COVER STORY
Lucky 13: 14 ways to have fun on Friday the 13th
Today is the third Friday the 13th of 2009, so get out and live a little with these things to do
Who’s afraid of Friday the 13th? Everybody! Folklorists say that fear of the number 13 is the most popular superstition in America. It even has its own name: paraskavedekatriaphobia. The most oft-quoted theory has it that 13 became an unlucky number because there were 13 at the table at Christ’s Last Supper. Thirteen is also believed to have been considered unlucky in the days of the Pharaohs.
Then there is the fear of Friday. Christ was crucified on a Friday, runs the most common rationale. But the fear might go back further. Fridays were days of sacrifice in pagan cultures, anthropologists point out. Scholars say Fridays were considered unlucky in ancient Egypt and ancient Israel.
All this scholarship helps explain why, when Friday and the number 13 collide, some see it as a double order of bad luck. And today, the question looms:
With Friday the 13th upon us, what do we do? Go with it, is our suggestion. Do not fight the darkness of the day!
This is the third Friday the 13th this year—we had two in a row, in February and March. Two down, one to go. You can get through it. You can even enjoy it.
Take your pick from our 13 suggestions.
1. At 10:30 a. m. today and 8 p. m. Saturday at Kleinhans Music Hall, JoAnn Falletta leads the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in music of Mozart—the haunting Piano Concerto No. 23, featuring Israeli pianist Roman Rabinovich— and Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony. Plus, BPO Concertmaster Michael Ludwig plays three pieces by the glamorous Viennese violinist Fritz Kreisler. Thirteen letters in Ludwig’s name, 13 letters in Kreisler’s. Clearly this concert was meant to be, and you were meant to be at it. Call 885-5000.
2. Talk about bad luck. You’re a hostage, imprisoned by jihadists and stuck in a cell with leg shackles and two other people you have trouble getting along with. Don’t bet on a happy ending, either. Welcome to “Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me,” on stage at the Irish Classical Theatre. It’s today at 7:30 p. m. and continues through Nov. 22. Call 853-4282.
3. We all know Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper.” But what about Andy Warhol’s version? Warhol, a devout Catholic, stayed true to da Vinci’s original but gave it pop art colors. Now, Niagara University students have repainted Warhol’s picture as a mural, to go with the current Castellani Art Gallery exhibit “Andy Warhol’s Photographic Legacy.” See the mural, and the exhibit, at the Castellani gallery on the campus of Niagara University. Admission is free.
4. There’s always something Friday the 13th-ish going on in labyrinthine East Aurora, where Mason Winfield leads ghost walks and Elbert Hubbard haunts the Roycroft Campus. Today at the spooky hour of 7 p. m., at the Cornell Cooperative Extension Building, 21 S. Grove St., British expert Sig Lonegren leads a workshop called “Ancient Mysteries of Labyrinths and the Making of a Labyrinth.” “Sig is a great mystic and a fine scholar,” Winfield says. “This is a must for any ghost hunter.” The fee is $15 to $25. Call 655-6663.
5. What’s 13 times 3? Thirty-nine! Celebrate that equation by seeing “The 39 Steps” at the Kavinoky Theatre. It’s based on the Hitchcock thriller, and there’s an on-stage plane crash, handcuffs and missing fingers. (The Kavinoky says something about good old-fashioned romance too, but bah, humbug to that.) The play runs through Dec. 6. Call 829-7668. (See an interview with cast member Robert Rutland on Page 2.)
6. Felix Mendelssohn was in his 39th year when he died his untimely death. Weep over that tragedy as the Fredonia State College School of Music observes the great composer’s 200th birthday with a piano recital featuring Jonathan Mann and special guest artists. The evening includes music by Mendelssohn, Johann Sebastian Bach, Robert Schumann and the Romantic composer Ignaz Moscheles. The concert takes place at 8 tonight in Rosch Recital Hall on the Fredonia campus. It’s free! Call 673-3686 for info.
7. Croatians have some super superstitions. Don’t light a cigar from a candle, or a sailor will die. Don’t brush your hair in bed, or someone will fall ill. And knock on wood before you go hear Large Marvin, a band formed in 2001 that had its first gig at the Croatian Club in Riverside. Tonight at 6, Large Marvin plays Alternative Brews, 3488 Sheridan Drive. Go! Ask to hear “Dead Flowers” and “Walking After Midnight.” Call 446-0424 for info.
8. The Gateway Gallery is getting into the spirit with the ominously titled “Racing Death,” an exhibit of paintings by Jonathan Rogers. Aliens, demons, ghosts, spectral visitors—they are all Rogers’ art, and surely they hover over his bed at night. Rogers’ art, which is in the permanent collections of the Albright-Knox Art Gallery and the Castellani Gallery, has more than a touch of the surreal. The Gateway Gallery is at 141 Elmwood Ave. For info, call 886-6888. \
9. Thirteen songs by Leonard Cohen are featured in “Sweet Street,” the musical by Richard Lambert all about, wouldn’t you know, people who are down on their luck. The show is on stage at the New Phoenix Theatre, the fabled building on Johnson Park that used to be a seance house. Curtain time is 8 p. m. Admission is $20; $15 for students and seniors. Call 853-1334.
10. The keepers of the Van Horn Mansion in Newfane must have reason to believe that on Friday the 13th, the ghost of Malinda Van Horn will be afoot. Want to say hello? Reservations are recommended, and we are not surprised, for the Van Horn Mansion Haunted Candlelight Experience, at 2165 Lockport-Olcott Road, Newfane. 7 p. m. to 10.30 p. m. For info, call 778-7197.
11. “Black cat and an owl come to keep me company,” the old-time bluesman Lonnie Johnson used to sing. Request that song when the Third Degree Blues Band plays Dooley’s, 850 Englewood, at 10 tonight. Call 877-2877.
12. The tango is a dance known to have powers bordering on the supernatural. Rudolph Valentino popularized the dance in America in 1921, a year whose digits, we do not have to point out, add up to 13. Hear “Spring” from “The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires” by tango king Astor Piazzolla tonight, when UB presents “Music From Copland House.” The concert takes place at 7:30 p. m. at Lippes Hall in Slee Hall on UB’s North Campus. For info, call 645-2921.
13. “Silent Insanity: Asylums Unraveled” is the promising title of a photography exhibit at Artsphere Studio, 447 Amherst St. Surely it contains pictures of people who ran up against the number 13 one too many times. The exhibit runs only through Nov. 14, so this is a most excellent night to visit. For info, call 510-4007.
14. We saved the best for last! Only Friday the 13th would bring an opportunity for a “meet and greet” with Leatherface, the monster from “Leatherface: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre III.” Actor R. A. Milhailoff will be signing autographs, posing for pictures, and discussing his roles in various horror films. It happens at Frightworld America’s Screampark, Northtown Plaza, 3097 Sheridan Drive. It’s only 13 bucks to get in. Say that Gusto sent you.
Didn’t we say we had 13 tips? On second thought, we decided to make it 14.
Just hedging our bets. •
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