What to Do? What to Do?

In the mid-1960s, poet/critic Frank O'Hara and Dutch artist Jan Cremer collaborated on a series of prints that have never been shown in the U.S., until this evening, when Load of Fun opens a month-long show and hosts a reading of O'Hara's poems by Michael Ball, Chris Mason, Chris Toll, David Beaudouin, and Megan McShea. Load of Fun proprietor Sherwin Mark made the original prints for Cremer in Amsterdam back in the day, so that's how this work found its way to Baltimore. The readings begin at 7:30 pm.

Later tonight, Current Gallery hosts a party for the release of Proliferate, the tri-annual zine of new poetry.

Tomorrow, Soulful Symphony, after a year-long hiatus, kicks off its residency at the Hippodrome with a show that includes tributes to Motown and Michael Jackson; the Baltimore Playwrights Festival has its public reading marathon at Spotlighter's Theater with readings scheduled for 11 am, 1 pm, and 3 pm; and what figures to be an excellent show of Raoul Middleman's work (City Limits) opens at American University.

Sunday, drumming powerhouse Hans Bennink and an all-star band (including bassist Mike Formanek and pianist Lafayette Gilchrist) play Windup Space, the closing party for Crystal Moll's painting show at Silo Point starts at 3 pm, and Art on Purpose winds up its year-long Black Male Identity project with a day-long celebration/event at the Reginald Lewis Museum. The Lewis event, which lasts from noon to 5 pm, is free, open to the public, and includes live music, art activities, raffles, and the opening of the museum's new show, Dandy Lion: Articulating a Re(de)fined Black Masculine Identity.