5 Things To Do This Weekend, From A Steamroller Music Box To Chinese New Year Parade

Giant puppets, a steamroller music box, Catholic reliquaries -- Boston’s got you covered this weekend.

CRASHfest | Saturday, Feb. 24 | House of Blues, Boston

The motto of CRASHfest is “music knows no borders,” and every year the festival makes a more convincing case for that ideal. Now in its third year, the event — at an evening long, it’s really more of a mini-fest — is the creation of the longtime Boston concert promoter World Music/CRASHarts, and it features music from all over the globe and across many genres. This year’s festival is headlined by indie pop band Rubblebucket and Malian guitar legend Vieux Farka Touré, and includes some pretty great local acts with international roots. (Take a look at how the fest takes shape.)

'Bill Cunningham New York' | Sunday, Feb. 25 | ICA, Boston

When Bill Cunningham died in 2016, the world lost a true original. The New York Times fashion photographer, who worked for the paper for nearly 40 years, captured his greatest shots on the city’s streets, of its own inhabitants. “Bill Cunningham New York” depicts the man in his element, darting through the metropolis in search of sartorial inspiration.

Chinatown Lion Dance Parade | Sunday, Feb. 25 | Phillips Square, Boston

The Chinese New Year may have come and gone, but the festivities keep on rolling. This weekend the Chinatown Lion Dance Parade hits the streets with an eye-popping procession helmed by giant lion puppets. Here's a look at the festivities from a couple years ago:

‘Fantastical, Political’ | Through June 3 | Fitchburg Art Museum

The five contemporary artists featured in the Fitchburg Art Museum’s “Fantastical, Political” exhibition present work meant to provoke questions about current politics and culture. They range from the bizarre to the whimsical — like a steamroller that has been transformed into a giant music box that plays the national anthem. (Learn more about that piece and the exhibit from my colleague Andrea Shea.)

'Fra Angelico: Heaven On Earth' | Through May 20 | Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston

In the Catholic church, holy relics -- the physical remnants of saints, like clothes or even bones -- possess great spiritual value. And the containers that house these relics, called reliquaries, are works of art in themselves. Three reliquaries by the renowned Renaissance painter Fra Angelico, on loan from Florence, join their sister, “Assumption and Dormition of the Virgin,” at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. (Hear more about these rare masterpieces from Andrea Shea's report.)