Looking for something to do? Try flamenco dancing, kayaking, blues, country music & comedy

Connie Shakalis
·3 min read

Outdoors and in, the days ahead offer culture, excitement and nature. Kayak in the woods with Queer Indiana, laugh, learn about the blues, hear country music, watch a car race, sip sauvignon on the lawn or watch a flamenco show.

Flamenco outside and downtown

Thursday brings Sofia Crespo, a flamenco dancer who performs to traditional Spanish music. Watch her from 4:30 to 6 p.m. at Peoples Park, 501 E. Kirkwood Ave., in downtown Bloomington as part of the Peoples Park Concert Series.

Paddle with Queer Indiana at Yellowwood 

Kayak with Queer Indiana at 9 a.m. Saturday at Yellowwood State Forest. Kayaks will be available for rental, or bring your own. Tyler Moore co-founded Queer Indiana (QI) in 2019. "I had just reached my one-year post-grad mark from university and found myself really lost/detached from being a queer human," he said on Facebook. After he graduated he returned to Bloomington, his hometown. "While Bloomington is queer friendly, just outside of its limits, not much progress has been made." Moore helped plan a community, where he and others could feel safe and have fun in nature.

Meet at the boat dock house, next to the DNR station. For details visit https://bit.ly/3BQAs1Z or email queerindiana@gmail.com.

Ned LeDoux performs at Brown County Music Center 

Ned LeDoux' most famous song is a duet, "Whatcha Gonna Do with a Cowboy." He and Garth Brooks combined talents and the hit reached No.7 on Billboard's Hot Country Songs chart. LeDoux, along with his guest, Hoosier-raised Isaac Rudd, will perform at 8 p.m. Friday at Brown County Music Center, 200 Maple Leaf Blvd. in Nashville.

Tickets are $18-$78, at https://bit.ly/3ppgcgB. There will be no health check.

Learn about blues at Fairview Elementary

Learn the basics of blues at 4 p.m. Monday when "Songs in Parallel Thirds and Sixths" begins at Fairview Elementary School, 500 W. Seventh St. It's a piano workshop presented by Bloomington Boogies. Class is limited to 20, but observers are welcome. Register at https://bit.ly/3BT6dre as a participant or observer.

Luke Gillespie, professor of music at Indiana University, will present, using tunes including Thelonious Monk’s “Blue Monk.”

Be a happy-hour lad or lass on the grass

Ross Hollow performs folk, rock and Americana for no charge, 6:30-8 p.m. Friday at Switchyard Park's pavilion lawn,1601 S. Rogers St. You can purchase beer, wine and cocktails at the park. Bring a lawn chair and prepare to welcome the weekend. Visit https://bloomington.in.gov/parks/events/concerts.

The Comedy Attic at the corner of Fourth and Washington streets.
The Comedy Attic at the corner of Fourth and Washington streets.

Comedy Attic 

Emil Wakim and Maddie Wiener will joke at 7 and 9:15 p.m. Friday and Saturday at The Comedy Attic, 123 S. Walnut St., for $13-$16. Visit comedyattic.com/events. Masks are required before and after the show.

Standup comedian Wakim, based in New York City via Bloomington, was offered his first national TV appearance by "The Tonight Show," with Jimmy Fallon in 2014. Wakim is the youngest person to win The Comedy Attic’s Bloomington Comedy Festival.

Also from New York City is Wiener, a stand-up comedian known for her conversation-starting irreverent humor. At 22, she has more than 6.5 million views on Laugh Factory Hollywood’s Instagram page.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Flamenco dancing, kayaking and blues and country music this week