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: Letters To Cleo at The Paradise Rock Club
Thanksgiving arrives late on the calendar this year — buying us all a little bit extra time to determine who in our family we actually want to sit down at the dinner table with — but we’ll all be fed early and amongst friends thanks to Letters To Cleo. The Boston alt-rock band continues its tradition of November homecoming shows with a two-night stand at the Paradise Rock Club tonight and Saturday (November 22 and 23), and they’ve got local old cult faves Heretix on board for support. Last year Kay Hanley and the boys celebrated the 30th anniversary of breakout album Aurora Gory Alice, and that vibe has carried over with gigs well into 2024, which feels appropriate since the 1993 CherryDisc record was re-released in 1994 on Giant Records. And while we rarely post full concert videos, check out the band’s 2016 appearance at the ‘Dise below, complete with backstage interviews with Hanley and Michael Eisenstein, for a taste of this weekend’s action. You know the hits, you want the hits, you got the hits. And this year, celebrating the holiday with our chosen family never sounded so good.
LETTERS TO CLEO + HERETIX :: Friday, November 22 and Saturday, November 23 at The Paradise Rock Club, 967 Commonwealth Ave. in Boston, MA :: 7 p.m., 18-plus, $35 each night and $55 for a two-night pass :: Event info and tickets
Comedy: Annie Lederman at Laugh Boston
As we noted above, Thanksgiving is next week, and who knows what it’ll do to our collective mental state. So this weekend feels like the true eve of the holiday, and Annie Lederman is in town to deliver some needed laughs to Laugh Boston in the Seaport, part of a jam-packed week of live comedy around the city. Mic’d Up takes us home: “Equipped with an unrelenting pursuit of the next punchline and delivering with an unapologetic punch, Annie Lederman has truly become one of the most in-demand talents on the west coast, and for good reason. It’s not very often she’s on stage in Massachusetts, so take a moment to check out what she has to say while you have the chance.
ANNIE LEDERMAN :: Friday, November 22 and Saturday, November 23 at Laugh Boston, 425 Summer St. in Boston, MA :: 6 and 9 p.m. both nights, $33 to $55 :: Advance tickets
Film/TV: Paris, Texas at The Brattle
This weekend finds us caught in a gray area; we’re well beyond the Halloween horror season and the Christmas bug has yet to bite, and, depending on your family situation, many of us are sitting out Thanksgiving. So we’re rolling with The Brattle as the Cambridge indie cinema delivers five screenings of Paris, Texas tonight and Saturday (November 22 and 23). The 1984 neo-Western drama road film directed by Wim Wenders turns 40 this year, and, well, we sometimes just need a little bit of Harry Dean Stanton in our lives. Here’s the word: “New German Cinema pioneer Wim Wenders (Wings of Desire) brings his keen eye for landscape to the American Southwest in Paris, Texas, a profoundly moving character study written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Sam Shepard. Paris, Texas follows the mysterious, nearly mute drifter Travis (a magnificent Stanton, whose face is a landscape all its own) as he tries to reconnect with his young son, living with his brother (Dean Stockwell) in Los Angeles, and his missing wife (Nastassja Kinski). From this simple setup, Wenders and Shepard produce a powerful statement on codes of masculinity and the myth of the American family, as well as an exquisite visual exploration of a vast, crumbling world of canyons and neon.”
‘PARIS, TEXAS’ :: Friday, November 22 and at Saturday, November 23 at The Brattle, 40 Brattle St. in Cambridge, MA :: Friday at 6 and 9 p.m., Saturday at 1:30, 4:30, and 7:30 p.m. :: Info and tickets