I’m starting to be a Rapture believer. It’s been raining for 40 days and 40 nights, hasn’t it? It sure feels like it and if Judgement Day is really on the way, I suggest you go out having fun in Baristaville.
It won’t be too hard. There are concerts, shows, outdoor movie screenings (Fingers crossed it doesn’t rain!) and many more options. Here are your 10 commandments for The Weekend:
- Thou shalt do the Montclair Gallery Walk and enjoy the talent of Baristaville.
- Thou shalt Kvetch As Kvetch Can and meet the author at WORDS Bookstore in Maplewood on Saturday, May 21. Ken Krimstein has “put together a matzo-ball-soup-through-your-nose funny collection of his unorthodox (sometimes Reform) Jewish-themed cartoons” in his latest book.
WORDS Bookstore, 179 Maplewood Avenue, Maplewood, NJ
Saturday, May 21 at 7:30 pm
Free - Thou shalt attend Open Mic night and the Laura Birdsong Concert at New Jersey Arts Incubator in West Orange. This monthly series called Café ZED will feature New Jersey songwriter, musician and singer, Laura Birdsong is described as someone who “sings from the heart.” After living in Montclair for several years, she moved to the mountains in NJ. She will perform form her latest album “Crazy Wisdom.”
NJAI Studios, 495 Prospect Ave, West Orange, NJ
Saturday, May 21 from 7 pm – 10 pm
Admission $7; free for NJAI members 
Thou shalt see Lucky Me, a one woman show written and performed by Shirley MacLaine’s daughter Sachi Parker, with Frederick Stroppel, an American playwright and filmwriter. It’s a mother/daughter story of self-discovery as Parker struggles to connect with her mother, Shirley MacLaine, the singing, dancing, Academy-Award-winning, reincarnated spiritualist. The show will be performed as a staged-reading in preparation for a New York production in the fall. A Q&A with Parker will follow the performance.
Burgdorff Center for the Performing Arts, 10 Durand Road, Maplewood, NJ
Sunday, May 22 at 3 pm
$10. Purchase tickets online here. Only 100 seats available.- Thou shalt head to Tierney’s in Montclair for beer, burgers and rockin’ to Sock Monster. The band, made up of local guys, find great songs from The Kinks, The Clash, the Replacements, Old 97s, and Elvis Costello, and mix them up with lesser known, alternative gems, which they call “shouldabeen hits.”
Tierney’s Tavern, 136 Valley Road, Montclair, NJ, 07042
Friday, May 20 at 9 pm
$5 cover - Thou shalt spin in circles amongst the irises singing “The Hills Are Alive” at the Outdoor Sing-a-Long Screening of The Sound of Music presented by The Montclair International Film Festival. Thou shalt not laugh at Georgette Gilmore when she belts out “Edelweiss” and stares dreamily into Captain Von trapp’s steely Austrian eyes.
Presby Iris Gardens, 474 Upper Mountain Avenue, Montclair, NJ 07043
Friday, May 20This week’s screening was just postponed: June 3 at 8 pm
Free - Thou shalt see the Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars at SOPAC on Saturday and be inspired by their story and their music. This group of musicians escaped the violence of Sierra Leone’s civil war, landed in a West African refugee camp and formed a band to keep their hopes alive. From these humble beginnings the band has grown into an international musical sensation.
SOPAC, One SOPAC Way, South Orange, NJ
Saturday, May 21 at 8 pm
Tickets are $35 / $25. Purchase here. 
Thou shalt sing “Let it Be” with The Fab Faux at The Wellmont in Montclair on Saturday night. It will be a full night of Beatles music. You can also catch School of Rock’s Tribute to the Beatles at Just Jake’s on Sunday if The Rapture doesn’t happen and “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” life goes on.
The Wellmont, 5 Seymour St, Montclair, NJ 07042
Saturday, May 21 at 8 pm
Tickets are $45, $65 or $125, which includes an after show meet & greet with band. Purchase online here.-
Thou shalt see The Professional at Luna Stage, starring Ed Asner and written by 16-year-old MHS student Nicky Glossman. The play is about a middle-aged man getting out of prison, trying to avoid returning to a life of organized crime.
