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 (mostly delightful), to drama, to drugs, to the walking red, to cirque, to wings, to music...

Weather

Here's the paraphrased forecast for this week:

Monday: Sunny and 77.

Tuesday: Sun, maybe a shower. 70.

Wednesday: Sunny and 71.

Thursday: Repeat.

Friday: Some clouds, some sun. 70.

Weekend: Cloudy, upper 60s.

Mostly delightful.

Other Desert Cities

Tuesday: Capital Rep opens its production of Other Desert Cities, a comedy-drama by Pulitzer-Prize winning playwright Jon Robin Baitz. Blurbage:

After six years away, prodigal daughter Brooke Wyeth returns to her Palm Springs Desert home to celebrate the holidays and announce plans to publish her childhood memoir - complete with revelations of deep family secrets. Retired ambassador dad, savvy mom, rehabbing aunt and ne'er-do-well brother team up to stop her and the joys of the family reunion quickly unravel in a surprising twist.

Other Desert Cities will be at Cap Rep through October 19. various times - $20 and up

Arts and sciences

Drugs
Tuesday: Columbia University neuroscientist Carl Hart will be at RPI to talk about his book High Price: A Neuroscientist's Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Know about Drugs and Society. Blurbage:

His research redefines understandings of addiction and drug effects. He regularly speaks about the need for science-based drug policy. In High Price, his scientific memoir, Hart interweaves past and present so as to lead his audience to re-examine ideas about drugs and pleasure, choice and motivation, brain and society. His findings shed new light on common ideas about race, poverty, and drugs. He explains current policy in accessible language and tirelessly applies his science to help save real lives and reflect on what it means to be an individual caught within a system of entrenched poverty and inequality.

Tuesday 4 pm, EMPAC - free

Drama
Wednesday: John Lahr, former drama critic for The New Yorker, will be at UAlbany as part of the NYS Writers Institute visiting writers series. He'll be talking about his new biography of Tennessee Williams, Tennessee Williams: Mad Pilgrimage of the Flesh. Wednesday 8 pm, UAlbany uptown campus, Performing Arts Center - free

The first New Yorkers
Wednesday: State Museum curator of archaeology Jonathan Lothrop will be giving a talk about the first people to migrate into the area now known as New York during the late Pleistocene. Wednesday 7 pm - free

Jamaica Kincaid
Thursday: Author Jamaica Kincaid will be at Skidmore for a reading and talk titled "The Writer in Her World." Thursday 8 pm, Palamountain Hall - free

Night of the Walking Red

Wednesday: The League of Extraordinary Red Heads will be at Brown's in Troy ("Ginger City, USA") for its annual "Night of the Walking Red" get together. The first batch of Brown's Wholly Moses Pumpkin Ale will be tapped. (The league welcomes non-gingers as well.) Wednesday 5:30 pm - free admission

Cirque de Soleil

Thursday: Cirque du Soleil opens a run of performances of its "Drailon" show at the TU Center. Show blurbage: "Fusing the 3000 year-old tradition of Chinese acrobatic arts with the multidisciplinary approach of Cirque du Soleil, Dralion draws its inspiration from Eastern philosophy and its never-ending quest for harmony between humans and nature. The show's name is derived from its two emblematic creatures: the dragon, symbolizing the East, and the lion, symbolizing the West." various times - $38 and up

Wing Walk

Thursday: The annual Wing Walk is back in downtown Schenectady. Sixteen restaurants will be offering wing samples and competing the best wings. Thursday 5-8 pm - $8 adults / $5 students

Pretty Much The Best Comedy Show

Thursday: The new comedy series at Proctors -- Pretty Much The Best Comedy Show -- returns with a night featuring touring comic Sean Donnelly. Thursday 8 pm - $15

Yom Kippur

The holiest day of the year for Jewish people -- Yom Kippur -- starts at sunset on Friday and ends at nightfall on Saturday. The holiday, known as the Day of Atonement, is marked by fasting and prayer. It's also the end of the high holidays.

Music

Thursday: The Sea The Sea at The Low Beat
New folk. They're a national touring act that just recently moved to the Albany area -- so give them a hello wave and welcome. With: Great Mutations. 8 pm

Friday: Nas: Time is Illmatic at The Palace
A screening of the doc about Illmatic followed by the hip hop titan playing the album in full. 9 pm - $40 and up

Friday: Sean Rowe at CAC Woodside
A special album release show for Madman. 8 pm - $15

Friday: Shemekia Copeland at Helsinki Hudson
Blues and R&B. 9 pm - $20 ahead / $25 day of

Friday: Bear Grass at Steamer No. 10
With: Rosary Beard, The Firs. 8 pm - $13 ahead / $15 at door

Friday: Melissa Ferrick at The Linda
Folk rock. 8 pm - $20

Friday: Playonbrother at Putnam Den
Alan Evans from Soulive. 9 pm - $10

Friday: Tall Heights at Caffe Lena
Folk. 8 pm - $15

Saturday: Marc Broussard at The Egg
"Bayou soul." With: Mingo Fishtrap, Andy Suzuki. 7:30 pm - $29.50

Saturday: Machine Gun Kelly at Washington Ave Armory
Rapper. 8 pm - $27 and up

Saturday: Super 400 at Putnam Den
With: Suitable Groove. 9:30 pm - free

Saturday: People's Champs at MASS MoCA
World music roots-dance with horns. 8 pm - $10 ahead / $12 day of

Sunday: Las Cafeteras at Sanctuary for Independent Media
"[A] vibrant musical fusion with a unique East LA sound and a community-focused political message." 7 pm - $15

To do list

1. Recognize that October starts this week.

2. All the fall things.
____

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!

Capital Rep and Brown's advertise on AOA.

photo: Richard Lovrich