Wheel Questions, Open Studios in Somerville, Brookline, Science Festival, Arts Fests in Cambridge & JP
04/30/09 by
Johnny Monsarrat
Here’s your week in weird. Enjoy it! Want this weekly? Please subscribe.
-Johnny
The Week in Weird |
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| Wheel Questions at the Somerville Open Studios | 5/2 – 5/3 | Boston Metro | |
| The event of the week is my event, Wheel Questions! It’s an outdoor art installation where people from the community come to leave questions on colored cards. I answer the cards and post all the answers on the ‘wheel’ and online for all to see. Come Saturday or Sunday 12pm-6pm. It’s your chance to meet me and give me your feedback on this blog. 123 Elm Street, Somerville, MA.617-899-7794. more |
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| Somerville Open Studios | 5/2 – 5/3 | Boston Metro | |
| Meanwhile, the rest of Somerville also has local artists opening their homes to the public. It’s great fun to walk around and meet everyone, and they say it’s the largest open studios in New England. Sat-Sun 12-6pm. Go online to find a map of where to visit. Get a map online, Somerville, MA.617-764-2287. more |
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| Brookline Open Studios | 5/2 – 5/3 | Boston Metro | |
| And Brookline jumps onto the bandwagon, too. Get a map online, Brookline, MA.781-316-4320. more |
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| Lexington Open Studios | 5/2 – 5/3 | Metro West | |
| Not reading the arts calendar very closely is a competing event in Lexington. Get a map online, Lexington, MA. more |
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| Needham Spring Arts Festival | 5/2 – 5/3 | Metro West | |
| Further west, don’t leave out Needham. Apparently they are fresh out of ham and need some. Get a map online, Needham, MA. more |
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| Arts First Festival (Harvard) | 4/30 – 5/3 | Boston Metro | |
| Harvard University has its arts festival, all across campus. I went last year and it was great. This is not to be confused with the commercial event run by the Harvard Square Business Association… Harvard Square, Cambridge, MA.617.495.8676. more |
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| Harvard Square MayFair | 5/3 | Boston Metro | |
| …Which is this event. All throughout Harvard Square, you’ll find live music, dance, street performers, and sidewalk vendors eager to spread capitalism. 4 stages, hot air balloon rides, and a buskers (street performers) stage, too. 12-6pm. 18 Brattle Street, Cambridge, MA. more |
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| Cambridge Science Festival | 4/25 – 5/3 | Boston Metro | |
| The Cambridge Science Festival continues and they have tons of events on their calendar. It’s the first citywide science festival in the United States. Various venues, Cambridge, MA. more |
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| SoundScience Fun | 5/2 | Boston Metro | |
| As part of the Cambridge Science Festival, my friend Chris Thompson does a fun show about the science of sound at Club Passim. Call in advance. 3pm. Club Passim, Cambridge, MA.617-492-7679. more |
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| Rocket Day in Danehy Park | 5/2 | Boston Metro | |
| Also part of the festival, shoot rockets! Sign up in advance if you want to participate. 10am-3pm. Danehy Park, Cambridge, MA. more |
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| Improbable Research / Ig Nobel Prizes | 5/2 | Boston Metro | |
| The Ig Nobel prizes are a humorous look at science that makes you think, too. And your chance to check out the new Central Square Theater! 3pm. Central Square Theater, 450 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA. more |
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| Massachusetts State Science & Engineering Fair | 5/2 | Boston Metro | |
| And you can meet 400 science students with fair projects. 12pm-3pm. MIT, Johnson Athletics Center, 120 Vassar St., Cambridge, MA. more |
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| From Bean to Bar: The Sweet Science of Chocolate | 5/2 | Boston Metro | |
| 10am-11am. Harvard School of Engineering & Applied Sciences, Harvard Science Center, 1 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA. more |
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| Year of Science Scavenger Hunt | 5/2 | Boston Metro | |
| I’ll just keep throwing these at you until you break down and attend the Cambridge Science Festival, already. This one’s a “scavenger hunt” at the MIT Museum. 12pm-4pm. MIT Museum, Cambridge, MA. more |
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| Naturally Selected-A Darwin Bicentennial Revue by the North Cambridge Family Opera | 5/3 | Boston Metro | |
| And a musical number about Darwin, the atheist’s dreamboat. Peabody School, 70 Rindge Ave, Cambridge, MA. more more |
