The Cantab Returns
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The Cantab Returns
The Cantab Lounge is reopening. After 50 years of operation, Fitzy put up a for sale sign in July 2020 and the joint was scooped up by Tim Dibble, a private equity partner from Concord. After much anxiety about a scrubbed-clean, Bowery-booked music venue, the bar’s general manager Mike Cronin and Dibble assured that updates would maintain the dive’s feel and independent booking (courtesy of Mickey Bliss) - just with some fresh paint, a new bar top, and updated bathrooms. This Thursday, December 9th at 8 p.m., will mark a Grand Reopening with the bar’s Thursday night residents: The Chicken Slacks. Jazz, soul, bluegrass, punk, and funk are all set to return but the Wednesday Boston Poetry Slam still seems to be a question mark after Bliss reported the slam’s organizer had no interest in returning to the literary helm - though Boston Poetry Slam maintains that they’re on hiatus until they have a way to ensure health and safety at the frequently sold out show. Looking for the return of other shuttered faves? The Pour House’s revival seems to be kicking into full gear with reports of liquor license hearings and newly signed leases via Marc Hurwitz’s Hidden Boston Restaurant Talk.
DO THIS
Today
Speak up at a Boston City Council Meeting to reinstate an elected Boston School Committee rather than an appointed one. Spearheaded by Councilor Meija, the motion comes in response to the overwhelming support of Boston voters to this year’s ballot question on the matter. 3:30 p.m.//free
Get a glass poured and your cards read with Haley Sherif at Wild Child Books and Wine in Somerville. 4 - 7 p.m.//$5 - 25
Celebrate the final night of Hanukkah at Boston’s first and only pop-up Hanukkah bar with Bamba, gelt, and a boozy latke sour. 5 - 10 p.m.//free
Learn about the Boston Harbor Islands as urban archipelago when Pavla Šimková takes you through the environmental and anthropological history of our shoreline’s gems. 5:30 - 6:30 p.m.//free
Tomorrow
Get lost in the stacks with historians Andrew Pettegree and Arthur de Weduwen as they talk about their latest collaboration, The Library: A Fragile History, at the Boston Athenaeum. 12 - 1 p.m.//$5
Kick off Girl Scout Cookie Season on Rose Kennedy Greenway with local troops and a cookie-themed Airstream trailer. 3 - 6 p.m.//free
The City of Cambridge will begin a curbside pickup program for textile recycling and reuse today! Schedule a free pick-up or find a drop off box here. The program is the next step in the city’s Zero Waste Master Plan and welcomes all shoes, clothing, sheets, and other fabrics. now - forever//free
Wednesday
Scope out your favorite pieces at Gallery 263’s Winter Auction Fundraiser with a cocktail and some art-loving friends. Be sure to get your bid in before the auction’s end Dec. 16th! 4 - 7 p.m.//free
Get some gardening done when you grab a drink from Aloft Seaport at their Succulent Terrarium Making Night. 6:30 - 8:30 p.m.//$49
Thursday
Speak up at a Boston City Council meeting on a sheltered market program for minority and women-owned businesses in Boston ordered by Mayor Wu. 2 p.m.//free
Bring your pup to Arsenal Yards for Santa Paws, a pet-friendly photo op with Santa. 4 - 7 p.m.//$5 donation to Ruff Tales Rescue
A Thousand Ways: An Assembly is the final theater event in the 600 HIGHWAYMEN series where the audience provides the story. Twelve strangers from the crowd will respond to a stack of instructive notecards and props for a night of surprise and communion at the ICA. 6 p.m.//$10-20
Friday
Offer testimony at Boston City Council’s meeting on installing solar panels in municipal parking lots and buildings, EV charging infrastructure, and electrifying public transportation. 11 a.m.//free
Get to O’Briens for a gig a decade in the making: the Boston Hassle 10th Anniversary Fundraiser Show, for some sweet Boston underbelly sound to the tune of independent journalism. 8 p.m.//$10
Saturday
The Venn Holiday Market is almost like most other holiday markets except all the makers are also Boston’s favorite multi talented working musicians. Check it out at the Crystal Ballroom at the Somerville Theatre. 11 a.m. - 3 p.m.//free
Check out Winter Fest for Taza Hot Chocolate, live music curated by ONCE Somerville, ice sculpture carving, and interactive art installations at Boynton Yards. 11 a.m.//free
Sunday
Make your voice heard on the final day to vote in the City of Cambridge’s participatory budgeting - a time when anyone living in Cambridge aged 12 and older can tell the city what to prioritize financially. Ends midnight tonight//free
Join illustrator Clare Walker Leslie with a pencil and some paper for a Nature Sketching Workshop at Mount Auburn Cemetery. 1 - 3 p.m.//$7-12
This week’s edition of Inbound was brought to you by Maya Detwiller.