Festivals and Parades

Latest Articles

Review: Beyond Gay: The Politics Of Pride

Activism on parade
The Gay Pride Parade is one of the best parties of the year — so much so that it’s easy to forget that, not so long ago, it was risky to participate, or that in some cities today, a token gesture of pride can get you imprisoned or killed.
By PETER KEOUGH | May 04, 2010

Review: Dirty Pictures

Subversive chemistry
At one point, Dirty Pictures transports us to Burning Man, where we watch a pack of free spirits cruising around the desert in flame-spewing tentacle-mobiles. Which is exactly the kind of blissy neon bacchanalia that springs to mind when we think of recreational Ecstasy use. But what started it all?
By SHAULA CLARK | April 14, 2010

Ethiopiqued

Debo Band go from the Western Front to East Africa
Last spring, Danny Mekonnen and Jonah Rapino led Boston's fledgling Ethiopian pop group Debo Band straight to Addis Ababa. They played a local festival, made friends with nightclub owners, and found an Ethiopian Airlines deal for a free trip down the coast to Tanzania.
By MATT PARISH | January 26, 2010

10 memorable moments from Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

From historical to horrific to humorous, the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is iconic
The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is an unapologetic, cross-promotional cheese-fest. But whether you love or hate it, you have to admit that its giant balloons are nearly as synonymous with the holiday feast as turkey, cranberries, and indigestion.
By ASHLEY RIGAZIO | November 25, 2009

How gay is Southie?

Once unthinkable, Boston’s most notorious neighborhood now sports a welcoming face. How the hell did that happen?
Welcome to the gayborhood.
By ERICA CORSANO | October 19, 2009

Trouble at the Newport Film Festival

High Drama
For more than a decade, the Newport International Film Festival has been a highlight on the state's cultural calendar.
By DAVID SCHARFENBERG | September 23, 2009

The Maine Festival of the Book relocates to USM

Celebrating print
Now in its third year, the Maine Festival of the Book is settling into a new home on the USM campus
By ALEX IRVINE | April 01, 2009

Review: Cherry Blossoms

Well-crafted and sincere, but ultimately tiresome
In Doris Dörrie's emotionally loaded melodrama Kirschblüten — Hanami , an aging German couple, Trudi (Hannelore Eisner) and Rudi (Elmer Wrapper), grow tighter than ever.
By GERALD PEARY | February 12, 2009

Hot love

Taste the flames inside Boston's secret world of fire artists
For once, a scantily clad goth woman swinging chains of neon-orange fireballs over her head isn’t doing so because I’ve pissed her off.
By SARA FAITH ALTERMAN | October 27, 2008

Everybody get together

‘Boston Young Contemporaries’ at 808 Gallery, ‘Big Bugs’ at Garden in the Woods, and the 10th Annual Lantern Festival at Forest Hills Cemetery
The 808 Gallery is a BIG space to fill.
By RANDI HOPKINS | July 08, 2008

Frank Bidart’s ambivalent appetite

The poet probes human opposites in his latest collection
Frank Bidart adores the savage Catullan paradox.
By SVEN BIRKERTS | June 17, 2008

Steam dream

Steampunk bursts through its subculture roots to challenge our musical, fashion, design, and even political sensibilities
The All-in-One Victorian PC is the perfect little black dress of computer modifications.
By SHARON STEEL | May 19, 2008

Crème brut

No Fun comes north
There are few events in the noise and avant electronics social calendar that can compare the annual No Fun Festival in New York City.
By SUSANNA BOLLE | May 06, 2008

The best of Oktoberfest

Forget Munich. A local German beer expert offers a primer on the best Bavarian lagers to enjoy this Oktoberfest — and all autumn long.
To hear it told, Munich’s Oktoberfest these days is a circus.
By MIKE MILIARD | September 26, 2007

Have words, will travel

Judith Black’s tales take you on a journey
Black has written and performed stories about many unsung heroines, from Lucy Stone to Rosie the Riveter, from her grandmother to her mother-in-law.
By JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ | September 13, 2007

