This Weekend’s Boston Events: Parties, Posters, and Punk
By: Jim Martinho - Thursday, Jul 31, 2014 - 1:34pm
(Photo credit: National Poster Prospecticus)
Just because it’s the middle of summer doesn’t mean your brain lacks the ability to process art. Maybe you just need a pint of cider to wash it down. Or the art is just rock band posters. Or, even better, the whole museum is roughly the size of a toaster oven and you can see everything during a “Sharknado 2” commercial break.
* Downeast Cider and Trident Booksellers & Cafe put the “arty” back in “party” with Thursday’s Arty Party. The art show will be provided by local artist Kelly Chudler, whose artistic interests include storytelling and strangers. And the party will be provided by Downeast, the Charlestown cidery that’ll give you a free pint glass if you order a drink with cider in it. I was taught that a man should stick to drinks that are black, brown, clear, or beer, but if you can snag a free glass then get as fruity as you want, bro. 7.31. 7p. FREE
* Saint Agrippina’s Society celebrates its 100th anniversary with a four-day street festival, kicking off a month of feasts in the North End that leads up to Saint Anthony’s Feast on Labor Day weekend. But if you go to St. Agrippina’s, you can be the hipster at Saint Anthony’s who tells everyone their earlier stuff was way better, man. They’ll have parades, games, fireworks, rides, ‘80s pop star Taylor Dayne (sure, why not) and obviously it’s a feast so enough Italian food that you’ll look like a minor “Sopranos” character by the end of the weekend. 7.31 to 8.3. 7p/Noon. FREE
* If you were like me in high school, a pretty rad Friday night included two or three hours spent flipping through the band posters at Newbury Comics and never, ever buying anything, You won’t have to worry about getting dirty looks from angsty staff members at the National Poster Retrospecticus, in town for one night only at the BU Art Gallery and featuring hand-printed gig posters for bands like Wilco, Modest Mouse, Phish, and hundreds of others. 8.1. 6p. FREE
* It was one year ago that Brooklyn Boulders Somerville opened its doors, which means it’s been a year since you said you were definitely going to take up rock climbing, you even went ahead and listed it on your online dating profiles, it’s not totally a lie, you climb stairs, right? Those are made out of rocks (sometimes). The climbing gym’s BKBDay celebration features a bouldering competition, food and drinks from Aeronaut Brewing Company, tunes by DJ Ryan Brown and a live performance by Viva Viva, putting the “rock” into “rock climbing.” 8.1. 7p. FREE
* You know how they say that if you tried to look at every piece of art in the Louvre for one minute, it would take something like five years? If you tried that at the Mµseum (Micro Museum) in Somerville’s Union Square, it would take, um, one minute, because it’s probably the smallest museum in the world. But you should spend more than a minute at Saturday’s closing reception for “Free Box,” the installation by local artist Rachel Grobstein that painstakingly recreates mundane, miniature objects. 8.2. 5p. FREE
* The second annual Boston Fuzzstival highlights the nascent facial hair of the man-children playing in 15 local psychedelic/fuzz/garage/surf rock bands, as well as the music played by those bands. The festival kicks off with an all-ages matinee show at the Middle East Upstairs, then they’ll take the party downstairs (the Middle East Downstairs, not a euphemism for your underpants) for an 18+ show headlined by The New Highway Hymnal. 8.2. 1p. $10-20
* So the Hopsters custom craft brewery in Newton has these massive brew kettles, but they’re not always full of amazing beer. So after probably turning them into makeshift dunk tanks, which was awesome but eventually got old, someone said hey, we could just boil a fuckton of lobsters in there. And let’s call it a Lobstah Boil and Brew Fest, because we need to remind people that we’re in Boston, give us a break, we could have named the brewery Hopstahs. Besides three lobster boiling sessions, they’ll be serving steamers and various sides, plus a specialty ale on draft brewed just for the occasion. 8.3. 12p. $65
* Chefs are the new punk rockers: They get tattoos, stay up late, and would probably spit on crowds like the Sex Pistols if it didn’t violate so many public health codes. So it makes sense to combine music and food at this year’s Punk ‘N’ Roll BBQ at O’Brien’s Pub, featuring a dozen bands and tons of food. The ticket price includes a free compilation album, and all proceeds go to Rawkstars Inc., a nonprofit corporation which helps kids through music programs. 8.3. 1p. $20