The deadline for listings is noon, Tues. Apr. 24 for the Apr. 27 issue. Send listings to [email protected]. Note: 617 should be dialed before numbers below, unless another area code is given.
Special events
A Centre Street mini-cleanup will be held on Saturday, April 21 from 9:00am to 12:00noon. Bring shovels, brooms and wheelbarrows, if you can, to the South Street Mall (tennis courts), at the corner of South Street and Carolina Avenue. All interested residents who want to help should please call
JP Centre/South Main Streets at (617) ) 942-2439 or [email protected].
A Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Council neighborhood election will be conducted on Saturday, April 28 from 10:00am to 5:00pm at JP Licks on Centre Street, Stop & Shop near Jackson Square, and Harvest Co-op Markets in Forest Hills. All JP residents (16 years and older) are encouraged to vote. More information at www.jpnc.org.
“Stories and Poems for Northeastern Native Tribal Families” Native Dinner, Book Launch and Discussion. Reclaiming Identity: Drug Prevention Strategies Through Our Stories, April 17, 2018 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. North American Indian Center Of Boston 105 South Huntington Ave. Jamaica Plain, MA 02130 Free and Open to our Community Members and Public Dinner will be served at 5:30 p.m. Register today!
Have Fun Getting Ready to Wake Up The Earth May 5! Join Festival Arts Workshops at Spontaneous Celebrations (45 Danforth St.) Help create the art for this year’s Wake Up The Earth Spring Festival. Meet other people who are maintaining this 40-year tradition and give a helping hand! Festival Arts workshops include: Songs and Dances (from spring traditions around the world), Junk Percussion, Stilt Walking and Making Things for Parade and Festival (s.a.flags, puppets, banners, costumes) Saturdays between 1-4pm (April 14, 21, 28) Bilingual Parade Art Workshops by Festival artist Roxana: at 45 Danforth St: Monday, 4/31 and Weds., 5/2, from 4 to 7. Also visit Martha Eliot Health Center, 5/3, 4- 5:30 pm, and look for workshops in your local Libraries. All ages welcome! (Children under 8 with an adult) To schedule a Parade Art workshop at your school,($100+) call Mark, 857-498-2438.
Arts, music, and culture
Library exhibition, During the months of May and June, a series of charming works by Boston-based painter Maureen O’Connor will be exhibited. Maureen O’Connor: Just Ducky is on view from May 4 through June 30, 2018, with a public reception to be held on Thursday, May 10, 5:30-7:30 PM. The library is open Monday-Wednesday 10-6, Thursday 12-8, and Friday-Saturday 9-5 (closed Sundays). The exhibition space is located on the lower level. Contact: [email protected], http://www.friendsjplibrary.org/.
From gallery to stage: The arts are alive in Jamaica Plain, Jamaica Plain Artists Association Spring Members Show. April 13 – May 3 at The Footlight Club: 7a Eliot Street. an evening of Artist Talks: Wednesday, April 18, 6 – 9pm First Thursday Closing Reception: May 3, 6-8:30pm. Gallery hours: during Footlight performances, 6:30-8pm.
Chapter and Verse Literary Reading, Friday April 13, 7:30pm, Loring-Greenough House, 12 South St. Readings by Kevin Gallagher, Kim Garcia, and Tino Villanueva. Suggested donation $5 or whatever you can afford. Free refreshments. Info: jamaicapondpoets.com or 325-8388.
Jamaica Plain photographer Robin Radin is currently exhibiting her photographs at The Massachusetts State House (24 Beacon St., Boston, MA.) in State Representative Jeffrey Sanchez’s office, Rm 243. The exhibit will run through April 30th 2018. To arrange a visit to view the exhibit, please call Ryan Manganelli, Legislative Aide, State Representative Jeffrey Sanchez at 617-722-2990, or Robin Radin at 617-312-2882. For over thirty-five years, Robin Radin has photographed both the cultural and natural landscape of her neighborhood in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. In the exhibit, “Landscapes and Streetscapes of Jamaica Plain,” Radin’s photographs capture both the brilliance of the landscapes of Franklin Park, Jamaica Pond, the Arnold Arboretum, and the Emerald Necklace parklands, and the vibrant, diverse street life of the commercial districts and community gathering places.
8th Ferris Wheels Bike Shop Free Bike Movie Nights: Free movies return to Curtis Hall Community Center at 20 South St., Jamaica Plain. Fri., April 27, Breaking Away: classic named the eighth best sports film by the American Film Institute in 2008. PG. Movies start at 6:30 pm. Free. Popcorn, juice and soda. Ferris Wheels Bike Shop, 66 South St., 617-524-BIKE.
