All Over Albany

Stuff to do this weekend

With temperatures dropping to -4 this Presidents/Valentine's Day weekend, who could blame you if you spent the whole thing under blankets on the couch watching movies?

For those of you battling the urge to hibernate this weekend, we have your secret weapon. OK, it's not so secret. Actually, it's not a secret at all. Everyone can see it. And it's not so much a weapon as a list of stuff to do in the Capital Region this weekend.

Pick the ones you like and try them with the ones you love. Got something planned that you don't see here? Share it in the comments -- we'd love to see.

And whatever you're up to, don't forget your hat and scarf -- and have a great weekend.

Winter Carnival
Saturday-Sunday: If you can't beat winter, you can celebrate it. The Lake George Winter Carnival continues this weekend motorcycle races, ice diving demonstrations, a BBQ cook off, dogsled rides, fireworks, and marshmallow roasting. carnival continues every Saturday and Sunday for the month of February - free admission

Flurry Festival
Friday-Sunday: There's music and Dancing all around Saratoga Springs this weekend for the annual Flurry Festival. If you plan to buy tickets on site, bring cash, they don't take credit cards.

Gem and Mineral Show
Saturday-Sunday: The annual Gem and Mineral Show returns to the New York State Museum this weekend. Vendors from around the Northeast will display and sell gems, jewelry, minerals, lapidary equipment, fossils and more on the fourth floor terrace gallery of the museum. Saturday & Sunday 10 am to 5 pm - $5 (cash only)

Triple Play
Ready for spring yet? The Albany Institute of History and Art recently opened a new baseball exhibit. Triple Play is an exhibit of baseball memorabilia from the major leagues and the Capital Region.

The LEGO Challenge
Satruday-Monday: The Albany Institute of History and Art hosts its annual LEGO Challenge this weekend. Registration is required. Teams of up to 4 can register. Basic building blocks will be provided but teams can also bring their own LEGO bricks. $5 per person and includes museum admission

Butterflies
Saturday: miSci's butterfly exhibit opens. It's an indoor butterfly house with brilliantly colored native butterflies. The exhibit is open through April 19. Free with museum admission.

More museums
Three day weekends in winter are great for catching up on museum exhibits. If you haven't caught the State Museum's Shaker exhibit, now's your chance. You can also check out the new building at The Clark, or see the recently-opened "Bibliothecaphilia" exhibit at MASS MoCA<. And the The Hyde Collection or the Baseball Hall of Fame make good day trips.

Earlier:
+ Day trip: Glens Falls and the Hyde Collection
+ Day trip: Williamstown and the Clark

Step show
Sunday: The annual Black History Month Step Show is at the Palace. The event will showcase step teams from UAlbany, Siena, Saint Rose, and other upstate schools. Sunday 5 pm - $15

Valentine's Day
Saturday is Valentine's Day. (You might have heard.) If you're looking for something fun to do that won't break the bank, here are a few ideas.

More Valentine's Day ideas

The Love Story
Saturday: There are still tickets available for The Love Story event at The Takk House in Troy. "The Love Story masquerade is a formal, ticketed event featuring a mingling gourmet meal designed by Hudson Valley chef Ric Orlando and prepared by New World Catering, enjoyed while a raucous show of roaming burlesque performers whet guests' appetite for romance and dessert." Saturday 7 pm - tickets for two ($150) or three ($165)

Earlier on AOA: The Love Story Masquerade.

Love Bites
CANCELED. Saturday: Proctors is hosting Love Bites, a singles awareness day with cocktails, hors d' oeuvres, and laughs. Saturday 5:30 pm - $25 includes everything plus a drink ticket.

Cider is for lovers
Saturday: There are only a few spaces left for the Jeff Loshinsky Catering "Cider is for Lovers" Valentine's Day dinner at Nine Pin Cider Works in Albany. Saturday 7 pm - $85 per person

Film

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

"Frankly my dear..."
The Bowtie in Saratoga Springs is screening Gone With The Wind on Saturday and Sunday morning at 11 am.

Stage

South Pacific
Schenectady Light Opera Company continues its production of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic South Pacific. When the show debuted on Broadway in 1949, interracial marriage was illegal in 28 states and some lawmakers wanted one of its songs pulled, claiming it promoted interracial relationships and led to communism. The love story set in the Pacific during WWII, based on the James Michener novel Tales of the South Pacific , is filled with beautiful music and a message about prejudice and ignorance that is still relevant today. Here's a review from the Daily Gazette. Friday and Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 2pm - $28 / $22 / $18 (Saturday's show is buy one ticket get a second at half price)

Proposals
Friday-Sunday: Neil Simon's memory play, Proposals, continues this weekend at Albany Civic Theater. It's a comedy-drama about an afternoon at a family's summer retreat in the Poconos, told from the perspective of the maid. Friday and Saturday at 7:30 pm, Sunday at 3pm - $15, / $10 for students

