Sherlock’s Legacy

If you were to travel to London, specifically 221B Baker St., on almost any given day you’d find a line trailing out the front door and down the block. Year after year, folks patiently stand in line to view the home of the famous detective Sherlock Holmes. (Never mind that the preeminent snoop is, remember, completely fictive, and a fan could just as easily comb Arthur Conan Doyle’s books for reference and then reproduce Holmes’ sitting room in their garage.) People, it is clear, can’t get enough of Holmes: The franchise is still going strong 75 years after its originator’s death. And one of the more successful franchisees is the New York State Theater Institute’s own Ed. Lange, author of two plays about the violin-playing uber-shamus.

Lange’s first play about Holmes, the Audie Award-winning Sherlock’s Secret Life, explored the young lives of the detective and his faithful assistant, Watson. So, it’s a logical progression to follow up with them at the other end of life: In Lange’s newest mystery comedy, Sherlock’s Legacy, he revisits the duo during their retirement years. Apparently, Holmes has allowed himself to grow a little complacent, until a mysterious young woman turns up and gets him back on the job.

Sherlock’s Legacy opens at the Schacht Fine Arts Center (Russell Sage College, Troy) on Saturday (April 23) and plays through May 7. Tickets are $20, $16 students/seniors, $12 for children 12 and under. For show times or more information, call 274-3200.

2005 Albany Word Fest

It’s become something of a spring tradition around these parts, this thing we call the Albany Word Fest. Every year, right about this time, some of our area’s fine word- loving folk don the traditional poet’s garb—berets, blazers, chain mail, and what not—and gather in the worn cobblestone streets of Albany’s Center Square neighborhood to terrorize unsuspecting passersby with The Spoken Word. (Spooky!) After three full days of howling like rabid wolves at everyone who crosses their path, they quietly return to their lairs, where they will enter into an inert state, not unlike hibernation—that is, unless they see their shadows, in which case we’re sentenced to six more weeks of winter.

But seriously folks—what, you actually bought all that?—this year’s Albany Word Fest is a two-day event (up from last year’s paltry one), spanning four venues and about six city blocks. The event gets an unofficial kickoff tonight (April 21) at the Lark Street Bookshop’s (215 Lark St.) monthly poetry open mic featuring Amy Ouzoonian, beginning at 7 PM. (There is a suggested donation of $3.) The real festivities get rolling tomorrow (Friday, April 22) with a kick-off cocktail party at the Lark Tavern (453 Madison Ave.) from 5 to 7 PM. (That’s free.) The horde will move to Firlefanz Gallery (292 Lark St.) at 7 PM for the crowd-participation portion of the event: the 2005 Albany Word Fest Open Mic. (Again, a $3 donation is suggested.)

Saturday’s events kick off with a free high-school open mic at the Lark Street Bookshop from 1 to 4 PM. Students are invited to come share their poetry; all participants will have their work published in an upcoming anthology. Then, at 7 PM, the focus shifts to Valentine’s (17 New Scotland Ave.) for Psycho Cluster Fuck ’05, a poetry and music event featuring the likes of, well, too many to mention. Lots of poets, lots of musicians, and lots of booze. We expect it will be exactly what the name implies. Admission is $7.

We’re surely missing something here, so to get the full scoop on the 2005 Albany Word Fest, check out www.albanypoets.com.

Chimaira

According to the Cleveland Scene, Ohio-based Chimaira have recorded a mess of tracks for their next album that are “heavy enough to chip concrete.”

That’s saying something. (Maybe this cement-cracking heaviness has something to do with new drummer Kevin Talley, ex-Dying Fetus.) Their last disc, 2003’s The Impossibility of Reason, was plenty heavy; it racked up impressive sales and was supported by momentum-building tours of exotic locales like the Midwest, Japan and Australia. This summer they’ll be part of the Sound of the Underground tour, alongside, among others, Clutch and Poison the Well.

More immediately, however, Chimaira will bring the heaviness to Saratoga Winners tomorrow (Friday). Also on the bill: E-Town Concrete, Trivium, Stemm and the Killing.

Chimaira will perform tomorrow (Friday, April 22) at 7:30 PM at Saratoga Winners (Route 9, Latham). Tickets are $12 advance (er, today) and $14 on the day of the show (er, tomorrow). For more info, call 783-1010.