A week of events in Cambridge and Somerville, from Mount Auburn tour to campfire. Festival
Sunday, Aug. 28
Cambridge Youth Steel Orchestra, Tempo International and Dis N Dat Band from 1 to 3 p.m. at Starlight Square, 84 Bishop Allen Drive, Central Square. Young Cambridge musicians perform. Information is here.
A female monarch stops on a Somerville flower in September, most likely while migrating south to central Mexico. (Photo: Jeanine Farley)
Monarch butterfly release celebration from 2 to 3:30 p.m., at the Water Department facility at 250 Fresh Pond Parkway, in West Cambridge at Fresh Pond. The city’s Fresh Pond Monarch Watch program has been raising monarch butterflies to help stem the species’ worldwide decline. This event wishes them luck on their migration to Mexico – first with storyteller Yumi Izuyama telling “A Monarch Finds her Home in Cambridge” in the traditional Japanese storytelling style called kamishibai, then with a walk to Kingsley Park for the 2:45 p.m. release. Information is here. (Jeanine Farley wrote about the local monarchs Aug. 7.)
Donut Villa Diner day party from 2 to 8 p.m. at 20 Prospect St., Central Square. Tickets are $15, but entry is free before 3 p.m. The diner – which specializes in doughnuts and food served on them – hosts a weekly party with music from DJ Huski, Dj FranQ and guest DJs. Information is here.
Hip-Hop at The Jungle 2 from 5 to 7 p.m. at The Jungle, 6 Sanborn Court, Union Square, Somerville. Admission is free at this 21-plus show. The “Write Mind Wednesdays” podcast presents performances by J Faith, Mo’ Flow, Nim K, Freddrick HalleluYAH, L0ne, RedXLion and Timmy 2X. Information is here.
Tuesday, Aug. 30
Karen McManus reads from “Nothing More to Tell” in conversation with Hank Phillippi Ryan at 7 p.m. at Porter Square Books, 25 White St., Porter Square. Free, with RSVPs strongly recommended. A young-adult mystery in which an intern at a true-crime show goes back to her former private school to solve a cold case: the killing of a teacher whose body was found in the woods by three students. The book is “an edge-of-your-seat page-turner,” Kirkus says. You may recognize McManus’ name – her “One of Us Is Lying” was adapted for television, and Peacock has ordered a second season – and that of her interviewer for the night: fellow thriller author Ryan. Masks are required. Information is here.
Wednesday, Aug. 31
Skip the Small Talk from 7 to 9 p.m. at Lamplighter Brewing, 284 Broadway, The Port. Free; a 21-plus event. A chance to forget the dumb small talk that comes from meeting new people and – thanks to provided cards with “big talk” conversational questions – get right to the kinds of conversations you have late at night where for some reason, you feel safe talking about the things you actually care about. Information is here.
Thursday, Sept. 1
Improv comedy jam from 6 to 7 p.m. at ImprovBoston, 620 Massachusetts Ave., Central Square. Admission is a suggested pay-what-you-can donation. The school may have given up its nearby theater during the pandemic, but not its mission. This weekly night of comedy invites students, performers and friends of any skill level (including none) to get onstage (or just watch). Information is here.
Dr. Jay Baruch.
Dr. Jay Baruch reads from “Tornado of Life: A Doctor’s Tales of Constraints and Creativity in the ER” at 7 p.m. at at Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave., Harvard Square. Free. Essays from a professor of emergency medicine at Brown University’s Alpert Medical School. The book “reveals the whirlwind of emotions gusting through emergency rooms,” said Randi Hutter Epstein, writer in residence at the Yale School of Medicine. Well-fitting masks are required. Information is here.
“Bad Jews” comedy play from 7 to 9 p.m. at The Rockwell, 255 Elm St., Davis Square, Somerville (and continuing through Saturday before returning Sept. 8-10). Three cousins of varying levels of religious faith fight after their grandfather’s funeral in a play by Joshua Harmon that premiered off-Broadway in 2013. Masks are required. Information is here.
Friday, Sept. 2
Andrew Sue Wing performs Friday at Club Passim’s campfire. Festival. (Photo: Andrew Sue Wing via Instagram)
Labor Day campfire. Festival from 6 to 10 p.m. at Club Passim, 47 Palmer St., Harvard Square (and continuing through Monday). Tickets by the day are $10; a weekend pass is $25. Passim’s quirkily named, twice-a-year, four-day homegrown festival of Americana, bluegrass, blues, Celtic, country, folk and related musical styles stays hybrid in its 23rd year, with more than 50 artists performing live and remotely throughout the weekend. The lineup is loaded with familiar acts such as Sol y Canto and Dinty Child and rising stars such as Gabriella Simpkins. Information is here.
