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: Baby Queen at The Sinclair
It’s always fun to look back at the bands and artists that soundtracked our pandemic playlists, and few made an impact quite like Baby Queen. The South African-born, London-based creative force born Bella Latham first crashed our digital pages in July 2020 with “Buzzkill”, and ever since we’ve spilled an excess of pink pixelated ink on the rising alt star, including a nod to last summer’s effervescent empower-pop cruiser “We Can Be Anything”. It set a tone for the Queen’s debut album Quarter Life Crisis, and the beat rolled on this spring with alt-R&B groove train “Ride or Die.” Now she makes her Boston-area debut (finally!) with an appearance at The Sinclair in Cambridge on Saturday (June 8), the first stop on a six-date Rule Summer Tour that also hits Bonnaroo next week. It’s pretty exciting to hear live all these tasty genre-hopping jams that take up residence in your clouded headspace long after they conclude. All hail.
BABY QUEEN + MEG SMITH :: Saturday, June 8 at The Sinclair, 52 Church St. in Cambridge, MA :: 6 p.m., all ages, $25 :: Event info :: Advance tickets
Comedy: Tim Champa at Nick’s Comedy Stop
There’s nothing more important in comedy than timing. So when earlier this week Jason Greenough cranked out the latest Mic’d Up, hyping a healthy slate of local live comedy events with Joe Pera, Tim Champa, Mark Normand, and John Cleese, the Boston-based Tim Champa made us LOL IRL by sharing the article to Instagram Stories with the caption “the ‘big four’ they call us.” The dude could soon join that top echelon, and this weekend holds court at Nick’s Comedy Stop for shows tonight and Saturday (June 7 and 8). Here’s Mic’d Up bringing it home: “As one of the area’s funniest comedy exports, Champa headlines the legendary Nick’s stage to not only put his own mark on Warrenton Street, but to also introduce us to his debut comedy album, I Need a Favor. So perhaps we should all pay it forward, and give the award-winning comedian a weekend for a king.”
TIM CHAMPA :: Friday, June 7 and Saturday, June 8 at Nick’s Comedy Stop, 100 Warrenton St. in Boston, MA :: 7:15 p.m., $15.40 to $22 :: Advance Tickets
Film/TV: ‘My Own Private Idaho’ at The Coolidge
Some of you never had oversized My Own Private Idaho movie posters on your dorm room wall and it shows. Anyway, Gus Van Sant’s iconic film screens Sunday (June 9) at Brookline’s Coolidge Corner Theatre as part of the New Queer Cinema series, and here’s Criterion Collection finishing the blurb for us as we gaze longingly at River Phoenix like we did in college: “River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves star in this haunting tale from Gus Van Sant about two young street hustlers: Mike Waters, a sensitive narcoleptic who dreams of the mother who abandoned him, and Scott Favor, the wayward son of the mayor of Portland and the object of Mike’s desire. Navigating a volatile world of junkies, thieves, and johns, Mike takes Scott on a quest along the grungy streets and open highways of the Pacific Northwest, in search of an elusive place called home.”
‘MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO’ :: Sunday, June 9 at The Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard St. in Brookline, MA :: 2 p.m., $15.50 :: Info and tickets