This weekend, I’m leaving Anchorage for Las Vegas to attend my first concert at the Sphere. Mrs Anchorage and I are incredibly excited and there’s and interesting history angle. Stay tuned on the socials.
While I’m gawking at the world’s most conspicuous ball, Anchorage will be glowing in its own way. Friday is First Friday, our monthly art crawl when galleries, shops and other downtown spaces debut exhibitions, welcome artists and add music, refreshments and general merriment to the evening. It’s a great excuse to wander without a rigid itinerary and discover something you didn’t know you liked. It’s described as a citywide celebration of art, food, music, fashion and local businesses.
Expect some Las Vegas history and assorted desert mischief on my socials. Here at home, your weekend ranges from candlelit strings to cyberpunk motorcycles. Let’s get into it.
David Ion with Sterling Silver Band
Where: Carousel Lounge, 3206 Spenard Road
When: Friday, September 4, 9 p.m.–1 a.m.
If First Friday fills your cultural cup but leaves your dancing shoes tragically underutilized, head toward Spenard. David Ion and the Sterling Silver Band take over the Carousel for four hours of live music in one of Anchorage’s most enduringly unpretentious watering holes.
This is the pick for people who prefer their Friday nights friendly, lively and blessedly free of velvet ropes. Go see some art downtown, grab dinner and then migrate west when you’re ready to trade gallery contemplation for the dance floor.
More info: AK Concerts’ Anchorage music calendar and the Carousel Lounge event page
Candlelight: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac
Where: 49th State Brewing, 717 West Third Avenue
When: Saturday, September 5, 5:30–6:30 p.m.
Fleetwood Mac songs have survived breakups, reconciliations and enough interpersonal turbulence to qualify for their own NOAA advisory. Now selections including “Landslide,” “Rhiannon,” “Go Your Own Way” and “The Chain” receive the full candlelit string-quartet treatment.
Listeso String Quartet performs the hour-long program inside 49th State Brewing. It should be elegant without feeling stuffy and early enough to become the opening number in a longer Saturday night. Doors open one hour before the performance, late entry isn’t permitted, and guests must be at least 8 years old; anyone under 16 needs an adult. I went and saw their Adele show and was thoroughly impressed…
More info and tickets: Official Fever event listing
The Rebel Blues Band
Where: 907 Alehouse & Grill, 8001 Old Seward Highway
When: Saturday, September 5, 7–10:30 p.m.
If candlelight feels a bit too polite or you simply need a second act, The Rebel Blues Band is bringing three-and-a-half hours of live blues to 907 Alehouse.
This one has all the ingredients of an easy Anchorage night out: a local band, a casual room, food within arm’s reach and enough time to settle in instead of racing through a 45-minute set. Come for dinner, stay for the guitar work and let the blues improve your mood through methods that remain scientifically mysterious.
More info: Facebook Event Page
Linda Lucky Gallery Sitting
Where: International Gallery of Contemporary Art, 427 D Street
When: Sunday, September 6, 1–4 p.m.
First Friday gets the headlines, but Sunday offers a quieter opportunity to spend time with the art (and the artist).
Linda Lucky will be sitting the gallery during her South Gallery exhibition, SEX, a playful and intentionally provocative exploration of a deceptively complicated question: What is sexy to you? An artist sitting gives visitors the increasingly rare chance to ask questions, hear the thinking behind the work and have an actual conversation instead of silently nodding at a wall label.
Two additional September exhibitions—David Pettibone’s Figurescape and Ted Kincaid’s The Rebirth of Shipwreck—make this an especially worthwhile downtown art stop.
More info: International Gallery of Contemporary Art
AKIRA Anime Screening Meetup
Where: Cinemark Century Anchorage 16 and XD, 301 East 36th Avenue
When: Sunday, September 6, 3:50–5:50 p.m.
End the weekend with futuristic motorcycles, psychic chaos and an animated Tokyo having an even more difficult time with infrastructure than Anchorage during orange-cone season.
The Films with Friends group is gathering for a theatrical screening of AKIRA, the landmark 1988 cyberpunk anime. It’s an especially good pick if you’d like to meet fellow movie fans without walking into a mixer where someone immediately asks what you do for work. RSVP with the group, purchase your theater ticket and look for the meetup host inside.
More info and RSVP: Films with Friends on Meetup
Theater information: Cinemark Century Anchorage 16 and XD
Honorable Mention: The Alaska State Fair’s Final Weekend
Where: Alaska State Fairgrounds, 2075 Glenn Highway, Palmer
When: Friday–Sunday, September 4–6; hours and individual event times vary
The fair closes for the season after Labor Day, so this is your final full weekend to eat something unreasonable on a stick, admire a vegetable with its own gravitational field and discover how much money you’re willing to spend to win a stuffed animal.
Weekend highlights include Friday’s demolition derby, giant cabbage weigh-off and Twisted Sister featuring Sebastian Bach; Saturday’s monster trucks and deadmau5; and Sunday’s Military Appreciation Day, more monster trucks and Jesse McCartney. The fair continues through Monday, September 7.
Prefer to leave the driving to someone else? The Alaska Railroad is offering two Anchorage–Palmer round trips per day from Friday through Sunday.
That’s your weekend, Anchorage: art, strings, blues, anime and one last chance to stand respectfully before an enormous cabbage.
I’ll be down in Las Vegas investigating whether the Sphere is visible from space or from the hotel room I could afford. Follow along for concert content, strange Vegas history and whatever other discoveries survive the desert heat.
Until next week, keep your eyes on the art, your ears on the music and your fry bread somewhere I can’t reach it.
—Mr. Anchorage