Photography exhibit, New England’s wildlife is the theme of an upcoming photography exhibit at the Audubon Society’s Boston Nature Center in Mattapan. Local photographer and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Ben Achtenberg’s images, some of which have previously appeared in the Gazette, offer a close-up look at some of the beasts and birds who share the local environment with us, often unnoticed. The show continues through March and April. The Nature Center is open Monday-Friday from 9 am to 5 pm – on Saturday, Sunday, & Monday holidays, from 10 am to 4 pm. Directions are on the Center’s website: https://www.massaudubon.org/get-outdoors/wildlife-sanctuaries/boston-nature-center/directions
JESUS DRINKS FREE! 1950s-70s country, gospel, soul and RnB spun by 2 atheists (and guests) @Jeanie Johnston 9pm-Close FREE
SOUL music & COUNTRY music. Foundational sounds of the American experience spun monthly with love, admiration, and a deep want to create fun. Throw in a non-believer’s true lust for spinning GOSPEL music and you have JESUS DRINKS FREE. The music comes from the 1950s thru the 1970s. We’re @ The Jeanie Johnston Pub every 1st Thursday night of every month. Good times in Jamaica Plain.”
The Haven, HOOTENANNY – JP’s OPEN MIC EVERY WEDNESDAY, hosted by Tom Dowd. Sign up is 9.30pm and we have prizes every Wednesday for the most interesting acts. Scottish Fiddles- Sunday Brunch – April 15th, May 20th, June 17th, All times 9.30 – 12pm.
Midway Café, All shows 21+, doors 8pm, 3496 Washington St, 524-9038. Thursdays are Queeraoke lesbian night; Fridays 6-8:30pm are Hippie Hour, free; Sundays 9pm-2am are open mic.
Jeanie Johnston Pub, 144 South St. Open Mic hosted by Tony Bluze, Sundays at 8pm. More events at jeaniejohnstonpub.com.
Bella Luna & The Milky Way Weekly events include; Irish Sessions every Sunday at 5pm. Off the Wall Mondays with DJ J-Wall at 6PM, 50% of wings with Stump Trivia to follow at 8PM. Teacher Tuesdays plus Dirty Water Saloon Line Dancing for queer folks and allies at 7PM. Live jazz every Wednesday from at 6:30 – 8:30 pm. Visit www.milkywayjp.com for more late night events ever Thu-Sat.
Jamaica Plain photographer Robin Radin is currently exhibiting her photographs at The Massachusetts State House in State Representative Jeffrey Sanchez’s office, Rm 243. The exhibit will run through mid-April 2018. To arrange a visit to view the exhibit, please call Ryan Manganelli, Legislative Aide, State Representative Jeffrey Sanchez at 617-722-2990, or Robin Radin at 617-312-2882.
Old time music, Southern/roots music, 2nd & 4th Wednesdays, 7.30pm, back room at Doyle’s Cafe, 3484 Washington St. Info: [email protected].
First Fridays Youth Open Mic with renowned feature artists, first Friday of every month, 7pm at First Baptist Church, 633 Centre St. Free for performers and those under 25, $10 suggested donation for those 25 and over.
SongBeat Circle, a song & drum circle hosted monthly on the first Tuesday of each month at 7:30p.m. in the Parish Hall at First Church in Jamaica Plain. Facilitated by a board-certified music therapist, SongBeat provides the community surrounding JP a place to sing and drum together. Participants will hopefully gain a sense of connection with others, experience the healing of live music-making, and find some joy in their busy lives. All ages welcome. Donation of $5 to $10 is encouraged. No musical experience or talent required. Info: [email protected], 524-1634 or 775-7602.
Multi-media performance and debut of Ife Franklin’s new biography of her great-grandmother, Willie Mae McCain, who was a slave. Sat. April 14, 5:00-7:00PM. Black Market, 2136 Washington Street in Dudley Square Roxbury
Dance and comedy
Gender-Free/English Country Dance, beginners welcome and encouraged. 2nd and 4th Tuesdays (5th Tuesdays: experienced) of the month, 7:30-11:30pm, First Church, 6 Eliot St. Info: www.lcfd.org/bgfe/512-5554.
Youth/Families
Roberto Clemente 21 Sports Program, accepting applications for the 2018 Little League Baseball Season. For boys & girls ages 6-16 years old. Info: Contact Alfredo Liriano at 828-9524 or [email protected].
Tiny Tots World Music and Movement, music classes for kids age 2-5 by Helder Tsinine, Mondays 11-11:45am; Saturdays, 10-10:45am, $17 per class or $90 for 6 weeks, Egleston YMCA, 3134 Washington St. Info: [email protected].
