Geekend Picks: First Friday, Movie Screenings, & Concerts

The geekend is back! I hope that you are well rested after your holiday break. I spent it mostly playing video and table top games, as well as messing up my sleep schedule as much as possible. That is certainly going to hurt as soon as I get back to work!

What’s going on this weekend? I’m glad you asked! The first thing I want to mention is what’s going on at the National Constitution Center. Until April 18, they’ve got an exhibit called American Spirits: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition.

This is the “first comprehensive exhibition about America’s most colorful and complex constitutional hiccup” and features that “era of flappers and suffragists, bootleggers and temperance workers, and real-life legends like Al Capone and Carry Nation.”

Sound awesome? Well it gets even better starting on the fourth of January, when the Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction opens as well, and will feature “cocktail and distilling workshops throughout the run of the exhibition.” The exhibit itself is $17.50 (which includes regular museum admission) or it’s free if you go on a Sunday. The art part of it, which runs until February 25th, is always free. Hours Friday are 9:30-5, Saturday are 9:30-6, and Sunday are 12-5.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 4

If you find yourself looking for something to do during the day on Friday, you can go see Bap Kennedy at the Free at Noon at World Cafe Live.

And then at night, you can wander Old City happily, because this Friday is First Friday! Which means you can walk around the town and get your culture on by visiting all the lovely art galleries while getting your nom on. As part of the festivities, the Arden Theatre will be hosting Olde City Sideshow. It’s touted as “an immersion performance that encompasses the ‘Old City’ stylings of Vaudeville, Burlesque and the Historical Sideshow acts mixed with Philadelphia’s counter-culture influences.”

Had a stressful holiday? You can check out the Yoga Garden, which has a complimentary yoga class every Friday at 6pm. Or you can bust out your Magic deck and join the Standard and Modern Constructed tournaments at Redcap’s Corner. Work out some tension by taking down other Magic players! Entrance into the tournaments is $5, and round one begins at 6:30.

By far one of the coolest things going on Friday night is at the Colonial Theatre. They’ll be showing the Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino double feature, Grindhouse. If you missed this one in theaters, you won’t want to pass this up. It starts at 9:45 and costs $8.

SATURDAY, JANUARY 5

There are two cute movies playing early in the day. You can check out Secret of Nimh at the County Theater as part of their Saturday Family Matinee. It’s $4 and starts at 10:30am. Don’t forget, they encourage you and your kids to dress up! There’s also Ella Enchanted showing at the Colonial Theatre for $8 at 2pm (costumes not encouraged). Or you can just take your kids straight from the County Theater to the Eastwick Branch of the Free Library for Lego Club at 2pm! It’s for tweens and teens but I’m going to make it there someday.

The International House is running a special program called L.A. Rebellion: Creating a New Black Cinema. At 2pm, they’re showing Daughter of the Dust and a short film called Diary of an African Nun. At 5pm, the film is Emma Mae, and the short is A Day in the Life of Willie Faust, or Death on the Installment Plan. At 8pm, My Brother’s Wedding will be playing, along with short film A Little Off Mark. The 8pm showing will be introduced by Dr. Franklin Cason, Jr., a professor at Temple whose “research explores cinematic excess, using an improvisational approach to film analysis to reconsider the role of aesthetics in African-American cinema.” Tickets for each show are $9.

There’s some good musical events happening on Saturday night! You can go see Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right B A Start with A Great Big Pile of Leaves and Hop Along at the Union Transfer. Doors open at 8, show starts at 8:30, and a ticket will cost you just 15 clams. Or, if you’d rather do some dancing, you can go to the Rotunda at 8pm instead for Swing Dance! Snow flake Hop! with Perseverance Jazz Band and DJ Breanna Perry. For just $5, you can get a dance lesson at 8pm, following by dancing and live music from 9 to midnight.

SUNDAY, JANUARY 6

Looking for something a little less intense? You can take a tour of the Colonial Theatre at 12:30, then stick around for some movies. At 2pm, they’re showing To Have and Have Not, and at 4:30, they’re showing The Invisible War. Each movie costs $8. There’s also the collaborative installation at the Free Library of Philadelphia which ends this weekend. It’s called Street Cafe, and it’s with Candy Depew/CandyCoated and Leroy Johnson. It’s on the first floor of the library.

Finally, there’s Animus: Philadelphia’s Belly Dance Spectacular at the World Cafe Live. I don’t know what else to say about this except it sounds like it’s going to be fun and sexy! It starts at 7:30 and costs $12. The total opposite of that is the free screening of the Downton Abbey season 3 premiere at the WHYY building from 9-11. There’s no bellies showing (well, no guarantee, anyway), and sadly, it’s already sold out – even the VIP reception! You can still check out the ticket page if you want to try to see if any spaces opened up.

That’s all for the geekend! Hopefully I’ll catch you one of these days at the National Constitution Center. I really want to learn more about prohibition! Perhaps while sipping a fancy drink.