Tonight is First Friday Gallery Night all over downtown Ithaca and beyond. We're hearing Proper Wood is at Hair Color Art in Press Bay Court, Dr. Nia Nunn has a show at One World Market, Doug Landau has collages at the Community Arts Partnership ArtSpace, and Yen Ospina is at August Moon Spa.

Some amazing music! The Johnny Dowd Trio is at the Downstairs at 8, and Sim Redmond Band are at Deep Dive tonight with the Makers, that's an 8:30 show.

Tonight's Freight and Friends show at South Hill Cider was moved to Saturday night! That's a tribute to Willie Nelson's Red Headed Stranger.

Tomorrow is all about the Chili. The 25th annual Chili Cook-Off is on and around the Downtown Ithaca Commons.

Sunday, DakhaBrakha from Ukraine is at the State Theatre. 

A heads up, Nikki Glaser's Good Girl Tour comes to Ithaca next Thursday night at the State Theatre, Karan Casey is at CSMA, and Hank Roberts has a show at Deep Dive on Thursday.

Lots more at 14850.com.

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Lots more at 14850.com.

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Tonight is opening night for "Contractions," a play by Mike Bartlett produced by the House of Ithaqua at the Cherry Arts. 7pm tonight through Sunday night, then again next Thursday through Saturday.

It's Senior Weekend for Cornell men's ice hockey with their final regular season home weekend, against Clarkson tonight and St. Lawrence tomorrow night at Lynah Rink. The women finish up their regular season on the road at RPI and Union.

Some music tonight: Common Railers at Grist Iron Brewing at 6, Second Spring at the Downstairs at 7, and Sun Parade with LongStory at 9 at Deep Dive.

Our friends at the Eagles Club are holding a Chicken BBQ fundraiser from 12-2 tomorrow for the Home on the Range Foundation.

At the State Theatre tomorrow at 1 is a screening of "Inside the Mind of a Cat," a new movie featuring the Cornell Feline Health Center.

Hopshire Brewing has their Cheese & Thank You cheese tasting from 1-5 tomorrow, with Lively Run Dairy, Sunset View Creamery, Crosswinds Farm and Old Chatham Creamery sampling and selling their cheeses.

An Earthquake Disaster Relief Fundraiser at Klarman Hall on the Cornell campus tomorrow at 6, celebrating Syrian and Turkish culture through food, performances, and a silent auction. 

At the Trumansburg Conservatory of Fine Arts tomorrow at 7, Frank Vignola and Gary Mazzaroppi's Jazz Stories.

Strange Heavy and the Ilium Works are at Sacred Root at 8 Saturday, and Stranded with a Kiss and Viva Mayhem play the Range starting at 9.

And don't miss February Firehouse Flapjacks, a fundraiser pancake breakfast Sunday morning from 8-11 at the Danby Fire Station to raise money for their new jaws of life.

Lots more at 14850.com.

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Here's the Ithaca Minute for February 16th.

The Ithaca Fire Department was called to investigate smoke in a restaurant building on the Ithaca Commons on Wednesday evening, and found smoke from the basement up to the third floor. "Firefighters used thermal imaging cameras and opened holes in floors and walls to locate a fire in a first-floor wall," and firefighters were able to extinguish it and ensure it hadn’t extended deeper into the building. Lev Kitchen was the affected restaurant, and an employee of Thompson & Bleecker, next door, called to report the smoke in the basement.

Mike Bartlett's play "Contractions" runs this weekend and next, presented by the House of Ithaqua at the Cherry Artspace in Ithaca's west end, and the theatre company is trying a new ticketing approach that allows audience members to pay what they will.

And Viva Taqueria opened on its Downtown Ithaca corner in July 1995, and Pete and Ursula Browning tell us the eatery, which before long expanded into the full-service Viva Cantina, will soon move across the street to the former location of Pasta Vitto and Madeline's.

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It's Senior Weekend for Cornell women's ice hockey with their final regular season home weekend, against Brown today and Yale tomorrow, both games at 3 at Lynah Rink. The men are home against Colgate tonight and away at Colgate tomorrow night.

Cornell is hosting the Ivy League Fencing round-robins all day Saturday and Sunday at Barton Hall, and women's basketball is at home Saturday afternoon against Brown.

There's a Speed Gaming Singles Night at Modern Alchemy Game Bar starting at 6.

