Take heart, my penny-wringing compatriots! With June we truly embark into the season of free and hot-damnedly cheap. Flicks and concerts on the Esplanade or Wharf might not be starting up quite yet, but there are plenty of events on tap this week to keep your wallet green, your nights full and your hands from being the devil’s workshop.
Tuesday, May 31
Kings Back Bay offers free bowling, shoe rental and pool every Tuesday after 9 PM (21+) with a college ID. Show up early to put your name in for a lane or a table (or come at 8 PM for Stump! Trivia, also no cover). Take the Green Line to Hynes Convention Center.
Wednesday, June 1
Improv Boston’s Comedy Lab brings experimental improv, sketch and stand-up to Central Square each Wednesday at 8 PM, and $5 gets students in to see the precipitate. Stick around for the 10 PM Naked Comedy Showcase ($8 for students, but try haggling if you paid for the Comedy Lab too), which is exactly what it sounds like — nude stand-up the first Wednesday of every month for the strong of stomach and legal of age (18+, and bring an ID — no fleshy laughs for the unidentified). Take the Red Line (or the 47 bus from South Campus or the BU Bridge) to Central Square, IB is at 40 Prospect Street. The 21+ crowd can prepare themselves properly at IB’s in-house bar.
Cantab Lounge in Central Square has cheap or cover-free entertainment almost every night, although most of it is 21+. Wednesday night Poetry Slams are a great exception: 18+ (bring ID) and only $3 cover. Check the schedule for featured poets (this week it’s the Chicago-bred Jamila Woods) and upcoming slams. Open mic starts at 8 PM, followed by the feature at 10 PM, wrapping up with the slam at 11 PM. Take Red Line (or the 47 bus from South Campus or the BU Bridge) to Central Square then walk toward Harvard to 738 Mass Ave.
Thursday, June 2
Flash Forward Festival showcases emerging photographers from the US, UK and Canada over four days of exhibitions, lectures and outdoor installations. The festival takes place noon to 6 PM at Fairmont Battery Wharf near the North End (take the Green Line to Government Center or Green/Orange Lines to Haymarket). All events are free and open to the public without registration. Mosey around the harborwalk and take in some free photography (and drop by Saturday afternoon for sangria on the wharf!).
Boston Phoenix/WFNX present their weekly Block Party at Downtown Crossing on Summer Street from 5 to 8 PM. Cheap beer and wine (alone worth stopping by — who doesn’t like drinking outside?), local DJs and samplings from local restaurants for the 21+ crowd. Take the Orange Lines or Red Lines to Downtown Crossing.
Friday, June 3
Friday kicks off Boston Pride Week 2011 “Equality: No More, No Less” with the raising of the rainbow flag over City Hall at noon. Boston Pride runs through June 12 and features music and dance performances, exhibits and awareness-raising activities across the Boston metro area.
SoWa Artists Guild First Fridays opens the workshops and art spaces of the SoWa community to the public from 5 to 9 PM. Roam through 15 different galleries and 50 studios of a range of Boston artists. The Guild is located at 450 Harrison Avenue — take the Silver Line to E. Berkeley.
MFA First Fridays combines the yuppie trifecta: live music, gallery art, and after-work drinks (21+, bring ID). This month the MFA features the experimental jazz vibes of the Gill Aharon Trio from 5:30 to 9:30 PM in Gallery 250. Take the Green E Line to the Museum of Fine Arts stop, or it’s a fantastic walk through the Fens to 465 Huntington Avenue.
This weekend is also the last chance to catch an exhibition of work by the late illustrator Edward Gorey (famous for The Gashlycrumb Tinies and other macabre children’s stories) at the semi-secret library at the Boston Athenaeum. Elegant Enigmas: The Art of Edward Gorey exhibits original and unpublished drawings and sketches by the “man in the yellow fur coat.” The Athenaeum (10 Beacon Street near the Common — take the Green or Red Lines to Park Street) is open weekdays 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM (9 AM to 4 PM Saturdays) for a suggested donation of $5 to see exhibits.
