Set aside your beer snob drinking pants and mark your calendar, this years New England Real Ale Exhibition is set for May 2-5.
What is Real Ale?
From Wikipedia: defined as "beer brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous carbon dioxide".
From NERAX: Flavor is what Real Ale is all about. Cask lovers enjoy the broader range of flavors that result from the live, natural ale served at cellar temperature. There is less gassiness, less head on the beer, more beer in a glass! Some devotees want to drink nothing else. Whether or not you are that enthusiastic, NERAX is a chance to sample some of the best from the UK and USA.
May 2-5, 2007 George Dilboy Post 371 Summer Street Davis Square, Somerville
I heart the Burren. I truly heart the Back Room. Dancing to mostly 80's rock is freakin' awesome!! Here is the downside to the Burren. You have a few beers, you are having the time of your life dancing and singing along to Jesse's Girl when the lights go on. You look at your watch and it is 12:45. You feel like you just got started! But the big guys in black T-Shirts are yelling for you to get out . I have been with a few different groups of friends and that never goes over well.
Well-they have finally come through for their loyal fans.
Last year when owner Tommy McCarthy appeared before the licensing commission for approval to stay open until 2am he was told he needed to get community support. Oh and he did! He showed up this year with a petition signed by 1.877 community members. 1,228 being from the 02114 zip code.
The commission approved McCarthy’s request to extend The Burren’s closing time until 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights – the bar’s current closing time is 1 a.m. on the weekends – with a few provisions. John McKenna and Andrew Upton, the licensing commissioners, asked that a limited menu be served until midnight and that McCarthy submit a plan for dealing with post-closing crowds and meet with the Davis Square Task Force every eight weeks. The later closing time will be up for review in six months.
A few meetings here and there, I am OK with that-as long as I can bust out the lyrics of "Don't Stop Believin" without being cut off and kicked out.
Brattle Theatre present a free screening of the documentary THIN.
The Harris Center For Eating Disorders brings photographer Lauren Greenfield to the Brattle for a free screening of her award-winning documentary, THIN. In her directorial debut, Greenfield tells the stories of four women at the Renfrew Clinic in Florida, an inpatient facility that specializes in the treatment of eating disorders.
Q&A with Lauren Greenfield and Harris Center Director, Dr. David Herzog, will follow the screening.
Tues. 2/27 Brattle Theatre 40 Brattle St. Cambridge MA.
It's tax season and we are all thinking of way to save a few bucks. Good to know for next year.
TAX CREDIT FOR CAR SHARING Rep. Carl Sciortino (D-Medford) proposed legislation providing up to a $150 annual tax credit to drivers who pay money for car rentals to car sharing companies like Zipcar.
Sagra is open in Davis, brining a taste of the North End to Somerville. The Daily Candy reviewed:
What’s on the menu? Red-wine flavored pasta matched with a bold meat sauce, salads, soups. Oh, and antipasti like green olives stuffed with meat and spices and crocchette al latte (light-as-latte egg and cheese fritters topped with grated caciocavallo cheese). A bounty of pizzas and tasty entrees rounds out the list.
Sagra blends that Somerville edge with true North End flavor.
Which is to say, it’s the perfect solution.
Sagra 400 Highland Avenue Davis Square, Somerville
Seriously, how often do you see anything like that! Planned Parenthood in Davis Square is celebrating their one year anniversary. To celebrate they are giving anyone that walks into their center between 2/22 and 3/1 a free annual hormonal birth control.
Located at 260 Elm Street in the heart of Davis Square, Planned Parenthood provides area residents with access to birth control and emergency contraception. It also offers pregnancy testing, with results in less than thirty minutes, and testing and treatment for sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
“We dispensed 4,500 packs of birth control pills and 900 packs of emergency contraception. We’ve also developed a great relationship with the community, including the Somerville Arts Council and local artists, whose work we showcase in our waiting room,” said Melanie Lown, center manager.