Music tonight, Stone Bend Farm has JP and Liam of Freight and friends including Rena Guinn playing at 5:30. The Good Bones Band playing Music in the Shire at Hopshire Farm starting at 6. And Practice at Sacred Root Kava Lounge includes Magazine Beach, Latchkey Kids, Microbes Mostly, and Gravestone Glue.

For tomorrow, Lucky Hare Brewing Company is holding Cupid is Stupid parties at both Hector and Ithaca Press Bay taprooms all afternoon, with Proper Philth DJing in Hector.

There's a spaghetti dinner fundraiser at the Lansing United Methodist Church tomorrow at 3.

Tomorrow evening a Retro Dance Party at Hopshire starts at 6, WinterDance with Ithaca Ballet at the Hangar Theatre, and Dark Hollow with Organ Fairchild at the Upstairs.

Deep Dive has a Jellicle Ball tomorrow night, a dance party with a screening of CATS, a stage recording of the musical from 1998. Not the movie with Jennifer Hudson, Ian McKellen, Dame Judi Dench, and James Corden.

On Monday, Dryden school superintendent Joshua Bacigalupi is holding coffee with the superintendent at 4pm at the Southworth Library.

And don't forget the Wine & Dine Radiothon is all day today hosted by our friends at Lite Rock 97.3 FM with Dave and Jen raising funds for the United Way of Tompkins County.

Lots more at 14850.com.

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Here's the Ithaca Minute for February 8th.

The City of Ithaca Board of Zoning Appeals voted on Tuesday night to approve two proposals on their agenda: variances to allow construction of a five-story, 77-unit apartment building on the former Ithaca Gun property, and a modification to an existing variance to allow the Lincoln Street Diner to operate seven days a week.

Rick Page, the new owner of the property at 309 East Lincoln Street, told the BZA that allowing the business to be open on Sundays would make it more profitable, important at a time when increasing food costs, staff costs, and overhead in general are squeezing small business owners, especially small eateries.

Ultimately, the Board voted unanimously to approve the appeal and remove the restriction on Sunday hours without otherwise changing the variance. During the discussion, Page mentioned that the application for Fru-Fru Hair to be allowed to open on the weekends had already been approved by the Planning Board.

The BZA's discussion of the Breeze Apartments, a Visum Development project to build dozens of apartments on a lot that has sat unused for years since the Ithaca Gun factory closed, focused on sightlines and the building's location on the site.

Board members pointed out that the apartment building would take up much less of the property than the factory that had been there previously, mused that the nearby Auden Ithaca Apartments (formerly Gun Hill Apartments) across Lake Street are just as tall, and that the project's proposed cleanup of the site would be invaluable. The BZA voted to approve the variance as proposed.

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Here's the Ithaca Minute for February 6th!

On Sunday afternoon, local jazz big band followers received the treat of the year. Kulp Auditorium at Ithaca High School was the music scene featuring the big bands of Ithaca High School, Ithaca College and Cornell University. Read all about it in Dave's wrap-up.

The Ithaca Police Department has released a photo of a suspect from an assault reported early Saturday morning, and has asked “anyone with knowledge of who this is” to contact IPD. Officers had responded at about 2:30am Saturday to take “a complaint of an assault that had just occurred in the parking lot of a business in the 200 block of South Cayuga Street.”

And the Trumansburg Farmers Market launched in 2002 and “for more than two decades has helped connect local farmers with the people they feed,” and for the first time, the organization is launching an indoor “Winter Market.”

The Trumansburg Market Board says more than a dozen local vendors will be on hand February 7th as the new Winter Market runs Tuesdays from 4-7pm, February 7th through April 11th, at the Trumansburg Firehouse.

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It's First Friday Gallery Night around downtown Ithaca and beyond! Some participants may not be open to the extreme cold. We saw the Mink Gallery is doing their opening tomorrow.

This evening there's a Farm Band Jam with Motherwort and Carbon at Hopshire Farm from 6-8, that's a free show, Pierce Walsh and Nate Richardson are at the Downstairs at 7, and Big Logic and Truth Serum are at the Range at 9. 

The Silver Moon Cabaret is at CSMA with music, burlesque, and drag at 9:30.

