All Over Albany

Stuff to do this weekend

Welcome to March. Only 20 days left until spring. That's three more weekends.

What are you going to do with them?

After the jump a few ways you might want to spend some time this weekend.

Got plans you don't see here? Share with the group.

And whatever you're up to, have a great weekend.

1st Friday
The trolleys will be shuttling people between galleries and art events in Albany for 1st Friday. On the list of things to see:

+ Albany Barn-Stage 1: "Relative to Size" featuring works large and miniature from Andrew McPherson, Blair Lambert, and Dorothea Osborn.

+ Albany Institute: Admission to the Albany institute is free from 5p.m. to 8p.m. on 1st Fridays. You can check ou the new Currier and Ives exhibit, the mummies, the Hudson River School exhibit -- all for free.

+ Upstate Artists Guild: The Skin Show-- photographic work by Newbold Bohemia

+ 40 Broadway: "Proof of Life" featuring the latest work of Alexander Contompasis and Albany Banana Corporation. There's an after party with music by "Anthony and the Continentals", Tarot and astrology by Christy.

+ Other post-1st Friday events include the monthly Capital Swing Dance with Brass O'Mania $15, a Vinylmania dance party at Elda's on Lark, Irish music with Jeff Strange at The University Club and Ben Karis Nix followed by a late night burlesque show at UAG.

Theater

The Single Girls Guide
This weekend Capital Rep's new production -- The Single Girls Guide -- is in previews. The musical takes place in 1964 Manhattan. From the blurbage: "beloved newspaper columnist Emma Woodhouse is still single and about to turn 30. As her father urges her to marry the first available man - and her editor urges her to toe the line, she begins to transform her household advice column into a platform for change, encouraging readers to drop their casseroles, question the nature of marriage and demand sexual freedom." Friday at 8 pm, Saturday at 3 pm and 8 pm and Sunday at 2 pm - $20 - $60

Sordid Lives
The Local Actors Guild of Saratoga opens the regional premiere of Sordid Lives, a "Southern-friend comic melodrama about infidelity, country & western music and Airstream trailers." Saturday at 2 pm and 8 pm and Sunday at 7:30 pm

Comedy

MopCo: You Never Know
The Mop & Bucket Company's You Never Know show is back Friday night. Think Whose Line is it Anyway -- a night of short form improv games where talented improvisers make up scenes and songs based on audience suggestions. Underground at Proctors. Friday at 8 pm - $14 Adults, $6 Students & Seniors.

Improv at The Comedy Works
Mop & Bucket opens a weekly short form improv comedy show on Saturday night at The Comedy Works on Northern Blvd in Albany. Think Whose Line is it Anyway. 8 pm - $15-$20

Stand up at The Comedy Works
Eddie Clark and Rich Aronovitch at The Comedy Works this weekend. Aronovitch has performed on Leno and Last Comic Standing on NBC, and with The Upright Citizens Brigade. $15 advance, $20 day of

QFest
Proctors' annual LGBT film festival continues through Sunday. The festival includes films (of course) such as Hedwig and the Angry Inch, How to Survive a Plague, Keep the Lights On, and Cat on a Hat Tin Roof. Also: discussions and food. Friday-Sunday various times - $9 / $7 students per event / $40 all festival pass

More film

+ The Spectrum is screening the Oscar nominated live action and animated short films again this weekend.

+ The Saratoga Film Forum is screening Hitchcock on Friday at 7:30 pm and Sunday at 3 pm. Then on Sunday at 7:30 pm they're showing the Hitchcock classic Psycho. $7

+ Small Apartments the indie film starring Billy Crystal, based on the novel that was written in three days by Saratoga's Chris Millis is being screened this weekend in Saratoga. The Friday night show is sold out, but there's another screening on Saturday night at 7 pm at Skidmore. $7 presale and $10 at the door

+ The Writers Institute's Future of Film series continues with Romanian new wave director Cristi Puiu's award winning deadpan comedy The Death of Mr. Lazarescu. 7:30 pm Page Hall UAlbany downtown campus - free

The Machine Starts
Friday and Saturday at EMPAC: The Machine Starts. Blurbage:

The Machine Starts is based on E.M. Forster‚s 1909 sci-fi novella The Machine Stops, an eerily prescient tale that predicts the internet, television, global environmental ruin, social isolation and the impact of technology on the human experience.

