The calendar has more cheapness over the weekend, but these are a good variety giving you the best chances for fun.
Let me repeat: Don't believe other sites that mention a "Faneuil Hall Street Performers Festival" this weekend. It's happening at the end of summer instead of the usual beginning. (And it's not terribly exciting either...)
Monday is the beginning of Boston Beer Week, there are a few events that might qualify as 'CTB-approved', so beer-lovers might want to check it out.
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FRI 5/25 (thru MON 5/28)
Various Times
"Campfire Festival"
at Club Passim, 47 Palmer St, Cambridge (Harvard Sq)
$10 per day / $30 Weekend Pass
Friday -- 6pm
Other Days -- Noon to Midnight
For the majority of the next 4 days Passim is hosting about 100 musical folk, bluegrass, blues, and rock acts. One doesn't even have to spend 11 hours to get your money's worth. Pick a section and enjoy a handful or two of fine music -- like Friday, Sunday, or Monday night (my best bets).
No actual open fire, but lots of good tunes.
FRI 5/257:30pm
Anderson Comedy: "
The Gas" w/
Jamie Kilsteinat
Great Scott, 1222 Comm Ave, Allston
$10 / 18+
A few of our local funny people including
Matthew Filipowicz might open for Jamie Kilstein who is a really agitated guy (and
radio host). From the clips I've seen he doesn't tell jokes as much as he rants about politics or religion or relationships and there are some funny, provocative moments. Can you handle the anarchistic, atheist, vegan, etc comedy? There is one way to truly know.
You might just want to dance your frustration at the convoluted clustermuck of the world, so stay for
The Pill (10pm).
FRI 5/259:30pm
RIBS,
Suicide Dolls,
Herra Terra,
Yoga Girlsat
TT the Bear's Place, 10 Brookline St, Cambridge (Central Sq)
$10 / 18+
The first RIBS CD "British Brains" shot out of the box like a fully-formed, modern hard-rock that was ready for the big time. The riffs were locked in tight -- and really interesting as you might expect from music students. You can
download a kickass song from the
new EP before getting a big dose of rock bookended by the electronic duo Yoga Girls before and after the bands.
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SAT 5/2610am to 3pm
Summer Open Houseat
Community Boating Boathouse, 21 David G. Mugar Way, Boston (Esplanade)
FREE
Over the last month there have been a few free sailing open houses on Boston Harbor, and now you have a chance to check out the sailing center on the Charles.
Try to get there on the hour when orientation/tours begin. They'll show you the facilities, and you learn a bit about sailing. Maybe they know I've been telling people to go for a little sail, but they've become a bit coy about putting folks in the water as they now say:
And inquire about going out on the water with a volunteer instructor for an introductory sail.
There's no pressure to become a member ($20 discount off the full year adult membership), so you inquire!
SAT 5/265pm
"
Awesome Day 2012"
at
O'Brien's, 3 Harvard St, Allston
$10
3pm -- BBQ starts
5pm -- Music starts
Feat:
Gozu,
Jack Burton vs. David Lo Pan,
Sherman Burns,
Never Got Caught,
Jim Healey, Teenie B's One Car Pile-up,
Quarterly, more
It looks like Saturday is going to be an awesome day. For some people, it could be more awesome listening to a load of metal/punk bands at an Allston club (that isn't really dive-y anymore). If you get there a couple hours early, there is going to be some grilling on the back patio. Sounds kinda awesome.
SAT 5/269pm
Hallelujah The Hills,
Viva Viva,
Frank Smith,
The New Highway Hymnalat
Middle East - Downstairs, 480 Mass Ave, Cambridge (Central Sq)
$10 advance / $12 day of show / 18+
This is the second
CD release show, but first in my heart. The first Hallelujah The Hills blew my mind a little bit for being a splendid collection of noisy chamber-pop with a personal all-time favorite ("Wave Backwards To Massachusetts"). The second album confused me a little bit, but
the new album has them dressing melodies in strange attire and clever musical bits that is very satisfying.
The lineup is stacked from top to bottom including Frank Smith who moved to Austin (I thought broke up) but they're touring back to the old stomping grounds.
