All Over Albany

Stuff to do this weekend

This weekend, honor your favorite president -- whoever that is -- by sleeping in, puttering around and doing some fun stuff for the next three days.

We've compiled a list of things going on this weekend that we thought you might want to know about. Got something else planned? Share with the rest of the group.

And whatever you're up to, have a fantastic weekend!

Dance Flurry

This weekend is the annual Dance Flurry festival in Saratoga (Friday, Saturday, Sunday). It's three days of dance, dance, dance, and more dance at sites all around the city. Advanced ticket sales are closed, but tickets will be available at the festival (cash or check).

Mac & Cheese

Try 30 varieties of macaroni and cheese from local restaurants and vote for your favorites at the 3rd Annual Mac & Cheese Bowl at the Albany Marriott. Saturday $15 for adults, $5 for 5 to 12, under 5 free.

Chili Cook Off

This Saturday Brown's hosts its 2nd annual Firehouse Chili Cookoff at Revolution Hall. This friendly culinary competition among the area's firehouse chili cooks raises money for the Fireman's Home in Hudson. 2-5 pm - $10 admission gets you unlimited samples of all of the chili

Laughs

There's a comedy show at The Egg Friday night to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The lineup includes a bunch of local performers you'll recognize -- among them: Greg Aidala, Matt Kelly, Jaye McBride, Carlisle Carey, and Benita Zahn (yep, that Benita Zahn). 7:30 pm - $20

+ MopCo.: You never know. The Mop and Bucket improv company has a new show Underground at Proctors. It's a mix of short-form scenes and improv games, and it's different every week. Friday at 8 pm - $14, $6

Annie Dorsen: Hello Hi There

Saturday night at EMPAC, theater director Annie Dorsen examines questions of creativity, language and political power raised in an infamous television debate between philosopher Michel Foucault and linguist Noam Chomsky in 1971. The performance piece stages a conversation between two chatbots as live performers. "The result is an unexpected, uncanny, and humorous meditation on what separates humans from machines." Saturday at 8 pm. $18. There's a free screening of the Foucault and Chompsky debate before the performance at 6.

Theater

+ Baby closes this weekend at Schenectady Light Opera Company. The Maltby and Shire musical is a sweet, rarely-performed show from the 1980s about three couples in various stages of expecting a baby. There's a post-show cabaret on Saturday night with music, drinks and snacks. Tonight and Saturday at 8 pm, Sunday at 2 pm. $22 & $28. Cabaret, $10.

+ Actor and playwright Ellen McLaughlin will be performing her one-woman play Penelope at Skidmore Friday night. The piece is modern story based on the story of Penelope, the wife of Odysseus in The Odyssey.

+ The Sisters Rosensweig continues this weekend at Capital Rep. Tonight at 8, Saturday at 3 and 8, Sunday at 2 and 7. Tickets start at $20.

+ Pirates of Penzance, Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta, continues this weekend at Cohoes Music Hall. Tonight at 8, Saturday at 3 & 8 Sunday at 3. $25-$35

Stomp

The touring company of the long-running percussion show STOMP will be at the Palace Friday and Saturday. The performers bang on all sorts of things: matchboxes, wooden poles, brooms, garbage cans, Zippo lighters, and hubcaps. Friday at 7:30 pm, Saturday at 2 pm and 7:30 pm - $29.50 and up

Music

Friday: Dryer at Putnam Den
Power pop trio back with a new song. With: Sgt Dunbar, and Houseboat. 10 pm - free

Friday: Olivia Quillio, MaryLeigh & the Fauves at Hudson River
With: Bethel Steele. 8 pm

Friday: OUTPOST1 at the Fuze Box
This month: DJ Sliink, Tony Quattro, and the usual residents. 10 pm - $5

Friday: Holly & Evan at Cafe NOLA
Blues. 7 pm

Friday: Sloan Wainwright at Caffe Lena
Sister of Loudon, aunt of Rufus and Martha. 8 pm - $18 ahead / $20 at door

Saturday: Brooklyn Qawwali Party at Proctors
Part of the Party Horns NYC series. 7:30 pm - $15

Saturday: Willie Nile at The Linda
Folk rocker, still kicking. 8 pm - $23

Saturday: Catherine Russell at MASS MoCA
Jazz vocalist who has toured with David Bowie, Paul Simon, Jackson Brown, Levon Helm, and Rosanne Cash. 8 pm - $18 ahead / $22 day of / $10 students

Sunday Stringfever at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall The world's first "genetically modified" string quartet plays everything from Ravel and Brahms to Charlie Daniels. 3 pm - $15-$32

Movies

It's Oscar season. How many nominees can you see in a three day weekend?

Oscar nominated shorts

This year's Oscar nominated live action and animated short films start a one week run at the The Spectrum this week.

Honeydripper

Tonight The Writers Institute screens John Sayles' musical fable about the death of the blues and the dawn of rock-and-roll in a rural black community. At the Recital Hall at UAlbany's Performing Arts Center. 7:30 pm - free.

Hockey

+ Union takes on Princeton at Messa Rink tonight at 7 pm.

+ The Albany Devils are at home against the Wilkes Barre Scranton Penguins Saturday night at 7 pm. Tickets start at $5.

Ice skating at the ESP

The ice skating rink at the Empire State Plaza is open 11 am - 8 pm every day. It's closed from 3-4 pm for maintenance. Skating is free. Need to get your skates sharpened first? Or you can rent skates there, $3 for children under 12 and $4 for adults.

Museums
Museums are warm. And full of interesting stuff.

+ The Clark's Copycat exhibit examines the influences artists have had on each other over four centuries through similar compositions that use different techniques.

+ MASS MoCA has a number of exhibits open, including "The Workers" -- a look at labor through the eyes of 40 different artists, the really-long-running Sol LeWitt Wall Drawing Retrospective and the new afrofuturist Cartographer's Connundrum, which uses science-fiction, cosmology and technology to create a new folklore.

+ Lots of good (and free) stuff to see at the NYS museum, including the Shadow and Substance photo exhibit.

+ All those great old toys you grew up with, are at the "Kid Stuff" exhibit at The Albany Institute of History and Art, but only through March 4. You can also stop by and visit the mummies.

Bake some cookies

It's cold out. Bake cookies. They're yummy and they'll make the house smell good. Here are two of the best chocolate chip cookie recipes you're likely to find (at least until the year 2040) and some interesting info to go along with them.

Snow Train

Take the snow train out to North Creek to do some skiing,tubing, snowboarding, or just hanging out.

Farmers' markets

Winter farmers' markets are open this weekend : Saturday in Troy and Saratoga, and Sunday in Schenectady.

Brunch

It's one of the best ways to spend a lazy weekend morning. Here are a few fun brunch options and some great diner breakfast stops.

photo: Brooklyn Qawwali Party