All Over Albany

Stuff to do this weekend

Spring is making an effort to return this weekend, with lots of sunshine, warmer temperatures and a whole bunch of stuff to do.

After the jump -- a few things we thought you might like to try. Doing something that didn't make our list? Tell us about it in the comment section.

And whatever you're up to, have a fantastic weekend.

Electric City Couture
Saturday-Sunday: Electric City Couture returns to Universal Preservation Hall in Saratoga Springs. It includes two full runway shows and other events this year. The theme of Saturday night's show is "Shattered", and it will be represented by hard edged objects suspended in the physical space. The Sunday matinee will use the shattered remnants to bring to mind the concept of Babylonian hanging gardens. Saturday at 7:30pm / Sunday at 3:30 pm -- $15 and up. Saturday night is sold out.

Hudson Valley Hops
Saturday: The Albany Institute hosts Hudson Valley Hops, a celebration of local brewing history. There will be a blind taste testing of pale ales from craft brewers found around the Hudson Valley. Saturday 4 pm -- $35 ahead / $40 at the door

Downtown Albany Restaurant Week
Friday: It's the last day of Downtown Albany Restaurant Week. Seventeen Albany restaurants are offering 3 course meals for $20.16.

Albany All Stars roller derby
Saturday: The Brawl Stars take on the Bloody Bordens and the All Stars face the Mass Attack in a doubleheader at the Washington Avenue Armory. Saturday matches at 6 pm and 7:45 pm -- $12 at the door / $4 for kids 12 and under

Baby animals
Saturday: Baby animal days at Hancock Shaker Village begin and run through May 8. (There's also a behind-the-scenes farm tour available, with "the opportunity to meet, hold and bottle-feed some of the newborn animals in a reserved area." Tickets for that are $27 or $30 depending on the day.) Adult admission is $20 / $8 for kids 13-17 / and free for kids 12 an under

Capital Region Homebuyer Fair
Saturday: The Capital Region Homebuyer Fair will be at the Washington Avenue Branch of the Albany Public Library. Meet lenders, realtors, home inspectors and homeownership advisors. There will be mortgage qualifying workshops and panel on how to build a strong credit score and more. Saturday from 10 am - 2 pm -- free admission

Earth Day Expo and Bike Parade
Sunday: The Washington Park Lake House hosts the Albany Earth Day Expo. The Albany Bicycle Coalition will lead a twelve-mile bicycle parade that starts at the lake house at 9 am. Following the parade, the Earth Day Expo at the lake house will have music, vendors, electric vehicles, a green fashion show, kids activities and more. Sunday expo 11 am-4 pm -- free admission

Comedy

Lewis Black
Friday: Lewis Black returns to Albany's Palace Theater with his newest tour: "The Emperor's New Clothes -- The naked Truth." Friday 8 pm -- $29.75 and up

Real Life: The Improv
Friday: The Mop & Bucket Company continues its season of Real Life: The Improv, in which improvisors create scenes and songs based on live interviews with local celebrities. Friday 8 pm -- $14.

Mopco Improv Jam
Saturday: The Mop & Bucket Company hosts its monthly Improv Jam at MopCo World Headquarters (309 Union St. Schenectady). Come watch improvisors play, or try improv games for yourself. Saturday at 8pm -- $5 or bring a snack to share.

Stage

The Lion King
Friday-Sunday: A touring production of The Lion King continues its month-long run at Proctors. It is, of course, the hugely-popular musical based on the Disney movie. Tuesday-Sunday various times -- $20 and up

Calendar Girls
Friday-Saturday: Home Made Theater opens a new production of Calendar Girls, the comedy based on the true story of a group of Yorkshire women who produced a nude calendar to raise money for Leukemia research. Friday and Saturday 8pm -- $24 and $27

Living on Love
Friday-Sunday: Curtain Call continues a production of Joe DiPietro's Living on Love, a comedy about a demanding diva who discovers that her maestro husband has become enamored with the lovely young lady hired to ghostwrite his autobiography. Friday and Saturday at 8 pm, Sunday at 3 pm -- $24

The Marvelous Wonderettes / Forever Plaid
Friday-Sunday: Not So Common Players will perform the revues The Marvelous Wonderettes and Forever Plaid in rep. The Wonderettes will be performed on Friday and Saturday at 8pm. Forever Plaid will be performed on Saturday and Sunday at 2 pm --free

Julius Caesar
Saturday: The Adirondack Shakespeare Company presents Julius Caesar at the Fenimore Gallery at Proctors. Saturday at 8pm -- $20, $17 for students/seniors/veterans, kids under 12 are free.

Burlesque

C. Amanda Boutahorse's Cult Classics
Friday: C. Amanda Boutahorse's Cult Classics celebrates some of its best acts from the past three years of burlesque tributes to classic films at The Hangar in Troy. Friday 9 pm -- $15

Bing Bamboo Room Burlesque
Saturday: The Bing Bamboo Room Burlesque returns to The Low Beat with special guest Scooter Pie. Saturday at 8pm -- $15 (18 and over)

Poetry
It's National Poetry Month. Here area a few celebrations this weekend:

Poetry In Motion
Saturday: The GE Theater at Proctors hosts Poetry in Motion -- a performance of music, visual displays and spoken word. (Parental Guidance: 16+). Saturday 7:30 pm -- $27

Albany Word Fest
Sunday: Albany Word Fest , a week long celebration of poetry in celebration of National Poetry Month, kicks off on Sunday with a launch party at McGeary's. Sunday 6 pm -- free admission

Film

Madison Film Festival
Saturday-Sunday: The Madison Theater kicks off a week long festival of local and regional films. Saturday's film is The David Dance. It screens at 7 pm and is free. Sunday's films are D.O.G. and Theater of the Absurd -- they start at 7 pm and are $10.

