SAT 3/31: Day Cheapness

Hey, what else are you going to do? Sit around and watch TV?

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SAT 3/31

11am to 1pm
Heidi Reynolds, "The Rolling Gallery Project": Closing Reception
at Arts at the Armory, 191 Highland Ave, Somerville (Spring Hill)
FREE

If you do want to get rid of some stuff, it can be in the service of art. Heidi Reynolds encourages you to bring "works of art, objects, and personal mementos" or whatever to join her giant ball o' art. She said at a previous stop:

The ball is a manifestation of letting go and re-imagining. How can letting go of objects from the past encourage us to re-envision the present?

The Rolling Gallery will be rolling into Union Square in a couple months.

SAT 3/31 (and SUN 4/1)

Various Times
Boston Underground Film Festival
at Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St, Cambridge (Harvard Sq)
$10 per screening

Saturday Schedule:

12:45pm -- "Saturday Morning-After Cartoons"
2:45pm -- "Happily Never After"
5:15pm -- "Where the Music’s At"
7pm -- "Manborg"
9:15pm -- "Inside Lara Roxx"
10pm -- Karaoke Party
11:55pm -- "Midnight Transgressions"

Like a good alternative film fan, the day begins slightly before 1pm with 88 minutes of twisted animation where they wouldn't mind if people show up in pajamas and bathrobes. They say, "Donuts will be served."

Later in the day, there's a program of cool music videos from near *Andre Obin, Box 5, Count Zero, Darling Pet Munkee) and far (Lil Jon, M83, Pharoahe Monch ft. Jill Scott) and points in between.

Besides "Manborg", today's features lean towards human drama in the fictional tale of a dude finding the teenage son he didn't know about (and not really being the ideal father) and the documentary of a woman whose short career in porn ends as badly as possible.

Of course, the midnight shorts are edgy compared to the other programming, so enter at your own risk.

SAT 3/31

2:30pm, 7:30pm
"Glengarry Glen Ross"
at Loeb Drama Center, Experimental Theatre, 64 Brattle St, Cambridge (Harvard Sq)
FREE

I caught one of last week's performances and enjoyed seeing the theatre version, however I couldn't stop comparing it to the movie.

It seemed like some of the talented, young actors might have been channeling those portrayals, but it was a good experience (especially for the price).

I strongly suggest reserving tickets ahead of time, although we were able to get in without sending an email.

SAT 3/31

"The Hurt Locker" (3pm) & "Weapon Of War" (5:30pm): Screening & Discussion
at Room 120, Bldg 6, 182 Memorial Drive (Rear), Cambridge (MIT campus)
FREE

Wow, it's been an eventful Women's History Month. Hasn't it...? I'm not sure, but maybe I was still recovering from a wild Black History Month. Believe it or not, we conclude the 2nd annual Women Take the Reel Film Festival today.

In my naivete, it shouldn't be a big deal that an Oscar-winning war film was directed by a woman. It might be a bigger deal that an Oscar-winning war film was actually good. See the "The Hurt Locker" if you haven't already.

The hourlong documentary (directed by women) about sexual violence to women in the Democratic Republic of Congo can't be an easy viewing -- and not because it's in French & Swahili with subtitles. There will be a Q&A and reception afterwards.

SAT 3/31

4pm to 5:30pm
The Boston Rio+20 Project
at Berklee Performance Center, 136 Mass Ave, Boston
FREE w/ RSVP

This isn't a concert for young people, it's a concert from young people for everyone. There is something called the Rio+20 Global Youth Music Contest that's happening in Rio de Janeiro later this year.

Maybe one of these groups affiliated with various youth organizations will get a chance to perform at the international shindig. At the least, you can see the future of Boston's music scene...

SAT 3/31

5pm
Blastfest 5
at YMCA Theater, 820 Mass Ave, Cambridge (Central Sq)
$10 / All Ages

Feat: The Needy Visions, Streight Angular, Gracious Calamity, Hunnie Bunnies, Manners, Shira E, Nickel & Dime Band, Casey Rocheteau, Brian S. Ellis, Peace Loving, many more

No way am I going to list the whole schedule (on Facebook) and find links for all of the bands. About 30 performers are going one after the other in approximately 10 minutes bursts over 5 hours or so.

I predict a day of cool, positive, mega-fun as the Whitehaus folks take their JP house-party blueprint and make their annual trek across the Charles with a cornucopia of folk, rock, spoken-word, experimental music, and some stuff that seeps around these descriptors.

Check out some photos from a couple years ago, and you get the idea of good vibes radiating in the room.

SAT 3/31 (and SUN 4/1, WED 4/4 thru 4/7)

7:30pm
"Beckett Shorts"
at Zero Church Street, below First Parish Church, 0 Church St, Cambridge
FREE w/ Registration

Feat: "Come and Go", "Play", "Not I", "Footfalls", "Rough for Radio II", "Quad", "Act Without Words II"

Maybe Samuel Beckett isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I dig his existentialist dark humor. Some of these short plays have been described as "humorous", "neurotic" and "dystopian".

Even when it's too avant-garde to feel like one can even understand, that's when our interpretation is completely valid.

I think it's cool that he would drive a young (but still large) Andre the Giant to school.

Note: Tickets are complimentary, however an advanced ticket reservation is required.