WED 5/16: Bike, Art, Talk, Music

Thought of the Day:
Simon & Garfunkel had a song called "Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M.", and they didn't sing the day of the week during the song...

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WED 5/16

6:30pm to 8pm
Ride of Silence
start at Seven Hills Park, behind the Somerville Theatre (Davis Sq) to Boston Common
FREE

It's not exactly a 'fun ride' when commemorating bicyclists who have been killed or injured, but this seemed to be the most interesting of today's Bay State Bike Week event that doesn't involve biking to work.

It will be about a 7-mile ride that begins at 7pm sharp then passes slowly and silently through Cambridge and Boston. If the weather doesn't cooperate, the ride takes place next Wednesday.

Helmets required, and lights strongly recommended. It wouldn't hurt to send an RSVP.

WED 5/16

6:30pm to 8:30pm
Art on the Marquee, "Spring 2012": Reception
at 3rd Floor, Boston Convention & Exhibition Center, 415 Summer St, Boston (Seaport)
FREE

Feat: Francois de Costerd & Todd Antonellis, Christopher Field & Sarah West, Georgie Friedman, Lina Maria Giraldo, Christopher Graefe, Linda DeHart, and Meg Brooker, Ben Houge, Michael Lewy, Dennis Miller, Matthew Shanley, Jeffu Warmouth

If you pass the Convention Center at the right time, you might see art in between the usual announcements on the 80-foot-tall LED marquee.

The second batch of video pieces will begin screening, and this is a chance to get an early look and meet some of the artists. (You have to think there will be some refreshments too?)

WED 5/16

7pm
"Neglected Diseases of the Bottom Billion": Discussion
at Pfizer Auditorium, Mallinckrodt Bldg, 12 Oxford St, Cambridge (Harvard campus)
FREE

For something more uplifting than a "Ride of Silence", a group of graduate students from various disciplines will talk about the diseases that are killing and disabling millions in the under-developed regions of the world.

Yes, it's a dangerous world out there.

WED 5/16

7:30pm
Alizon Lissance with Cheryl Aruda, Mike Duke, Ed Scheer
at Smoken' Joe's BBQ, 351 Washington St, Brighton (Brighton Center)
FREE

It's been a while since I've mentioned a gig at Smoken' Joe's. The place doesn't really have much of a bar area to sit and listen, but the tables seem available for beverage-buying blues-lovers if there's room available.

Keyboardist-singer Alizon Lissance is hosting three top-notch local players to her weekly showcase, so why not?

WED 5/16

Bad Rabbits - DJ set (11pm), Grass is Green (10:15pm), Ghost Thrower (9:30pm), Wind in Sails (9pm)
at TT the Bear's Place, 10 Brookline St, Cambridge (Central Sq)
$8 / 18+

Here's an interesting mix going on. The Receiving End of Sirens are playing a sold-out reunion gig next door, so the guys from Bad Rabbits are going to DJ as an after-party. A couple post-punk bands rock out beforehand, and the opener is an acoustic dude who used to play in a band that probably shared gigs with TREOS.

WED 5/16

9:30pm
The Psychic Paramount, Cropduster, A Troop of Echoes, The Shape
at Great Scott, 1222 Comm Ave, Allston
$9 / 18+

The last band of the night may not necessarily be headliners, but that's the case with The Psychic Paramount who roll and rumble in a big, loud, noisy, spacey way that seems deeper and more textured than most bands that I've heard of this ilk. Three proggy-jammy-trippy bands precede them; I've listened to Cropduster a few times before, so I feel more confident giving them a thumbs-up as well.