All Over Albany

Stuff to do this weekend

Hey, isn't there a football game or something this weekend? OK, so Sunday night is spoken for, but there's a whole weekend of fun ahead first. Got a plan yet? Here's what we're thinking.

Other ideas? We'd love to hear 'em.

Chill out in Troy
Tonight is Troy Night Out, so there will plenty of places to warm up if you want to wander around the Collar City for a while. End at the official unofficial after party at Revolution Hall. And hey, if you get there a little early, you can catch Who's Bad:The Ultimate Michael Jackson Tribute Band. We kid you not. We don't know what they sound like in person, but over the MacBook speakers the resemblance was more than a little creepy.

Local 518
Railbird, Bryan Thomas, Matthew Loiacono, Sgt. Dunbar-- and that's just the beginning. WEXT's local benefit concert kicks off tonight at 7 at the Exit Dome (aka WMHT-TV Studios). $60 gets you two tickets to a whole night of great local music, and the money goes to support good music on your public radio station all year round.
*Update: The EXT show is sold out. But you can still hear it. They're broadcasting the show live at 97.9 and Exit977.org.

Say it. Say it right. Chowdah!
Wander Saratoga while you sample and vote for your favorite soups at Chowderfest (the samples are usually generous and cost a buck a piece). This year it's even greener. No, not the soup-- the spoons. Chowderfest is part of a whole weekend of Winterfest activities in The Spa City, including a wine tasting, film festival and bartender's ball. Friday night you can ski and snowshoe by candlelight in Spa State Park and Sunday there's a 5K snowshoe run.

Free Movies
The Writer's Institute's free film series is back at Page Hall. Tonight they're showing a pair of short films by Edgar G. Ulmer, a filmaker with a rep for making a small budget go a long way. The short features Detour and Bluebeard were each shot in six days on very small budgets, but they're considered some of Ulmer's finest work.

See a play
If these walls--and this table--could talk. That's kind of the theme for A.R. Gurney's "The Dining Room." Curtain Call Theater in Latham presents this series of vingettes that take place in one dining room over many decades. Fri-Sat at 8 PM, Sat-Sun at 3 PM. $20. 877-7529.

Capital Rep's Biggest Little International Play Festival continues this weekend with "The Oxford Roof Climber's Rebellion." Tonight at 8, Sat at 4 and 8:30, Sun at 2:30 PM. $17-39.

Dance
We don't know a lot about modern dance at AOA, but interpretations of Billy Billie Holiday music sounded pretty interesting. Choreographer Ronald K. Brown and his African Rooted Modern Dance company join the Grammy-nominated vocalist Nnenna Freelon at The Egg on Saturday night. $14, $24, $28. 473-1845.

Snowshoe in the Pine Bush
Ever thought about snowshoeing? This might be a good way to "try before you buy" and help out a good cause. On Sunday you can Snowshoe for Habitat for Humanity at The Albany Pine Bush Discovery Center. If you don't have snowshoes, Eastern Mountain Sports will loan them to you for free. Just get a few sponsors (or sponsor yourself) to donate a little money for each mile you snowshoe.

Really Big Game
Want to see the Super Bowl on the big screen? No, we mean the reeealllly big screen. Proctor's is showing the Steelers/Cardinals game on their movie screen Sunday. It's free to watch the game and the bar and concession stand will be open all night.

Super Bowl alternative
Movies always make a good Super Bowl alternative. And there are plenty of Oscar nominees out right now. The Spectrum is showing Frost/Nixon, Slumdog Millionaire, Doubt, The Reader, Milk and Revolutionary Road. There's mint brownies and real butter on the popcorn. Do we smell a double feature?

Hot Chocolate
For us, there's still no better way to wait out the winter than to sit in the window of Crisan or Mrs. London's and have realllly good hot chocolate. None of that powdered mix stuff -- we mean really good hot chocolate.

Eat!
Find a little something yummy to help keep you warm.

Buy Beer
If you're watching the game at home, don't forget to go beer shopping. Look here before you go.