All Over Albany

Stuff to do this weekend

We're well into April and while we're wishing Mother Nature would catch-up, we're going to press on and have fun without her.

This weekend's list of stuff is below. As always, if you're up to something you don't see on our list, tell us about it in the comments so everyone can enjoy it.

And whatever you're up to, bring your scarf, and have a fantastic weekend.

1st Friday
Friday: Participating shops and galleries in Albany are open late for 1st Friday. Here are of the things happening:
+ 3Fish Coffee and Downtube Bicycle Works with Albany Center Gallery host a pop-up exhibition by local artist Dorothy Englander, plus a make your own puppet workshop with free materials.
+ The Albany Barn hosts Out of This World, a one-night-only pop-up visual exhibition & vendor fair.
+ The Albany Institute Of History & Art is open late (5-8 pm) free of charge with its Well-Dressed collection of 19th century fashion, Paintings of Addy exhibit, and a History on Tap program with surprises from the museums collection, followed by a meet-up at a local pub. (Registration for History on Tap is required and drink purchase is not included with event registration - $12.)
+ Eight to the Bar headlines the 1st Friday Swing Dance at the Albany Elks Club at 25 South Allen. Friday 7:30 pm -- $15 / $10 for students and seniors

Albany Craft Beer Festival
Saturday: Albany Craft Beer Week continues with events each night this week at venues around the area. The cap to the week is the Albany Craft Beer Festival at the Washington Ave Armory on Saturday, featuring more than 150 "limited-release, special and otherwise thought-provoking beers." Saturday two sessions 12-3 pm and 4-7 pm -- $65

Capital Region Grown-Up Egg Hunt
Sunday: The Capital Region Grown-Up Egg Hunt returns, this time in Scotia's Collins Park. Organizers stuff thousands of plastic eggs with some sort of prize -- candy, or a voucher for some item from a local business -- and then participants go find them. Proceeds benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. (Limit 300 participants. 21+) Sunday 3:30 pm -- $15 (cash only)

Comic cons

Empire State Comic Con
Friday-Sunday: The Albany Capital Center hosts the Empire State Comic Con, a three-day event featuring exhibitors, comic book creators, celebrity guests, cosplay and more. Friday 3 pm-9 pm, Saturday 10 am -7 pm, Sunday 10 am-5 pm -- various prices

Saratoga Comic Con
Saturday-Sunday: Panel discussions, celebrities artists, vendors, video games, artists and more at the Saratoga Comic Con at the Saratoga City Center. Saturday and Sunday, various times and prices

Heart & Soul in the Kitchen: An Evening With Jacques and Claudine Pepin
Friday: Master chef Jacques Pepin and Claudine Pepin bring their Heart & Soul in the Kitchen live cooking show to Proctors. Friday 8 pm -- $20 - $100

Lark Street Restaurant Week
Sunday: Lark Street Restaurant Week kicks off. Participating restaurants are offering meals for $20.18 or less. (Through April 14)

Stage

Blithe Spirit
Friday-Sunday: Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit opens in previews this weekend at Capital Repertory Theatre. Friday 8 pm, Saturday 3 pm and 8 pm, Sunday 2 pm -- $20 and up

Cady Huffman
Friday: Tony Award winner Cady Huffman (Ulla in The Producers) brings her one-woman cabaret show to the GE Theater at Proctors. Friday 7:30 pm - $40 and up

Arsenic and Old Lace
Friday-Sunday: Curtain Call Theater opens a new production of the classic comedy Arsenic and Old Lace. Friday and Saturday 8 pm, Sunday 3 pm -- $25

Chasing Charles
Friday-Saturday: Troy Civic Theater presents Jeremy Buchner's Chasing Charles at at the Arts Center for the Capital Region. It's a comedy/drama examining the life of Schenectady's Charles Elsen, a world class wig designer and makeup artist who died from AIDS complications in the early days of the epidemic. Friday 7:30 pm, Saturday 2 pm and 7:30 pm -- $20 / $18 students and seniors

Comedy

Rick Gutierrez
Friday-Sunday: The Albany Funny Bone hosts Rick Gutierrez (Fluffy's Food Adventures, I'm Not in a Band Mood, I'm Just a Parent). Friday-Sunday, various times and prices.