Who's Afraid of Virgina Woolf?
Friday: The NYS Writers Institute is screening Mike Nicholls' 1966 film version of Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virgina Woolf?, with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Friday 7:30 pm, Page Hall on UAlbany's downtown campus -- free

Age of Innocence
Sunday: The New York State Museum continues its Cinema Sundays series of films that celebrate New York with The Age of Innocence. Sunday at 2pm -- free

Music

Friday: Terrance Simien at the Massry Center
"[S]hattering the myths about what his indigenous zydeco roots music is and is not." 7:30 pm -- $20 / $10 students

Friday: The Mowgli's at The Hollow
Alt rock. With: Julia Nunes, The Rebel Light. 8 pm -- $10.27 ahead / $15 day of

Friday: The Blind Owl Band at Parish Public House
Bluegrass. With: Pale Green Stars. 9 pm -- $12 ahead / $15 day of

Friday: The Creed Bratton show at The Low Beat is sold out.

Friday: The Bombadils + 10 String Symphony at Caffe Lena
"Fresh faces in folk." 8 pm -- $16

Friday: The America show at The Egg is sold out.

Saturday: Brad Mehldau Trio at The Egg
"[T]he trio is at home performing Thelonious Monk classics, American Songbook standards, as well as contemporary tunes and originals." 8 pm -- $29.50

Saturday: Between the Buried and Me + August Burns Red
Metal. With: Good Tiger. 7:30 pm -- $22.50 ahead / $25 day of

Saturday: Griffin House at Caffe Lena
"An amber smooth voice with a subtle grit, driving country rock guitar, and an unassuming stage presence..." 8 pm -- $22

Saturday: Debo Band at MASS MoCA
"The eleven-piece Debo Band expands upon the repertoire of Ethiopia's golden era of Afro-pop." 8 pm -- $16 ahead / $22 day of

Saturday: Roy Zimmerman at Proctors
"[H]ilarious, rhyme-intensive original songs poking fun at almost anything politically sacred." An 8th Step show. 7:30 pm -- $20 and up

Sunday: Andy Cohen & Dakota Dave Hull & Paul Asbell at Caffe Lena
"[T]hree of Lena's all-time greatest heritage blues guitarists on stage together." 7 pm -- $25

Alexander Hamilton -- the tour
Saturday: There's a lot of interest in America's first Treasury Secretary, Alexander Hamilton, right now. (In large part because of Lin Manuel Miranda's hip-hop musical Hamilton). So the Schuyler Mansion in Albany is holding a tour based on Hamilton's time in Albany. Tours on Saturday at 1 1am and 2 pm -- $5 / $4 students and seniors / under $12 free (reservations required)

Underground Railroad Public History Conference
Friday-Sunday: The annual Underground Railroad Public History Conference returns in Troy -- this year's theme is "The Underground Railroad and American Identities." The conference includes talks, workshops, and tours. Friday-Sunday various times -- various prices

Museums
Wander through one of the Capital Region's museums:

Imaging the American West
Saturday: The exhibit Imaging the American West: Selections from The Metropolitan Museum of Art is now open at the State Museum. Blurbage:

The exhibition covers works dating from about 1850 to 1930 and centers on four specific themes: the land, Native Americans, wildlife, and cowboys. Artists represented in the exhibition include Albert Bierstadt, Paul Manship, Georgia O'Keeffe, Frederic Remington, and Charles M. Russell. The exhibition offers a fresh look at the multifaceted roles played by these artists in creating interpretations of western life and scenery, whether those interpretations are based on fact, fiction, or, most often, something in-between.

It will be on display through July 17.

MASS MoCA
MASS MoCA has two exhibits opening this weekend: Sarah Crowner: Beetle in the Leaves and The Space Between.

Butterflies
This is the last weekend of the butterfly house at miSci. "Discover hundreds of brilliantly colored native butterflies." The exhibit closes on April 19. free with museum admission.

Arkell
The Arkell Museum is open with with two new exhibitions, one about Rembrandt's influence on printmakers and the other on the work of Edward Buyck.

Alma Thomas
The Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College has its exhibit of the bright, colorful paintings of Alma Thomas. It's on display until June 5.

Hockey
Saturday: It's the last game of the Albany Devils regular season at the TU Center. Saturday 5 pm -- $16 and up

Ben & Jerry
Friday: Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield -- the Ben and Jerry of Ben & Jerry's -- will be at Saint Rose Friday evening giving away samples of Ben Cohen's homemade "Bernie's Yearning" flavor. (They're both supporting Bernie Sanders -- here's the backstory on the ice cream flavor, which Cohen can't mass produce because of a non-compete attached to the sale of Ben & Jerry's to Unilever.) Friday 5:30-6:30 pm, Saint Rose campus green (432 Western Ave) -- free

Ice cream stand season
Seasonal ice cream stands around the Capital Region have been opening during the past few weeks.

Farmers' markets
Stop by a farmers market for something local and delicious:
+ Troy Waterfront Farmers Market is inside the Atrium. Saturday 9 am-2 pm
+ The Saratoga Farmers' Market is indoors at the Lincoln Baths. Saturday from 9 am-1 pm
+ The Schenectady Greenmarket is at its indoor location at Proctors. Sunday from 10 am-2 pm.
+ The Spa City Farmers' Market is inside at the Lincoln Baths Sunday from 10 am-3 pm

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