Your Weekend Agenda

I had a lapse, and I apologize. Last week, there was no Agenda, and I'm sure you all sat on your hands and wasted a perfectly good weekend. But you had a World Series to watch, or at least I did, which screwed everything up. But we're back, bringing you the events that you simply must attend, and the places you simply must be, if you are any kind of cool at all. So abandon all critical thinking and do exactly as I say.

Thursday: I told you in my last posting that you need to see some PC Friars Hockey. Now you get a rare Thursday home game to see just what the hype is about. So get over to Schneider Arena on Huxley Ave. in Providence, pony up your $5 for a ticket, and see the Friars wipe the ice with the BU Terriers. To fully embrace the experience, I recommend wearing a bulky ski jacket and stuffing it with as many cans of Coors Light as it can hold. Not that I condone breaking campus rules on alcohol (ab)use, but I think that's a fight long since abandoned by the powers that be.

Friday: Support the Blackstone! If you haven't been yet, you're hurting America. Or at least Pawtucket, and the Rhody art scene in general. But Friday is a good day to go. You'll be able to check out opening night for the Celtics on the many televisions, while you check out SexCoffee and a few other bands. It's located on Main Street in Pawtucket, and the cover's likely $5.

Saturday: If you're going to bargain shop, you want to be at a bazaar. Just the name says, "I may have to fight someone to the death, but I will get a good deal on a secondhand rug." There are two you may want to check out in Providence on Saturday: first, go to the Armenian Bazaar and Food Festival at Saints Sahag & Mesrob Armenian Church on 70 Jefferston St. It starts at 11:00. If you're anti-Armenian (in which case you might want to leave the state, change your name, and take a vow of silence...) there's an apparently non-ethnic bazaar at the St. Bartholomew Church Hall on 297 Laurel Hill Avenue. It's from 9:00 all the way until 7:00, so you'll have plenty of time to get your baked goods and advent wreaths.

Perhaps you've had a stressful week. You might be thinking, "as long as I don't hear some experimental music, and can just relax, I'll be OK." Well, tough, because you're going to Firehouse 13 to see Black Forest/Black Sea and a host of other funky bands. BFBS is releasing a new album (literally...it's on vinyl only), and if the clips I heard on their site are any indication, it's some very evocative, odd, non-rhythmic music made with a cello and a guitar. (Think WaterFire music without the ambiance or smoke inhalation.) There are a bunch of other bands playing, based from as far away as Scotland and San Fran. (I'm intrigued by Charalambides.) So go, do something different.

Sunday: Listen, I don't get out to the periphery as much as I'd like anymore. (By that, I mean anything beyond Provtucket.) I used to go to places like Warren all the time, even if it was just to drive for the heck of it. But now I'm old, busy, and in possession of a house that requires me to rake and clean gutters. But I'm tempted to suck up the 25 minute drive to go to the 2nd Story Theater to see Gross Indecency. It's the story of Oscar Wilde's incredible life, and it's the final performance of the show. Tickets are $25 for all seats.