You don't need an appointment or to even buy anything! Anyone who walks in during office hours can enter the raffle.
The Harbus (student weekly for Harvard Business School) posted a review of Mugueca Restaurant in Inman Square. Since I'm looking to hotten up my bod, maybe I should try it out.
Brazilians are world-renowned for their beautiful bodies. One of the secrets to obtaining the god-like Brazilian body can be uncovered by observing their diet. Brazilians hold a love for healthy cuisine, which plays an enormous role in any holistic health and fitness plan. To experience healthy Brazilian food at its finest, visit Muqueca Restaurant in the charming neighborhood of Inman Square.
Muqueca Restaurant 1093 Cambridge Street 617-354-3296
If your knowledge of Mardi Gras only goes as far as boobs, beads, and booze then here are some facts for you:
Mardi Gras is french for Fat Tuesday
Fat Tuesday is the day before Ash Wednesday and the first day of Carnival
Blaine Kern's Mardi Gras World is the warehouse where floats are created for the majority of the Mardi Gras parades.
If you are in the spirit, gather your beads and head to Redbones for a Crawfish Boil tonight.
The ultimate Louisiana boil of crawfish, potato, and corn served according to tradition - spilled out on newspaper covered tables - will take you to New Orleans on Mardi Gras. Appetizers and New Orleans beers complete the meal. $40 per person.For reservations call 617.628.2200.
Redbones 55 Chester Street Davis Square, Somerville
Personally I am more of a fan of big ball bowling, but if you happen to be into little balls, aka candlepin bowling, Sacco's Bowl Haven in Davis has a coupon for free shoe rentals.
Kids softball teams are being formed. Kindergarten through fifth graders-whether it is to get out some energy, make some new friends, or stick with a hobby they love. Here's the downside. They need gloves. If you have any spare gloves floating around your house please email: bgibson@cpsd.us
I've seen the coming soon sign up in the window for a few weeks, but now its official, Boloco is open in Davis on Elm st as of 2.16. The really great news is that on this thursday, 2.22, it's free burrito day. From 11am - 7pm just stop by and get a free burrioto.
Brattle Theatre is hosting it's Twelfth Annual Bugs Bunny Film Festival. Who didn't enjoy that "wascally wabbit" at some point in their lives!?!
As usual, our featured attraction is a program of films featuring everyone’s favorite rabbit. One reason Bugs is so admirable is his ability to be master of any situation – from bullring, to outer space, to the French Foreign Legion, Bugs is almost always able to swing the setting to his favor. With antagonists like Yosemite Sam, Marvin The Martian and, of course Elmer Fudd, he has to be!
2/16-2/22 5:30, 7:30, and 9:30. Brattle Theatre 40 Brattle St. Cambridge MA
Cage is at the Middle East this weekend. Dark, real, hip hop....
While there is a whole lot of information here, none of it is filler; everything detailed below was instrumental in making Cage who he is at this point, and the story below is one of the most insane, crazy, tortured and triumphant stories you could imagine. Cage’s life has gone from watching his father shoot heroin, to addiction and violence and mental institutions to cutting an album for Columbia Records and being a rising star in the heyday of the NYC independent rap scene, to the final culmination and personal triumph that this album has become. It’s a brand new record from someone who has been through more extreme circumstances than most people could ever imagine, and has come out triumphant and a better person because of it, and whose artistic vision now reflects this.
Sat Feb. 17th $15 advance; $17 day of show Middle East Cambridge
Porter KFC / Taco Bell is all borded up. Closed forever, who knows. Cambridge Croncile questions whether this is a result of the Walden st bridge renovations. Seems unlikely to me, are they worried their foot traffic is down, they are still on that main road, whats it called again, oh yeah Mass Ave.
