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 (February-y), to Audrey on a Vespa, to Khaled Hosseini, to backyard chickens, to Alton Brown, to Valentine's Day, to music...

Weather

Here's the paraphrased forecast for this week:

Monday: Sunny, but maybe a bit of snow. Upper 20s, but wind chills around zero.

Tuesday: Sunny and 24.

Wednesday: Sunny and 28.

Thursday: Some sun, but also maybe some rain. Upper 30s.

Friday: Cloudy, upper 30s.

Weekend: And so on.

February-y.

Audrey on a Vespa

Monday: The Palace's classic film series is showing Roman Holiday. Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck, Rome, a Vespa -- what more do you need? (And what a bittersweet ending...) Monday 7 pm - $5

Khaled Hosseini

Wednesday: Khaled Hosseini -- author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns -- will be at Skidmore's Zankel. Hosseini's appearance is being organized by Saratoga Reads. The community reading org's first selection was The Kite Runner a decade ago. And its 2013-2014 book is Hosseini's And the Mountains Echoed. The event at a the Zankel will be a conversation between Hosseini and WAMC's Joe Donahue.

The event is sold out, but Skidmore will be showing a simulcast in its Gannett, Davis and Emerson auditoriums. Seating for those auditoriums is first come, first serve -- doors at 6 pm.

Arts and sciences

Slavery By Another Name
Monday: There's a screening of the PBS documentary Slavery By Another Name at the Sage Colleges. From the doc's description: "The documentary recounts how in the years following the Civil War, insidious new forms of forced labor emerged in the American South, keeping hundreds of thousands of African Americans in bondage, trapping them in a brutal system that would persist until the onset of World War II." Alice Green, from the Center for Law and Justice in Albany, will lead a discussion afterward. Monday 6 pm, Sage Albany campus, Opalka Lecture Hall - free

Sandra Fluke
Tuesday: Attorney and gender equality/reproductive justice activist Sandra Fluke will be at UAlbany for a talk as part of the school's Sexuality Week. The national spotlight found Fluke earlier this year after House Republicans didn't let her testify at a committee meeting on conscience clauses in health care. She later was a featured speaker at the Democratic National Convention. She's now planning a run for California state Senate. Tuesday 8 pm, uptown campus center ballroom - free

Black Boy
Wednesday: An American Place Theatre production of Black Boy will be at UAlbany as part of the NYS Writers Institute spring slate. From the event description:

The story of a young African American man's quest for education, and his fight for basic rights in the Jim Crow South, the show features fifteen characters, twenty-two vignettes, and fifty minutes of verbatim performance from the first half of Wright's novel. Interactive discussions with the audience exploring themes of racism and individualism will be moderated by a "teaching artist" both before and after the show.

There's a pre-performance discussion at 7 pm. Wednesday 7:30 pm, UAlbany uptown campus, PAC - $15 ahead / $20 day of / $10 students ahead / $15 students day of

The Beatles
The "She Loves You - The Beatles and New York" series of multimedia lectures continues at spots around the Capital Region.

Backyard chickens

Wednesday: Elizabeth Russell will be at the Arts Center of the Capital Region heading up a class about raising backyard chickens. "We will cover topics including coop design and space requirements, egg incubation and hatching chicks, care of chicks and young poultry, and nutrition and health concerns related to egg production. Practical considerations such as manure management and zoning considerations will also be discussed." Wednesday 6 pm - $40

Alton Brown

Thursday: The Food Network's Alton Brown will be at Proctors for a live stage show. Blurbage:

This show is a unique blend of stand up comedy, food experimentation, talk show antics, multimedia lecture, and, for the first time...live music. Audience interaction is strictly enforced throughout the evening, though if you're called upon as a culinary assistant you'll definitely want to take the lab coat Brown offers, as things tend to get messy.

Brown has played a lot of roles at the Food Network, including that of host and creator of one of the best explanatory cooking shows of all time, Good Eats. Thursday 8 pm - $20 and up

Valentine's Day

It's Friday. If you're thinking you'd like to go out that night with your special someone and don't already have reservations, you should do that right now.

Looking ahead to the weekend...

A few things:

+ The annual Flurry Festival -- three days of all sorts of dancing -- starts Friday at venues around Saratoga Springs.

+ The annual timesunion.com/Table Hopping Mac-n-Cheese Bowl is Saturday. It's a benefit for the Regional Food Bank.

Music

Wednesday: Mariel Roberts + Nate Wooley at EMPAC
"Trailblazing" cellist and boundary-redefining horn player. 7:30 pm - $18

Thursday: Wild Cub at The Hollow
Pop rock from Nashville. 8 pm - $8 ahead / $10 day of

Thursday: The Hollows at Putnam Den
Roots rock. With: Bear Grass. 9:30 pm - free

Thursday: Celebration of Rhythm at Proctors
A performance of North Indian music and reggae. 7:30 pm - $15

Friday: Darius Rucker at TU Center
The guy from Hootie, gone country. With: Eli Young Band, David Nail. 7 pm - $50.50 and up

Friday: Green Day's American Idiot at The Palace
The stage musical based on Green Day's American Idiot album. 8 pm - $35 and up

Friday: Super 400 at Putnam Den
Rock, returned. 9:30 pm - $8

Friday: Yarn at Red Square
Alt country. 8 pm - $10

Friday: ACJW at Zankel Center
Ensemble of rising classical professional musicians. 8 pm - $8

Friday: A Valentine's Day Concert of Beatles Love Songs at The Egg
Regional artists celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Beatle's arrival in the US. 7:30 pm - free, but ticket required

Saturday: Steve Earle at Helsinki Hudson
Alt country before the label. 9 pm - $55 ahead / $60 day of

Saturday: The Fab Faux at The Egg
Beatles tribute act. 7:30 pm - $35 and up

Saturday: Burning Spear at MASS MoCA
"Legendary reggae concert so hot you'll see smoke." 8 pm - $22 ahead / $27 day of / $18 students

Sunday: Jane Monheit + Frank Vignola at The Egg
Jazz vocalist and guitarist. 7:30 pm - $29.50

Sunday: Black History Month Step Show at The Palace
The annual step show featuring teams from UAlbany, Siena, and Saint Rose. 5 pm - $15

These are a just a few things for this week, not a comprehensive list. Know of something people should be looking forward to this week? Please share!

The Arts Center advertises on AOA.

photo via Alton Brown Facebook