SAT 3/12: Film, Comedy, Theatre, Rock

It's going to suck tomorrow and eventually get better, but I'll be another reminder to "spring forward"...

As usual, one never knows what you're really going to get with performance art. Dirk Adams is doing something called "small pleasures, little treasures" at T-accessible Meme Gallery in Central Square. I've met Dirk, and he seems like a good guy.

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SAT 3/12

Various Times
Jack Kerouac's 89th Birthday Celebration: Film Screenings
Various Locations
FREE

1pm
"What Happened to Kerouac?": Kerouac Birthday Matinee
at Community Room, Pollard Memorial Library, 401 Merrimack St, Lowell
FREE

1:40pm, 3:40pm
"David Amram: The First 80 Years!": Screenings
at Boott Cotton Mills Museum Theater, 115 John St, Lowell
FREE

Today would be Jack Kerouac's 89th birthday, and Lowell loves to celebrate their literary son now that he's no longer carousing in the bars of Lowell.

The evening music is waiting-list full, but there are a couple daytime documentaries if you're near Lowell. One on Jack himself, and one on his friend David Amram, a great musician and human being who participates in many Kerouac/Lowell events.

SAT 3/12

3pm to 4:30pm
WICF Headliners Talk Comedy: The Creative and Business Sides
at Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St, Cambridge (Harvard Sq)
FREE

Feat: Kurt Braunohler, Rachel Dratch, Jen Kirkman, Morgan Murphy, Kristin Schaal

Moderator: Maria Ciampa

While probably geared towards other comedians, it should be interesting to hear the stories of professional funny people on different rungs of the ladder.

(Dude, Kristen Schaal goes from "Flight of the Conchords" to "The Daily Show" to hanging out with you in Harvard Square...)

SAT 3/12

6pm
Red Sox Natives 2011 Spring Training Kickoff & Kiss Winter Goodbye Bash
at TP's Scoreboard Sports Bar & Grill, 15 Middlesex Canal Park, Woburn
FREE

Feat: The Herland Brothers

Every now and then, I run into Frank, one of the organizers, and he's a wild man. He told me this Sox shindig is the more, the merrier.

These guys get together throughout the season, so maybe you'll find some kindred spirits to celebrate and commiserate.

The spring training game is in the afternoon; the fun follows in a Woburn sports bar. They're calling it a doubleheader for a two-part evening. At 6pm: it's free snacks, trivia, raffle, and a 'Fantasy Forecast' contest. Around 9pm, some people will have dinner and the covers/originals band will get going.

Put on your cap and shirt and get primed for a great summer.

Yeah, I might be there.

SAT 3/12 (thru SAT 3/19)

Various Times
"Bear Patrol"
at Boston Playwrights Theatre, 949 Comm Ave, Boston (BU campus)
$8 / $4 students

Thursday thru Saturday -- 7:30pm
Sunday -- 5pm
Late Nite Friday & Saturday -- 10pm for $4.

I really wanted to go last week to tell you about this show. From what I can gather, this seems to be a post-apocalyptic, beats-heavy, Boston-based take on a "Wizard of Oz" road tale that examines the bonds of family and friendship.

Playwright John J. King said:

I wanted to do a show that was a blast for the audience. When I read the novel of the Wizard of Oz, I kept finding strange connections to Boston, and it’s been fun to create this tour of our city thru the eyes and narrative-arc of a story we all know and love. The familiarity of the tale and setting, I hope, will give the audience a lot to connect to and laugh at.

Ain't it great that we can affordably see wild & crazy theater?

This show "runs 90 minutes", and is "not appropriate for children under 16."

SAT 3/12

8:30pm
The Alrighters, Razors in the Night, Cradle To The Grave, Full Body Anchor
at Middle East - Upstairs, 472 Mass Ave, Cambridge (Central Sq)
$10 / 18+

There is a lot of hard 'n heavy 'n hammering rock goodness. Full Body Anchor will smack you in the face, and you'll say "Thank you, can I have another?" It gets more punk-metal from there until it's capped off by (maybe the last time?) full-on R&B time warp by The Alrighters when saxophone and stand-up bass was edgy and wild. It's going to be a refreshing slap in the face to complement that smack you got earlier.

SAT 3/12

The Acre (Midnight), The Dirty Truckers (11pm), Brendan Boogie & The Best Intentions (10pm), Sodafrog (9pm)
at Rosebud Bar & Grill (behind Diner), 381 Summer St, Somerville (Davis Sq)
$10 / 21+

In the continuing adventures of Brendan Boogie's monthly EP releases, he sets new music free to dance and roam among the laptops and portable players across the land. March's free download is a quartet of song called "I Hate New York" produced by the excellent Will Dailey. It's stripped down, however I'm getting a little bit more melancholy on the title track although we can still appreciate the sentiment...

Boogie and The Dirty Truckers are the lean, mean, meaty rock in the middle. Sodafrog warms it up with mesmerizing songs on the acoustic tip. The Acre leads you into the night on a roots-gaze magic carpet ride.

SAT 3/12

10pm
Three Day Threshold
at Atwoods Tavern, 877 Cambridge St, Cambridge (near Inman & Kendall Sq)
FREE

If nothing else grabs you, maybe stumble into an East Cambridge bar with dozens of beers on tap. Three Day Threshold may just be the perfect honky-tonking bar band to waste the night away.