This Thanksgiving we should all be thankful we live in a place where there is SO MUCH FUN SHIT TO DO ALWAYS. Here are five things you can do with yourself this weekend:
Plaid Friday
The day after Thanksgiving no longer needs to send shivers down your spine — in Oakland, Black Friday is now wearing plaid. Put on your best flannel and visit over thirty Downtown Oakland shops for special discounts all day. Even better, collect stamps at each Plaid Friday store you visit and redeem them for extra-special deals at participating bars, restaurants, and cafes in the area. Shop local, eat local, and remember why holiday gift shopping doesn’t need to be synonymous with hell. Visit PlaidFriday.com for a map of participating businesses and more details.
Bells
Mentioning Bells in my “intro to me” opus I wrote my first week as music editor may have been a misstep — there are more global-fusion bands in my inbox than you can shake a maraca at — and yet I don’t regret promoting the East Bay’s answer to one of my favorite Brooklyn bands, Ava Luna. Like Ava Luna, Bells is a group of men and women who play a percussion-heavy style of various genres: art rock, Afro-pop, jazz, blues, and lounge, to name a few. At Bells’ recent Cafe du Nord gig, it played a tight but improvisational set that held the energy of a band whose members truly loved making music together. The intimate, jazz-geared Disco Volante should be an ideal venue for Bells, which plays an entire show by itself on Saturday, Nov. 24, before taking off for two weeks of gigs in Miami. 9 p.m., $5. DiscoVolanteOakland.com — Whitney Phaneuf
