June seems to have crept up on us, probably because the spring weather finally arrived fashionably late - about two months tardy, to be exact. The summer events season is set to begin which means that there will either be 10 festivals occurring all at once or nothing to do aside from catching a movie or having a beer at a local bar and soaking up the strangely-altered post-college atmosphere. In my years at the OBSERVER, I've assembled countless events calendars and what I still struggle to understand is how ill-planned it always seems. We have so many weekends during which we're hard-pressed to find even a chicken barbecue to attend, and then on one particular Saturday, each and every local festival and fundraiser will be happening at the exact same time. While the sudden influx of activity is exciting, I imagine that its effect on attendance at these events is negative.
The summer season is still young, however, which means that our calendars aren't maxed out quite yet.
WHAT'S HAPPENING
Now that the Clarion Dockside Bar is officially up and running for the season, local music lovers can be sure to find bands performing there on each weekend evening. This weekend's line-up is as follows: Lemon 12 on Thursday, Only Human on Friday and The Groove on Saturday.
Dom Polski will have live music on Friday night by Gina V., Bill Smith and Tara Graves. Members and eligible guests are welcome.
On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the annual Hollywood Happening will be held in Gowanda. Formerly known as the Harley Happening, this event is arguably the highlight of the Gowanda social calendar (I speak from experience). Held right in the downtown area of the village, there are motorcycles as far as the eye can see, with bikers riding in from near and far; delectable, heart attack-inducing refreshments; live entertainment, contests and vendors. The true excitement of the festival, however, converges at the beer tent, where you'll be sure to run into everyone from long-lost cousins to your former high school teachers. As we've come to expect from popular local events like the Happening, the county fair and Fred Fest weekend, some of the most colorful police reports you will ever have the pleasure of reading can be found in the OBSERVER during the days that follow. Visit www.gowandahollywoodhappening.com for complete details on the event.
The frenzied yard sale bonanza commonly known as Attic and Seller Days will be held this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. There may be some hot deals to be scored and some treasure among the trash, but I urge my readers as I do every year - to think twice before slamming on their brakes to scoop up a spectacular-looking lamp. Oh, the road rage that comes with Attic and Seller Days! There's nothing quite like it.
Do your part to support the arts. The Bach & Beyond Baroque Music Festival will be held at the Fredonia Opera House June 10-12. To raise funds for the festival, the Opera House is holding a big sale in Barker Common (as part of the Attic and Sellar event) on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. If you have items you'd like to contribute to the cause, call the Opera House Administration Office at 679-0891 today is the deadline.
Also in preparation for Bach & Beyond, the Opera House will be screening "Bach& Friends" as part of its Cinema Series on Saturday at 8 p.m.
REEL TALK
'The Hangover Part II'
Check your symptoms: Are you suffering from nausea, headaches and confusion? Do you feel an overwhelming sense of deja vu and a powerful urge to demand your money back? You may have just seen the highly-anticipated and highly-disappointing sequel to "The Hangover." The plot from the first film was simply duplicated, like "Home Alone 2: Lost in New York" and the "Back to the Future" series, but done with far less originality or creativity. It's as if the creators took the script from "The Hangover," replaced every reference to Las Vegas with Bangkok, congratulated each other on their collective brilliance, and called it a day.
Straitlaced dentist Stu, with his full set of teeth restored, is set to marry a beautiful woman from Thailand and, once again, the "Wolfpack" ends up in a conundrum that threatens the impending wedding. Two nights before the nuptials, the guys party like rock stars, becoming inexplicably intoxicated and waking in a strange hotel room with no memory of what happened the night before. They lose one member of the gang this time, it's Stu's soon-to-be brother-in-law and have to retrace their steps in order to track him down and save the day.
Unlike the first "Hangover," the sequel is completely devoid of any real laughs. The utter mayhem doesn't feel quite so amusing the second time around. Unfortunately, we'll probably be invited to another wedding with the Wolfpack I don't think they will be receiving an RSVP from me.
WATCH THIS
For "Ugly Betty" fans, the airwaves have seemed slightly less fashionable and catty with the absence of Becki Newton, who played Mode Magazine's vicious receptionist Amanda on the show. She'll be back tonight in the series premiere of NBC's "Love Bites," which contains different stories each week about dating, marriage and love, or the lack thereof. Jordana Spiro from "My Boys" also stars. The show will air on Thursdays at 10 p.m.
Perhaps in an attempt to capitalize on the supernatural craze, MTV has turned the 1980s hit "Teen Wolf" into a modern TV series. The show debuts Sunday at 11 p.m., immediately following the 2011 MTV Movie Awards (which starts at 9). I watched a trailer for "Teen Wolf" and it appears to be the neglected love child of the music video for Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and "The Vampire Diaries." No, thank you.
Since a new reality show competition is born every minute, I didn't bother to mention last week's premiere of Bravo's "Platinum Hit." However, after watching the first episode on Monday, the show might be among my guilty pleasures for the summer (though perhaps this is the end-of-season desperation talking). Hosted by Jewel with shortlived "American Idol" judge Kara DioGuardi as head of the judging panel, a group of young singer-songwriters will compete for a recording deal, a publishing deal and cash prize. The first challenge for the group, who appeared to have each gone on an Urban Outfitters shopping spree prior to their television debuts, was to write the hook for a song about Los Angeles in 30 minutes. The results were quite entertaining. Check it out Mondays at 10 p.m. on Bravo (and I'm sure you can find the first episode among the network's endless re-runs).
April Diodato is the OBSERVER Lifestyles editor. Send comments and events to adiodato@observertoday.com
