SAT 5/1: Comics, Festival, Art, Derby, Rock

Happy May Day!

It's a beautiful day. I'm going outside very soon and soak it up like a greedy sponge that's been stuck under the kitchen sink for too long. (You know what I mean?)

Have a great weekend too!

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SAT 5/1

Various Times
Free Comic Book Day
at Participating (Cool) Stores
FREE

Pick up a free comic book, or take a kid you know to the comic book store.

According to the website, some nearby participating shops:

* Newbury Comics
* New England Comics
* Hub Comics
* Comicopia
* Million Year Picnic

Aside from getting some free colorful illustrated reading material, most of these places have other fun going on including visits by comic book creators.

At New England Comics, you can get 5 free comics. The free comics apparently don't last long at Newbury Comics; they should have 5-book mystery bags for $1. Hub Comics asks that you bring a canned good or other food bank donation for more free books.

SAT 5/1

Noon to 6pm
Wake Up the Earth Festival
at Southwest Corridor Park, Jamaica Plain (near Stony Brook T)
FREE

Everyone is welcome to chill out and celebrate the beauty of the Earth. From what I can tell, all sorts of lovely weird, arty JP spirit in the park. The weather is great, so the vibes should be lovely.

If you get there at noon, you should see a parade arrive. There are 4 stages of music, storytelling, and theatre. Food, arts, crafts, and the yearning for social justice will likely abound. I saw that free tastings of Taza Chocolate should be found from 3pm to 5pm.

Some things I'd want to hear/see:

12:15pm - Debo Band
2:30pm - Los Sugar Kings
3:30pm - Humanwine
4pm -- Bread & Puppet
4:45pm - Lamine Toure & Group Saloum
5pm -- WUTE Circus w/ The Silkworms, Boston Hoop Troop, Grasshopper Collective

For those of you with a bicycle and a rooster costume, City Feed and Supply will award a $500 gift card to the best pedaling cock... Every participant gets a t-shirt... There's also a guided bike tour at 10am and 2pm for a donation of $10.

More info than you want is in the PDF brochure.

SAT 5/1 (and SUN 5/2)

Noon to 6pm
Annual Somerville Open Studios
all over Somerville [PDF, Jpeg]
FREE

There's a lot of painting, sculpting, photography, assembling, etc around Somerville. Over 300 artists in over 100 venues show you what they've been making. (They'll even sell you stuff.) If I were you, I'd take the T and walk around (or take the trolley).

If you start in Davis Sq or Union Sq, you'll be sure to find maps/pamphlets in stands where you can see all the open studios and the trolley route. strategically located around town. Somerville is a "city of seven hills", which feels like at least twice as many...

This might be a good day to check the Johnny Cash-inspired exhibit near Teele Sq.

For those in a generous spirit, you can help an Union Sq store (Somerville Ave corner) called "It's A Gift" that sells art by people with disabilities. They're having financial trouble, so various musicians are playing there both days with a suggested donation of $5. Buy or bring a shirt to be silkscreening for $10.

Brookline is also having "Open Studios" this weekend.

SAT 5/1

2pm to 8pm
Kentucky Derby Party
at Game On, 82 Lansdowne St, Boston (Kenmore Sq)
- Whatever you drink/eat -

Mint juleps, prizes, free appetizers from 5pm to race time (upstairs bar only). My guess to win the Derby: Paddy O'Prado or Make Music for Me.

Suffolk Downs will also be open for simulcast betting at 10:30am, along with other festivities beginning at 2pm.

SAT 5/1

3pm to 8pm
Disappearer (7pm), The Austerity Program (6pm), Phantom Glue (5pm)
at O'Brien's, 3 Harvard St, Allston
$6 / 18+

It's metal, baby. And in the early evening to give hooligans to cause metal-inspired mayhem for much of the night.

Oh, there's a BBQ on the back patio at 3pm. The cover really becomes a good deal when you think about having "Burgers, Dogs, Veggie Burgers, and Chips. If you have something you want to eat feel free to bring it along." After a beer and a dog, I know I'm ready to thrash about. The bands aren't quite the head-banging variety, although it's not the '80s anymore...

Born of Fire has been doing "metal nights" at O'Briens for a couple months. They lucked out for a sunny "metal matinee".

SAT 5/1

The Other Girls (12:15am), Gene Dante & the Future Starlets (11:15pm), Paul & The Strings (10:25pm), Bryan McPherson Band (9:35pm), Squallie Greenthumb (9pm)
at TT the Bear's Place, 10 Brookline St, Cambridge (Central Sq)
$10

I didn't find any other dedicated web page for "Drop Ya Mic, Pickup Yer Paintbrush" other than Facebook. This event is intended to stretch a bit of the boundaries of art and music by getting rockers to apply their creativity other than looking mopey and being loud onstage.

Beside the multitude of art on sale around the club, much rock is on the stage from the more acoustic stuff of Squallie Greenthumb and punk-folk of Bryan McPherson Band to the full-on attack of Gene Dante & the Future Starlets and Paul & The Strings. The Other Girls are an all-star team of women (Andrea Gillis and members of Muck & the Mires, Darkbuster, The Marvels, etc) who do a bunch of rock/punk covers.

If you walk around certain parts of town, it'll be difficult NOT to see art for sale today...

SAT 5/1

9pm
The Turbines, The Prime Movers, Classic Ruins, Moose & the Mudbugs
at Church, 69 Kilmarnock St, Boston (Fenway)
$10 / 21+

Almost 25 years ago, there was a dive in Allston called Johnny D's -- no relation to the Somerville spot -- where loads of cool bands would play. (It was interesting to read that Faith No More and Yo La Tengo played there.) Four of those bands are getting together in what will be close to the original line-ups for a night rootsy and garagey rock.

(Anytime The Prime Movers play, it's gonna be a good time.)

Another club reunion gig is happening tonight on Lansdowne St (for $30) with a couple bands and early WBCN DJ's too.

SAT 5/1

9pm
The Luxury, The Main Drag, Hot Protestants, Silent Century
at Cavern Club, Hard Rock Cafe, 22 Clinton St, Boston (near Faneuil Hall)
$9 advance / $10 door / 21+

For some reason, I don't see a lot of new bands play the Cavern Club room at the Hard Rock. It may not be cool or hip, and I bet the beer is cheaper at O'Brien's -- still it's a pretty good line-up of modern rock. And I bet the sound system is excellent.

SAT 5/1

9:30pm
Cassavettes, The Longwalls, The Confederacy of Dumpsters
at Lizard Lounge/Cambridge Common, 1667 Mass Ave, Cambridge (between Harvard Sq & Porter Sq)
$10 / 21+

Any night could be fine for me in my favorite little dark basement bar with so many beers on tap. You even need to try very hard to have a good time with a couple Americana-flavored bands. I thought the Confederacy of Dumpsters only played one-off gigs around MardiGras, but they may show up for funky horn-band fun.