Another weekend, another set of missed festivals.
If you past week alone has seen The Manhattan Short Film Festival for screenings at Coolidge Corner, the International Comedy and Movie Festival on Saturday and Brookline's week-long tercentennial celebration come through town.
Out in Medford it can be difficult to tap into the whirlwind fest-a-weekend atmosphere of our major metropolitan area. Always eager to help, The Daily would like to draw attention to some of the more charming festivals this semester.
Two music festivals will bring dueling banjos to town next weekend, as the Boston Folk Festival and the 10th Annual Boston Blues Festival arrive in Beantown.
The Boston Folk Festival performers include singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega (singer of the strangely infectious "Tom's Diner" and "Luka") and Boston native Patty Griffin, a well-respected voice on the folk scene. The festival, at UMass Boston, also features arts and crafts vendors and food.
The Boston Blues Festival is stringing its weekend celebration out for as long as it can manage. Sponsored events started Sept. 15 and run through September 28, though the official festival is only slated for one Saturday and Sunday.
Some of these events falling outside the timeline are close to home - Johnny D's Uptown Restaurant and Music Club will host the Boston Blues concerts on Sept. 21, 22, 27 and 28. Redbones will have the festival after-party on Sept. 25.
Start sharpening your Beantown jokes: the Boston Vegetarian Food Festival is but a month away. The vegetarian f???? embraces the earthy spirit on Oct. 22 with free admission, food samples, and parking all day. Revelers can head to Tremont Street to taste new vegetarian products, watch cooking demonstrations, and stock up on foodstuffs.
Come Nov. 2 through 13, the Boston Jewish Film Festival will celebrate its "Sweet 16" with screenings in Boston, Brookline, and the Greater Boston area. The film fest showcases contemporary movies, both domestic and international, with Jewish themes. The two weeks will also feature introductions and Q&A sessions with the films' directors and panel discussions with directors, actors, and film experts. The MFA and Coolidge Corner theaters will screen a majority of the films, but the BJFF promises that some of the films will make their way to other locales around Boston as well. See www.bjff.org for a calendar of events.
If you have a car and a craving for the absurd, the 17th Annual Vermont Sheep and Wool Festival brings a whole new meaning to "shear madness." This rather unconventional convention will be holding sundry events through Nov. 9.
Be it B-minor chords or bean sprouts, films or fleece, this fall there's always something to celebrate in Boston.