What Could Go Wrong?
Friday: MopCo hosts What Could Go Wrong? an evening of unplanned improvised hilarity without a net Friday 8 pm -- $10, $6 for students and seniors

Cuzin Maine
Saturday: Albany native Cuzin Maine will be at the Troy Music Hall to record a comedy special. Saturday 7 pm -- $34 and $39

Mike Gaffney
Friday-Saturday: The Comedy Works hosts comedian Mike Gaffney. Friday-Saturday, various times and prices

TheaterSports
Saturday: The Mop & Bucket Company presents the TheaterSports finals -- two teams compete against each other to create songs, stories and games based entirely on audience suggestions. Saturday 8 pm -- $15 / kids, students, seniors

Dirck Toll
Sunday: Mopco presents humorist Dirck Toll. "He single-handedly acts out another series of hilariously twisted stories that will take you to strange places with unusual people in bizarre situations." Sunday 7 pm -- $10 / $ 7 kids, students, and seniors

Music

Friday: John Primer at The Linda
Blues. With: Jimy Graham. 8 pm -- $22

Friday: Front Business / Hospital Corners / Chief at The Low Beat
Funk / dream pop / new band. Benefit for Mike McGrath. 8 pm

Friday: Driftwood at The Hollow
Americana. With: Bear Grass. 8 pm -- $12

Friday: Don White at Caffe Lena
"Storyteller-comedian-author-troubadour-folk singer-songwriter." 8 pm -- $20

Saturday: Wolf Alice at The Hollow SOLD OUT
Alt rock. 9 pm -- $18 ahead / $20 day of

Saturday: Bettye Lavette at Helsinki Hudson
Soul singer/songwriter. 9 pm -- $35 and up

Saturday: Daughtry at The Palace
Rock. With: Sinclair. 8 pm -- $34.75 and up

Saturday: Sixties Spectacular at Proctors
Headlined by Jay and the Americans. 7 pm -- $39.75 and up

Saturday: Heard at Caffe Lena
World jazz. Album release show. 8 pm -- $22

Saturday: Let's Be Great at The Low Beat
CEO Squad / Glenn Kelly / Zuni / Elevated. 8 pm

Sunday: Amy Helm at The Hollow
The first of a three-night residency on Sundays there. 7 pm -- $16

Sunday: Joan Shelley at Caffe Lena
Singer/songwriter. 7 pm -- $22

Patroons basketball
Friday: The Albany Patroons take on the Kentucky Thoroughbreds at the Washington Ave Armory. Friday 7 pm -- $10 and up

Albany Bombers Intrasquad Hockey Game
Saturday: The Albany County Hockey Facility hosts the Albany Bombers Intrasquad Hockey game. The game is a fundraiser for the Capital Region Chapter of GLSEN. There's a public skate from 3-4 pm. Then the puck drops for the game at 4:30 pm. $10 / $5 for students / free admission for children under 12.

Lifestyle Farming Conference
Saturday: The Lifestyle Farming Conference is back at SUNY Cobleskill. "This day-long event highlights spring season topics in farming and homesteading: from garden preparation and berry growing to mushroom cultivation." That link includes the class list and registration info. Saturday 8 am-5 pm -- various prices

Arts and sciences

Illustration Workshop with Dahl Taylor
Friday: The Albany Institute has a hands-on illustration workshop for kids with artist Dahl Taylor, the illustrator of the American Girl Addy stories. Friday 12:30 pm -- $12

Incarceration Nation
Friday: The NYS Writers Institute is screening the Bill Moyers documentary Incarceration Nation, followed by a discussion with with former inmate, author and prison reform activist Susan Burton. Friday 7 pm at Page Hall on the UAlbany downtown campus -- free admission

