Who Is Number 89, Anyway

Picture it. Friday night, the lights come up over Bulldog Stadium, and a student at the gate hands you a trading card. There's a Batavia football player on it, and the card doesn't tell you his name. It just asks, in print, who is number eighty-nine. You have to scan the code on the back to find out. It's card three of a ten-card set, and right now it's the only card that exists.

Welcome to Batavia This Week, the Downtown Socialite edition, where we chase the good night wherever it's hiding.

This week the whole town seems to be in a conversational mood. Somebody's always got a microphone, a question, or a mystery to hand you.

Start Monday, because Monday is when the brave people show up. Open Mic Night at The Comedy Vault on East Wilson Street, eight in the evening, free to get in. Local comics and seasoned road dogs work out new material in the same room, which means you might catch something brilliant and you might catch something that dies gloriously in front of you. Both are worth the trip. Five dollar well drinks, four dollar domestics, buy one get one appetizers. It's eighteen and over, and there's a two item minimum.

Tuesday, go sit outside while you still can. The Sidecar Supper Club Beer Garden on North River Street hosts its Musician Spotlight at six in the evening with The Pretty Hippie, which is Carissa May playing solo acoustic, drifting from classic rock to country to pop to reggae to her own songs. Half price hand ground burgers. Two dollars off draft beers. This is a Tuesday ritual that runs May through September, and September is almost gone.

Wednesday, The Comedy Vault brings in Amber Wallin, a Los Angeles based comedian and host with more than three million social media followers. Lifestyle comedy, parenting humor, the kind of act that fills a room fast. This is a special event, not the open mic, so treat it accordingly and get your seat early.

Thursday belongs to the know-it-alls. Team Trivia at The Sidecar Supper Club Beer Garden, seven in the evening, free. Go 4 It Entertainment runs six rounds of general trivia with musical hints and toss up questions, and there are free tasty prizes on the line. Bring the friend who remembers song lyrics from nineteen ninety-four. Every good team needs one.

And then there's Friday, which is a whole evening's worth of scheduling problems in the best possible way.

Batavia High School varsity football hosts Lake Park at Bulldog Stadium. Sophomores play at four thirty, varsity kicks off at seven. It's Difference Maker Night, and everyone who walks in the gate gets that mystery trading card. Here's what we can tell you. Number eighty-nine was a Batavia receiver in the early nineteen eighties who never really left, and he's been on a Bulldog sideline most Friday nights for thirty years. The card won't say who. You scan it and find out. Two to four thousand people are expected, so come early, get your card, and try to guess before the person next to you does. Tickets go through GoFan, and if you can't be there it's on HUDL or BATV.

Same night, different mood. Second Fridays in the Arts District at Water Street Studios, six in the evening, free with donations appreciated. This one's the seventeenth anniversary show, a gallery opening reception with the neighbors joining in, so wander over to Kiss the Sky and Warehouse 55 while you're down there. Seventeen years of a nonprofit where the kids' Saturday classes and the resident artists and you, holding a plastic cup, all share the same roof. That's worth toasting.

And if the night still has legs, The Sidecar has Union Avenue at eight in the evening. Gritty rockabilly, jump blues, old style country. Vintage electric guitar, upright bass played slap style, drums with rock in them. Yes, you can do gallery, then stadium, then rockabilly. We believe in you.

Saturday morning, sober up gracefully at Batavia City Hall at ten, where Water Street Studios unveils the America 250 mural by Marty Gniech, a permanent public artwork with live performances, a meet the artist moment, family activities and pop ups. Free.

Then close the week with something smoky. The Andrew DiRuzza Jazz Trio plays Brother Chimp Brewing over in St. Charles at seven Saturday evening, swing and modern jazz and Latin styles in a room built for small batch beer and paying attention.

That's your week. Get the full list at bataviail.co, and go be somewhere. This has been Batavia This Week.