Feedback 2007

We know what you’re thinking—why have a food-pantry benefit in January? And don’t we usually do this thing in November?

Well, here’s the deal: We had this bright idea that maybe, just maybe, the pantries might have been depleted over the long holiday season, and maybe, just maybe, they could use our help now more than ever. Or, we just plain forgot. Whatever. Draw your own conclusions; we’ll just put on the damn show.

And what a show it is: This Saturday, Valentine’s is the place to be for Metroland’s Feedback 2007 Local Music Bash and Food Pantries Benefit. There’ll be live music on two stages, with bands playing right into the wee hours. Long-running Capital Region bands Super 400 and the Clay People will serve as headliners; you’ll also get sets from alt-folk trio Paddy Kilrain and the Burger Band, ska-punkers Public Access, prog-punkers Aficionado, punk-poppers the Loyalty, pure-pop denizens Hector on Stilts, newcomers Alta Mira and Two Gun Man, plus our pick for Best Band in the 2006 Best of the Capital Region issue, the Luxury Flats.

Feedback 2007 takes place at Valentine’s (17 New Scotland Ave., Albany) this Saturday (Jan. 20). Doors open at 6:30 PM; music starts at 7:30. Admission is $7, or $5 with a nonperishable food item. We can’t stress that last part enough—this is a food-pantry benefit, people; you can surely spare a can of beans for the cause. For more information, call Valentine’s at 432-6572, or visit www.metroland.net.

The Intergalactic Nemesis

Ahh, remember the days of live radio, before television took over, when all of the drama and adventure of an outer-space mission could be broadcast using just a few actors and a bunch of talented noisemakers (aka Foley artists)? You don’t remember that? What are we, 70? Fine, then check this out: Salvage Vanguard Theater of Austin, Texas, presents The Intergalactic Nemesis, a family-friendly production in the style of a 1930s radio drama. It’s your standard story of an intrepid reporter who has to defend the Earth from alien creatures. Everything here is period, from the dialogue to the storyline (the idea of outer space was so meta back then!), and it’s presented with appropriate voice-over vim, plus all those wonderfully colorful bangs and crashes and splashes.

Salvage Vanguard Theater will perform The Intergalactic Nemesis tomorrow (Friday, Jan. 18) at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall (30 2nd St., Troy). Tickets for the 8 PM show are $27 and $24, $15 for students. For more information, or to purchase tickets, call 273-0038.

Mr. President

Over the two-plus centuries of American presidents, artists have captured our leaders, in paint or clay, as strong, virile paragons of virtue and wisdom. Which is good and lovely and right. On the other hand, however, there are nontraditional portraits like those in the exhibit Mr. President, opening today at UAlbany’s University Art Museum, which capture less-than-officially-sanctioned views of our POTUSes.

For example, there is Andy Warhol’s Vote McGovern (pictured, 1972), which is self-evidently ambivalent toward its subject, Richard Milhouse Nixon. Other artists whose work will be featured include Melanie Baker, Chuck Close, Komar and Melamid, Rachel Mason, Robert Terry and many, many more.

Mr. President opens today (Thursday, Jan. 18) and continues through April 1at the University Art Museum (University at Albany, 1400 Washington Ave., Albany). For gallery hours, call the museum at 442-4035.