This Weekend: Escape Your Couch Dent

Okay, the election is over, Halloween specials are over, baseball is over, pro football stinks this season and the fall Network TV lineup is kind of underwhelming. The Holiday Season is far enough away that you don't have to start worrying about it just yet (unless of course you are in the retail business, in which case, you've been worried about it for two months). With nothing good on the tube (Deal or No Deal? No way!), and the stress of the Holidays coming up, these next two weekends are a great opportunity to get off the couch and do something.

So wipe those brownie crumbs off of your stomach, put on some pants that aren't flannel and get out there. Here's what's up this weekend:

Glorious weather aside, winter is almost upon us, so it’s not surprising that theater and music are starting to dominate the calendar a little bit. On Friday night, the Capitol Opera is putting on Puccini’s classic La bohème, the Rose Lehrman Arts Center has A Skull in Connemara—which is a very hot show right now, the Whitaker Center is staging The Sound of Music and Gamut Classic Theatre will have Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. All of them will be showing multiple times in the next week or so, so even if you can’t go Friday, check out the entry for the show you’re interested in and see what other dates are available.

Friday is the first in November, so you also have the normal First Friday celebrations in Lebanon, New Cumberland and Lancaster. Musically, Messiah College and XPN welcome the great Conor Oberst. Let me tell you, opening act Ben Kweller is no slouch either.

A lot of the same shows going on Saturday, but while you have the TV off, why not pick up some books for the winter. The Kline Branch of the Dauphin County Library System is hosting a Friends of the Library Book Sale, and this English major has had luck at library sales in the past. You just have to be patient and willing to look. Also on Saturday night, the Harrisburg Symphony will present another Masterworks concert, this one called Dance to the Music of Time.

More theater and symphony on Sunday, but Sunday night, Hot Buttered Rum will be at Appalachian Brewing Company as part of their November Bluegrass Series. I’ve listened to at least a little bit of all of the bands that are coming as part of the series, and they were definitely my favorite.

As for me, I’ll be at Conor on Friday night, not sure past that. Have fun kids.