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| Boston Cyberarts Festival | 4/24 – 5/10 | Boston Metro | |
| Meanwhile, the Cyberarts Festival continues. Various venues, Cambridge, MA. more |
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| Charles River May Day Festival | 5/1 | Boston Metro | |
| Also in Cambridge… (we don’t even need Boston, do we?)… To celebrate May Day, there will be morris Dancing at dawn & street procession to Harvard Square. 5:30-9am. Weeks footbridge, Charles River, Cambridge, MA. more |
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| Wheel of the Year Festival: Beltaine & Spring Garden Day | 5/1 – 5/2 | Boston Metro | |
| They’ll have a Beltane festival and a spring garden festival at the Growing Center. Somerville Growing Center, Somerville, MA. more |
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| Cambridge Dulcimer Festival | 5/1 – 5/3 | Boston Metro | |
| And I’ve always wanted to see the dulcimer festival, which has workshops, performances, and storytelling. Cambridge Center for Adult Education, 56 Brattle St, Cambridge, MA.(617) 547-6789. more |
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| Wake Up the Earth Festival & Parade | 5/2 | Boston Metro | |
| Moving on to Jamaica Plain, here’s another street festival and looks to be a great one. It’s a parade and street festival with participatory dancing & lessons. Parade at 11am. Festival 12-5pm. Rain date is May 3. Bands, dancers, puppet show, pageant. Jamaica Plain, MA. more |
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| Westborough Spring Festival | 5/2 – 5/3 | Metro West | |
| May out in Westborough, they’ll have a street festival also, with hot air balloon rides, a classic car show, a road race, and a ‘fishing challenge’. The fix is in: the fish always bet against themselves and then throw the fight. Westborough, MA. more |
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| Manchester Carnival | 4/29 – 5/3 | New Hampshire | |
| Elsewhere in the world is a carnival with the fiesta shows traveling rides, in New Hampshire. J.F.K. Arena, Manchester, NH. more |
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| North Andover Carnival | 4/29 – 5/3 | Northern Mass | |
| … And in Northern Massachusetts. Route 125, Lucent Tech Parking Lot, North Andover, MA. more |
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| Musketaquid Earth Day Parade | 5/2 | Metro West | |
| Concord has an Earth Day celebration with a parade, an environmental festival, workshops, and a river ceremony. with floats. There will be plenty of activities for children, to teach them that the #1 thing you can do to use less energy is to not have children. Concord, MA. more |
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| Goths on Wheels (Roller Skating Party) | 5/2 | Metro West | |
| This poorly advertised and explained activity seems to involve dressing up goth and roller skating around! Yay! 9pm-12am. Roller Kingdom, 5 Highland Park Ave, Hudson, MA. more |
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| Free Comic Book Day | 5/2 | Boston Metro | |
| And walk into any comic book store on Free Comic Book Day and pick up some free samples to get you hooked. Various venues, All Over. more |
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| SCA May Day – Medeival Re-enactment | 5/3 | Metro West | |
| The Society for Creative Anachronism will try to place you in the middle ages with a re-enactment of fencing, fighting, dance, and food. 10am-10pm. Brandeis University, 415 South Street, Waltham, MA. more |
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| Dalai Lama | 5/2 | Southern Mass | |
| The Dalai Lama comes to spread peace and wisdom in both morning and afternoon sessions. Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, MA. more more |
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| Eta Aquarids Meteor Shower | 5/4 – 5/6 | Metro West | |
| But if you want to see stars, this week there’s a minor meteor shower. Somewhere without lights, like a pond or open field, Away from the City. more more |
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Also Fun |
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| Cinco De Mayo | 5/5 | Boston Metro | |
| The only celebration for Cinco De Mayo seems to be a ton of bars and restaurants inviting you to drink and eat, as per normal. It’s not very interesting to me, but if you care, you might check these websites out. All Over, Boston, MA. more more |
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| Burrito de Mayo (Burrito eating competition) | 5/5 | Metro West | |
| This is the most interesting Cinco De Mayo party I could find. There is some kind of commercial party going on to advertise sneakers. Despite tons of advertising, and a great website, I cannot figure out exactly what the heck this is. But, there will be a burrito eating contest so’s I’m going anyway. Apparently the PUMA sneakers company is shipping around a portable party site to various cities. Fan Pier, Boston, MA. more |
