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 (downhill from Monday), to Passover and Easter, to particle physics, to Wordfest, to authors, to music...

Weather

Here's the paraphrased forecast for this week:

Monday: Sunny and 78. You read that correctly.

Tuesday: Rain overnight into the day. Windy. Maybe a thunderstorm. Mid 60s.

Wednesday: Sunny and... mid 40s.

Thursday: Sunny and low 50s.

Friday: Sunny and upper 50s.

Weekend: Cloudy and 50s.

Spring!

Passover and Easter

Passover
Passover, the Jewish holiday commemorating the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, begins at sundown on Monday and runs through April 22.

Easter
Easter, the Christian holiday celebrating the resurrection of Jesus, is this Sunday. Good Friday, which is commemorates the crucifixion of Jesus, is Friday. (Christmas gets most of the pub, but Easter is the biggest holiday of the Christian religious calendar.)

Film

Particle Fever

Monday: The Spectrum is showing Particle Fever, a documentary about particle physicists working at the Large Hardron Collider -- the world's largest machine -- to identify the Higgs boson. It's been getting very strong reviews. After the Monday 6:30 pm showing there will be a Skype Q&A between director Mark Levinson and two physicists from UAlbany, one of whom was involved with one of the experiments shown in the doc. Monday 6:30 pm - $10

"I'm as mad as hell..."
Monday: The AFI 100 series at Proctors is showing Network, one of the greatest films ever made about the media. Monday various times - $5

Brothers of the Black List
Wednesday: The Sanctuary for Independent Media will be screening Brothers of the Black List, a documentary about a civil rights case prompted by an incident in Oneonta:

September 4, 1992: An elderly woman in a small town in upstate New York reports an attempted rape by a young black man who cut his hand during the altercation. While looking for suspects, police contact officials at SUNY Oneonta, a nearby college, and a school administrator reacts by handing over a list of names and residences of 125 black male students. For the next several days, those students are tracked down and interrogated by various police departments under a presumption of guilty until proven innocent.

The doc's director, Sean Gallagher, will also be there. Wednesday 7 pm - $10 / $5 students

Albany Wordfest

Sunday-Saturday: Albany Wordfest -- an annual event bringing together poets, writers, and performers from the region to celebrate poetry and spoke word -- runs through Saturday with events at multiple venues, including an invitational poetry slam at The Linda on Saturday.

Arts and sciences

Thunderstorms
Tuesday: Morris Weisman, from the National Center for Atmospheric Research, will be at UAlbany for a talk titled "Supercell Thunderstorms, Tornadoes, and Derechos: The science of forecasting these extreme weather phenomena." It's part of the annual Ray Falconer Natural History Lecture Series. Tuesday 8 pm, UAlbany CESTM building - free

Lydia Davis
Wednesday: Author Lydia Davis -- winner of the 2013 Man Booker International Prize, MacArthur grant winner, and a UAlbany professor -- will be at RPI as part of the NYS Writers Institute visiting writers series. Davis will be presenting awards for the annual McKinney Writing Contest, and she'll read from her newest collection of super-short stories -- Can't and Won't (NYT review) -- and answer audience questions. Wednesday 8 pm, RPI Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies - free

New work
Thursday: A trio of authors from the Saint Rose English department -- Kenneth Krauss, Hollis Seamon, and Daniel Nester -- will be reading from their newest works. Thursday 5 pm, Events and Athletics Center - free

Music

Wednesday: WGNA Secret Star Acoustic Jam at Proctors
"[A]n intimate performance with three Superstars; who are ONLY revealed once they take center stage." 7 pm - $25 / $40 for this performance and one next week

Wednesday: Hilary Hahn at Troy Music Hall
Grammy-winning violinist playing works from Mozart, Schubert, and others. A Troy Chromatics concert. 7:30 pm - $40

Thursday: B.B. King at The Palace
The one and only. With: Rhett Tyler & Early Warning. 7:30 pm - $52.50 and up

Thursday: Emanuel Ax at Union
Multiple Grammy-winning concert pianist. 8 pm - $25 / $10 students

Thursday: The Mountain Goats at Helsinki Hudson
Just one goat, performing acoustically. With: Erin McKeown. 8 pm - $25

Thursday: American Babies at The Low Beat
Alt-country/Americana. 8 pm

Friday: Rubblebucket at The Zankel
Indie dance pop. 8 pm - $10

Friday: The Machine at Upstate Concert Hall
Pink Floyd tribute. 8 pm - $20 ahead / $22 day of

Friday: Christine Ohlman and Rebel Montez at Caffe Lena
Soul singer, "beehive queen." 8 pm - $25

Saturday: Dan Croll at The Hollow
Indie folkpoprocktronica. With: Panama Wedding. 8 pm - $12 ahead / $15 day of

Saturday: The Great Guitars at Troy Music Hall
Four acoustic guitarists. 8 pm - $20 and up

Saturday: Zucchero at The Egg
"Italian music superstar." 8 pm - $34

Saturday: Spottiswoode & His Enemies at Helsinki Hudson
Rock band from NYC. 9 pm - $15 ahead / $18 day of
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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!

Troy Music Hall, Proctors, The Spectrum, and Saint Rose AOA.

photos: Theo Cote/Farrar, Straus and Giroux