Sunday, September 21, 2008

SUN 9/21: Art, Zines, Ice Cream, Readings, Singings, Rock

Yeah, I feel like the weekend went so fast. Besides feeling ill on Friday, I went to Farm Aid yesterday. I loved it. I acted like a journalist and sat in the press tent, talked to people, took notes for a review. Fun times...

Regular readers may notice my fondness for Cambridge, but there's a lot of free stuff going on there. A trifecta of cheapness is sitting below: free ice cream, a free museum visit, and a free concert by the Charles. So much money left over for booze...

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SUN 9/21

9am to 5pm
Community Day
at Harvard Museum of Natural History, 26 Oxford St, Cambridge (Harvard campus)
FREE

This one's a no-brainer. The museum is free for everyone who decides to go. There's way more than glass flowers to see, but that's something I'd love to visit every time I'm in the neighborhood (just not $9 enough to go)...

Now there's a beautiful exhibit of glass sea creatures. Add the funky specimens like the very ugly coelacanth and the six-foot tall sloth -- and it's a fun for everyone.

SUN 9/21

10am to 6pm
Boston Zine Fair
at Art Institute of Boston, 601 Newbury St, Boston (Kenmore Sq)
FREE

People still actually publish on paper, and you might be surprised at the topics covered in these tomes -- for sale at a variety of prices. Definitely a good place to meet "interesting" people... You can also learn to become a 'zinester, or at least find some inspiration...

2pm to 3:30pm: Panel Discussion about the Future of Zines
3:30pm to 5pm: Teaching/Organizing about comics

SUN 9/21

3pm to 7pm
Free Ciao Bella Gelato
near Winthrop Park, about 50 JFK St, Cambridge (Harvard Sq)
FREE

Who cares if it's from New York's Little Italy? It's deliciousness! If you're near Harvard Sq, you have to go at least once -- they want to give away 100,000 scoops this summer.

The tour will be supported by a brightly-colored truck that will house samples of Ciao Bella’s most popular and award-winning flavors, including: blood orange sorbet, coconut sorbet, blackberry cabernet sorbet, pistachio gelato, maple ginger snap gelato and vanilla gelato.
I'm not sure where I saw it, but someone said the gelato-mobile will be parked on JFK St...

SUN 9/21

6pm
Revels RiverSing
Over the Charles River on the Weeks pedestrian bridge, Memorial Drive side, near Dewolf St, Cambridge
FREE

It's the Autumnal equinox, that can only mean one thing: a big musical celebration over the Charles River! Everyone may feel their bonds to the seasons in different ways, but it wouldn't hurt to begin the next 3 months with a joyful bonding to ol' Mother Nature... Sit on either side of the river mnear the Weeks Footbridge to enjoy the boatloads of mmusical performers: singers Bill Staines & David Coffin, saxophonists Stan Strickland & Ken Field, Emperor Norton’s Stationary Marching Band, the Mystic Drummers, the Halalisa Singers, the River Folk Band and members of the Mystic Chorale, Revels Repertory Company, Sharing a New Song, and the Greater Boston Intergenerational Chorus. That doesn't even cover the giant puppets or the trippy lighting.

If you really want to get into it, stuff will begin in Winthrop Park (near the free gelato?!) around 5pm, and the whole crew parades down to the Charles by 6pm.

Not a bad dayfor a picnic, but bring a sweater too!

SUN 9/21

7pm
Beer Steins and Frauleins: A Dirty Water Readingtoberfest
Feat: Rauan Klassnik, Amy L. Clark, Francine Rubin, Aimee Pokwatka
at Grub Street HQ, 160 Boylston, 4th floor, Boston (Boston Common)
FREE

An Octoberfest-themed reading with audience-participation mad-libs, raffles, free food & drinks, and maybe more... You can do an impromptu rap about your love of sauerkraut...

Here's the lowdown on the Dirty Water reading series:
Food and drink sit on the table as people mill around, but there's a concentration of folks near the table -- or the keg. It really is free, but it would be nice if you threw a couple bucks in the basket and bought a couple raffle tickets. I often dread any 'readings' like this, but the quality is high and the durations are bearable. I love the group mad-libs between the readings. Definitely a good time, and you might feel more cultured afterwards, but that's just the beer talking...

So grab a drink and don't be worried about the readers.

SUN 9/21

9pm
Serious Geniuses, Thick Shakes, Mikey French Fries, This Car Up, Polarbaron
at Abbey Lounge, 3 Beacon St, Somerville (Inman Sq)
$2 / 21+

The benefit shows are over, but the Abbey still might be selling t-shirts... Much loud, fast rock will be in attendance from the likes of Serious Geniuses and Thick Shakes, and it starts a little more powerpop and indie-rock with This Car Up and Polarbaron. I just listened to This Car Up a couple weeks ago, and they're growing on me. Mikey French Fries is the wildcard, but it looks like he's a drummer.

SUN 9/21

10pm
Monique Ortiz
at Alchemist Lounge, 435 S Huntington Ave, Jamaica Plain
FREE

If you're in a drinking mood on a Sunday night, your soundtrack is happening live, courtesy of Monique Ortiz. The singer & bassist specializes in dark, sensual, moody music. Her lyrics sound achingly confessional especially when you strip away some of the instrumentation of her band AKACOD. Tonight, she's mainly going saxophone-less with two sets accompanied by drummer R.L. Hulsman (Scissormen, Tarbox Ramblers).

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