5 Things

Comedy, gaming, music, and TWO galas? This weekend isn’t afraid to look down its fancy nose at the inferior Other Weekends around it.

January 23, 2014; 7:17 AM • by Susan Howson

Family-oriented? Check out 5 Things for Families. You won’t be sorry, and you won’t miss naptime.

1. Sweatlist: Stand-Up Open Mic

You know that guy at your office who’s always like, “Take my wife, please!” and “Ho ho, I started a 30-day diet and I’ve already lost 15 days!” and you sort of want to hate him but then you realize he has a really depressing life and this is the most fun he has all day? Hopefully that guy will not be at Sweatlist, the free stand-up open mic night involves a set of topics that these Seinfeld-hopefuls will have to follow. That means a lot of riffing, y’all, and spontaneity breeds hilarity, or something like that.

• Thursday, January 23 • 8:00 – 9:30 PM
• Coalition Theater, 8 W. Broad Street
• Pay what you can!

2. RVA Fashion Week Winter Gala

Heck yes, we have a fashion week. We are fashionable as all get-out, and this annual event puts together all of the area’s top designers and models to showcase all the pretty stuff we can put on our bodies. Put on your best things (seriously, your best, don’t embarrass me) and strut down to the Winter Gala to celebrate all things style. I hear it’s going to be really HAUTE! Ha ha! See you at Sweatlist!

• Thursday, January 23 • 8:00 PM
• FW Sullivan’s Bar and Grill, 1001 Haxall Point
• $10 – $75

3. Global Game Jam

Richmond as a game-loving whole is delighted to welcome the legendary Zoe Quinn to Game Jam, the 48-hour game-making challenge. Quinn’s Depression Quest has won all sorts of awards, so she will turn this exciting event into an ultra-exciting one. Seriously, you should check out what she has to say at her keynote speech. She’s pretty inspiring.

• Friday, January 24 – Sunday, January 26 • see site for schedule
• 804RVA, 1657 W. Broad Street
• Free!

4. LolliPops Presents: An American in Paris

Richmond Symphony’s LolliPops is dang cute. You bring your kids an hour early and they get to play with actual instruments, then they sit (hopefully) through some great works and learn some things etc. This time around, Richmond Ballet is lending a hand and plenty of feet to Gershwin’s An American in Paris, so the kids will love it that much more.

• Saturday, January 25 • 11:00 AM
• Carpenter Theatre, 600 E. Grace Street
• $10 for adults AND children, discounts available

5. The Elbys 2014

It’s on its third year, and it’s an adorable tradition you should get into. Richmond Magazine gives out awards to restaurateurs, chefs, and the like, to help celebrate and promote (and congratulate) RVA’s burgeoning food scene. Anyone can buy a ticket, and there’s a really great party afterwards with fantastic food (natch) and lots of shmoozing with people who are dressed pretty fancily. Plus, you will learn all sorts of weird inside jokes about the restaurant crowd, which is something to pull out at parties in a haughty fashion.

• Sunday, January 26 • 6:00 PM
• VMFA, 200 N. Boulevard
• $65

Future Things

• Virginia Wine Expo–February 18th – 23rd

• Death and the Maiden–February 6th – March 1st

• RVA Environmental Film Festival–February 8th

• Cinderella–February 13th – 16th

Photo by: Judy **

January 23, 2014 7:17 AM 0