The good fight

The Cold War; Daughters; Summerfest Providence; and more!
The Cold War’s first recording doesn’t sound like anything on the Providence music scene, which is curious.
By BOB GULLA | August 14, 2007

Smoke on the water

Forest Hills' Lantern Festival
People of all stripes spent $10 on a lantern that they then inscribed to their departed loved ones and placed upon the lake.
By JIM SULLIVAN | July 16, 2007

Ice and fire

Ice Cream’s cold contemporary art, Burning Man’s hot stuff
Burning Man began as a San Francisco pyromaniacs’ beach party in 1986.
By GREG COOK | June 28, 2007

And proud of it

Pride Week ’07 expands its audience and honors its traditions
Boston's Pride Week is here, it's queer, and we're getting used to it.
By SARA FAITH ALTERMAN | May 30, 2007

The taste of sanctimony

Animal-rights activists flavor their philosophy with purity in Year of the Dog and a vegetarian food fest
Both the Maine Animal Coalition’s recent Vegetarian Food Festival and Mike White’s new film Year of the Dog explore the idea that the confinement and killing of animals is the great moral shame of our time.
By BRIAN DUFF | May 09, 2007

A taste of Boston Harbor Hotel

April 7
If you didn’t manage to catch the Boston Wine Festival during its stint at the Boston harbor Hotel, you’ve got one more chance.
By TAMARA WIEDER | April 04, 2007

Just Grandy

Life goes better with oats
On my way to Burning Man last year, I stopped at Wild Oats just outside of Reno for the week's provisions.
By JESSICA PORTER | December 06, 2006

The Kaiser Imperial Oktoberfest

The party’s not over
Oktoberfest is, like, so one month ago.
By MIKE MILIARD | October 31, 2006

Neath’s

Still a tip-top performer
Recently pondering where to take out-of-town guests for a special dinner on a WaterFire night, we came up with Neath’s.
By JOHNETTE RODRIGUEZ | September 06, 2006

Sideshow Bob

Bob Dylan, Merchantsauto.com Stadium, Manchester NH, August 27, 2006
Dylan plays up the corny/carney atmosphere, dressing his band in black suits, black hats and even matching pencil mustaches.
By DAMON KRUKOWSKI | August 28, 2006

The simple pleasures of throwing dung

Country life
For city dwellers who aren’t satisfied by weekly trips to the farmer’s market, the Washington County Fair is our annual destination to re-connect with the land.
By ERICA SAGRANS | August 24, 2006

Symbolic nature

East Asian botanical motifs at the Sackler; Eighth Annual Lantern Festival at Forest Hills
The flowering landscape is more than just beautiful and awe-inspiring for East Asian artists and poets, who have always attributed layers of symbolic meaning and to nature’s blooms and branches.
By RANDI HOPKINS | June 29, 2006

Take it outside

Have some fresh air with your art
Okay, you like art, but you also want to get out and enjoy the great outdoors . Y ou can have your cake and eat it too at these outdoor sculpture parks. Summer Guide 2006: Cheap thrills from Bar Harbor to New Haven.
By GREG COOK | June 14, 2006

April 6, 2006

Thursday
Waxing moon in Cancer/Leo. A morning void-of-course moon suggests that taking offense comes easily to Aries and Libra, and that Capricorn would like to be sitting on the fence. Cancer may feel that its energy is diffuse; better to linger over a second cup of coffee than leap into the day’s activities. Salespeople and those employing the art of persuasion are in fine fettle this afternoon — especially Leo, who will not want to listen. Taurus and Scorpio could make some very peculiar fashion choices. VOC 5:56 am to 12:25 pm.
By SYMBOLINE DAI | April 05, 2006

Cracking the nut

New plays find fertile ground
It’s spring, reclusive writers everywhere are emerging from their writing rooms, and what better way to celebrate than with Acorn Productions’ annual festival of local playwrights?
By MEGAN GRUMBLING | March 29, 2006