MUSIC
Jamaica Plain Porchfest Gathering Air: Works by Katherine Wildman and Henry Kunkel If/Then No Way to Treat a Lady
This group, hailing from Venice, California, performs a grab bag of the various old-timey American folk musical styles their name suggests — bluegrass, blues, gospel, New Orleans jazz — the good stuff, in other words. Founded by Zach Lupetin in 2007, the lineup has slowly grown into what they describe as a “mini-orchestra”. This tour features an eight piece ensemble.
July 7, 8 p.m.
David Friend Recital Hall, 921 Boylston St., Boston
$18-$22, bit.ly/211kJS9
Jamaica Plain is Boston’s general haven for artsy/bohemian/alterna-everything types, and the J.P Porchfest lineup reflects all these elements and more. From folk to indie rock to electronica, psychedelia, world music and hip-hop, J.P. seems set on raising the Porchfest bar high. Take that, Somerville!
July 9, noon to 6 p.m.
Various Locations, Jamaica Plain
Free, bit.ly/1HZPVIM
Piano Craft Gallery presents a pairing of artists united by “the absurd endeavor to touch the ethereal manifestation of the psyche.” Absurd, but deeply human — just like the first sentence of Kunkel’s artist statement: “There is no truth.” Philosophically, it’s a ridiculous thing to say, and yet it reflects an experience, which is perhaps the only task an artist has.
July 8-31
Piano Craft Gallery, 793 Tremont St., Boston
Free, bit.ly/29hdgyY
The local collective C.R.I.T. (an acronym for “Camera Records in Time”) is a diverse group of photographers. From apparent crime scenes (Laura Miner) to the temporally dislocated streets of Havana, Cuba (Kitty Ethridge) to the strangeness of an empty house (Michael Powers), they explore those dusty little corners of reality you’d almost forget about, at least if there wasn’t a camera record.
July 9 through July 31
Washington Street Gallery, 321D Washington St., Somerville
Free, bit.ly/29tHP48
Ah, the carnival — classic fun times, but always a little bit sketchy. The Lawn on D’s carnival might be the best of both worlds, with classic carnival food and games including a mirrored fun house, plus a squadron of fortune tellers, jugglers, stilt walkers, clowns and magicians. No, they won’t have any fabulously rickety carnival rides, but it ought to bring back some memories.
July 9, 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Lawn on D, 420 D. St., Boston
Free, bit.ly/29dQ3Ig
July 9, 7 p.m.
ImprovBoston, 40 Prospect St., Cambridge
$12, bit.ly/29L5skZ
The organizers claim it’s in the name of bike safety, protesting body shaming and resisting fossil fuels, and that’s all very noble and right, but we’re pretty sure they just want to bike naked—and that’s fine. If you want to join, you need to come clothed and leave clothed. The bikers gather at 8 and ride at 9.
July 9, 8 p.m.
North Point Park, 6 Museum Way, Cambridge
Free, bit.ly/29hxl2N
Most of us want to be free, but what should we do? There’s the rub. This new musical by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey (“Next to Normal”) imagines two possible paths in the life of a woman living in New York. In one life she favors romance; in the other she favors her career. But neither path leads to a simple life.
Through July 17
Boston Opera House, 539 Washington St., Boston
$40-$135, bit.ly/20XKbrV
Harvard-Radcliffe Summer Theater presents this comic crime musical set in 1970’s New York. Our hero is the detective Morris Brummel, who’s on a case that could make his career: a string of actress murders that he pins to a deranged Broadway actor with messed up attachment to his mother. But the murderer isn’t about to let the curtain go down.
July 8-16
Loeb Experimental Theater, 64 Brattle St., Cambridge
$8-$12, bit.ly/1r2ps3K
A healthy dose of Americana, a naked ride in the park and ‘The Oregon Fail’
Provided
The Dustbowl Revival
ART
C.R.I.T.: Beyond Here, There, and Now
FESTIVALS
Carnival on D
COMEDY
The Oregon Fail: You Have Died of Comedy
With their penchant for geek-oriented material, it was inevitable that ImprovBoston would create a show based on that classic elementary school RPG familiar to everyone who was a kid in the late 80’s and early 90’s. You, the audience, will guide the pioneers on stage through their hazardous, highly pixilated journey across the West.
SOCIAL
World Naked Bike Ride Boston
THEATER