Comic Jam
Saturday: Ira Marcks hosts another Comic Jam at the Troy Public Library. "A bunch of artists of all ages and skills get together and draw comics! It's about using your imagination with other creative people. Watch the collaborative process." Saturday 1 pm - 4 pm -- free admission (registration required)

Elizabeth Zunon and Martha and the Slave Catchers
Saturday: Author/illustrator Liz Zunon will be at The Book House at Stuyvesant Plaza to discuss her illustration work for the book Martha and the Slave Catchers. Saturday 3 pm -4:30 pm -- free

Sleep-A-Thon
The Homeless Action Committee hosts its 25th annual sleep-a-thon in Albany's Townsend Park. Community members and elected officials will spend at least an hour in the park in an effort to raise awareness of and funds to support homeless shelters and outreach programs. Friday 5-11:45 pm

Museums/galleries

Hudson Mohawk Regional Invitational
Friday is the last day for The Hudson Mohawk Regional Invitational at Albany Center Gallery.

University Art Museum
The is the last weekend for two exhibits at the University Art Museum at UAlbany:
+ This Place is a photography exhibit that "explores the rifts and paradoxes of the highly contested spaces of Israel and the West Bank."
+ Hank Willis Thomas: Black Righteous Space is a "sound reactive video installation exploring issues of identity, race, and popular culture."

40th Annual Photo Regional
The 40th Annual Photo Regional is open at the Opalka Gallery on the Sage Albany campus.

State Museum
The State Museum continues Votes for Women, about the women's suffrage movement. And the first phase of its new Enterprising Waters: New York's Erie Canal exhibit is open.

Butterflies
MiSci's butterfly exhibit is back. "Watch butterflies at every stage of life - from egg to the chrysalis chamber to adulthood."

The Tang
The Tang Museum has Along the Border, an exhibit featuring instruments made from discarded objects found along the 2000-mile national divide between Mexico and the United States. "These works made from discarded cans, animal bones, shoes, bicycle wheels, leather, children's toys, and more, reveal the human impact of the evolving economic, social, and political relationships between the two nations over the past several years." On view through April 22

Albany Institute
Well-Dressed, an exhibit of high fashion from the 19th century, continues at the Albany Institute of History and Art. It also recently opened Along the Eastern Road: Hiroshige's Fifty-Three Stations of the Tokaido.

The Clark
The Clark now has Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection. (On display through April 22.)

MASS MoCA
There are a bunch of exhibits on display that make use of its huge gallery expansion.

Wheels at Work
The Saratoga Auto Museum hosts a Wheels at Work exhibit featuring tractors, tow trucks, taxi cabs and other vehicles that went to work.

Mapping Schenectady
The Schenectady County Historical Society opens a new exhibit this weekend called Mapping Schenectady, with prominent and interesting maps. On Saturday at 2 pm, Cal Welch will lead a discussion about the maps.

The Art of Childhood
The Rensselaer County Historical Society hosts The Art of Childhood, an exhibit of selected images of children from babies and toddlers to teenagers on the edge of adulthood selected from their collection. (Through August 21)

Farmers' markets
+ The Troy Waterfront Farmers Market is indoors at the atrium. Saturday 9 am-2 pm
+ The Saratoga Farmers' Market is indoors at the Lincoln Bathhouse Saturday 9 am-1 pm
+ The Schenectady Greenmarket is indoors at Proctors. Sunday 10 am-2 pm
+ The Spa City Farmers' Market is inside the Lincoln Baths. Sunday 10 am-2 pm.

Troy Makers Market
Saturday: Local craft vendors will display and sell wares at the Troy Makers Market in conjunction with the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market. Saturday 9 am to noon

The Albany Institute, Mop & Bucket Company, and SUNY Cobleskill advertise on AOA.

photo via Albany Craft Beer Festival Facebook