Arts & Events

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18 -more-

At outdoor cafe tables topped with Cinzano umbrellas the actors loll, idly watching video screens arranged around an open-work structure’s beams like townhall clocks at the points of the compass, facing the audience. Watching as a platinum-bewigged young woman, dolled up in loud fashion but draped in a sleek tawny fur with beige boots, flops into a chair, pushes back her sunglasses, reaches for her bag as if a beached globe-trotter, and impatiently tosses wads of play money onto the stage ... Watching as a bearded financier doffs “the badge” of his “Jewish gabardine” to bathe in cash as he reclines in a dumpster ... Watching as a suitor woos his intended by hefting a black plastic garbage bag of loot to throw his hat in the ring. -more-

Pyramid Alehouse kicks off its annual Outdoor Cinema series this Saturday with a screening of the 1969 Robert Redford-Paul Newman classic Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. -more-

Radicals of the 1860s, they broke the rules and moved out of their studios. Away from poised portraits and still lives, they painted open-air scenes meant to capture everyday subjects in a passing moment. They painted with un-mixed vibrant colors in broad and daubed brushstrokes creating shimmering canvases bathed in light. The Impressionists turned their backs on academic painting, commanded attention and revolutionized the world of art. -more-

Pressurizing the entire municipal water system is not an easy matter. I’m sure glad I don’t have to do it. Everyone’s bound to be unhappy. If you’re down in the flats or close to a pumping station, you’re pressure is going to be very high. If you’re waaaaay up at the top of the hills, it’s going to be much lower. We pump up the system to a pressure that will make sure that the person furthest from the pump will still have enough pressure to get a decent shower, even when her darned husband flushes the toilet (If I’ve told that man one time, I’ve told him…). -more-

Being a night person gives you a different look at things. Strolling at night or commuting to a night shift, especially when the moon’s out, you get to see gardens that no one else sees, even their owners. Silver leaves glow at night, and reshape a garden’s contours. White-flowered groundcovers make a garden float, changing perspectives and lifting a viewer off her own feet. Noises are damped, and what you hear is framed and given significance. There’s a feeling of privilege, of witnessing what mortals routinely miss. I can see where the stories of fairies in the bottom of the garden come from. -more-

Will Uncle Sam Save Us? -more-

FRIDAY, AUGUST 18 -more-

The names of two candidates were incorrectly reported in the Aug. 15 story “Incumbents Hit Filing Deadline.” -more-

TUESDAY, AUGUST 15 -more-

Hovering over the shallows in search of a fish, the Forster’s tern embodies grace and elegance. Its long, pointed wings and forked tail combine aerodynamic function and esthetic appeal. John Reinhold Forster did not deserve this bird. -more-

TUESDAY, AUGUST 15 -more-