R. Eric Thomas, FringeArts cabaret, and more close out February

Another month is in the books as we Leap Day our way into March and a handful of events in the city. A pair of Philly writers bring their books home, and Cerulean Arts shows us parts of the city in a light we don’t see often. One Book, One Philly screens an integral documentary, and FringeArts gets fabulous and funky with a night of cabaret.

Don’t forget, The N Crowd gives its weekly Friday show (BSR’s own Neil Bardhan will be there giving us all the good laughs we need in the midst of this retrograde) and the Philadelphia Flower Show will be blossoming at the Convention Center.

Happy Leap Day, y’all!

R. Eric Thomas’s Here For It

The Baltimore native and Philly-groomed “person of the Internet” comes to the Free Library on the Parkway for a reading and signing on Thursday, February 27 at 7:30pm. He’s known for his “Eric Reads the News,” a daily humor column on pop culture and politics. He’s even gotten some Lin-Manuel Miranda praise. And he’s back in Philly to promote his debut book of essays, Here For It, which I reviewed earlier this month!

Night Theater

The Penn Book Center welcomes Vikram Paralkar, author of Night Theater, in conversation with Nathaniel Popkin, on Thursday, February 27 at 6:30pm.

Night Theater tells a story set in rural India where a surgeon must bring a dead family back to life. The novel blends social criticism, corruption, and ethics with a little magic. Raised in Mumbai, Paralkar is a physician-scientist at UPenn, so this blend of magical realism is definitely intriguing.

The Stillness of the City

Cerulean Arts is pleased to present an exhibition of paintings by Daina Higgins, Shushana Rucker, Sophie White and Martha Wirkijowski. The urban landscapes with “implicit human presence” observe corners of city life not visted by tourists, including aging neighborhoods, railyards, and the like. Cerulean Arts promises a poetic collection with subdued palettes, dramatic uses of light and color, and more for mysterious and unheroic landscapes. Check it out as the exhibit opens on Thursday, February 26 through March 22, 2020, with the reception this Saturday at 2pm and a talk with the artists later on March 14.

Get Pegged Cabaret

Curated by John Jarboe and guest hosted by Martha Graham Cracker, FringeArts presents a night of cabaret with Molly Pope and PJ Brown. Brown arrives with her band, Her Resistance, for some experimental dark soul blended with funk (sign me up). Pope comes with “two things absolutely necessary for a good time—a gay man and a piano. The good times happen Friday, February 28 at 10:30pm.

One Book, One Philly Film: Awake: A Dream from Standing Rock

One Book, One Philly is screening Awake: A Dream from Standing Rock, a documentary on the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe’s resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline. Catch it at the Kensington Neighborhood Library, 104 West Dauphin Street, Philadelphia, on Saturday at 2pm.