This one is going on the 'Top 12', because you can still get advance tickets for $10. Go to the Middle East between 2pm and 8pm and go up the stairs at the Upstairs room (472 Mass Ave) -- or the "Upstairs upstairs".
SAT 5/269pm
Yoni Gordon Orchestra,
Civil Warblers,
Radio Controlat Moe's Lounge/
Radio, 379 Somerville Ave, Somerville (Union Sq)
$7 / 21+
If you haven't been to Radio yet, what's taking you so long? There are a lot of good gigs happening! You also haven't experienced the upstairs/downstairs cover charge station. Be ready to say which show you're seeing, but there is easy access between floors in the back of the club.
The
upstairs show is pretty darn good (Age Rings, Eldridge Rodriguez, Sarah Borges, etc) so it wouldn't hurt to pop up every now and them, however we lean towards
celebrating 10 years of Yoni Gordon, one of those guys who is a rocking' song machine that gives 110% on stage.
SAT 5/2610:30pm
Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling,
Fat Creepsat
Plough & Stars, 912 Mass Ave, Cambridge (Central Sq)
$5 / 21+
Yes, I'm a sucker for the
Epsteinian brand of nerdy grooves from The Motion Sick to Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling to Michael J. Epstein Memorial Library and beyond. DNFMOMD slaps you in the face as an arty-punky
spy-rock duo, and Fat Creeps ease you with lo-fi, bored-gal garage pop.
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SUN 5/27Various Times
Open House & Performanceat
Mount Auburn Cemetery, 580 Mt Auburn St, Cambridge
FREE
2pm to 5pm -- Bigelow Open House
4pm to 5:30pm -- Ray Lam & Yelena Beriyeva
Strange as it sounds, Mount Auburn Cemetery is a nice place to visit even if you don't want stay there...
They have tours, and I took a
1-day photography class there. The landscaping and sculpture is beautiful, and quite a few famous people are buried there like: Charles Sumner, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Mary Baker Eddy, Isabella Stewart Gardner, Buckminster Fuller, Charles Bulfinch, Fannie Farmer, Edwin Land, B.F. Skinner, Curt Gowdy, etc.
There is a
Memorial Day Service on Saturday -- and you can visit anytime -- but Sunday has a couple diversions that should enhance a visit like being able to walk around the usually closed Bigelow Chapel (built 1846) and a performance of works for
clarinet &
piano.
SUN 5/278:30
Sea Monsters (10pm),
The Franks (8:30pm)
at
Precinct, 70 Union Sq, Somerville (Union Sq)
$10-ish
After playing every Sunday for years at Precinct, the Sea Monsters revive the
soul-rock party on most 3-day weekends.
Maybe it's the centuries of repression, but there are more soulful singers from Ireland than you'd expect from the very pale inhabitants. (No offense intended towards anyone.) Christian McNeill is definitely one of the good ones, and this may be my favorite of his many projects.
(I think the next Monday holiday is Labor Day...?)
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MON 5/2810am to 4:45pm
Memorial Day Open Houseat
Museum of Fine Arts, 465 Huntington Ave, Boston (The Fens)
FREE
Hey, it's a free trip to the MFA. Now that
Wednesday nights not really as free as it used to be, but who remembers to go to the Fens on a Wednesday night?
The big exhibit is currently "
Alex Katz Prints", about 125 works by the NY/Maine-based artist that can be surprisingly evocative despite the flat, smooth quality of many portraits. Young people will also have a chance to try their hand at making a Katz-like collage.
Besides the museum's collection, there are a couple visiting
Renoirs and an Edward Weston
photo exhibit based on Whitman's "Leaves of Grass".
Take a free guided tour or listen to a talk, if you like.
MON 5/287pm
"
New and Improved": Workshop & Open Mic
at
Radio, 379 Somerville Ave, Somerville (Union Sq)
$5 / 21+
7pm -- Workshop w/ James Caroline
8pm -- Open Mic
9pm -- Featured poet: Omoizele Okoawo
Most spoken-word open-mic's don't begin with a workshop (that's been teased as a "soul-opening exercise in vulnerability and fight"). It might be too late to help the struggling poet that will later take their turn, but maybe it will provide the right inspiration. The night is capped by Omoizele Okoawo who has coached the Lizard Lounge team, so there may be a lesson or two at the end as well.