How did this Valentines day treat you? Did you buy the right gift and plan the perfect date? If the day didn't turn out as planned, whether you ended up spending it alone or on a not so hot date with your significant other, you might want to spend the weekend getting some remedial lessons. The Cambridge Center for Adult Education is sponsoring two sessions of Valentine's Weekend for Exploring Love, one for singles and one for couples.
We'll explore your goals, hopes, fears, experiences and beliefs about dating and relationships. And we'll look at attitudes and expectations about dating you may hold that have derailed many a relationship such as pedestalization, infatuation, rejection, and pessimism. Related discussions will focus on some of the relationship 'training' you have received together with understanding the presuppositions, negative attitudes and experiences that appear to validate relationship pessimism.
Valentine's Weekend for Exploring Love - Singles Saturday, Feb. 17 11:30 am-5:30 pm. 56 Brattle St. $59
Valentine's Weekend of Exploring Love - for Married and Established Couples Sunday, Feb. 18 11:30 am-5:30 pm. 56 Brattle St. $59
I still haven't seen Borat, but from what I hear, even if you have you will want to again. This Saturday and Sunday MIT's screening of Borat is open to the public and only $3.
The other side of Valentine's Day. No one to give those flowers to- no worries, one of the most romantic spots in Cambridge is hosting a singles party.
A sit-in/stand-up cocktail party to mark a new "holiday" to be known at Saint Singles Day—a day that celebrates the freedoms of singularity and the ability to find mono-happiness without the tacky cards, flowers and chocolates. Paid entry to this event gets you one drink from our libation liberation menu and plenty of delicious nibbles. UpStairs will issue a special prize for the best original artistic rendering of Saint Single. Great Live Music, too!
Tuesday 2/13 9:30p-1:00a Upstairs On The Square 90 Winthrop St. Cambridge MA $13 for singles $14,000 for couples
If you happened to catch Girl Talk fever at Boston's Middle East show, you might have been tempted to hop on a Fung Wah bus and head straight to Brooklyn for Gregg Gillis' next gig at Studio B. And if you happened to compare the two shows, you might realize that Brooklyn can quickly turn into a savage concrete jungle where joyful dancing quickly becomes aggressive pushing, shoving and crowd surfing.
Studio B is a hot little venue tucked away in Greenpoint. Although signs indicated that Studio B has a maximum capacity of about 460 people, you got the feeling that at least 300 extra bodies had crammed themselves into the mix for Gillis' set. Opening acts Hearts of Darknesses and Parts and Labor both offered very enjoyable sets and definitely got points for not boring anyone.
But Gillis was, without exception, the main attraction. Right before he stepped on stage, I found myself standing on the stage steps with my best friend. We watched Gillis sound check through headphones before he got on the mic and announced he had to use the bathroom. After he ran through the crowd to relieve himself, he appeared back on stage wearing a sweat suit and white sweatband around his head like a fucked-up, endearing version of Jane Fonda. He warmed up the audience with "Once Again" and the words "Ass Jigg-jigg-jiggilin" reverberated through the crowd while he danced, jumped and threw confetti in the air on stage solo.
It didn't take long for the crowd to jump on stage with him, and my best friend and I soon found ourselves right in the dead center of the action, with Gillis sandwiched between us pounding on his laptop. From the stage, the arms flung up out of the crowd seemed like a massive pulsing monster created out of body parts. Girls crowd surfed, boys smashed their heads in the air, and security just tried to hold on for dear life while Gillis busted out his "Knife" remix with Grizzly Bear and Clipse blending into a sort of sonic heaven. "Bounce That", "Smash Your Head" and Depeche Mode mixed with Tag Team set the backdrop for even more turbulence than the Boston show.
As more and more bodies packed onto the stage, it became a barbarian battle to dance; chicks began elbowing me to jockey for a better position next to the laptop while seven or eight photographers snapped photos of the chaos. At one point, I turned to the girl next to me who kept elbowing me in the ribs and demanded to know if she really wanted to fight me during Girl Talk. She declined and then left.
