All Over Albany

Stuff to do this weekend

Friday, where have you been all week.

We won't quibble. You're here now, and that's what counts. Let's just look forward and plan the weekend. OK? OK.

After the jump you'll find a look at some of the stuff going on in the Capital Region this weekend. Planning something you don't see here? Drop it in the comments so we can all see. And whatever you're up to, have a fantastic weekend!

Passover
Passover, the Jewish holiday commemorating the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, begins at sundown Friday and runs until sunset on April 30.

MOVE Music Festival
Friday-Sunday: The MOVE Music Festival will be back in Albany with a hundred acts playing shows at multiple venues around the city Friday and Saturday evening. The festival also includes industry panel discussions and a music video awards competition. Friday-Sunday various times and venues -- $30 festival pass / $15 Friday pass / $20 Saturday

The Half Moon Market
Saturday-Sunday: The Half Moon Market returns to the Washington Park Lakehouse. It's a two-day indie marketplace featuring some of the region's best artists and makers of handmade goods. Saturday and Sunday from 11 am to 6 pm -- free admission

Wordfest
Albany Wordfest wraps up this weekend:

Wordfest Open Mic
Friday: Upstate Artist Guild hosts a Wordfest open mic in honor of National Poetry Month. There are featured poets and slots for others to read or perform. It's open to all pets and spoken word artists with no restriction on style or content.

Creativity Workshop
Saturday: The Social Justice Center in Albany hosts a poetry workshop that explores creativity. Saturday 5:30pm

Word Fest Invitational Slam
Saturday: Albany Poets, Frequency North, and Urban Guerilla Theater welcome six teams from across the Northeast to compete in the WordFest Invitational regional slam event at the Social Justice Center. Saturday 8 pm -- $8 in advance / $10 at the door

Underground Slam
Saturday: Following the Invitational Slam there will be an Underground Slam -- a four-round head-to-head contest with 16 poets competing for a cash prize.

Comedy

Pretty much the Best Comedy Show: Chris Lamberth
Saturday: Pretty Much the Best Comedy Show returns to the GE theater at Proctors with headliner Chris Lamberth. He's toured with Bill, Burr, Trevor Noah, and D.L. Hughley. Also on the bill is Rae Sanni. Saturday 8 pm -- $15 ahead / $20 at the door

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.

Improv Festival
Saturday: The Madison Theater hosts the inaugural Albany Improv Festival. Improv troupes from the around Capital Region and across the nation will create scenes, songs and games. Saturday: 2pm to 10pm -- $11, $17, $20

Faulty Towers Dining Experience
Friday-Sunday: Remember the Faulty Towers TV show from the 70s? Proctors is hosting a Faulty Towers dining experience -- an interactive dinner show with characters from the TV show. Friday-Sunday various times -- $70-$85

Stage

The Trip to Bountiful
Friday-Sunday: Capital Rep's production of The Trip to Bountiful opens in previews this weekend. The show is the story of Carrie Watts, an aging widow who escapes from the home of her son and goes on a journey to revisit her childhood home. The show stars a number of talented Capital Region actors, including the amazing Barbara Howard, Kevin Craig West, Tony Pallone, and newcomer Joshua Powell. Friday 8 pm, Saturday 3 pm and 8 pm, Sunday 2 pm -- $20 and up

Calendar Girls
Friday-Sunday: Home Made Theater continues a 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 8 pm, Sunday 2 pm -- $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

Romeo and Juliet
Friday-Sunday: The Theater Institute at Sage presents Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Friday and Saturday 7:30 pm, Sunday 2 pm -- $15

Boris Godunov
Sunday: The Spectrum is screening a recording of a recent production of The Royal Opera's Boris Godunov, an opera based on the Pushkin play about Tsar Boris Godunov, who reigned over Russia between 1598 and 1605. Sunday 11am -- $15

Colm Tóibin and Brooklyn
The Colm Toibin event at UAlbany is next Friday (April 29), not this Friday as originally posted.

Music

Friday: Jennifer Nettles at Proctors
Country singer/songwriter. With Brandy Clark, Lindsay Eli, Tara Thompson. 8 pm -- $34.75 and up

Friday: Gospel Jubilee at Proctors
Headliner is Lisa Page Brooks. Fifth year for the annual show. 7 pm -- $20

Saturday: John Mellencamp at The Palace
Rock and Roll Hall of Famer. With: Carlene Carter. 7:30 pm -- $29.50

Saturday: Skidmore Earth Day Festival
Campo, The Ladles, Joy Again, EMEFE, Palm, The Sun Ra Arkestra, and Empress Of. There will also be games and food. music starts at noon, Skidmore College South Park Green -- free

Saturday: 2016 Albany Band Olympics at The Low Beat
Bands with members drawn at random, competing with each other fro a prize. 8 pm

Saturday: Yves Lambert Trio at Old Songs
"Yves Lambert figures among the most influential players in the roots Québécois revival." 7:30 pm -- $23 / $5 kids 12 and under

Sunday: Loudon Wainwright III at Caffe Lena
Folk star. 7 pm -- $55

Sunday: Sean Rowe at Helsinki Hudson
The Sea The Sea will open and back up Rowe. 8 pm -- $20 ahead / $25 day of

Sunday: The Loom at The Low Beat
Indie rock. With: Neighborhood of Make Believe. 7 pm

Sunday: The Dueling Brothers at Westminster Presbyterian Church Albany
Albany Pro Musica Artistic Director Jose Daniel on organ and his brother Marcos Daniel on the piano "will amuse the audience with a celebration of the long-standing rivalry between instrument aficionados (and siblings) ... Proctors CEO Philip Morris will be a mediator in this duel with a humorous narration while the exquisite voices of Albany Pro Musica will add to the challenge accompanied and conducted by the contending brothers." 3 pm -- $35

Baby animals
Saturday-Sunday: Baby animal days at Hancock Shaker Village continue 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

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

Imaging the American West
(The New York State Museum will be closed this 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 recently opened exhibits: Sarah Crowner: Beetle in the Leaves and The Space Between.

Arkell
The Arkell Museum has with two recently-opened 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.

Albany SoilSHOP
Saturday: The Radix Ecological Sustainability Center in Albany hosts a SoilSHOP day focused on gardening in urban soils. Demonstrations, tours, kids crafts, a zumba class and a free screening of soil for lead. Saturday 11 am to 3pm -- free admission

Drinks & DIY
Saturday: The Albany Barn is hosting a Drinks and DIY event. Sangria, spring snacks, and "Pinspired" crafts. Saturday 7 pm --$5 donation, enters you to win a raffle prize.

Sculpture parks
With the nice spring weather, maybe you'd like to explore some sculpture parks around the region.

Ice cream stand season
Seasonal ice cream stands around the Capital Region are open.

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

Albany Institute, Troy Music Hall, Capital Rep and MopCo advertise on AOA. AOA is a media sponsor of the Halfmoon Market.

photo: Douglas C. Liebig