Amanda Foody and Christine Lynn Herman read from “All of Our Demise” at 7 p.m. at Porter Square Books, 25 White St., Porter Square. Free, with RSVPs strongly recommended. Masks are required. The conclusion to the story begun in New York Times bestseller “All of Us Villains” (about the revealing of secrets from competitors in a Hunger Games-style event) means that “long-held alliances will be severed. Hearts will break. Lives will end. Because a tale as wicked as this one was never destined for happily ever after.” Talking with Foody and Herman will be Janella Angeles, author of “Where Dreams Descend,” and Mara Fitzgerald, author of “Beyond the Ruby Veil.” Information is here.
“Bad Jews” comedy play (continued) from 7 to 9 p.m. at The Rockwell, 255 Elm St., Davis Square, Somerville (and continuing through Saturday before returning Sept. 8-10). Masks are required. Information is here.
Saturday, Sept. 3
Statuary at Mount Auburn Cemetery remarks on the preservation of the union after the Civil War. (Photo: Marc Levy)
Discover Mount Auburn walking tour from 1 to 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Mount Auburn Cemetery, 580 Mount Auburn St., West Cambridge. Tickets are $10. Mount Auburn is a National Historic Landmark and certainly one of the most famous cemeteries in the country, the final resting place of nearly 100,000 people – including famous ones such as poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter and cookbook author Fannie Farmer – 700 species and varieties of trees, beautiful sculpture and landscaping and gloriously gloomy tombs and mausoleums. This 1.5-mile walking tour focuses on history, monuments and the lives of the buried. Information is here.
“Sketching as Meditation” art exhibit from 2 to 4 p.m. in the auditorium of the Somerville Public Library, 79 Highland Ave., in the Winter Hill neighborhood. Free. Mixed-media artist Megumi shows works in the Etegami style of “painting with a message,” in this case made using disposable wood chopsticks and ink. “After I moved from Japan to Massachusetts, there were so many feelings about me, my family and neighborhood that I struggled to express in English. So I turned to the Etegami style, using Sumi ink, to draw and record how I felt and what I saw,” Megumi said. Information is here.
Labor Day campfire. Festival (continued) from 2 to 11 p.m. at Club Passim, 47 Palmer St., Harvard Square (and continuing through Monday). Tickets by the day are $10; a weekend pass is $25. Information is here.
“Bad Jews” comedy play (continued) from 7 to 9 p.m. at The Rockwell, 255 Elm St., Davis Square, Somerville (and continuing through Saturday before returning Sept. 8-10). Masks are required. Information is here.
Ballpit Comedy from 9:30 to 11 p.m. at The Rockwell, 255 Elm St., Davis Square, Somerville. Tickets are $15. A night of stand-up dedicated to showcasing and uplifting comedians who are typically the “first, only or different” on lineups – often female, queer and people of color – providing jokes that can stand out for their originality and be provocative in exciting new ways. Masks are required. Information is here.
Sunday, Sept. 4
Rock and Roll Yard Sale from noon to 6 p.m. in Union Square Plaza, Somerville. Free. Dealers converge to sell vinyl, CDs, cassettes and eight-tracks as well as audio gear, music magazines, silk-screened posters and other rock-related stuff. Vintage clothing peddlers and DIY crafters will be selling as well. Information is here.
Maybe Some Tambourine musical comedy showcase from 1 to 3 p.m. at Starlight Square, 84 Bishop Allen Drive, Central Square. Free. Cambridge is booming with musical comedy talent, organizers of this event say, and this is a chance to see some rising stars. The performers – seen in Ladylike Comedy, HBO’s Women In Comedy Festival, Best of Boston Sketch and more – will sing original funny songs, play music and make up songs based on audience suggestions. Information is here.
Labor Day campfire. Festival (continued) from 2 to 11 p.m. at Club Passim, 47 Palmer St., Harvard Square (and continuing through Monday). Tickets are $10. Information is here.
A scene from a performance of Bread & Puppet Theater’s touring “Our Domestic Resurrection Circus: Apocalypse Defiance.” (Photo: Bread & Puppet Theater via Facebook)
Bread & Puppet Theater’s “Our Domestic Resurrection Circus: Apocalypse Defiance” from 4 to 5 p.m. at Cambridge Common, near Harvard Square. Free. Vermont’s rabble-rousing troupe returns to wield cardboard and paper maché puppets painted in Peter Schumann’s exuberant, slapdash expressionist style with satirical, slapstick comedy, singing and a live band. After what’s also being called “The Apocalypse Defiance Circus” comes the sharing of famous sourdough rye bread with aioli and sale of “Cheap Art” – books, posters, postcards, pamphlets and banners from the Bread & Puppet Press. Information is here.
