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: Ocean Alley at The Sinclair
There are two types of moods this long holiday weekend: Being at the beach, and wanting to feel like we’re at the beach. For the latter, we’re headed to see Ocean Alley at The Sinclair, as the Australian alternative psychedelic rock band bring us right into that chill headspace with a mix of surf-rock and reggae fusion. We got hip to the band a few years back when they opened for Tash Sultana, and in May dropped a delectable swirl of fuzz called “Deepest Darkness.”
“This song is about being so deeply in love with someone and realizing how important their support can be to you… that you literally go through the deepest and darkest times together, and that unity makes you so much stronger,” says Ocean Alley frontman Baden Donegal. “It’s from the perspective of imagining what it would feel like to go through life’s tough spots on your own, and having a huge appreciation for the support you receive.”
OCEAN ALLEY + LE SHIV :: Saturday, July 2 at The Sinclair, 52 Church St. in Cambridge, MA :: 7 p.m., 18-plus, $20 in advance and $22 day of show :: Bowery event page :: Advance tickets
Comedy: Randy Feltface at Laugh Boston
There’s no better way to celebrate America’s birthday this weekend than with an Australian puppet down in the Seaport. Voiced and operated by Heath McIvor, Randy Feltface makes his way back to Laugh Boston for a three-night run that began on Thursday and rolls through the first stages of fireworks. From this week’s Mic’d Up column by Jason Greenough: “The face of purple privilege returns to the area for another run of shows, and while it’s never truly predictable in terms of what he has to say will not only be at times outrageous, thought-provoking, and delightfully blunt, but also heartfelt and original.”
Friday, July 1 and Saturday, July 2 at Laugh Boston, 425 Summer St. in Boston, MA :: 7:30 and 9:45 p.m., $25 to $29 :: Advance tickets
Film/TV: ‘The Black Phone’ at various theaters
There’s nothing scarier than real life right now, so perhaps a trip to the local theaters to see a horror film where Ethan Hawke is the maniacal bad guy is just what the doctor ordered this long holiday weekend. The Black Phone is the latest from Blumhouse and director Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Doctor Strange), and it finds a 13-year-old boy kidnapped in the ’80s by a sadistic and masked killed, played by Hawke. There’s a phone in the soundproof basement, and on the landline are the voices of past victims.
Nick Johnston gave it a favorable review last week on Vanyaland, writing that The Black Phone “is a solid little horror flick that will definitely amuse and captivate most while they’re watching it. I have a strange feeling that this will be regarded as a cult classic in 10 years or so if it isn’t an immediate success, and it’s a wonderful reminder of what Derrickson can do when he’s working outside of the Marvel world. It’s also yet another proof that Hawke’s mid-career renaissance is one of the best happening among the concurrent ones of actors of a similar age (though folks who have seen First Reformed or Tesla really need no convincing of that), and it’s wonderful to see how much he relishes playing an out-and-out bad dude here.”
‘THE BLACK PHONE’ :: Now playing at various local theaters