Under the Renssealer leadership of artists Shawn Lawson and Michael Oatman, professors in HASS and the SoA respectively, this student run performance features A Capella singing group, The Rusty Pipes, The Parkour Club, and Center Stage, a spoken word group, as well as interactive media, new music and architectures designed to transform EMPAC.

various times - $10 / $6 students

Music

Friday: WCDB 35th Anniversary Show at Valentine's
Featuring: The Pains of Being Pure of Heart, Oberhofer, Blotto, Dirty Face, and Barons in the Attic. 7 pm - $18 ahead / $23 day of

Friday: No Further Instructions at the Zankel Center
Musician Howard Fishman and travel journalist Michael Benanav in a program that "combines original music, historical memoir, storytelling and compelling photography to share the duo's exploits and experiences as American Jews in rural Romania." 8 pm - $8 / free for students and kids

Friday: Cinnamon Chasers (Abakus) at Red Square
Electronic, with a popular video. With: Organik Time Machine, Digital Dharma. 8 pm - $10

Friday: Jim Gaudet & The Railroad Boys at The Linda
Releasing a new album. 8 pm - $15

Friday: Amy Helm at Helsinki Hudson
Levon's daughter. 9 pm - $25 ahead / $28 day of

Saturday: Enter the Haggis at The Egg
Eclectic world roots rock. 8 pm - $24

Saturday: Cowboy Junkies at The Egg
Both Enter the Haggis and Cowboy Junkies are from Canada. On the same night at the Egg? Obviously some sort of maple leaf conspiracy. 7:30 pm - $24

Saturday: Miranda Lambert at the TU Center
Big country star. With: Dierks Bentley. 7:30 pm - $28 and up

Saturday: The Wood Brothers at Helsinki Hudson
They were just at The Egg. With: Rayland Baxter. 9 pm -

Sunday: Frank Turner at Upstate Concert Hall March 3
Punk rocker turned toward folk. With: The Sidekicks, Steve Layman. 7:30 pm - $15 ahead / $17 day of

Sunday: James McMurtry at Helsinki Hudson
Americana. 8 pm - $25

Sunday: Container, Unicorn Hard On, Timeghost at 51 3rd Street
Three electronic acts. Unicorn Hard On obviously wins this week for best name. 7:30 pm - $5

Roller Derby
The Hellions of Troy open their season with a bout with the Green Mountain Derby Dames on Saturday night at Rollarama in Schenectady. 7 pm - $10 / $3 kids

SLAM!
Skidmore College presents SLAM, a night of spoken word and music featuring two time World Poetry Slam champion Buddy Wakefield at the Tang Museum. Friday 7:30 pm

Talks

Spies
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Tim Weiner will be at the Carey Center for Global Good Saturday to talk about "the secret workings of American intelligence at home and overseas." His most recent book is Enemies: A History of the FBI. Saturday 6 pm - $5 (RSVP: 797-5100)

Spotting a liar
University of Derby (UK) criminologist David Walsh will be at UAlbany Saturday for a talk: "Who can spot a liar? Are police officers expert lie catchers?" -- about interrogations, lying, and false confessions. Saturday 3:30 pm Husted Hall 106A (downtown campus) - free and open to the public

Museums

Butterflies @ MiSci
The butterfly house inside MiSci (formerly the Schenectady Museum) continues this weekend. Saturday 11 am-5 pm, Sunday noon-5 pm - Free with museum admission

Gordon Parks photography at the NYS Museum
While you're checking out New York in Bloom this weekend at the NYS Museum, be sure to stop by the the Gordon Parks exhibit. Gordon Parks: 100 photos -- a collection of work by the famous photographer/director and Life magazine's first African American staff member -- highlights photos taken in Harlem and Washington DC during the early 1940s, "when both cities were going through significant changes--arising from post-WW II urban migration, the expansion of the black press, concern for children's education, and entrenched segregation and economic discrimination."

Currier and Ives
The Albany Institute of History and Art's new Currier and Ives exhibit, "The Legacy of Currier & Ives; Shaping the American Spirit," continues. The exhibition of 64 Currier and Ives prints "introduces the visitor to the firm of Currier & Ives and illustrates, through interpretive and educational materials, how their imagery became ingrained in the national consciousness."

While you're there you can also check out the exhibit of work from the Hudson River School. It includes works from the institute's collection as well as works from private collections. The exhibit runs through August 18.

College Hockey
+ Union plays St. Lawrence on Friday and Clarkson on Saturday at Messa Rink.
+ And RPI has the reversed schedule at Houston Field House: against Clarkson on Friday, and against St. Lawrence on Saturday.

Hannaford Kidz Expo
The Hannaford Kidz Expo is an opportunity to get the kids out of the house for a day of music, entertainment and activities on the Empire State Plaza. Saturday from 10 am-5 pm - free admission

Saratoga Home & Lifestyle Show
The annual Saratoga Home & Lifestyle Show is this weekend at the Saratoga City Center. Over 100 vendors, plus demonstrations for indoor and outdoor living, media and entertainment, decor, family and pets and more. Friday, 5-9 pm, Saturday 9 am-7 pm, Sunday 10 am-4 pm - $6, kids 5-12: $1, under 5 are free

Ice skating
This is the last weekend for ice skating at the rink on the ESP. Regular hours are 11 am-8 pm. Here are other ice skating spots around the Capital Region. Conditions permitting, of course.

Comfort food
Find delicious things that keep you warm. Like hot chocolate, dukbokki, or mac & cheese.

Proctors, Skidmore, the Arts Center, and Albany Law, Capital Rep and The Mop & Bucket Company advertise on AOA. And AOA is a media sponsor of the Hellions.