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 (slo-mo snow), to stories, to authors, to the stage, to music...

Weather

Here's the paraphrased forecast for this week:

Monday: Snow. 3-5 inches from overnight, with another 3-5 inches during the day. High low 20s.

Tuesday: Maybe some more snow from the overnight, then some sun. Highs around 30.

Wednesday: Sunny and 24.

Thursday: Cloudy, maybe some snow. Mid 20s.

Friday: Sunny and cold -- highs in the single digits.

Weekend: More of that -- some sun and very cold, highs in the low 10s.

There's a winter storm warning in effect through Tuesday morning. Total accumulation could be 9-18 inches through Tuesday. So, it's basically a slow-motion snow dump.

Stories

Front Parlor
Tuesday: The Front Parlor storytelling series returns to the Ale House in Troy. This month's theme: "last minute." Tuesday 7:30 pm

Storytime Time
Wednesday: Storytime Time -- the funny and true storytelling series -- is back at Cafe NOLA in Schenectady. Wednesday 7 pm - $5

Arts and sciences

Jess Row
Tuesday: Author Jess Row will be at UAlbany as part of the NYS Writers Institute visiting writers series. Row will be talking about his novel, Your Face in Mine -- "the tale of a young Jewish man, Martin Lipkin, who undergoes 'racial reassignment surgery' because he believes that he is a black man trapped in a white man's body" (NYT review). Tuesday 8 pm, uptown campus, PAC recital hall - free

Ghosts of Jim Crow
Tuesday: University of Baltimore School of Law's F. Michael Higginbotham will be at Albany Law for a talk about his book Ghosts of Jim Crow: Ending Racism in Post-Racial America. Tuesday 4 pm, Room 200 - free

Dreams that Money Can Buy
Wednesday: The new "On Animation & Workflow" series at EMPAC will be screening two animated films from the 1920s, along with the 1947 surrealist film Dreams that Money Can Buy. Wednesday 7 pm - $6

Touré
Thursday: TV host/journalist Touré will be at UAlbany as the keynote speaker for university's annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Luncheon. It's open to the public, but seating is a on first come, first sit basis. Thursday noon, uptown campus, campus center ballroom - free

Michael Bérubé
Thursday: Writer and academic Michael Bérubé will be at Skidmore for a talk about the humanities. Blurbage: "The talk centers on the decades-long debate about the status of universalism, asking not only what it means to think of all humans as "equal" in a meaningful sense but also why so many scholars in the humanities have become skeptical of this ideal. Taking on critiques of universalism from queer theory and disability studies, I conclude that universalism remains desirable precisely because it is open to all such challenges." Thursday 8 pm, Filene Recital Hall - free

Night Catches Us
Friday: Director/screenwriter Tanya Hamilton and actor/producer Ron Simons will be at UAlbany as part of the NYS Writers Institute visiting writers series for a talk following a screening of their film Night Catches Us. Blurbage: "A finalist for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, NIGHT CATCHES US, starring Anthony Mackie, Kerry Washington, and Jamara Griffin, is a powerful evocation of the American inner city in 1976. A former Black Panther returns to his old Philadelphia neighborhood, where he confronts the unresolved problems of his past." Friday 7 pm, downtown campus, Page Hall - free

Stage

Shaping Sound
Thursday: The Proctors main stage will host a performance of the touring dance show Shaping Sound, "an electrifying mash-up of dance styles and musical genres brought fully to life on stage by a dynamic company of contemporary dancers." The choreographers who created the show have been featured on Dancing With the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance. Thursday 8 pm - $20 and up

Rhapsody in Black
Thursday: Actor Leland Gantt will be at Proctors to perform his one man show Rhapsody in Black in the GE Theater. Blurbage:

We follow his spellbinding life story -- from an underprivileged childhood in the ghettos of McKeesport, PA to teenage experiments with crime and drugs to scholastic achievement and an acting career that lands adult LeLand in situations where he is virtually the only African-American in the room. How he manages to cope with the various psychological effects of consistently being marked The Other is recounted in remarkable and exquisitely moving detail, guaranteed to leave lasting impressions.

Thursday 7:30 pm - $30

Emilie: La Marquise Du Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonight
Thursday: UAlbany's Performing Arts Center is hosting a WAM Theatre staged reading of Emilie: La Marquise Du Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonight, about 18th century French mathematician (and companion to Voltaire). Blurbage:

A leading interpreter of modern physics as well as a master of mathematics and linguistics, Du Chatelet fulfilled her role as a French noblewoman but also challenged it by writing philosophical works, translating Newton's "Principia" and questioning the accepted social norms of the time. In [Lauren] Gunderson's work, she tallies her achievements in Love and Philosophy and searches for a formula to convince the world of her worth.

Thursday 7:30 pm - $10 ahead / $15 day of / students $5 ahead / students $10 day of

Solomon Northup
Thursday: The Albany Institute is hosting a performance in which Clifford Oliver Mealy will recreate the persona of Solomon Northup. Thursday 6 pm - free

Looking ahead to the weekend

+ Saturday is Valentine's Day. If you're hoping to go out to eat that night, you're running out of time to make reservations.

+ The Flurry Festival returns to Saratoga Springs with dancing Friday-Sunday.

+ The annual Black History Month Step Show is at the Palace Sunday.

Music

Monday: White Arrows at Nanola
Dance rock. A free EQX show. 7 pm - free

Tuesday: The Michael Franti show at The Egg has been canceled.

Wednesday: Roomful of Teeth at Proctors
Grammy-winning contemporary vocal ensemble. 7:30 pm - $35

Thursday: K. Flay at Upstate Concert Hall
Rapper. A free EQX show. With: Titanics, Bell's Roar. 8 pm - free

Friday: Cyrille Aimée at The Egg
Jazz singer. 8 pm - $24

Friday: Dryer at Caffe Lena
Power pop. 8 pm - $18

Saturday: Moon Hooch at The Hollow
Dance jazz rock. 8 pm - $12 ahead/$15 day of

Saturday: Nicole Atkins at Helsinki Hudson
Roots/psych rock singer/songwriter. 9 pm - $25

Saturday: Legs at MASS MoCA
Indie dance/soul. 8 pm - $12 ahead / $18 day of

Saturday: Red Molly at The Egg
Folk trio. 7:30 pm - $28

Saturday: Saint Rose Camerata at Massry Center
Annual chamber music with voices performance for Valentine's Day. 7:30 pm - free

Sunday: Glen David Andrews at Parish Public House
New Orleans soul/funk. 8 pm - $20
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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!

Saint Rose advertises on AOA.

photo: Sarah Shatz