Tomorrow, Buffalo Street Books has a book launch for Michael Trotti at 3 for his second book, the End of Public Execution. There's a big Planned Parenthood benefit show at the Range starting at 6 featuring Richie and Rosie, Aaron Lipp and friends and numerous other acts.

Sunday the Diana Leigh Quartet is at Six Mile Creek Vineyard at 1, Buffalo Street Books has a Paddling Pathways book reading with Bob Henderson at 1:30, And there's a Bob Marley tribute show to benefit the Cayuga Wetlands Restoration Project starting Sunday at 4 at Deep Dive. 

Saturday and Sunday, the Ithaca United Soccer Club is hosting the Super Lambrou Cup, a 7x7 soccer tournament at Cass Park.

Find more in the 14850 Happenings Events Calendar.

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The Lehman Alternative Community School Theatre presents the Addams Family! Tonight and tomorrow night at 7, and Sunday at 2. Admission is free and donations are appreciated.

There's a fundraiser for the Ithaca Street Dog Coalition, which offers free or low-cost veterinary services for local pets, at Six Mile Creek Vineyard starting at 5.

Newfield Lady Trojans Basketball is at home today against Odessa, tipoff at about 6.

Cornell women's ice hockey hosts Harvard today at 6 and Dartmouth tomorrow at 3.

On stage tonight, Samuel B. Lupowitz and Harry Nichols have an evening of songs and stories at the Downstairs. Donna the Buffalo is at Ransom Steele Tavern in Apalachin.

A little musical bad news! Tonight's Twiddle show at the State Theatre has been postponed to April 2nd! But the Twiddle Afterparty at Deep Dive with Ashley Ickes & Friends is still on. That's at 10.

Tomorrow, Terrapin Station brings Dead covers to Two Goats Brewing at 5, Rachel Beverly at Brewer's at 6, Silver Rein and Emma Vulnerability are at Sacred Root Kava Lounge at 7, Whoisbriantech & DJ Highstone at the Forest City Lodge at 8:30, and there's a David Bowie Ball at Deep Dive at 9.

This Sunday, Ithaca First Assembly of God Church is hosting a Sunday Funday with games for kids starting at 10.

And a peek ahead at next week, there's a Spaghetti Dinner fundraiser for the Newfield Class of 2024 Wednesday at 5:30 followed by Bingo at 7 at the Newfield High School Cafeteria.

Find more in the 14850 Happenings Events Calendar.

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Lots of live music this weekend! Today, StratCat Willie & the Strays at Hopshire 6-8. DeWayne Perry & Friends at the Downstairs 6-8.

Big Red men's ice hockey at 7pm tonight against Quinnipiac and tomorrow vs Princeton. Women's hockey has their home and home series against Colgate, today at 2 in Hamilton and tomorrow at 2 at Lynah Rink. Cornell women's basketball is at home tomorrow against Harvard at Newman Arena!

Tomorrow 10-4 there's a special Lunar New Year donut at the Gallery in Press Bay Court, an art show with Courtney Elizabeth, and a coloring contest with one of her art prints. $2 from every donut will go to support the "Asian Diaspora in Tompkins County" Oral History Collection at The History Center.

Live music with Johnny Dowd tomorrow 12:30-2 at Brookton's Market.

There's a winter wine pairing dinner at the Bistro at La Tourelle tomorrow that sounds amazing, featuring a taste of France.

Village Swing Saturdays is at the Downtstairs tomorrow at 7.

Cosmic Joke Collective has what looks like an amazing curated show at Deep Dive Saturday starting at 8! Don Bazley, McKenzie Lauren Jones, Jennifer Middaugh & Friends, Motherwort, Pierce Walsh, Nate Silas Richardson & Friends, followed by a featured full set from Viva Mayhem!

Sunday there's live music at Brookton's Market at noon with Charlie Young, a cancer benefit and birthday bash for Daniel Bussman 2-4 at Deep Dive, and the Djangoners are playing the Downstairs at 7.

And don't forget the Bills get another chance to see the Bengals in the playoffs. It's a Sunday 3pm game. Let's Go Buffalo!

Find more in the 14850 Happenings Events Calendar.

Subscribe to the Ithaca Minute in iTunes or Google Play, RadioPublic, TuneIn, Stitcher, or via RSS feed, follow 14850.com on Facebook and Twitter, or subscribe to the 14850 Magazine Daily newsletter.