Friday | March 5
“Please don’t confuse our show with typical antique shows,” advises the website for the Chicagoland Antique Advertising, Slot-Machine & Jukebox Show. The longest-running show of its kind (this is its 34th year), it will also feature strength testers, fortune-tellers, gumball machines, and neons. It’s Friday of first week, so what else could you possibly have to do besides hop in the car and try to find a collectible “one-armed bandit” or classic jukebox? Going on Friday means potentially scoring before the weekend crowds come to the Pheasant Run Resort. That being said, if you actually buy something while you’re here, you’re way too cool. 4051 East Main Street, St. Charles, 7 a.m.–5 p.m. early bird preview Friday, $7.
At the Bottom Lounge’s Voyage of the Stag Party tonight, find out what happens when you combine dragons and drinking. The answer is: magic. Really. For six years and counting, the Three Floyds brewers have collaborated with local indie band Sybris to roll the dice in bar board game mayhem, accompanied by live music performances and all the bubbling brews your wizard’s heart could possibly desire. Sybris will perform, as will similarly Chicago-based bands Rabid Rabbit and Killer Moon; level up by purchasing Sybris’s limited edition Dungeons & Dragons–themed E.P. Voyage of the Stag Party. 1375 West Lake Street, 8 p.m., $10.
Get your Archer fix while you can—the show’s fourth season ends next week. To help ease the pain, the Archer Live! tour, featuring the show’s cast and creators, will be in town this weekend. They’re slated to do live readings of some of the show’s most popular scenes, as well as a panel discussion and Q&A. If this quarter’s already feeling like the Dane Cook of your academic career, then this one’s for you. 175 North State Street, 8 p.m., $36.
It’s spring, which means Hyde Park will finally come alive again with daffodils and students who haven’t seen the light of day since last December. In the spirit of life and soul, come see BOOMscat, otherwise known as Jennifer Patience Row and Asha “BOOMCLAK” Santee, a D.C.–based pair known for its body-rolling soul and R&B music. They’re headlining a night of performance and open mic poetry, cosponsored by the Organization of Black Students. 915 East 60th Street, doors open at 6:30 p.m., open mic at 7 p.m., $5 with UCID.
Saturday | March 6
The campus zine craze (think Special Collections exhibit My Life is an Open Book, Make-a-Zine at Logan, Chicago Zine Fest) continues with a symposium at the Newberry Library. Social media has made it easy for people to express their so-called controversial beliefs, but some folks used to get creative to get their potentially dangerous thoughts to the public. The library teams up with historically literary Caxton Club to present Outsiders: Zines, Samizdat, and Alternative Publishing, a half day of presentations and panels about the “use of self-produced books and pamphlets to express individualized, unconventional, controversial, or prohibited messages.” 60 West Walton Street, 9 a.m., free.
The UChicago South Asian Students Association will present its annual cultural show The All-Nighter tonight. Between fancy sponsors like MAC and Zipcar and a video preview the group has posted on YouTube that includes footage of several people dancing and undulating in elephant masks, this is bound to be decadent. The intermission will be hosted by Be the Match and the Smart Museum. 1131 East 57th Street, dinner starts at 5:30 p.m., show at 7:30 p.m., $15 for show and dinner, $10 for show only (both prices with UCID).
Sunday | March 7
At the Haiku Fest
There will be poets reading
See the library
768 Oak Street, Winnetka, 2 p.m., free.
Light a cigarette, slick back your hair, and don your skinniest tie: Fat Cat is hosting a Mad Men Season 6 Premiere Party for the return of AMC’s shark-jumping albeit still riveting series, and the classiest guest wins a prize. There’ll be martinis, dynamite Old Fashioneds, and lots of beer at 1966 prices, not to mention complimentary candy cigarettes and sexy secretaries with whom you can cheat on your wife. 4840 North Broadway Street, 8 p.m., $21.
