
WED 7.15
Pastoral to Pop
If the wild fluctuations in our summer weather continue to unleash a muggy hellscape upon us, know that you can now escape to the MFA for a little frosty AC and the new exhibit Pastoral to Pop, which just opened and runs through February. On display: over 50 prints and rarely seen works from Britain’s great 20th century artists, from etchings to color linocuts and British versions of Futurism and Cubism. And possibly other “-ism’s.”
MFA. 465 Huntington Ave., Boston. 7:30pm/all ages/$10. For more information, visit mfa.org/exhibitions/pastoral-to-pop
FRI 7.17
Art Beat Fest
You can kick off your weekend this week with the annual two-day Somerville festival that collects over 15 bands (Soft Pyramids, Mount Peru), hula-hoop dancing, over 75 craft vendors, local food, and even live theatrical performances that adhere to this year’s theme of “looping,” where they will re-perform bits over and over a la Groundhog Day. No word on any surprise Bill Murray appearances. Still, never count him out. Sly dog, that Murray.
ArtBeat Festival. 55 Davis Sq., Somerville. 6-10pm/all ages/$3 donation. For more information, visit somervilleartscouncil.org
FRI 7.17
SpectralFest
Summer is peak time for packing up a Zipcar and heading north to a three-day music and arts festival on a 70-acre farm in the middle of the New Hampshire woods. Hit SpectralFest and its plethora of psychedelic art, hippie vendors, visual arts village, late-night drum circles, and belly dancers will be at your feet, as will hookah lounges, over two dozen bands and EDM DJ’s, yoga, and fire dancers to boot.
Page Farm. 46 Sand Hill Rd., Croydon, NH. $55-95. For more tickets and more information, visit spectralspiritfest.com.
SAT 7.18
Boston Comics Spellbound Party
The weekly Boston Comics Roundtable is hosting a special gathering to celebrate the release of the Spellbound Comics #1 anthology launch on Saturday, and you’re invited. It fuses over a dozen stories that take the Hub and weave in varying narratives and Emmy Award-winning graphic design for diverse localized graphic storytelling. Bonus: The book will be for sale here before its official debut at Boston Comic Con on July 31.
Boston Comics Workspace. 561 Windsor St., Suite 306, Somerville. 6pm/all ages/FREE. For more information, visit bostoncomics.com/spellboundparty
SUN 7.19
Bread and Salt’s Flamenco Brunch
Sunday marks the end of local pop-up culinary powerhouse team Josh Lewin and Katrina Jazayeri celebrating their travels through Barcelona and Seville in Spain vis-à-vis their temporary restaurant concept Gitana. At this final event, you can land authentic Spanish cuisine (two words: jamon iberico), while Maria Galan and Fiesta Flamenca provide flamenco sounds to give you the full experience. As much as that can be transferred to Somerville, anyway.
Cuisine en Locale. 156 Highland Ave., Somerville. 1-3pm/all ages/cash bar. For more information, visit breadandsalthospitality.com
TUES 7.21
JP Sings the Boss
Birthdays are great. And birthdays with open mic setup and a love for New Jersey’s crowned king of rock, Bruce Springsteen, are even better. But when those are wrapped up in everyone’s favorite JP tapas restaurant-slash-bookstore-slash-record shop, they’re the best. So now that JP Sings turns one, you can grab some friends and use the PA system to unleash your full Boss upon the crowd this Tuesday. Please, hold off on “Born to Run.” Unless you bring a horn section.
Tres Gatos. 470 Centre St., Jamaica Plain. 8-10pm/21+/FREE. For more information, visit tresgatosjp.com
Dig Staff means this article was a collaborative effort. Teamwork, as we like to call it.