SAT 11/29: Xmas Tree, Tech Mixer, Rock

Hold on, folks, I might be on a roll. I think I might have the rest of the week today...

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SAT 11/29

5pm to 6:30pm
Annual Harvard Square Tree Lighting Event
at Upper Courtyard, Charles Hotel, 1 Bennett St, Cambridge (Harvard Sq)
FREE

I guess it's time for the holiday season to get in full swing. They're going to light this tree around 6pm, but there is supposed to be a Santa Claus, a gospel choir, and complimentary drinks. (So bring a flask...)

SAT 11/29

8pm to Midnight
"Information Superhighway Two: The Secret Headquarters Edition"
at Berkman Squared, 50 Church St, Cambridge (Harvard Sq)
FREE

With so many techies in town, this is the best place to hang out with geeks and talk about stuff. Harvard's Berkman Center hosts this new "monthly party gathering hackers, activists, artists, designers, nonprofits, startups, academics and general geekery to hang out and connect with one another."

As they say:

*No agenda, no "networking," no presentations. Just beverages, food, ideas and cool people.
*This time: come out and meet Boston's Secret Masters of Hidden Hackspace, Homebrew Mad Science, and Cyber Revolution
*Also: hear about our scheme to rent a decommissioned missile silo. And how you can too, on less than $10 bucks a month. (No, seriously) [sounds intriguing -- rob].

Meet people behind: DIYBio, Willougby and Baltic, NUBLabs, The Public Radio Exchange, Textfiles, The Free Software Foundation, and others.

SAT 11/29

10pm
Andrea Gillis
at Plough & Stars, 912 Mass Ave, Cambridge (Central Sq)
$5

This is the kind of band you might see in a movie. It's a smallish bar, and there happens to be a ridiculously good act ripping it up in the corner. Andrea Gillis is tremendously soulful singer; she can belt it out with the best of them and has put together seriously rockin' band. The movie analogy ends when Jessica Alba doesn't show up alone, and she wouldn't go home with you anyway.

SAT 11/29

10pm
Dan Wright World Collective
at Matt Murphy's Pub, 14 Harvard St, Brookline (Brookline Village)
FREE

It's hard for me to get a handle on this band from the two samples I heard, but there's a lot of potential for cool, folkish indie-rock. Perhaps the best analogies I read are Wilco, Beck, Jack Johnson... Hey, it's free and Mett Murphy's is a good spot that you might not go to often.