Eventually, the chaos on the stage almost pushed Gillis' laptop and table into the crowd, causing security to clear the area. As a big man escorted me to the stage steps, I saw that the crowd on the floor was no better; bodies were packed up against bodies, people were sweating like they were at an Aerobics class, and there was basically no room to even breathe. Every surface in Studio B was covered in steam; the Ladies' bathroom was so full of steam that you couldn't see anything in the mirrors. Girls slumped against the walls and panted, or dunked their faces in the sink to cool down. Gillis tried to mellow things out by asking the crowd to "Move as one" and cool things off.
But the atmosphere was relentless; Studio B might as well have been a steam room. It seemed as if the audience would have gladly ripped Gillis apart out of joy, if only to take home a souvenir finger or piece of clothing to prove they had been there. And that might have been the only real problem with this show; compared to the jovial dancing of Boston, Brooklyn was like a savage posturing contest; there wasn't enough room for everyone to fit into the frame of every picture, and basically chaos ensued.
This doesn't say anything about Gillis, however. How he managed to keep playing while a demented crowd of dancers pushed and pulled at him is beyond me. I have to wonder how much longer audience-stage-dancing will live, because based on the insanity of Brooklyn, it might endanger the man's life.
But by the end of the night, we were happily danced-out as we tumbled out onto the sidewalk and saw the crowd in front of Studio B with steam rising up off of their skin. With exhaustion, we sat down on the curb to rest. And although the chaos was tiring, Brooklyn hipsters aside, it proved once again that Girl Talk is completely relentless and mostly pretty famous.
Valentine's Day is fast approaching. As commercialized as it is, I am still a fan of the day. It has something for everyone SINGLE-girls night out bashing ex's. COUPLE-finally a day that forces him/her to buy you something nice. I know i know, you shouldn't need a day to say that, but there are so many people out there that REALLY need that. Buying flowers or giving a special card is not something people think of on a random basis. And yes, we all deserve some of those every once in a while. I, personally, am a huge fan of celebrating a day later. Cheaper, less crowded and still special! No one ever love had to be on 2/14. Anywho-I just wanted to warn you, there will probably be quite a dew valentine's day ideas in the upcoming days. Now onto today's idea: Skate and Date.
Kendall Square Community skating will host a special “Date & Skate” event on Valentine’s Day. Tunes include romantic favorites from the past to chart topping songs of today, with special dedications encouraged. Warm up inside the skaters pavilion with some hot cocoa and free valentine cookie decorating.
One of my all time favorite movies, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, is playing this week at Coolidge Corner along with psychological follow up.
Just in time for Valentine's Day, Science on Screen presents this mind-bending romance from the minds of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and director Michel Gondry. Jim Carrey stars as Joel, a man struggling to come to terms with his painful breakup from Clementine (Kate Winslet). When Joel learns his ex has undergone an experimental procedure to erase all memories of their tumultuous relationship, he decides to the do same. But as the procedure starts to take effect, he discovers he's not quite ready to let go and starts hiding his memories of her away in places where they don't quite belong.
To help us get our brains around the subject of what exactly goes on with our own memories is Harvard Professor of Psychology Daniel L. Schacter, whose research focuses on the psychological and biological aspects of human memory and amnesia, as well as the effects of aging on memory. Prof. Schacter is the also author of three books and numerous papers, including THE SEVEN SINS OF MEMORY.
Celebrate science the right way at Redline on Febrary 12th in honor of Darwins birthday. Free addmission, apps, cake, and a room full of science geeks who will get your jokes.
The objective of Darwin Day Celebration is to encourage organizations and individuals to celebrate Science and Humanity every year, on, or near, February 12, Darwin's birthday. At this juncture in history, the world has become so small and interdependent that we need a Global Celebration to promote a common bond among all people. The Darwin Day Celebration was founded on the premise that science, like music, is an international language that speaks to all people in very similar ways. Charles Darwin is a worthy symbol on which to focus, in order to build a Global Celebration of Science and Humanity that is intended to promote solidarity among all people of the earth.
