns' work has steered clear of immunity challenges, his images do capture other creatures struggling for survival in their everyday existence. Among those is the cheetah, the subject for one of Johns' recent projects.

The endangered species is also the subject for Thursday's "Saving Africa's Wildlife," the first in this year's Live ... from National Geographic lecture series at the Aronoff Center for the Arts. Cathryn Hilker, founder of the Cincinnati Zoo's Cat Ambassador Program, will join Johns, as he discusses his adventures capturing the African landscape and the importance in preserving its wildlife. 513-241-SHOW. -- BRANDON BRADY

FRIDAY 18
With an organic yet lush vibe and glacial tempos, The Faces All Look On, the latest release from Pittsburgh-based octet BOXSTEP, has drawn comparisons to The Bad Seeds and Dirty Three. The band's use of folksy instruments like the violin, piano, viola, harmonica and accordion makes the recording all the more appealing, especially in light of the band's more "Indie Rock" leanings. Faces is a gorgeous, warm album, full of dynamics and swells that should appeal to fans of the aforementioned artists, as well as those of "Slo-Core" acts like Low and Red House Painters (though Boxstep singer/guitarist Eric Graf has a far more expressive voice than the singers from those bands). If you catch Boxstep live this Friday at the Southgate House (with Deltoro and My Morning Jacket), expect a less low-key affront than Faces hints at. 859-431-2201. -- MIKE BREEN

SATURDAY 19
Harlem was a grand place in the 1920s: In fact, the arts and culture of that New York neighborhood was deemed a "renaissance." But the Great Depression sapped most of the energy out of Harlem in the 1930s. That's the world of Pearl Cleage's BLUES FOR AN ALABAMA SKY where a nightclub singer and her friends struggle to make a go of it. Opens Thursday at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park. 513-421-3888. -- RICK PENDER

SUNDAY 20
The latest drama from French filmmaker Catherine Brelliat, FAT GIRL, is a tale about two adolescent sisters who come of age over a summer holiday. Fat Girl tells a complex story about young beauty, virginity and the emotional darkness that often surrounds a teen-ager's sexual awakening. Near its end, Fat Girl completes its story with a violent and unsettling climax that changes the lives of its characters forever. As a result, our lives are also changed by what we've seen in this riveting film. -- STEVE RAMOS

WEDNESDAY 23
Avant-garde film fans rejoice: JONAS MEKAS is coming. As a warm-up for his full-blown retrospective in May, the Cincinnati Film Society presents two Mekas shorts from the early '60s, Film Magazine of the Arts and Guns of the Trees. Mekas' 50-year career/passion as a filmmaker, archivist, curator and poet -- including the release of his latest film opus, As I Was Moving Ahead Occasionally I Saw Brief Glimpses of Beauty, in late 2001 -- is representative of one of film's truly great artists and advocates. 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Cincinnati Art Museum auditorium (DeWitt entrance). 513-251-6060. -- JASON GARGANO

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