Sun Parade with The Congress • Thursday Feb. 4
Ahhh, Sun Parade. You make feel-good happy music that makes me want to take a drive (and I don’t even like driving). Even though you’re singing — soothingly, I’ll add — about breakups, ham sandwiches, and existential crises, I can’t help but smile and bop around when I hear your upbeat tunes. It’s just easier to contemplate life and ham and cheese when you throw it up against sunny beats. Check them out at One Bar next Thursday, Feb. 4, starting at 8 p.m. Tickets $8.
— Amanda Drane
Hell Night @ The Quarters • Sunday
There are two things I love to mix the most: metal and horror. You will endure that at Hell Night at The Quarters arcade bar on Sunday. All genres of metal — the doom, the sludge, the black, etc. — will be spinning in the background throughout the night. They will have some spicy cocktails and food specials for your indulgence of hotness. All while Italian horror plays on a projection screen for your gory pleasure. 8 p.m., 8 Railroad St., Hadley.
— Jennifer Levesque
ChibiCon: The Traveling Cosplay Show • Friday
Hard to believe it’s already been a year since the creation of Serenity Lockhart’s drag-tastic ChibiCon Cosplay Nights. Swing by One Bar & Grill in Northampton on Friday night to see how the show has grown. Special guests Veronica Bow, Loo D’Flyest Priestly, and (faux) bio-queen Ally P.Sha (Juliana Vargas) perform at 11 p.m. The cosplay show begins at 12:15 a.m., hosted by Serenity Lockhart with Tytannia Loveless Lockhart, Erynn Rocabich Tragedia, Ruby Monroe, and Ryan Bolly, with music from DJ Ronnie Ruki. Doors open at 9 p.m. $10. 21+
— Kristin Palpini
Boogaloo Film Screening with Latin Dance Party and DJ • Wednesday
Latin boogaloo was born in 1960s Spanish Harlem from the blending of R&B and Afro-Cuban rhythms. We Like It Like That, a new documentary recently screened at SXSW, was born of filmmaker Mathew Rodriguez Warren’s passionate interest in this very New York, almost-forgotten music genre. Join Warren for a screening of the flick, followed by a reception and Latin dance party with DJ Bongohead at the High Horse. Wed. Feb. 3 at 7 p.m. at Amherst Cinema. Adult tickets $9.75.
— Hunter Styles
