Editor’s Note: Welcome to V3 Weekend, Vanyaland‘s guide to help you sort out your weekend entertainment with curated selections and recommendations across our three pillars of Music, Comedy, and Film/TV. It’s what you should know about, where you need to be, and where you’ll be going, with us riding shotgun along the way.
Music: HarpoonFest in the Seaport
One of the surest signs the outdoor season is finally upon us is the return of HarpoonFest, Harpoon Brewery’s annual gathering in the Seaport that low-key doubles as one of the better local music fests the city has to offer. The beers are plentiful (Harpoon’s slate alongside beverages from UFO Beer, Clown Shoes Beer, and others) and the food fantastic (Stoked Pizza, Moyzilla Food Truck, and more), but it’s the live music that draws us to the water.
On Friday it’s Carissa Johnson, Dan Blakeslee, Justin Nash Fisher, ToriTori, Gatch, Comanchero, El Scorcho, and DJ J-Wall; and on Saturday, under what should feel like a wonderfully sweltering mid-summer day, there’s a high-class lineup of Latrell James, Lady Pills, Tim Hall, Lightfoot, Senseless Optimism (pictured), Samantha Farrell, Rolling Nectar, Muzzins, Lilah, Jill McCracken, Savoir Faire, and those pesky Howl At The Moon Dueling Pianos. Drink up, eat up, listen up.
HARPOONFEST :: Friday, May 20 and Saturday, May 21 at Harpoon Brewery, 306 Northern Ave. in Boston, MA :: Friday from 6 to 11 p.m. and Saturday from noon to 7 p.m. :: 21-plus, $30 to $50 :: Event page :: Advance tickets
Comedy: ‘One Night with Nikki Glaser’ at The Wilbur
Our girl Nikki Glaser (we say that but really she’s everyone’s girl) is back in town for ‘One Night’ tonight (May 20) at The Wilbur, but she’s doubling up on the laughs with a pair of shows that include anything but sloppy seconds. One of the best comics in the game is a must-see, and worth the trouble of scoring tickets to an already sold-out show, but as of press time there’s still balcony passes available for the nightcap.
As Jason Greenough writes in this week’s Mic’d Up: “There’s no corner of human behavior that Nikki Glaser is afraid to explore, which makes it equal parts exciting and upsetting that she’s only stopping in for one night in Boston. [We’ll] hear her take a deep dive into love, relationship, sexuality with a refreshing honesty and vulnerability that puts her in a league of her own when it comes to opening up about the intimate details of life.”
NIKKI GLASER :: Friday, May 21 at The Wilbur Theatre, 246 Tremont St. in Boston, MA :: 7:30 p.m. (sold out) and 10 p.m., $44 to $100 :: Wilbur event page and ticket info
Film/TV: ‘Robocop’ at The Coolidge
Hey, fun fact: That futuristic, dystopian Detroit overrun by crime featured in Robocop is only six short years away, as the 1987 sci-fi action film takes place in a fast-approaching 2028. The good news is that monkeypox will probably kill us all by then, so we should head to The Coolidge tonight just before midnight to revisit the classic Peter Weller film and see what we’re missing out on. We’ve written about Robocop a lot here on the V — we’ll first direct you to Nick Johnston’s wonderful To Pimp A Metalhead: Robocop’s foreign ads article from our 1987 Week series — but we’ll do it again now because we love both seeing dudes get shot in the dick and to get fashion advice from Allston style icon Clarence Boddicker. Your move, creep.
Here’s word from The Coolidge: “Arguably the best film about a cyborg police officer ever made, Paul Verhoeven’s gory, science fiction masterpiece Robocop blasted Hollywood action flicks into the 21st Century! When the mind blowing ultra violence of ‘Old Detroit’ becomes too much for its police force to bear, local evil corporation OCP steps in to create the ultimate crime fighting machine! When the newly transferred officer Murphy is murdered by the dad from That 70s Show, sniveling executives piece him back together using cold steel, cutting edge technology and what’s left of his organic tissue; creating the Mirandizing fury of Robocop!”
‘ROBOCOP’ :: Friday, May 20 at The Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard St. in Brookline, MA :: 11:59 p.m. :: $15.50 :: Coolidge event page and ticket info