This friday Feb, 9th there will be a peace vigil on Cambridge Common in Harvard Square. It is not a political event so dont worry about long speaches and what not. And if the spirit moves you, Sat, Feb 10th there is a Mass Peace Action meeting in Belmont. Follow the links for more info.
Friday February 9th Cambridge Common Harvard Square, Cambridge 6 to 9 PM
If you are looking for a montage of tripy videos to spice up the otherwise lame film season, check out the E-flux Video Rental at Harvard’s Sert Gallery from February 8–April 13, 2007.
E-flux Video Rental (EVR) is an installation comprising a free library of over 600 works of video art selected by some of the international art world’s leading curators and critics.
The installation includes more than 600 videotapes on specially-constructed shelves, two VCR/monitor stations, and a membership desk and collection management system. A changing selection of works showcasing the depth and breadth of the collection will be showing on at least one of the monitors during all times the exhibition is open to the public.
One of the peices includes superimposed text over close ups of couples having sex. I just thought you would like to know.
February 8–April 13, 2007 Discussion and Reception - Thursday, February 8, 6 pm
If you don't know the three following words stop reading this post: Avid, firewire, bin. If you do and you want a change to get together with some other video editors there is a users meet up this Wednesday at the Asgard.
Welcome in 2007 as we celebrate the second-year anniversary of the Boston Avid Users Group! Our Winter social event is a great opportunity to mingle with fellow New England editors and digital artists. Complimentary hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar will be available throughout the evening. There won't be any presentations, just time to socialize with your peers and pick the brains of industry gurus.
Wednesday, February 7, 2007 7 pm - late
Asgard Irish Pub & Restaurant 350 Mass Ave Cambridge, MA
Now I know the Superbowl will not be as exciting as it would be if the Pats were there, but it is still the Superbowl! Here is something different. Your place is lame, and your favorite sports bar is just too crowded. You should check out Upstairs on the Square. They took a different approach and focused on the food part. They may not have a big screen, but they have a good size TV. As well as-arrive in a helmet and receive a free plate of "Hot Dates" (Medjool Dates stuffed with salted Marcona Almonds,wrapped in bacon and spiced with cinnamon butter) Other foods include: Fire Engine Chili, the hottest Grilled Cheese Dogs, Steak Frites and handmade Nachos.
We like to think of our Super Bowl Party as mellow, with the separate Zebra Room to retreat to if football talk gets too intense, and where football party food is taken to a new level.
Upstairs on the Square 91 Winthrop Street Cambridge, MA 02138 Phone: 617-864-1933
Scrapbooking, the fairly new craft that rushed through the world like wildfire. Girls (and I am sure some guys somewhere) of all ages picked up on it. Personally-I tried to put together a scrapbook recently, I hated it! I cannot cut a straight line for the life of me! Ribbon and I do not get along. It is not for me. But luckily I don't have to attend all the events i write about. I am open to other people attending this fantastic event!
Calling all scrapbookers and crafters! Gather your adhesive, fun photos and papers and meet us at Spark Craft Studio at 1pm on Saturday February 3rd. We will enjoy 3 hours of unrestricted access to all of Spark's tools and equipment, including the Sizzix die cut machine with shape and alphabet die cuts, rubber stamps, and more!
Please bring 7-10 photo's and your supplies. If you do not have any, they can be purchased in the Spark Retail Boutique. Not into scrapbooking, but really enjoy crafts? Just bring your supplies some beads or yarn, and join the fun! Also feel free to bring some clean, non-sticky snacks.
Saturday February 3rd. SPARK CRAFTS 50 Grove St. Somerville MA, 02143 Members: $8.00 studio fee* Non Members: $13 ($8 studio fee* + $5 lunch club fee)
Set aside your beer snob drinking pants and mark your calendar, this years New England Real Ale Exhibition is set for May 2-5.
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