Chinatown Main Street Festival — taking place Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on and around Hudson and Beach streets (MBTA: Orange Line to Chinatown) — will feature martial arts demos, folk dancing, food vendors, a lion parade, live bands and absolutely nothing Hello Kitty. Call 617-350-6303 or go to www.chinatownmainstreet.org for more info.
Published 22:15, July the 8th, 2009
T time
Chinatown Main Street Festival — taking place Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. on and around Hudson and Beach streets (MBTA: Orange Line to Chinatown) — will feature martial arts demos, folk dancing, food vendors, a lion parade, live bands and absolutely nothing Hello Kitty. Call 617-350-6303 or go to www.chinatownmainstreet.org for more info.
Entertainment
Bela Fleck presents ‘Throw Down Your Heart’
Tonight, 7 p.m.
Coolidge Corner Theatre
290 Harvard St., Brookline
MBTA: Green C Line to Coolidge Corner
$9, 617-734-2500
www.coolidge.org
Bela Fleck will appear in person to present the documentary film he made with his brother, Sascha Paladino, about tracing the roots of the banjo in its native Africa and recording an album with indigenous players in Uganda, Tanzania, the Gambia and Mali.
SketchCrawl
Saturday, noon-5 p.m.
Start at the Middle East
472 Mass. Ave., Cambridge
MBTA: Red Line to Central
Free, all ages (21+ to drink), 617-970-1933
www.illdave.com/sketchcrawl
Local artist David Marshall leads the pen-pencil-pastel-india-ink charge as the local edition of SketchCrawl, a worldwide drink-and-draw pub crawl, shoves off from the arts-friendly Middle East and makes its way down Mass. Ave. stopping at the Phoenix Landing, the Field, and Tavern in the Square.
Local
Cultural Survival Bazaar
Saturday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
Boston Common
Enter at Tremont Street, Boston
MBTA: Red or Green Line
to Park Street
Free, 617-441-5400
www.culturalsurvival.org
Bag the trip to IKEA and get fair-trade gifts and household goods made by indigenous folks from Uganda and Afghanistan. There will be music and food, too.
Bastille Day
Celebration
Sunday, 3-10 p.m.
Harvard Square
Holyoke Street, Cambridge
MBTA: Red Line to Harvard
Free, 617-491-3434
www.harvardsquare.com
Harvard Square flies its blue, white and red flag de freak with a block party that features a traditional French waiters race, family-friendly events, DJ dance party and le food by Sandrine’s, Chez Henri and Rialto.
Music
Jet
Friday, 9 p.m.
The Paradise
967 Comm. Ave., Boston
MBTA: Green B Line to
Pleasant St.
$22.50-$25, 18+, 617-562-8800
www.thedise.com
Aussie rockers Jet perform an intimate show at the Paradise in advance of their August release, “Shaka Rock.” The lead singles, “She’s a Genius” and “Rip It Up,” reveal a continued penchant for reference riffs and rock-world lyrical vantage. Paper Tongues and True Lovers start the night.
Tito Puente Music Series
Tonight, 7 p.m.
Mozart Park
Corner of Mozart and Centre streets, Jamaica Plain
MBTA: Orange Line to Back Bay
Free, 617-927-1707
www.villavictoriaarts.org
Orquesta Bacharengue kicks off the Villa Victoria Center for the Arts’ ode to mambo man Tito Puente. Javier Arroyo and the Salsa Night Band, Obbini Tumbao and Víctor Mendoza follow the next three Thursdays at O’Day Park in the South End.
The Luxury CD Release
Saturday, 9 p.m.
The Paradise
967 Comm. Ave., Boston
MBTA: Green B Line to
Pleasant St.
$12-$15, 18+, 617-562-8800
www.thedise.com
This year’s Rumble winners, the Luxury, touch down with a new disc, “In the Wake of What Won’t Change,” a sophomore follow-up that shines like the back side of the sun. Darkly tinged throttlers like “Getaway Car,” the horned-up hook-laden “Straitjacket” and the psych-swirl of “Nothing Comes to Mind” show the Boston band sticking with their proven songwriting formula. Power-pop boys the Click Five, the Brit-bent outfit MidAtlantic and rockers Aloud start the night.
Culture
JFK Library Free Friday
Friday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
JFK Presidential Library and Museum
Columbia Point, Boston
MBTA: Red Line to JFK/UMass
Free, 866-JFK-1960
www.jfklibrary.org
The Highland Street Foundation gives the gift that lasts all summer — comped entry to 10 museums over the season’s remaining Fridays. This week, the JFK Library —highlighting its latest exhibit, “Moon Shot: JFK and Space Exploration” — takes its pro bono turn. Peabody Essex Museum and Plimoth Plantation, among others, share in the free fun over the next two months; go to www.highlandstreet.org for info.
‘The Complete Works of Shakespeare (Abridged)’
Through Aug. 9
Thursday, Friday and Sunday, 6:45 p.m.; Saturday, 3 and 6:45 p.m.
Christian Herter Park
1175A Soldiers Field Road, Brighton
$15 (free on Thursdays)
617-747-4460
www.theatermania.com
www.orfeogroup.org
Starting tonight, the Orfeo Group turns the Christian Herter Park stretch of the Charles into Stratford-Upon-Avon with its laugh-filled attempt to stuff the Bard’s 36 offerings, from “All’s Well That Ends Well” to “Winter’s Tale,” into two hours. Oh, yeah, and there are only three dudes (one very bearded) billed for parts.
Boston French Film Festival
Through July 26
Museum of Fine Arts
465 Huntington Ave., Boston
MBTA: Green E Line
to Museum
$6-$20, 617-267-9300
www.mfa.org
Remi Bezançon’s family drama “The First Day of the Rest of Your Life” launches the Boston French Film Festival tonight, with a top-drawer run that screens “Spy(ies),” “The Frontier Dawn” and “The Beautiful Person” over the next few weeks.