Family art class, wheelchair accessible, Tuesdays 10:30am-11:30am, ages 3-5. Tuesdays, 3:30-4:30pm, ages 5+. Family Resource Center, 1542 Columbus Ave. Info: 522-1018.
Learn to stiltwalk with Spontaneous Celebrations, 45 Danforth St. Sundays, 11am-1pm, $5. Info: 857-498-2438.
Connolly Branch Library
433 Centre St., 522-1960, www.bpl.org.
Homework Help Programs, Boston Public School teacher: Mondays, 4 – 6 p.m. High school mentors for grades K – 8: Mondays – Thursdays, 3:30 – 5:30 p.m.
Children’s Films, Short, fun films for preschoolers. Wednesdays, 10:30 a.m.
Egleston Square Branch Library
Free Drop-In Homework Help, Mondays-Thursdays, 3:30-5:30pm, ongoing Free, drop-in afterschool homework help for students in grades K-8, provided by trained, high-achieving high school students. This program is available at library branches across Boston on days that BPS is in session. If you would like the Homework Help schedule for other library branches, visit www.bpl.org/homework or call 617-859-2325.
Tours/talks/workshops
Dismantling White Supremacy White Film Series, Friday, April 27th | 7:30 PM. First Chuch JP| 6 Eliot Street. RSVP on Facebook and invite your friends! 13th is a 2016 American documentary by director Ava DuVernay. The film explores the “intersection of race, justice and mass incarceration in the United States; it is titled after the Thirteenth Amendment to the US Constitution, which freed the slaves and prohibited slavery (unless as punishment for a crime). DuVernay contends that slavery has been perpetuated in practices since the end of the American Civil War through such actions as criminalizing behavior and enabling police to arrest poor freedmen and force them to work for the state under convict leasing; suppression of African Americans by disenfranchisement, lynchings and Jim Crow; politicians declaring a war on drugs that weigh more heavily on minority communities and, by the late 20th century, mass incarceration of people of color in the United States. For more information: [email protected] or [email protected].
What is Christian Science Anyway? A free public talk on Thurs. May 17 at 7:30pm. First Baptist Church, 633 Centre St. Jamaica Plain. 617-318-6381. [email protected] Questions welcome!
JPNDC has seven free classes about family financial skills, small business problem solving, business planning, and becoming a leader. Info at jpndc.org.
Tea: a medley of stories, anecdotes, and traditions. A lecture at Forsyth Chapel at Forest Hills Cemetery on Sun. Apr. 15 at 2pm, $10 advance $12 door.
Stonybrook Fine Arts, Make Your Own Wedding Rings workshop and teen & adult classes in welding, foundry and mold-making, ongoing, 24 Porter St. Info: stonybrookfinearts.com.
Woodworking, sewing, art classes, fiber arts, photography, book arts. Children, teens, adults, year round. Eliot School of Fine & Applied Arts, 24 Eliot St. Info: eliotschool.org or 524-3313.
Shim Gum Do (Mind Sword Path), zen sword, karate and meditation classes, scholarships available, Spontaneous Celebrations, 45 Danforth St. Info: 429-8024/[email protected].
Meet-Ups
Book Group to discuss Donut Economics, a book by Kate Raworth. The book is a wonderful way to re-imagine an economic model which includes what is conventionally called externalities within the structure of the model. In other words Kate, a development economist at Oxfam, challeges the assumptions and models invented by Paul Samuelson which sees pollution as the by-product of a mode of extraction and production of wealth which does not fall within an economist’s province untless they can monetarize it. She builds on a book, Plenitude, by Juliet Schorr which some some of us have read, and which presents a devastating critique to how economists currently evaluate an economy. Juliet predicts it will take a generation for the science of economics to build new models which encompass the health of the planet. Kate Raworth’s book is a serious effort at creating such a model. We will meet for 2 hours Sundays from 4 – 6:00 once a month starting March 18. Please RSVP to me, [email protected]
Narratives Boston, queer activist-writers group open to LGBTQ-identified adults interested in creative expression and social justice, first and third Wednesday evenings of the month, 7-9pm, Haymarket People’s Fund, 42 Seaverns Ave. Info: [email protected].
Party for the Helping Hand Fund, hosted by Haymarket People’s Fund, every 3rd Friday of the month, 5:30-8pm, 42 Seaverns Ave. Info: 522-3349/[email protected].
Networking Group, local chapter of BNI, meets on Wednesdays at the Farnsworth House at 7am. Consists of 30 members of different professions. Through development and trust and relationships amongst the members, objective is to promote each other’s businesses. Members may live outside of JP, but common tie is either living in or servicing the JP area. Info: President of chapter Katelyn Atwater, info: 431-0929.