All Over Albany

The week ahead

Here are a few things to keep in mind, look forward to, or keep busy with this week, from the weather (sunny and...), to the Travers, to Bela Fleck and Tchaikovsky, to the Civil War, to Wonka on the Plaza, to music...

Weather

Here's the paraphrased forecast for this week:

Monday: Sunny and 81.

Tuesday: Sunny and 84.

Wednesday: Sunny and 88.

Thursday: Sunny and 89.

Friday: Sunny and 83.

Weekend: Sunny and 80.

Excellent.

Travers

It's Travers Week at the Saratoga Race Course, with racing every day of the week (except for Tuesday, of course). Among the events this week: the Stewart's ice cream eating contest is Wednesday, and the "Battle of the Brews" is Friday. Saturday is the Travers Stakes, the the biggest race of the season (it was first run at Saratoga in 1864).

Because it's Travers Week, there are also events around Saratoga Springs. The "Travers 1864 Restaurant Week" runs through Thursday at participating restaurants.

Orchestra

This is the last week of the Philadelphia Orchestra's run at SPAC this season. This week:
+ Wednesday: Bela Fleck will be performing with the orchestra.
+ Thursday: Cellist Johannes Moser will be accompanying the orchestra.
+ Friday: The orchestra will be playing music from Fantasia.
+ Saturday: The Tchaikovsky Spectacular

Washington County Fair

County fair season continues with the start of the Washington County Fair on Monday at the fairgrounds in Greenwich -- it runs through Sunday. It includes the usual fair fare: rides, music, ag demonstrations, pig races, a demolition derby.

Dutchess
Also this week: The Dutchess County Fair, Tuesday-Sunday, at the fairgrounds in Rhinebeck. It's a bit farther away, but we hear it's worth the drive.

Cirque

This is the last week at Proctors for the contemporary circus troupe Cirque Éloize -- its "Cirkopolis" show closes Saturday.

History and architecture

Manning Boulevard
Wednesday: Historic Albany has lined up a walking tour of the Manning Boulevard parkway between Washington and Western avenues. That stretch includes houses built in the Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, and Arts and Crafts styles in the early 1900s. 5:30 pm - $10

NY women at war
Thursday: University of Kentucky historian Amy Murrell Taylor will be at the State Museum for a talk about the role of women from New York in the Civil War. "This talk will explore the Civil War lives of a variety of women, from those who worked as nurses and Sanitary Commission workers in the field and traveled into the South to assist slaves seeking freedom, to those who filled cartridges at New York's arsenals." 7 pm - free

Landscapes
Thursday: The Albany Institute of History and Art is hosting a talk by Michael Cassin, from the Clark, about American landscape painters from the late 19th century. It will look at "the work of painters such as Winslow Homer, Frederic Church, Albert Bierstadt and the Hudson River School- painters who recorded the splendors of the North American landscape, from New England to the Rockies, from sea to shining sea." 5:30 pm - free

Movies

Willy Wonka on the ESP
Wednesday: Outdoor movies return to the Empire State Plaza with a screening of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971). The movies are shown on a screen at the State Museum end of the plaza -- the museum's outdoor steps serve as seating. (We went to one of the movies last year and it was fun.) 8 pm - free

Space Beyond the Pines
Saturday at Proctors: Space Beyond the Pines, an all-day sci-fi movie marathon organized by It Came From Schenectady (as mentioned). The lineup includes some cheese (Starcrash), but also some solid old-school stuff (Brazil) and newer under-the-radar offerings (Serenity, Attack the Block). There will also be games and prizes. The films are being shown in two blocks -- it's $15 per block, or $25 for the whole slate.

Cult classic

Friday: C. Amanda Boutahorse's Cult Classics burlesque series returns to the Hangar in Troy with a tribute to Monty Python & The Holy Grail. 9 pm - $10

Music

Monday: Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Josh Ritter at Tanglewood
Will be a popular show. $23.50 and up

Wednesday: Nick Lowe at Helsinki Hudson
British rock pioneer. With: Kim Richey. 8 pm - $45

Wednesday: Mookie Blaylock at Rockin' on the River
Pearl Jam tribute. (Mookie Blaylock was an NBA player. And it was Pearl Jam's original name.) 5 pm - free

Thursday: The Sweetback Sisters at Helsinki Hudson
Honky tonk from Brooklyn. They've been on Prairie Home Companion. 8 pm - $18

Thursday: Harry Pyle at Red Square
Sounds like an accordion mashed up with video game music. With: Robots Don't Have Feelings, The Bone Crew, Sime Gezus, Cats Don't Have Souls. 8 pm - $7

Friday: Caravan of Thieves at Caffe Lena
"If Django Reinhardt, the cast of Stomp and the Beatles all had a party at Tim Burton's house." With: Clarence Bucaro. 8 pm - $18

Friday: The Blind Owl Band at The Hollow
"Adirondack freight train music." 8 pm - $10

Friday: Nancy Walker Trio at Upbeat on the Roof
Folk. 7 pm - free

Saturday: Film Night at Tanglewood
Annual tradition: John Williams and the Boston Pops playing music from film scores. 8:30 pm - $21 and up

Saturday: Eastbound Jesus at Putnam Den
Northern rock. With: Jamie Kent. 9:30 pm - $10

Saturday: Roosevelt Dime and Darlingside at Caffe Lena
A "see the future" sampler of "steamboat soul" and "string rock." 8 pm - $15

Sunday: Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood
The BSO closes its season at Tanglewood with Beethoven's symphony No. 9. (You know it -- it's that symphony.) 2:30 pm - $20 and up

Sunday: Luke Bryan at SPAC
Country star. With: Thompson Square, Florida Georgia Line. 7 pm - $40.25 and up

To do list

1. Eat tomatoes -- the kind that were grown outside, preferably in someone's backyard. They won't taste better any other time of the year.

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These are a just a few things for this week. Know of something people should be looking forward to this week? Please share!

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photo: Valerie Remise / Cirque Eloize