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| Big Ol’ Cow Cook Festival | 5/1 – 5/2 | Boston Metro | |
| There’s another big party happening this weekend. But if you don’t know what this is, you’re not invited. Note: you can’t just show up anymore, you need to finagle an invitation. Somewhere Collegiate, Boston Area, MA. |
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| Celebrate the Earth & Mt. Kearsarge Indian Museum | 5/3 | New Hampshire | |
| I’ve been to this museum and this event will be small, but very interesting. Warner, NH.603-456-2600. more |
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| The Boston 48 Hour Film Project | 5/1 – 5/3 | Boston Metro | |
| They give filmmakers 48 hours to create a film from start to finish. Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard Street, Brookline, MA. more |
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| Revels: Pub Sing at Doyle’s Cafe | 5/1 – 5/18 | Boston Metro | |
| Revels is a strange group because it’s participatory singing, but they’re also a chorus that can charge professional-size ticket prices. They will sell out, so get tickets now. Doyle’s Cafe, 3484 Washington St, Jamaica Plain, MA. more |
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| Some kind of Race? | 4/25 – 5/1 | Boston Metro | |
| Since when can Volvos swim? Or sail? It’s unclear from the website when exactly they’ll be stopping by. Fan Pier, Boston, MA. more |
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| JazzBoston Jazz Week | 4/25 – 5/3 | Boston Metro | |
| If you care about jazz, there’s plenty of it in the city this week. Various venues, Boston, MA. more |
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| Phantom Gourmet Wine & Food Phest | 5/2 | Boston Metro | |
| I tried to just walk into this once and was told it was sold out. So buy your tix early. Basically, you pays your money and you eats youse food. Bayside Expo Center, Boston, MA. more |
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| Walk for Hunger | 5/3 | Boston Metro | |
| Or instead of eating maybe you’d rather walk and go hungry. Do any part or all of the 20 mile route. It’s the nation’s largest hunger fundraiser. Registration 7-9am. Boston Common, Boston, MA. more |
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| Taza Open House & Factory Tour | 5/2 | Boston Metro | |
| I used to think these factory tours would be fun, but when I glimpsed it recently… It’s an ugly warehouse space. 10am-6pm every hour and free samples. 561 Windsor Street B-206, Somerville, MA. more |
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| Family Day at Quincy Quarries | 5/3 | South Shore | |
| Much better to visit a rock quarry, get a historical tour, and see or try rock climbing. Quincy, MA. more |
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| Science Talk on Motor Vehicle Pollution | 5/3 | Boston Metro | |
| The MoS has a number of lectures that are usually more interesting than they might seem. This one’s free but register in advance. Museum of Science, Boston, Boston, MA. more |
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| Annual Coolidge Award | 5/6 – 5/7 | Boston Metro | |
| And the Coolidge Theatre is usually doing something cool, too, like this annual awards ceremony with some film talks. Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline, MA.617-734-2500. more |
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Performance |
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| Big Apple Circus | 4/4 – 5/10 | Boston Metro | |
| And the annual circus tour of Big Apple returns. Buy tickets in advance. City Hall Plaza, One City Hall Plaza, Boston, MA.(800) 922-3772. more |
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| Alvin Ailey Dance Theater (annual perf.) | 4/28 – 5/3 | Boston Metro | |
| Alvin Ailey just can’t stay away from Boston either. I’ve heard it’s primo. Boston Opera House, Boston, MA. more |
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| Michael Flatley’s “Lord of the Dance | 4/30 | Northern Mass | |
| Michael Flatley lends his name but not his feet or any other part of his body to this performance in Amherst. Lowell Auditorium, Lowell, MA. more |
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| Storytelling at Gorse Mill Studios Grand Opening and Needham Open Studios, May 1, 2, 3 | 5/1 – 5/3 | Metro West | |
| Storytellers have no sense of fashion, but they speak well. At least, that’s my assumption seeing photos of Cindy Marshall, who will be performing Sat,10am -4pm and Sunday, 12-4pm, following a grand opening dedication Friday, May 1st at 7pm at Gorse Mill Studios. Gorse Mill Studios, Needham, MA. more |
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