This Boy's Life
FRI 3/18
Thanks to Civil War buffs and Unsolved Mysteries, the word re-enactment has become synonymous with "dramatic presentation involving no original participants." But when Matt Wycoff started documenting his adolescence in photography, he didn't settle for stand-ins. Wycoff enlisted the principal who expelled him, the woman to whom he lost his virginity and his first drinking buddy. In another element of Oh Baby You, which opens Friday at 5 p.m. at the Paragraph (23 West 12th Street), Wycoff lists everyone he's ever met. Wycoff's work could be studied until closing time, but art enthusiasts who feel sufficiently acquainted can wander on to new Third Fridays exhibits nearby at The Bank (11th and Baltimore) and Jenkins (1217 Walnut). Call 816-695-7734. -- Andrew Miller
Celtschmerz
This year's Irish parade
has more shamrocks than shenanigans.
THU 3/17
Thanks to the bacchanalian excess of last year's St. Patrick's Day Parade, which culminated in the discharging of a gun, organizers this year are aiming to please the folks who are put off by public vomiting and fisticuffs. Dialing back the start time to 10 a.m., placing barriers along the route and peppering the crowd with police in search of those who have consumed one too many Irish breakfasts, the volunteer committee has turned its baby into a sleek, sober bullet of Celtic festivities. The parade starts at Union Station (40 West Pershing) and promises the usual sea of floats, with heavy doses of green and local celebrity. It ends two hours later at 15th Street and Grand, leaving us plenty of time for easing into an authentic Andy Capp stupor. -- Christopher Sebela