Tigers Be Still
Friday-Saturday: Curtain Call theater closes its production of Tigers Be Still this weekend. "A quirky, endearing new dark comedy that follows the misadventures of Sherry Wickman, an unemployed, overwhelmed art therapist hiding out in her childhood bed." Friday and Saturday at 8pm - $24

The Complete History of America (Abridged)
Friday-Saturday: Home Made Theater opens a production of The Complete History of America (Abridged), an irreverent "roller coaster ride through the glorious quagmire that is American History." Friday and Saturday at 8 pm - $24-$27

A Doll's House
Friday-Saturday: Theater Voices presents a staged reading of Ibsen's A Doll's House. Friday and Saturday at 8 pm, Sunday at 3 pm - free

Laughter on the 23rd Floor
Sunday: Schenectady Civic Players is doing a staged reading of Neil Simon's Laughter on the 23rd Floor, a fictionalized look at the world of 1950s television comedy writers that is loosely based on Simon's time writing for Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows. Sunday 2:30 pm

Comedy

ComFest
Friday-Saturday: The National College Comedy Festival is back at Skidmore -- and it's sold out (as usual). "There will likely be some stand-by tickets available for each show. Arrive at the JKB box office at least an hour before the show for your best chance at a stand-by ticket."

Real Life: The Improv
Friday: In The Mop & Bucket Improv's latest format, Real Life: The Improv, improvisors create songs and scenes based on the life of a Capital Region celebrity. Friday 8pm - $14

The Gender Defenders - Valentine's Comedy Show
Saturday: The Palace hosts The Gender Defenders, four comedians -- two men and two women --with routines focused on relationships, love, and life. Saturday 9 pm - $30 ahead / $35 day of

Burlesque
Saturday: Roxxi Tarts 1920's Speakeasy Valentine Revue will be at the Albany Barn. Fifteen classic 1920s-era acts plus a buffet from Jewel of India. Cash bar. Saturday 7 pm - $30 singles / $50 couples / cash only, reservations 518-417-1920

And you were wonderful onstage
Friday: Artist Cally Spooner is wrapping up her residency at EMPAC by shooting a film with the help of a studio audience. "A performance with multiple actors, dancers, and stage sets that attempts to integrate the process of filming into the production itself, the event will be live-streamed and take on the format of a TV variety show. " You can be part of the audience and the film. Friday 8 pm - free, but reservations are required

Hockey

RPI
Friday-Saturday: The RPI men's hockey team will be at Houston Field House for games against Brown (Friday) and Yale (Saturday). Saturday's game is the annual Big Red Freakout. Friday and Saturday 7 pm - $12 adults / $9 kids

Union
Friday-Saturday: Union will be hosting Brown and Yale at Messa Rink on the nights the visiting teams aren't at RPI. Friday and Saturday 7 pm - $12

Albany Devils
Friday/Sunday: The Albany Devils take on the Hershey Bears Friday at the TU Center, and then on Sunday they return to the TU Center to face the Hartford Wolf Pack. Friday 7 pm, Saturday 3 pm - $16 and up

Hoops
Saturday: The Siena men's basketball team takes on Monmouth at the TU Center. Saturday 7 pm - $10 and up

Music

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: MaryLeigh Roohan at Vapor
With: Bear Grass, Anthony Fallacaro. A free EQX show. 8 pm - free

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

Ice skating

Empire State Plaza
Bundle up and take a spin around the ice skating rink at the Empire State Plaza. The rink is open 11 am-8 pm daily. Skating is free. Skate rentals are $4 / $3 for kids under 12.

More ice skating
We recently updated our list of ice skating spots -- both outdoor and indoor -- around the Capital Region.

Small Grains Workshop
The Carey Center for Global Good is hosting another Farm-to-Glass event to bring together famers with brewers, distillers and maltsters. Education, networking and lunch.

Farmers' markets
Winter farmers' markets continue indoors:
+ The Troy Waterfront Farmers Market will be in the Troy Atrium in downtown Troy Saturday from 9 am-2 pm.
+ The Saratoga Farmers' Market will be at the Lincoln Baths on Saturday from 9 am-1 pm.
+ The Schenectady Greenmarket will be inside Proctors on Sunday from 10 am-2 pm.
+ The Spa City Farmers' Market will be in Lincoln Baths Sunday from 10 am-3 pm.

Presidents Day
Just a reminder that it's Monday. It's a federal holiday and many things will be closed.

Capital Rep, MopCo, NYSOGS, The Albany Institute of History and Art and Troy Music Hall advertise on AOA.

Saint Rose, Jeff Loshinsky Catering, Nine Pin Cider, MopCo, miSci and the Albany Institute of History and Art advertise on AOA. AOA is a media sponsor of the ice skating rink on the Empire State Plaza. And, for the sake of disclosure, Mary's husband is the director of the SLOC production.