Luna Stage, 555 Valley Rd, West Orange, NJ
Friday, May 20 and Saturday, May 21 at 8 pm
Tickets are $40 or $50 and include a reception afterwards. Purchase online or by calling 973.395.5551 -
Thou shalt rejoice that all is well on Sunday and attend the May in Montclair: Choral Festival at Central Presbyterian Church. Jonathan B. Hall will conduct Central’s accomplished choir in a program of music by Thomas Tallis, William Byrd, William Bradbury, John Rutter, Gustav Holst and others.
Central Presbyterian Church, 46 Park Street, Montclair, NJ, 07042
Sunday, May 22 at 3 pm
Free
Check our calendar for other local happenings this weekend.
Once again omitted (by accident or ? ) is the really family entertainment of “MAY-FEST” – a day-long celebration in all of Maplewood Center. Something fr everybody. 10AM – 5PM
Ditto Omitted again, is the huge Classic, historic and special interest car show in Millburn Center. I think its in the 21st year.
It’s one terrific show, pulling in folks from NYC as well as from the NJ Shore points. Millburn Ave at the Movie theatre … 10 AM – 4PM
THE best car show in Essex County & it’s going to be great weather.
On the general subject of omissions, why is Trumpets of Montclair always left off these lists? I have no material interest in that establishment, and indeed lately it has become a bit threadbare, but my attachment to the club goes back decades, and I would hate to see it go out of business, which I fear it might. So I’ll make this plug for tonight. I don’t know the band, but local resident Jon Luks is going to be tap dancing. What more do you need to know? I’ll be holding up the bar.
Friday, May 20th: The John Ehlis Ensemble from 8:00 and 10:00 PM
John Ehlis
The John Ehlis Ensemble will perform on Friday, May 20th at Trumpets Jazz Club in Montclair. Sets are at 7:30pm and 9:30pm.Guitarist and multi-instrumentalist John Ehlis gathers a group of talented and like-minded musicians who bring the spirit of adventure to his distinctive and appealing music. Combining Jazz sensibilities with several World Music traditions, the intrinsic sound of the John Ehlis Ensemble, as with his other groups, is the creative voice each musician brings to the musical collective For this performance Ehlis will be joined by Mazz Swift on violin, Matt McDonald on guitar, bassist David Phillips, percussionists Glen Fittin and Chris White, and special guest tap dancer Jon Luks.
$15.00 cover charge $5.00 minimum
Drawn to traditional and folk music from around the world Ehlis blends the sounds of many cultures into his own unique style. As a multi-instrumentalist, Ehlis learned the mandolin busking on the streets of Denmark, Germany and Italy and has studied various woodwind instruments and percussion, including the Balinese Gamelan. While in Zimbabwe he met local musicians and performed with Motsi Uruka at the Amakhosi Theatre in Bulawayo. He also performs and studies the music of the Basques.
Ehlis has performed throughout the United States, with musicians ranging from the avante-garde jazz of John Tchicai, Oliver Lake, Perry Robinson and Francis Wong (Asian Improv Arts), to Marie Afonso (Zap Mama), the instrument maker Ken Butler, Joe Craven (David Grisman’s Group), classical guitarist Philip Hii, Slovakian poet Gabriel Ariel Levicky, Russian painter Andrey Tamarchenko, dancer Charmaine Warren, Basque musicians Tapia and Leturria, Ghanian musician Zorkie Nelson and Pakistani singer Fawzia Afzal Khan to name a few.
He also performs with singer-songwriters Scott E. Moore and Jessica Owen, with pianist and composer Elizabeth Woodbury-Kasius, and in a duo with percussionist Glen Fittin. In 2009 Ehlis performed with Danish Jazz sensation Kresten Osgood at the Copenhagen Jazz Festival. The John Ehlis Ensemble is preparing a new release on his label Sívac Records.
http://www.johnehlis.com
I would appreciate if someone would define the perimeters of baristaville.
I often see reference to – say Millburn. But then I tell the Baristtanetts sbout something in Millburn (such as the car show, tomorrow OR the poetry reading in the Millburn Rose Garden, and suddenly it’s not “in” Baristaville ?
Is South Orange and / or Maplewood part of Baristaville, or only when it’s activities are “proper” ? The Caldwells ?? West Orange seems a safe topic, but East Orange & Orange are Outta bounds!
I would think Baristanet would be Bloomfield, Glen Ridge and Montclair – but I also see Nutley & Belleville creeping in from time-to-time.
Trumpets is probably off limits. If you have any “little Walleroos” take them to Maplewood Center today! Everything they like will be there !
It’s MAY-FAIR. Take buckets of $$$ too.