Flash Forward Festival (see description above)
Saturday, June 4
Coolidge Corner Arts Festival, 10 AM to 6 PM on the grounds of the Devotion School (345 Harvard Street), hosts a vast array of local painters, potters, clothiers and craftsfolk. The 4th Annual Brookline Food Festival to benefit the Brookline Food Pantry will be held right next door. Take the Green C Line to Coolidge Corner.
32nd Annual Cambridge River Festival is a Cambridge summer staple, attracting some 200,000 revelers last year. The festival kicks off with an 11 AM parade from Winthrop Park in Harvard Square to the Charles River with double brass band accompaniment. After the parade, take in music, theater, dance and performance art on six stages (with plenty of roaming performers between) and a food/wares bazaar until 6 PM. Take the Red Line or 66 bus to Harvard Square, then follow JFK Street toward the drum beats.
FIGMENT Boston invites the public to engage with art and its creators through participatory projects and please-touch (and write on, and climb on and dance with and smell) exhibits. Originating on New York’s Governor‘s Island in 2007 FIGMENT comes to Boston’s Rose Kennedy Greenway (Red Line to South Station) this Saturday and Sunday from 11 AM to 7 PM. Featured artists for the Boston installation include the Wandering Carnival, an array of mixed media and interactive carnival-inspired sculptures, and classically-trained violinist Shaw Pong Liu’s A Bird a Day. FIGMENT highly encourages costumery and dragging your own art/performance pieces out to the Greenway as well.
The Metropolitan Wind Symphony holds their 23rd annual Boston Festival of Bands at Faneuil Hall from 11 AM to 6 PM. Different concert bands, symphonies and ensembles from across New England will play each hour. Grab a frozen lemonade and a corndog and listen to some American standards on the house.
Courageous Sailing hosts its open house Saturday and Sunday with free sailing on the Harbor, barbecue, and introduction to membership courses. Take the Green or Orange Lines to North Station, then cross the Charlestown Bridge and head toward Pier 4 (more coherent and accurate directions here).
The Historic New England heritage society hosts its annual open house of historical properties and homes across New England from 1 to 5 PM. Docents and staff will be on hand at each house/farm museum to lead tours around the properties and explain how they went to the bathroom for the eleventy millionth time. The Historic New England sites are far-flung: Boston highlights include the Otis House near Beacon Hill (141 Cambridge Street), the polyonymous Cooper-Frost-Austin House near Porter Square (the oldest standing dwelling in Cambridge) and the Josiah Quincy House in Quincy. Admission to some of the Historic New England sites ordinarily cost upwards of 10 bucks even for students.
JazzBoston and SoWa host the Thayer Street Outdoor Concert Series the first Saturday of each month at 560 Harrison Avenue in South Boston. This weekend features improvising jazz ensemble Your Neighborhood Saxophone Quartet from 4 to 6 PM.
Flash Forward Festival at the Fairmont Battery Wharf (see above). Saturday from 4:30 to 7 PM is the Flash Forward Sangria Party. Nothing like sugar-wine near open water!
Elegant Enigmas: The Art of Edward Gorey (see above)
Sunday, June 5
Beacon Hill Art Walk opens private gardens, alleyways and courtyards from noon to 6 PM throughout Beacon Hill to the public for Boston artists to display and sell their work. 2011 participants include painters, illustrators, ceramic artists, photographers, sculptors and artists in a variety of other media. Local musicians serenade walkers as they explore the neighborhood. Take the Red Line to Charles/MGH.
Somerville and the Somerville Arts Council host Carnaval@SomerStreets 2011. Broadway will be closed between East Somerville and Temple Street from noon to 4 PM for this second annual event featuring two music stages, a farmers’ market, craft vendors, a community drum circle and dance competitions.
Figment Boston (see description above)
Flash Forward Festival (see description above)
